British Diplomacies, next to the Russian, cause some difficulties
in those years: of which more by and by. Early in 1748, while
Aix-la-Chapelle was starting, Ex-Exchequer Legge came to Berlin; on some
obscure object of a small Patch of Principality, hanging loose during
those Negotiations: "Could not we secure it for his Royal Highness
of Cumberland, thinks your Majesty?" Ex-Exchequer Legge was here;
[Coxe's--Pelham,--i. 431, &c.; Rodenbeck, pp. 155, 160 (first audience
1st May, 1748);--recalled 22d November, Aix being over.] got handsome
assurances of a general nature; but no furtherance towards his obscure,
completely impracticable object; and went home in November following, to
a new Parliamentary Career.
And the second year after, early in 1750, came Sir Hanbury Williams,
famed London Wit of Walpole's circle, on objects which, in the main,
were equally chimerical: "King of the Romans, much wanted;" "No Damage
to your Majesty's Shipping from our British Privateers;" and the
like;--about which some notice, and not very much, will be due
farther on. Here, in his own words, is Hanbury's Account of his First
Audience:--
... "On Thursday," 16th July, 1750, "I went to Court by appointment, at
11 A.M. The King of Prussia arrived about 12 [at Berlin; King in from
Potsdam, for one day]; and Count Podewils immediately introduced me into
the Royal closet; when I delivered his Britannic Majesty's Letters into
the King of Prussia's hands, and made the usual compliments to him in
the best manner I was able. To which his Prussian Majesty replied, to
the best of my remembrance, as follows:--"'I have the truest esteem
for the King of Britain's person; and I set the highest value on his
friendship. I have at different times received essential proofs of it;
and I desire you would acquaint the King your Master that I will (SIC)
never forget them.' His Prussian Majesty afterwards said something with
respect to myself, and then asked me several questions about indifferent
things and persons. He seemed to express a great deal of esteem for
my Lord Chesterfield, and a great deal of kindness for Mr. Villiers,"
useful in the Peace-of-Dresden time; "but did not once mention Lord
Hyndford or Mr. Legge,"--how singular!
"I was in the closet with his Majesty exactly five minutes and a half.
My audience done, Prussian Majesty came out into the general room, where
Foreign Ministers were waiting. He said, on stepping in, just one word"
to the Austrian Excellency; not even one to the Russian Excellency,
nor to me the Britannic; "conversed with the French, Swedish,
Danish;"--happy to be off, which I do not wonder at; to dine with Mamma
at Monbijou, among faces pleasant to him; and return to his Businesses
and Books next day. [Walpole,--George the Second,--i. 449; Rodenbeck, i.
204.]
Witty Excellency Hanbury did not succeed at Berlin on the "Romish-King
Question," or otherwise; and indeed went off rather in a hurry. But for
the next six or seven years he puddles about, at a great rate, in those
Northern Courts; giving away a great deal of money, hatching many futile
expensive intrigues at Petersburg, Warsaw (not much at Berlin, after the
first trial there); and will not be altogether avoidable to us in time
coming, as one could have wished. Besides, he is Horace Walpole's friend
and select London Wit: he contributed a good deal to the English notions
about Friedrich; and has left considerable bits of acrid testimony on
Friedrich, "clear words of an Eye-witness," men call them,--which are
still read by everybody; the said Walpole, and others, having since
printed them, in very dark condition. [In Walpole,--George the
Second--(i. 448-461), the Pieces which regard Friedrich. In--Sir Charles
Hanbury Williams's Works--(edited by a diligent, reverential, but
ignorant gentleman, whom I could guess to be Bookseller Jeffery
in person: London, 1822, 3 vols. small 8vo) are witty Verses, and
considerable sections of Prose, relating to other persons and objects
now rather of an obsolete nature.] Brevity is much due to Hanbury and
his testimonies, since silence in the circumstances is not allowable.
Here is one Excerpt, with the necessary light for reading it:--
... It is on this Romish-King and other the like chimerical errands,
that witty Hanbury, then a much more admirable man than we now find him,
is prowling about in the German Courts, off and on, for some ten
years in all, six of them still to come. A sharp-eyed man, of shrewish
quality; given to intriguing, to spying, to bribing; anxious to win his
Diplomatic game by every method, though the stake (as here) is oftenest
zero: with fatal proclivity to Scandal, and what in London circles he
has heard called Wit. Little or nothing of real laughter in the soul
of him, at any time; only a labored continual grin, always of malicious
nature, and much trouble and jerking about, to keep that up. Had
evidently some modicum of real intellect, of capacity for being wise;
but now has fatally devoted it nearly all to being witty, on those
poor terms! A perverse, barren, spiteful little wretch; the grin of him
generally an affliction, at this date. His Diplomatic Correspondence I
do not know. [Nothing of him is discoverable in the State-Paper
Office. Many of his Papers, it would seem, are in the Earl of Essex's
hands;--and might be of some Historical use, not of very much, could the
British Museum get possession of them. Abundance of BACKSTAIRS
History, on those Northern Courts, especially on Petersburg, and
Warsaw-Dresden,--authentic Court-gossip, generally malicious, often
not true, but never mendacious on the part of Williams,--is one likely
item.] He did a great deal of Diplomatic business, issuing in zero, of
which I have sometimes longed to know the exact dates; seldom anything
farther. His "History of Poland," transmitted to the Right Hon.
Henry Fox, by instalments from Dresden, in 1748, is [See--Hanbury's
Works,--vol. iii.]--Well, I should be obliged to call it worthier of
Goody Two-Shoes than of that Right Hon. Henry, who was a man of parts,
but evidently quite a vacuum on the Polish side!
