At that of Brunswick not only the Duke, [192]Anton Ulrich, but nearly all the members of his family cultivated both poetry and music with considerable success. Anton Ulrich himself was a very learned man, pupil of two of the most distinguished scholars of the day, and a good and pious sovereign. The stain on his career is that in extreme old age he embraced the Roman Catholic religion avowedly from political motives, and then again reverted to Lutheranism on his death-bed; but except for this inconsistency he deserved and enjoyed the esteem of his people. His [193]hymns are extremely good, graceful in form, and deep in feeling, and have become very well known. The following little song is among those less commonly to be met with: --