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John Gutenberg First Master Printer His Acts and Most Remarkable Discourses and his Death - Franz von Dingelstedt · Friedrich Nietzsche Audiobooks

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one of John Gutenberg, First Master Printer, His Acts
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  Speaker 1: and most Remarkable Discourses and his Death. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information not to volunteer, please visit liprivox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Claudia Salto. John Gutenberg, First Master Printer, His
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  Speaker 1: Acts and most Remarkable Discourses and his Death by Franz
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  Speaker 1: freihavon Dinglshtad, translated by C. W. Chapter one as how
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: John FoST, master printer in the city of Mayans, gave
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  Speaker 1: his daughter Christine to wife to Peter Shaffer, his partner,
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  Speaker 1: and what came of it a wedding? How much joy
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  Speaker 1: is contained in that word, but even more in the
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  Speaker 1: thing itself. You, however, who live in these days, can
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  Speaker 1: hardly form an idea of what a wedding was in
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  Speaker 1: the good old times, for you possess only the shadow,
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  Speaker 1: and even that is of the palest hue guests, among
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  Speaker 1: whom the husband and the minister appear dressed in black
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  Speaker 1: from head to foot. A large room furnished in the
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  Speaker 1: modern style, a very prosaic square table on which, after
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  Speaker 1: the marriage contract is signed, the repast is served up
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  Speaker 1: the whole, accompanied with the stalest and most commonplace compliments,
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  Speaker 1: the coldest ceremonies. No, no a fig for your modern
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  Speaker 1: weddings reader, you ought to have found yourself at the
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  Speaker 1: appointed hour at the Great Saint Hamer at Mayunt's, in
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  Speaker 1: the street now called l Rue de Savitier, and which
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  Speaker 1: then bore the name of Saint Quentin. For that which
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  Speaker 1: I relate to you happened in the year of our
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  Speaker 1: Lord fourteen hundred and sixty one, before Mayonts became a
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  Speaker 1: federal fortress. That was indeed a wedding in the true
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  Speaker 1: sense of the word, a grand, a noble wedding. At
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  Speaker 1: the moment when the clock struck twelve, the procession, attired
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  Speaker 1: in most superb garments, came out of the church of
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  Speaker 1: Saint Quentin, and, having turned the corner of the Rue
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  Speaker 1: de Savitier, took the road to the house of the
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  Speaker 1: Great Saint Humbert. All along the route it was accompanied
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  Speaker 1: by the joyous acclamations of the crowd citizens, their wives
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  Speaker 1: and daughters opened their small case and put out their
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  Speaker 1: heads to gaze, and the little boys in the street
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  Speaker 1: maliciously ran behind their wedding guests trying to jeer and
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  Speaker 1: to market the bridegroom, as is still the custom in
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  Speaker 1: these days, one indeed of the only customs left us
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  Speaker 1: of olden times. The sun shed his brightest and warmest
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  Speaker 1: rays on the house of the greats and humbered. For
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  Speaker 1: it was on the fourteenth day of August that Christine Fast,
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  Speaker 1: the worthy, daughter of the printer John FoST, espoused her
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  Speaker 1: father's partner, Peter Schiffer of Gernsheim. On that day too,
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  Speaker 1: the house of the Printer was open to all comers.
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  Speaker 1: Those presses, generally so black and so mysterious, were now
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  Speaker 1: cornered with flowers. The screws, the levers, the timber groaned
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  Speaker 1: no longer under the brawny arms of the workmen, and
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  Speaker 1: the paper and parchment remained neglected in a corner. All
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  Speaker 1: the inmates were gone to the church of Saint Quentin
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  Speaker 1: to be present at the marriage. The workmen, dressed in
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  Speaker 1: their finest clothes, stood ranged in a goodly group around
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  Speaker 1: their chief, who held firmly aloft the banner of the corporation,
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  Speaker 1: ornamented with the Imperial Eagle. The burgomaster himself, Jacob Foss,
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  Speaker 1: a master goldsmith, brother of the printer and rich beyond belief,
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  Speaker 1: had come in person to do honor to the wedding
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  Speaker 1: of his niece. And how can we find fault with
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  Speaker 1: the father of the bride, who walked proudly at the
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  Speaker 1: head of the band, arm in arm with his brother,
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  Speaker 1: the Grandee, and the renowned goldsmith. If he cast now
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  Speaker 1: and then on the assembled crowd looks in which disdain
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  Speaker 1: was somewhat mingled. It is true that he smiled more
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  Speaker 1: benignly at the windows, from whence certain silvery voices were
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  Speaker 1: heard to cry out as he passed, we wish you
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  Speaker 1: much happiness. Masterfus Or again made peace, and a blessing
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  Speaker 1: rest on the house of the glinter. To speak, truly,
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  Speaker 1: it must be confessed that the couple who had just
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  Speaker 1: been united were not in their first youth. And if
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  Speaker 1: the bridegroom had nothing in common with Adonis or Apollo,
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  Speaker 1: the bride on her side was far from representing that
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  Speaker 1: type of beauty which the ancients have bequeathed to us,
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  Speaker 1: and which may still be seen in the gallery of
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  Speaker 1: the Medici. Let not this surprise you, reader. Peter Schaeffer,
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  Speaker 1: in fourteen forty nine, was already renowned in the Academy
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  Speaker 1: of Paris for his skill in calligraphy. He had even
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  Speaker 1: then rendered great services to Master Foss, who chose him
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  Speaker 1: for his son in law. So you perceive that at
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  Speaker 1: the time of which we are speaking there was no
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  Speaker 1: longer any question of youth or spriteliness for Sheffer. Christine,
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  Speaker 1: on her part, had no doubt chosen her husband for
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  Speaker 1: his moral qualities. She had declared herself ready to bestow
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  Speaker 1: her hand on the homeless stranger on the day on
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  Speaker 1: which he, who was then only her father's workmen, should
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  Speaker 1: lay at her feet, reposing on a velvet cushion a
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  Speaker 1: copy of the admirable Salter of the year fourteen fifty seven. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: it was not until then that Christine consented to surrender
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  Speaker 1: her hand to that of Sheffer, to that hand which
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  Speaker 1: had designed the initials of the salt, which had illuminated
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  Speaker 1: them in such brilliant colors, and had arranged the beautiful types,
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  Speaker 1: the ink of which, it is maliciously said, still clung
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  Speaker 1: to his fingers. More or less, the betrothal dated from
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  Speaker 1: the year fourteen fifty seven, but as the father had
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  Speaker 1: insisted on proving the character and the talent of his workmen.
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  Speaker 1: He had made it a condition that the two volumes
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  Speaker 1: of the Great Latin Bible should be completed before the
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  Speaker 1: fulfillment of the marriage. On Saint John's day fourteen sixty two,
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  Speaker 1: the finishing touch was put to the work. Peter Shaeffer
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  Speaker 1: wrote upon the last page to the effect that the
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  Speaker 1: task was ended. He printed his father in law's arms alongside,
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  Speaker 1: and on the following fourteenth of August the book was
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  Speaker 1: exposed to the public. At the same time that the
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  Speaker 1: marriage was announced. John Faust slyly remarking that he brought
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  Speaker 1: on that day two treasures to light, the one conjointly
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  Speaker 1: with Saffer, the other he generously made over to him,
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  Speaker 1: for the two treasures were allotted their separate place of honor.
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  Speaker 1: Christine dazzled the eyes of the public, robed in rich
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  Speaker 1: crimson velvet, such as was seldom worn in those days
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  Speaker 1: by citizens daughters. Her little white wreath was attached to
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  Speaker 1: her hair by a string of Venetian pearls, presented on
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  Speaker 1: that very morning by her uncle, the Burgomaster, and it
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  Speaker 1: must be allowed the pearls became her well. The Bible,
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  Speaker 1: on its part, had its silver clasps well rubbed and polished,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: and being placed on a table, it shone to the
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  Speaker 1: edification and admiration of all beholders. If at the end
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  Speaker 1: of the table, where the burgomaster presided, dividing the wedding
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  Speaker 1: guests on his right and left, there reigned a certain
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  Speaker 1: degree of solemnity. It was made up for at the
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  Speaker 1: lower end, round the long board prepared for the workmen,
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  Speaker 1: where the most noisy and expensive gaiety prevailed that patriarchal
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  Speaker 1: custom which required that the head of the family, after
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  Speaker 1: having tasted of a dish, should join in a prayer
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  Speaker 1: with all the guests. That custom, at the time of
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  Speaker 1: which we speak, had even in the richest families, fallen
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  Speaker 1: into disuse. Only when, as on the present occasion, a
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  Speaker 1: dignitary happened to be at table, a special gravity was observed,
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  Speaker 1: and a great decorum maintained. No blesse oblige, says the proverb.
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  Speaker 1: So we must not be surprised if the burgomaster, instead
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  Speaker 1: of taking part in the joyous hilarity of his relatives
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  Speaker 1: and especially of his workmen, looked around him with anxious
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  Speaker 1: and pensive eyes. The cares of government clouded his countenance
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  Speaker 1: and occasionally wrinkled his fine lofty brow in truth alarming
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  Speaker 1: days where hovering over the good city of Mayon's two
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  Speaker 1: croziers were clashing rudely for presidents, both being competitors for
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  Speaker 1: the archae episcopal throne, and as generally happens in such conflicts,
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  Speaker 1: the blows fell less heavily and in less number on
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  Speaker 1: the backs of the actual combatants than on those of
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  Speaker 1: the victims who were the objects of contests. A year previously,
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  Speaker 1: the Archbishop dietricht Zombourg had deprived of his see for
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  Speaker 1: failing in proper respect toward his spiritual pastor, and Adolf
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  Speaker 1: of Nassau, appointed archbishop in his room, was preparing serious
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  Speaker 1: arms in hand to expel a predecessor who seemed far
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  Speaker 1: from disposed to yield his post with a good grace.
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  Speaker 1: All the Rhine country, the Palatinate, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and even
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  Speaker 1: Brandenburg itself had taken part in the quarrel for one
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  Speaker 1: side or the other. In the city of Mayons, Dietricht
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  Speaker 1: Zombourg reckoned partisans who were still holding office side by
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  Speaker 1: side with those who secretly favored the new order of things,
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  Speaker 1: and rivals and enemies met together full of an animosity
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  Speaker 1: which they took but little pains to dissimulate. To this
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  Speaker 1: cause of dissension was added the quarrel between the citizens
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  Speaker 1: and the nobles, a quarrel which dated forty years back,
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  Speaker 1: and was even now far from being quelled. Descendants of
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: the emigrant families ran and about the town, exciting the malecontents,
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  Speaker 1: they themselves only awaiting an opportunity to regain in the
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  Speaker 1: general confusion the privileges which they had lost. These were
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  Speaker 1: the grave matters which preoccupied the mind of the Burgomaster
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  Speaker 1: of Mayon's, the Great Jacob Foust, and left him but
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  Speaker 1: little leisure to think of anything but his cares. At
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  Speaker 1: the wedding of his niece Christine, did a noisy we
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  Speaker 1: what make itself heard at the lower end of the
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  Speaker 1: table was a joyous song resounding near the entrance door
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  Speaker 1: in honor of the newly married couple. The Burgomaster would
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  Speaker 1: raise himself anxiously on his great carved oaken arm chair,
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  Speaker 1: and commanding silence, exclaim throwing his head back, these are
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  Speaker 1: sad times in which we live. And his brother, the printer,
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  Speaker 1: would echo his words, throwing back his head in like manner.
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  Speaker 1: As for the bridegroom. He was in the height of
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  Speaker 1: good humor, for the preoccupations of his uncle, the burgomaster
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  Speaker 1: affected him but very slightly. Eh, What then, said he
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  Speaker 1: to the assembled guests, Are we not here in our
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  Speaker 1: free city of Mayons, under the protection of the pastoral
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  Speaker 1: staff of His grace, our archbishop, whom may God protect,
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  Speaker 1: Let my Lord of Nassau intrigue and cabal as he will,
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  Speaker 1: as long as the rhine flows between him and us,
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  Speaker 1: as long as our good walls defend us, we may
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  Speaker 1: laugh at his grace. And moreover our art, our beautiful art,
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  Speaker 1: does it not flourish more and more every year? Have
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  Speaker 1: we not five good presses in the workshop? Have we
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  Speaker 1: not fifty vigorous arms employed in our service? Come, come,
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  Speaker 1: my gracious uncle, Come worthy father, Put away your fears
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  Speaker 1: and your scruples. Fill up your glasses, and second me
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  Speaker 1: when I drink to the noble art of printing with
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  Speaker 1: three times free. The guests responded to this appeal, and
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: the noise of the vivat had scarcely subsided when a
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  Speaker 1: great disturbance was heard on the stairs adjoining the banquet room,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: and a confusion of voices and footsteps which seemed to
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  Speaker 1: indicate a quarrel. The host was about to rise and
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  Speaker 1: go in person to the spot, from whence the noise
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  Speaker 1: proceeded to cause the disputants to order. When the door
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  Speaker 1: was suddenly thrown open. On the threshold appeared two workmen,
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  Speaker 1: dragging a third individual by his arms, and who, to
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  Speaker 1: judge from his age and appearance, was only in a place. Look, Master,
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  Speaker 1: said the eldest of the man. Here is a fellow
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  Speaker 1: who dares to disturb your festival by coming even into
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  Speaker 1: your house, to abuse your art and your noble trade.
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  Speaker 1: Yes it is true, continued the second workman, But it
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  Speaker 1: shall not be permitted. Were I never again to touch
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  Speaker 1: a type or the cheek of a pretty maiden. It
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: is the Strasburger who lies, exclaimed the young boy, making
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  Speaker 1: vigorous efforts to free himself from the gripe of his accusers.
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  Speaker 1: I said, not a word against you or your art.
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  Speaker 1: It is they, on the contrary, who slendered your son
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  Speaker 1: in law and even your daughter, Dame Christine. And you see, Master,
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  Speaker 1: that was more than I could bear. So my French
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  Speaker 1: blood rebelled. Let a peace be in this house, replied Fast,
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  Speaker 1: in a commanding tone, and you, Strasburger, who are the eldest.
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  Speaker 1: You speak first, and let go hold of the Parisian master.
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  Speaker 1: We were down below there sitting drinking our beer, as
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  Speaker 1: your worshipful company, saving your presence, is now seated drinking
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  Speaker 1: your wine. We sang, we drank, we laughed. Not a
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  Speaker 1: soul among us thought of quarreling. Suddenly I had just
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  Speaker 1: delivered myself of a little bonmeu, such as is not
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  Speaker 1: unusual at our German weddings. Strasburger, what was that bonmere?
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  Speaker 1: Come out with it? Frankly, I said, replied the workman, hesitating,
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  Speaker 1: I said here the Parisian, with the vivacity of a Frenchman,
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  Speaker 1: interrupted the other and repeated the bonmeu in question, a
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  Speaker 1: witticism so strongly seasoned that although it might be allowable
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  Speaker 1: at a country wedding, it could not be repeated here
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  Speaker 1: without a breach of good manners. This unexpected communication was
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  Speaker 1: received with a violent burst of laughter from the male
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  Speaker 1: part of the company, including even the worthy burgomaster Jacob Fust.
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  Speaker 1: The bridegroom alone, felt his anger rising, and having some
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  Speaker 1: difficulty in restraining himself, he bounded from his seat, while
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  Speaker 1: the cheeks of his gentle better half, Christine, became of
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  Speaker 1: a deeper hue than the velveage of the dress she wore.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: This Strassburger, emboldened by the success of his beaumou and
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: by the excellent reception it had met with, cast a
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: look of triumphant satisfaction on the little Parisian, who stood by,
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  Speaker 1: speechless and astounded. At this moment. A bashful glance directed
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  Speaker 1: to him by Dame Christine, unseen by all the rest,
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  Speaker 1: rewarded him for his head chivalrous conduct. The old workman
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  Speaker 1: continued his harangue. Master. You see, it is on account
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  Speaker 1: of this innocent jest that the fellow has made this disturbance.
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  Speaker 1: He pretended that the honor of your house was compromised,
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  Speaker 1: as well as that of the Dame your daughter, which
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: God defend from injury. He struck the table violently with
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  Speaker 1: his fist, and in fact behaved like a madman. The Frankfurter,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: who stands there, tried by a paternal remonstrance to bring
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: him to reason, and we were once more seated behind
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: our goblets when behold the young good for nothing recommences.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: We were drinking unanimously to the health of the art
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  Speaker 1: of printing that it might flourish at least a thousand years.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: When all on a sudden, with his two little spindle legs,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: he leaps on the table, upsets the goblets, and exclaims
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  Speaker 1: that we must not forget him who first invented the trade,
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  Speaker 1: who was the author of all our good fortune, him
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  Speaker 1: who revealed our beautiful art to the world at large.
