CARMEN SYLVA.
ELIZABETH,
QUEEN OF ROUMANIA.
THE LIFE OF
Carmen Sylva
(QUEEN OF ROUMANIA)
Translated from the German
BY
BARONESS DEICHMANN
WITH
FOUR PORTRAITS, VIEW, AND FACSIMILE OF HANDWRITING
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER, & CO.
LIMITED
1890
[All Rights reserved]
Ballantyne Press
BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE.
The following pages are a translation ofBaroness Stackelberg’s book, “Aus demLeben Carmen Sylva’s.”
Having known “Monrepos” from mychildhood, and “Segenhaus” since it was built, it wasbut a labour of love to me to render this account of“Carmen Sylva,” and the distinguished family to whichHer Majesty belongs, in English.
I have also thought that many who do not readGerman might be interested thus to become acquaintedwith so gifted a writer, so noble a woman.
My thanks are due to Sir Edwin Arnold for kindlytranslating some of the poems, as well as to ProfessorMax Müller for his advice regarding the translationof the philosophical pages.
HILDA DEICHMANN,
née de BUNSEN.
London, 1890.
INTRODUCTION.
Forth comes the sylvan song, the woodland’s child!
And had I not been born ’neath forest trees,
I never should have heard such songs as these.
I learned them from the birds, that sang aloft;
And from the greenwood’s murmurs sweet and soft
Up sprang with them the heart within my breast!
Song and the forest lull my soul to rest.”
Carmen Sylva’s volume of beautifulpoetry, entitled “My Rest,” begins withthe above poem. It explains the poeticr