HumanitiesWeb.org - History of Friedrich II of Prussia - Frederick the Great (Chapter VIII. - The Crown-Prince is Put to His Schooling.) by Thomas Carlyle
History of Friedrich II of Prussia - Frederick the Great Chapter VIII. - The Crown-Prince is Put to His Schooling.
by Thomas Carlyle
In his seventh year, young Friedrich was taken out of the hands of
the women; and had Tutors and Sub-Tutors of masculine gender, who
had been nominated for him some time ago, actually set to work
upon their function. These we have already heard of; they came
from Stralsund Siege, all the principal hands.
Duhan de Jandun, the young French gentleman who had escaped from
grammar-lessons to the trenches, he is the practical teacher.
Lieutenant-General Graf Fink von Finkenstein and
Lieutenant-Colonel von Kalkstein, they are Head Tutor
(OBERHOFMEISTER) and Sub-Tutor; military men both, who had been in
many wars besides Stralsund. By these three he was assiduously
educated, subordinate schoolmasters working under them when
needful, in such branches as the paternal judgment would admit;
the paternal object and theirs being to infuse useful knowledge,
reject useless, and wind up the whole into a military finish.
These appointments, made at different precise dates, took effect,
all of them, in the year 1719.
Duhan, independently of his experience in the trenches, appears to
have been an accomplished, ingenious and conscientious man;
who did credit to Friedrich Wilhelm's judgment; and to whom
Friedrich professed himself much indebted in after life.
Their progress in some of the technical branches,
as we shall perceive, was indisputably unsatisfactory. But the
mind of the Boy seems to have been opened by this Duhan,
to a lively, and in some sort genial, perception of things
round him;--of the strange confusedly opulent Universe he
had got into; and of the noble and supreme function which
Intelligence holds there; supreme in Art as in Nature, beyond
all other functions whatsoever. Duhan was now turned of
thirty: a cheerful amiable Frenchman; poor, though of good
birth and acquirements; originally from Champagne. Friedrich loved him very much; always considered him his spiritual
father; and to the end of Duhan's life, twenty years hence,
was eager to do him any good in his power. Anxious always
to repair, for poor Duhan, the great sorrows he came to on his
account, as we shall see.
Of Graf Fink von Finkenstein, who has had military experiences of all kinds and all degrees, from marching as
prisoner into France, "wounded and without his hat," to
fighting at Malplaquet, at Blenheim, even at Steenkirk, as
well as Stralsund; who is now in his sixtieth year, and seems
to have been a gentleman of rather high solemn manners,
and indeed of undeniable perfections,--of this supreme Count
Fink we learn almost nothing farther in the Books, except
that his little Pupil did not dislike him either. The little
Pupil took not unkindly to Fink; welcoming any benignant
human ray, across these lofty gravities of the OBERHOFMEISTER;
went often to his house in Berlin; and made acquaintance with two
young Finks about his own age, whom he found there, and who became
important to him, especially the younger of them, in the course of
the future. [Zedlitz-Neukirch, Preussisches Adels-Lexikon
(Leipzig, l836), ii. 168. Militair-Lexicon,
i. 420.] This Pupil, it may be said, is creditably
known for his attachment to his Teachers and others; an attached
and attaching little Boy. Of Kalkstein, a rational, experienced
and earnest kind of man, though as yet but young, it is certain
also that the little Fritz loved him; and furthermore that the
Great Friedrich was grateful to him, and had a high esteem of his
integrity and sense. "My master, Kalkstein," used to be his
designation of him, when the name chanced to be mentioned in after
times. They continued together, with various passages of mutual
history, for forty years afterwards, till Kalkstein's death.
