"MY EARLY LIFE"

By the EX-GERMAN EMPEROR

(Full Copyright reserved by the Spectator.)

[For the next five weeks we shall publish eact Wetz free et,plement to the SPECTATOR continuin 11:18 autobiography of the ex-German Emperor. The series, containing the most interesting and imficfrtant portions of- My . is appearing in Great Britain only in the SPECTATOR. Later in the year the book will be published in full by Messrs. Methuen.]

LATE in the summer of that year, 1871, I went with the rest ardour I pursued this language.

already got through the seven books iun Gallicum "—but somehow I found Ovid very childish and he could not imbue me with a love of mathematics. naive in his descriptions and comparisons, especially when My mother had taught us the rudiments of chemistry. writing of Phaethon's ride heavenwards. I liked Caesar much better, because his narrative (Rhine bridges, Germanic ga arms, crossing to Britain and Siege of Alesia) and his descrip- tion of battles and fights were for me much more interesting said that we ever studied it seriously.

and absorbing than the whole of Ovid put together; there was only one thing I did not quite enjoy about it, and that invariably victorious, almost was that the Romans were st us, while the Barbarians were always put to rout ; that they slaughtered the the enemy in masses with only a very few wounded on the Roman side. So that I positively revelled in any reverse that lessons. When I went to England in after years he often happened to the Romans, and more especially in the des- traction of the army division of Cotta. While occupied with Drawing was taught us by Professor Eichen, of whom I

Ovid I had also begun my study of mathematics. have no distinct recollection. On the other hand I have a

Perhaps what appealed most to me was history, more very clear remembrance of a painter called Schlegel, particularly German history of the Middle Ages, which I read an elderly man who had lived much in Italy and was never up in Kohlrausch.* tired of describing with German extravagance of fancy Nothing could exceed Kohlrausch in my opinion ; at last his longing to be back again. We boys nicknamed him

he became my favourite author, and during the four years ". Signor Schlegeliano " on that account. We had to draw that I studied his works I always looked forward to my trees from nature under his guidance, and we were given black history lesson. The Emperors I admired most were : Otto I, bread for" rubbing out." As we had hardly seen black bread Henry III. and Frederick I. Barbarossa ; they were, so to until then, this was a great treat, and we much preferred to

speak, My favourites. Barbarossa seemed to me the ideal of the knightly German, and I was never tired of worshipping that Signor Schlegeliano was always extremely shocked his courage, tenacity and perseverance in his fight against the our materialistic outlook. In the winter of 1873-74 my Pope and the Italian cities. mother and we took a course in elementary and ornamental

up French very seriously. I spent a long time over French grammar, learning it very thoroughly ; the participles • Lebenalauf or Curriculum Vitae both refer to the schoolboy diary appeared to me very difficult, but curiously enough it was -*" Deutsche Geschichte," Elberfeld, 1816. final examination. [Last week's instalment dealt in Chapter I. with the author's precisely the endings of participles arid Zonstruction that I

early recollections of Osborne and the Prince Consort ; military learned best by heart and made least mistakes in. A book memories of Berlin in the 'sixties ; his childhood and the that was very interesting to me, containing numerous illus- characters of his parents. Chapter II. described the intimates trations, that I read partly for pleasureand partly for practice and advisers of his parents—military and official—and the was Le Pond de la Mer (" The Bottom of the Sea"-). As I have men of science, scholars and historians with whom they always had a passion for the sea, the vast, wonderful sea, and associated. Chapter III. treated of his early education and for all that is on it or in it, I adored this book that taught me the "Spartan rule" of George Ilinzpeter, his chief tutor, from what was at the sea's bottom or what lived In the sea. It told 1866 to 1879. Chapter -IV. described the routine of study also of the divers and their various instrunients and apparatus and the pleasures of relaxation—sports, games and playmates ; by which they could remain under water for a length of time, summer excursions to the Black Forest, Reinhardsbrunn, and move about down at the bottom. It was owing to this Blankenberghe, &c. In Chapter V. he relates his visit to book that when I was in England, in 1871, I determined to go Cannes in the winter of 1869-1870 and his impressions of the down myself in a diving bell. No prospect of a journey ever Paradise of the Riviera. This chapter also described the held more attraction for me than when it took me to the sea. outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, memories of its progress Thus far my Lebenslauf.* came the study of Greek. This departure was prompted by

CHAPTER VI. Hinzpeter's plan of preparing me for the " Gymnasium "

STUDIES AND EXCURSIONS. (public school) and the subsequent examination on leaving it. From my Curriculum Vitae it will be gathered with what CLASSICS AND HISTORY. coaching in this subject was given me by Professor Riffile, of Once back from Wiesbaden, I started to read Ovid—I had the Joachimstalschen Gymnasium, in 1873. He was a talented of Caesar's " Bell pedagogue for whom I had a real sympathy—but, of course, After that James Hofmann, the son of the well-known chemist, A. W. Hofmann, gave us a few lessons every now and again : ter on his father came to us several times. But it cannot be la Mlle. Darcourt continued to give us instruction in French, besides which we had lessons in French literature by Monsieur Fievet, a dried-up little figure of a man. A Mr. Fox, son of a clergyman in e New Forest, a silent, refined, and dignified personage, whom I liked very much indeed, gave us English paid me a visit.

deflect it from its original object and eat it up ourselves, so

at

STUDIES IN FRENCH, GREEK, MATH ATICS, CHEMISTRY design at the Arts Museum under Professor Kachel's direction : but this branch of art meant little to us, and we voted the AND DRAWTNG. copying of Greek patterns and similar work unspeakably Besides these Latin, Greek and German studies, I also took boring.

which every " Abiturient " was obliged to keep : this diary formed

part of the work of the term and had to be handed in just prior to the

RINEPETER'S RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION: — '

Of Hinzpeter's religious instruction to us I have already spoken, hilt 'While we are'on this theme it may not be out of _ place to quote a few precepts he had jotted &Ain abbtit‘ ft' for his own use ' "Therefore, in the first place, care should be taken to cultivate the greatest respect for the word of the Bible and the Hymn-book ;

. .

- • •• - en.. a.allOMOILICS Or for disciplinary exercises, nor Psalms for impositions, nor should prayers be said aloud for the purpose of correcting pronunciation or for enforcing obedience. Pre-occupation with religious things should be so holy that every compulsion on the one hand and every resistance to it on the other hand would thus entirely disappear; The utmost precaution was taken in these early years to avoid any reference to differences of belief or doctrinal arguments. There was, on the contrary, an attempt to show the pupils the Christian truths in all their original simplicity by inducing a real enjoyment of the Holy.Writ, and an eagerness to read it. In this way many a pious hour devoted to mutual meditation and improvement was spent in our long Sunday walks, in the exquisite environs of Cannes or Wilhelmshohe or Potsdam, intended either as a supplement or a substitute for the service in church, with the result that a religious habit of thought and feeling was fostered by which the Christian faith took root in the heart of the Prince, and later this Christian point of view had a very measurable influence on his personal thought and will. It was, however, inevitable though strange that such newly awakened conscience should assume strange unexpected shapes every now and again, as for instance when the Prince— while he was at Cannes—developed a terrifying dread of Hellfire and later when he got into a Way of inventing his own prayers— the intercession of the Almighty on his behalf to help him with his

lessons in school-hours." • - - • -

The temptation to add any words of my own to the above memorandum I will most certainly resist. _ FAVOURITE AUTHORS ; _STUDIES IN SCIENCE, ARCHAEOLOGY.

