Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER V ON September 3rd, 1775, Anna Amalia, who had not yet completed her thirty-sixth year, laid down her sceptre of office and willingly retired into the shade of private life. For seventeen years she had governed the little duchy committed to her care, with a discretion, prudence, and ability, truly wonderful in so youthful and inexperienced a ruler. Those who had watched her unobtrusive, ever-watchful endeavours to be as harmless as is the dove and not altogether without the cunning of the serpent, were filled with wonder for this young creature, who steered her course in difficult waters to the admiration of all. During the first years of her reign a whirlwind of misfortune had swept over Germany. There had been a terrible war, in which Weimar, small as was its size, had borne its part; this had been followed by an equally disastrous famine. The conduct of the young duchess under circutnstances of extraordinary difficulty was the theme of praise at every court in Europe; her name was honoured wherever it was mentioned. The celebrated Grimm, envoy from Gotha to the Court of France, extolled this ** wonderful duchess," in glowing terms: "The hard reality of the present time turns into the romance of mythology, when we see before us a living representation of the Goddess Minerva, who has taken a human form amongst the romantic woods of Thuringia. She it is whose name shall be for ever immortalised in the annals of Saxony, and who will live in the history of mankind. But greater even than the immortality of history is the respect of contemporaries; and here language itself fails to give an idea of the homage, the reverence, and the love excited by this wonderful princess." After making due allowance for the German schwarmerei, which...
