In the period of nine years from the autumn of 1867 to spring 1877 the Imperial Chancellor spent the greater part of his time at Varzin, from the budding of the leaves until their fall, and sometimes well into the winter. It was, therefore, a celebrated place to which the eyes of the whole nation were directed. It was also to be expected that later on the Prince would seldom, if ever, go there, as Friedrichsruh, his estate in the Sachsenwald, was more convenient as a summer resort. Varzin may accordingly undergo considerable change, and it therefore seemed to me that it would be well to draw, for future generations, a picture of it as it then appeared. On the way to Schlawe, which I reached at 10 o’clock at night, there was little to note, as I only proposed to occupy myself with the Chancellor and his immediate surroundings. All that I found worth recording were some pretty anecdotes. They belonged to Bismarck’s Storm and Stress period, myths that had gathered in Pomerania about the Kniephof estate and the “mad squire” who lived there from 1838 on. The young Fräuleins and their mothers and cousins at the neighbouring country seats shuddered, while their fathers and uncles shook their heads and prophesied a horrible end, as they heard of extravagant drinking bouts, of floods of champagne and porter mixed in “war bowls,” of furious rides as if the wild huntsman were tearing past, of the routing up of guests by pistol shots in the middle of the night, and of all kinds of mischief and wantonness perpetrated in audacious mockery of traditional usage. The old manor house of Kniephof, not inappropriately rechristened “Kneiphof” by the boon companions, as well as by the censors of the Junker (it has long ago been replaced by a more elegant structure), could doubtless bear witness that a great many of these stories were true, but also that many of them were largely the product of imaginative neighbours. The misfortunes predicted by staid folks have also remained mere fancy. As the world knows, in spite of all the froth and foam of that period of ferment, the young wine cleared itself in due time.