8 PARENTS. 



had attended the grammar school at Ilfeld in the Harz, 

 and afterwards the University of Gottingen. in order to 

 prepare himself thoroughly for his chosen vocation as 

 agriculturist. He belonged with heart and soul to 

 that section of young Germany, which, growing up 

 amid the storms of the great French Revolution, was 

 enthusiastic for freedom and a united Fatherland. 

 Once in Cassel he had almost fallen into the clutches 

 of Napoleon's myrmidons, when taking part in the 

 weak attempts of certain visionary youths, who still 

 strove to offer resistance after the prostration of Prussia. 

 On his father's death he went to councillor Deich- 

 mann at Poggenhagen near Hanover, for the sake of 

 practical training in agriculture. There he speedily 

 fell in love with the councillor's eldest daughter, mv 



o / 



beloved mother Eleanor Deichmann. and married her 

 his youth notwithstanding - - he had hardly attained 

 the age of 25 - - after obtaining the farming of the 

 Lenthe estate. 



For twelve years my parents passed a happy life 

 in Lenthe. Unfortunately however the political con- 

 dition of Germany and especially of Hanover, then 

 again under English rule, was very depressing to a 

 man like my father. The English princes, who then 

 kept court at the Hanoverian capital, troubled them- 

 selves but little about the welfare of the country, 

 which they chiefly regarded as a hunting-ground. 

 The game-laws were in consequence very strict, so 

 that it was a common remark that in Hanover to 

 kill a stag was more criminal than to kill a man! 