Kalkstein is at present twenty-eight, the youngest of the three
Tutors; then, and ever after, an altogether downright correct
soldier and man. He is of Preussen, or Prussia Proper, this
Kalkstein;--of the same kindred as that mutinous Kalkstein, whom
we once heard of, who was "rolled in a carpet," and kidnapped out
of Warsaw, in the Great Elector's time. Not a direct descendant of
that beheaded Kalkstein's but, as it were, his NEPHEW so many
times removed. Preussen is now far enough from mutiny; subdued,
with all its Kalksteins, into a respectful silence, not lightly
using the right even of petition, or submissive remonstrance,
which it may still have. Nor, except on the score of parliamentary
eloquence and newspaper copyright, does it appear that Preussen
has suffered by the change.
How these Fink-Kalkstein functionaries proceeded in the great task
they had got,--very great task, had they known what Pupil had
fallen to them,--is not directly recorded for us, with any
sequence or distinctness. We infer only that everything went by
inflexible routiue; not asking at all, WHAT pupil?--nor much,
Whether it would suit any pupil? Duhan, with the tendencies we
have seen in him, who is willing to soften the inflexible when
possible, and to "guide Nature" by a rather loose rein, was
probably a genial element in the otherwise strict affair.
Fritz had one unspeakable advantage, rare among princes and even
among peasants in these ruined ages: that of NOT being taught, or
in general not, by the kind called "Hypocrites, and even
Sincere-Hypocrites,"--fatalest species of the class HYPOCRITE.
We perceive he was lessoned, all along, not by enchanted Phantasms
of that dangerous sort, breathing mendacity of mind,
unconsciously, out of every look; but by real Men, who believed
from the heart outwards, and were daily doing what they taught.
To which unspeakable advantage we add a second, likewise
considerable; That his masters, though rigorous, were not
unlovable to him;--that his affections, at least, were kept alive;
that whatever of seed (or of chaff and hail, as was likelier) fell
on his mind, had SUNSHINE to help in dealing with it. These are
two advantages still achievable, though with difficulty, in our
epoch, by an earnest father in behalf of his poor little son.
And these are, at present, nearly all; with these well achieved,
the earnest father and his son ought to be thankful. Alas, in
matter of education, there are no high-roads at present; or there
are such only as do NOT lead to the goal. Fritz, like the rest of
us, had to struggle his way, Nature and Didactic Art differing
very much from one another; and to do battle, incessant partial
battle, with his schoolmasters for any education he had.
A very rough Document, giving Friedrich Wilhelm's regulations on
this subject, from his own hand, has come down to us. Most dull,
embroiled, heavy Document; intricate, gnarled, and, in fine, rough
and stiff as natural bull-headedness helped by Prussian pipe-clay
can make it;--contains some excellent hints, too; and will show us
something of Fritzchen and of Friedrich Wilhelm both at once.
That is to say, always, if it can be read! If by aid of abridging,
elucidating and arranging, we can get the reader engaged to peruse
it patiently;--which seems doubtful. The points insisted on, in a
ponderous but straggling confused manner, by his didactic Majesty,
are chiefly these:--
1. Must impress my Son with a proper love and fear of God, as
the foundation and sole pillar of our temporal and eternal
welfare. No false religions, or sects of Atheist, Arian (ArRian),
Socinian, or whatever name the poisonous things have, which can so
easily corrupt a young mind, are to be even named in his hearing:
on the other hand, a proper abhorrence (ABSCHEU) of Papistry, and
insight into its baselessness and nonsensicality (UNGRUND UND
ABSURDITAT), is to be communicated to him:"--Papistry, which is
false enough, like the others, but impossible to be ignored like
them; mention that, and give him due abhorrence for it. For we are
Protestant to the bone in this country; and cannot stand
ABSURDITAT, least of all hypocritically religious ditto! But the
grand thing will be, "To impress on him the true religion, which
consists essentially in this, That Christ died for all men," and
generally that the Almighty's justice is eternal and omnipresent,
--"which consideration is the only means of keeping a sovereign
person (SOUVERAINE MACHT), or one freed from human penalties, in
the right way."