Of Hanbury's News-Letters from Foreign Courts, four or five,
incidentally printed, are like the contents of a slop-pail;
uncomfortable to the delicate mind. Not lies on the part of Hanbury,
but foolish scandal poured into him; a man more filled with credulous
incredible scandal, evil rumors, of malfeasances by kings and magnates,
than most people known. His rumored mysteries between poor Polish
Majesty and pretty Daughter-in-law (the latter a clever and graceful
creature, Daughter of the late unfortunate Kaiser, and a distinguished
Correspondent of Friedrich's) are to be regarded as mere poisoned wind.
[See--Hanbury's Works,--ii. 209-240.] That "Polish Majesty gets into his
dressing-gown at two in the afternoon" (inaccessible thenceforth, poor
lazy creature), one most readily believes; but there, or pretty much
there, one's belief has to stop. The stories, in WALPOLE, on the King of
Prussia, have a grain of fact in them, twisted into huge irrecognizable
caricature in the Williams optic-machinery. Much else one can discern
to be, in essence, false altogether. Friedrich, who could not stand that
intriguing, spying, shrewish, unfriendly kind of fellow at his Court,
applied to England in not many months hence, and got Williams sent away:
["22d January, 1751" (MS. LIST in State-Paper Office).] on to Russia, or
I forget whither;--which did not mend the Hanbury optical-machinery on
that side. The dull, tobacco-smoking Saxon-Polish Majesty, about whom he
idly retails so many scandals, had never done him any offence.
On the whole, if anybody wanted a swim in the slop-pails of that extinct
generation, Hanbury, could he find an Editor to make him legible, might
be printed. For he really was deep in that slop-pail or extinct-scandal
department, and had heard a great many things. Apart from that, in
almost any other department,--except in so far as he seems to DATE
rather carefully,--I could not recommend him. The Letters and Excerpts
given in Walpole are definable as one pennyworth of bread,--much ruined
by such immersion, but very harmless otherwise, could you pick it
out and clean it,--to twenty gallons of Hanbury sherris-sack, or
chamber-slop. I have found nothing that seems to be, in all points,
true or probable, but this; worth cutting out, and rendering legible, on
other accounts. Hanbury LOQUITUR (in condensed form):
"In the summer of last year, 1749, there was, somewhere in Mahren, a
great Austrian Muster or Review;" all the more interesting, as it was
believed, or known, that the Prussian methods and manoeuvres were now to
be the rule for Austria. Not much of a Review otherwise, this of 1749;
Empress-Queen and Husband not personally there, as in coming Years they
are wont to be; that high Lady being ardent to reform her Army, root and
branch, according to the Prussian model,--more praise to her. [--Maria
Theresiens Leben,--p. 160 (what she did that way, ANNO 1749); p. 162
(PRESENT at the Reviews, ANNO 1750).] "At this Muster in Mahren, Three
Prussian Officers happened to make their appearance,--for several
imaginable reasons, of little significance: 'For the purpose of
inveigling people to desert, and enlist with them!' said the Austrian
Authorities; and ordered the Three Prussian Officers unceremoniously off
the ground. Which Friedrich, when he heard of it, thought an unhandsome
pipe-clay procedure, and kept in mind against the Austrian Authorities.
"Next Summer," next Spring, 1750, "an Austrian Captain being in
Mecklenburg, travelling about, met there an old acquaintance, one
Chapeau [HAT! can it be possible?], who is in great favor with the King
of Prussia:"--very well, Excellency Hanbury; but who, in the name of
wonder, can this HAT, or Chapeau, have been? After study, one perceives
that Hanbury wrote Chazeau, meaning CHASOT, an old acquaintance of our
own! Brilliant, sabring, melodying Chasot, Lieutenant-Colonel of the
Baireuth Dragoons; who lies at Treptow, close on Mecklenburg, and is
a declared favorite of the Duchess, often running over to the RESIDENZ
there. Often enough; but HONI SOIT, O reader; the clever Lady is towards
sixty, childless, musical; and her Husband--do readers recollect him at
all?--is that collapsed TAILORING Duke whom Friedrich once visited,--and
whose Niece, Half-Niece, is Charlotte, wise little hard-favored creature
now of six, in clean bib and tucker, Ancestress of England that is to
be; whose Papa will succeed, if the Serene Tailor die first,--which he
did not quite. To this Duchess, musical gallant Chasot may well be a
resource, and she to him. Naturally the Austrian Captain, having come
to Mecklenburg, dined with Serene Highness, he and Chasot together, with
concert following, and what not, at the Schloss of Neu-Strelitz:--And
now we will drop the 'Chapeau,' and say Chasot, with comfort, and a
shade of new interest.
"'The grand May Review at Berlin just ahead, won't you look in; it is
straight on your road home?' suggests Chasot to his travelling friend.
'One would like it, of all things,' answered the other: 'but the King?'
'Tush,' said Chasot; 'I will make that all straight!' And applies to
the King accordingly: 'Permission to an Austrian Officer, a good
acquaintance of mine.' 'Austrian Officer?' Friedrich's eyes lighten; and
he readily gives the permission. This was at Berlin, on the very eve
of the Review; and Chasot and his Austrian are made happy in that small
matter. And on the morrow [end of May, 1750], the Austrian attends
accordingly; but, to his astonishment, has hardly begun to taste the
manoeuvres, when--one of Friedrich's Aides-de-Camp gallops up: 'By the
King's command, Mein Herr, you retire on the instant!'
"Next day, the Austrian is for challenging Chasot. 'As you like, that
way,' answers Chasot; 'but learn first, that on your affront I rode
up to the King; and asked, publicly, Did not your Majesty grant me
permission? Unquestionably, Monsieur Chasot;--and if he had not come,
how could I have paid back the Moravian business of last year!'"
