tenth year of our
Elizabeth as Queen; invincible Armada not yet built; but Alba very busy,
cutting off high heads in Brabant; and stirring up the Dutch to such
fury as was needful for exploding Spain and him.

This Duke Albert was a profoundly religious man, as all thoughtful men
then were. Much given to Theology, to Doctors of Divinity; being
eager to know God's Laws in this Universe, and wholesomely certain of
damnation if he should not follow them. Fond of the profane Sciences
too, especially of Astronomy: Erasmus Reinhold and his _Tabulae
Prutenicae_ were once very celebrated; Erasmus Reinhold proclaims
gratefully how these his elaborate Tables (done according to the latest
discoveries, 1551 and onwards) were executed upon Duke Albert's high
bounty; for which reason they are dedicated to Duke Albert, and called
"PRUTENICAE," meaning PRUSSIAN. [Rentsch, p. 855.] The University of
Konigsberg was already founded several years before, in 1544.

Albert had not failed to marry, as Luther counselled: by his first Wife
he had only daughters; by his second, one son, Albert Friedrich,
who, without opposition or difficulty, succeeded his Father. Thus was
Preussen acquired to the Hohenzollern Family; for, before long, the
Electoral branch managed to get MITBELEHNUNG (Co-infeftment), that is
to say, Eventual Succession; and Preussen became a Family Heritage, as
Anspach and Baireuth were.

Chapter VII. -- ALBERT ALCIBIADES.

One word must be spent on poor Albert, Casimir's son, [1522-1557]
already mentioned. This poor Albert, whom they call ALCIBIADES, made a
great noise in that epoch; being what some define as the "Failure of
a Fritz;" who has really features of him we are to call "Friedrich the
Great," but who burnt away his splendid qualities as a mere temporary
shine for the able editors, and never came to anything.

A high and gallant young fellow, left fatherless in childhood; perhaps
he came too early into power:--he came, at any rate, in very volcanic
times, when Germany was all in convulsion; the Old Religion and the New
having at length broken out into open battle, with huge results to
be hoped and feared; and the largest game going on, in sight of an
adventurous youth. How Albert staked in it; how he played to immense
heights of sudden gain, and finally to utter bankruptcy, I cannot
explain here: some German delineator of human destinies, "Artist" worth
the name, if there were any, might find in him a fine s