AND ART. _ During youth I was h great reader ; indeed, there were certain books that I swallowed with avidity: I began with Bechstein's 'Fairy Tales, and went on by degree's to Becker's Old World, thentO_Robinson Crusoe, Captain Marryat, Cooper's Leather:stocking;Jules Verne, Walter Seott—Lespecially Ivanhoe, which was for a long while my favourite romance—and last, but not least, Ebers. _I enjoyed, too, the Ancestors, by Freytag, very much. Hinzpeter used to read Fontane and Willibad Alexis aloud. Achilles was my favourite Greek hero, and Dietrich von Bern my :German. The latter was peculiarly interesting to me because of his personal relations to his weapons ; he even had talks With his helmet Hilde- grimm ! My admiration of the : Homeric Epics Prompted the same passion for the German Nibelungen, Of which I never could have enough. I read them again and again. In the way of dramatic literature I adored the historical plays of Shakes-. peare and of Schiller, especially Wallenstein, and also Kleist's Prince of Homburg and Penthesika, then Calderon's Life's a Dream, and Grillparzer's King Ottokar: .

When Hinzpeter and I went for a long ride I had to repeat the works we had read, so that I could both learn to read with intelligence and also acquire fluency of speech. This method seems to me remarkably useful.

As time went on in Berlin the ordinary curriculum was supplemented by lectures on. scientific, literary and artistic subjects. I profited a great deal by the archaeological lectured of Professor Biitticher of the Old Museum. Geheimrat Karl Werder, too, the celebrated poet, philosopher and aesthete, had a very strong influence on me. He was a delicate little man, with a fine intelligence and a kindliness that won all hearts ; he was beloved of my parents as Well as of my grandparents (in itself remarkable). He had been reade to King Frederick Williath IV., Was a 'friend of Rumba:fit and of most of the artists, savants and actors of the day; The Duke of Meiningeri knew him well, and often asked Min for advice on the production of plays and parts. He recited excellently, more especially 'classical dramatic works, and I shall never forget his interpretation of Wallensteiri for me. Any understanding of literature that I may have I owe to him,- read playa with him, in which each of us took a part, and h often coached us for the theatrical performances I have Mentioned elsewhere. Curiously enough his pet here was Columbus, whom he made the subject Of an epic that he wrote: A picture of this maritime hero hung in his workroom; and he was kihmensely pleased that I recognized the persona& It represented when he asked me Ny110 I thought it was On his death he left the pictitre to me.. When I was a' heti.: tenant I often went to see him and I saw him in hiter years too, when he lived in a house on the Gendarmenmarkt, in the basement 'of which is the celebrated wine cellar of Lutter and Wegner. - The hours I spent With him were always an unalloyed pleasure; and I have ever a grateful memory Of him. On his gravestone in the Garrison Churchyard -at Berlin the inscription recalls our friendship with these words " Ainion Almost every Sunday we Visited the Berlin Museums, if We had nkt been to church in the morning. Sometimes we went in thee aftemcion. These expedition's were carefully planned : one week we saw the Greek, the following_we saw the Roman exhibits. The same system was adopted with arts—by alter. nating various schools of painting. Often we went with our father, often with Hinzpeter, sometimes with both together.

I must admit that Hinzpeter knew very little about art ; he only called our attention to superficial things that had to be learned by heart. For my part I like the Old Museum the best, and was most deeply interested in the Egyptian Depart- ment. I think I liked that best of all, though I cared much for all things that were beautiful also.

In those days the only exhibition of pictures was in the Kommandantenstrasse. I visited that regularly, both with my parents and with Hinzpeter. Many an hour I spent there in trying to cultivate my artistic taste. It remains in my mind that I saw there for the first time pictures by Feuerbaeh, who made a great impression on me ; on another occasion I saw the seascapes by the Russian Ajwasowsky.

About this time; early in 1870, my parents often took me to the studios of artists, whom I was permitted to see at work —Bleibtreu, Von Werner, von Menzel, Gustav Richter, Millie, von Heyden, Begas, Siissmann, and Friedrich Drake.

But time and space will not allow of my enumerating all the many artists that I became acquainted with in my young days.

Touns IN THE MA.RS WITH MY FATHER.

During those years after the war my father often made many little tours with us in the Mark in order to show us not only the beauties of nature, but also the many landmarks rich in historical associations. These little excursions used to take place on Saturday evenings and on Sundays, and Mischke and Hinzpeter were generally of the party. We learnt to know the country and its inhabitants very intimately, and our wanderings were a very different affair from the kind of journey made nowadays by the travelling public rushing from place to place in a 45 miles-an-hour motor-car without ever stopping to look at the landscape. , One journey, through Brandenburg to Magdeburg, I can call to mind in which we were the guests of General von Blumenthal. In Brandenburg we went to see the Cathedral and the Marienberg, which is. supposed to have been erected on the . site of an ancient Triglaw temple in the time of the Slays. My father had the greatest objection to long descrip- tions of such places, and always tried to cut short the loquacious guides with a joke. In this case, however, he had no success,. for when he endeavoured to break in on the explanation, learned by rote and reeled off, with the question whether any photograph of the TriglaW idol was to be had, he received the prompt answer : "It Shall at once be pro- cured ! " and the disquisition continued uninterruptedly, to our general merriment. In the Cathedral at Magdeburg we admired the fine _monument to the memory of Editlia, the English princess who was Wife to Otto I. Greatly to our delight, we were shown sOme truly remarkable'relics. These consisted ins step of Jacob's ladder, 'a purse that had belonged to the giant GOlisith, and last, but not least, a chip of Egyptian darkness. Sad to relate, the latter relic was not actually dis- played to us; we were only allowed to see. the 'exterior of the casket in 'which it was kept ; to open the coffer might have been fraught with danger to the emiimimity.. We had an opportunity of visiting the ruins Of the Cistercian Monastery at *Lehnin More than once. My father was most awdous to see it restored correctly and was instrumental 01 getting it rebuilt With accuracy of style and period. Another time we drove tO Rheinsberg. Starting from Friesack to visit the field of battle of Fehrbellin, we Saw the "Archduke's Hill" from which General von Gottberg had directed the -military operations-. In the afternoOn we stood by the grave of the great leader of cavalry, Joachim Hans von Ziethen, and called to mind the victories he Ilia -won for big great sovereign in the three campaigns. On the next day we lingered for a while at Rheinsberg, where once upon a time the young Fritz spent some of the happiest days of his life preparing for his kingship. The castle, the park, all the inner history of the _place linked up every episode of his reign, and we boys were deeply stirred by it In the king's work-room, the same in which the Anti-Machisreili had been conceived, my father discovered under the limewash the original gilding and painting of the time of the Fredericks. and he at once set to, aided and abetted by us, to wash off the upper coating with a scrubbing brush. In after years I had the whole of the original colouring uncovered.