[Walpole,--George the Second,--i. 457, 459.]--This is much in
Friedrich's way; not the unwelcomer that it includes a satirical twitch
on Chasot, whom he truly likes withal, or did like, though now a
little dissatisfied with those too frequent Mecklenburg excursions and
extra-military cares. Of this, merely squeezing the Hanbury venom out of
it, I can believe every particular.
"Did you ever hear of anything so shocking?" is Hanbury's meaning here
and elsewhere. "I must tell you a story of the King of Prussia's regard
for the Law of Nations," continues he to Walpole? [Ib. i. 458.] Which
proves to be a story, turned topsy-turvy, of one Hofmann, Brunswick
Envoy, who (quite BEYOND commission, and a thing that must not be
thought of at all!) had been detected in dangerous intriguings with the
ever-busy Russian Excellency, or another; and got flung into Spandau,
[Adelung, v. 534; vii. 132-144.]--seemingly pretty much his due in the
matter. And so of other Hanbury things. "What a Prussia; for rigor of
command, one huge prison, in a manner!" King intent on punctuality, and
all his business upon the square. Society, official and unofficial,
kept rather strictly to their tackle; their mode of movement not that
of loose oxen at all! "Such a detestable Tyrant,"--who has ordered ME,
Hanbury, else-whither with my exquisite talents and admired wit!--
CANDIDATUS LINSENBARTH (QUASI "Lentil-beard") LIKEWISE VISITS BERLIN.
By far the notablest arrival in Berlin is M. de Voltaire's July 10th; a
few days before Hanbury got his First Audience, "five minutes long." But
that arrival will require a Chapter to itself;--most important arrival,
that, of all! The least important, again, is probably that of Candidatus
Linsenbarth, in these same weeks;--a rugged poverty-stricken
old Licentiate of Theology; important to no mortal in Berlin or
elsewhere:--upon whom, however, and upon his procedures in that City, we
propose, for our own objects, to bestow a few glances; rugged Narrative
of the thing, in singular exotic dialect, but true every word,
having fortunately come to us from Linsenbarth's own hand. [Through
Rodenbeck,--Beitrage,--i. 463 et seq.]
Berlin, it must be admitted, after all one's reading in poor Dryasdust,
remains a dim empty object; Teutschland is dim and empty: and out of
the forty blind sacks, or out of four hundred such, what picture can
any human head form to itself of Friedrich as King or Man? A trifling
Adventure of that poor individual, called Linsenbarth CANDIDATUS
THEOLOGIAE, one of the poorest of mortals, but true and credible in
every particular, comes gliding by chance athwart all that; and like the
glimmer of a poor rushlight, or kindled straw, shows it us for moments,
a thing visible, palpable, as it worked and lived. In the great dearth,
Linsenbarth, if I can faithfully interpret him for the modern reader,
will be worth attending to.
Date of Linsenbarth's Adventure is June-August, 1750. "Schloss of
Beichlingen" and "Village of Hemmleben" are in the Thuringen Hill
Country (Weimar not far off to eastward): the Hero himself, a tall
awkward raw-boned creature, is, for perhaps near forty years past, a
CANDIDATUS, say Licentiate, or Curate without Cure. Subsists, I should
guess, by schoolmastering--cheapest schoolmaster conceivable, wages mere
nothing--in the Villages about; in the Village of Hemmleben latterly;
age, as I discover, grown to be sixty-one, in those straitened but by
no means forlorn circumstances. And so, here is veteran Linsenbarth of
Hemmleben, a kind of Thuringian Dominie Sampson; whose Interview with
such a brother mortal as Friedrich King of Prussia may be worth looking
at,--if I can abridge it properly.
Well, it appears, in the year 1750, at this thrice-obscure Village of
Hemmleben, the worthy old pastor Cannabich died;--worthy old man, how
he had lived there, modestly studious, frugal, chiefly on
farm-produce, with tobacco and Dutch theology; a modest blessing to
his fellow-creatures! And now he is dead, and the place vacant.
Twenty pounds a Year certain; let us guess it twenty, with glebe-land,
piggeries, poultry-hutches: who is now to get all that? Linsenbarth
starts with his Narrative, in earnest.
Linsenbarth, who I guess may have been Assistant to the deceased
Cannabich, and was now out of work, says: "I had not the least thought
of profiting by this vacancy; but what happened? The Herr Graf von
Werthern, at Schloss Beichlingen, sent his Steward [LEHNSDIRECTOR,
FIEF-DIRECTOR is the title of this Steward, which gives rise to
obsolete thought of mill-dues, road-labor, payments IN NATURA], his
Lehnsdirector, Herr Kettenbeil, over to my LOGIS [cheap boarding
quarters]; who brought a gracious salutation from his Lord; saying
farther, That I knew too well [excellent Cannabich gone from us,
alas!] the Pastorate of Hemmleben was vacant; that there had various
competitors announced themselves, SUPPLICANDO, for the place; the Herr
Graf, however, had yet given none of them the FIAT, but waited always
till I should apply. As I had not done so, he (the Lord Graf) would
now of his own motion give me the preference, and hereby confer the
Pastorate upon me!"--
"Without all controversy, here was a VOCATIO DIVINA, to be received with
the most submissive thanks! But the lame second messenger came hitching
in [HALTING MESSENGER, German proverb] very soon. Kettenbeil began
again: 'He must mention to me SUB ROSA, Her Ladyship the Frau Grafin
wanted to have her Lady's-maid provided for by this promotion, too; I
must marry her, and take the living at the same time.'"
