HumanitiesWeb.org - History of Friedrich II of Prussia - Frederick the Great (Chapter IX. - Wilhelmina Goes to See the Gayeties at Frankfurt.) by Thomas Carlyle
History of Friedrich II of Prussia - Frederick the Great Chapter IX. - Wilhelmina Goes to See the Gayeties at Frankfurt.
by Thomas Carlyle
On the day when Friedrich, overhung by the grim winter Mountains,
was approaching Glatz, same day when Segur was evacuating Linz on
those sad terms, that is, on the 24th day of January, 1742,--two
Gentlemen were galloping their best in the Frankfurt-Mannheim
regions; bearing what they reckoned glad tidings towards Mannheim
and Karl Albert; who is there "on a visit" (for good reasons),
after his triumphs at Prag and elsewhere. The hindmost of the two
Gentlemen is an Official of rank (little conscious that he is
preceded by a rival in message-bearing); Official Gentleman,
despatched by the Diet of Frankfurt to inform Karl Albert, That he
now is actually Kaiser of the Holy Romish Empire; votes, by aid of
Heaven and Belleisle, having all fallen in his favor. Gallop,
therefore, my Official Gentleman:--alas, another Gentleman,
Non-official, knowing how it would turn, already sat booted and
saddled, a good space beyond the walls of Frankfurt, waiting till
the cannon should fire; at the first burst of cannon, he (cunning
dog) gives his horse the spur; and is miles ahead of the toiling
Official Gentleman, all the way. [Adelung, iii. A, 52.]
In the dreary mass of long-winded ceremonial nothingnesses, and
intricate Belleisle cobwebberies, we seize this one poor speck of
human foolery in the native state, as almost the memorablest in
that stupendous business. Stupendous indeed; with which all Germany
has been in travail these sixteen months, on such terms! And in
verity has got the thing called "German Kaiser" constituted, better
or worse. Heavens, was a Nation ever so bespun by gossamer;
enchanted into paralysis, by mountains of extinct tradition, and
the want of power to annihilate rubbish! There are glittering
threads of the finest Belleisle diplomacy, which seem to go beyond
the Dog-star, and to be radiant, and irradiative, like paths of the
gods: and they are, seem what they might, poor threads of idle
gossamer, sunk already to dusty cobweb, unpleasant to poor human
nature; poor human nature concerned only to get them well swept
into the fire. The quantities of which sad litter, in this
Universe, are very great!--
Karl Albert, now at the top-gallant of his hopes: homaged Archduke
of Upper Austria, homaged King of Bohemia, declared Kaiser of the
German Nation,--is the highest-titled mortal going: and, poor soul,
it is tragical, once more, to think what the reality of it was for
him. Ejection from house and home; into difficulty, poverty,
despair; life in furnished lodgings, which he could not pay;--and
at last heart-break, no refuge for him but in the grave. All which
is mercifully hidden at present; so that he seems to himself a man
at the top-gallant of his wishes; and lives pleasantly, among his
friends, with a halo round his head to his own foolish sense
and theirs.
"Karl Albert, Kurfurst of Baiern [lazy readers ought to be
reminded], whose achievements will concern us to an unpleasant
extent, for some years, is now a lean man of forty-five; lean,
erect, and of middle stature; a Prince of distinguished look, they
say; of elegant manners, and of fair extent of accomplishment, as
Princes go. His experiences in this world, and sudden ups and
downs, have been and will be many. Note a few particulars of them;
the minimum of what are indispensable here.
