sovereign of Poland, filled with disgust at the licentious manners of the court, became, under the guidance of the Jesuit, Schmacke, a strict devotee. The elector, in order to escape the reproaches of his Bavarian subjects, chiefly resided, in his quality of stadtholder of the Netherlands, at Brussels, where, in one continued maze of pleasure, he lavished on his mistresses and expended in horses, of which he kept twelve hundred, and in pictures, which he had a good opportunity to collect in the Netherlands, such enormous sums, as to render the imposition of triple taxes necessary in Bavaria. The provincial diet had not been consulted since 1699. His son, Charles Albert, who reigned until 1746, was equally the slave of luxury. He was passionately fond of hunting, and kept, besides his mistresses, an immense number of dogs. Keyssler, who, in the course of his interesting travels, visited Bavaria in 1729, gives the following account; "The electoress, Maria Amelia, a little and delicate lady, shoots well at a mark, and often wades up to her knees in a bog whilst following the chace. Her shooting-dress is a green coat and trowsers and a little white peruke. She has a great fancy for dogs, which is plainly evident at Nymphenburg by the bad smell of the red damask carpets and beds. The little English greyhounds are valued most highly. The electoress, when at table, is surrounded by a good number of them, and one sits on either side of her, seizing every thing within their reach. Near her bed a dog has a little tent with a cushion, and on one side hangs a bust of Christ with the crown of thorns.- -There is

a couch for a dog close to the elector's bed, and there are couches for twelve more in the fine writing-room adjoining." The electoress becoming jealous of her husband's mistresses, a terrible quarrel ensued, in which he physically ill-treated her. Sophia von Ingenheim was his favourite. He established the lotteries, so destructive to the morals of the people, in Bavaria.

The other Wittelsbach branch in the Pfalz pursued a similar career. The elector, Philip William, who succeeded to the government, A. D. 1685, died in 1690. His son, John William, fled, on account of the disturbances during the war, from the Upper Rhine to Düsseldorf, the capital of Juliers, where he followed in the steps of his cousin Maximilian at Brussels, kept a harem and made a valuable collection of pictures. On his death,

in 1716, his brother, Charles Philip, assisted by the Jesuit, Usleber, inflicted the most terrible cruelties on the Pfalz and renewed [A. D. 1742] the violent religious persecution, whilst indulging in passions that disgraced his years, until death relieved the afflicted country from this monster, and Charles Theodore, of the line of Sulzbach, a sensualist of a milder nature, succeeded to the government. Gustavus Samuel, duke of Pfalz-Zweibrücken, had, [A. D. 1696,] during a visit to Rome, turned Catholic, in order to obtain a divorce from his wife and permission to wed a daughter of one of his servants, named Hoffman.

Hesse gained the county of Hanau in 1736. The last count, John Reinhard, died; his daughter, Charlotte, married Prince Louis of Darmstadt; the county was, nevertheless, divided between Darmstadt and Cassel. During the life of William, Landgrave of Cassel, his son, the hereditary prince, Frederick, secretly turned Catholic. His father, however, frustrated the plans of the Jesuits by convoking the provincial Estates, demanding a guarantee from the Protestant princes, binding the hereditary prince by a will whereby the Catholics were deprived of all their hopes, and separating the prince from his sons, who were brought up in the Protestant faith.

Licence was carried to the greatest excess in Baden-Durlach, where the Margrave, Charles William, built Carlsruhe in the midst of the forests, A. D. 1715, and, in imitation of the celebrated French deer-parks, kept a hundred and sixty garden nymphs, who bore him a countless number of children. The scandal caused by this conduct induced him, in 1722, to dismiss all except sixty or seventy of the most beautiful. He kept his favourites shut up in the celebrated leaden tower, which still forms the handle to the great double fan, formed half by the streets of Carlsruhe, half by the alleys stretching through the forest contiguous to the palace. During his promenades and journeys he was accompanied by girls disguised as Heiducks.

In Würtemberg, the duke, Everard, left, A. D. 1674, a son, William Louis, who dying A. D. 1677, his brother, Frederick Charles, undertook the guardianship of his son, Everard Louis, then in his first year.* This regent discovered ex

* Everard's brother's son, Sylvius Nimrod, married a daughter of the last duke of Münsterberg, A. D. 1647, of the house of Podiebrad, in

treme imbecility, and, after the shameful seizure of the city of Strassburg by Louis XIV., visited Paris for the purpose of paying his respects to that monarch, notwithstanding, or rather on account of which, the French king allowed Melac to plunder the territory of Würtemberg. What was there to be apprehended from a coward? Everard Louis, who attained his majority in 1693, instead of healing the wounds of his country, extended his household, gave magnificent fêtes, grandes battues, and [A. D. 1702] founded the order of St. Hubert, the patron of the chace, etc. What reason had he for constraint, when the Tübingen theologians carried on a violent dispute with the Dillinger Jesuits, whether the Catholic or the Lutheran faith was more advantageous for princes, and the Tübingen chancellor, Pfaff, gained the victory by clearly demonstrating that no faith allowed more latitude to princes than the Lutheran. In the absence of native nobility, who had, under Ulric, duke of Würtemberg, abandoned the country, foreign nobles were attracted to the court for the purpose of heightening its splendour. It was in this manner that a Mademoiselle von Grævenitz, accompanied by her brother, came from Mecklenburg to Stuttgard, and, ere long, became the declared mistress of the duke. Nay, a clergyman was even found, although the duke was already married, to perform the marriage ceremony. This open bigamy scandalized both the emperor and the empire. The departure of Grævenitz was insisted upon, but was refused by the duke until the provincial Estates had, by way of compensation, voted a sum of 200,000 florins. But, scarcely had the duke received the money than Grævenitz returned, apparently married to a Count Würben, a Viennese, who had lent himself for a consideration to this purpose, and who, after being created grand provincial governor of Würtemberg, was sent out of the country. His wife, the grand provincial governess, remained for twenty years in undisputed possession of the duke, and governed the country in his name. Her brother figured as prime minister, and, as she furnished the court of Vienna with money and the king of Prussia from time to time with giants for his guard, she was protected by foreign powers. She was named,

