[18] Professor Dr C. Beyer, who mentions this correspondence, adds that it came into the Monarch's hands through indiscretion; also that he caused the letters to be copied, after which the originals were put back in their place ("Ludwig II., König von Bayern. Ein characterbild"). [19] Count "Holnstein aus Bayern" used the Bavarian arms with a bar sinister in his signet ring, which would intimate that he was the illegitimate descendant of a Duke of Bavaria. He was also connected with the ducal court of Possenhofen; and he has been mentioned as the object of the Duchess Sophie's first love. He was married to a granddaughter of Prince Karl of Bavaria and the latter's morganatic wife, Countess Bayersdorff. [20] Louise von Kobell: "König Ludwig II. und Fürst Bismarck im Jahre 1870." [21] Bismarck's "Gedanken und Erinnerungen," v. ii., and "Kaiser Friedrich in Versailles," (Erinnerungen eines Diplomaten). [22] Louise von Kobell, "König Ludwig II. und Fürst Bismarck im Jahre 1870." [23] Professor Dr. Otto J. W. Richter, "Kaiser Friedrich III." [24] The Emperor "Ludwig der Bayrer" enfeoffed in 1323 his son Mark Brandenburg. Brandenburg remained under the sway of the Wittelsbachs until 1373, when Otto V. ceded it to the Emperor Karl IV. Bismarck mentions in his "Gedanken und Erinnerungen" the particular favour shown to his ancestors by the Bavarian dynasty. [25] The so-called Bavarian clause. [26] Frau Louise von Kobell, from whose memoirs I have taken these details. [27] Louise von Kobell, "Unter den vier ersten Königen Bayerns" (vol. ii. pp. 158, 159). [28] The eldest daughter of Franz Josef and the Empress Elizabeth. She is married to King Ludwig's cousin. [29] Ludwig's trusted Minister, Prince Hohenlohe, also regarded it as a duty to step in against the dogma of Papal Infallibility, inviting in a circular all the German Governments to protest against it. They did not, however, agree to his proposal. [30] Among other pieces which were performed privately in 1872 were: Comtesse du Barry, Le Comte de Saint Germain, Un Ministre sous Louis XV.