lso lies buried there and a rosebush grows on her
grave; she loved the scent of roses so well in life, and her heart
was pure rose-incense and goodness. The knowing old Canon, too, lies
buried there. Heavens, what an object he looked when I last saw him!
_He was made up of nothing but mind and plasters_, and nevertheless
studied day and night, as if he were alarmed lest the worms should
find an idea too little in his head. And the little William lies
there, and for this I am to blame. We were schoolfellows in the
Franciscan monastery, and were playing on that side of it where the
Dussel flows between stone walls, and I said, 'William, fetch out the
kitten that has just fallen in'--and merrily he went down on to the
plank which lay across the brook, snatched the kitten out of the
water, but fell in himself, and was dragged out dripping and dead.
_The kitten lived to a good old age_. . . . Princes in that day were
not the tormented race as they are now; the crown grew firmly on
their heads, and at night they drew a nightcap over it, and slept
peacefully, and peacefully slept the people at their feet; and when
the people waked in the morning, they said, 'Good morning, father!'
and the princes answered, 'Good morning, dear children!' But it was
suddenly quite otherwise; for when we awoke one morning at
Dusseldorf, and were ready to say, 'Good morning, father!' lo! the
father was gone away; and in the whole town there was nothing but
dumb sorrow, everywhere a sort of funeral disposition; and people
glided along silently to the market, and read the long placard placed
on the door of the Town Hall. It was dismal weather; yet the lean
tailor, Kilian, stood in his nankeen jacket which he usually wore
only in the house, and his blue worsted stockings hung down so that
his naked legs peeped out mournfully, and his thin lips trembled
while he muttered the announcement to himself. And an old soldier
read rather louder, and at many a word a crystal tear trickled down
to his brave old mustache. I stood near him and wept in company, and
asked him, '_Why we wept_?' He answered, 'The Elector has
abdicated.' And then he read again, and at the words, 'for the
long-manifested fidelity of my subjects,' and 'hereby set you free
from your allegiance,' he wept more than ever. It is strangely
touchi