Whew! And this is the noble Lady's way of thinking, up in her fine
Schloss yonder? Linsenbarth will none of it. "For my notion fell at
once," says he, "when I heard it was DO UT FACIAS, FACIO UT FACIAS (I
give that thou mayest do, I do that thou mayest do; Wilt have the kirk,
then take the irk, WILLST DU DIE PFARRE, SO NIMM DIE QUARRE); on those
terms, my reply was: 'Most respectful thanks, Herr Fief-judge, and No,
for such a vocation! And why? The vocation must have LIBERTATEM, there
must be no VITIUM ESSENTIALE in it; it must be right IN ESSENTIALI,
otherwise no honest man can accept it with a good conscience. This were
a marriage on constraint; out of which a thousand INCONVENIENTIAE might
spring!'" Hear Linsenbarth, in the piebald dialect, with the sound
heart, and preference of starvation itself to some other things!
Kettenbeil (CHAIN-AXE) went home; and there was found another Candidatus
willing for the marriage on constraint, "out of which INCONVENIENTIAE
might spring," in Linsenbarth's opinion.
"And so did the sneakish courtly gentleman [HOFMANN, courtier as
Linsenbarth has it], who grasped with both hands at my rejected offer,
experience before long," continues Linsenbarth. "For the loose thing of
court-tatters led him such a life that, within three years, age yet only
thirty, he had to bite the dust" (BITE AT THE GRASS, says Linsenbarth,
proverbially), which was an INCONVENIENTIA including all others. "And I
had LEGITIMAM CAUSAM to refuse the vocation CUM TALI CONDITIONE.
"However, it was very ill taken of me. All over that Thuringian region
I was cried out upon as a headstrong foolish person: The Herr Graf von
Werthern, so ran the story, had of his own kindness, without request of
mine, offered me a living; RARA AVIS, singular instance; and I, rash and
without head, flung away such gracious offer. In short, I was told to
my face [by good-natured friends], Nobody would ever think of me for
promotion again;"--universal suffrage giving it clear against poor
Linsenbarth, in this way.
"To get out of people's sight at least," continues he, "I decided to
leave my native place, and go to Berlin," 250 miles away or more. "And
so it was that, on June the 20th, 1750, I landed at Berlin for the
first time: and here straightway at the PACKHOF (or Custom-house), in
searching of my things, 400 THALERS (some 60 pounds), all in Nurnberg
BATZEN, were seized from me;"--BATZEN, quarter-groats we may say; 7
and a half batzen go to a shilling; what a sack there must have been
of them, 9,000 in all, about the size of herring-scales, in bad silver;
fruit of Linsenbarth's stern thrift from birth upwards:--all snatched
from him at one swoop. "And why?" says he, quite historically: Yes,
Why? The reader, to understand it wholly, would need to read
in Mylius's--Edicten-Sammlung,--in SEYFARTH and elsewhere;
[Mylius,--Edict--xli., January, 1744, &c. &c.] and to know the
scandalous condition of German coinage at this time and long after;
every needy little Potentate mixing his coin with copper at discretion,
and swindling mankind with it for a season; needing to be peremptorily
forbidden, confiscated or ordered home, by the like of Friedrich.
Linsenbarth answers his own "And why?" with historical calmness:--
"The king had, some (six) years ago, had the batzen utterly cried down
(GANZ UND GAR); they were not to circulate at all in his Countries;
and I was so bold, I had brought batzen hither into the King's Capital,
KONIGLICHE RESIDENZ itself! At the Packhof, there was but one answer,
'Contraband, Contraband!'"--Here was a welcome for a man. "I made my
excuses: Did not the least know; came straight from Thuringen, many
miles of road; could not guess there What His Majesty the King had been
pleased to forbid in His (THEIRO) Countries. 'You should have
informed yourself,' said the Packhof people; and were deaf to such
considerations. 'A man coming into such a Residenz Town as Berlin, with
intent to abide there, should have inquired a little what was what,
especially what coins were cried down, and what allowed,' said they of
the Packhof." Poor Linsenbarth!"'But what am I to do now? How am I to
live, if you take my very money from me?' 'That is your outlook,'
said they;--and added, He must even find stowage for his stack of
herring-scales or batzen, as soon as it was sealed up; 'we have no room
for it in the Packhof!'" for a man: Here is a roughish welcome "I must
leave all my money here; and find stowage for it, in a day or two.
"There was, accordingly, a truck-porter called in; he loaded my effects
on his barrow, and rolled away. He brought me to the WHITE SWAN in the
JUDENSTRASSE [none of the grandest of streets, that Berlin JEWRY], threw
my things out, and demanded four groschen. Two of my batzen" 2 and a
half exact, "would have done; but I had no money at all. The landlord
came out: seeing that I had a stuffed feather-bed [note the luggage of
Linsenbarth: "FEDER-BETT," of extreme tenuity], a trunk full of linens,
a bag of Books and other trifles, he paid the man; and sent me to a
small room in the court-yard [Inn forms a Court, perhaps four stories
high]: 'I could stay there,' he said; 'he would give me food and drink
in the meanwhile.' And so I lived in this Inn eight weeks long, without
one red farthing, in mere fear and anxiety." June 20th PLUS eight weeks
brings us to August 15th; Voltaire in HEIGHT of feather; and very great
things just ahead! ["Grand Carrousel, 25th August;" &c.]--of which soon.
The White Swan was a place where Carriers lodged: some limb of the Law,
of Subaltern sort, whom Linsenbarth calls "DER ADVOCAT B." (one of the
Ousted of Cocceji, shall we fancy!), had to do with Carriers and their
pie-powder lawsuits. Advocat B. had noticed the gray dreary CANDIDATUS,
sitting sparrow-like in remote corners; had spoken to him;--undertook
for a LOUIS D'OR, no purchase no pay, to get back his batzen for
him. They went accordingly, one morning, to "a grand House;" it was
a Minister's (name not given), very grand Official Man: he heard the
Advocat B.'s short statement; and made answer: "Monsieur, and is it
you that will pick holes in the King's Law? I have understood you were
rather aiming at the HAUSVOGTEI [Common Jail of Berlin]: Go on in that
way, and you are sure of your promotion!"--Advocat B. rushed out with
Linsenbarth into the street; and there was neither pay nor purchase in
that quarter.