"English readers know a Maximilian Kurfurst of Baiern, who took
into French courses in the great Spanish-Succession War; the Anti-
Marlborough Maximilian, who was quite ruined out by the Battle of
Blenheim; put under Ban of the Empire, and reduced to depend on
Louis XIV. for a living,--till times mended with him again;
till, after the Peace of Utrecht, he got reinstated in his
Territories; and lived a dozen years more, in some comparative
comfort, though much sunk in debt. Well, our Karl Albert is the son
of that Anti-Marlborough Kurfurst Maximilian; eldest surviving son;
a daughter of the great Sobieski of Poland was his mother. Nay, he
is great-grandson of another still more distinguished Maximilian,
him of the Thirty-Years War,--(who took the Jesuits to his very
heart, and let loose Ate on his poor Country for the sake of them,
in a determined manner; and was the First of all the Bavarian
KURFURSTS, mere Dukes till then; having got for himself the poor
Winter-King's Electorship, or split it into two as ultimately
settled, out of that bad Business),--great-grandson, we say, of
that forcible questionable First Kurfurst Max; and descends from
Kaiser Ludwig, 'Ludwig the BAIER,' if that is much advantage
to him.
"In his young time he had a hard upcoming; seven years old at the
Battle of Blenheim, and Papa living abroad under Louis XIV.'s
shelter, the poor Boy was taken charge of by the victorious
Austrian Kaisers, and brought up in remote Austrian Towns, as a
young 'Graf von Wittelsbach' (nothing but his family name left
him), mere Graf and private nobleman henceforth. However, fortune
took the turn we know, and he became Prince again; nothing the
worse for this Spartan part of his breeding. He made the Grand
Tour, Italy, France, perhaps more than once; saw, felt, and tasted;
served slightly, at a Siege of Belgrade (one of the many Sieges of
Belgrade);--wedded, in 1722, a Daughter of the late Kaiser
Joseph's, niece of the late Kaiser Karl's, cousin of Maria
Theresa's; making the due 'renunciations,' as was thought; and has
been Kurfurst himself for the last fourteen Years, ever since 1726,
when his Father died. A thrifty Kurfurst, they say, or at least has
occasionally tried to be so, conscious of the load of debts left on
him; fond of pomps withal, extremely polite, given to Devotion and
to BILLETS-DOUX; of gracious address, generous temper (if he had
the means), and great skill in speaking languages. Likes hunting a
little,--likes several things, we see!--has lived tolerably with
his Wife and children; tolerably with his Neighbors (though sour
upon the late Kaiser now and then); and is an ornament to Munchen,
and well liked by the population there. A lean, elegaut, middle-
sized gentleman; descended direct from Ludwig the ancient Kaiser;
from Maximilian the First Kurfurst, who walked by the light of
Father Lammerlein (LAMBKIN) and Compauy, thinking IT light from
Heaven; and lastly is son of Maximilian the Third Kurfurst, whom
learned English readers know as the Anti-Marlborough one, ruined
out by the Battle of Blenheim.
"His most important transaction hitherto has been the marriage with
Kaiser Joseph's Daughter;--of which, in Pollnitz somewhere, there
is sublime account; forgettable, all except the date (Vienna, 5th
October, 1722), if by chance that should concern anybody.
Karl Albert (KURPRINZ, Electoral Prince or Heir-Apparent, at that
time) made free renunciation of all right to Austrian Inheritances,
in such terms as pleased Karl VI., the then Kaiser; the due
complete 'renunciations' of inheriting in Austria; and it was hoped
he would at once sign the Pragmatic Sanction, when published;
but he has steadily refused to do so; 'I renounced for my Wife,'
says Kurfurst Karl, 'and will never claim an inch of Austrian land
on her account; but my own right, derived from Kaiser Ferdinand of
blessed memory, who was Father of my Great-grandmother, I did not,
do not, never will renounce; and I appeal to HIS Pragmatic
Sanction, the much older and alone valid one, according to which,
it is not you, it is I that am the real and sole Heir of Austria.'