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  Speaker 1: We both opened our mouths wide, made the Lord forgive
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  Speaker 1: us our sin. The wretch told us he was going
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  Speaker 1: to speak of the Holy Trinity. When behold, he calls out,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: with all the force of his lungs, long live Gutenburg,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Long live Master Jean Gutenberg of Mayans. The Frankfurter then
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: seized him by one leg, eye by the other. We
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: dragged him down from the table and brought him here.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Now he stands before you, he who was not ashamed
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: in your own house, to give all the honor and
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: praise to Gutenburg. The strasburgher was silent at the name
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: of Gutenburg. The company became visibly embarrassed. The countenances of
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: some of the guests evinced an ironical pleasure. Peter Shaffer,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: looking down, busied himself awkwardly in readjusting the frill of
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: his shirt, while Master FoST, not caring particularly to meet
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: the fiery eye of the little Parisian, turned alternately from
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: one workman to the other. Children, replied he, after a
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: moment's painful pause. Children, you are but simpletons. After all,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: What is the use of troubling your heads on a
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: day like this with such nonsense? Leave Gutenburg to himself
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  Speaker 1: and let us enjoy in peace the good which God
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: has given us. Master, exclaimed the little Frenchman, in a
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: lofty tone and interrupting faust without hesitation. That is what
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  Speaker 1: we have done. But allow me to say one word,
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  Speaker 1: one only, with an honesty worthy of a great art
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: which we promote. If all this company thinks to day
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: of you and of Master Peter Schaeffer of Gernsheim, of
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: his letter founding, of his skill in engraving, in illuminating,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: in printing, ought we on that account to forget the
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: man to whom we owe all that we now have.
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  Speaker 1: That is why I say it again, And may all
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: those who feel as they ought to do say it
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: after me. Long live Gutenburg, of my aunts, the first
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: printer of the world. Long may he live with three bounds,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: and before he could be prevented, the audacious boy reached
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: the table, seized one of the filled wine cups, and
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: emptied it at a draft. He had just laid it
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: down again with a crash, when Master Fast Read with anger,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: pushed him roughly aside fellow. He exclaimed, in a voice
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: husky with vexation, What have you done? What you should
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: have done instead of me? Replied the little Frenchman, without
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: being disconcerted, and becoming more calm in proportion that his
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: master grew more excited. How you have the audacity to
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: come here and jeer us in the presence of our guests,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: and above all, in the presence of my brother, the
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: most worthy Burgomaster. To the door. To the door with
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: the little brawler. Go go to your Gudenburg, see if
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: his great presses are at work. Go run through the
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: streets and highways with your hero to the door with him,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: I say. The printer threw a few pieces of small
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: money to the Parisian, and with an angry gesture, pointed
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: to the door. Master Fust replied the other, while collecting
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: the coins which were scattered over the floor. If I
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: pick up this money, it is to take what you
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: owe me, But I cannot go to Master Gutenburg, and
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: that you know as well as I do. Since the
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: day he was obliged to give up his establishment to
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: you for a debt of a hundred or a couple
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: of hundred dollars, which you lend him at a high interest,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: he has not been in a position to set up
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: any press worth speaking of. So it always is in
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: this world to the one head and intelligence to the other. Money.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: These last words were scarcely uttered when a blow from
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: a fist fell on the cheek of the little Frenchman.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Master John FoST, incapable of further self control, had struck
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: the blow, and if Schaeffer and the two other workmen
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: had not interfered, a serious scene might have ensued to
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: the cost of the audacious boy, and in presence of
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: the guests. In an instant, the whole assembly was in
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: an uproar. Christine took refuge, trembling in the arms of
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: her husband. The guests swore, threatened, jeered, murmured. The workman
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: in the meanwhile, had all the trouble in the world
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: to restrain the little Frenchman, whose clear, silvery voice called
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: out through the crowd, Master FoST, you have no right
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: to strike me. You had not the right even when
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: I was in your service. You have it still less now.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: I insist on your giving me satisfaction. Turn out the brawler,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Turn him out, said the burgomaster in a solemn tone.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: But the workmen tried in vain to execute the order.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: I shall go off my own accord and alone, said
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: the little Parisian, grumbling, as soon as these gentleman fists
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: have loosened their hold of me, not before. Yes, I
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: shall go straight to Master Gutenberg. And if he has
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: no work to give me at his presses, well, I
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: would rather untie for him the strings of his shoes
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: than remain any longer in a house where one is
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: forbidden to speak out one's thoughts in liberty. You fust,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: you chaffer, What would you be without that Gutenburg, whom
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: you have robbed of his goods? Oh, cursed be the
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: force the inhospitable threshold. And you who live under this roof,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: take care lest the hymeneal torch lighted this day chain
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: not into a burning flambeaux, which shall swallow up under
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: its wings of flame. The ruins of eur ill gotten
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: wealth during this allocution uttered with all the earnestness of passion.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: The two workmen had dragged the boy towards the door,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: resisting all the way. One kick and he rolled down
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: the staircase, carrying with him the Frankfurter and the strasburgher
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Sheffer shut the door on the disputants, reconducted Christine with
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: much care and solicitude to her arm chair, tried to
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: calm his father in law, and succeeded in restoring at
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: least an appearance of calm to the festival and to
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: the guests who had been first surprised and then alarmed
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: at this scene. End of chapter one, Chapter two of
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: John Gutenberg, first Master Printer, by Franz freihervan Dingelstadt. This
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: librivok recording is in the public domain recording by Claudia
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Salto what John Gutenberg, Master Printer, said and what he
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: did while Peter Scheffer was taking to wife the de
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Noiselle Christine, all which should interest the reader, if you
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: have not been spoiled reader by the sight of the
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: fine rooms of Messrs Brockhouse and Hadnell, those Coryfays of
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: the present day of the art of typography, who draw
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: off their books on stenhope presses in frames of highly
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: polished wood fastened with bright iron screws. Perhaps you will
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: not feel any repugnance to follow me into the low,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: dark abode to which I am about to introduce you.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: We enter. The night is mild and beautiful. The moon's
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: silvery beams rest gently on the undulations of the eternally
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: flowing rhine. A light breeze trembles through the vine leaves,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: the deep shadows of the houses concealed here and there
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: the streets of old Mayans. But why should we occupy
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: ourselves with such matters? Did the old man with silver hair,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: with his head bending over the table and giving up
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: body and soul to his work, occupy himself with them?
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: Where were his workmen? They were out of doors, enjoying
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: the beauty of the night, being rocked gently in small
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: boats on the river, or drinking interverns, or standing at
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: church doors, saying soft gallantries to their mistresses. And he
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: the solitary, the indefatigable workmen, Why did he take no rest?
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: His inflamed eyelids, his forehead furrowed with wrinkles, his rounded
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: back showed how much he stood in need of it.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: A smoky lamp hung from the beam which divided the
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: ceiling of the room into two equal parts, and shed
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: its feeble light on the table where John Gutenberg was working.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: But beware, reader, of representing this table to yourself as
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: furnished with any of those perfect instruments which are the
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: improvements of modern days, with a case for the letters,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: a visorium, a composing stick, a galley, or a catch.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: It was nothing more than a great oaken board on
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: which his letters were placed in little woolen bags, ranged
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: in alphabetical order. The form in which they were to
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: be disposed was in front of the artist, and at
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: his side, on a desk roughly put together, reposed the
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: heavy infolio which he used as his manuscript. Let the
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: compositor of the present day, who complains often justly of
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: the illegible copy of the poet or the philosopher, compare
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: humbly his task with that of his great predecessor. He
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: was obliged first to select from his bags, to place
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: the letters with great delicacy, to turn back to the
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: manuscript in order to read it, and to recommence his
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: labor incessantly until one whole line laboriously put together, had
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: been ranged along a string. If at this point his
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: negligence as the compositor had permitted one fault, he must
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: needs unfasten the string and recommence his work from the beginning.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Miserable place as it was, there worked the first printer
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: of the world, a humble cradle which contained a giant, poor,
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: wretched house. What a difference between it and those palaces
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: which the disciples of the great inventor have since built
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: for themselves. The shutters of Gutenberg's room were hermetically closed.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: Not one of the moon's silver rays could penetrate them.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: The smell of the printer's ink, of the oil, and
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: the black smoke made the close air of this poor
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: apartment still more oppressive. A painful stillness prevailed, disturbed only
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: by the metallic noise of the letters as they touched
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: each other. But I will not dwell any longer on
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: this melancholy picture, in which you might have seen the
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: old man, whose stray white locks shaded his broad forehead,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: whose feeble fingers could only slowly and with trembling, fulfill
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: their task, whose knees tottered, and who, whenever he turned
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: over the leaves of his manuscript, was forced to wait
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: a few seconds to regain breath and strength. No, no, reader,
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: think of Gudenburg rather as you would doubtless like to
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: see him standing on his pedestal of stone in the
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: center of the square in front of the Cathedral of Mayons.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: One of the last achievements, but by no means one
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: of the happiest efforts of the great Torwulzen. John Gutenberg,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: in his humble workshop, turned round on hearing the door
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: behind him creek on its hinges. You see, I knew it,
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: said one of the newcomers, on entering there. He is
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: still at work. He to whom these words were addressed,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: shrugged his shoulders slightly. Both came forward, and the foremost,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: with his head respectfully uncovered, approached Gutenburg, who gave his
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: visitors a friendly greeting. Addressing the second. Will it please you,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: my dear doctor, he said, to look on for a
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: few moments while I am at work. If so, take
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: this stool and sit at your ease as far at
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: least as that is possible in my humble abode. Wildeck
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: said he to the other, Did you take care to
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: fasten the latch as you came in. Yes, master, replied Bilder.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: But it must be close upon midnight. It is time
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: for you to leave off work. Here you are still
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: at your table. Will you never learn to think of
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: yourself and of those who love you? At these words,
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: the old man, with a gesture full of tenderness, took
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: the hand of the speaker and pressed it on his heart.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: Bildeck was the only one who, through good fortune and
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: evil fortune, had invariably stood by Gutenburg, from the day
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: when the latter left the gates of his native town
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: on horseback to direct his steps towards Strasbourg days of
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: youth and of beauty. The second person whom we introduced
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: was named doctor Humeriy. He was syndic of the free
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: city of Mayons, and a wise man, if ever there
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: was one, and well versed in the knowledge of all
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: that was right and just. The chronicles say that even
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: in a state of blindness, he could have distinguished black
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: from white and white from black, a science which has
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: completely escaped the numerous successes of the syndic humory. He
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: called himself the patron of Gutenburg. In the year fourteen
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: fifty five, when a sentence of the Tribunal of Mayons,
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: having forced the poor printer to give up his workshop
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: to John FoST his creditor, Gutenburg, his heart, overflowing with
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: resentment against his native town, fled to Strasbourg, but, finding
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: that he succeeded no better there than elsewhere, he soon
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: returned to his own country. While Master John was seeking
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: some resting place where he might pursue his art. It
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: was this syndic Humory who advanced the seventy crowns which
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: Gutenburg required to set up his new presses, and who
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: provided him with the quarters which we have described. On
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: account of which said the convention, the above named Master
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: John is held to continue his labors at the risk
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: and the peril of Humory. Consider, said the disinterested syndic,
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: that you are no longer young. I wish to save
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: you from all further risk of getting into trouble. Continue
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: your work on my account, so that what you do
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: shall be mine by an equitable payment. But on the
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: other hand, let it be understood that I am likewise
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: responsible for your losses. And above all, Master Gutenberg, beware
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: of your old tricks. Gutenberg said, gratefully, yes, and amen
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: to all that was proposed to him, but his heart
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: was broken. He neither asked nor wished for anything but
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: to be allowed to cultivate his art, that well beloved
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: art to which he had consecrated the earliest the best
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: days of his life. In the absence of children, which
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: had been denied to his old age, he desired at
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: least to play with his metallic characters, black to the
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: outward eye, but full of the attractive force of affection
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: to the printer. So it happened that Gudenburg took up
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: his abode at the back of the Syndic's house, working
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: with his press as far removed as possible from the
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: little windows before which, as soon as it was dusk,
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: he hastened to fasten the shutters. Reader, if you ask
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: me a reason for this peculiarity, here is one which
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: may account for it. From the windows of the house
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: of the Syndic Humory you might see a little, old,
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: smoky building, which, by a caprice of fortune, happened to
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: be exactly the birthplace and cradle of the ancient race
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: of the Gutenburg zum Gutenberg, a noble stock of the
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: existence of which the great typographer had been obliged to
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: form strangers in the place where he invented the art
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: of printing. Who can tell? Perhaps the eyes of the
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: old man could not reconcile themselves to the side of
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: the balcony where he had played as a child, from
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: the table where he stood arranging his letters. In the
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: present day, the proprietors of the casino have pitched their
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: tents in the yard of the building where Gutenberg lived, and,
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: in default of other proofs, an inscription says on the
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: part of the natives of Maeon's that it was assuredly
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: there that stood the house of their immortal countrymen. As
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: for the very humane doctor Humeriy, when he had looked
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: over Gutenberg's shoulder for about a minute, he said, with
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: a jerk of his head, it seems to me, worthy,
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: master John, that during the last week your work has
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: made very little progress. Gutenberg made no answer, but a
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: vivid color, which I can only compare to the brightness
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: of the setting sun on the glaciers, flushed the old
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: man's cheeks. Humory continued, under pretext that you could not
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: agree with them. You have discharged two of your best workmen.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: That is true, gracious doctor. They printed a acording to
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: the modern fashion, without drawing a string at each line.
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: In such a manner, how was it possible to accomplish
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: anything really good? But replied humory. You must have seen
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: that the Bible, which first has just edited, is a
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: magnificent piece of workmanship, and you must confess yourself that
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: it much surpasses your Catolkin, the last and the only
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: work which has issued from your press. At these words, Gudenburg,
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: without answering, placed a marker in his infolio, shut it up,
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: tied up his bags which contained his letters, and put
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: them away in the drawer of his table, with the
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: frame containing the unfinished page. He then washed his hands
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: and began pacing up and down his room. Now you
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: have made him angry, whispered Bildeck to the Syndic. Look
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: to yourself to make your peace with him, upon which
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: the faithful servant went out, slamming the door after him,
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: the latch falling noisily into the staple. The Syndic took
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: the arm of Gudenburg. Kindly, master, do not be vexed
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: with me if I now and then say a word
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: which may doubtless appear rather harsh to you, but which
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: I speak from my heart see how many hours you
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: spend in dreaming, in devising means to perfect your art,
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: and in the meanwhile, hands more active than yours rob
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: you of your discoveries. Peter Shaffer, for instance, has he
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: not made a fortune with his impressions, and he has
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: secured a rich wife into the bargain. Besides, continued the syndic,
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: while the other maintained an obstinate silence, walking all the
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: time with long strides backwards and forwards in his workshop. Besides,
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: as you grow in years, your temper becomes so whimsical
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: and touchy that it is next to impossible not to
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: lose patience with you. Recollect all the lawsuits, all the
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: quarrels which have disturbed your younger days. And as we
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: are speaking freely to one another, tell me what have
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: you gained by keeping your art's secret to such an excess,
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: Even that you only work with bolted doors, and you
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: forbid your workmen to loiter in the streets for fear
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: they should be tempted to divulge your secret. These are
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: no longer similar times to those when you came from Strasbourg,
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: and when you printed your first doughnut. It was then
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: allowable to make a mystery of your discovery. But now
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: that Fust and Sheffher have publicly established a workshop at
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: the greats and humbled with workmen and apprentices from all
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: parts of the world, when such towns of Germany as Strasbourg, Bamberg,
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: and Frankfurt and Holland are hastening to reap what you
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: have sown, one asks oneself of what use it is
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: to keep your art concealed as if it were the
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: philosopher's stone. This mystery, instead of serving your purposes, can
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: only be of use to your enemies and further their interests.
