at their hands.

All eyes in Germany looked anxiously to the result of this contest.
They essayed to pierce the curtain of fate, and to prognosticate what
the coming days were likely to bring forth, whether Wuertemberg or the
League should remain master of the field. The following pages will
withdraw this curtain, and expose the principal characters, who took a
leading part, in due order; and we trust the eye of the reader will not
turn away too soon fatigued with the narrative.

It surely is not an uninteresting occupation to peruse, in our days, an
historical tale of olden times; and therefore it is our hope, as it has
been our aim, to excite the interest of our readers in one, the events
of which, though they occurred in so secluded a spot as the Swabian
Alb, and in the remote, but delightful, vallies of the Neckar, we trust
that the few hours spent in their perusal will not be thrown away.

Germany is not less rife in romantic events than other countries;
and she can likewise draw largely upon the history of civil strife,
equally interesting to our mind, as those recorded in the pages of more
well-known states. We have, consequently, ventured to unroll an
historical Swabian painting, which, if it does not exhibit the bold
outline of figures, the same enchanting composition of landscape--if
the colouring be less brilliant, and the pencilling less clearly
defined--than the works of other authors, the artist may safely shelter
himself under its historical truth, to make up for the deficiencies of
composition.

FOOTNOTES TO THE "INTRODUCTION":

[Footnote 1: Ulerich von Wuertemberg was born in 1487, was invested in
1498 as Duke, with a Co-regency, which he dissolved in his sixteenth
year, and reigned alone from the year 1508. He died in 1550.]

[Footnote 2: Eberhard with the beard was born in 1445, and died 1469.
He was the first Duke of Wuertemberg, and founded the University of
Tuebingen in 1477. Christoph, born in 1515, and died in 1568, was a
prince whose remembrance is not only blessed in Wuertemberg, but also in
all Germany. He was the founder of the constitution of Wuertemberg.]

[Footnote 3: So called from the name of a poor peasant, who headed his
oppressed fellow-sufferers, in an insurrection for the redress of their
wrongs, calling themselves the "League of poor Conrad."]

THE BANISHED.

CHAPTER I.

What me