Moreover, he made his brother Joseph prince elector, and his brother Louis connétable.

This shameful bargain being rejected by the Estates, the constitution fell to the ground, and the prince elector practiced the most unlimited despotism.

And the Pope wrote also to the Prince Elector himself after the following manner:

This is supposed to represent the Prince Elector, Jan Wilhelm.

But I went home, weeping and lamenting because "the Prince Elector had abdicated!"

I hear, said Luther, that the Prince Elector, George, begins to be covetous, which is a sign of his death very shortly.

Whereupon, said Luther, I told the Prince Elector that his Highness might perfectly discern how wilfully our adversaries do oppose the known truth.

I stood near him, and wept with him, and then asked why we wept; and he replied, "The Prince Elector has abdicated."

(Jean-Christophe's letter to the Grand Duke Leopold is inspired by Beethoven's letter to the Prince Elector of Bonn, written when he was eleven.)