of religious opinion.

So much for the Eulenburgs, who may be said to constitute the most
influential family at the Court of Berlin, and without a description
of whom no history of the life and surroundings of Emperor William
could possibly be regarded as complete.

Other cronies of the kaiser, who are less influential in a political
sense, and, therefore, less obnoxious to the people, are Counts
Douglas, Count Dohna, and Count Goertz. Public attention, however, has
often been drawn to the friendship of the kaiser for the Dohnas by
the frequency of the imperial visit with which Count Richard Dohna
is honored at his superb old chateau of Schlobitten, and likewise by
reason of the fact that on two occasions William almost lost his life
through carriage accidents which he sustained while out driving with
the count.

[Illustration: _THE RUNAWAY AT PROECKELWITZ_
_After a drawing by Oreste Cortazzo_]

The Dohnas are one of the most ancient houses of the old German
nobility, and Schlobitten, with its grand old park, shaded by glorious
trees, has been in the possession of the family since the fourteenth
century. The castle, as now arranged, is only two hundred years old,
having been reconstructed on the site, and with the ruins, of an
ancient monastery and dwelling. The name of Dohna is recorded in the
most important pages of Prussian history. Statesmen, generals, and
in particular, confidants and cronies of their successive rulers have
borne that name, and there is not a king who has reigned over Prussia,
and previous to that an elector who has ruled over Brandenburg,
who has not stayed at the castle of Schlobitten and occupied the
antiquated four-poster bed, in which the present emperor sleeps
whenever he makes a visit there.

Count Richard Dohna is a great breeder of blooded horses, a
magnificent whip, and the accidents which happened to the kaiser,
while out driving with him, were merely due to the fact that in each
case the horses were too young, and not sufficiently broken in. On one
occasion, the drag was upset into a ditch not far from Schlobitten,
the kaiser and the count being severely bruised and shaken up; while
at another time a splendid team got beyond the control of the count,
smashed harnesses and pole, and dashed helter-skelter into the little
town of Proeckelwitz, where they were fortunately stopped without
further mishap.

The intimacy of the kaiser with the Dohna family serves to recall the
fact tha