Friedrich Willielm Von Hacklander, a German author, born at Burtscheid, near Aix-la-Chapelle, Nov. 1, 1816. He qualified himself for mercantile pursuits at Elberfeld, to which he returned after serving for a short time in the army. Becoming dissatisfied with commercial life, he removed to Stuttgart, where ho published in 1841 Bilder aus dem Soldatenleben in Friedenszeit and Wachtstubenabenteuer, which made him famous. In the same year he accompanied Baron Taubenheim, the grand master of the horse, to the East for the selection of Arabian horses for King William of Wur-temberg. After his return he published sketches of oriental life (Daguerreotypen, 2 vols., 1842), and Pilgerzug nach Mekka (1847). The king gave him employment in the exchequer, and in 1843 he became secretary and travelling companion of the crown prince, the present King Charles. His active duties terminated in 1849, though he retained a salary. He then joined the suite of the Austrian general Radetzky during the war with Sardinia, and published Soldatenleben im Kriege (2 vols., 1849-'50). His visit to Spain in 1854 he described in Ein Winter in Spanien (2 vols., 1855). In 1859 ho went to the headquarters of the Austrian army at the request of the emperor Francis Joseph, who afterward conferred upon him a patent of hereditary nobility.

In the same year he was appointed director of royal buildings and gardens at Stuttgart, and contributed greatly to the embellishment of that city. He lost his office on the death of King William in 1864, but continued to reside in Stuttgart. His complete works were published in 48 vols. in 1863-'6, but now (1874) number about 70 vols., include, besides his popular military sketches and books of travel, a number of comedies, of which Der geheime Agent (1850) was the most successful; delineations of his early mercantile experiences (Handel und Wandel, 2 vols., 1850; translated into English by Mary Howitt, "Behind the Counter," 1868); and stories, tales, and novels, which place him in the front rank of humorous and pathetic writers. Many of them have been translated into French, and Mrs.Wister translated one of them into English under the title "Enchanting and Enchanted" (Philadelphia, 1870). The following are among his most elaborate novels: Europaisches Sklavenleben (4 vols., 1854); Der neue Don Quixote (5 vols., 1858); Kanstlerroman (5 vols., 1866); Das Ge-heimniss der Stadt (3 vols., 1868); Der letzte Bombardier (4 vols., 1870); Geschichten im Zick-Zack (4 vols., 1870-'71); Der Sturmvogel (6 vols., 1871-2); and Kainzeichen (1874).