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: Here the wise syndic humory was silent, awaiting the impression
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: that so eloquent it didcourse, would certainly produce on his interlocutor,
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: who until now had never uttered a word. Gutenburg had
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: taken down his cloak from the peg where it hung,
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: and having covered his head with his black velvet cap,
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: he contented himself with saying to the Syndic while he
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: looked fixedly at him. There exists an old proverb which
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: says that many foods are capable of asking more questions
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: in a breath than a wise man can answer in
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: a whole day. Thereupon Gutenburg, without adding another word, passed
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: before the syndic, bowing coldly, and was going out at
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: the door when he turned round besides her syndic, I
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: hear Pete once more that I am not neither do
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: I call myself Master Gutenberg learned, doctor, I am Hergudenberg
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: son and descendant of an ancient noble family, and that
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: you ought to know better than most people. Upon which
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: the old man disappeared, leaving the syndic humory alone in
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: the workshop. Unhappy man, What bitterness must have filled thy heart?
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: When enveloped in thy cloak, both arms crossed over thy
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: weary breast, Thou camest forth alone in the deserted streets
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: of Mauns. Thou didst revolve in thy mind, doubtless the
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: mortifications thou hadst experienced in thy native town. Thou didst
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: think of those for whom thou hadst worked, and who
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: now trampled on thee Thy star was on the decline.
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: That very morning, John Gudenberg had seen a copy of
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: the Magnificent Bible, recently edited by Foster and Scheffer, and
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: in spite of the secret pride of the printer, he
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: could not deny to himself that his pupils had surpassed him.
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: Gudenberg belonged to that class of men of genius or
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: choice spirits, destined by providence to conceive the grandest ideas
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: to attain the most wonderful discoveries, but who are grippled
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: in the details of execution and incapable of drawing any
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: material profit from their discoveries. Peter Schaeffer, on the contrary,
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: reared in Paris and trained to the intrigues of life,
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: was thanks to the facility of his conception, just the
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: man to seize the idea of another and to turn
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: it to his own profit first. Now, his father in
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: law was wonderfully useful to Shuffer by his practical skill
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: in business. And so we shall be easily believed when
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: we assert that our two intruders had not much difficulty
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: in excluding from their partnership the poor old inventor, from
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: henceforward the sole masters of their trade. They conducted it
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: in a manner infinitely lucrative to themselves. Gudenburg found this
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: out ere long in the year of our Lord fourteen sixty.
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: Seeing his cartulikon finished before him, he examined it, and
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: as he compared in his mind the meager, ill formed
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: characters with the beautiful type of the salter of Faust
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: and Schauffer. His soul was bowed down with an overwhelming
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: sense of inferiority, and on that account he omitted to
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: put his name in great letters at the end of
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: his work, as the others had done. He contented himself
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: with adding on the last page the following modest PostScript,
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: This book has been printed with the assistance of the
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: most High, who, by one stroke of his hand opens
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: the mouths of babes, and who often deigns to reveal
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: to the humble that which he hides from the wise.
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: Then he added, the whole was executed in the good
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: city of Mayans, which which forms a part of the
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: glorious German nation, which it has pleased the goodness of
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: God to distinguish, by the light of his spirit and
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: the gift of his grace, above many other nations of
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: the earth. A pious and touching record from a son
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: to his adoptive mother, grander and above all more patriotic
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: than that Roman pride, which forbid that, even after death,
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: the mortal remains should be restored to an ungrateful country.
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: If the syndic reproached Gutenburg with making an unnecessary mystery
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: of his labors, the effort being useless. Herein lay the
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: cause Gutenburg had always professed that he never would make
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: a trade of his art. Have I then said he
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: created a new corporation among the many others, only that
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: I may see the ancient escutcheon of my ancestors suspended
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: side by side with the vulgarest ensigns at the doors
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: of taverns and of abbeys. My art belongs to me
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: as much as to the rest of the world. Let
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: it remain the property of intelligence, and only be practiced
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: by those who have been initiated in it. Let others,
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: if they will place themselves on the rank of the
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: tailor who cuts my doublet and the shoemaker who sows
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: the leather of my shoes. What I require is something
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: about that. It is the constant improvement of my art.
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: It is an independent labor, for which neither my name
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: nor my ancestors need blush. Poor dreamer, thou newest not
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: what is serious practical thing in new discovery becomes to
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: its author, And the more important it is, the more
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: it conceals in its bosom, hopes and riches for the future,
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: the more quickly disappears from the memory of man, the
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: source from which it was derived. For human activity, there
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: exists no monopoly, no privileges. No sooner does a new
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: idea break forth than it becomes public property. What the
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: one finds the other cultivates. He profits by it, he
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: improves it. It is a streamlet of blood added to
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: the general circulation. The name and the person of the
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: solitary originator, whatever may be his efforts, will soon disappear.
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: But all that has been denied to the man while
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: living becomes a debt to posterity, which is bound in
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: gratitude to seek out and bring to light him who
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: has contributed in so large a measure to art and
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: science by his inventive genius. That is why O Gutenburg
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: on that very spot where, perhaps on that night thou
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: weart looking up to Heaven in deep sadness, feeling that
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: thy star was on the wain. Thy descendants see to
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: day thy bronze form casting its shadow before thee. May
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: every one now gaze on thee, love and admire thee.
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter two, Chapter three of John Gutenberg, first
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: master printer by Franz Freier van Dingelstadt. This LibriVox recording
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain recording by Claudia Salto. Who
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: John Gutenberg found in his dwelling when he came back
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: to it, and what conversation he there held with the
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: little Parisian. When John Gudenberg returned, he found in his
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: humble room besides his faithful baldeck, a young stranger awaiting him,
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: who hastened when the old man entered to rise and
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: salute him respectfully. Surprised at so late an hour of
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: the night to see a stranger, Gutenberg asked him the
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: motive of his visit. Master replied the young man, I
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: come to do homage through you to the great art
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: which you exercise. Then he added a familiar saying, May
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: God bless the workshop to day, to morrow and always
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: who cares for its size, when it is so full
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: of honor. Gudenburg inclined his head good humoredly. In his
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: present frame of mind, so untimely a visit from an
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: apprentice seemed somewhat in opportune to the old man. He
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: thought himself bound, however, to bow and to bestow a
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: small Dounier, in acknowledgment of the compliment. Typographers, then only
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: very recently in existence, had nevertheless formed themselves into a
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: separate body. Such was the will of the master workers
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: in the Middle Ages, the cardmakers, the engravers on wood,
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: the image vendors had done the same for some time
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: past in the low country trees, in France and in Germany.
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: And it is only in this manner that we can
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: account for the rapidity with which not only workshops, masters
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: and apprentices were established on the borders of the Rhine
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: and in Azas, but that whole corporations appeared in Italy, France, Holland,
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: and almost all over Europe. Bildeck, having placed in the
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: young man's hand the profet coin, the latter bent his
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: head in acknowledgment. Forgive me, gracious master, he said to
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: the old man, But at present I am not on
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: a walking tour, and if I come to you, it
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: is not so much to receive a gift as to
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: ask for work and to put at your disposal a
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: pair of vigorous arms and a very light heart. The
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: frank and familiar but yet respectful men of the young
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: stranger awakened Gutenberg's attention. Thou belongest not to these parts,
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: he said to him, one can tell that by thy accent. No, Master,
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: the blood which runs in my veins is only half German.
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: My mother is French, and I was born in Paris.
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: I was a card maker until the noise of the
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: profession of which you are the creator attracted me, first
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: to Strasbourg, then to my aunts. Until now I have
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: worked for Master FoST. But as he has just turned
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: me away, I come to you. This information, as may
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: be supposed, was not calculated to conciliate the favor of
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: his new patron. For the little Parisian. Gutenburg answered, not
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: without a certain bitterness. Boy, If thou dost expect to
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: find a well covered table with me and oppress as
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: easy to manage as those which thou hast quitted, thou
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: mayst find thyself mistaken. I do not feed my workmen,
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: and as for work, I have at this moment but
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: little to dispose of. The young man looked with a
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: blank expression round the room. Master Gutenberg said he you
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: will do wrong to send me away thus discomfited without
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: an engagement, I know you have just dismissed two workmen
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: who refused to submit to your orders, and that you
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: want help in your workshop, weak as the help may
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: be that I can offer you. Try me. I am
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: the child of honest parents. My name is Claude Muni
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: at your service, and I am the son of Yisquatmuni.
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: Here Gudenberg's attention seemed for a moment particularly arrested, less
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: perhaps by the name of the son than by that
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: of his mother. One might even have perceived a slight
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: emotion passing over the face of the old man as
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: he examined more closely the features of the young frenchman.
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: Thou sayest thy mother's name is she is cat? She's cat?
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: What a lovely name, repeated the old man, as if
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: to himself. Then, after a moment's silence, he added, Claude,
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: I am very sorry, but the thing is impossible. I
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: cannot employ thee in that case. At you, Master Gutenberg,
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: and may you prosper always and forever, according to the
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: wish of the most devoted of your disciples. In these words,
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: the little frenchman seized the hand of the old man
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: and kissed it with much fervor. Before Gudenberg had time
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: to withdraw it bail Dack, who during this interview had
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: been preparing his master's humble couch for the night, hazarded
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: timidly a remonstrance as he took the cloak from Gutenberg's shoulders.
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: Master Gutenberg, you ought not to have dismissed the young
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: man in that manner. He appeared to me a good
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: little fellow. And had he unloosed his tongue to you
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: as he did to me, I am sure you would
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: not have sent him away. For let me tell you,
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: it is owing to you that the poor lad is
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: now without bread he Why did you not say so? Sooner?
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: Dare one ever speak to you in the presence of
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: a stranger, replied the attendant to his excited master, upon
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: which he related in a few words the story of
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: the dismissal from FoST, as he had just heard it
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: from the little Frenchman himself. Gudenburg was no sooner acquainted
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: with a chain of circumstances than he rushed to the
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: window with the little panes framed in lead, opened it
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: and began calling after the young stranger. He had not
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: proceeded far, and his cheeks were red with emotion, as
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: in a moment's time, he reappeared before the old man.
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: Gudenburg passed his thin hand complacently through the fair locks
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: surrounding the happy young face. Thou art a naughty boy,
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: he said. And more than that, thou art is simpleton
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: for not having told me all that thou hast suffered
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: on my account from those tradesmen. Master, you were a
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: stranger to me, and besides, what I did was less
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: in honor of you than of your noble art, of
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: which you are the sole inventor. Was it necessary to
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: come here and boast in order to win your good will?
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: Be sure, I should never have related what I did
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: to that farmul was there, if it had not been
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: to beguile over weariness and to kill the time while
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: we were both waiting your return. The naive candor of
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: the young Parisian completely conquered the heart of Gutenburg, and
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: although midnight had long since struck, he told Bildec to
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: bring a jug of wine. He sat down and desired
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: his new apprentice to do the same. For to night
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: you must at any rate remain here. All the taverns
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: are now closed, and we will manage as well as
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: we can. Bildec make up a bed for the lad
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: as you think best. But above all, let us have
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: quickly something to drink. That I talk of the syndic
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: has stirred my bile. And if we drink later than usual,
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: we shall only sleep the better for it. And tomorrow,
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: being a holiday, we need not be at the press
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: at peep of day. So the master and the apprentice
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: sat side by side, clinging their goblets and drinking. To
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: the health and prosperity of the art of printing. Old
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: Bialdeck was obliged also to take his share, for said Gudenberg,
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: he too deserves well of me and of the great
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: art of typography. Was it not he who saved my
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: presses in the wicked quarrel which I had with Stritzen
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: and his heirs, when they all tried to trample on
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: me and would have forced my secret for me for
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: a bit of bread. Believe me, my son, I have
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: endured much, and he many a sigh. Ere I reached
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: my present position. Ah. When the little her Gutenberg came
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: into the world, they did not sing this song they
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: ought to have sung around his cradle. That would have
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: been that he would wander from town to town with
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: a pack upon his back, practicing his poor trade. At
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: this forlorn picture, Claude could not help laughing. Master, said
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: he to Gutenberg, if the curiosity of a young man
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: will not appear indiscreet, I should like to hear you
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: relate how the first idea of your invention occurred to you,
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: and this question from the lad A grave and sad
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: expression crossed the old man's face. He laid his hand
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: on his broad forehead, furrowed with wrinkles, and looking down
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: into the depths of his goblet, he answered, my friend,
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: in this world, whatever is best and noblest always comes
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: alone and of itself, without our being able to say
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: from whence or how so it was with the art
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: which I pursue. The method of printing with boards, as
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: you do for cards, and as others do for books,
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: ceased to satisfy me. The step from engraved boards to
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: movable types was comparatively easy. The ancients, with their wisdom,
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: had already long since pointed out the way, but no
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: attention had been paid to them. It was on looking
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: one day at my signaturing, that I was led to
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: think of using movable types. I had amused myself with
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: impressing on the soft wax the little pilgrim with his
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: cockle shells, which has always been the armorial bearing of
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: the Gudenbergs of my aunts. And it was on seeing
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: my coat of arms reproduced that it occurred to me
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: one might cut letters in wood or in stone, and
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: afterwards print them. Claud, thou seest how far I still
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: was from the goal, and yet even then light was
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: breaking in upon me for the advancement of my own
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: art and of other branches connected with it. If thou
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: knowest Strasbourg, I lived at that time in the Faubourg
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: sainta Auguste. I will not tell thee the time and
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: the trouble it took to achieve the manufacture of wooden blocks,
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: how many attempts I made before I succeeded, and how
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: many losses I sustained. One of the greatest difficulties when
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: I had formed my characters was to print them. A
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: press is apparently a very simple thing without complication, and
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: yet there is an abyss of separation between a press
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: and the brush which was used in former days, that
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: great pad of rag and of horse hair, with which
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: one could only print one side of a page at
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: a time, and even that with great difficulty. It was
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: one of my greatest vexations that I could not find
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: a fit instrument to hold my little wooden letters. I
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: could not manage to get the impression straight and even
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: and strong enough to produce the engraving without seeing my
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: letters constantly break and fall out of place. One day,
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: as I was seated alone in my workshop, a world
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: of ideas passed through my mind, without my being able
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: to realize any one of them. I became prostrate. With
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: the sense of my own weakness and a feeling of
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: despair at seeing myself incapable of success took such possession
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: of me that I suddenly rushed out of doors like
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: a madman. I require to breathe the pure air of heaven,
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: and I wished to try, if in the midst of
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: quiet fields and gentle scenes, I might, for a few moments,
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: forget my grief. It happened to be just that beautiful
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: autumn season, when the hills and the gardens around Strasbourg
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: far and near swarm with vintages, young men and women
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: gathering the grapes. My son man is corrupt from his
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: earliest years, and his heart is full of wickedness, My
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: soul was bursting with the blackest, wilest envy at the
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: sight of these poor, happy workpeople. I said to myself.
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: Each has his own place under the sun, each knows
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: what he has to do, and I I alone, am
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: condemned to be a useless, unemployed wanderer at this very moment,
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: as if the almighty wished to punish me in his
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: own way for my blind rebellion, a load of grapes
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: was thrown just before me under the screw of the
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: wind press. The machine began working immediately for the wine dresser. Ah.
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: It was as if scales had suddenly fallen from my eyes.
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: I ran, I flew to my workshop. I worked the
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: whole night in concert with my faithful Lawrence Bialdeck. And
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: in the morning, when Aurora appeared on the horizon, lighting
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: up my poor dwelling with her rays, I had before
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 1: me a printing press, rough and shapeless. It is true,
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: but the discovery was made clod Thou mayest believe me
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: when I say that I could also have behaved like
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: that great mathematician of whom I have read somewhere, who,
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: jumping out of his bath where he had solved a problem,
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: ran naked through the streets of his native city, exclaiming,
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: I have found it. I have found it. Some day,
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: perhaps thou mayest thyself experience these ecstasies, When, after having
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: long wandered in darkness, suddenly light breaks in upon thee
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: A delirium seizes one. This sinner fallged down on his
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: knees to thank God, from whom proceeds all light, that God,
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: to whom we, the ungrateful children of earth, do not
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: fear in our ignorant pride to aspire to an equality.
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: Here Gudenburg, clasping both hands round his mug, raised it
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: to his lips and drank a long draft. Claude had
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: listened with naive emotion to the relation of the old man,
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: and when he had finished speaking, Claude replied, in a
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: tone of prophetic inspiration, Master, you have discovered and accomplished
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: a divine work. What are all arts in comparison of yours?
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: With its incessant fiicundity. No, no, do not take what
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: I say as a piece of insipid flattery. But I
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: can only liken your invention to an old fable which
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: I saw represented in my joyous city of Paris. I
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: think they called it a mystery. There was a hero who,
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: if I recollect right, was named Prometheus. He wished to
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: steal fire from heaven, to bring down a spark of
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: it to our cold, gloomy earth. You have done as
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: he did, may then your name and your aunt live
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: forever here. The young man stood up and drank. Gudenburg
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: meanwhile had with a pensive air, been shaking his head
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: and his gray locks. His eyes fixed before him, Claude said,
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: he thou speakest according to thy years and thy imagination.
