are on the first floor, where her daughter, the Countess Rantzau, and her three little sons also occupy a few rooms occasionally. Even the corridors are provided with Berlin stoves, those in the rooms being so constructed that the fire can be seen as in an open fireplace, for the Prince is fond of warmth and of the visible living flame. Doubtless this thorough heating of his residence is no longer a necessary of health. At least his physical condition during the three years preceding 1890, and particularly in the autumn of 1888, when I was his guest for nearly five weeks, was very much better than in the late autumn of 1883, when I also spent a few days with him here. He was then obliged, in accordance with the instructions of his doctor, to follow a strict diet, and to give up, not only shooting, to which he was formerly much addicted, but even long walks in the open air, and in particular riding. So far as I am aware, he is not at present obliged to impose any such restrictions upon himself. When the Chancellor took a holiday, his object was to find recreation in the solitude of Nature, to feel himself once more a country gentleman, and to seek daily in the stillness of the wood “a nook in which only the woodpecker is heard.” It is true that he never quite succeeded in securing this isolation, and indeed still less at Friedrichsruh than in Varzin, which is far from cities and the great lines of communication. The world followed him by railway and over the telegraph lines, for it needed him as its Atlas, even when he did not want the burden and would rather have shaken it from off his shoulders. It came to him in letters and bundles of telegrams, and in the form of visits from native and foreign Ministers, Ambassadors and Councillors, who all brought with them questions of greater or less importance, and who were mostly in a great hurry. There was therefore at all times work to be done here, not so much, and in particular not such a load of petty matters, as in Berlin, but more than enough all the same. He was accompanied by Privy Councillor von Rottenburg, Chief Clerk of the Imperial Chancellerie, and a secretary, to assist in disposing of this work, which often gave them plenty to do. And the hours of labour which were not claimed by the great Empire were wanted for the Prince’s own smaller realm, with its needs and cares, its creations and developments. The duties of a great landed proprietor are performed by the Prince with intelligence and diligence, while he is no less strict in insisting upon the corresponding rights of his position. He receives regular reports on the administration of his forests and arable land, and when riding, driving and walking through his property, he sees personally how things are going on and what is lacking, what progress is being made with this or that improvement, how the crops are prospering, how their new pasture agrees with the cows, and so on.