These excursions, which varied the monotony of our school- life, were very welcome. There were never too many of them for us, and I truly believe that we imbibed more knowledge of history in that way than from a thousand books.

CHAPTER VU.

ENGLAND IN THE 'SEVENTIES

In 1871 I made the journey to England again, with my parents and the rest of the family. The first part of our stay was spent in London, the last part in the Isle of Wight. As I always took the greatest interest in ships and shipping generally, I often crossed over to the naval harbour of Ports- mouth and saw all classes of ships of new and antiquated types, and all the docks and shipyards. I climbed over the ship of the line "Victory," which Nelson, the great sailor, commanded at the Battle of Trafalgar, and on which he lost his life, heroically dying for his country. I tried to improve my knowledge of naval affairs as much as I could ; and once I went to that much more important and extensive port, Plymouth, and it was there that I descended in a diving-bell, to which incident I referred in a previous chapter.

This account of my" career" I should like to amplify by a description of English conditions as they appeared to me in my various visits during the first five years of the 'seventies.

QUEEN VICTORIA: A REAL GRANDMOTHER, PERFECT QUEEN AND WOMAN.

Our whole family were the guests of my grandmother, sometimes at Buckingham Palace, sometimes at that splendid Castle of Windsor, or at Osborne, a very original country seat on the Isle of Wight. Our nurseries were comfortable and cheerful, and I felt thoroughly at home there. The expression of " homeliness " and " comfort " which corresponds to our own words " Hauslichkeit " and " Gemiitlichkeit " can be applied quite as accurately to the mighty Castle of Windsor with all its splendour, its great halls and apartments. We were treated as children of the house, and we looked up to our grandmother, Britain's great Queen Victoria, with affectionate awe. The Queen was always particularly kind to me from the very first, she was a real grandmother, and our relations to one another were never changed or dimmed to the end of her life. I was allowed to play with the same toys and in the same places as did formerly my English uncles and aunts when they were my age. And by the same token we could go and drink tea and make butter and cream cheese in the little kitchen fitted out for them in the dairy at Frogmore, which was in Windsor Park. At Osborne I could play with the same old iron cannon on a model redoubt where my uncles had played when they were boys. And I remember a lottery organized for us children at Windsor of which the winning prize was arranged by my grandmother to be a huge English cake, on the summit of which rested a tinsel crown on a pink sugar cushion. When I went to bid my grandmother good night and I proudly told her I had been lucky enough to win the prize, she laid her hand on my head and turned up my face, looking into my eyes. "That is a good omen, my boy," she said. "Try always to be good and obedient to yourparents, then you will once deserve to their account."* Another time I was supposed to have been "very brave" when having a tooth extracted by the celebrated Dr. Evans, so my grand- mother gave me a brand new gold pound that I kept for the Whole of my life until it disappeared in the vortex of the Revolution.

Even after I became King, my relations with my grand- mother always remained cordial. She called me as ever in *Thus in English in the original. Query : "one day you will be S credit to them." (TRANKATon.)

talking to me "my boy" or "my dear boy," which gave me particular pleasure. Her excellent body physician, Sir James Reid, assured me that the last visit I made to my grand- mother, shortly before she died, was her last great joy.

The Queen had never forgotten the Prince Consort Albert, and never ceased to mourn for him, so that whenever I came to England I always went to visit the handsome mausoleum of my grandfather at Frogmore as noon as I arrived at Windsor Castle. When King Edward succeeded and I went to the mausoleum for the last time, there by the side of my grandfather's sarcophagus now stood that of my grand- mother. • But I was much astonished when I saw there a portrait of her in her youthful beauty just as Winterhalter depicted her when England's very young ruler came to the throne. I then heard that she had ordered her own monu- ment at the death of the Prince Consort, because if she died as an old woman she would not care to be laid beside her young

A hitherto unpublished sketch of the ex-German Emperor, made al Windsor by Queen Victoria in 1861. Reproduced by permission of MESSRS. METHUEN.

husband in all his manly beauty. The effect of both these finely carved figures is very moving.

Queen Victoria never endeavoured to deny her German origin. She was proud of the title "Duchess of' Saxony," and quartered her Saxon arms in her escutcheon on the English Royal Standard. With the Ladies and Gentlemen of my parents' suite and later on with my own, she made it a point of speaking German, of which she had complete command and a pure accent. Her attraction lay in her being able to combine in the rarest manner the two great attributes—of the perfect Queen, and of the perfect woman, mother and grandmother.

MY FAVOURITE UNCLE AND AUNT.

Not less affectionate in their reception of me were my other English relatives. There was my young Aunt Beatrice, for instance, who shared in our games and even played at cannons with us. My favourite uncle was from the first always Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught. The Duke, who was without question my grandmother's pet, as I grew up was particularly kind to me, and on my later visits to London made it his business to take me about personally. He was an excellent soldier, and when, after his marriage with my cousin, Princess Louise of Prussia, the youngest daughter of Prince Frederick Charles, he had the right to wear the uniform of the Ziethen Hussars, he was always very proud of donning that beautiful tunic when he came to Germany, which he frequently did to attend manoeuvres. Our friendship lasted through many decades, based as it was on our community of military interests as well as on the sympathy of our views in general. It lasted until the War broke the bond, a grievous loss to nie. My favourite aunt, Princess Louise, at that time the

Marchioness of Lorne, now Duchess of Argyll, spoilt me from the time I was a tiny child. I was allowed to play in her room and many a sweetmeat was hidden there for me. She was of a joyous, sunny temperament, and had as keen a sense of humour as her mother, the Queen, the very sort that wins the heart of a child- at once. I always loved and admired her, and for me my -whole life long she remained " the indulgent auntie." But this bond has been severed too.

CAPTAIN WELCH AND ADMIRAL FOLEY.

When I grew a little older it was great fun for me and my brother to go on board the Royal paddle-boat ' Alberta ' to fetch and carry our uncles and aunts between Cowes and Portsmouth. She was commanded by that worthy Captain Welch, who looked after us like a father on our voyages to and fro—and we were even privileged to work the engine- room signals under the guidance of the captain or the officer of the watch. I saw in this way a great many English ships of war, and it was on one of these trips that I inspected Nelson's 'Victory,' to which I have made previous reference. As I was looking at the small brass plate screwed to the deck that commemorates the spot on which the great admiral fell, Captain Welch said, parodying the words of Nelson's last signal, "Now, Sir, the British Admiralty expects that every person visiting the ' Victory ' must shed a pail of tears

here 1 " On the three-decker 'St. Vincent,' a cadet training ship, gunnery practice was just taking place as I boarded her. I was permitted to take part in it and told off as gunner No. 1 to serve a gun, and I had to fire it off. I was not a little proud to have contributed my share to the deafening thunder of the broadside. Admiral Foley, the Superintendent of the Dockyard, was another sailor who was most kind to me. It amused him to take me round the wharves and show me all the ships of war lying there. 'He was a real jovial old sea-dog with crimson face and white whiskers, and, being very deaf, he spoke very loud himself. This weakness of his led to a very comical incident, of which I shall give an account, not only because the story went the round of the whole English Navy, but because it is also an example of my grandmother's keen sense of a funny situation. It concerns what was in itself a tragic occurrence. The British sailing- frigate ' Eurydice ' went down almost in sight of Portsmouth. She was salvaged with-great trouble and towed into harbour, where she was laid up in dry dock. The Queen had com- manded Admiral Foley to luncheon at Osborne to receive his report, of it. After she had exhausted this melancholy subject, my grandmother, in order to give the conversation a more cheerful turn, inquired after his sister, whom she knew well, whereon the Admiral, who was hard of hearing and still pursuing his train of thought about the Eurydice,' replied in his stentorian voice : "Well, Ma'am, I am going to have her turned over and take a good look at her bottom and have it well scraped."

