umerous
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 has told you enough of Jena. He understood how to unite
work and pleasure; I, on the contrary, learned little on the wooden
benches, for I rarely occupied them, and the dust of books certainly
didn't spoil my lungs. But I read Ariosto again and again, devoted
myself to singing, and when a storm of feeling seethed within my breast,
composed many songs for my own pleasure. We learned to wield the sword
too in Jena, and I would gladly have crossed blades with the sturdy
fencing-mas