The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-08-23
MAXIMILIAN,S BOOK.
The Late Emperor's Literary ere.
FFon the Pail Mall Gazette, Augustlo. r

matmnsU
Ffora the Pail Mall Gazette, AugustIO. r
The first four volumes of these interesting
Remains" which, it is said, are being pre-
pared for the press at the express desire of the
emperor OF Austria, have now been published.
They contain description, in the form of
diary OF the travels of the then young Arch
duke Che was eighteen years old when he
made his first Journey in Italy, Spain, Por-
tugal, Greece, and Algiers, between the years
1891 and 1858. The book is full of the fresh
enthusiasm with which young writer of
refined tastes expresses his feelings on first
seeing the finest productions of ancient and
modern art, and contains many passages
strongly suggestive of that romantic and Chi
valrous character which afterwards led its un-
fortunate author to his ruin. In regard to
manly sports, he says:-
81 like games In which the original nature OF
man is shown in its full truth, better than the
enervating and indecent amusements of our
luxurious modern society. Here 1t Is bulls that
perish; there the spirit and soul disappear in
feeble sentimental frivolity. 1 love the old
times. do not deny It; not the times when
men lived in a cloud of hair powder, amid wild
flowers and maudlin idyls, but those when the
feeling of ohivalry was developed in tourna-
ments; when brave women did not pretend to
faint and ask for scent bottle on seeing a drop
of blood; when men hunted the wild boar and
the bear in the free forest-not as now, behind
a baTricade That strong age brought forth
strong children. What has remained to us
from The manly sports of our fathers? II is not
fatal ball from a safe distance at a tanned bear
There remain only war, which philantro-
pists, Notwithstanding their thirty years
efforts, have not yet succeeded In abolishing,
and two other sports which are still retained
by two peoples who have not yet sunk into
effemiuacy. The first is fox-hunting in Eng
land, in which men expose themselves to risks
that are worthy OF them, and shrink from no
obstacle in their efforts to reach the goa and
though people say IL Is unnecessary to endanger
ones life for SO Insignificant an object be-
lieve that those who shrink from unnecessary
danger will not find courage where it is indis-
pensable, The other sport to which allude Is
the Spanish bull-hght, which is a true national
game of the olden time. 1t is true that it ex-
cites the savage passions which are innate in
man, but 1t also excites the desire to use their
strength; and he who takes an enthusiastic in
tereBt in such scenes will not want inclination
for other things, and will at least not perish in
apathy. There is still steadfast and proud
Se por Which bas an do 10
them from their ancestors, the Spaniards are
ptous and charitable"
Here is another very characteristic passage.
The author describes an incident which occurred
during a storm at night on the voyage from
Naples to Leghorn:-
Scarcely had fallen asleep when the sudden
falling of my bookcase with all thai it con-
tanned, awoke me; The noise was extraordi-
nary; sll was dark | felt my, way across the
barricade of books and ascended to the quarter
deck. must mere plead guilty to little weak
ness. had hidden in my cabin one of the
storm birds which had been caught the day be-
fore yesterday, intending, in my mania for anil
mails, TO keep IL and take care of 1t. When
heard the storm, however, and wave after wave
rushed over the ship, the superstition about the
storm bird came to my mind, and thought
that If the bird remained on board we should
all perish. 1t seemed to me as If the animal was
the soul of some drowned sailor, so l fetched 1t
from my cabin. covered it with my pocket
handkerchief. and took it on board, where set
it at liberty"
We will close this brief notice with one more
extract, which strikingly illustrates the roman
tic and Imaginative temperament of the unfor-
tunate prince. He describes his feelings on
completing the ascent of Vesuvius:-
"I was ON the edge of the crater, and felt as If
were lost 1t seemed to me that / was no
longer on the earth, but stood on the frontier
wall of another region. l felt alone in all this
horror of sture, in this silent chaos. A myste-
rious shudder came over me; IL my friends had
not been present nameless fear would have
driven me from the spot. Even less
terrible scene fills the visitor with secret ter
ror when he is alone. The rush of q waterfall
from rock to rock then induces a belief that the
stream is drawing him towards it, and If the
thunder roars in the sky, and the water RACES,
and the lightning draws net of flame around
him, how his heart beats how he looks around
wildly, as If each thunderbolt and lightning
flash were meant for him! How powerfully,
then, must the sight of Vesuvius impress him,
where only thin crust separates him from the
hot lava-a crust which may crack at any mo-
ment But when several men come together
each feels no longer solitary in presence of Ma
ture, and hurries thoughtlessly away from the
hoTTid sceke."