Poor Linsenbarth was next advised, by simple neighbors, to go direct to
the King; as every poor man can, at certain hours of the day. "Write out
your Case (Memorial) with extreme brevity," said they; "nothing but
the essential points, and those clear." Linsenbarth, steam at the
high-pressure, composed (CONZIPIRTE) a Memorial of that right laconic
sort; wrote it fair (MUNDIRTE ES);--and went off therewith "at opening
of the Gates (middle time of August, 1750, no date farther), [August
21st? (See Rodenbeck, DIARY, which we often quote, i. 205.)]--without
one farthing in my pocket, in God's name, to Potsdam." He continues:--
"And at Potsdam I was lucky enough to see the King; my first sight of
him. He was on the Palace Esplanade there, drilling his troops [fine
trim sanded Expanse, with the Palace to rear, and Garden-walks and River
to front; where Friedrich Wilhelm sat, the last day he was out, and
ordered Jockey Philips's house to be actually set about; where the
troops do evolutions every morning;--there is Friedrich with cocked-hat
and blue coat; say about 11 A.M.].
"When the drill was over, his Majesty went into the Garden, and the
soldiers dispersed; only four Officers remained lounging upon the
Esplanade, and walked up and down. For fright I knew not what to do;
I pulled the Papers out of my pocket,--these were my Memorial, two
Certificates of character, and a Thuringen Pass [poor soul]. The
Officers noticed this; came straight to me, and said, 'What letters has
He there, then?' I thankfully and gladly imparted the whole; and when
the Officers had read them, they said, 'We will give you [Him, not even
THEE] a good advice, The King is extra-gracious to-day, and is gone
alone into the Garden. Follow him straight. Thou wilt have luck.'
"This I would not do; my awe was too great. They thereupon laid hands
on me [the mischievous dogs, not ill-humored either]: one took me by the
right arm, another by the left, 'Off, off; to the Garden!' Having got
me thither, they looked out for the King. He was among the gardeners,
examining some rare plant; stooping over it, and had his back to us.
Here I had to halt; and the Officers began, in underhand tone [the
dogs!], to put me through my drill: 'Hat under left arm!--Right foot
foremost!--Breast well forward!--Head up!--Papers from pouch!--Papers
aloft in right hand!--Steady! Steady!'--And went their ways, looking
always round, to see if I kept my posture. I perceived well enough they
were pleased to make game of me; but I stood, all the same, like a wall,
being full of fear. The Officers were hardly out of the Garden, when
the King turned round, and saw this extraordinary machine,"--telegraph
figure or whatever we may call it, with papers pointing to the sky. "He
gave such a look at me, like a flash of sunbeams glancing through you;
and sent one of the gardeners to bring my papers. Which having got, he
struck into another walk with them, and was out of sight. In few minutes
he appeared again at the place where the rare plant was, with my Papers
open in his left hand; and gave me a wave with them To come nearer. I
plucked up a heart, and went straight towards him. Oh, how thrice and
four-times graciously this great Monarch deigned to speak to me!--
KING. "'My good Thuringian (LIEBER THURINGER), you came to Berlin,
seeking to earn your bread by industrious teaching of children; and
here, at the Packhof, in searching your things, they have taken your
Thuringen hoard from you. True, the batzen are not legal here; but the
people should have said to you: You are a stranger, and did n't know the
prohibition;--well then, we will seal up the Bag of Batzen; you send it
back to Thuringen, get it changed for other sorts; we will not take it
from you!--
"'Be of heart, however; you shall have your money again, and interest
too.--But, my poor man, Berlin pavement is bare, they don't give
anything gratis: you are a stranger; before you are known and get
teaching, your bit of money is done; what then?'
"I understood the speech right well; but my awe was too great to say:
'Your Majesty will have the all-highest grace to allow me something!'
But as I was so simple and asked for nothing, he did not offer anything.
And so he turned away; but had scarcely gone six or eight steps, when
he looked round, and gave me a sign I was to walk by him; and then began
catechising:--
KING. "'Where did you (ER) study?'
LINSENBARTH. "'Your Majesty, in Jena.'
KING. "'What years?'
LINSENBARTH. "'From 1716 to 1720.' ["Born 1689" (Rodenbeck, p. 474);
twenty-five when he went.]
KING. "'Under what Pro-rector were you inscribed?'
LINSENBARTH. "'Under the PROFESSOR THEOLOGIAE Dr. Fortsch.'
KING. "'Who were your other Professors in the Theological Faculty?'"
LINSENBARTH--names famed men; sunk now, mostly, in the bottomless
waste-basket: "Buddaus" (who did a DICTIONARY of the BAYLE sort,
weighing four stone troy, out of which I have learned many a thing),
"Buddaeus," "Danz," "Weissenborn," "Wolf" (now back at Halle after his
tribulations,--poor man, his immortal System of Philosophy, where is
it!).
KING. "'Did you study BIBLICA diligently?'
LINSENBARTH. "'With Buddaeus (BEYM BUDDAO).'
KING. "'That is he who had such quarrelling with Wolf?'
LINSENBARTH. "'Yea, your Majesty! He was--'
KING (does not want to know what he was). "'What other useful Courses of
Lectures (COLLEGIA) did you attend?'
