"I shall always prove a bad resource for any future historian who
may have the misfortune to recur to me. History is generally only a
magazine for my fantasy, and objects must be contented with whatever
they may become under my hand."--(See Weisnar's "Musenhof," p. 93.)

This declaration of Schiller satisfies me with respect to the nature
of my own creations. I desire not to be a resource for historical
writers, but I shall always earnestly and zealously seek to draw
from the wells of history, that nothing false or unreal may find a
place in the "magazine of my fantasy."

CLARA MUNDT,

(L. MUEHLBACH. )

BERLIN, September 22, 1866.





OLD FRITZ AND THE NEW ERA.


BOOK I.

OLD FRITZ.