Excerpt from Imperial Courts of France, England, Russia, Prussia, Sardinia, and Austria: Richly Illustrated With Portraits of Imperial Sovereigns and Their Cabinet Ministers The title of this work, imperial courts, is selected in view of the high names and exalted position of those personages of various courts of whom portraits and brief biographical sketches are presented on these pages. An assembly of these personages convened in actual life might appropriately be called a Congress of Sovet eigns, attended by their Ministers of State. Next in interest to such an august gathering on some great State occasion, is a collection of the portraits of men who have acted a distinguished part in the drama of history. And there is a feeling of pleasure in gazing upon the very form and features of those men of great intellectual power who have guided the affairs of State and controlled the destinies of empires. The galleries of Europe and the world are adorned and enriched with statues which almost speak, and with portraits which look out fresh and life like from the canvas. All these are objects of interest wherever they are to be found. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.