CHAPTER XI.
One thing is certain in our Northern land-- Allow that birth or valour, wealth or wit, Give each precedence to their possessor, Envy, that follows on such eminence, As comes the lyme-hound on the roebuck's trace, Shall pull them down each one.
SIR DAVID LINDSAY.
Leopold, Grand Duke of Austria, was the first possessor of that noble country to whom the princely rank belonged.

He had been raised to the ducal sway in the German Empire on account of his near relationship to the Emperor, Henry the Stern, and held under his government the finest provinces which are watered by the Danube.

His character has been stained in history on account of one action of violence and perfidy, which arose out of these very transactions in the Holy Land; and yet the shame of having made Richard a prisoner when he returned through his dominions; unattended and in disguise, was not one which flowed from Leopold's natural disposition.

He was rather a weak and a vain than an ambitious or tyrannical prince.

His mental powers resembled the qualities of his person.