heresy to know Greek, to write a polished style, to do what- ever they do not. . . .^
��193. LUTHER TO THE PRINCESS MARGARET OF ANHALT.
Mitteilungen des Vereins fur Anhaltische Geschichte und Altertums- kunde, X. 137 (1904)* Wittenberg, November 4, 1519.
Margaret of Anhalt-Dessau, nee Duchess of Miinsterberg, married Ernest of Anhalt in 1494. He died in 1516. She is not to be con- founded with Margaret of Anhalt-Cothen, nee von Schwarzburg (Enders, xi. 327), or Margaret, wife of John of Anhalt, by birth of the house of Brandenburg (Enders, xi. 256). She was a friend of Wenzel Link, who early in 1514 dedicated to her a tract on marriage, and on January 22, 1515, wrote asking her to send him some venison for a banquet he was to give. Dessau, where she lived, was only twenty-five miles from Wittenberg, and Luther must often have passed through it on the road to Erfurt. W. Reindell : W, Linck aus Colditz, 1892, p. 253. She was the mother of Luther's friends, George, Joachim and John. Witty and pious, she was at first inclined to the Reformation, but turned away before her death on June 28, 153a F. Westphal : Furst Georg von Anhalt, 1907.
My humble prayers for your Grace. High-bom, gracious Princess ! It is long since I have been with your Grace, and although I could give good reason and excuse for this, yet will I not do so, for my heart and mind have never been away from your Grace, and I have always been inclined to come to you. For the same reason I have not written to you nor conferred with you. It is the fault of my pride that I do not willingly blame myself to anyone. But that your Grace may see my humble devotion, I have charged this relative of mine to offer your Grace my humble prayers and give you these sermons.* I am sorry that I have nothing better; also they are so many who give me a bad name, that I hardly dare publish my own stuff, but must let them burst forth and hold myself in, and endure it as well as I can. But if I get a little peace and time I will return again, hoping to do your Grace's pleasure thereby. God keep your Grace. But
- This letter was entrusted for deliTery to Ulrich von Hutten. C/. infr^
January 26, 1520, no. 220.
n'hese sermons may have been that on Preparation for Death, Weimar, ii. 685, and the one on Penance dedicated to Margaret of Brunswick, middle of October, supra, no. 184.
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