The Princess, or the Beguine (Volume 2)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1835. Excerpt: ... Why, Count, said Lord Allington, you and the Princess seem to anticipate the restoration of the secret tribunal!--What do you call it in German? The frei gericht, exclaimed the two mediatized potentates together. My own castle, said the Count, was a frei stuhl, or seat of the tribunal. Margrave Rodolph II., from whom I descend in a direct line, was the last stahlgraf, or supreme judge; and all the principal vassals of the family were frei schOppers for many generations. How very nice! said Mrs. St. Leger. I do so love the German language! But the whole magnificent system, continued the Count, was overset by the short-sighted policy of Charles the Fifth. Or rather, said the Princess, by the innovating spirit of that reforming age to which Charles was obliged to yield. The very word'reform' makes me sick, said Lord Alfred. What really was that secret tribunal V asked Mr. St. Leger; one reads so much about it in German romances. Lady Frances Mottram and Claude Campbell were meantime engaged in a window apart, muttering over a bouquet of flowers and some toys he had brought in: Lord Aubrey was leaning over Lady Montressor's couch, catching, as he might, the feeble murmurs of her lisping accents. The frei gericht, said the Count and the Princess, speaking in a breath, but the Princess maintained the parole--The frei gericht was a mysterious tribunal which spread throughout Germany, selected from princes, nobles, and citizens; for all who could, were anxious to be the agents, rather than the victims, of its terrific but necessary denunciations. The tvissenden, or initiated, knew each other by secret signs. A sort of despotic carbonari, I suppose, said Lord Allington, a sly look of mingled humour and surprised curiosity passing ov...