THE VAGARIES OF THE MOONLIGHT KING.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 196, 19 August 1899, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE VAGARIES OF THE MOONLIGHT KING.

FACTS ABOUT LUDWIG 11. OF BA-

YARIA.

Professor J. H. Gore gives some of the vagaries of Ludwig 11., the mad ruler of Bavaria, in the "Ladies' Home Journal" for July:—Ludwig 11., wilful from birth, was a lad over-governed, educated along distasteful lines, drilled like a raw recruit, kept aloof from all companions, and then suddenly, without a clay's notice, released to find himself King, with very extensive power. And he found himself with more than the usual loneliness of Kings. For as a boy he had had no intimates nor companions. As a man he dis* liked his relatives. He had kept aloof from everyone. So when he became king ho stood alone. He had not a single friend: not even a confidential counsellor. His food had been coarser than that of a farmer's son. On h!s eighteenth birthday he sat down to his usual dinner —one dish of meat and some cheese. "Am I now my own master?" he asked his servant. "Yes, sire." "Then bring me some chicken and a pudding." When he went out driving that afternoon he found a filled purse in his pocket, not put there by his father, but by the State. In the readiness with which his servant obeyed his first order as a free man, and the ease with which money sprang into his pocket, may be found the explanation of many of his subsequent acts. W rhen he made his first purchase—a locket for his mother—he did not ask the price, but handed his purse to the jeweller, saying, "Take what it costs." Howcould he know the value of gold when he had never felt it? Then when he wished to make a Versailles out of a huntinglodge, or convert the sleepy Munich into a world-city, was it not natural that he should say to one, "Do what I bid," and to another, "Pay what it costs?" As a boy his greatest treasure was a box of building blocks, and his grandfather, who had a passion for building, encouraged him in his juvenile attempts at architecture. Later in life, when hia mother, following out her theory that everyone should know how to do something useful, required him to select a trade, he chose masonry. For several weeks he worked patiently, when he declared that he had finished his apprenticeship. "Can you earn your living as a bricklayer?" his mother asked. "Yes, I could make my fortune at it." So it happened, most unfortunately, that the mania for building was cultivated, and his coming into power so early made it possible for him to pass quickly to the building for which the world first blamed, then praised, him.

The- moon was his star, and in her silvery light Natur-e seemed so mysterious to him, best suited for dreaming and meditating, a peculiarity that gained him the sobriquet of "The Moonlight King." Most of his drives were by night; galloping drives they were, in his coach of four, with out-riders racing ahead waving lanterns to warn the other wanderers to clear the way. It was at night, too, that he gazed upon his towering castles and played hide-and-seek with the moon. In his bedroom an artificial moon shone upon his bed—a device that almost cost the life of its maker, so difficult was it to construct the glass globe from which the light emanated. The artisan experimented for nearly two years before he succeeded in so adjusting the thickness of the glass in its different parts as to have exactly the same shade throughout.

He heard uncanny footsteps behind him and turned around frightened. Nobody! He saw on the ground a great spider, but noticed in the next moment that the servant, who obediently stooped to pick it up, had nothing. He had anger and scorn for those who sought to correct him, and distrusted all who cleverly remained silent. At other times he looked upon the whole world as a farce, and hopped and danced and gave presents to everybody. He made faces in the mirror, at first laughing over it, saying, "Really, there are moments when I would not swear that I am not crazy."

Only once did a gentler passion take possession of him, and the day lor his marriage to Duchess Sophie was set. Dies for the commemorating medals were cut* and a forty thousand dollar wedding coach purchased. But the groom, instead} of becoming impatient for the coming of the wedding day, grew colder and at last; indifferent. When asked for an explana* tion of his conduct he said: "I have no reproaches to make againat my. cousin* who is very charming.but I have changed; my mmd1." Then he took the marble bust which she had given him of herself and* threw it out of the window. The Duchess* who afterwards married the Duke Al» encon, was burned to death in Parig. a# the bazaar fire in 1897. >

Ludwig fell ill. His illness became the*, mother of suspicion, and the world was* filled with spectres. Born on his grand-* father's birthday, the feast day of Sainti Louis, prosperity and happiness were pro* phesied for him; he grew up tall, handsome like Saul, and richly gifted; ha seemed to be called by Providence to his* exalted position. His life was as dramat-. ic as anything conceived by his beloved! Schiller. But a drama always has a plea-* sing ending; not so his life. On June 13* ISS6, he was declared insane,' and a Re~> gency established. In order to secure his', person for commitment it was necessary; to let him think that a way was open tor him to throw himself from the hlghesti tower of his castle. Then three days later his lifeless body and that of his phy* sician were found in the Starnberg Lake. He had been deposed. "The crown sank into the sea, and like a homeless Prince I throw my life after it." Was It suicide? Who can say?