LINSENBARTH. "'Thetics and Exegetics with Fortsch [How the deuce did
Fortsch teach these things?]; Hermeneutics and Polemics with Walch
[editor of--Luther's Works,--I suppose]; Hebraics with Dr. Danz;
Homiletics with Dr. Weissenborn; PASTORALE [not Pastoral Poetry, but
the Art of Pastorship] and MORALE with Dr. Buddaeus.' [There, your
Majesty!--what a glimpse, as into infinite extinct Continents, filled
with ponderous thorny inanities, invincible nasal drawling of didactic
Titans, and the awful attempt to spin, on all manner of wheels,
road-harness out of split cobwebs: Hoom! Hoom-m-m! Harness not to be had
on those terms. Let the dreary Limbus close again, till the general Day
of Judgment for all this.]
KING (glad to get out of the Limbus). "'Were things as wild then at
Jena, in your time, as of old, when the Students were forever
scuffling and ruffling, and the Couplet went:--
--"Wer kommt von Jena ungeschlagen,
Der hat von grossen Gluck zu sagen.--
"He that comes from Jena SINE BELLO,
He may think himself a lucky fellow"?'
LINSENBARTH. "'That sort of folly is gone quite out of fashion; and
a man can lead a silent and quiet life there, just as at other
Universities, if he will attend to the DIC, CURHIC? [or know what his
real errand is]. In my time their Serene Highnesses, the Nursing-fathers
of the University (NUTRITORES ACADEMIAE),--of the Ernestine Line
[Weimar-Gotha Highnesses, that is], were in the habit of having the
Rufflers (RENOMISTEN), Renowners as they are called, who made so much
disturbance, sent to Eisenach to lie in the Wartburg a while; there they
learned to be quiet.' [Clock strikes Twelve,--dinner-time of Majesty.]
KING. "'Now I must go: they are waiting for their soup'" (and so ends
Dialogue for the present). 'Did the King bid me wait?
"When we got out of the Garden," says Linsenbarth, silent on this point,
"the four Officers were still there upon the Esplanade [Captains of
Guard belike]; they went into the Palace with the King,"--clearly
meaning to dine with his Majesty.
"I remained standing on the Esplanade. For twenty-seven hours I had not
tasted food: not a farthing IN BONIS [of principal or interest] to
get bread with; I had waded twenty miles hither, in a sultry morning,
through the sand. Not a difficult thing to keep down laughter in such
circumstances!"--Poor soul; but the Royal mind is human too.--"In this
tremor of my heart, there came a KAMMER-HUSSAR [Soldier-Valet, Valet
reduced to his simplest expression] out of the Palace, and asked, 'Where
is the man that was with my King (MEINEM KONIG,--THY King particularly?)
in the Garden?' I answered, 'Here!' And he led me into the Schloss, to
a large Room, where pages, lackeys, and Kammer-hussars were about. My
Kammer-hussar took me to a little table, excellently furnished; with
soup, beef; likewise carp dressed with garden-salad, likewise game with
cucumber-salad: bread, knife, fork, spoon and salt were all there [and I
with an appetite of twenty-seven hours; I too was there]. My hussar set
me a chair, said: 'This that is on the table, the King has ordered to be
served for you (IHM): you are to eat your fill, and mind nobody; and I
am to serve. Sharp, then, fall to!'--I was greatly astonished, and knew
not what to do; least of all could it come into my head that the King's
Kammer-hussar, who waited on his Majesty, should wait on me. I pressed
him to sit by me; but as he refused, I did as bidden; sat down, took my
spoon, and went at it with a will (FRISCH)!
"The hussar took the beef from the table, set it on the charcoal dish
(to keep it hot till wanted); he did the like with the fish and
roast game; and poured me out wine and beer--[was ever such a lucky
Barmecide!] I ate and drank till I had abundantly enough. Dessert,
confectionery, what I could,--a plateful of big black cherries, and a
plateful of pears, my waiting-man wrapped in paper and stuffed them into
my pockets, to be a refreshment on the way home. And so I rose from the
Royal table; and thanked God and the King in my heart, that I had so
gloriously dined,"--HERRLICH, "gloriously" at last. Poor excellent
down-trodden Linsenbarth, one's heart opens to him, not one's larder
only.
"The hussar took away. At that moment a Secretary came; brought me a
sealed Order (Rescript) to the Packhof at Berlin, with my Certificates
(TESTIMONIA), and the Pass; told down on the table five Tail-ducats
(SCHWANZ-DUKATEN), and a Gold Friedrich under them [about 3 pounds 10s.,
I think; better than 10 pounds of our day to a common man, and better
than 100 pounds to a Linsenbarth],--saying, The King sent me this to
take me home to Berlin again.
"And if the hussar took me into the Palace, it was now the Secretary
that took me out again. And there, yoked with six horses, stood a royal
Proviant-wagon; which having led me to, the Secretary said: 'You people,
the King has given order you are to take this stranger to Berlin, and
also to accept no drink-money from him.' I again, through the HERRN
SECRETARIUM, testified my most submissive thankfulness for all Royal
graciousnesses; took my place, and rolled away.
"On reaching Berlin, I went at once to the Packhof, straight to the
office-room,"--standing more erect this time,--"and handed them my Royal
Rescript. The Head man opened the seal; in reading, he changed color,
went from pale to red; said nothing, and gave it to the second man to
read. The second put on his spectacles; read, and gave it to the third.
However, he [the Head man] rallied himself at last: I was to come
forward, and be so good as write a quittance (receipt), 'That I had
received, for my 400 thalers all in Batzen, the same sum in Brandenburg
coin, ready down, without the least deduction.' My cash was at once
accurately paid. And thereupon the Steward was ordered, To go with me to
the White Swan in the Judenstrasse, and pay what I owed there, whatever
my score was. For which end they gave him twenty-four thalers; and if
that were not enough, he was to come and get more." On these high terms
Linsenbarth marched out of the Packhof for the second time; the sublime
head of him (not turned either) sweeping the very stars.
