Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber's Notes:

1. Page scan source:
http://www.archive.org/details/forsceptreandcr00samagoog

2. Gregor Samarow is pseudonym of Johann Ferdinand Martin Oskar
Meding.

3. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe].

FOR SCEPTRE AND CROWN.

NEW NOVELS AT THE LIBRARIES.

MALCOLM: a Scottish Story. By George Macdonald, Author of "Robert Falconer," "Phantastes," &c. 3 vols. cr. 8vo.

THE NEGLECTED QUESTION. By B. Markewitch.

Translated from the Russian, by the Princesses Ouroussoff. 2 vols. crown 8vo. 14_s_. Dedicated by express permission to Her Imperial and Royal Highness Marie Alexandrovna Duchess of Edinburgh.

RUSSIAN ROMANCE. By Alexander Serguevitch Poushein. Translated from the

Tales of Belkin. By Mrs. J. Buchan Telfer (nee Mouravief). 1 vol. crown 8vo.

CIVIL SERVICE. By J. T. Listado, Author of "Maurice Rhynhart." 2 vols. crown 8vo.

"A very charming and amusing story.... The characters are all well drawn and life-like.... It is with no ordinary skill that Mr. Listado has drawn the character of Hugh Haughton, full as he is of scheming and subtleties ... The plot is worked out with great skill and is of no ordinary kind."--_Civil Service Gazette_.

"A story of Irish life, free from burlesque and partizanship, yet amusingly national.... There is plenty of 'go' in the story."--_Athenaeum_.

"A short and pleasant story, told in a bright, fresh, readable style.... The story is a good one from first to last.... Both of the Irish heroines are very charming."--_Standard_.

"A brisk and lively novel."--_John Bull_.

WAITING FOR TIDINGS. By the Author of "White and Black." 3 vols.

"An interesting novel."--_Vanity Fair_.

"A very lively tale, abounding with amusing incidents."--_John Bull_.

"We like 'Waiting for Tidings' so much, and in so many respects.... It is well written, the characters are original and natural, and the story so skilfully managed, that the accomplished novel reader cannot suspect the denouement, and will be fairly taken by surprise at the end."--_Examiner_.

_Second Edition_.

JUDITH GWYNNE. By Lisle Carr. 3 vols. crown 8vo.

"Mr. Carr's novel is certainly amusing.... There is much variety, and the dialogue and incident never flag to the finish."--_Athenaeum_.

"Displays much dramatic skill.... It is in the skilful manipulation of much varied detail, the extensive play of a great number of differing actors, tending naturally to the conclusion reached, that the chief charm of this novel lies."--_Edinburgh Courant_.

* * * * *

HENRY S. KING AND CO. LONDON.

_FOR SCEPTRE AND CROWN_

A ROMANCE OF THE PRESENT TIME.

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF

GREGOR SAMAROW.

IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I.

HENRY S. KING AND CO.
65, Cornhill, and 12, Paternoster Row, London.
1875.

(_All rights reserved_.)

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

The success which "Um Szepter und Kronen" has met with on the Continent justifies an English translation. The author, who writes under the _nom de plume_ of Gregor Samarow, is, if report speak truly, himself one of the characters described in his work as the friend and confidant of the chivalrous and unfortunate sovereign who is its principal hero. This explains the ease and familiarity with which the various courts and cabinets are described, the author's personal acquaintance with the statesmen and diplomatists he has pourtrayed, and it accounts for the value of the work as a clever and interesting political sketch. It is as a political sketch, and not as an ordinary novel, that it is offered to this country.

Although the great events of 1870 and 1871 have almost swept from memory the history of preceding years, yet the struggle of 1866--the Seven Weeks' War--must ever be memorable; it was the prelude to the great Franco-German War, and its immediate result was that immense increase in the power of Prussia which placed her in her present position of supreme leader in Germany.

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

Chapter

I. Bismark and Manteuffel.

II. Fair Wendland.

III. Vienna.

IV. Napoleon.

V. George V.

VI. An Erring Meteor.

VII. The Duel and the Rose.

VIII. Francis Joseph II.

IX. Helena.

X. Berlin.

XI. The Last Day at Herrenhausen.

XII. Campaigning begins.

FOR SCEPTRE AND CROWN.