2. "He is to learn no Latin;" observe that, however it may
surprise you. What has a living German man and King, of the
eighteenth Christian SOECULUM, to do with dead old Heathen Latins,
Romans, and the lingo THEY spoke their fraction of sense and
nonsense in? Frightful, how the young years of the European
Generations have been wasted, for ten centuries back; and the
Thinkers of the world have become mere walking Sacks of
Marine-stores, "GELEHRTEN, Learned," as they call themselves;
and gone LOST to the world, in that manner, as a set of
confiscated Pedants;--babbling about said Heathens, and THEIR
extinct lingo and fraction of sense and nonsense, for the thousand
years last past! Heathen Latins, Romans;--who perhaps were no
great things of Heathen, after all, if well seen into? I have
heard judges say, they were INferior, in real worth and grist, to
German home-growths we have had, if the confiscated Pedants could
have discerned it! At any rate, they are dead, buried deep, these
two thousand years; well out of our way;--and nonsense enough of
our own left, to keep sweeping into corners. Silence about their
lingo and them, to this new Crown-Prince! "Let the Prince learn
French and German," so as to write and speak, "with brevity and
propriety," in these two languages, which may be useful to him in
life. That will suffice for languages,--provided he have anything
effectually rational to say in them. For the rest,
3. "Let him learn Arithmetic, Mathematics, Artillery,--
Economy to the very bottom." And, in short, useful knowledge
generally; useless ditto not at all. "History in particular;--
Ancient History only slightly (NUR UBERHIN);--but the History of
the last hundred and fifty Years to the exactest pitch. The JUS
NATURALE and JUS GENTIUM," by way of hand-lamp to History,
"he must be completely master of; as also of Geography, whatever
is remarkable in each Country. And in Histories, most especially
the History of the house of Brandenburg; where he will find
domestic examples, which are always of more force than foreign.
And along with Prussian History, chiefly that of the Countries
which have been connected with it, as England, Brunswick, Hessen
and the others. And in reading of wise History-books there must
be considerations made ( sollen beym Lesen kluger
Historiarum Betrachtungen gemacht werden ) upon the
causes of the events."--Surely, O King!
4. "With increasing years, you will more and more, to a most
especial degree, go upon Fortification,"--mark you!--"the
Formation of a Camp, and the other War-Sciences; that the Prince
may, from youth upwards, be trained to act as Officer and General,
and to seek all his glory in the soldier profession." This is
whither it must all tend. You, Finkenstein and Kalkstein, "have
both of you, in the highest measure, to make it your care to
infuse into my Son [EINZUPRAGEN, stamp into him] a true love for
the Soldier business, and to impress on him that, as there is
nothing in the world which can bring a Prince renown and honor
like the sword, so he would be a despised creature before all men,
if he did not love it, and seek his sole glory (DIE EINZIGE
GLORIA) therein." [Preuss, i. 11-14 (of date 13th August, 1718).]
Which is an extreme statement of the case; showing how much we
have it at heart.
These are the chief Friedrich-Wilhelm traits; the rest of the
document corresponds in general to what the late Majesty had
written for Friedrich Wilhelm himself on the like occasion.
[Stenzel, iii. 572.] Ruthless contempt of Useless Knowledge;
and passionate insight into the distinction between Useful and
Useless, especially into the worth of Soldiering as a royal
accomplishment, are the chief peculiarities here. In which latter
point too Friedrich Wilhelm, himself the most pacific of men,
unless you pulled the whiskers of him, or broke into his goods
and chattels, knew very well what he was meaning,--much better
than we of the "Peace Society" and "Philanthropic Movement" could
imagine at first sight! It is a thing he, for his part, is very
decided upon.
