78 
Kaspar Hauser. 
Lord Stanhope soon began to talk about taking Kaspar away 
with him, and with this intent he made a formal proposition tg 
the Mayor for the legal adoption of the mysterious waif. 
The Mayor replied that Kaspar was the ward of the city of 
Nuremberg, and could only be given up by consent of the whole 
board of Government officials. 
The offer was duly discussed by the authorities, and it was 
resolved to accept it in case of Lord Stanhope being able to prove 
that he was possessed of sufficient means to insure a comfortable 
provision for Kaspar’s future. 
Upon being informed of this decision, Lord Stanhope left 
Nuremberg (after depositing five hundred guldens towards the 
axpenses of a better education for Kaspar) and went to Munich, 
ravelling from thence to Innsbruck. About a month later he 
again appeared in Nuremberg and announced himself as coming 
from London. He brought with him letters of credit for an 
:normous sum of money, which he deposited with a prominent 
merchant named Merkel, probably with the view.of making his 
wealth known to the whole community. Most people were 
entirely satisfied with this display, and considered the prospect a 
brilliant one for Kaspar Hauser. A few persons, however, were 
still inclined to doubt, and various rumours were spread abroad, 
to the disparagement of Lord Stanhope’s character and intentions, 
There was living at that time in Nuremberg an English lady of 
rank, Caroline, Countess of Albersdorf, born Lady Graham, an 
zlderly and rather eccentric person, who knew a good deal about 
Lord Stanhope’s antecedents, and distrusted his motives from the 
irst. She: took the liveliest interest in Kaspar Hauser’s welfare, 
and busied herself with each new theory of his origin that was 
offered for discussion. She did not hesitate to declere that Lord 
Stanhope meant mischief, and that the proposed journey to Italy 
was only a pretext to get Kaspar into his power, so that he could 
more easily put the boy out of the way. Her complaints were 
not heard beyond Nuremberg; but there were public protests in 
the newspapers, especially in North Germany, against giving up 
the foundling to a stranger whose past career had been of doubt- 
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