f
him in the Books, nor does one desire much: a tall aquiline type of
man; much the gentleman in aspect; and in reality, of decorous serious
deportment, and the wish to be high and dignified. He had a kind of
right, too, in the Anti-Pragmatic sense; and was come of Imperial
kindred,--Kaiser Ludwig the Bavarian, and Kaiser Rupert of the Pfalz,
called Rupert KLEMM, or Rupert Smith's-vice, if any reader now remember
him, were both of his ancestors. He might fairly pretend to Kaisership
and to Austrian ownership,--had he otherwise been equal to such
enterprises. But, in all ambitions and attempts, howsoever grounded
otherwise, there is this strict question on the threshold: "Are you of
weight for the adventure; are not you far too light for it?" Ambitious
persons often slur this question; and get squelched to pieces, by
bringing the Twelve Labors of Hercules on Unherculean backs! Not every
one is so lucky as our Friedrich in that particular,--whose back, though
with difficulty, held out. Which poor Karl Albert's never had much
likelihood to do. Few mortals in any age have offered such an example of
the tragedies which Ambition has in store for her votaries; and what a
matter Hope FULFILLED may be to the unreflecting Son of Adam.

We said, he had a kind of right to Austria, withal. He descended by the
female line from Kaiser Ferdinand I. (as did Kur-Sachsen, though by
a younger Daughter than Karl Albert's Ancestress); and he appealed to
Kaiser Ferdinand's Settlement of the Succession, as a higher than any
subsequent Pragmatic could be. Upon which there hangs an incident; still
famous to German readers. Karl Albert, getting into Public Argument
in this way, naturally instructed Perusa to demand sight of Kaiser
Ferdinand's Last Will, the tenor of which was known by authentic Copy
in Munchen, if not elsewhere among the kindred. After some delay, Perusa
(4th November, 1740), summoning the other excellencies to witness, got
sight of the Will: to his horror, there stood, in the cardinal passage,
instead of "MUNNLICHE" (male descendants), "EHELICHE" (lawfully begotten
descendants),--fatal to Karl Albert's claim! Nor could he PROVE that
the Parchment had been scraped or altered, though he kept trying and
examining for some days. He withdrew thereupon, by order, straightway
from Vienna; testifying in dumb-show what he thought. "It is your Copy
that is false," cried the Vienna people: "it has been foisted on
you, with this wrong word