Already, a year before this time, [1st September, 1717: Preuss,
i. 13.] there had been instituted, for express behoof of little
Fritz, a miniature Soldier Company, above a hundred strong;
which grew afterwards to be near three hundred, and indeed rose to
be a permanent Institution by degrees; called Kompagnie
der Kronprinzlichen Kadetten (Company of Crown-Prince
Cadets). A hundred and ten boys about his own age, sons of noble
families, had been selected from the three Military Schools then
extant, as a kind of tiny regiment for him; where, if he was by no
means commander all at once, he might learn his exercise in
fellowship with others. Czar Peter, it is likely, took a glance of
this tiny regiment just getting into rank and file there;
which would remind the Czar of his own young days. An experienced
Lieutenant-Colonel was appointed to command in chief. A certain
handy and correct young fellow, Rentsel by name, about seventeen,
who already knew his fugling to a hair's-breadth, was
Drill-master; and exencised them all, Fritz especially, with due
strictness; till, in the course of time and of attainments, Fritz
could himself take the head charge. Which he did duly, in a year
or two: a little soldier thenceforth; properly strict, though of
small dimensions; in tight blue bit of coat and cocked-hat:--
miniature image of Papa (it is fondly hoped and expected),
resembling him as a sixpence does a half-crown. In 1721 the
assiduous Papa set up a "little arsenal" for him, "in the Orange
Hall of the Palace:" there let him, with perhaps a chosen comrade
or two, mount batteries, fire exceedingly small brass ordnance,--
his Engineer-Teacher, one Major von Senning, limping about (on
cork leg), and superintending if needful.
Rentzel, it is known, proved an excellent Drill-sergeant;--had
good talents every way, and was a man of probity and sense.
He played beautifully on the flute too, and had a cheerful
conversible turn; which naturally recommended him still farther to
Fritz; and awoke or encouraged, among other faculties, the musical
faculty in the little Boy. Rentzel continued about him, or in
sight of him, through life; advancing gradually, not too fast,
according to real merit and service (Colonel in 1759); and never
did discredit to the choice Friedrich Wilhelm had made of him.
Of Senning, too, Engineer-Major von Senning, who gave Fritz his
lessons in Mathematics, Fortification and the kindred branches,
the like, or better, can be said. He was of graver years; had lost
a leg in the Marlborough Campaigns, poor gentleman; but had
abundant sense, native worth and cheery rational talk, in him:
so that he too could never be parted with by Friedrich, but
was kept on hand to the last, a permanent and variously
serviceable acquisition.
Thus, at least, is the military education of our Crown-Prince
cared for. And we are to fancy the little fellow, from his tenth
year or earlier, going about in miniature soldier figure, for most
part; in strict Spartan-Brandenburg costume, of body as of mind.
Costume little flattering to his own private taste for finery;
yet by no means unwholesome to him, as he came afterwards to know,
In October, 1723, it is on record, when George I. came to visit
his Son-in-law and Daughter at Berlin, his Britannic Majesty,
looking out from his new quarters on the morrow, saw Fritzchen
"drilling his Cadet Company;" a very pretty little phenomenon.
Drilling with clear voice, military sharpness, and the precision
of clock-work on the Esplanade (LUSTGARTEN) there;--and doubtless
the Britannic Majesty gave some grunt of acquiescence, perhaps
even a smile, rare on that square heavy-laden countenance of his.
That is the record: [Forster, i. 215.] and truly it forms for us
by far the liveliest little picture we have got, from those dull
old years of European History. Years already sunk, or sinking,
into lonesome unpeopled Dusk for all men; and fast verging towards
vacant Oblivion and eternal Night;--which (if some few articles
were once saved out of them) is their just and inevitable portion
from afflicted human nature.
Of riding-masters, fencing-masters, swimming-masters; much less of
dancing-masters, music-masters (celebrated Graun, "on the organ,"
with Psalm-tunes), we cannot speak; but the reader may be
satisfied they were all there, good of their kind, and pushing on
at a fair rate. Nor is there lack anywhere of paternal supervision
to our young Apprentice, From an early age, Papa took the
Crown-Prince with him on his annual Reviews. From utmost Memel on
the Russian border, down to Wesel on the French, all Prussia, in
every nook of it, garrison, marching-regiment, board of
management, is rigorously reviewed by Majesty once a year.
