d._, p. 33.]

[Footnote 56: For when the splendid prince had arrived at the object of
his wishes by countless bribery to the Polish grandees, and after he
had proved his new Catholicism to his party--less through the enforced
testimony of the Pope than by the expenditure of some thalers and a
half measure of brandy to each noble elector--then, at his eventful
coronation on the 5th of September, 1697, the inventive powers of the
chamberlain were strained to the uttermost, for the costume was to be
antique, at the same time Polish and also fashionable and suitable to a
cavalier. Therefore the king wore on his well-powdered head a Polish
cap with a heron's plume; on his body a strong golden breastplate, over
his short French breeches a short Roman tunic, on his feet sandals,
over all a blue ermine cloak; the whole dress covered with splendid
precious stones. He became faint at the coronation, and it was doubtful
whether it was owing to the uncomfortable costume or to shame. The
Poles ate on this day three roast oxen, while at the Emperor's
coronation at Frankfort only one was customary.--Compare Foerster, "Hoefe
und Cabinette Europas," vol. iii., p. 51.]

[Footnote 57: Letters of recommendation entitling the holder to
sustenance in some ecclesiastical foundation.--_Tr_.]

[Footnote 58: She certainly was not a girl of loose character, as
Huellmann in the "Staedtewesen," vol. ii., assumes; on the contrary, she
passed in the sports as the symbol of a city which was supposed to be
under the protection of the Holy Virgin, and, till the time of Tilly,
boasted of never having been taken. It is possible that the maiden may
have been a serf, but this is not certain.]

[Footnote 59: Wolffgang Ferber, Prietzschenmeister--jest
maker--"Gruendliche Beschreibung eines fuernehmen fuerstlichen
Armbrustschiessens zu Coburg," 1614.]

[Footnote 60: On a Franconian gem of the sixteenth century an archer
and a crossbow are portrayed.--Bechstein Museum, II., figure 4.]

[Footnote 61: For example, in the circular of the Meiningens, 1579,
"crooked or straight rifled barrels are forbidden." Quarrels must have
arisen sometimes concerning this at the public shooting meetings, for
in 1563 Elector August of Saxony decided that rifled barrels should
only be allowed, if all the shooters agreed to it.]

[Footnote 62: Pritschmeister, a species of Merry Andrew--master of the
ceremonies and provost marshal.--_Tr_.]

[Footnote 63: The favourite prea