3. (See p. 6.) My father had a very keen taste for philology and a great gift for languages. His knowledge of his own language and of French was complete. He spoke Italian, Spanish, and English, with fluency and grace, and was conversant with many other European languages. He was a good classical scholar, and knew not a little of several ancient and modern Oriental languages. I well remember in Brussels—in 1866 or 1867—seeing him at his table writing in Chinese characters. He told me that since his visit to Canton in 1835, he had continued in leisure moments to practise what he had then learned of Chinese from a Mandarin, with whom he had ever since kept up a friendly correspondence.
4. (See p. 6.) My father received his three names from his godfather Carl Alexander Anselm, the reigning Prince of Thurn and Taxis, who held the position of Commissarius of the Reichstag. (A. v. H.)
5. (See p. 6.) The Almanach der kaiserlichen Akademie (1871, p. 115) gives 1794, Fullerton, In Memoriam, 1795, and Wurzbach's Biographisches Lexicon, 1796, as the date of Charles von Hügel's birth, but I have ascertained that 1795 is the correct date. (Wiesner.)
6. (See pp. 6, 33.) In 1663 the historical German Reichstag became a permanent Ambassadorial Congress (Gesandtencongress), at which the states of the Empire were represented under various titles: thus Kurmainz sent a Reichsdirectorialgesandter, Brandenburg a Geheimer Rath.
A Chief-Commissioner (Principal Commissär), who had to be a member of the great nobility, was appointed by the Emperor, as well as the Co-Commissioner (Concommissär) on whom all the practical work of the sessions devolved. These two officials formed, jointly, the Imperial Reichstag Commission (Kaiserliche Reichstagcommission), under which was the Chancellory of the Commission (Commissionkanzlei) consisting of a Director and Legation-Secretaries. (A. v. H.)
7. (See p. 6.) Susanna, daughter of Franz, Hofrath von Holthof, Physician to the Elector of Mayence, born Dec. 6, 1768, died May 27, 1837. (Wiesner.)
8. (See pp. xvi, 8.) The following note, which is prefixed to "A Visit to the Himalayas and Cashmere" (a communication sent by my father in 1836 to the Royal Geographical Society of London), gives the itinerary of the journey in his own words.
"Baron Hügel of Vienna, well known as an eminent naturalist, having just returned to this country, after an absence from Europe of six years, chiefly spent in India, has communicated the following account of a