The effect of this answer was stupendous. My grandmother put down her knife and fork, hid her face in her handkerchief and shook and heaved with laughter until the tears rolled down her face. My uncle, the Duke of Connaught, and the younger members of the family round the table forgot every rule of etiquette and burst into a yell of laughter, and the dignified servants handing round dishes rushed away and took refuge behind the screen round the serving table. Meanwhile the Admiral, solemnly unconscious, looked on mystified at this hilarity without in the least knowing what it was all about As I get on with the story of my young days I shall often have much to say of English personalities and English con- ditions. For the present these few descriptions niay suffice to demonstrate how entirety like a second home to me was my grandmother's house, and how England might well have been a second home to me also.

SUMMER VISIT TO WYK.

The journey which we undertook the following summer is described in my diary thus : "In the summer of 1872 I went with my brother and sisters, but without my parents to the seaside resi3rt of Wyk, on the island- of Folir. Here my brother Henry cerebrated his tenth birthday, on which 1 e entered the Navy. A gamboat, the Blitz:, arrived for the occasion and fired a saiute in honour of the new member of the Service'. Shortly after Henry's birthday he and I went for a trip on the gunboat' Blitz.' The commanding officer, Commander Glomsda von Buchholz, showed us, among other things, the heavy gun that stood amidships, and then led us to the bow where there were two older, lighter bronze guns, as we youngsters were very anxious to see the gun from Which " The Shot" had been fired. The story of " The Shot" was as follows : The ' Blitz ' had been detailed to guard German fisheries in the North Sea, and had to deal repeatedly with the encroachments .of British fishermen. On one such occasion a British fishing vessel had refused to salute, by lowering and raising its national flag, the ensign which the .` Blitz' flew at her stern. After several fruitless challenges; Commander von Buchholz fired across the bow of the vessel, whereat the necessary Ceremony was Carried out with great dispatch. By this means the ' Blitz ' gained the respect not only of the British, but also of the Germans, and whenever after this incident the gunboat appeared on the scene, flags performed their duty with alacrity, for it must be added

that the German fishermen also had very often been tardy with their salute. "The Shot" re-echoed, and was joyfully

acclaimed, throughout the Fatherland, because it meant that at last the German nation had asserted her authority on the seas. Henry and I stood gazing respectfully at the

gun, while -Hinzpeter added in professorial tones : "Mark this gun well ! It is an historic gun, from which an historic shot was fired

Yachting was naturally the centre of all interests at Wyk.. We sailed a great deal from Far, generally on the Welle,' a Hamburg two-masted yacht, or on the 'Grille,' the Royal' steam yacht, which had been placed at our disposal. The • Grille' had been built for King Frederick William /V. at Havre in the 'fifties as a steam screw yacht by the well-known French ship-designer, Dupuy de Lpme. She was an excep- tionally handsome vessel with fine lines and was like a sea-

gull on water. The commanding officer, Captain Ratzeburg, treated. us youngsters, who contrived to spend all our spare time on board, with great kindness. The 'Grille' when first commissioned in the 'fifties steamed nearly fourteen knots, an exceptionally high speed for . Those days,. which would nowadays correspond to about thirty. During these pleasure trips Henry and I learnt the code of signals, and under the supervision of the navigating officer and quartermasters we were taught to steer the yacht by the compass, to hoist the signal flags, and to perform other similar duties of a sailor.

I shall conclude the description of our summer trip of 1872 by quoting from My Life : "During the fast part of our stay in Fohr, my brother and I went for a trip to Hamburg on the Kaise'r's yacht, the 'Grille,' which had been placed at our disposal. We stayed in Hamburg for a few days to see the activity of Germany's greatest trading centre. What I enjoyed most there was to go down to the docks, to look at the hundreds and hundreds of steamers and sailing vessels, to

watch the life and movement in the harbour, and in the, streets, the loading and unloading, the arrival and departure'

of ships, the bustle to and fro of the people, and in a word the picture of animated toil, striving and achievement which to me was a most moving sight. One day to my great joy we went to Kiel and saw the docks and shipbuilding yards ; it was just at that time that the ironclad Friedrich der Grosse was being built.

"We returned to Potsdam, and I resumed my studies, now more Intense than before, as I had to take an examination in the spring. I also began my preparation for confirmation. I had to work hard throughout the winter, and did so with a will, as I was very anxious to make good progress in my studies.' At last, in the spring, the examination came. I was not afraid of it, as I felt sure of myself. There was only one thing that I did not like, and that was that, with the exception of my mathematics master, all the other examiners werostrangers to me. However, whern the examina- tion began I was soon rid of this feeling, and I believe that every- thing went off fairly well. I Was told afterwards that I was fully qualified for the Upper Third."

The examination -took place at 11 a.m. on 2nd April, 1873, in the Kronprinzen Palace. I was examined in Latin, Greek and mathematics. The examiners were Hinzpeter, Professor Riihle and three other masters of the Joachimstal Gym-

nasium, the headmaster of which school attended the pro- ceedings. According to the official report on the, result of the

examination Prince Wilhelm was perfectly qualified for admission into the Upper Third Class of a `Pymnasium; whire knowledge of mathematics would do credit to a good olar of the Upper Third." •

yjio could have been happier than I was ? In the evening s to go with my parents to the opera as a reward.

- - CHAPTER VIII.

VIENNA—SCHEVENINGEN.--CONFIRMATION..

Several weeks later, at the end of April, 1873, I received entirely different kind of reward for my scholastic success. ii.as permitted to accompany my parents on a journey eh was to be- rich in new impressions and experiences for

I turn again to my Lebenslauf

Soon afterwards I went with my parents to Vienna for the sing of the Universal Exhibition. Of this journey I recall eral days spent in Prague, which is one of the most venerable and arkable cities that I know. . . .