"This be says, and has steadily said or meant: 'It is I that am to
be King of Bohemia; I that shall and will inherit all your
Austrias, Upper, Under, your Swabian Brisgau or Hither Austria, and
what of the Tyrol remained wanting to me. Your Archduchess will
have Hungary, the Styrian-Carinthian Territories; Florence, I
suppose, and the Italian ones. What is hers by right I will be one
of those that defend for her; what is not hers, but mine, I will
defend against her, to the best of my ability!' This was privately,
what it is now publicly, his argument; from which he never would
depart; refusing always to accept Kaiser Karl's new Pragmatic
Sanction; getting Saxony (who likewise had a Ferdinand great-
grandmother) to refuse,--till Polish Election compelled poor
Saxony, for a time. Karl Albert had likewise secretly, in past
years, got his abstruse old Cousin of the Pfalz (who mended the
Heidelberg Tun) to back him in a Treaty; nay, still better, still
more secretly, had got France itself to promise eventual hacking:--
and, on the whole, lived generally on rather bad terms with the
late Kaiser Karl, his Wife's Uncle; any reconciliation they had
proving always of temporary nature. In the Rhenish War (1734), Karl
Albert, far from assisting the Kaiser, raised large forces of his
own; kept drilling them, in four or three camps, in an alarming
manner; and would not even send his Reich's Contingent (small body
of 3,000 he is by law bound to send), till he perceived the War was
just expiring. He was in angry controversy with the Kaiser,
claiming debts,--debts contracted in the last generation, and debts
going back to the Thirty-Years War, amounting to hundreds of
millions,--when the poor Kaiser died; refusing payment to the last,
nay claiming lands left HIM, he says, by Margaret Mouthpoke:
[Michaelis, ii. 260; Buchholz, ii. 9; Hormayr, Anemonen,
ii. 182; &c.] 'Cannot pay your Serene Highness (having
no money); and would not, if I could!' Leaving Karl Albert to
protest to the uttermost;"--which, as we ourselves saw in Vienna,
he at once honorably did.
Karl Albert's subsequent history is known to readers; except the
following small circumstance, which occurred in his late transit,
flight, or whatever we may call it, to Mannheim, and is pleasantly
made notable to us by Wilhelmina. "His Highness on the way from
Munchen," intimates our Princess, "passed through Baireuth in a
very bad post-chaise." This, as we elsewhere pick out, was on
January 16th; Karl Albert in post-haste for the marriage-ceremony,
which takes place at Mannheim to-morrow. [Adelung, iii. A, 51.]
"My Margraf, accidentally hearing, galloped after him, came up with
him about fifteen miles away: they embraced, talked half an hour;
very content, both." [Wilhelmina, ii. 334.]
And eight days afterwards, 24th January, 1742, busy Belleisle (how
busy for this year past, since we saw him in the OEil-de-Boeuf!)
gets him elected Kaiser;--and Segur, in the self-same hours, is
packing out of Linz; and one's Donau "Conquests," not to say one's
Munchen, one's Baiern itself, are in a fine way! The marriage-
ceremony, witnessed on the 17th, was one of the sublimest for
Kur-Pfalz and kindred; and it too had secretly a touch of tragedy
in it for the Poor Karl Albert. A double marriage: Two young
Princesses, Grand-daughters, priceless Heiresses, to old Kur-Pfalz;
married, one of them to Duke Clement of Baiern, Karl Albert's
nephew, which is well enough: but married, the other and elder of
them, to Theodor of Deux-Ponts, who will one day--could we pierce
the merciful veil--be Kurfurst of Baiern, and succeed our own
childless Son! [Michaelis, ii. 265.]
"Kaiser Karl VII.," such the style he took, is to be crowned
February 12th; makes sublime Public Entry into Frankfurt, with that
view, January 31st;--both ceremonies splendid to a wonder, in spite
of finance considerations. Which circumstance should little concern
us, were it not that Wilhelmina, hearing the great news (though in
a dim ill-dated state), decided to be there and see; did go;--and
has recorded her experiences there, in a shrill human manner.
Wishful to see our fellow-creatures (especially if bound to look at
them), even when they are fallen phantasmal, and to make persons of
them again, we will give this Piece; sorry that it is the last we
have of that fine hand. How welcome, in the murky puddle of
Dryasdust, is any glimpse by a lively glib Wilhelmina, which we
can discern to be human! Hear what Wilhelmina says (in a very
condensed form):--
WILHELMINA AT THE CORONATION.