There travels little military Fritz, beside the military Majesty,
amid the generals and official persons, in their hardy Spartan
manner; and learns to look into everything like a Rhadamanthine
Argus, and how the eye of the master, more than all other
appliances, fattens the cattle.
On his hunts, too, Papa took him. For Papa was a famous hunter,
when at Wusterhausen in the season:--hot Beagle-chase, hot
Stag-hunt, your chief game deer; huge "Force-Hunt" (PARFORCE-JAGD,
the woods all beaten, and your wild beasts driven into straits and
caudine-forks for you); Boar-hunting (SAUHETZE, "sow-baiting," as
the Germans call it), Partridge-shooting, Fox- and Wolf-hunting;--
on all grand expeditions of such sort, little Fritz shall ride
with Papa and party. Rough furious riding; now on swift steed, now
at places on WURSTWAGEN,--WURSTWAGEN, "Sausage-Car" so called,
most Spartan of vehicles, a mere STUFFED POLE or "sausage" with
wheels to it, on which you sit astride, a dozen or so of you, and
career;--regardless of the summer heat and sandy dust, of the
winter's frost-storms and muddy rain. All this the little
Crown-Prince is bound to do;--but likes it less and less, some of
us are sorry to observe! In fact he could not take to hunting at
all, or find the least of permanent satisfaction in shooting
partridges and baiting sows,--"with such an expenditure of
industry and such damage to the seedfields," he would sometimes
allege in extenuation. In later years he has been known to retire
into some glade of the thickets, and hold a little Flute-Hautbois
Concert with his musical comrades, while the sows were getting
baited. Or he would converse with Mamma and her Ladies, if her
Majesty chanced to be there, in a day for open driving.
Which things by no means increased his favor with Papa, a sworn
hater of "effeminate practices."
He was "nourished on beer-soup," as we said before. Frugality,
activity, exactitude were lessons daily and hourly brought home to
him, in everything he did and saw. His very sleep was stingily
meted out to him: "Too much sleep stupefies a fellow!" Friedrich
Wilhelm was wont to say;--so that the very doctors had to
interfere, in this matter, for little Fritz. Frugal enough, hardy
enough; urged in every way to look with indifference on hardship,
and take a Spartan view of life.
Money-allowance completely his own, he does not seem to have had
till he was seventeen. Exiguous pocket-money, counted in GROSCHEN
(English PENCE, or hardly more), only his Kalkstein and
Finkenstein could grant as they saw good;--about eighteenpence in
the month, to start with, as would appear. The other small
incidental moneys, necessary for his use, were likewise all laid
out under sanction of his Tutors, and accurately entered in
Day-books by them, audited by Friedrich Wilhelm; of which some
specimens remain, and one whole month, September, 1719 (the Boy's
eighth year), has been published. Very singular to contemplate, in
these days of gold-nuggets and irrational man-mountains fattened
by mankind at such a price! The monthly amount appears to have
been some 3 pounds 10 shillings:--and has gone, all but the
eighteenpence of sovereign pocket-money, for small furnishings and
very minute necessary luxuries;--as thus:--
"To putting his Highness's shoes on the last;" for stretching
them to the little feet,--and only one "last," as we perceive.
"To twelve yards of Hairtape,"--HAARBAND, for our little queue,
which becomes visible here. "For drink-money to the Postilions."
"For the Housemaids at Wusterhausen," Don't I pay them myself?
objects the auditing Papa, at that latter kind of items: No more
of that. "For mending the flute, four GROSCHEN [or pence];"
"Two Boxes of Colors, sixteen ditto;" "For a live snipe,
twopence;" "For grinding the hanger [little swordkin];" "To a Boy
whom the dog bit;" and chiefly of all, "To the KLINGBEUTEL,"--
Collection-plate, or bag, at Church,--which comes upon us once,
nay twice, and even thrice a week, eighteenpence each time, and
eats deep into our straitened means. [Preuss, i. 17.]
