From the Diet of Worms to the Augsburg Confession - James Aitken Wylie

with which to extinguish it. He espies at the farther
end of the hall two vessels, one containing water
and the other oil. He rushes eagerly to get hold of
the one containing the water; in his hurry he
clutches the wrong vessel, that filled with the oil,
and empties it on the fire. The fire blazes up with a
fury that singes his priestly robe, and compels its
unfortunate wearer to escape for his safety. The
comedy is at an end.
The authors of this play never came forward to
receive the praise due to their ingenuity, or to claim
the pecuniary reward usually forth-coming on such
occasions. They doubtless held it would be reward
enough if the emperor profited by its moral. "Let
thy gifts be to thyself," said the prophet, when he
read the writing on the wall of the king's palace. So
said the men who now interpreted in the Palatinate
Palace of Augsburg the fate of the Empire and the
Papacy.
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