Wilhelmina, in the end of January, 1742,--Karl Albert having shot
past, one day lately, in a bad post-chaise, and kindled the thought in her,--
resolved to go and see him crowned at Frankfurt, by way of pleasure-excursion.
We will, struggling to be briefer, speak in her person; and indicate withal where
the very words are hers, and where ours.
The Marwitz, elder Marwitz, her poor father being wounded at
Mollwitz, [ Militair-Lexikon, iii. 23; and
Preussische Adels-Lexikon, iii. 365.] had
gone to Berlin to nurse him; but she returned just now,--not much
to my joy; I being, with some cause, jealous of that foolish minx.
The Duchess Dowager of Wurtemberg also came, sorrow on her;
a foolish talking woman, always cutting jokes, making eyes,
giggling and coquetting; "HAS some wit and manner, but wearies you
at last: her charms, now on the decline, were never so considerable
as rumor said; in the long-run she bores you with her French
gayeties and sprightliness: her character for gallantry is too
notorious. She quite corrupted Marwitz, in this and a subsequent
visit; turned the poor girl's head into a French whirligig, and
undermined any little moral principle she had. She was on the road
to Berlin,"--of which anon, for it is not quite nothing to us;--
"but she was in no hurry, and would right willingly have gone with
us." And it required all our female diplomacy to get her under way
again, and fairly out of our course. January 28th, SHE off to
Berlin; WE, same day, to Frankfurt-on-Mayn. [Wilhelmina, ii. 334;
see pp. 335, 338, 347, &c. for the other salient points
that follow.]
Coronation was to have been (or we Country-folk thought it was),
January 31st: Let us be there INCOGNITO, the night before; see it,
and return the day after. That was our plan. Bad roads, waters all
out; we had to go night and day;--reached the gates of Frankfurt,
30th January late. Berghover, our Legationsrath there, says we are
known everywhere; Coronation is not to be till February 12th! I was
fatigued to death, a bad cold on me, too: we turned back to the
last Village; stayed there overnight. Back again to Berghover, in
secret (A LA SOURDINE), next night; will see the Public Entry of
Karl Albert, which is to be to-morrow (not quite, my Princess;
January 31st for certain, [Adelung, iii. A, 63; &c. &c.] did one
the least care). "It was a very grand thing indeed (DES PLUS
SUPERBES); but I will not stop describing it. Masked ball that
night; where I had much amusement, tormenting the masks; not being
known to anybody. We next day retired to a small private House,
which Berghover had got for us, out of Town, for fear of being
discovered; and lodged there, waiting February 12th,
under difficulties."
The weather was bitterly cold; we had brought no clothes; my dames
and I nothing earthly but a black ANDRIENNE each (whatever that may
be), to spare bulk of luggage: strictest incognito was
indispensable. The Marwitzes, for giggling, raillery, French airs,
and absolute impertinence, were intolerable, in that solitary
place. We return to Frankfurt again; have balls and theatres, at
least: "of these latter I missed none. One evening, my head-dress
got accidentally shoved awry, and exposed my face for a moment;
Prince George of Hessen-Cassel, who was looking that way,
recognized me; told the Prince of Orange of it;--they are in our
box, next minute!"
Prince George of Hessen-Cassel, did readers ever hear of him
before? Transiently perhaps, in Friedrich's LETTERS TO HIS FATHER;
but have forgotten him again; can know him only as the outline of a
shadow. A fat solid military man of fifty; junior Brother of that
solid WILHELM, Vice-regent and virtual "Landgraf of Hessen"--(VICE
an elder and eldest Brother, FRIEDRICH, the now Majesty of Sweden,
who is actual Hereditary Landgraf, but being old, childless, idle,
takes no hold of it, and quite leaves it to Wilhelm),--of whom
English readers may have heard, and will hear. For it is Wilhelm
that hires us those "subsidized 6,000," who go blaring about on
English pay (Prince George merely Commandant of them); and Wilhelm,
furthermore, has wedded his Heir-Apparent to an English Princess
lately; [Princess Mary (age only about seventeen), 28th June, 1740;
Prince's name was Friedrich (became Catholic, 1749; WIFE made
family-manager in Consequence, &c. &c.).] which also (as the poor
young fellow became Papist by and by) costs certain English people,
among others, a good deal of trouble. Uncle George, we say, is
merely Commandant of those blaring 6,000; has had his own real
soldierings before this; his own labors, contradictions, in his
time; but has borne all patiently, and grown fat upon it, not
quarrelling with his burdens or his nourishments. Perhaps we may
transiently meet him again.
