Observations on the Dead Emperor Collected from Annals and Laws

A detailed, ornate woodcut headpiece depicts a central vase filled with various flowers, surrounded by large, symmetrical scrolling acanthus leaves and additional floral motifs.

§. I.

The world of Christians has not yet ceased to mourn the fallen head. The provinces grieve and pour forth rivers of tears. The stricken fatherland cannot sufficiently deplore the fate of the best of fathers. The lamentations of the Muses are scarcely contained within the seats of Helicon. Everyone longs for the greatest, most pious, and tranquil prince, the most August Caesar, by far the most glorious among the CHARLESES referring to Charles VI. Who is so hard, so iron-hearted, that he is not moved by this most mournful event, which we once pondered not without terror? Who would not groan for the afflicted affairs of the Germans? What wonder if the German citizen calls back the divine Charles to these airs with all his prayers, whose age, in our opinion—though a fragile one—ought to have been equalized with the longevity of the glory of his merits. I, certainly, while I engage in these sorrowful thoughts and prepare to exhibit a token of my industry in this home of the liberal arts, could meditate on nothing except what was suited to mourning and to the veneration of his august spirit. I have observed that certain rights are attributed to the Emperor after his death, and I have brought these observations into a certain order. If anyone calls the rights of the dead into doubt, let him note that almost all more civilized nations have wished that due rites be paid to the dead.