"His varied life is toss'd on Faction's wave, A leader now, and now a party's slave; And shall his character a waverer's seem? If that's a fault, impute it not to him; He play'd a stake, and fortune threw the die; So look upon him with a brother's eye. We would for him an interest create, His own his virtues, and his faults his fate." Schiller. The events which are recorded in the following pages, took place in that part of Southern Germany situated between the mountainous district of the Alb and the Black Forest. That portion of territory is bounded by the former on the north-west, by a long chain of hills of unequal height and breadth, extending southward, whilst the forest, commencing from the sources of the Danube, stretches uninterruptedly to the banks of the Rhine. Being composed of woods of black pine, it forms a dark background to the beautiful picture produced by a luxuriant country, rich in vineyards and watered by the Neckar, which flows through it.