As to the Prince of Orange, him we have seen more than once in
times past: a young fellow in comparison, sprightly, reckoned
clever, but somewhat humpbacked; married an English Princess, years
ago ("Papa, if he were as ugly as a baboon!")--which fine Princess,
we find, has stopt short at Cassel, too fatigued on the present
occasion. "His ESPRIT," continues Wilhelmina, "and his
conversation, delighted me. His Wife, he said, was at Cassel;
he would persuade her to come and make my acquaintance;"--could
not; too far, in this cold season. "These two Serene Highnesses
would needs take me home in their carriage; they asked the Margraf
to let them stay supper: from that hour they were never out of our
house. Next morning, by means of them, the secret had got abroad.
Kur-Koln [lanky hook-nosed gentleman, richest Pluralist in the
Church] had set spies on us; next evening he came up to me, and
said, 'Madam, I know your Highness; you must dance a measure with
me!' That comes of one's head-gear getting awry! We had nothing for
it but to give up the incognito, and take our fate!"
This dancing Elector of Koln, a man still only entering his
forties, is the new Emperor's Brother: [Clement August (Hubner,
t. 134).] do readers wonder to see him dance, being an Archbishop?
The fact is certain,--let the Three Kings and the Eleven Thousand
Virgins say to it what they will. "He talked a long time with me;
presented to me the Princess Clemence his Niece [that is to say,
Wife of his Nephew ClemENT; one of the Two whom his now Imperial
Majesty saw married the other day], [Michaelis, ii. 256, 123;
Hubner, tt. 141, 134.] and then the Princess"--in fact, presented
all the three Sulzbach Princesses (for there is a youngest, still
to wed),--"and then Prince Theodor [happy Husband of the eldest],
and Prince Clement [ditto of the younger];" and was very polite
indeed. How keep our incognito, with all these people heaping
civilities upon us? Let us send to Baireuth for clothes, equipages;
and retire to our country concealment till they arrive.
"Just as we were about setting off thither, I waiting till the
Margraf were ready, the Xargraf entered, and a Lady with him;
who, he informed me, was Madame de Belleisle, the French
Ambassador's Wife:"--Wife of the great Belleisle, the soul of all
these high congregatings, consultations, coronations, who is not
Kaiser but maker of Kaisers: what is to be done!--"I had carefully
avoided her; reckoning she would have pretensions I should not be
in the humor to grant. I took my resolution at the moment [being a
swift decisive creature]; and received her like any other Lady that
might have come to me. Her visit was not long. The conversation
turned altogether upon praises of the King [my Brother]. I found
Madame de Belleisle very different from the notion I had formed of
her. You could see she had moved in high company (SENTAIT SON
MONDE); but her air appeared to me that of a waiting-maid
(SOUBRETTE), and her manners insignificant." Let Madame take that.
"Monseigneur himself," when our equipages had come, "waited on me
several times,"--Monseigueur the grand Marechal de Belleisle, among
the other Principalities and Lordships: but of this lean man in
black (who has done such famous things, and will have to do the
Retreat of Prag within year and day), there is not a word farther
said. Old Seckendorf too is here; "Reich's-Governor of
Philipsburg;" very ill with Austria, no wonder; and striving to be
well with the new Kaiser. Doubtless old Seckendorf made his visit
too (being of Baireuth kin withal), and snuffled his respects:
much unworthy of mention; not lovely to Wilhelmina. Prince of
Orange, hunchbacked, but sprightly and much the Prince, bore me
faithful company all the Coronation time; nor was George of Hessen-
Cassel wanting, good fat man.