• in Vienna we were most kindly received by the Emperor and Consort. The whole of our stay we lived at Hetzendorf, ngt from SchOnbrunn, and every morning before starting off for the ibit ion I used to go with my parents for a walk in the garden park of Schonbrunn. Here, too, was historical ground, even ugh it evoked unpleasant memories of the time of Napoleon I. " The opening of the Exhibition was a very festive occasion, the enormous pavilion in which it was held, and which was enough to have accommodated the dome of St. Peter's, was 11 calculated to produce a deep and lasting impression. I could , naturally, give an account of all that I saw, heard and did. Is enough to say that I spent four to five hours-at the Exhibition ly and kept a diary of the things I saw. The young, fifteen- rs-old Crown Prince and I had become fast friends, and we went several excursions and walks together. A fortnight later I limed home, while my parents travelled to Italy."

THE EMPEROR, EMPRESS AND CROWN PRINCE IN 1873.

I should like to amplify this childish account, and shall with our arrival in Vienna. My parents were met here the Emperor Francis Joseph and by all the Archdukes d escorted to Hetzendorf, where we alighted. - My father ve on ahead with the Emperor, while I remained with r mother. I still recollect how during the drive through suburbs she was astonished by, and drew my attention the irregularity and unsightliness of the houses. She had t expected to see such buildings in this very famous capital. Besides their Majesties, who had driven on ahead, we were ted upon our arrival by the Empress Elisabeth, whom my ther had once described to me as the most beautiful woman Europe, the Crown Prince Rudolph, and the highest Court ids. In those days the Emperor was full of youth and our, and had the figure of a subaltern. When I was presented him his eyes rested upon me with fatherly kindness. Then found myself before the Empress. Rooted to the spot I into the dazzlingly beautiful face surmounted by dark ir and at the lovely dark eyes. I was so overcome that it only when admonished by my mother that I remembered kiss the Royal lady's hand. I was completely carried away th the beautiful vision which had fully justified my mother's diet.

Hetzendorf is a beautiful, medium-sized castle in the Rococo le lying in the plain` behind Schiinbrunn and surrounded a lovely garden. I lived with General von Gottberg, my itary tutor, on the ground floor, and could go out into the rden as often as I pleased. 'soon made friends with the Crown Prince Rudolph, which, ng into consideration his winning personality, unversed in subtleties of the world, was not surprising. We went on fly an excursion together out into the country surrounding coma, particularly into the iVonderful Wienerwald, the Lainz logical Gardens, and up the Kahlenberg, whence we had a utiful 'view of the town and its surroundings. We, of me, also visited all the sights of Vienna. Of these I was thy iaterested in the famous jewels of the old German dons. I usufllly took my meals together with the Crown ce Rudolph ; now and then we were taken down to their Jesties' table.

On these occasions, and particularly at the more important etions, I would look with wonder upon the great mag-

Mace of the Emperor's Court with its old Spanish cere- alai.

An incident in which the Empress figures is indelibly stamped 1113 memory. One day Her Majesty came to tea with my ther at Hetzendorf. I was writing my diary to which -I ve alluded before, but which is inifortunately lost, when mother had me brought to the garden where she was walking with the Empress. The Empress greeted me in the charmingly friendly manner so peculiarly her own, and then my mother told me to carry Her Majesty's long train. undertook the d.uties. of .a page with the greatest enthusiasm and observed with devotion and wonder the stateliness of the Empress's carriage and her beautiful gliding walk. It could be literally said of her what an old-time injunction of Court etiquette demanded : she did,not sit down—she took a seat ;.

she did not stand up—she rose ; she did not walk—she wended her way. This will give an idea of the sure rhythm of her every movement.

The Imperial family was exceptionally numerous, as with the exception of the Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, all the brothers of the Emperor were still alive, as were also a great number of near relatives, some of whom had large families.

I was particularly pleased when I met for the first time the Archduke Albrecht, the victor of Custozza. As regards the others, I was treated very kindly. by the Archduke Rainer, the son-in-law of Archduke Albrecht, who, as a great con- noisteur, drew my attention to the priceless art collections of Vienna.

LAUNCH OF THE FIRST GERMAN-BUILT IRONCLAD.

Of the outward events which occurred between the Vienna visit and my confirmation, those worthy of note may be briefly - summed up as follows.

The summer of 1873 found us back at Wyk, where we resumed our usual holiday existence. At the end of September King Victor Emmanuel came to Berlin, where he was received with great honour and enthusiasm. The King was a very pleasant, exceptionally corpulent and jovial man, with an enormous moustache. In his honour a great review of troops was held at Potsdam, in which both I and my brother Henry took part. The impressive personality of the uniter of Italy left for a long time afterwards a deep impression on the Berlin Court and on the people.

On November 22nd, a day after my mother's birthday, I witnessed the launching of a ship for the first time in my life at the Volker.' shipyard at Stettin. This was the turret-ship the 'Preussen,' the first German-built ironclad. Later she was followed ley her sister ships 'Friedrich der Grosse' and the' Grosser Kurfiirst.' My mother performed the christening ceremony during a heavy snowstorm. Then the ship slid majestically into the water. Like everyone who sees a ship launched for the first time, I was deeply moved by the spectacle. At the same time I was filled with pride at the consciousness that we had reached the stage in Germany when we ourselves could build our ships, no longer assigning the work to foreign firms.

PREPARING FOR CONFIRMATION. MY "MEDITATIONS."

" Right through the autumn (of 1873) and winter my lessons increased, lasting tilrseven or eight o'clock in the evening, so that I hardly had an hour to go out. So it went on in the spring and in the first part of the summer of 1874, and only in the dog days was it possible for zne to get a rest. This period was spent in a journey to Scheveningen in Holland.—(My Life.)"

The time spent at Scheveniagen is associated in my mind with my strenuous preparation for eontimmtion. iitiy pre- paration had been conducted since September, 1872; by the Reverend Dr. Persius, of the Church of the Holy Ghost at Potsdam. He VMS the son of the late Aulic Councillor and Chief Architect to King Frederick William IV., and the brother of the previously appointed Privy Councillor. He was a Liberal and a member of the Protestant Union. He struck me as being shrivelled up and lost in meditation, and gained nothing from him that was of use to me in life. ThEo- retieally (or should I say theologically ?) he did prepare me quite well, but the really elevating,initiation of that period I

derived from the Lord's teaching, to which I applied myself more earnestly than hitherto, and not from any doctrine of human origin. I pondered much in those days oyer tilings eternal, in the effort to attain lucid conceptions, and acting on the priest's advice, committed some of my delilberatlbns to paper as "meditations." My "meditations," of course, wandered often far from the substance of PirsilLs' Sermons, and led me to wonder abont the heavens and the blue sea and the ships and fishing-boats that sailed thereon.. _ It was during those hours of meditation that my confession of faith, wine!" J pronounced at my confirmatiqn, was fortned.

