But to return to the Emperor.  As a lad at Cassel he was fond of playing charades, and is reported to have had a knack of quickly sketching the scenario and dramatis personae of a play which he and his young companions would then and there proceed to act.  One of these plays had Charlemagne for its subject, with a Saxon feudatory, whose lovely daughter, Brunhilde, scorns her father for his submission.  A banquet, ending in a massacre of Charlemagne’s followers, is one of the scenes, and as Brunhilde is in love with Charlemagne’s son she helps him to escape from the massacre.  The Play ends with the suicide of Brunhilde.  As he grew up the Emperor’s interest in the theatre increased, and, as has been seen, when he succeeded to the throne he resolved to make use of it for educating and elevating the public mind.  As patriotism consists largely in knowing and properly appreciating history he has always encouraged dramatists who could portray historic scenes and events, particularly those with which the Hohenzollerns were connected.  Hence his support of Josef Lauff, Ernst von Wildenbruch and Detlev von Liliencron.  Not long ago he arranged a series of performances at Kroll’s Theatre intended for workmen only.  The performances were chiefly of the stirring historical kind—­Schiller’s “Wilhelm Tell,” Goethe’s “Goetz von Berlichingen,” Kleist’s “Prince von Hornburg,” and others that require huge processions and a crowded stage.  The general public were not supposed to attend the performances, but tickets were sent to the factories and workshops for sale at a low price.

In 1898 the Emperor publicly stated his views about the theatre.  “When I mounted the throne ten years ago,” he said,

“I was, owing to my paternal education, the most fervent of idealists.  Convinced that the first duty of the royal theatres was to maintain in the nation the cultivation of the idealism to which, God be thanked, our people are still faithful, and of which the sources are not yet nearly exhausted, I determined to myself to make my royal theatres an instrument comparable to the school or the university whose mission it is to form the rising generation and to inculcate in them respect for the highest moral traditions of our dear German land.  For the theatre ought to contribute to the culture of the soul and of the character, and to the elevation of morals.  Yes, the theatre is also one of my weapons....  It is the duty of a monarch to occupy himself with the theatre, because it may become in his hands an incalculable force.”

If the Emperor has any special gift it is an eye for theatrical effect in real life as well as on the stage.  He had a good share of the actor’s temperament in his younger years, and until recently showed it in the conduct of imperial and royal business of all kinds.  He still gives it play occasionally in the royal opera houses and theatres.  The Englishman, whose ruler is a civilian, is not much impressed by