Of the Coronation itself, though it was truly grand, and even of an
Oriental splendor,[ Anemonen, ubi supra.]
I will say nothing. The poor Kaiser could not enjoy it much. He was
dying of gout and gravel, and could scarcely stand on his feet.
Poor gentleman; and the French are driven dismally out of Linz;
and the Austrians are spreading like a lava-flood or general
conflagration over Baiern--Demon Mentzel, whom they call Colonel
Mentzel, he (if we knew it) is in Munchen itself, just as we are
getting crowned here! And unless King Friedrich, who is falling
into Mahren, in the flank of them, call back this Infernal Chase a
little, what hope is there in those parts!--The poor Kaiser,
oftenest in his bed, is courting all manner of German Princes,--
consulting with Seckendorfs, with cunning old stagers. He has
managed to lead my Margraf into a foolish bargain, about raising
men for him. Which bargain I, on fairly getting sight of it,
persuade my Margraf to back out of; and, in the end, he does so.
Meanwhile, it detains us some time longer in Frankfurt, which is
still full of Principalities, busy with visitings and ceremonials.
Among other things, by way of forwarding that Bargain I was so
averse to, our Official People had settled that I could not well go
without having seen the Empress, after her crowning. Foolish
people; entangling me in new intricacies! For if she is a Kaiser's
Daughter and Kaiser's Spouse, am not I somewhat too? "How a King's
Daughter and an Empress are to meet, was probably never settled by
example: what number of steps down stairs does she come?
The arm-chair (FAUTEUIL), is that to be denied me?" And numerous
other questions. The official people, Baireuthers especially, are
in despair; and, in fact, there were scenes. But I held firm;
and the Berlin ambassadors tempering, a medium was struck: steps of
stairs, to the due number, are conceded me; arm-chair no, but the
Empress to "take a very small arm-chair," and I to have a big
common chair (GRAND DOSSIER). So we meet, and I have sight of this
Princess, next day.
In her place, I confess I would have invented all manner of
etiquettes, or any sort of contrivance, to save myself from showing
face. "Heavens! The Empress is below middle size, and so corpulent
(PUISSANTE), she looks like a ball; she is ugly to the utmost
(LAIDE AU POSSIBLE), and without air or grace." Kaiser Joseph's
youngest Daughter,--the gods, it seems, have not been kind to her
in figure or feature! And her mind corresponds to her appearance:
she is bigoted to excess; passes her nights and days in her
oratory, with mere rosaries and gaunt superstitious platitudes of
that nature; a dark fat dreary little Empress. "She was all in a
tremble in receiving me; and had so discountenanced an air, she
could n't speak a word. We took seats. After a little silence, I
began the conversation, in French. She answered me in her Austrian
jargon, That she did not well understand that language, and begged
I would speak to her in German. Our conversation was not long.
Her Austrian dialect and my Lower-Saxon are so different that, till
you have practised, you are not mutually intelligible in them.
Accordingly we were not. A by-stander would have split with
laughing at the Babel we made of it; each catching only a word here
and there, and guessing the rest. This Princess was so tied to her
etiquette, she would have reckoned it a crime against the Reich to
speak to me in a foreign language; for she knew French well enough.
"The Kaiser was to have been of this visit; but he had fallen so
ill, he was considered even in danger of his life. Poor Prince,
what a lot had he achieved for himself!" reflects Wilhelmina, as we
often do. He was soft, humane, affable; had the gift of captivating
hearts. Not without talent either; but then of an ambition far
disproportionate to it. "Would have shone in the second rank, but
in the first went sorrowfully eclipsed," as they say! He could not
be a great man, nor had about him any one that could; and he needed
now to be so. This is the service a Belleisle can do; inflating a
poor man to Kaisership, beyond his natural size! Crowned Kaiser,
and Mentzel just entering his Munchen the while; a Kaiser bedrid,
stranded; lying ill there of gout and gravel, with the Demon
Mentzels eating him:--well may his poor little bullet of a
Kaiserinn pray for him night and day, if that will avail!--
THE DUCHESS DOWAGER OF WURTEMBERG, RETURNING FROM BERLIN
FAVORS US WITH ANOTHER VISIT.