"That was what the King had meant when he said, "You shall have your
money back and interest too:' VIDELICET, that the Packhof was to pay my
expenses at the White Swan. The score, however, was only 10 thaler,'
4 groschen, 6 pfennigs [30 shillings, 5 pence, and 2 or perhaps
3 quarter-farthings], for what I had run up in eight weeks,"--an
uncommonly frugal rate of board, for a man skilled in Hermeneutics,
Hebraics, Polemics, Thetica, Exegetics, Pastorale, Morale (and Practical
Christianity and the Philosophy of Zeno, carried to perfection, or
nearly so)!"And herewith this troubled History had its desired finish."
And our gray-whiskered, raw-boned, great-hearted Candidatus lay down to
sleep, at the White Swan; probably the happiest man in all Berlin, for
the time being.
Linsenbarth dived now into Private-teaching, "INFORMATION," as he calls
it; forming, and kneading into his own likeness, such of the young
Berliners as he could get hold of:--surely not without some good effect
on them, the model having, besides Hermeneutics in abundance, so much
natural worth about it. He himself found the mine of Informing a very
barren one, as to money: continued poor in a high degree, without honor,
without emolument to speak of; and had a straitened, laborious, and what
we might think very dark Life-pilgrimage. But the darkness was nothing
to him, he carried such an inextinguishable frugal rushlight within.
Meat, clothes and fire he did not again lack, in Berlin, for the time
he needed them,--some twenty-seven years still. And if he got no printed
praise in the Reviews, from baddish judges writing by the sheet,--here
and there brother mortals, who knew him by their own eyes and
experiences, looked, or transiently spoke, and even did, a most real
praise upon him now and then. And, on the whole, he can do without
praise; and will stand strokes even without wincing or kicking, where
there is no chance.
A certain Berlin Druggist ("Herr Medicinal-Assessor Rose," whom we may
call Druggist First, for there were Two that had to do with Linsenbarth)
was good and human to him. In Rose's House, where he had come to teach
the children, and which continued, always thenceforth, a home to him
when needful, he wrote this NARRATIVE (Anno 1774); and died there, three
years afterwards,--"24th August, 1777, of apoplexy, age 88," say the
Burial Registers. [In Rodenbeck,--Beitrage,--i. 472-475, these latter
Details (with others, in confused form); IB. 462-471, the NARRATIVE
itself.] Druggist Second, on succeeding the humane Predecessor, found
Linsenbarth's papers in the drug-stores of the place: Druggist Second
chanced to be one Klaproth, famed among the Scientific of the world; and
by him the Linsenbarth Narrative was forwarded to publication, and such
fame as is requisite.
SIR JONAS HANWAY STALKS ACROSS THE SCENE, TOO; IN A PONDERING AND
OBSERVING MANNER.
Of the then very famous "Berlin Carrousel of 1750" we propose to say
little; the now chief interesting point in it being that M. de Voltaire
is curiously visible to us there. But the truth is, they were very great
days at Berlin, those of Autumn, 1750; distinguished strangers come
or coming; the King giving himself up to entertainment of them, to
enjoyment of them; with such a hearty outburst of magnificence, this
Carrousel the apex of it, as was rare in his reign. There were his
Sisters of Schwedt and Baireuth, with suite, his dear Wilhelmina queen
of the scene; ["Came 8th August" (Rodenbeck, 205).] there were--It
would be tedious to count what other high Herrschaften and Durchlauchtig
Persons. And to crown the whole, and entertain Wilhelmina as a Queen
should be, there had come M. de Voltaire; conquered at length to us, as
we hope, and the Dream of our Youth realized. Voltaire's reception,
July 10th and ever since, has been mere splendor and kindness; really
extraordinary, as we shall find farther on. Reception perfect in all
points, except that of the Pompadour's Compliments alone. "That sublime
creature's compliments to your Majesty; such her express command!"
said Voltaire. "JE NE LA CONNAIS PAS," answered Friedrich, with his
clear-ringing voice, "I don't know her;" [Voltaire to Madame Denis,
"Potsdam, 11th August, 1750" (--OEuvres,--lxxiv. 184).]--sufficient
intimation to Voltaire, but painful and surprising. For which some
diplomatic persons blame Friedrich to this day; but not I, or any reader
of mine. A very proud young King; in his silent way, always the prouder;
and stands in no awe of the Divine Butterflies and Crowned Infatuations
never so potent, as more prudent people do.
In a Berlin of such stir and splendor, the arrivals of Sir Jonas Hanway,
of the "young Lord Malton" (famed Earl or Marquis of Rockingham that
will be), or of the witty Excellency Hanbury, are as nothing;--Sir
Jonas's as less than nothing. A Sir Jonas noticed by nobody; but himself
taking note, dull worthy man; and mentionable now on that account. Here
is a Scrap regarding him, not quite to be thrown away:
"Sir Jonas Hanway was not always so extinct as he has now become.
Readers might do worse than turn to his now old Book of TRAVELS again,
and the strange old London it awakens for us: A 'Russian Trading
Company,' full of hope to the then mercantile mind; a Mr. Hanway
despatched, years ago, as Chief Clerk, inexpressibly interested to
manage well;--and managing, as you may read at large. Has done his best
and utmost, all this while; and had such travellings through the
Naphtha Countries, sailings on the Caspian; such difficulties,
successes,--ultimately, failure. Owing to Mr. Elton and Thamas Kouli
Khan mainly. Thamas Kouli Khan--otherwise called Nadir Shah (and a very
hard-headed fellow, by all appearance)--wiled and seduced Mr. Elton, an
Ex-Naval gentleman, away from his Ledgers, to build him Ships; having
set his heart on getting a Navy. And Mr. Elton did build him (spite of
all I could say) a Bark or two on the Caspian;--most hopeful to the said
Nadir Shah; but did it come to anything? It disgusted, it alarmed
the Russians; and ruined Sir Jonas,--who is returning at this period,
prepared to render account of himself at London, in a loftily resigned
frame of mind. [Jonas Hanway,--An Account of &c.--(or in brief, TRAVELS:
London, 3 vols. 4to, 1753), ii. 183. "Arrived in Berlin," from the
Caspian and Petersburg side, "August 15th, 1750."]