whose right he laid claim to the Silesian duchy of Els, which the dukes of Münsterberg had received, A. D. 1495, from Wladislaw, king of Bohemia, in exchange for the demesne of Podiebrad in Bohemia.

and with truth, the destroyer of the country, for she sold offices and justice, commuted all punishments by fine, extorted money by threats, bestowed the most important commercial monopolies on Jews,* mortgaged and sold the crown lands, etc. She managed the duke's treasury and her own. His was ever empty, hers ever full; she lent money to the duke, who repaid her in land. By means of spies, the violation of private correspondence, and a strict police, she suppressed the murmurs of the people. Osiander, the churchman, alone had the courage to reply, on her demanding to be included in the prayers of the church, "Madame, we pray daily, 'O Lord, preserve us from evil."" It was forbidden under pain of punishment to speak ill of her. The provincial Estates attempting to defend themselves from the enormous exactions, the duke threatened the "individuals," in case the assembly any longer opposed his demands. During the famine of 1713, the peasants were compelled to plant great part of their land with tobacco. On the increasing discontent of the people and of the Estates, which showed itself more particularly at Stuttgard, the duke quitted that city and erected a new residence, Ludwigsburg, A. D. 1716, at an immense expense. On laying the foundation-stone, he caused such a quantity of bread to be thrown to the assembled multitude that several people narrowly escaped being crushed to death. The general want increased, and, in 1717, the first great migration of the people of Würtemberg to North America took place. The countess at length demanded as her right as possessor of the lordship of Welzheim a seat and a vote on the Franconian bench of counts of the empire, which being granted in her stead to her brother, a quarrel ensued, and he took part with her enemies against her. She also ventured to treat the duke with extreme insolence. Her beauty had long passed away with her youth, and, on the presentation of the beautiful Countess Wittgenstein, her empire completely ended. She was imprisoned and deprived of her immense demesnes. On

* On one occasion she seized a quantity of English goods for her wardrobe, and the duke wore some of the stolen gold brocade in public. On another occasion, a person offering her 5000 florins for an apothecary's licence, she took the money, gave a receipt, but did not send the patent. The person called in order to freshen her memory. The countess could not recall the circumstance, demanded the receipt in proof, took it away and did not reappear. The person in question received neither the money nor the patent.

the death of the duke, she lost still more of her ill-gotten wealth, and the court Jew, Süss, her agent, also privately robbed her.

ment.

Everard Louis expired A. D. 1733, leaving no issue, and was succeeded by his Catholic cousin, Charles Alexander, who, although a distinguished officer, was totally inept for governHe intrusted the helm of state to his court Jew, Süss Oppenheimer, who shamelessly robbed the country. He established 66 a gratification court," where all the offices of state were sold to the highest bidder; "a court of exchequer," where justice was put up to auction. To those who were unable to pay he lent money at the rate of a gros per florin (the Jews' groschen). He also kept a large shop, from which he furnished the court wardrobes, and established a lottery for his private gain. He, moreover, extended the system of monopoly to leather, groceries, coffee-houses, even to the cleaning of chimneys, as well as the right of pre-emption, as, for instance, in regard to wood; and, lastly, burthened the country, even foreigners during their residence in it, with a heavy protection, income, and family tax, A. D. 1736. He also gave way to the most unbridled licence, and either by fraud or by violence disturbed the peace of families.- -The patient endurance of the people and the example of the Pfalz inspired the Jesuits with the hope of recatholicizing Würtemberg by means of her Catholic duke. The first step was to place the Catholics on an equal footing with the Protestants, and a conspiracy, in which Süss took part, was entered into for that purpose. Troops were expected from the bishop of Würzburg. Orders were prepared for the Würtemberg household troops. The people were to be disarmed under pretext of putting a stop to poaching. The duke, who, it was probably feared, might, if present, oppose severe measures, was to be temporarily removed. The ancient constitution was to be done away with; "The hydra head of the people shall be crushed," wrote General Remchingen, one of the chief conspirators, to Fichtel, the duke's privy-counsellor. But, during the night of the 13th of March, 1737, the duke suddenly expired, a few hours before the time fixed for his departure. He was long supposed to have been assassinated, but, most probably, died of apoplexy. His cousin, Charles Rudolph, undertook the government during the minority of his son, Charles Eugene, who was then in his ninth year. The Ca