Maximilian, being the heir of Hapsburg, must always move with a slow dignity becoming his exalted station.

He must, if possible, always act through an officer; I verily believe that Duke Frederick, his father, regretted the humiliating necessity of eating his own dinner.
Poor Max did not really live; he was an automaton.
Once every year Duke Frederick gave a tournament, the cost of which, in entertainments and prizes, consumed fully two-thirds of his annual income.

On these occasions punctilious ceremony took the place of rich wine, and a stiff, kindly welcome did service as a feast.

These tournaments were rare events for Max; they gave him a day of partial rest from his strait-jacket life at the little court among the crags.
I shall give you here ten lines concerning myself.

I am Italian by birth--a younger son of the noble House of Pitti.