Excerpt from The Holy Roman Empire in German Literature The subject of this monograph was suggested to me some two years ago by Professor Calvin Thomas while I was a graduate student at Columbia University. Originally the study was to be entitled Literary Satire at the Expense of the Holy Roman Empire, but in the course of the work it was found advisable to adopt the present broader, more euphonious title. This change, important as it may seem at first blush, is after all of minor significance, for the very nature of the subject tends to encourage an unfavorable, satirical attitude. Not only does this attitude gradually become predominant as time goes on, but it is also the most interesting angle from which the Holy Roman Empire could be considered. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.