She thought she held the whip hand because a king cannot produce princes without his wife, while the wife can produce princes without the king; besides Frederick Augustus was no paragon, and he who plants horns, must not grudge to wear them. A wanton's calculations, it will be argued,--but Louise's records show that her husband, the king-to-be, fell in with her main idea,--that he forgave the unfaithful wife, the disgraced princess, because, as Queen, her popularity would be "a great asset." And Americans, our women of whom we are so proud, are asked to bow down to such sorry majesties! _Sired and "Cousined" by Lunatics_ And is there no excuse for so much baseness in high places? Our royal Diarist offers none, but her family history is a telling apology. Be it remembered that Louise is not so much an Austrian as a Wittelsbacher of the royal house of Bavaria that gave to the world two mad kings, Louis II and Otho, the present incumbent of the throne, besides a number of eccentrics, among others Louise's aunts, the Empress Elizabeth and the Duchess d'Alencon, both dead; Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, her cousin, was also undoubtedly insane, the result of breeding in and in, Austrian, Bourbon and Wittelsbach stock, all practically of the same parentage, in a mad mix-up, the insane Wittelsbachers predominating. To cap the climax, Louise has eighteen or nineteen insane cousins on her mother's side! * * * * * Once upon a time Louise's prosaic and stupid great-uncle, as a young husband, felt dreadfully scandalized when his Queen, Marie Antoinette, bombarded him with spit-balls. "What can I do with her?" he asked "Minister Sans-culotte" Dumouriez. "I would spike the cannon, Sire," replied the courtier. "_Enclouer le canon_," if performed in time, might have saved Louise, but I doubt it. HENRY W. FISCHER. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 1: "Be civil, good people, I am the English hure," said Nell Gwyn, addressing a London mob that threatened to storm her carriage, assuming that its occupant was the hated Frenchwoman.] [Footnote 2: "Your biography give a faithful portrait of self," said Fontenelle, the famous French Academician, to an 18th Century Marquise, "but I miss the record of your gallantries." "_Ah, Monsieur, c'est que je ne me suis peinte qu'en buste!_" replied her ladyship.] [Footnote 3: The Prince of Wales' revenue is derived from the Duchy of Cornwall, amounting to about half a million dollars per year.] KITH AND KIN OF THE EX-CROWN PRINCESS OF SAXONY _Louise's Own Family_ The royal woman whose life's history is recorded in this volume was born Louise Antoinette, Daughter of the late Grand Duke Ferdinand IV of Tuscany (died January 17, 1908) and the Dowager Grand Duchess Alice, _nee_ Princess Bourbon of Parma. * * * * *