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: Life has no shadows for thee thy dreams have not
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: yet been destroyed. It is different with me, Claude, Believe
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: what I say. I see the time came when these
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: little mobile letters which I have discovered will become living realities,
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: like so many serpents. They will climb the walls of
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: our cathedrals, even up to the clock towers, and they
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: will be as snoring worms to the old thrones of
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: our emperors. Yes, these movable letters contain also a satanic element,
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: which thou dost not perceive I have created. I have
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: invented them, but they cannot be otherwise than destructive. I
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: have lighted it torch, But let the wind and the
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: storm arise and shake their wings, and I warn them
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: that the flame will suddenly become a devouring fire, consuming
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: everything around it. Claud did not quite understand the sense
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: in which the old prophet uttered his denunciation. His survey
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: only skimmed over the surface of events, without seeking to
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: penetrate beyond, and he was incapable of foreseeing the inevitable consequences,
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: the fearful reactions which must ensue from so wonderful a discovery.
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: Full of love for his old master, he repeated incessantly
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: his congratulations to the old man for the imperishable monument
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: he had raised to his own name. This even Gutenberg
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: would not admit. He said, my art is not like
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 1: any other art. A painter sketches his figures on the canvas,
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: and he perfects the creation of his thought, the same
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: with the poet, the engraver, the architect, and the musician. We,
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: on the contrary, with our presses, are only the servants
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: of others. Printing is only an instrument for thinkers. Of
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: what importance are the fingers which regulate the letters in
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: a book? Of what importance is the hand which works
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: the press, which arranges the pages? And the leaves, which
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 1: gives a visible form to the action of the mind.
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: Will the reader ask who has printed the book? He
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: will only care to know the name of him who
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: has conceived it written it. Which name will shine in
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: large letters on the first page while read. The typographers
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: will only appear at the end in a modest paragraph,
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: hardly perceptible, dragged as it were, in tow by the
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: author on his journey to immortality. The Master rose and
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: moved towards the wind outside. A gentle breeze whispered to
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: the river, to the town, and to the surrounding country.
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: In the stillness of the night. Gudenburg looked up with
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: emotion to the brilliant starlight of the heavens. Lord murmured
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 1: he in a low voice, Thou knowest the aim which
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: I have sought, and the nature of my work may
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: at all end in thee Let my poor life, my
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: name be forgotten. If such be thy will, let them
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: be lost in the vastness of Thy infinity. He spoke
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: and disappeared in the recess of the room, where he
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: was in the habit of seeking repose for the night.
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: Claude watched him with surprise, but Lawrence Bildek, who had
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: not listened to his beloved master without being moved to tears,
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: said softly to the young man, he is often so
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: he has the heart of a child. May the Almighty
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: have him in his holy keeping. End of Chapter three,
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: Chapter four of John Gutenberg, First Master Printer by Franz
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: freihervon Dinglstadt. This liprivox recording is in the public domain
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: recording by claudiazalto how two crosiers being engaged in a quarrel,
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: the poor people of Mayunts were the sufferers, and Master
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: John Gutenberg in particular. Perhaps, reader, you may have happened
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: to witness a threatening storm enclosing the hills around with
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: its gloomy wings, while the valley below sleeps carelessly in
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: the last rays of a lingering sun. The laborers are
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: standing outside their doors, contemplating their harvest with satisfied looks.
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: The blue smoke curls as it rises lightly from the chimneys.
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: All is calm and stillness. When in one hour, only
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: one short hour, spare me, reader, the representation of such
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: a picture. Never, in the worst time of religious warfare,
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: had the city of Mayunts such a day to endure
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: as that of the twenty third of October fourteen sixty two.
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: In the calendar it is named Simon and Jude, And
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: one asks oneself if the people of Mayunts should mark
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 1: it with a black cross in sign of mourning, as
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: a day really worthy of its patron Judas, or with
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: the red cross in commemoration of the blood which flowed
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: in their city and the flames which, bursting out on
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: all sides, consumed their houses. The Prince Adolf of Nassau,
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: in order to compel the Archbishop Dieta to let go
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: his hold, conceived the somewhat novel expedient, especially so when
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: we reflect that it emanated from the brain of a
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: spiritual shepherd of smoking his competitor out as bees are smoked,
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: in order to oblige them to vacate their hives. It
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: might have been about four hours after midnight when a
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: hundred of the boldest and most enterprising of the followers
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: of Adolf of Nassau scaled the wall of the city
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 1: at its highest point. For exactly on account of its height,
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: and above all of its position on the edge of
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: the river which bathed its feet, it was thought peculiarly safe,
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: and the sentinels, which were posted elsewhere, were considered unnecessary
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: at that spot to leap into the city to put
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: the edge of the sword the soldiers who kept the
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: gates to set fire to the nearest houses, whose inhabitants
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: they massacred, was for the invaders the work of a moment.
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: When day began to dawn, the flames of these incendiary
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: fire lighted up the streets, the alarm bells rang, the
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: houses resounded with cries and lamentations, as well as with
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 1: the noise of arms, a memorable spectacle of anguish, which
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: lasted from the first rays of the morning until the
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: evening sun retired to rec bathed as if it were
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: in blood, behind the waters of the rhine. The people
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: defended themselves in a manner worthy of free citizens. But
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: when they beheld four hundred of their most valiant colleagues
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: lying dead in the streets, when they saw above all women,
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: young girls and children throwing themselves with clasped hands in
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: the midst of the combatants, praying for mercy from the
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: soldiers of Prince Adolf, who were occupied in setting fire
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 1: to the houses which they had first pillaged. Then the
• 1:20:41
  Speaker 1: poor mans wre threw away their arms in despair, and
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: as so many sheep overtaken by a storm, they allowed
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: themselves to be conducted without resistance to the grand square
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: of the archi Episcopal city. There it was announced to
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: them on the part of their new prince, that from
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: that moment they were at liberty to depart themselves and
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: all who belonged to them, wherever they pleased, but they
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 1: must leave the town without delay by any of its
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: numerous gates. I wish, reader, you could peruse, as I
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 1: have done, the ancient chronicles of the city of Mayons.
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: You would therein perceive how the old chroniclers lie with
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: one another in lamenting unanimously over the bloody page of
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: the history of their city. You would read the heartrending
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: description of the misery of so many unfortunate creatures, who
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 1: mortally wounded and stricken saw themselves banished from their hearths
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: without the means of existence, leaving behind them desolation and despair.
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: How noble and just. On the other hand, is the
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 1: anger of these same chroniclers when they speak of certain
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: cunning citizens, who, having made a secret alliance with the
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: Prince of Nassau, now that there was nothing more to
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: fear openly paraded their assurance in the midst of the
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: general mourning. You might also read how one of these
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: honest historians, in his simplicity, expresses indignation against the Archbishop Geter, who,
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: aroused from his morning slumber by the alarm bell, immediately
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: clothes himself in disguise to prevent the people from recognizing him,
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: forgetting in his hayat his ring, his cross and his crosure.
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: He slides down by a cord from one of the
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: castle windows, and jumping into a small boat. The worthy pastor,
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: not deigning to cast one look behind him on his
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: poor city in flames, follows the cause of the stream
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: without delay. But what, then, oh simple chronicler, does that
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: astonish thee, as if the circumstance were in any way extraordinary,
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 1: or had any right to surprise thee? Amid this multitude
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 1: escaping for its life, our chief business is to look
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: around us and inquire in the universal misery. What has
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: become of our old acquaintances. At the great sent Humbert,
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: the partisans of the Prince of Nassau, we must confess
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 1: terribly abe used the right of might. They threw the
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 1: presses out of the windows when they fell on the
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 1: pavements and were broken. In the rude savitier, it literally
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: rained alphabets. The plunderers broke open all the chests and boxes,
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: without finding anything to satisfy their avidity. Of what avail
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: was it that Master FoST swore with clasped hands that
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 1: he possessed nothing, that he had given up everything. When
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: he threatened to complain to his brother, the Burgomaster, the
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: richest goldsmith of the city, and one who stood well
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 1: in the books of the Archbishop Adolf, these soldiers answered
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 1: by bursts of laughter, and, on finding neither gold nor
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: silver to carry off, their unlettered hands seized the most
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: valuable impressions, which they found piled up under the framework
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: of the roof. This is not good to eat, said
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 1: a long bearded soldier of the Palatinate. It would be
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: too indigestible. But after all it may serve as litter
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: for the horses, And so saying, he threw six large
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: infolios into his great sack, where they disappeared as in
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: a gulf. The scene was even still more distressing at
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 1: the house of Peter Shaffer, who, at the same time
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 1: that he tried to inspire his new helpmate, with a
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: little courage, entered into a violent dispute with one of
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: his fierce visitors. Dame Christine had retired to the furthest
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: end of her apartments, where on her knees before her bridieu,
• 1:25:54
  Speaker 1: she implored the Virgin Mother of God. Sheffer was running,
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: first lost into the courtyard, trying to arrest the progress
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: of the pillage, and then returning to his wife, bringing
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 1: scraps of information which alas were anything but reassuring. At
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: this fearful moment, an impudent dragoon forced his way suddenly
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: into the apartment of Dame Christine and looked around with
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: savage and avaricious eyes to see what he could seize
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: upon The poor woman offered, trembling all she possessed in
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 1: necklaces and jewels. Not enough, said the robber in a
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: brutal tone, and with both hands he began diving into
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 1: the chests. At the bottom of one of them, the
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 1: salter of fourteen fifty seven suddenly attracted the eyes of
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 1: the soldier less reader, as you will readily believe, on
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: account of its beauty type then for its silver clasps,
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: which excited the avarice of the vandal. With a smile
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: on his lips, he drew out the volume. Dame Christine,
• 1:27:13
  Speaker 1: who valued the salter not only as her book of
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: devotion but also as the wedding gift of her husband,
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 1: tried to dispute the possession of it with the invader
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 1: at the price of his wife. Sheffer rushed into the room,
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: snatched the book from the hands of the soldier, who
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: defended himself, and in trying to strike Sheffer with the
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 1: heel of his heavy boot, he wounded him with his spur.
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 1: Sheffer struggled, and, seizing the pridieu, hurled it with such
• 1:27:47
  Speaker 1: force in the face of his enemy that he was
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 1: covered with blood, and began swearing and howling most piteously.
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: His fellow soldiers ran to his assistance. They drove Sheffer
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: in Christine out of their house. A merciless hand collected
• 1:28:04
  Speaker 1: the cinders and live charcoal which were in the hearth
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 1: of the common sitting room, and in a few moments,
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: the flames, bursting forth from every issue, enveloped the entire
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 1: building with their fiery tongues, as if the malediction of
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: the little Parisian against the house of the printer was
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 1: to be accomplished without loss of time. The family of Fast,
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 1: assembled in the court of the greats, and humbled, was
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 1: sending up its cries to Heaven and uttering useless imprecations
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: against the plunderers, who, after having pillaged and burnt the house,
• 1:28:46
  Speaker 1: left the smoking ruins to tempt fortune by proceeding further
• 1:28:50
  Speaker 1: in the work of destruction. It will not be difficult
• 1:28:54
  Speaker 1: to understand that the efforts of the workmen, who knew
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: not to which saint to vow them, whether they ought
• 1:29:02
  Speaker 1: to try and extinguish the fire, or rather attempt to
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 1: save what the flames had spared, should have remained without
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 1: much result. Neither did the neighbors, in the midst of
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 1: the general confusion feel much disposed to come to the
• 1:29:18
  Speaker 1: aid of a man who, by his haughtiness in prosperity,
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: had estranged them from him. Fast, not knowing what he
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: was about, tore his hair and threw it into the
• 1:29:31
  Speaker 1: flames which were consuming his property. The burgomaster, his brother,
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 1: too much occupied with the general distress, or which is
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 1: more probable, completely absorbed in the care of his own concerns,
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 1: found no time to think of his own flesh and
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: blood in every part of this wretched city. Enemies, plunderers,
• 1:29:55
  Speaker 1: and massacres were alone to be seen. The gates were closed,
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 1: and the entrances to private houses carefully barricaded from the inside. Fast,
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 1: incapable of giving any orders, stood motionless watching the flames,
• 1:30:13
  Speaker 1: while Christine, in despair, hid her face in her husband's bosom.
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 1: The workmen wandered here and there, with hands clasped and
• 1:30:23
  Speaker 1: high above their heads. The fire crackled and sparkled. The
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 1: beams were swallowed up in the blaze, and in the
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 1: air paper ashes flew about, tossed in malicious play by
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 1: the fresh breeze of the morning. To describe the impression
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: produced by this scene would be almost impossible. It was
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: solitude and silence, annihilation and despair in the midst of
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: turmoil and clamor. At this moment a new personage appeared
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: on the scene. Made God and his mercy be with you, all,
• 1:31:03
  Speaker 1: poor unfortunate creatures, said the newcomer, in a tone of compassion,
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: at once deep and sincere. If we add that instead
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 1: of thanks, the speaker was only answered by cold recognitions
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 1: and met by eyes from whence flashed hatred and defiance.
• 1:31:22
  Speaker 1: Every one will guess that it was John Gutenberg, who,
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: with his knapsack on his back, his pilgrim's staff in
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: his hand, and his doublet tucked up for a journey,
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 1: had just entered the courtyard of the Great Saint Humbered.
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 1: It was indeed, he, and fust, glad to find some
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 1: one on whom to vent his anger, hurled these words
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: at him, accompanied by looks as fiery as the flames
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: which were consuming his house. Man, what brings you here?
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 1: Are you come to feast your eyes on the side
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: of our misery, or perhaps to beg your bread from beggars?
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 1: The person so offensively addressed contented himself with shaking his
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 1: head gently, and without even looking at Shaffer, who, at
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: the sight of Gudenburg, had turned away, taking Dame Christine
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: with him. I imagined, said the old man, that at
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: such a time of universal suffering, you would doubtless have
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 1: forgotten our little former quarrels. And if I come, it
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: is to learn your fate, anxious to hold out a
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: hand of succor, if such is in my power, I
• 1:32:41
  Speaker 1: have already lost all recollection that we parted in anger,
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 1: and hope that I may still have the means of
• 1:32:49
  Speaker 1: showing my interest in a house in which I worked
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 1: for so many years with you and your son in law,
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 1: fast for all answer, replied, you see, there is nothing
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 1: left to be done here or to be carried away.
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 1: We are all ruined like yourself. Master, replied Gudenburg, Let
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 1: there be an end of all petty jealousy. I am
• 1:33:16
  Speaker 1: not in a better condition than you are. The partisans
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 1: of Nassau have done what they listed at the Syndic's house.
• 1:33:24
  Speaker 1: My presses are broken, my alphabets scattered. Nothing is left
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: but the bare house and walls. Chaffeur had in the mean,
• 1:33:34
  Speaker 1: while re entered and taking part in the conversation, said
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 1: with bitterness to his former patron, well, most worthy, sir, you,
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: it appears to me have only cause for increased tranquility.
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: Is it not well known that you possess no actual
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: right in your presses, and that you only continue your
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 1: profession at the risk and peril of the Syndic. At
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: this unfeeling speech, one might have seen a vivid color
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 1: mount up in the face of the old man. It
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 1: is true, it is as you say, replied he. But
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 1: who ought to know better than yourself the cause of
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 1: my misfortunes. I do not mourn over the little I
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: may have lost. My only regret is to see my
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 1: work interrupted. Time and bodily strength are wearing away, two
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 1: things of which an old man may well be covetous.
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: That is my sorrow, For who knows when or where
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 1: the Master may find a place in which to set
• 1:34:42
  Speaker 1: up once more his compositor's table. Do you still think, then,
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 1: said Fast, in a depressed tone, that it will ever
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 1: be possible to re establish a printing house yours and mine,
• 1:34:56
  Speaker 1: where the two first believe me, there will be the
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: two lasts everyone will avoid in future, the revival of
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 1: a profession on which the curse of heaven so evidently
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 1: rests you and I to be so completely ruined. Oh,
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: curse it be the hour when you first crossed my threshold,
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: when by enticing words you persuaded me to join in
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 1: the work of Satan. May it pass away forever and
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: vanish like the smoke issuing from my house, and come
• 1:35:33
  Speaker 1: to nothing like this calcined plank on which rested the
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 1: first printing press. A loud crash served as an accompaniment
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 1: to this terrible wish. The yard and the street in
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: which it stood, were buried under the fragments that dust,
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 1: the cinders, and the burning timber. One workman disappeared under
• 1:35:59
  Speaker 1: the avalanche. The others ran away with loud cries. Sheffer
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 1: carried his weeping wife far from the scene of desolation.
