the clear surface of the river. There are also numerous barren cliffs on
the higher portions of the mountains, and where they towered in the most
rugged, inaccessible ridges, our ancestors built their fastnesses, to
secure themselves from the attacks of their enemies. Our castle stands
on a mountain-ridge in the midst of the valley of the Saale. There I was
born, there I sported through the years of my boyhood, learned to read
and guide the pen. There was plenty of hunting in the forests, we had
spirited horses in the stable, and, wild lad that I was, I rarely went
voluntarily into the school-room, the grey-haired teacher, Lorenz, had to
catch me, if he wanted to get possession of me. My sisters and Hans, our
youngest child, the boy was only three years younger than I, kept quiet--
I had an older brother too, yet did not have him. When his beard was
first beginning to grow, he was given by our gracious Duke to Chevalier
von Brand as his esquire, and sent to Spain, to buy Andalusian horses.
John Frederick's father had learned their value in Madrid after the
battle of Muhlburg. Louis was a merry fellow when he went away, and knew
how to tame the wildest stallion. It was hard for our parents to believe
him dead, but years elapsed, and as neither he nor Chevalier von Brand
appeared, we were obliged to give him up for lost. My mother alone could
not do this, and constantly expected his return. My father called me the
future heir and lord of the castle. When I had passed beyond boyhood and
understood Cicero tolerably well, I was sent to the University of Jena to
study law, as my uncle, the chancellor, wished me to become a counsellor
of state.

"Oh Jena, beloved Jena! There are blissful days in May and June, when
only light clouds float in the sky, and all the leaves and flowers are so
fresh and green, that one would think--they probably think so themselves
--that they could never fade and wither; such days in human existence are
the period of joyous German student life. You can believe it. Leonhard