On such terms can a little Fritz be nourished into a Friedrich the
Great; while irrational man-mountains, of the beaverish or
beaverish-vulpine sort, take such a price to fatten them into
monstrosity! The Art-manufacture of your Friedrich can come very
cheap, it would appear, if once Nature have done her part in
regard to him, and there be mere honest will on the part of the
by-standers. Thus Samuel Johnson, too, cost next to nothing in the
way of board and entertainment in this world. And a Robert Burns,
remarkable modern Thor, a Peasant-god of these sunk ages, with a
touch of melodious RUNES in him (since all else lay under ban for
the poor fellow), was raised on frugal oatmeal, at an expense of
perhaps half a crown a week. Nuggets and ducats are divine;
but they are not the most divine. I often wish the Devil had the
lion's share of them,--at once, and not circuitously as now.
It would be an unspeakable advantage to the bewildered sons of
Adam, in this epoch!
But with regard to our little Crown-Prince's intellectual culture,
there is another Document, specially from Papa's hand, which, if
we can redact, adjust and abridge it, as in the former case, may
be worth the reader's notice, and elucidate some things for him.
It is of date, Wusterhausen, 3d September, 1721; little Fritz now
in his tenth year, and out there, with his Duhans and
Finkensteins, while Papa is rusticating for a few weeks.
The essential title is, or might be:--
To Head-Governor van Finkenstein, Sub-Governor von
Kalkstein, Preceptor Jacques Egide Duhan de Jandun, and others
whom it may concern: Regulations for schooling, at Wusterhausen,
3d September, 1721; [Preuss, i. 19.]--in greatly
abridged form.
SUNDAY. "On Sunday he is to rise at 7; and as soon as he has got
his slippers on, shall kneel down at his bedside, and pray to God,
so as all in the room may hear it [that there be no deception or
short measure palmed upon us], in these words: 'Lord God, blessed
Father, I thank thee from my heart that thou hast so graciously
preserved me through this night. Fit me for what thy holy will is;
and grant that I do nothing this day, nor all the days of my life,
which can divide me from thee. For the Lord Jesus my Redeemer's
sake. Amen.' After which the Lord's Prayer. Then rapidly and
vigorously (GESCHWINDE UND HURTIG) wash himself clean, dress and
powder and comb himself [we forget to say, that while they are
combing and queuing him, he breakfasts, with brevity, on tea]:
Prayer, with washing, breakfast and the rest, to be done pointedly
within fifteen minutes [that is, at a quarter past 7].
"This finished, all his Domestics and Duhan shall come in, and do
family worship ( das grosse Gebet zu halten ):
Prayer on their knees, Duhan withal to read a Chapter of the
Bible, and sing some proper Psalm or Hymn [as practised in
well-regulated families]:--It will then be a quarter to 8.
All the Domestics then withdraw again; and Duhan now reads with my
Son the Gospel of the Sunday; expounds it a little, adducing the
main points of Christianity;--questioning from Noltenius's
Catechism [which Fritz knows by heart]:--it will then
be 9 o'clock.
"At 9 he brings my Son down to me; who goes to Church, and dines,
along with me [dinner at the stroke of Noon]: the rest of the day
is then his own [Fritz's and Duhan's]. At half-past 9 in the
evening, he shall come and bid me goodnight. Shall then directly
go to his room; very rapidly (SEHR GESCHWIND) get off his clothes,
wash his hands [get into some tiny dressing-gown or CASSAQUIN, no
doubt]; and so soon as that is done, Duhan makes a prayer on his
knees, and sings a hymn; all the Servants being again there.
Instantly after which, my Son shall get into bed; shall be in bed
at half-past 10;"--and fall asleep how soon, your Majesty? This is
very strict work.
