That error must be avoided, as much in the interest of the subject of the portrait as in that of the public to which it is to be submitted. The real virtues will be more conspicuous if no imaginary virtues are allowed to block our view of them, and if other miscellaneous qualities which contrast with them are given their due tribute of attention. Cromwell, it will be remembered, insisted that the artist should paint him “warts and all,”; and if the Life of an Emperor is not to be written in that spirit, one might just as well refrain from writing it, for there would be nothing to be learnt from it when it was written. FRANCIS GRIBBLE. CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I The collapse of the Holy Roman Empire—The impossibility of reviving it—The German Federation—The Holy Alliance—The policy of sitting on the safety valve—The consequent explosions—The problems consequently prepared for Francis Joseph—The Head of the House of Habsburg—Inseparable connection between the events of his public and private life 1 CHAPTER II The House of Habsburg from the standpoint of Eugenics—The “Habsburg jaw”—Degeneracy the consequence of consanguineous marriages—Sound physiological instinct of King Cophetua—And of those Habsburgs who have followed his example—Morganatic marriages—The family organism fighting for its life—Has Francis Joseph understood?—Indications that he has understood in part 10 CHAPTER III Francis Joseph’s ancestors—Francis, Duke of Lorraine—Francis II.—Leopold II.—Collaterals—The Spanish marriages of the Habsburgs—Their alliances with Portugal, the various Bourbons, and the Wittelsbachs of Bavaria—Moral and mental defects thus perpetuated and emphasised—Francis Joseph as the sane champion of a mad family 20 CHAPTER IV Francis Joseph’s childhood—The severe education which prepared him for his _rôle_—Difficulties of that _rôle_—The Liberal revolt against the Metternich system—The idea of nationality—Hübner’s surprise that anyone should object to Austrian rule—Every Austrian a policeman at heart—The Italian rising of 1848—Francis Joseph in action—Radetzky’s remonstrances—Francis Joseph’s return to his studies 29 CHAPTER V The risings of 1848—Princess Mélanie Metternich’s excited account of it—Disorderly flight of Metternich from Vienna—The House of Habsburg saved by “three mutinous soldiers”—Abdication of the Emperor Ferdinand in favour of his nephew, Francis Joseph—Hübner’s description of the ceremony 39 CHAPTER VI