I am sorry to say this is almost the last scene we shall get out of
Wilhelmina. She returns to Baireuth; breaks there conclusively that
unwise Frankfurt bargain; receives by and by (after several months,
when much has come and gone in the world) the returning Duchess of
Wurtemberg, effulgent Dowager "spoken of only as a Lais:" and has
other adventures, alluded to up and down, but not put in record by
herself any farther.--Sorrowfully let us hear Wilhelmina yet a
little, on this Lais Duchess, who will concern us somewhat.
Dowager, much too effulgent, of the late Karl Alexander, a Reichs-
Feldmarschall (or FOURTH-PART of one, if readers could remember)
and Duke of Wurtemberg,--whom we once dined with at Prag, in old
Friedrich-Wilhelm and Prince-Eugene times:--
"This Princess, very famous on the bad side, had been at Berlin to
see her three Boys settled there, whose education she [and the
STANDE of Wurtemberg, she being Regent] had committed to the King.
These Princes had been with us on their road thither, just before
their Mamma last time. The Eldest, age fourteen, had gone quite
agog (S'ETOIT AMOURACHE) about my little Girl, age only nine;
and had greatly diverted us by his little gallantries [mark that,
with an Alas!]. The Duchess, following somewhat at leisure, had
missed the King that time; who was gone for Mahren, January 18th.
... I found this Princess wearing pretty well. Her features are
beautiful, but her complexion is faded and very yellow. Her voice
is so high and screechy, it cuts your ears; she does not want for
wit, and expresses herself well. Her manners are engaging for those
whom she wishes to gain; and with men are very free. Her way of
thinking and acting offers a strange contrast of pride and
meanness. Her gallantries had brought her into such repute that I
had no pleasure in her visits." [Wilhelmina, ii. 335.] No pleasure;
though she often came; and her Eldest Prince, and my little
Girl-- Well, who knows!
Besides her three Boys (one of whom, as Reigning Duke, will become
notorious enough to Wilhelmina and mankind), the Lais Duchess has
left at Berlin--at least, I guess she has now left him, in exchange
perhaps for some other--a certain very gallant, vagabond young
Marquis d'Argens, "from Constantinople" last; originally from the
Provence countries; extremely dissolute creature, still young (whom
Papa has had to disinherit), but full of good-humor, of
gesticulative loyal talk, and frothy speculation of an Anti-Jesuit
turn (has written many frothy Books, too, in that strain, which are
now forgotten): who became a very great favorite with Friedrich,
and will be much mentioned in subsequent times.
"In the end of July," continues Wilhelmina, "we went to Stouccard
[Stuttgard, capital of Wurtemberg, O beautiful glib tongue!],
whither the Duchess had invited us: but--" And there we are on
blank paper; our dear Wilhelmina has ceased speaking to us:
her MEMOIRS end; and oblivious silence wraps the remainder!--
Concerning this effulgent Dowager of Wurtemberg, and her late ways
at Berlin, here, from Bielfeld, is another snatch, which we will
excerpt, under the usual conditions:
"BERLIN, FEBRUARY, 1742 [real date of all that is not fabulous in
Bielfeld, who chaotically dates it "6th December" of that Year].
... A day or two after this [no matter WHAT] I went to the German
Play, the only spectacle which is yet fairly afoot in Berlin.
In passing in, I noticed the Duchess Dowager of Wurtemberg, who had
arrived, during my absence, with a numerous and brilliant suite, as
well to salute the King and the Queens [King off, on his Moravian
Business, before she came], and to unite herself more intimately
with our Court, as to see the Three Princes her Children settled in
their new place, where, by consent of the States of Wurtemberg,
they are to be educated henceforth.