MONDAY. "On Monday, as on all weekdays, he is to be called at 6;
and so soon as called he is to rise; you are to stand to him
(ANHALTEN) that he do not loiter or turn in bed, but briskly and
at once get up; and say his prayers, the same as on Sunday
morning. This done, he shall as rapidly as possible get on his
shoes and spatterdashes; also wash his face and hands, but not
with soap. Farther shall put on his CASSAQUIN [short
dressing-gown], have his hair combed out and queued, but not
powdered. While getting combed and queued, he shall at the same
time take breakfast of tea, so that both jobs go on at once;
and all this shall be ended before half-past 6." Then enter Duhan
and the Domestics, with worship, Bible, Hymn, all as on Sunday;
this is done by 7, and the Servants go again.
"From 7 till 9 Duhan takes him on History; at 9 comes Noltenius
[a sublime Clerical Gentleman from Berlin] with the Christian
Religion, till a quarter to 11. Then Fritz rapidly (GESCHWIND)
washes his face with water, hands with soap-and-water;
clean shirt; powders, and puts on his coat;--about 11 comes to the
King. Stays with the King till 2,"--perhaps promenading a little;
dining always at Noon; after which Majesty is apt to be
slumberous, and light amusements are over.
"Directly at 2, he goes back to his room. Duhan is there, ready;
takes him upon the Maps and Geography, from 2 to 3,--giving
account [gradually!] of all the European Kingdoms; their strength
and weakness; size, riches and poverty of their towns. From 3 to
4, Duhan treats of Morality ( soll die Moral tractiren
). From 4 to 5, Duhan shall write German Letters with
him, and see that he gets a good STYLUM [which he never in the
least did]. About 5, Fritz shall wash his hands, and go to the
King;--ride out; divert himself, in the air and not in his room;
and do what he likes, if it is not against God."
There, then, is a Sunday, and there is one Weekday; which latter
may serve for all the other five:--though they are strictly
specified in the royal monograph, and every hour of them marked
out: How, and at what points of time, besides this of HISTORY, of
MORALITY, and WRITING IN GERMAN, of Maps and GEOGRAPHY with the
strength and weakness of Kingdoms, you are to take up ARITHMETIC
more than once; WRITING OF FRENCH LETTERS, so as to acquire a good
STYLUM: in what nook you may intercalate "a little getting by
heart of something, in order to strengthen the memory;" how
instead of Noltenius, Panzendorf (another sublime Reverend
Gentleman from Berlin, who comes out express) gives the clerical
drill on Tuesday morning;--with which two onslaughts, of an
hour-and-half each, the Clerical Gentlemen seem to withdraw for
the week, and we hear no more of them till Monday and Tuesday come
round again.
On Wednesday we are happy to observe a liberal slice of holiday
come in. At half-past 9, having done his HISTORY, and "got
something by heart to strengthen the memory [very little, it is to
be feared], Fritz shall rapidly dress himself, and come to the
King. And the rest of the day belongs to little Fritz
( gehort vor Fritzchen )." On Saturday, too,
there is some fair chance of half-holiday:--
"SATURDAY, forenoon till half-past 10, come History, Writing and
Ciphering; especially repetition of what was done through the
week, and in MORALITY as well [adds the rapid Majesty], to see
whether he has profited. And General Graf von Finkenstein, with
Colonel von Kalkstein, shall be present during this. If Fritz has
profited, the afternoon shall be his own. If he has not profited,
he shall, from 2 to 6, repeat and learn rightly what he has
forgotten on the past days." And so the laboring week winds itself
up. Here, however, is one general rule which cannot be too much
impressed upon YOU, with which we conclude:--
"In undressing and dressing, you must accustom him to get out of,
and into, his clothes as fast as is humanly possible (
hurtig so viel als menschenmoglich ist ). You will
also look that he learn to put on aud put off his clothes himself,
without help from others; and that he be clean and neat, and not
so dirty ( nicht so schmutzig end italic>)." "Not so
dirty," that is my last word; and here is my sign-manual,
