But this is our purest and sweetest illusion—one which we cannot resign, however much pain it may cause us through life—that we would, where possible, appropriate to ourselves, nay, even reproduce and exhibit as our own, that which we prize and honour in others.
[1] The post, managed by the princes of Thurn and Taxis, in different parts of Germany. An ancestor of this house first directed the post system in Tyrol, in 1450, and Alexander Ferdinand von Thurn received, in 1744, the office of Imperial Postmaster-General, as a fief of the empire.—Trans.
[2] "Die lustige person." That is to say, the permanent buffoon, like "Kasperle" in the German puppet-shows, or "Sganarelle" in Moliere's broad comedies.—Trans.
[3] The peasant war, answering to the Jaquerie in France.—Trans.
[4] Anglicé: Make hay when the sun shines.—Trans.
[5] It is a German peculiarity to apply the word "Schwager" (brother-in-law) to a position.—Trans.
[6] "Halbheit," "Halfness"—if there were such a word—would be the proper expression.—Trans.
[7] "Nathan the wise," in Lessing's play, founded on Boccacio's tale of the rings.—Trans.