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 were the centers around which his thoughts circled, the forces that actuated him, and to achieve these objects he was ready to make sacrifices. Everything else he viewed with indifference, ridicule or scorn.

But just because the progress of the imperial family concerned him as much as his own glory, he admitted that things could not remain as they were, that everywhere in public life a spirit of discontent was manifesting itself, that changes were absolutely necessary; and in all this he agreed with Joseph. He did nothing, however, to further the designs of the son; on his own estates he left everything according to the old ways; and in that he pleased the mother. Joseph II. saw that the deeds of the Count were not always in harmony with his words, but Francis Václav gave him to understand that he remained inactive only through respect for the Empress, that he wished not to displease her who had always favored him so greatly. And to the Empress he explained his inclination to her son’s ideas as a result of his undying devotion