y would certainly
not fly about at night-time thus had they not been disturbed. The
enemy is marching through the wood southwards, and has frightened and
driven the birds before it.'

"I at once ordered the outposts to be reinforced, and the camp to be
alarmed. Two hours later, the outposts were fighting fiercely with the
foe, and I was able to realize that my camp and my division had been
saved from surprise and destruction only by the keen observation and
sagacity of a grateful gypsy."

The archduke spent a large sum of money, some years ago, in
endeavoring to turn the gypsies from their nomadic life, and to induce
them to settle down, in order to devote their time and energies to the
practice of the wonderful art of working metal, which they possess to
so marked a degree, instead of roaming aimlessly about, and sometimes
thieving, as is unfortunately their habit. He built a number of
villages for them in the district surrounding Presburg, and organized
gypsy settlements. But the scheme proved a failure. The Tziganes, true
to the instincts that they have inherited from countless generations,
abandoned the comfortable houses, the fields and blossoming gardens
with which they had been provided by their imperial benefactor. They
refused to till the soil, and commenced once more their interminable
wanderings.

In spite of this fiasco, the archduke still continues to consider
himself as the protector of the Romanys, and remains proud of his
title of "Gypsy Prince," being sagacious enough to realize that it
is impossible for a race to eradicate from their character, in a
comparatively short space of time, traits that have been theirs for
hundreds, nay thousands of years; for the origin of these gypsies is
still shrouded in mystery and lost in the gloom of prehistoric ages,
although it is probable that they are of Persian descent.

While Emperor William's taste as regards music meets with very
widespread approval, and his gifts as a composer are very generally
recognized, he has been less fortunate with regard to other branches
of art; notably in the matter of painting, where he finds himself in
frequent conflict with his people, especially with the great painters
of his empire. Of all the muses there is none so truly democratic as
that of pictorial art. The pictorial muse displays a truly republican
intolerance of control on the part of either king or government. Hence
it is only natural that Germany, which has produce