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 1: The old FoST and Gudenburg remained alone in the midst
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 1: of the ruin. The former, with both hands over his eyes,
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 1: had fallen almost to the ground on his trembling knees. Gudenburg,
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: on the contrary, as if renewed with the vigor of youth,
• 1:36:28
  Speaker 1: stood erect and, laying his hand on the shoulder of
• 1:36:32
  Speaker 1: his antagonist, he addressed the following words to him in
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 1: a tone of inspired prophecy, Oh, you of little faith,
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 1: who think, because the temple is in flames, that the
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 1: Divinity must also burn. That which happens now happens justly,
• 1:36:51
  Speaker 1: for your labor has been far less for the sake
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 1: of your art and its progress, than for your own
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 1: personal interest. I tell you, Master FoST, this art of
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 1: which you despair shall be eternal, as the word which
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 1: created it is great in the sight of man, and
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 1: it is as little likely to perish in the flames
• 1:37:16
  Speaker 1: of your dwelling as the heavens are likely to perish,
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 1: which you see stretched out so far above you in
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 1: their blue stillness and beauty. Behold, Master FoST, your workshop
• 1:37:28
  Speaker 1: is empty, Your workmen are dispersed. Reflect on what I say. Fate,
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 1: sitting above your head, bowed down with grief, scatters the
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 1: ashes of your books to the four winds of heaven.
• 1:37:42
  Speaker 1: Well by the very fact of the suspension of our
• 1:37:46
  Speaker 1: work and banishment from our hearths and homes, our art
• 1:37:51
  Speaker 1: will extend itself to the farthest corners of the world.
• 1:37:55
  Speaker 1: Let then all burn that can burn, o fast the
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 1: art of printing as the phoenix, which will arise from
• 1:38:03
  Speaker 1: its ashes and cover the whole world with its wings.
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 1: End of chapter four, Chapter five of John Gutenberg, First
• 1:38:19
  Speaker 1: Master Printer, by Franz freihervon Dinglstead. This LibriVox recording is
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Recording by Claudia Salto the Lord
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 1: Archbishop Adolf of Nassau, having bethought him of John Gutenberg.
• 1:38:35
  Speaker 1: The printer causes a search to be made for him
• 1:38:39
  Speaker 1: by one of his horsemen, who finds him in a
• 1:38:43
  Speaker 1: fisherman's hut in the district of the Rheineau on the
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 1: right hand side of the Great River. Some miles below
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 1: Mayons is a little town to which in the present
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 1: day is given two different names. According to fancy. It
• 1:38:59
  Speaker 1: is some times called Eltville or Elfeld. When those smoking
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 1: levire theens, the steamboats pass roaring before the modest houses
• 1:39:11
  Speaker 1: of Eltville, the sound of the silvery bell has scarcely
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: echoed in the air. When a little boat carrying a
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 1: white and red flag is unmoored and cuts swiftly through
• 1:39:24
  Speaker 1: the water, it arrives alongside the passengers mount the large vessel,
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 1: But the tourists, strutting up and down the deck, scarcely
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: condescend to cast even a vacant look on their new
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 1: fellow travelers. And why should they? Of what importance to
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 1: the fair daughter of Albion. Reclining on one of the
• 1:39:47
  Speaker 1: benches is the graceful Rheino peasant, who, with her basket
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 1: on her arm and her knitting in her hand, mounts
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 1: silently the side of the boat, and, after a dress
• 1:40:00
  Speaker 1: her parting adiuce to her friends male and female, whom
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: she leaves on the bank, goes quietly and takes her
• 1:40:08
  Speaker 1: seat on a rustic wooden stool. It is at Eltville
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 1: that we shall take up again the threat of our story,
• 1:40:17
  Speaker 1: which was so abruptly broken by the incendiary of Mayon's.
• 1:40:22
  Speaker 1: Three years have passed since that event, three cruel years
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 1: to the poor inhabitants of the Rhine country. Gudenberg has
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 1: resumed as before his pilgrim's staff. Claude Munny walks in front,
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 1: in charge of the light baggage of the little caravan.
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 1: And this joyous child of a light hearted nation, thanks
• 1:40:48
  Speaker 1: to his gaiety, which neither privations nor contrarities can reach,
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 1: has it often in his power to bring back moments
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 1: of forgetfulness and serenity to the old man. Laurence Bialdeck,
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 1: inseparable from his master, walks by his side, sometimes supporting
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 1: Gutenberg's faltering steps, and when necessary, coming to the assistance
• 1:41:13
  Speaker 1: of his failing eyesight. What a caravan and what a journey?
• 1:41:18
  Speaker 1: And what thoughts must have passed through the mind of
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 1: the chief actor and guide when he reflected, especially on
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 1: that first occasion of his flight in this very same direction,
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: a flight then resembling that of an eagle soaring from
• 1:41:36
  Speaker 1: its nest. Bildeck carefully avoided every word which might recall
• 1:41:42
  Speaker 1: those days to his master, but one evening, when our
• 1:41:47
  Speaker 1: travelers had halted on a hill overlooking the Rhine, Gutenburg
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 1: broke the generous silence by saying, with much sadness, dost
• 1:41:58
  Speaker 1: thou recollect my goodbye wildeck. How in the year twenty
• 1:42:03
  Speaker 1: we traveled this road together, I proudly on horseback, a
• 1:42:09
  Speaker 1: boasting young aristocrat, just like all the rest, thinking myself
• 1:42:14
  Speaker 1: quite equal to the Furstenburg, the Folksburg, the guilt whose
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: the humberd canst thou not see me now? With my
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: fine floating feather fastened to my velvet cap and my
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 1: slashed doublet covered with an abundance of ribbon, Ah, Lawrence,
• 1:42:36
  Speaker 1: how handsome it was, and how merrily we passed by
• 1:42:40
  Speaker 1: on the road, heavily mounted cavaliers sent by the Abbots
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 1: and the citizens, so desirous were we to be the
• 1:42:49
  Speaker 1: first to salute the Emperor Rupert. And afterwards, when we
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 1: were far away, how the people of Marion's came and
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 1: attacked our houses. Ah, those were good old times, said Bildec,
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 1: sighing and shaking his head. Yes, thou art right, they
• 1:43:12
  Speaker 1: were happy times, replied Gudenburg. Alas when will our weary
• 1:43:17
  Speaker 1: pilgrimage and our sorrows come to an end. And these words,
• 1:43:22
  Speaker 1: which fell with some bitterness from his lips, the noble
• 1:43:26
  Speaker 1: old man fixed his gaze on the glorious setting sun,
• 1:43:31
  Speaker 1: whose brilliant rays surrounded his thinly covered head and his pale,
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 1: sorrow stricken face. One might have said that they wished
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: to form a luminous martyr's crown around him. Gutenburg did
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 1: not speak without reason of his trials, For during three
• 1:43:51
  Speaker 1: successive years, the little caravan had wandered along the Rhine,
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 1: now descending, now remounting it, and our three travelers had
• 1:44:01
  Speaker 1: arrived in this manner as far as Strasburg, where Gutenberg
• 1:44:05
  Speaker 1: wished to remain, Hoping in that city to meet with
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 1: old friends, he knocked on all sides, but found only
• 1:44:14
  Speaker 1: closed hearts of fastened doors. No one cared about typography.
• 1:44:21
  Speaker 1: The sacking of mayons had dispersed crowds of fugitive workmen
• 1:44:26
  Speaker 1: to all parts of the Rhine country, and printers were
• 1:44:30
  Speaker 1: in such a special abundance that there seemed no opening
• 1:44:34
  Speaker 1: anywhere for the old man. To place himself under the
• 1:44:39
  Speaker 1: orders of another was what the master could not make
• 1:44:44
  Speaker 1: up his mind to do. Gutenberg wished for his own
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: workshop and to work at his own hours, even though
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 1: his purse should remain scantily furnished. At the end of
• 1:44:55
  Speaker 1: three years, the peregrinations of the caravan came to an
• 1:45:00
  Speaker 1: abrupt termination, a termination which it certainly did not seek
• 1:45:05
  Speaker 1: or desire. Gutenburg fell suddenly dangerously ill. It was with
• 1:45:11
  Speaker 1: difficulty that his companions procured him shelter and a lodging
• 1:45:16
  Speaker 1: with a boatman who possessed on the left bank of
• 1:45:19
  Speaker 1: the Rhine, opposite the rich and powerful convent of Ehrbach,
• 1:45:24
  Speaker 1: a hut where he earned a scanty livelihood, partly by fishing,
• 1:45:30
  Speaker 1: partly by the profits he made in carrying over pilgrims
• 1:45:34
  Speaker 1: in his little boat to the monastery. It was here
• 1:45:38
  Speaker 1: that Gutenberg was obliged to remain overcome by sickness. The
• 1:45:44
  Speaker 1: place suited him inasmuch as it was removed from the
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 1: haunts of men, which the old man, soured by grief
• 1:45:52
  Speaker 1: and depressed by misfortune, endeavored every day more and more
• 1:45:57
  Speaker 1: to avoid. The hut, which was married in the vine
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 1: branches overlooked the Rhine, whose waters almost bathed its threshold.
• 1:46:07
  Speaker 1: It is thus that in the year of our Lord
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 1: Jesus fourteen sixty five, John Gudenberg, the inventor of the
• 1:46:16
  Speaker 1: art of printing, was laid up under the wretched roof,
• 1:46:20
  Speaker 1: a prey to sickness, forgotten and forsaken by mankind. The
• 1:46:25
  Speaker 1: most trying season of the year had found him still traveling. Fatigue, illness, grief,
• 1:46:32
  Speaker 1: disappointment of every kind had overpowered the old man, and
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 1: it was on this account that his two companions watched
• 1:46:40
  Speaker 1: with so much anxiety and anguish by the side of
• 1:46:44
  Speaker 1: their master's palate. They shared between them the care of
• 1:46:49
  Speaker 1: the sufferer. And while Claude Muni went about here and
• 1:46:54
  Speaker 1: there offering his services to the vine dressers and the
• 1:46:58
  Speaker 1: monks of the convent, Bildec remained in attendance on his master.
• 1:47:04
  Speaker 1: Occasionally at rare intervals. A monk of Erbach, expert in
• 1:47:09
  Speaker 1: the art of healing, crossed the water at the earnest
• 1:47:13
  Speaker 1: entreaty of Claude to visit the infirm old man, whose
• 1:47:17
  Speaker 1: ordinary physician was a shepherd of the neighborhood, who, by
• 1:47:22
  Speaker 1: means of potions and prayers, vainly endeavored to restore vitality
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 1: to an existence already worn out. On one of the
• 1:47:31
  Speaker 1: last evenings of the autumn of this same year, Bildec
• 1:47:36
  Speaker 1: and the young Frenchman sat by Gutenberg's couch, watching his
• 1:47:41
  Speaker 1: restless and feverish sleep. Outside, the night was dark and gloomy.
• 1:47:46
  Speaker 1: The waters of the Rhine, swollen by the rain, beat
• 1:47:50
  Speaker 1: against the walls of the hut, and a sharp wind,
• 1:47:53
  Speaker 1: which blew down in squalls from the hills, shook the
• 1:47:57
  Speaker 1: framework of the miserable dwelling. The sick man had been
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 1: suffering all day. He complained of a burning heat in
• 1:48:05
  Speaker 1: his head, especially in his eyes, and Bialdeck had observed
• 1:48:10
  Speaker 1: with uneasiness his uncertain and hesitating hold of the porringer
• 1:48:16
  Speaker 1: when put into his hand. Claude sat silent at the
• 1:48:20
  Speaker 1: foot of the bed, and every time that Gutenberg moved
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 1: or moaned, the shepherd began muttering unintelligible prayers. Bildeck stood
• 1:48:30
  Speaker 1: at the window, listening to the noise of the river
• 1:48:34
  Speaker 1: and the wailing of the wind. The hut. When Gutenberg
• 1:48:38
  Speaker 1: awoke was in profound darkness. In a faint voice, he
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 1: asked for light. Bildeck went out and lighted a resinous torch,
• 1:48:48
  Speaker 1: which he placed in an iron ring in the wall,
• 1:48:51
  Speaker 1: fastened there for the purpose, and closed to Gutenberg's bed.
• 1:48:56
  Speaker 1: The latter, hearing the door creak on its hind, lifted
• 1:49:01
  Speaker 1: himself up. A light light, said he. Then again, after
• 1:49:06
  Speaker 1: a short pause, he added, in an impatient tone, is
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 1: there there no one here who will condescend to grant
• 1:49:14
  Speaker 1: the favor of a light to an old man? To
• 1:49:17
  Speaker 1: while away the tedious hours of darkness? Baldec trembling from
• 1:49:23
  Speaker 1: head to foot, drew the young Frenchman quickly to the
• 1:49:27
  Speaker 1: other side of the bed. Beloved Master, he said, be
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 1: so good as to turn and to open your eyes.
• 1:49:34
  Speaker 1: The torch is in its usual place, I tell thee
• 1:49:38
  Speaker 1: thou liest, said Gutenburg angrily. Is not everything here as
• 1:49:43
  Speaker 1: dark as in a tomb? Claude, my son, answer me?
• 1:49:46
  Speaker 1: Where art thou? He whom he called, was close to
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 1: his master's head. He shuddered as he bent down towards him.
• 1:49:56
  Speaker 1: Here I am, he said, in a low voice, taking
• 1:49:59
  Speaker 1: home old affectionately of his master's hand. But the latter
• 1:50:03
  Speaker 1: pushed him away, and stretching out his arm towards the torch,
• 1:50:08
  Speaker 1: he laid hold of it and brought it close to
• 1:50:11
  Speaker 1: his eyes. He could no longer see it. With a
• 1:50:15
  Speaker 1: cry of despair and burying in his hands, those eyes
• 1:50:19
  Speaker 1: from which the light was forever shut out. Gudenberg threw
• 1:50:24
  Speaker 1: himself back on his palet. I understand you, he said
• 1:50:28
  Speaker 1: to his two companions, who were sobbing aloud, But I
• 1:50:32
  Speaker 1: cannot see you. I smelled the odor of the resin,
• 1:50:35
  Speaker 1: but its flame no longer penetrates the darkness which envelopes me,
• 1:50:42
  Speaker 1: O miserable man, that I am alas I am afflicted
• 1:50:47
  Speaker 1: like to bias, but to bias without a son. After
• 1:50:52
  Speaker 1: the first burst of despair, silence once more reigned in
• 1:50:56
  Speaker 1: the hut. The shepherd, who in this respect much resembed
• 1:51:00
  Speaker 1: but the doctors of our own days, when he was
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 1: at a loss what more to do, slunk noiselessly away.
• 1:51:08
  Speaker 1: The young Frenchman, quite overcome with grief, was on his
• 1:51:11
  Speaker 1: knees by the side of the bed, while Baldec the
• 1:51:15
  Speaker 1: torch in his hand, held it close to the eyes
• 1:51:18
  Speaker 1: of the old man, as if he sought by this
• 1:51:21
  Speaker 1: means to restore the light which was quenched forever. Such
• 1:51:27
  Speaker 1: was the picture presented by the interior of the hut.
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 1: When the sound of an approaching horse came suddenly to
• 1:51:35
  Speaker 1: relieve the solitude of our poor sufferers. Baldec was just
• 1:51:40
  Speaker 1: opening the window to listen when the fisherman ushered in
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 1: a horseman, wedged to the skin and covered with mud. Here,
• 1:51:49
  Speaker 1: said the boatman, Behold him of whom you are in search.
• 1:51:53
  Speaker 1: The horseman bent his tall figure as he entered the
• 1:51:56
  Speaker 1: low door of the dwelling. He whom I seek, said
• 1:52:00
  Speaker 1: he to Baldec, who advanced gloomily, is called John Gutenberg,
• 1:52:05
  Speaker 1: and here is from my aunt's. The old man, hearing
• 1:52:08
  Speaker 1: his name pronounced by a stranger, set up to listen
• 1:52:12
  Speaker 1: and motioned to his attendant to be silent. His pride
• 1:52:17
  Speaker 1: revolted at the idea of being discovered in such an abode.