Ilinzpeter's observations tide at the ttme of my religious preparation correspond to those given above, and appear to Me to be worthy of being reproduced here :

"It was subsequently remarkably easy for the priests who were entrusted with preparing the Prince for his eonfirmation to impart to him the Christian Faith in the form established and prescribed by the Church. Just as at first the religious teaching had to be as undogmatic as possible, so now the dogma had to be as non-sectarian as possible. The Prince was to be free so to adapt the Christian Faith himself to his own individuality that it might become the standard on which he could model his life. Furthermore, in spite of, or rather because of, his firm religious convictions, he might be assured of that freedom of thought which as King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany he would need for governing justly over subjects professing so great a diversity of beliefs. The selection of a priest, denominationally unbiased, was therefore made with the utmost care, the official reason given being that it was the most natural course to aim at having the Christian Faith presented to the boy in such a way that he could apply it to his own life. The time would come all too soon when he would see and be obliged to regard this Faith as an object of political strife. The first stipula- tion, therefore, was that a priest should be chosen who neither by his inclinations nor by virtue of his position would consider it his bounden duty to draw dogmatic and sectarian controversy into his teaching.

"The strict, not to say searching, examination which was finally carried out proved a brilliant success and clearly showed that the Prince had fully mastered the teaching of the Church. In an intimate conversation held at about this time he himself stated that he had realized that Christianity embodied Truth, and that he contemplated moulding his life along its lines. He found, however, considerable difficulty in formulating a confession of faith, which, according to family traditions, the Prince had to pronounce at his confirmation before the assembled congregation. This confession, contrary to the usual practice, had to be as individual as possible, and be drawn up unaided, while on the other hand it had to be, and could only be, a more or less personally coloured paraphrase of the Apostolic Creed. With this aim in view the Prince would go for solitary walks along the beach at Scheveningen to meditate, and all his interests were centred in this task during his stay at the seaside in the summer of 1874.

"Altogether, the Prince's confirmation period, when he embraced the Christian Faith with eagerness and devotion, was for him a time of real edification, and of an advance to a higher level of spiritual life."

VISITS TO DUTCH TOWNS, CHURCHES AND GALLERIES.

Under the instructive guidance of Hinzpeter we made numerous excursions to the Dutch towns to visit churches and galleries which were of particular interest to me. We visited for example, the Mauritz-Huis at the Hague, the State Museum in Amsterdam, and the Franz Hals Museum in Haarlem, which, in those days, was still accommodated in the Town Hall. Above all others, the works of Rembrandt, Van Dyck and Franz Hals made a deep impression upon me. As regards the subjects depicted, I was interested most in pictures por- traying the great Dutch naval battles, and I often tried to reproduce them at home from memory.

Our visits to the churches took us one day to Gouda, where we admired the beautiful stained-glass windows. One of them represented Judith and Holofernes at the moment when the Hebrew heroine is leaving the room with the head of Nebuchadnezzar's general. The beheaded body lay in a magnificent bed with silk draperies. My historical sense of style was somewhat shocked when I observed that a pedestal table stood by the bed and upon it a Chinese tea-set. My question whether people in those days already drank tea greatly disconcerted poor Hinzpeter, as did likewise my next question as to how Holofernes, lodged as he was in a simple tent, had managed to bring so costly a tea-set with him on his military expedition without having it broken. Perhaps he had had a special camel for the transport of his tea-things ? Only when Hinzpeter, driven to despair, replied that probably Judith had brought him the tea-set as a gift was I satisfied.

This visit to the church at Gouda had a sequel. Sophie, at that time Queen of the Netherlands, would occasionally invite us to the Palace where she regaled us with tea, pastries, straw- berries and sweets, while we had to tell her about our excur- sions in Holland. So it happened after our visit to Gouda. When we told the Queen where we had been, she was much surprised. "What in the world, children, did you do at Gouda ? " We: "Dear auntie, we went to see the beautiful church." The Queen : "What is there to be seen in this church that is so beautiful ? " I: "Why, the lovely windows, dear auntie." "The conquest of Damietta," chimed in Henry, "where the Dutch ships break through the chain- boom in the harbour." To which I added : "Judith and Holofernes, and he has a pretty bedside table with a Chinese tea-set." The Queen : "But that is impossible. Holofernes never drank tea. It can't possibly be a tea-set." I: "It

really is,-dear auntie." The Queen "Well, children, I g have to see this for myself ; there is nothing about it in Bible." •A little while later the Queen did actually bee, convinced of the truth of our statements,.-throwing new I

on the history of civilization., - _

To conclude my account of the Scheveningen days, I mention that it was then that I presented my first anti report to my grandfather, a practice which I continued to his death.

MY CONFESSION OF FAiru.

After our return my final preparation for confirmation undertaken by Dr. Heym, of the Friedenskirche at P

He was a plain, straightforward man, a great favourite with the older generation of the Royal House, with whom, chaplain to Frederick William IV., as well as to my father grandfather, he was very intimate. I have retained to t day the veneration with which he inspired me. At this t it also happened, much to my joy, that my grandmother, Empress Augusta, commanded my presence at Babel more frequently, or went for walks with me in the park Sanssouci. On these occasions I had to relate what I i learnt from my confirmation addresses, and when my gra mother noted a gap or an imperfectly understood word would share with me knowledge drawn from the ties, store of her faith and experience of life. I am above grateful to my worthy grandmother because it was she s taught me the practical application of our Christian rehg to everyday life.

The day of my confirmation was for me a great spirit

experience. The confession of faith which I pronounced for me a sacred vow. The ceremony took place on Septem 1st in the Friedenskirche, and was exceptionally impressn My mother had had the church beautifully decorated flowers and garlands, my father had, himself, selected hymns and anthems. Most of the members of the R House were present in addition to a large congregation. 3 grandmother, the Queen of England, sent the Prince Wales, who, after the ceremony, received the Holy Somalia together with my parents and myself. The ceremony, NOilf moved me very deeply, is a lasting memory.

"My confirmation," says my Curriculum Vitae, comp two years later, "fortified me and invested me with strength, and I look to the future with firm conviction trust in God."

With these sacred and solemn experiences, both spirits and outwardly, the years of my childhood were ended.

CuArrna LX.

THE OLD EMPEROR AND EMPRESS.

Pity relations with the revered figure of the first Gee Emperor, my grandfather, from my childhood's days to affecting moment when he closed his eyes for ever, extremely intimate. I looked up to him with awe, and devotedly attached to him. He was in return a kind, frie and loving grandfather, and in this spirit he kept his eye the whole of my youthful development ; above all, in In military career, I owe everything to him. He had alml had the greatest confidence in me, and various incidents these youthful reminiscences, particularly my two mis5 to Russia, will verify this. I always reported to him, 10 on my journeys, anything that appeared to me woith attention in political and military affairs, and as he on remarked, he very much enjoyed this attention. The year in my grandfather's life generally took t following course : in spring, or early summer, he went Ems for his health, and then to Gastein ; in the autumn stayed in Babelsberg after the manoeuvres.in Baden-Bad, s he spent the winter in Berlin.

TATE-I-TATE DINNERS.

