ALBRECHT.
ARLO BATES.
Dietmar von Aist.
BOSTON:
ROBERTS BROTHERS.
1890.
Copyright, 1890,
By Arlo Bates.
University Press:
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge.
To
THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER,
NIRAN BATES,
AND OF MY MOTHER,
SUSAN THAXTER BATES,
I Dedicate this Book;
profoundly conscious that it can bring to me no other
satisfaction or honor so great as the keeping in remembrance
the fact that I am their son.
FORE-WORD.
It must be evident to the most careless observer that the treatment ofthe theme with which the present story deals would probably not havetaken the form it has, had "Undine" not been written before it; but itis to be hoped that "Albrecht" will not on that account be set down asan attempt either to imitate or to rival that immortal romance.
No effort has been made to secure historical exactness, as the intentof the tale was wholly independent of this. To furnish a picture of thetimes was not in the least the thing sought.
A romance can hardly fall into a more fatal error than to attempt thedidactic, and there is no intention in the present story of enforcingany moral whatever; and yet the problem which lies at the heart of thetale is one which is of sufficient significance in human life to furnisha reasonable excuse for any book which, even without contributinganything to its solution, states it so that it appeals to the readeruntil he recognizes its deep import.