• 1:52:21
  Speaker 1: Turning towards the door from whence the voice proceeded, he said,
• 1:52:26
  Speaker 1: rather roughly to the horseman, and who told you to
• 1:52:30
  Speaker 1: come and seek that noble gentleman here in this wretched hut,
• 1:52:34
  Speaker 1: Pass on, my friend, and leave honest people to rest
• 1:52:37
  Speaker 1: in peace. That is a pity, said the cavalier, casting
• 1:52:42
  Speaker 1: a doubtful look at the sick man. Yes, it is
• 1:52:46
  Speaker 1: a great pity that such good news should meet with
• 1:52:50
  Speaker 1: so rude a reception. He to whom my message is addressed,
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 1: will doubtless receive me with more politeness. I quite sure
• 1:53:00
  Speaker 1: of that. I think so at least, said he, drawing
• 1:53:05
  Speaker 1: from under his doublet a roll of parchment. Here is
• 1:53:09
  Speaker 1: what I bring from our worthy lord Archbishop, a letter
• 1:53:13
  Speaker 1: which could not fail to rejoice the old gentleman, if
• 1:53:17
  Speaker 1: I could only put it into his hands. I have
• 1:53:21
  Speaker 1: been for weeks on his track, and only yesterday the
• 1:53:24
  Speaker 1: reverend Fathers of Herbach sent me here. At these words,
• 1:53:31
  Speaker 1: Lawrence and Claude, in whose face as sanguine curiosity was
• 1:53:36
  Speaker 1: clearly legible, approached the cavalier. If you could make up
• 1:53:40
  Speaker 1: your mind, said Lawrence, pointing silently to his master, to
• 1:53:45
  Speaker 1: leave your message with us. I will answer for it
• 1:53:49
  Speaker 1: on my head, that it could not fall into better hands,
• 1:53:53
  Speaker 1: For the retreat of the noble John Gutenberg is perfectly
• 1:53:58
  Speaker 1: well known to us well, then replied the horseman, who
• 1:54:02
  Speaker 1: was not slow to understand. I agree to that readily,
• 1:54:06
  Speaker 1: and he placed the scroll in the old man's hands.
• 1:54:10
  Speaker 1: For my part, I am glad to be at last
• 1:54:12
  Speaker 1: released from my troublesome commission. And if the boatman will
• 1:54:16
  Speaker 1: take me across the river to night, I can at
• 1:54:19
  Speaker 1: any rate reach Eldville, where my most gracious master, the
• 1:54:23
  Speaker 1: Archbishop Adolph, whom God preserve has fixed his residence. The
• 1:54:29
  Speaker 1: spurs of the horsemen were still resounding on the threshold
• 1:54:33
  Speaker 1: when Claude seized the scroll out of Gudenberg's hands, and,
• 1:54:38
  Speaker 1: hastily approaching the resinous torch, he took a rapid survey
• 1:54:43
  Speaker 1: of the missive, from which hung in a case the
• 1:54:47
  Speaker 1: great seal of wags of the Archbishop. Master cried, he
• 1:54:52
  Speaker 1: falling on his knees with a joyous exclamation. It is
• 1:54:56
  Speaker 1: when our distress is at its height that our law
• 1:55:00
  Speaker 1: what is nearest to us. And his tears, which were
• 1:55:03
  Speaker 1: no longer of sorrow but of joy, and his kisses
• 1:55:07
  Speaker 1: covered the old man's hands. Peace, peace, young scatterbrain, said Gutenberg,
• 1:55:14
  Speaker 1: who could, however, with difficulty, control his own emotion. What
• 1:55:19
  Speaker 1: can dismissive contain capable of thus exciting our little frenchman.
• 1:55:25
  Speaker 1: Deliverance for you, o, my master, repeated Claude, in a
• 1:55:29
  Speaker 1: tone of jubilee, and he gave the parchment back to Gutenburg,
• 1:55:34
  Speaker 1: whose trembling fingers wandered over the ribbon and the seal.
• 1:55:38
  Speaker 1: Claude had forgotten that the old man was no longer
• 1:55:41
  Speaker 1: able to read it, bialdec was obliged to recall the
• 1:55:45
  Speaker 1: fact to him. Claude then retook the scroll and began deciphering,
• 1:55:51
  Speaker 1: with some difficulty and many interruptions from the sobs of Lawrence.
• 1:55:57
  Speaker 1: This document a precious red which we here reproduce in
• 1:56:02
  Speaker 1: the simple language of those times. We Adolphe, the elected
• 1:56:10
  Speaker 1: Lord and installed Archbishop of Mauns, do recognize by this
• 1:56:16
  Speaker 1: present that we have accepted as useful and agreeable to
• 1:56:22
  Speaker 1: our person the services rendered to us by our dear
• 1:56:27
  Speaker 1: and faithful John Gutenburg. That is why, excited to this act,
• 1:56:33
  Speaker 1: by the especial grace of God, we have chosen and
• 1:56:38
  Speaker 1: elected him for our servant, worthy of forming one of
• 1:56:43
  Speaker 1: our court, not permitting ourselves, nor wishing for the term
• 1:56:49
  Speaker 1: of his life to deny him our good offices, hoping
• 1:56:54
  Speaker 1: that for our service he may recover himself. We grant
• 1:56:59
  Speaker 1: him each year when we close our community vestments after
• 1:57:05
  Speaker 1: the fashion of our gentlemen, and shall cause to be
• 1:57:09
  Speaker 1: given to him the dress of our court, and every
• 1:57:13
  Speaker 1: year twenty bushels of wheat and two tons of wine
• 1:57:17
  Speaker 1: for the use of his household. And for that the
• 1:57:21
  Speaker 1: said Gutenburg shall have no temptation to sell or to
• 1:57:26
  Speaker 1: give these away. The aforesaid bushels of wheat and tons
• 1:57:31
  Speaker 1: of wine shall have free entrance and exemption from duty
• 1:57:37
  Speaker 1: in this our city of Mayons, for as many years
• 1:57:41
  Speaker 1: as the said Gutenburg shall live, and so long as
• 1:57:45
  Speaker 1: he shall remain our servant in testimony, whereof we dispatch
• 1:57:51
  Speaker 1: him this present. The scroll of parchment fell from the
• 1:57:56
  Speaker 1: hands of the reader, and it was a touching sight
• 1:58:00
  Speaker 1: to see the old Lorence pressing the right hand of
• 1:58:03
  Speaker 1: his beloved master, while with uplifted face towards heaven, he murmured, Lord,
• 1:58:10
  Speaker 1: Now lettest thou thy servant, depart in peace. As for Gutenburg,
• 1:58:16
  Speaker 1: pale and motionless on his palate, a few stray tears
• 1:58:20
  Speaker 1: wandered down his cheeks on to his grizzled bed, But
• 1:58:25
  Speaker 1: not a muscle of his face or a movement of
• 1:58:28
  Speaker 1: his body denoted that life still existed within him. But
• 1:58:33
  Speaker 1: when his two faithful companions tried each to lay hold
• 1:58:37
  Speaker 1: of one of his hands, he put them gently aside.
• 1:58:42
  Speaker 1: Sobs escaped him, and he said, shaking his head, hit
• 1:58:46
  Speaker 1: his too late. These eyes can no longer see anything,
• 1:58:51
  Speaker 1: They can only weep. We who have come into the
• 1:58:55
  Speaker 1: world four centuries later, and who, according to a pompous
• 1:59:01
  Speaker 1: inscription ereperto tam or rupamcolato, which signifies by means of
• 1:59:08
  Speaker 1: subscriptions raised throughout all Europe let monuments be erected upon
• 1:59:14
  Speaker 1: monuments at Mayon's, at Strasbourg, at Gernsheim, at Harlem, and
• 1:59:21
  Speaker 1: heaven knowswhere else. In honor of the art and its inventor,
• 1:59:26
  Speaker 1: why do we not rather enclose in the pedestal of
• 1:59:30
  Speaker 1: the statue a fragment of the parchment bearing the old document.
• 1:59:35
  Speaker 1: And thou fair reader, whose only thought is rapture at
• 1:59:40
  Speaker 1: the intellect diffused throughout the album of Gutenburg. And you
• 1:59:46
  Speaker 1: successes and disciples of the great Master, who build palaces
• 1:59:51
  Speaker 1: for your printing works. And lastly, you spectators, who think
• 1:59:56
  Speaker 1: that ten thousand crowns spend upon a fat estivil ought
• 2:00:01
  Speaker 1: not to wait too heavily in the budget of a
• 2:00:04
  Speaker 1: town recollect him who was the originator and still the hero.
• 2:00:11
  Speaker 1: He owed it to the bounty of a generous prince,
• 2:00:15
  Speaker 1: that he received annually twenty bushels of wheat and two
• 2:00:21
  Speaker 1: tons of wine. But here let us be silent, for reader,
• 2:00:26
  Speaker 1: you doubtless recollect a certain old proverb which says, yea
• 2:00:31
  Speaker 1: chonceon jeestwarre end of chapter five, Chapter six of John Gutenberg,
• 2:00:47
  Speaker 1: First Master Printer by Franz freiherfon Dinglishtad. The sliprivox recording
• 2:00:53
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain recording by Claudia salto death
• 2:00:58
  Speaker 1: of John Gutenberg, reader pray for the repose of his soul.
• 2:01:04
  Speaker 1: His poor remains sleep in an unknown tomb. History in
• 2:01:09
  Speaker 1: transmitting to us the degree of Adolf of Nassau, has
• 2:01:13
  Speaker 1: provided us with the proof of the liberality of the
• 2:01:17
  Speaker 1: Prince of the Church. But she remains silent when we
• 2:01:21
  Speaker 1: inquire by what services Gutenberg could have drawn upon himself
• 2:01:27
  Speaker 1: such favors. Some authors pretend that the old man, being
• 2:01:32
  Speaker 1: a secret partisan of Nassau, had assisted in the surprise
• 2:01:37
  Speaker 1: of his native town. The solitude in which Gutenberg lived
• 2:01:42
  Speaker 1: and his distaste for all political affairs do not allow
• 2:01:46
  Speaker 1: us for a moment to entertain such a supposition. For
• 2:01:51
  Speaker 1: our part, we would rather conclude that the archbishop, after
• 2:01:56
  Speaker 1: having taken violent possession of the capital, be thought him
• 2:02:00
  Speaker 1: of this. One of its children, accident had doubtless brought
• 2:02:06
  Speaker 1: back to the memory of the Prince the poor, houseless
• 2:02:10
  Speaker 1: inventor of an art which at that time was making
• 2:02:15
  Speaker 1: much noise. Why should we seek an explanation for that which,
• 2:02:20
  Speaker 1: unaccounted for, appears to me far nobler and more humane.
• 2:02:26
  Speaker 1: The archbishop held his court at Eltville. That town must
• 2:02:32
  Speaker 1: have been more thickly inhabited and of more importance than
• 2:02:36
  Speaker 1: that it is at present. The great castle of Eltville
• 2:02:40
  Speaker 1: had not yet been the victim of the flames of France,
• 2:02:44
  Speaker 1: and the Archbishop Adolphe, not placing as yet entire confidence
• 2:02:50
  Speaker 1: in the hearts and fidelity of the sheep of his flock,
• 2:02:53
  Speaker 1: had hesitated to establish his residence in Mayun's itself. It
• 2:02:59
  Speaker 1: was then towards Eldvil that John Gutenberg directed his steps,
• 2:03:06
  Speaker 1: supported by his faithful claud and accompanied by Lawrence Bildeck.
• 2:03:11
  Speaker 1: He was no longer a wandering Belizarius, but he was
• 2:03:15
  Speaker 1: nottheless a poor, blind old man whom the liberality of
• 2:03:21
  Speaker 1: his prince had sought out too late, and whose existence
• 2:03:26
  Speaker 1: could not be reanimated by the tardy favors of a
• 2:03:30
  Speaker 1: court reader. Spare me the recital of that scene when
• 2:03:35
  Speaker 1: the sightless old man entered the archaepiscopal residence to render
• 2:03:40
  Speaker 1: his thanks in person to his powerful patron. At the
• 2:03:45
  Speaker 1: sight of that tall figure, so cruelly bent with age
• 2:03:49
  Speaker 1: and infirmities, the prelates, full to repletion and florid with health,
• 2:03:56
  Speaker 1: asked each other in low tones, is that, then, the
• 2:04:00
  Speaker 1: man who teaches the art of printing? We do not
• 2:04:04
  Speaker 1: consider that these words convey any very lively or deep
• 2:04:09
  Speaker 1: sympathy with a great discoverer of so immense a work
• 2:04:14
  Speaker 1: on the part of the wearers of stones and of armor.
• 2:04:19
  Speaker 1: After so many trials and misfortunes, Heaven only granted a
• 2:04:24
  Speaker 1: few short years to the old man, wherein to enjoy
• 2:04:29
  Speaker 1: his modest competency he appeared. Forgive me, reader, for the
• 2:04:34
  Speaker 1: comparison I allow, it is somewhat stale, like the setting
• 2:04:39
  Speaker 1: sun bursting through a veil of clouds before him, In
• 2:04:44
  Speaker 1: order to disappear a moment afterwards, in solitary grandeur and
• 2:04:49
  Speaker 1: majesty behind the distant hills, Gudenburg could no longer see
• 2:04:55
  Speaker 1: this fine sun rising and setting on the Rhinegow. But
• 2:04:59
  Speaker 1: now and then, and nevertheless he wandered, guided by his
• 2:05:04
  Speaker 1: two faithful companions, to the banks of the great river,
• 2:05:08
  Speaker 1: and sat down to listen to its gentle undulation as
• 2:05:13
  Speaker 1: it flowed. Few words now escaped his lips. Those lips alas,
• 2:05:19
  Speaker 1: which had been so steeped in bitterness that they could
• 2:05:23
  Speaker 1: scarcely taste the honey of his latter days, and under
• 2:05:27
  Speaker 1: the impression of great sorrow, remained incessantly sealed. It was
• 2:05:33
  Speaker 1: thus that the year fourteen sixty six passed away to
• 2:05:37
  Speaker 1: our three friends, who still remained faithful to their retreat.
• 2:05:42
  Speaker 1: The season of spring had begun to revive the earth
• 2:05:46
  Speaker 1: with its first warm breath. Gutenburg, then seventy years of age,
• 2:05:52
  Speaker 1: was standing one morning at the window of the hut
• 2:05:56
  Speaker 1: while his young companion trained the vine branches which covered
• 2:06:00
  Speaker 1: the wall of the humble abode. Like tapestry. Scraps of
• 2:06:06
  Speaker 1: songs and ballads followed each other merrily from the lips
• 2:06:10
  Speaker 1: of the lively Parisian. Gudenburg probably understood them, but Little
• 2:06:16
  Speaker 1: Cloude's clear voice, however, pleased him. At this juncture, the
• 2:06:21
  Speaker 1: young man heard himself called violently by his master. He
• 2:06:27
  Speaker 1: hastily put down his pruning knife and ran to the
• 2:06:30
  Speaker 1: door of the hut, where he found Gutenberg, who, by
• 2:06:33
  Speaker 1: the help of his stick, was trying to come to him.
• 2:06:37
  Speaker 1: Thy song said he, in a trembling voice, thy last song,
• 2:06:41
  Speaker 1: repeated to me. Claude looked at his master with surprise
• 2:06:46
  Speaker 1: and began to sing afresh, swarima ta fierally for a
• 2:06:51
  Speaker 1: letter kirigazoon, the reinvio letter. Gudenburg hardly gave the singer
• 2:07:00
  Speaker 1: time to pronounce these few words when he drew him
• 2:07:04
  Speaker 1: violently towards him and pressed him to his heart. Young
• 2:07:09
  Speaker 1: man said he from whom hast thou learned that song?
• 2:07:14
  Speaker 1: My mother taught it to me, replied Claude, in my childhood,
• 2:07:18
  Speaker 1: while I played with a small qua on the place
• 2:07:21
  Speaker 1: de Greve. Here the old man remained for a moment
• 2:07:26
  Speaker 1: in deep thought. Presently he said, seiest thou Claude, Thou
• 2:07:32
  Speaker 1: art an honest lad, and by thy fidelity thou hast
• 2:07:37
  Speaker 1: merited my confidence. This song touched my heart because it
• 2:07:42
  Speaker 1: brought back to me the last word, the last sound
• 2:07:46
  Speaker 1: of the voice of one whom I loved, dearly loved.
• 2:07:51
  Speaker 1: Since then, how many years have passed away, I shall
• 2:07:55
  Speaker 1: never hear that voice again, alas never as in days
• 2:08:00
  Speaker 1: gone by. Gutenburg, overcome by his emotion, was silent, and
• 2:08:06
  Speaker 1: it was as well, perhaps that he did not see
• 2:08:09
  Speaker 1: the agitation in which his words had thrown the young man.
