Anton Alexander Auersperg, count (popularly known as Anastasius Grun, his nom de plume), a German poet, born at Laybach, April 11, 1806. He belongs to an ancient family which originated in Swabia, and subsequently settled in Carniola, where it acquired extensive estates. He early became prominent in the liberal party of Austria, was a member of the Frankfort preliminary parliament, and of the national assembly in the same city (1848), in which he was esteemed eloquent, and took a conspicuous part in the diet of Carniola from 1861 to 1867, after which his ultra-German tendencies made his position in that assembly so unpleasant that he procured his election to the diet of Styria. Since 1861 he has been a life member of the upper house of the Austrian Reichsrath, and in 1868 he was unanimously chosen first president of the Cisleithan delegation. The degree of doctor of philosophy was conferred upon him in 1865, on occasion of the 500th anniversary of the university of Vienna. He holds a high rank among the lyrical and epic poets of Germany, especially excelling as a humorist and a political satirist.

Among his most renowned works are: Der letzte Hitter (Stuttgart, 1830; English version by John O. Sargent, New York, 1871), Spaziergange eines Wiener Poeten (Hamburg, 1831), Schutt (Leipsic, 1835), and Ge-dichte (1837).