"As I had not yet had myself presented to the Duchess, I did not
presume to approach too near, and passed up into the Theatre.
But she noticed me in the side-scenes; asked who I was [such a
handsome fashionable fellow], and sent me order to come immediately
and pay my respects. To be sure, I did so; was most graciously
received; and, of course, called early next day at her Palace.
Her Grand-Chamberlain had appointed me the hour of noon. He now
introduced me accordingly: but what was my surprise to find the
Princess in bed; in a negligee all new from the laundress, and the
gallantest that art could imagine! On a table, ready to her hand,
at the DOSSIER or bed-bead, stood a little Basin silver-gilt,
filled with Holy Water: the rest was decorated with extremely
precious Relics, with a Crucifix, and a Rosary of rock-crystal.
Her dress, the cushions, quilt, all was of Marseilles stuff, in the
finest series of colors, garnished with superb lace. Her cap was of
Alencon lace, knotted witb a ribbon of green and gold. Figure to
yourself, in this gallant deshabille, a charming Princess, who has
all the wit, perfection of manner--and is still only thirty-seven,
with a beauty that was once so brilliant! Round the celestial bed
were courtiers, doctors, almoners, mostly in devotional postures;
the three young Princes; and a Dame d'Atours, who seemed to look
slightly ENNUYEE or bored." I had the honor to kiss her Serene
Highness's hand, and to talk a great many peppered insipidities
suitable to the occasion.
Dinner followed, more properly supper, with lights kindled:
"Only I cannot dress, you know," her Highness had said; "I never
do, except for the Queen-Mother's parties;"--and rang for her
maids. So that you are led out to the Anteroom, and go grinning
about, till a new and still more charming deshabille be completed,
and her Most Serene Highness can receive you again: "Now Messieurs!
Pshaw, one is always stupid, no ESPRIT at all except by
candlelight!"--After which, such a dinner, unmatchable for
elegance, for exquisite gastronomy, for Attic-Paphian brilliancy
and charm! And indeed there followed hereupon, for weeks on weeks,
a series of such unmatchable little dinners; chief parts, under
that charming Presidency, being done by "Grand-Chamberlain Baron
de" Something-or-other, "by your humble servant Bielfeld,
M. Jordan, and a Marquis d'Argens, famous Provencal gentleman now
in the suite of her Highness:" [Bielfeld, ii. 74-78.]--feasts of
the Barmecide I much doubt, poor Bielfeld being in this Chapter
very fantastic, MISDATEful to a mad extent; and otherwise, except
as to general effect, worth little serious belief.
We shall meet this Paphian Dowager again (Crucifix and Myrtle
joined): meet especially her D'Argens, and her Three little Princes
more or less;--wherefore, mark slightly (besides the D'Argens
as above):--
"1. The Eldest little Prince, Karl Eugen; made 'Reigning Duke'
within three years hence [Mamma falling into trouble with the
STANDE]: a man still gloomily famous in Germany [Poet Schiller's
Duke of Wurtemberg], of inarticulate, extremeIy arbitrary turn,--
married Wilhelmina's Daughter by and by [with horrible usage of
her]; and otherwise gave Friedrich and the world cause to think
of him.
"2. The Second little Prince, Friedrich Eugen, Prussian General of
some mark, who will incidentally turn up again, He was afterwards
Successor to the Dukedom [Karl Eugen dying childless]; and married
his Daughter to Paul of Russia, from whom descend the Autocrats
there to this day.
"3. Youngest little Prince, Ludwig Eugen, a respectable Prussian
Officer, and later a French one: he is that 'Duc de Wirtemberg' who
corresponds with Voltaire [inscrutable to readers, in most of the
Editions]; and need not be mentioned farther." [See Michaelis,
iii. 449; Preuss, i. 476; &c. &c.]
But enough of all this. It is time we were in Mahren, where the
Expedition must be blazing well ahead, if things have gone
as expected.
