These letters provide a welcome addition to our knowledge of Freud's views of himself, his relationships with women, and his political opinions during adolescence and early manhood. The sixteen-year-old Freud described his 'Hamlethood'

with a young lady with whom shyness prevented him from conversing. By way of recovery, he showed remarkable insight into the dual nature of his love feelings in writing archly, 'One day I shall explain to you fully the difference between this sentiment and another passion'. His political wit is revealed in the following quotation about Prince Rudolf, the Hapsburg their: 'The exalted chick is, despite his 16 years of age … only very sparsely feathered and is being carefully kept away from independent flying attempts'. At nineteen he questioned how far it would be possible 'to improve human institutions such as education, the distribution of goods, the modes of struggle for existence.'