Often, when my parents were travelling, and his &light' the Grand Duchess Louise was not staying with him, invited to dine alone with my grandfather in his palace, 1- nt den Linden. I shall never forget those intimate hours t gether ; all the love of a grandfather for his grandson then fully expressed. On such occasions the meal was SC' in the drawing-room, which led into his study, at a so green card-table that was very shaky and needed esti" careful handling. With the joint, a bottle of champagne on the table, which the Emperor himself uncorked and his own hands always filled two glasses, for himself and me. After the second glass he would hold the bottle up e light, and make a pencil mark on the label at ccfit•,i trq, tiv he was very economical, he d prove whether the serirant kept the bottle for further or, somewhat against his orders, set a fresh one before him next day. There was no smoking after dinner, as the peror never smoked himself ; when he visited an officers' , he lit a cigarette to give the signal to smoke, but took a few puffs.

t these little tite-a-tite dinners my grandfather would let thoughts roam in the past, and would tell stories and otes of forgotten times. Several of them, which concern late brother, who was noted for his wit, seem to be worthy petition.

ing Frederick William IV was once begged by the director

e royal theatre to be present at the performance of a new ra. The visit turned out to be very boring, and the King before the end of the first act. As he stepped out of his he saw the attendant on his chair sunk deep in sleep. ed, the director would have hurried towards the erring ial to wake him up, but the King held him back and tried ppease him with the words : " Oh ! Let him alone ! He listened ! "

RELATIONS IVITH THE EMPRESS AUGCSTA AND THE GRAND DUCHESS OF BADEN.

e most beautiful relation, that one can possibly imagine ling between a grandmother and her grandson, united to the Empress Augusta ; it was, I should say, such an acy as one only reads of in novels. The Empress, usually gave the impression of a formal and even rather personality, in a small circle, and especially Me-a-tete, warm and affectionate, and lovingly demonstrative. not only that she particularly spoiled and preferred me, that, as the right kind of grandmothers so much like to do, also concerned herself with my intellectual development e kindest possible way. When Professor Werder came literature lessons, and a play was duly apportioned and aloud, she used to come into the schoolroom and listen, of interest ; the Weimar Princess, who had even known the personally, and still remained in Correspondence with great Olympian after her marriage, could never be denied. en I came home from Cassel for the holidays, I had to w her my reports, and describe everything to her ; the eets of my lessons, my teachers and schoolfellows. Just ore my confirmation, my grandmother paid particular ntion to me, and at that time, as I have already said, first gave life and colour to much that my childish mind not understood. In her firmly established faith, with her Heal Christianity, and in her continual reliance on the raeter of our Lord, she was—like my Aunt Louise who was very way her reflection—a firm curb upon me at this diffi- period. In ceremonial matters my grandmother certainly ded towards Catholicism ; she had, for instance, arranged a private chapel, but never allowed that to influence the ion of her faith. This inclination was without doubt the ion from the rationalistic age in which she had lived. Was obliged in later years to support my grandmother on arm whenever she held her Court. In those days it was the custom at the Courts to stand and speak to each guest, eh was extremely fatiguing. Only after my grandmother's 'dent was it arranged that the guests should merely pass and make their bow, and in my time I made this a regular ution. I could not help admiring at those levees the skill with which my grandmother knew how to say hing courteous and yet something individual to each • She was especially trained in this art in her youth ; en she was only a girl of fourteen a number of empty chairs uld be set in front of her, and she had to look, upon each of them as a particular person and talk to it accordingly. years I had the happiness of being allowed to guide my ndmother, until, owing to her illness, she had to take to "1 chair and be wheeled.

I my grandfather's death the Empress stayed first of. Berlin, for which I was profoundly grateful ; she did

ng she could, in so far as her strength allowed, to ten the burden of those difficult ninety-nine days for her and for me. It was an affecting moment when the flag of the guard, which until then was set up at my grandfather's palace, had to be brought' over to the Berlin Castle after my accession to the throne. She watched with ••••"^-1 1-- •' tavOM-E111" Am. vat MID -ta-ner–SaftilviiiI peifOrmance. For the Weimar Princess had become to the very core a Prussian Queen and a German Empress. That she was the best of grandmothers to me at the same time, I shall always remember of her to my dying days.

Of Emperor William I.'s circle the now deceased Grand Duchess Louise of Baden, the Emperor's only daughter, stood closest to me. She was an unusual woman, deeply religious, firm in the Protestant faith, but thoroughly tolerant, and this was often misunderstood. She showed a decided partiality for me from my childhood, and until her death I returned her affeetion on my side with love, trust and esteem, and let her take part, through written communications, in everything that concerned my life and work. She possessed considerable political ability and a great gift for organization, and she understood excellently how to put the right men in the right places and how to employ their strength serviceably for the general benefit. Although it was not always recognized, she had learned admirably to combine the Prussian element with the Baden character, and she developed into a model sovereign princess. Until the last, sustained by her splendid memory, she took part in everything concerning charities, politics, inventions and scientific life, and to a certain degree could also keep up with the times. It was deeply affecting to see with what intrinsic greatness she bore the difficult years of the War, the Revolution; and the time after the War. Ifer death was an immense loss to me. She was the last of the great old times.

Her husband, the Grand Duke Frederick, stood no less close to me. With his wise counsel and his sustaining encouragement, he was always a fatherly friend. That his revered figure sank into the grave as early as 1007 caused me great grief.

CHAPTER X.

AT CASSEL GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

Soon after my confirmation it was disclosed to me that my parents had decided that from then onwards I should attend the grammar school in Cassel, there to finish my education and matriculate.

The originator of this plan was Hinzpeter ; he had been engineering it ever since 1870; he made the first proposals te my mother in Homburg, and then sent a memorandum of them to my father at Versailles. As he confirmed upon referring to his notes, my tutor handed in several memoranda, as reasons to induce the acceptance of his proposal, principally the following : "The entire education should be given peace and continuity by submission to an external, invariable and compulsory standard, which private education, principally on account of the claims and habits of court life, in spite of the very best intentions of all those taking part, cannot possibly proyide, and yet this is a preliminary condition of successful development. ; . A further successful result of submission to a strictly systematic, elaborated and firmly established method should be the habit of firm, inexorable allegiance to duty, and the concentration of all the powers upon the submitted and immediate task. It appears to be of the very greatest impor- tance to the successful sovereign, ruler of a people, that he should know and understand their thoughts and feelings, and this is only possible if he has had the same method of education that the most cultured have had themselves, if he is nourished with the same ideas and principles as they, and if he has also had the opportunity of coming into closer continuous contact With people of other classes than those of his own future environment . . '

The consummation of his tuition scheme seems to have presented many difficulties, or so it appears from his notes. He lays stress on the fact that it involved a breach of tradition concerning the family affairs of all the conservative courts of the world ; the placing, too, of the heir to the throne on the school-bench, thereby surrendering him defeneelcis to the world's criticism, had excited attack in a wide circle, and its realization had, for that 'reason; experienced violent opposition.

HINZFETELCS CHOICE or CASSEL JUSTIFIED.

IIinzpeter's proposal was therefore only adopted for the time being for its general purpose, and accordingly, as I have already described, apart rrom mathematics, Greek was also included in the educational scheme, "an inceedible and much-criticized measure in the education of princes." But . ifith his own peculiar Westphalian- ability, Hinzpeter overcame all the hindrances that stood in the way of his scheme. At the beginning of the year 1874 its execution seems to have — _ been agreed upon. • Hinzpeter took as his point . of view, with regard to the choice of a place, that it must be situated ma healthy positions and near one of the larger towns, so as to be in reach of the means of French .ahd English instruction. In March, 1874, he was principally considering Homburg or Wiesbaden ; the decision in favour of Cassel must have been brought about through a journey there in August.

