Sachs

saks, Hans (1494-1576), a German poet of Nuremberg. His father was a tailor. He himself was bred to the craft of shoemaking in his youth. He traveled from one German city to another, attending the literary and musical meetings of the Meistersingers. As a lad he received some little education, including lessons in Latin grammar. In early manhood he settled down to the shoemaker's bench. He was a leading spirit in the local association of Meistersingers. By composing continually at his bench he pounded out an immense amount of poetry. While not of high literary order it abounds in humor and good practical sense, somewhat after the style of Benjamin Franklin. One catalog of his productions includes 4,275 songs, 208 comedies and tragedies, 1,700 tales, dialogues, proverbs, and fables, and 73 hymns. Five large folio volumes were required to contain his writings. He appears to have been a prosperous, contented man. He was twice married and had five sons and two daughters. His grave may be seen in the quaint old churchyard of St. John's in Nuremberg. Whittier had no little admiration for the old German shoemaker.