when the wind rises, the delicate white petals flutter
through the air and fall among the bright blossoms in the grass, and on
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 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 se