In reality, Cassel was an almost ideally chosen spot for a youth's school days. In the small town, at that time, the entire life was governed by the school, as is usually only the case in university towns. The beautiful surroundings, with their glorious gardens, provided. full opportunity for walks, as well as for short or long excursions. The theatre, the opera, a museum and a picture-gallery created all manner of educa- tional possibilities. The delightful social life of the town supplied stimulating intercourse. And when one adds to this, that Wilhehnshohe Castle, where we were to live in the summer, popsessed a unique position, one must admit that

Ilinzpeter had made a very, good choice. .

When I first heard of the plan to transplant me to Cassel I was not exactly pleasantly surprised. For now I was to leave the parental home in whose protection I had grown up, was to be given into the hands of new teachers, and now, all at once, was to learn with strange boys in a public school, was to compete with them, and—to come out lower in the list !

It was at least one consolation that my brother Henry accompanied me ; for as he was destined for the practical career of a sailor, he was to enter the polytechnic school in Cassel. In addition, my " civil-tutor," Dr. Hinzpeter,. and my "military-tutor," Major-General von Cottberg, went with me. The latter, who taught me from 1871, as successor to First Lieutenant O'Danne, was a congenial and delightful man, whom I liked extraordinarily. I also spent a good deal of time in his home, where it was always uncommonly agreeable. In Cassel the Minaiement Of our honsehOld.was'in his hands, in the course of which he often came into direct opposition with Hinzpeter, who (pate unreasonably hated the general.

MISGIVINGS HAPPILY FALSIFIED. • Not long after my confirmation the farewell hour struck, Which meant parting from the parental mansion, from Berlin and Potsdam, from friends and relations, and departing into the unknown.

The journey gave us wonderful impressions of the mountains and places of historical interest, but the thoughts, full of longing for home and not without uneasiness as to the future, would not be banished, and when, for the first time, I saw the place that was to be my home, my heart sank, as I now see on consulting my diary. "As I saw Cassel lying before me, for the first time, from the Sondershiiuser Mountain, -all these thoughts arose within me with redoubled power ;. but then I remembered my confirmation and the hymn that had been sung : 'A firm stronghold is our God,' and the doubts and thoughts vanished like apparitions or ghosts."

Everything went much better than I had expected :—

" I had hardly been at school a week before I felt so much at home in the class (the Upper Fifth), and had got on to such good terms with my schoolfellows, that it seemed as if I had never had any lessons except in class. It so happened that the author whom we were studying aroused all my sympathies ; the lively, detailed descriptions of events and characteristic sketches of the chief figures a the narrative made this book of Sallust's the most attractive work of his which I had yet read."*

I don't know whether I was aware of it at the time, but I see from Hinzpeter's notes that I had not been the only one to look forward with mixed feelings to my start at the school :—

" At first both master and pupils felt rather 'uncomfortable, for the new boy and his schoolfellows seemed such an unknown antity, formed of heterogeneous elements. But this state of things did not last long, for the Prince bore himself as a typical schoolboy, and, after his usual fashion, threw himself with zest into his new life, just as he did later on as undergraduate, and then as soldier. His schoolfellows soon found out that, in spite of an ever tactful reserve which forbade all familiarity, lie could be, and actu- ally was, a very good fellow, always ready to take part in their plans and pursuits, and sincerely, anxious to compete with them on equal terms without special privileges. As,•on principle, the Prince was never influenced or restricted in the choice of his nearer acquain- tances, he soon formed a small circle of congenial spirits, which made more familiar intercourse possible." - - Without forming a close friendship with anyone in lar, I kept on good terms with all my schoolfellom, remember. especially my__ companion, John Brauneele, on headmaster of the " Wilhelm " Gymnasium in Rain Ganslandt, Ititer1)Z-C.V.4,141tr; and !.); *Mall boy named Sommer, who became Judge of the Coto Apridal, and _died in §eptember,.1925. My-brother Henry I saw a_great deal of, a boy mulled Wild, who happened I neither in his class nor in mine; later -on, as Wild von lie born, he became Secretary for War. We were both Very of him, for he was a jolly fellow, full of zest and with a talent for charades and theatricals, which we were getting up. ,

Amongst the masters I specially remember Vogt, the

-master, who taught classics;' he was certainly strict, pleasant, and neither pedantic nor narrow-minded, and o school he was very kind. He_proved to be an expert on and Roman plays, and in this way aroused my deep inte Hartwig, too, the history master, was stimulating and excellent lecturer ; on the other hand, Haussner, my f master, was rather dry, if I remember rightly. All that be said of Herr Schorre, our mathematical master, is that was more of a sportsman than a mathematician. Th every now and then he would enthral us by the account some midnight adventure with a monster in the Forest Kaufung, he could not explain to us the nature and o of an equation. But when we were moved up into the 1, sixth we had an excellent mathematical master, who, by way, bore a striking resemblance to Nasru'd-Din, the S of Persia. This gentleman, Dr. Auth by name, was st and jovial, and very fond of wine and of an over-heated e room. As the form had put me in charge of the stove, I to stoke up well before he came in. Of course, the boys the stove very nearly died of heat, but this disadvantage amply compensated for by Dr. Auth's good spirits, would rise with the temperature, and which had a beneficial effect on the whole class. Both in the lower ripper sixth we made excellent progress under his adtni teaching and bright stimulating lectures, so that in the mat lation examination the whole class cut a good figure mathematics.

Boys of to-day can have no notion of how exacting work was ; it was certainly nothing out of the way for and home-work to take up ten or eleven hours out of the In summer I used to get up at five, and by six I was al at work on preparation ; from eight to twelve I was at set The time from twelve to two was taken up with a fencing or bathing. Then came two hours of school, folh by a private lesson with Hinzpeter. From five to six the dinner-hour ; followed by at least two hours' work, af' which private tuition often went on till nine or later. own burden was made heavier than that of the ordinary Rh. boy by extra tuition in French and English with a Swiss narn Beauvon, and later on with a Frenchman of the name of Api It is a good thing that boys of the present day do not have s a hard time, for our life was often a perfect torment.

(To be continued.)

[Next week's instalment deals in Chapter XI. with "Phi logy and Patriotism," as illustrated by the curriculum of old unreformed Prussian gymnasium; and an interlude military service before the author went to the lin Chapter XII. describes his studies at Bonn—lectures, lens and fellow-students ; his membership of the " &rani Students Corps ; his first visit to Brussels and impressions King Leopold II.; visits to Balmoral and Paris ; and crisis in Russo-German relations in 1879. Chapter SI describes his life with his regiment from 1879 to 1888, Chapter XIV-. his marriage and his friendships in the 'eig with Count Philip Rulenburg, Count Waldersee and von Verses, von Chelius, von Kessel and von Malinke.]

*From my "Curriculum Vitae."