The Park in Muskau 119 



estates owned by his forefathers for centuries, to 

 turn his back on them and to seek his occupa- 

 tion or pleasure in life in a foreign country as long 

 as want or honor do not drive him to emigrate. 

 The property which I took over was very con- 

 siderable. A free lordship, endowed with sub- 

 ordinate sovereign rights and including the de- 

 pendent vassal property covering an area of ten 

 to eleven miles square, contains all that such 

 a situation demands, and consequently simplifies 

 the task for making further improvements. In 

 short, it might be regarded as an attractive place 

 to sojourn in itself. But, on the other hand, I 

 found this property carelessly left to its poverty 

 and lack of charm ; some luxury, it is true, but 

 nothing which showed the cult of ithe beautiful 

 was to be seen. Under these circumstances the 

 field for embellishment before me was a large one, 

 and I therefore held it to be my duty to be useful 

 here, all the more because I am of the opinion 

 that a large landowner, who directs his energies 

 continually to improve as well as to embellish his 

 property, to civilize the inhabitants given over to 

 his care, to increase their welfare and thereby 

 make the burdens of the land easier to them — 

 that man, I say, has at least earned as much grati- 

 tude from the State and is as much a true if vol- 

 untary and unpaid servant of the State as an official 

 who for a high salary sits for a few hours at a 

 desk, or a diplomat, for whom sometimes a post 

 almost amounting to a sinecure must be paid for 

 with many thousands, — a truth which many of 



