ABSTRACT
In the years before the war, Heidelberg castle, the abode of the Palatine Lion and his royal mate, must have been an object of intense romantic sentiment and religious excitement, or of intense hatred and disapproval. Whatever the point of view, Heidelberg could not be ignored. The improvements made by De Caus in the enlargement and modernizing of the building, the marvels of his mechanical statues, waterorgans, and other wonders of modern magico-science, were in themselves enough to excite amazement. And the occupants of the castle were remarkable. Elizabeth Stuart had a powerful and noticeable personality (her grandmother, let us not forget, was Mary Queen of Scots). Observers seem to have been struck by the affectionate relations between her and her husband. It was a very different court from the other courts of Germany, and the life lived in it may have seemed as romantically novel as the fantastic décor in which it was framed. Gazing at Merian’s engraving of Heidelberg castle and gardens, one wonders again what can have been the influence in Germany of the marriage of the Thames and the Rhine, of that royal wedding which had been celebrated with so much splendour at the Jacobean court.