• 2:08:14
  Speaker 1: Now Claude said he after a pause, go return to
• 2:08:18
  Speaker 1: thy vine. But thou must sing that song to me
• 2:08:22
  Speaker 1: once every evening. Dost thou hear give me thy hand child, Claude,
• 2:08:28
  Speaker 1: halt it out, thou tremblest tell me what ails thee
• 2:08:33
  Speaker 1: asked Gutenburg, in a tone of mistrust not uncommon to
• 2:08:38
  Speaker 1: the blind nothing master. But I will know the reason
• 2:08:42
  Speaker 1: of thy agitation. Thy hand burns well because you tell
• 2:08:48
  Speaker 1: me that you have confidence in me, and at the
• 2:08:50
  Speaker 1: same time you hide from me the cause of your grief.
• 2:08:55
  Speaker 1: Claude had uttered these last words with anguish, almost in
• 2:09:00
  Speaker 1: the tone of a suppliant who hastens to seize the
• 2:09:04
  Speaker 1: favorable moment. Gutenberg turned away, and after a somewhat prolonged silence,
• 2:09:10
  Speaker 1: he said, in a low voice to the young Frenchman, Claude,
• 2:09:15
  Speaker 1: a countrywoman of Thine once sang that song to me
• 2:09:19
  Speaker 1: in bidding me a jew, a good girl who had
• 2:09:22
  Speaker 1: a noble heart. Her name was the same as thy mother's.
• 2:09:27
  Speaker 1: Thou sayest thy mother's name is she's cat. The old
• 2:09:32
  Speaker 1: man hid his face in his hands, while Claude falling
• 2:09:36
  Speaker 1: at Gutenberg's feet, embraced his knees, murmuring, my father, my father.
• 2:09:43
  Speaker 1: Do you not guess she who sang that song was
• 2:09:47
  Speaker 1: my mother? A cry escaped from Gutenberg. His stick fell
• 2:09:52
  Speaker 1: from his hand. The sightless eyes seemed to seek the
• 2:09:55
  Speaker 1: face of the young man at his knees. It is false,
• 2:09:59
  Speaker 1: he said, have pity on me, Oh, tell me not
• 2:10:03
  Speaker 1: an untruth. By the quenched light of those eyes which
• 2:10:08
  Speaker 1: I love, by the heart of his cat, I speak
• 2:10:11
  Speaker 1: the truth. I am thy son, and she was my mother.
• 2:10:16
  Speaker 1: Claud uttered these words with all the vivacity of a Frenchman.
• 2:10:21
  Speaker 1: Gutenburg answered, not his bosom heaved painfully. One could see
• 2:10:26
  Speaker 1: the struggle between mistrust and the wish to believe. But why,
• 2:10:32
  Speaker 1: asked he father, replied Claude, who perceived at once what
• 2:10:38
  Speaker 1: was passing in Gutenberg's mind. Dost thou not yet understand
• 2:10:43
  Speaker 1: the nature of my mission? Why I present myself to THEE?
• 2:10:48
  Speaker 1: Why I followed THEE? How it is that I have
• 2:10:52
  Speaker 1: ended by loving THEE as I do even to adoration?
• 2:10:57
  Speaker 1: And dost thou not guess how I was bound by
• 2:11:01
  Speaker 1: my mother by a solemn oath never to utter a
• 2:11:06
  Speaker 1: single word that could recall her to thy memory, until
• 2:11:11
  Speaker 1: thou thyself hadst in some manner, named her be. If
• 2:11:16
  Speaker 1: it must be so, his most humble attendant, for he
• 2:11:20
  Speaker 1: is thy father. And if thou findest Gutenburg in prosperity,
• 2:11:25
  Speaker 1: which I pray heaven, he may be, and he has
• 2:11:28
  Speaker 1: forgotten the days at Ella Chapelle. Oh, do not invoke
• 2:11:33
  Speaker 1: the shade of Pugey's cat to place it between him
• 2:11:37
  Speaker 1: and happiness. But if he is in trouble, he will
• 2:11:41
  Speaker 1: of himself think of me. Then fall at his feet,
• 2:11:46
  Speaker 1: kiss the ground he dreads on, and say to him
• 2:11:50
  Speaker 1: be comforted. It is she who sends thy son to thee.
• 2:11:55
  Speaker 1: Enough enough, by the Holy Savior. Enough, cried Gutenburg, straining
• 2:12:00
  Speaker 1: in his arms the young man, who still knelt before him. Yes,
• 2:12:05
  Speaker 1: it is she herself. I recognize her in those words,
• 2:12:09
  Speaker 1: my son, my child. A thunderbolt would not have separated
• 2:12:14
  Speaker 1: those two men clasped together. The old man, although unable
• 2:12:19
  Speaker 1: to look upon the sun, who had been given to him,
• 2:12:23
  Speaker 1: uttered no complaint. His lips, his hands, his arms were
• 2:12:28
  Speaker 1: as so many eyes to him. Before I knew, said Gutenberg,
• 2:12:33
  Speaker 1: the treasure I possessed in thee I recollect, tracing in
• 2:12:37
  Speaker 1: the frank and amiable expression of thy face something of misy'scat.
• 2:12:44
  Speaker 1: When they had recovered themselves a little from their first emotion,
• 2:12:48
  Speaker 1: Gudenburg became sufficiently calm to speak to Clod of his mother.
• 2:12:53
  Speaker 1: He could not see the eyes of the young man
• 2:12:56
  Speaker 1: raised to heaven, but in the outbursts of greed with
• 2:13:00
  Speaker 1: which she threw himself into his father's arms, I understand,
• 2:13:05
  Speaker 1: he said, she awaits me there above. Lawrence Bildec, on
• 2:13:11
  Speaker 1: his return from the fields, found the old man and
• 2:13:15
  Speaker 1: claud still sitting happily side by side. Lawrence cried Gutenberg,
• 2:13:21
  Speaker 1: whose step he had recognized. Lawrence, I have found a son.
• 2:13:26
  Speaker 1: Baldec received this information with much surprise, and Claude, less
• 2:13:32
  Speaker 1: to justify his allegations than to furnish a tangible proof
• 2:13:36
  Speaker 1: to the old servant, drew from his trunk a little
• 2:13:40
  Speaker 1: polished metal mirror, ornamented on one side with a figure
• 2:13:45
  Speaker 1: sculptured on the border. Tell the Master, Bialdec, what figure
• 2:13:51
  Speaker 1: it is you see behind this mirror? A holy virgin,
• 2:13:56
  Speaker 1: her heart pierced with three swords, carrying in her arms
• 2:14:00
  Speaker 1: the Infant Jesus crucified. And is there not engraved underneath,
• 2:14:06
  Speaker 1: said Gutenberg eagerly, echimuliarphilium tuum, Oh, give give me that mirror.
• 2:14:13
  Speaker 1: It was my gift to Gisquet the first time I
• 2:14:17
  Speaker 1: saw her in the square of the cathedral at Aila Chapelle,
• 2:14:22
  Speaker 1: and Gutenberg, seizing this relic of happier days, pressed it
• 2:14:27
  Speaker 1: to his lips. The very hour when he placed this
• 2:14:31
  Speaker 1: mirror in a beloved hand, the whole of that period
• 2:14:34
  Speaker 1: of his life came before Gutenburg. At this moment it
• 2:14:39
  Speaker 1: was a ray of sunshine, lighting up for an instant
• 2:14:44
  Speaker 1: the snow of the glacier. A little later, the old
• 2:14:48
  Speaker 1: man related to his newly found son as follows. It
• 2:14:53
  Speaker 1: was in the year fourteen forty, at the time when
• 2:14:56
  Speaker 1: all Christian Europe made a pilgrimage the ancient and celebrated
• 2:15:02
  Speaker 1: city of Ella Chapelle, a holy visit, as it was called,
• 2:15:06
  Speaker 1: which was paid every seven years to the wonderful relics
• 2:15:11
  Speaker 1: of the cathedral. That I lived at Strasbourg, in the
• 2:15:15
  Speaker 1: Rue sainta Auguste, my mind fully occupied with my art,
• 2:15:21
  Speaker 1: but not having yet succeeded in accomplishing anything worth speaking
• 2:15:27
  Speaker 1: of at that time, Thou knowest, Lawrence, I lived somewhat
• 2:15:31
  Speaker 1: poorly for a long while. I had received no help
• 2:15:35
  Speaker 1: from my owns, and the heritage of my forefathers was
• 2:15:40
  Speaker 1: all exhausted. In the various experiments which I had made,
• 2:15:44
  Speaker 1: and which I had hoped would turn to good account
• 2:15:48
  Speaker 1: and place me in a position to carry out my
• 2:15:51
  Speaker 1: one idea, I was just in the meridian of life,
• 2:15:56
  Speaker 1: and it became necessary that I should follow emor li
• 2:16:00
  Speaker 1: lucrative trade. I began polishing mirrors and stones. I engraved
• 2:16:05
  Speaker 1: images and ornaments on wood, and I associated myself with
• 2:16:10
  Speaker 1: those Strasburgers, who afterwards treated me so ill. Andrei Dritzin,
• 2:16:17
  Speaker 1: Heilmann and others. A year or so might have elapsed
• 2:16:22
  Speaker 1: since we commenced business together. They furnished the funds, I
• 2:16:27
  Speaker 1: supplied the implements and taught the trade to my partners
• 2:16:32
  Speaker 1: to the best of my power. We promised ourselves a
• 2:16:36
  Speaker 1: rich harvest from our pilgrimage to Eila Chappelle, where people
• 2:16:40
  Speaker 1: were arriving from all parts of the world. The French braggead,
• 2:16:45
  Speaker 1: with his page behind him, smartly equipped the proud Spaniard,
• 2:16:51
  Speaker 1: the beautiful veiled Venetian women, and others from all parts
• 2:16:55
  Speaker 1: of Italy, we naturally hoped to make much profit by
• 2:16:59
  Speaker 1: our merchandise. Another reason contributed to detach me from Strasbourg.
• 2:17:05
  Speaker 1: I had been for some time betrothed to a young
• 2:17:08
  Speaker 1: Asatian named Ennel of the Iron Gate. I thought seriously
• 2:17:14
  Speaker 1: of carrying her with me to my native town, enabled
• 2:17:18
  Speaker 1: as I was of her black eyes and fine elastic figure.
• 2:17:23
  Speaker 1: Providence and the parents of Innel decided otherwise. I liked
• 2:17:28
  Speaker 1: to suppose that she was innocent of the transaction, for
• 2:17:33
  Speaker 1: she was an honest girl who loved me with all
• 2:17:36
  Speaker 1: her heart, only said malicious tongues. She was somewhat frivolous
• 2:17:43
  Speaker 1: in character, and more attached to the things of this
• 2:17:47
  Speaker 1: world than was quite consistent in a Christian, especially in
• 2:17:51
  Speaker 1: a German. Innell's parents had nothing to say against my
• 2:17:56
  Speaker 1: mode of life, except that they could have wished my
• 2:18:00
  Speaker 1: energies to be bestowed upon some profession more worthy in
• 2:18:04
  Speaker 1: their eyes. And they could not console themselves when they
• 2:18:08
  Speaker 1: saw me incessantly tied to my beloved workshop, bending over
• 2:18:14
  Speaker 1: my books, and only thinking of my experiments. The father
• 2:18:19
  Speaker 1: considered my tastes very vulgar, and said that unless I
• 2:18:23
  Speaker 1: altered for the better, he for his part, should not
• 2:18:27
  Speaker 1: have much pleasure in giving his daughter to an idle fellow,
• 2:18:31
  Speaker 1: a dreamer like me. He was a rich man, well
• 2:18:35
  Speaker 1: born and much respected in Strasbourg. It may easily be
• 2:18:40
  Speaker 1: supposed that from that day I never crossed his threshold.
• 2:18:44
  Speaker 1: I had attained my fortieth year in all honor and respectability,
• 2:18:50
  Speaker 1: and I had no wish to exchange my profession for
• 2:18:54
  Speaker 1: that of the clerk, scratching for ever like a cat
• 2:18:57
  Speaker 1: with a pen in my hand. No, no, let others
• 2:19:01
  Speaker 1: who like it undertake that sort of train. I felt
• 2:19:05
  Speaker 1: some regret in renouncing that young girl, although time very
• 2:19:10
  Speaker 1: soon taught me that in fact she had never possessed
• 2:19:14
  Speaker 1: a deep hold on my affections. So this journey to
• 2:19:18
  Speaker 1: Ella Chappelle during the pilgrimage seemed to me to happen
• 2:19:23
  Speaker 1: very apropos In the month of June, Dritzene Heilmann folked
• 2:19:28
  Speaker 1: Nif and I started, accompanied with two strong beasts of burden,
• 2:19:34
  Speaker 1: laden with our stones, our mirrors and our images of
• 2:19:38
  Speaker 1: the saints. We were full of joyful anticipation and had
• 2:19:44
  Speaker 1: only one fear that our horses were not in sufficient
• 2:19:47
  Speaker 1: condition to carry back the large stock of money which
• 2:19:52
  Speaker 1: we calculated upon making it Eila Chappelle, we declined taking
• 2:19:57
  Speaker 1: the route by water, as we hoped to exhibit a
• 2:20:00
  Speaker 1: good deal of our merchandise along the road. Do not
• 2:20:04
  Speaker 1: ask me to describe the crowd, the floating masses which
• 2:20:09
  Speaker 1: we found extending even beyond the walls of the holy city.
• 2:20:14
  Speaker 1: My memory cannot recall the scenes which my eyes, now
• 2:20:18
  Speaker 1: closed to the light, witnessed. In those days. Every street,
• 2:20:23
  Speaker 1: every square was crammed with pilgrims, natives of the country,
• 2:20:28
  Speaker 1: of foreigners, nobles and plebeians, the healthy and the infirm.
• 2:20:34
  Speaker 1: At night, they encamped before the gates in little wooden
• 2:20:38
  Speaker 1: huts or under canvas ornamented with branches of pine, from
• 2:20:43
  Speaker 1: which gleamed thousands of lighted tapers. Early in the morning,
• 2:20:48
  Speaker 1: as soon as the saintly processions began to move, you
• 2:20:51
  Speaker 1: should have seen them pressing towards the doors of the
• 2:20:56
  Speaker 1: cathedral to touch with quivering lips the rever shrine, or
• 2:21:01
  Speaker 1: to offer to the Virgin Mother of God, the one
• 2:21:04
  Speaker 1: a taper, the other achalice. Others only their tears and
• 2:21:09
  Speaker 1: their silent prayers. When the bells had ceased ringing, the
• 2:21:13
  Speaker 1: shops and the booths opened on all sides. Then Jews
• 2:21:18
  Speaker 1: and Christians wide with each other in their cries, quarks, ballad, singers,
• 2:21:25
  Speaker 1: foot soldiers might be seen elbowing silicon doublets, cardinals, hats,
• 2:21:31
  Speaker 1: and the cloaks of princes. The sick plunged their aching
• 2:21:36
  Speaker 1: limbs into the hot springs. Those who thought themselves cured
• 2:21:41
  Speaker 1: offered a silver heart or a leg of wax to
• 2:21:44
  Speaker 1: the virgin. Fops walked in the crowds with their mistresses.
• 2:21:49
  Speaker 1: Soldiers played with dice on their drums. Monks carrying the
• 2:21:53
  Speaker 1: crucifix and the banner accompanied funeral processions, and here and
• 2:21:58
  Speaker 1: there might be seen an occasional mask. My head becomes
• 2:22:03
  Speaker 1: bewildered even in thinking of those things, and I seemed
• 2:22:08
  Speaker 1: to have again in my ears the incessant uproar of
• 2:22:12
  Speaker 1: that immense crowd. I was then in the full vigor
• 2:22:16
  Speaker 1: of my manhood. Nothing discomposed me. On the contrary, I
• 2:22:21
  Speaker 1: was ever seeking fresh excitement, in the same manner in
• 2:22:26
  Speaker 1: which a fish swims in sparkling running water. So I
• 2:22:30
  Speaker 1: rushed into the middle of this human stream, looking into everything,
• 2:22:35
  Speaker 1: shouting with those who shouted, and those who obliged me
• 2:22:40
  Speaker 1: to take my rapier in my hand were soon convinced
• 2:22:43
  Speaker 1: that the descendant of the nobles of my aunts was
• 2:22:47
  Speaker 1: not making his first essay in arms. I did not
• 2:22:51
  Speaker 1: understand much about commerce, so at least said my comrades
• 2:22:55
  Speaker 1: at night, when we shared our profits, it often appeared
• 2:22:59
  Speaker 1: to me that they had taken a tie out of mine.
