Page:Rambles and Researches in Thuringian Saxony.djvu/20

Page

Characteristic Memoirs of the Ducal Families of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, from the Times of Ernest the Pious down to the present Period .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .

45

Ernest the Pious, 48—Anecdotes of his Early Years, 50—Skill in Military Affairs; Fought at Lutzen under Gustavus; Marriage, 52—Numerous Family; State of the Court, 53—Courts of Justice, 54—Education of the People; Encouragement of Learned Men, 58—Numerous Valuable Works completed by Ernest’s Order; His great anxiety for the Extension of the Protestant Religion, 58—His Plans for a Union of the Protestant Dissenters; His Missions to the Court of Charles of Sweden; Letter of the Same, 63—Correspondence with the East, 60—Resemblance to the Caliphs of Bagdad; Anecdote of Ernest, 63—Ernest’s Opinion of the Stage; Curious Play performed at Court, 71—Will of the Duke; Division of his Dominions, 72—Death of the Duke; Eulogium of Becler on Duke Ernest, 73.

Frederick I., Successor to Ernest the Pious, 74—Established Law of Primogeniture, 75.

Frederick II., Successor to Frederick I.; Numerous Family; Grandfather of George III. of England, 75.

Frederick III., 75—Duchess Louisa Dorothea; Talented Princess; Correspondence with Voltaire; Frederick the Great, 76—Admirable Education of her Family; the Princes Ernest and Augustus; Brilliancy of the Court of Gotha at this Epoch, 106.

Ernest II.; Resemblance to Earnest the Pious; his Fondness for the Classics, 107—Taste for Languages; Visit to the Court of St. James’; Unhappy Marriage, 108—Foundation of the Observatory at Gotha; Liberal Political Opinions, 109—Interest in the Stage, Attachment to Freemasonry, 110.