"The remarks of Sir Jonas upon Berlin--for he exercises everywhere a
sapient observation on men and things--are of dim tumidly insignificant
character, reminding us of an extinct Minerva's Owl; and reduce
themselves mainly to this bit of ocular testimony, That his Prussian
Majesty rides much about, often at a rapid rate; with a pleasant
business aspect, humane though imperative; handsome to look upon, though
with face perceptibly reddish [and perhaps snuff on it, were you near].
His age now thirty-eight gone; a set appearance, as if already got into
his forties. Complexion florid, figure muscular, almost tending to be
plump.
"Listen well through Hanway, you will find King Friedrich is an object
of great interest, personal as well as official, and much the theme in
Berlin society; admiration of him, pride in him, not now the audiblest
tone, though it lies at the bottom too: 'Our Friedrich the Great,' after
all [so Hanway intimates, though not express as to epithets or words
used]. The King did a beautiful thing to Lieutenant-Colonel Keith the
other day [as some readers may remember]: to Lieutenant-Colonel Keith;
that poor Keith who was nailed to the gallows for him (in effigy), at
Wesel long ago; and got far less than he had expected. The other
day, there had been a grand Review, part of it extending into Madam
Knyphausen's grounds, who is Keith's Mother-in-law. 'Monsieur Keith,'
said the King to him, 'I am sorry we had to spoil Madam's fine
shrubbery by our manoeuvres: have the goodness to give her that, with my
apologies,'--and handed him a pretty Casket with key to it, and in the
interior 10,000 crowns. Not a shrub of Madam's had been cut or injured;
but the King, you see, would count it 1,500 pounds of damage done,
and here is acknowledgment for it, which please accept. Is not that a
gracious little touch?
"This King is doing something at Embden, Sir Jonas fears, or trying to
do, in the Trade-and-Navigation way; scandalous that English capitalists
will lend money in furtherance of such destructive schemes by the
Foreigner! For the rest, Sir Jonas went to call on Lord Malton (Marquis
of Rockingham that will be): an amiable and sober young Nobleman,
come thus far on his Grand Tour," and in time for the Carrousel. "His
Lordship's reception at Court here, one regretted to hear, was nothing
distinguished; quite indifferent, indeed, had not the Queen-Mother stept
in with amendments. The Courts are not well together; pity for it. My
Lord and his Tutor did me the honor to return my visit; the rather as
we all quartered in the same Inn. Amiable young Nobleman,"--so
distinguished since, for having had unconsciously an Edmund Burke,
and such torrents of Parliamentary Eloquence, in his breeches-pocket
(BREECHES-POCKET literally; how unknown to Hanway!)--"Amiable young
Nobleman, is not it one's duty to salute, in passing such a one? Though
I would by no means have it over-done, and am a calmly independent man.
"Sir Jonas also saw the Carrousel [of which presently]; and admired the
great men of Berlin. Great men, all obsolete now, though then admired
to infinitude, some of them: 'You may abuse me,' said the King to some
stranger arrived in Berlin; 'you may abuse me, and perhaps here
and there get praise by doing it: but I advise you not to doubt of
Lieberkuhn [the fashionable Doctor] in any company in Berlin,'" [Hanway,
ii. 190, 202, &c.]--How fashionable are men!
One Collini, a young Italian, quite new in Berlin, chanced also to be at
the Carrousel, or at the latter half of it,--though by no means in
quest of such objects just at present, poor young fellow! As he came
afterwards to be Secretary or Amanuensis of Voltaire, and will turn up
in that capacity, let us read this Note upon him:--
"Signor Como Alessandro Collini, a young Venetian gentleman of some
family and education, but of no employment or resource, had in late
years been asking zealously all round among his home circle, What am I
to do with myself? mere echo answering, What,--till a Signora Sister
of Barberina the Dancer's answered: 'Try Berlin, and King FRIDERICO IL
GRANDE there? I could give you a letter to my Sister!' At which Collini
grasps; gets under way for Berlin,--through wild Alpine sceneries,
foreign guttural populations; and with what thoughts, poor young fellow.
It is a common course to take, and sometimes answers, sometimes not. The
cynosure of vague creatures, with a sense of faculty without direction.
What clouds of winged migratory people gathering in to Berlin, all
through this Reign. Not since Noah's Ark a stranger menagerie of
creatures, mostly wild. Of whom Voltaire alone is, in our time, worth
mention.
"Collini gazed upon the Alpine chasms, and shaggy ice-palaces, with
tender memory of the Adriatic; courageously steered his way through the
inoffensive guttural populations; had got to Berlin, just in this time;
been had to dinner daily by the hospitable Barberinas, young Cocceji
always his fellow-guest,--'Privately, my poor Signorina's Husband!'
whispered old Mamma. Both the Barberinas were very kind to Collini;
cheering him with good auguries, and offers of help. Collini does not
date with any punctuality; but the German Books will do it for him.
August 25th-27th was Carrousel; and Collini had arrived few days
before." [Collini,--Mon Sejour aupres de Voltaire--(Paris, 1807), pp.
1-21.]
And now it is time we were at the Carrousel ourselves,--in a brief
transient way.