• 2:23:04
  Speaker 1: I mentioned my suspicions, for in fact, it was necessary
• 2:23:08
  Speaker 1: that I should get something out of the perth to
• 2:23:11
  Speaker 1: enable me to live, and I had plenty of time
• 2:23:14
  Speaker 1: to meditate on my prospects and to give myself up
• 2:23:18
  Speaker 1: to work. I had been three days at Ayla Chapelle.
• 2:23:22
  Speaker 1: As I stood one morning at the booth where Andre
• 2:23:25
  Speaker 1: Ritzen exposed his mirrors. Here reader, as he stretched out
• 2:23:31
  Speaker 1: his hands to touch Claude's head, you might have seen
• 2:23:34
  Speaker 1: a faint color reddening the cheeks of the old man.
• 2:23:38
  Speaker 1: Among the curious who surrounded us, admiring our mirror's polished
• 2:23:44
  Speaker 1: like steel, was a young girl, who, being suddenly pushed
• 2:23:49
  Speaker 1: back rudely by the crowd, had only time to cast
• 2:23:52
  Speaker 1: one rapid glance at our treasures. Her eyes pleased me
• 2:23:57
  Speaker 1: so much that I said, try to forward, little one.
• 2:24:01
  Speaker 1: She did not seem to know that I was addressing her.
• 2:24:05
  Speaker 1: I repeated my invitation. She did not yet understand me.
• 2:24:10
  Speaker 1: I tried to take her hand. She drew it quickly away.
• 2:24:14
  Speaker 1: I am not in German, said she, blushing. I am French,
• 2:24:19
  Speaker 1: from the Faubourg Saint Antoine Barris. If you ever happened
• 2:24:23
  Speaker 1: to have been there, I was obliged to confess, laughing
• 2:24:28
  Speaker 1: that I had not. Although I did not understand much
• 2:24:32
  Speaker 1: of the language spoken by the young girl, I gathered
• 2:24:35
  Speaker 1: sufficient to be able to answer her, pretty child, I said,
• 2:24:40
  Speaker 1: wilt thou not buy one of our mirrors? Alas, no, sir,
• 2:24:45
  Speaker 1: thou art in the wrong there. When one has a
• 2:24:48
  Speaker 1: pretty face like thine, one ought to possess such a
• 2:24:51
  Speaker 1: piece of furniture. Talking in this manner, I placed my
• 2:24:55
  Speaker 1: hand under her chin and obliged her to lift up
• 2:24:59
  Speaker 1: her eggs exquisite face, which till now had been held downwards.
• 2:25:04
  Speaker 1: She looked at me with her large eyes, half supplicating,
• 2:25:08
  Speaker 1: half reproachfully. Then she tried to disengage herself. I held
• 2:25:14
  Speaker 1: her fast, and placing one of our best mirrors before her,
• 2:25:18
  Speaker 1: that very one now in your hand, well, I said,
• 2:25:22
  Speaker 1: look then at yourself, little unbeliever, A cry of surprise
• 2:25:28
  Speaker 1: escaped her finely cut mouth when she saw her blushing
• 2:25:32
  Speaker 1: face reflected in the polished metal. Never before, probably had
• 2:25:37
  Speaker 1: the view been so complete. Her beauty seemed to strike
• 2:25:41
  Speaker 1: her for the first time. I pressed her to buy
• 2:25:44
  Speaker 1: the mirror. She hesitated one saw how much she wished
• 2:25:49
  Speaker 1: to possess it, but all at once she put it
• 2:25:52
  Speaker 1: quickly down on the bench. I will not, she said,
• 2:25:56
  Speaker 1: and suddenly disappeared in the crowd. I follow her. Our
• 2:26:00
  Speaker 1: stall was in the square of the cathedral. I rejoined
• 2:26:04
  Speaker 1: the fugitive close to the church. Why wilt thou not
• 2:26:08
  Speaker 1: have it, sir? Speak to me without fear, because I
• 2:26:13
  Speaker 1: have no money to pay for your mirror. Look, here
• 2:26:18
  Speaker 1: is adignyi, the only one left. It is destined for
• 2:26:22
  Speaker 1: the purchase of two ivory hands, which my mother presents
• 2:26:26
  Speaker 1: to the Virgin Full of Grace as a thank offering
• 2:26:30
  Speaker 1: for her cure. The filial love of the young girl,
• 2:26:34
  Speaker 1: which spoke even more eloquently in her eyes than in
• 2:26:37
  Speaker 1: her words, touched me deeply. I questioned her about her mother,
• 2:26:43
  Speaker 1: her country, and her name. She told me with simplicity
• 2:26:48
  Speaker 1: that her name was Shesquat, and that she came from
• 2:26:52
  Speaker 1: the Faubourg Saint Antoine in the great city of Paris,
• 2:26:55
  Speaker 1: where I should certainly not have gone in search of
• 2:26:58
  Speaker 1: this little, pure, unspotted flower. She added that a vow
• 2:27:03
  Speaker 1: taken by her mother had brought them to Ella Chapelle
• 2:27:07
  Speaker 1: with her brother James, in order to present an offering
• 2:27:11
  Speaker 1: to the Virgin, in acknowledgment of her old mother's wonderful cure.
• 2:27:16
  Speaker 1: How dost thou expect to reach home? I then asked her,
• 2:27:21
  Speaker 1: how wilt thou make the long journey thou, who art
• 2:27:25
  Speaker 1: only a poor girl without means? For in that dennie
• 2:27:29
  Speaker 1: which thou hast shown me consists thy whole fortune. Sir
• 2:27:33
  Speaker 1: replied she, with the careless gaiety of her nation. I
• 2:27:37
  Speaker 1: shall go back as I came. Brother James is very clever.
• 2:27:41
  Speaker 1: He can relate stories on the road. He will sink
• 2:27:44
  Speaker 1: tales of the trouverre, and I shall accompany him on
• 2:27:48
  Speaker 1: my loote. In this manner we enter the convents and
• 2:27:52
  Speaker 1: the houses of hospitality, of which thank God and his Saints,
• 2:27:56
  Speaker 1: there is no want, brother James, said, She, with a
• 2:28:00
  Speaker 1: sister's pride, has already sung here in Ella Chapelle before
• 2:28:05
  Speaker 1: great lords and princes at home. He is well known
• 2:28:08
  Speaker 1: in all the neighborhood. Once, when the Grand Mystery was
• 2:28:13
  Speaker 1: performed in the large hall, he acted the part of Mercury,
• 2:28:17
  Speaker 1: and had on his shoulders two large wings of gauze,
• 2:28:21
  Speaker 1: which I made for him myself. I assure you. He
• 2:28:24
  Speaker 1: looked very handsome and recited his fine verses beautifully. Need
• 2:28:30
  Speaker 1: I tell you, o, my dear companions, how immediately my
• 2:28:34
  Speaker 1: heart felt attracted towards this young girl. I led her
• 2:28:39
  Speaker 1: back to our booths, and giving her the mirror, which
• 2:28:42
  Speaker 1: a moment before she had so coveted. Take it, my child,
• 2:28:46
  Speaker 1: I said, and keep it in remembrance of this hour,
• 2:28:50
  Speaker 1: as well as of the friend thou hast gained by
• 2:28:53
  Speaker 1: thy filial piety. For some time she refused to accept it,
• 2:28:59
  Speaker 1: and with Andrea, who kept the store that day, began
• 2:29:03
  Speaker 1: reproaching me for giving away our goods instead of selling them.
• 2:29:07
  Speaker 1: She returned me the mirror, saying thank you, my kind sir.
• 2:29:12
  Speaker 1: It shall never be said that you were brought into
• 2:29:14
  Speaker 1: trouble by the vanity of a poor girl. If the
• 2:29:18
  Speaker 1: avaricious speech and sentiment of Dritzine had sent the color
• 2:29:23
  Speaker 1: to my cheeks, this sad refusal on the part of
• 2:29:27
  Speaker 1: Risquet put the climax to my irritation. Unloosing my purse
• 2:29:33
  Speaker 1: angrily from my waistbend, I threw down on the bench
• 2:29:36
  Speaker 1: the value of the mirror, which I laid hold of
• 2:29:39
  Speaker 1: with one hand, while with the other I forced my
• 2:29:42
  Speaker 1: way through the crowd with the young girl and drew
• 2:29:45
  Speaker 1: her to some distance from the place Claude. We spent
• 2:29:49
  Speaker 1: seven days together, Risquet and I in Ella Chapelle, seven
• 2:29:55
  Speaker 1: whole days days of happiness which will never be effaced
• 2:29:59
  Speaker 1: from my map. I followed gis Cat like her shadow,
• 2:30:04
  Speaker 1: she poor child, out of her pure, simple heart, vowed
• 2:30:09
  Speaker 1: to me unworthy, as I was her first love. At
• 2:30:14
  Speaker 1: the end of that time we parted, never to meet again,
• 2:30:18
  Speaker 1: And to day John Gutenberg was silent again. He pressed
• 2:30:25
  Speaker 1: to his heart the son of Gisquete, that son whom
• 2:30:29
  Speaker 1: he had just found Claude had but little to add
• 2:30:34
  Speaker 1: to complete his father's story. He told him of this
• 2:30:37
  Speaker 1: sorrowful life led by Gisquette, of her unbroken faith to him,
• 2:30:43
  Speaker 1: and how on her deathbed it had been her consolation
• 2:30:47
  Speaker 1: to bequeathed Claude as a last pledge of affection to
• 2:30:52
  Speaker 1: her absent friend. When the young man had ceased speaking,
• 2:30:57
  Speaker 1: there was a solemn silence in the heart. The faithful
• 2:31:01
  Speaker 1: Bialdeck feasted his looks on them both, the old man,
• 2:31:06
  Speaker 1: his eyes struck with blindness, his hair falling in white curls,
• 2:31:11
  Speaker 1: his long, venerable beard resting on that bosom, oppressed by
• 2:31:17
  Speaker 1: the memory of the past and agitated by the emotion
• 2:31:21
  Speaker 1: of the present. Ah whoever had seen Gudenberg at this moment,
• 2:31:26
  Speaker 1: could not have failed to liken him to Odipus in
• 2:31:30
  Speaker 1: the arms of antigony. He was bent, infirm, and weakened
• 2:31:35
  Speaker 1: by age. It was nevertheless the head of a king
• 2:31:41
  Speaker 1: and the heart of a father. I tell you in truth,
• 2:31:45
  Speaker 1: it was thus that Gudenberg spoke with trembling lips. Yes,
• 2:31:51
  Speaker 1: I tell you truly, death, which is now approaching, will
• 2:31:55
  Speaker 1: be for me a haven full of blessedness. Love is
• 2:31:59
  Speaker 1: guiding me year below. It will also receive me on
• 2:32:02
  Speaker 1: the other side. It is of the best works that
• 2:32:06
  Speaker 1: it is written, they shall not forsake the just, but
• 2:32:11
  Speaker 1: shall follow them. The arts and sciences which we pursue
• 2:32:15
  Speaker 1: without relaxation, the fame and glory which shall carry our
• 2:32:20
  Speaker 1: names to posterity, are but as sounding brass and tinkling
• 2:32:25
  Speaker 1: symbols in comparison with the words of love, pure, divine
• 2:32:31
  Speaker 1: and human love. Yes, I think that my life will
• 2:32:35
  Speaker 1: not have been entirely useless to others, that the seed
• 2:32:40
  Speaker 1: which I have sown will bear fruit and become a
• 2:32:43
  Speaker 1: tree under whose branches the generations to come may find
• 2:32:48
  Speaker 1: rest and shelter. My endeavor has been to give freedom
• 2:32:54
  Speaker 1: to thought, to give wings to words. The one and
• 2:32:59
  Speaker 1: the other, thanks to my discovery, will one day overrun
• 2:33:03
  Speaker 1: the metamorphosed earth, full of independence and of liberty. They
• 2:33:10
  Speaker 1: will immortalize my name. But nevertheless, I should have gone
• 2:33:16
  Speaker 1: down to the tomb without consolation and without peace, if
• 2:33:20
  Speaker 1: I had possessed only the light of reason to enlighten
• 2:33:25
  Speaker 1: my darkened way. Footnote I will not, says the author
• 2:33:31
  Speaker 1: of the death of Gutenburg. Let the authority for the
• 2:33:35
  Speaker 1: blindness of my hero rest on fiction alone. My readers
• 2:33:40
  Speaker 1: will permit me to cite the testimony of a man
• 2:33:44
  Speaker 1: who was contemporary with Gutenburg, Wwim Feline of Schlestadt, who
• 2:33:50
  Speaker 1: at the age of fifteen, came to Strasburg in the
• 2:33:54
  Speaker 1: year fourteen sixty five. He says distinctly in speaking of
• 2:33:59
  Speaker 1: gudenburg Burg in his Catalog of the Bishops of Strasburg,
• 2:34:04
  Speaker 1: written in fifteen o eight, dook tokuyus dam johannisgensflish exxenio
• 2:34:11
  Speaker 1: ki ki and of footnote A son has been given
• 2:34:16
  Speaker 1: to me, and I shall no more wander through desert paths,
• 2:34:20
  Speaker 1: solitary and alone. Man will remain man. His heart cannot
• 2:34:27
  Speaker 1: feed eternally on glory and on hope. Love will always
• 2:34:32
  Speaker 1: be the best part of his being. And that is
• 2:34:35
  Speaker 1: why I would have given the labor of my whole
• 2:34:38
  Speaker 1: life in exchange for thee Claude, who art even more
• 2:34:43
  Speaker 1: to me than my invention. Thou art my son, the
• 2:34:47
  Speaker 1: messenger sent by Gisquat, who speaks to me from eternal blessedness.
• 2:34:54
  Speaker 1: Gutenburg died neglected and in destitution. His death's excit I
• 2:35:00
  Speaker 1: did no interest among his careless and ungrateful contemporaries. It
• 2:35:06
  Speaker 1: is only on the faith of a dusty old parchment,
• 2:35:10
  Speaker 1: which does not even make direct mention of the inventor
• 2:35:14
  Speaker 1: of printing, that we learn that John Gutenburg must have
• 2:35:18
  Speaker 1: been gathered to his father's about the twenty fourth of
• 2:35:23
  Speaker 1: February fourteen sixty eight in what place that remains uncertain,
• 2:35:30
  Speaker 1: And even to this day we should be ignorant on
• 2:35:34
  Speaker 1: that point, had not an inscription written in his honor
• 2:35:38
  Speaker 1: by Madame Guild, who's a relation of the printer fallen
• 2:35:43
  Speaker 1: accidentally into our hands. It is in Latin and says
• 2:35:48
  Speaker 1: that the bones of Gutenburg repose in the church of
• 2:35:52
  Speaker 1: Saint Francois at Mayons. So much for history as for us.
• 2:35:58
  Speaker 1: It is with a sensation of pain and a blush
• 2:36:02
  Speaker 1: on our forehead that we close this page of our book,
• 2:36:06
  Speaker 1: in which we have narrated the acts and discourses worthy
• 2:36:11
  Speaker 1: of admiration and the death of him who discovered the
• 2:36:15
  Speaker 1: most remarkable, the most wonderful of all the arts, that
• 2:36:20
  Speaker 1: which is destined to remodel the world poetry. In composing
• 2:36:26
  Speaker 1: a picture of which the plot has been gathered thread
• 2:36:30
  Speaker 1: by thread from the dark, Abyss of Archives has taken
• 2:36:34
  Speaker 1: upon herself to throw a ray of light on the
• 2:36:37
  Speaker 1: last days of the great inventor, to cast on his
• 2:36:41
  Speaker 1: tomb a palm branch of peace and of hope? Was
• 2:36:46
  Speaker 1: that not her right? And has she any occasion to
• 2:36:50
  Speaker 1: justify herself? In our opinion? The noblest duty of intelligence
• 2:36:56
  Speaker 1: as well as its most glorious appanage is to enlightened,
• 2:37:01
  Speaker 1: to reconcile, to restore to light, especially when life has
• 2:37:06
  Speaker 1: only left behind it a few vague shadows and an
• 2:37:11
  Speaker 1: unknown tomb end of Chapter six and of John Gutenberg,
• 2:37:18
  Speaker 1: first master printer, his acts and most remarkable discourses, and
• 2:37:23
  Speaker 1: his death by Franz Vry havevon Dingleshtad translated by C. W.