The Washington herald., 1913-03-23
BY A. d. JACOBSON.

Ny OWN STORY. by Louiss q Tuscany, ex-crown
princess Of Saxony. Translated under the super
vision Of the author. With nineteen nlustra-
tons. New York. G. p Putnams Sons.
The whole world has been aware for
years that Archduchess Louisa Of Tus-
cany, of the ancient and imperial house
of Hapsburg. has erred, that she may
even have led dissolute, immoral life;
but there is hardly a doubt that as
wife, as woman. she has suffered, and
therefore. in accordance with the old
maxim of "Audiatur ct altera pars."
she ought TO be given a chance to de-
fend whatever there may be to defend
in her life and willfulness.
Did 1t ever strike those who read
the columns of cabled reports Of her
frivolous doings, eliminating in her
elopement with her children's' teacher.
that a woman of so high a station
among the worlds greatest must have
been goaded by almost superhuman
suffering to give up such a future as
fate had mapped out and and in store
for her; to leave the steps OF throne,
the life of a future queen and all that
this implies; TO forsake all this worldly
honor. glory. pride. and dignity. and
to bury herself in the obscurity of an
existence the mistress of an un-
known and mediocre man of the peo.
pie?
Discarded by the royal Saxon family.
by her parents, and ostracised by the
head of the proud Hapsburg house. the
crown princess. as Countess Montfg-
noso-one of the titles of the house OF
Tuscany. of which none had the right
to deprive her, was satisfied to pay
the penalty of her moral turpitude by
wrapping herself in an almost impene-
trable cloak of silence, until the scam
dalous things said about her reached
a point where she as the mother of
future King had to defend herself.
though when her intentions became
known, the Saxon court threatened
to stop the annuity granted her so that
she might live in manner becoming
to one of her former exalted rank.
That this threat failed to stop her is
evidenced by the present book. The
princess archduchess is a decidedly vi
vacious writer, and she does not mince
words in describing the various royal
ties by whom she was surrounded. In
fact. some of her word painting of
Saxon court life will come in the ma
ture of a decided revelation to most
readers. Frank. and amazingly free in
her expressions, she spares nobody
from kings and emperors TO val
cts and maids that it must be ad
mitted that as story of a woman's
life, as A description of the private af-
fairs Of royal houses, We have had
nothing more intimate. more scandal
Gus. or more readable than this frank
narrative.
At any rate. it is the only authentic
inside history of the events that led to
her sensational escape from environ
ments which she could no longer toler-
ate because of ceaseless intrigues, pet
ty prosecutions. spying. and jealousies
on the part of straight-laced, narrow
minded princesses, and her meeting
with Giron to her undoing.
The princess is very bitter against |
the controller of the royal household I
of Baron Won MetZsch. whom she ac-
cuses of being the active instigator of
the intrigues which led TO her leaving |
Dresden. and her ultimate expulsion
from the kingdom. She relates the in !
cident which caused his enmity. and !
her threat 10 undo him for the insult |
heaped upon her. but which acted as a |
boomerang.
The book was written as a defense |