Thus perished the ambitious and turbulent Leopold the 1st, after a stormy and unhappy life of thirty-six years, and a reign of constant encroachment and war of twenty years.  Life to him was a dark and somber tempest.  Ever dissatisfied with what he had attained, and grasping at more, he could never enjoy the present, and he finally died that death of violence to which his ambition had consigned so many thousands.  Leopold, the second son of the duke, who was but fifteen years of age, succeeded his father, in the dominion of the Swiss estates; and after a desultory warfare of a few months, was successful in negotiating a peace, or rather an armed truce, with the successful insurgents.

In the meantime, Albert, at Vienna, apparently happy in being relieved of all care of the Swiss provinces, was devoting himself to the arts of peace.  He reared new buildings, encouraged learning, repressed all disorders, and cultivated friendly relations with the neighboring powers.  His life was as a summer’s day—­serene and bright.  He and his family were happy, and his realms in prosperity.  He died at his rural residence at Laxendorf, two miles out from Vienna, on the 29th of August, 1395.  All Austria mourned his death.  Thousands gathered at his burial, exclaiming, “We have lost our friend, our father!” He was a studious, peace-loving, warm-hearted man, devoted to his family and his friends, fond of books and the society of the learned, and enjoying the cultivation of his garden with his own hands.  He left, at his death, an only son, Albert, sixteen years of age.

William, the eldest son of Leopold, had been brought up in the court of Vienna.  He was a young man of fascinating character and easily won all hearts.  After his bitter disappointment in Poland he returned to Vienna, and now, upon the death of his uncle Albert, he claimed the reins of government as the oldest member of the family.  His cousin Albert, of course, resisted this claim, demanding that he himself should enter upon the post which his father had occupied.  A violent dissension ensued which resulted in an agreement that they should administer the government of the Austrian States, jointly, during their lives, and that then the government should be vested in the eldest surviving member of the family.

Having effected this arrangement, quite to the satisfaction of both parties, Albert, who inherited much of the studious thoughtful turn of mind of his father, set out on a pilgrimage to the holy land, leaving the government during his absence in the hands of William.  After wanderings and adventures so full of romance as to entitle him to the appellation of the “Wonder of the World,” he returned to Vienna.  He married a daughter of the Duke of Holland, and settled down to a monkish life.  He entered a monastery of Carthusian monks, and took an active part in all their discipline and devotions.  No one was more punctual than he at matins and vespers, or more devout