On the Crown-Prince's Marriage, three years ago, when the AMT or
Government-District RUPPIN, with its incomings, was assigned to him for
revenue, we heard withal of a residence getting ready. Hint had fallen
from the Prince, that Reinsberg, an old Country-seat, standing with
its Domain round it in that little Territory of Ruppin, and probably
purchasable as was understood, might be pleasant, were it once his
and well put in repair. Which hint the kind paternal Majesty instantly
proceeded to act upon. He straightway gave orders for the purchase of
Reinsberg; concluded said purchase, on fair terms, after some months'
bargaining; [23d October, 1733, order given,--16th March, 1734, purchase
completed (Preuss, i. 75).]--and set his best Architect, one Kemeter,
to work, in concert with the Crown-Prince, to new-build and enlarge
the decayed Schloss of Reinsberg into such a Mansion as the young Royal
Highness and his Wife would like.
Kemeter has been busy, all this while; a solid, elegant, yet frugal
builder: and now the main body of the Mansion is complete, or nearly so,
the wings and adjuncts going steadily forward; Mansion so far ready that
the Royal Highnesses can take up their abode in it. Which they do, this
Autumn, 1736; and fairly commence Joint Housekeeping, in a permanent
manner. Hitherto it has been intermittent only: hitherto the
Crown-Princess has resided in their Berlin Mansion, or in her own
Country-house at Schonhausen; Husband not habitually with her, except
when on leave of absence from Ruppin, in Carnival time or for shorter
periods. At Ruppin his life has been rather that of a bachelor, or
husband abroad on business; up to this time. But now at Reinsberg they
do kindle the sacred hearth together; "6th August, 1736," the date of
that important event. They have got their Court about them, dames and
cavaliers more than we expected; they have arranged the furnitures of
their existence here on fit scale, and set up their Lares and Penates
on a thrifty footing. Majesty and Queen come out on a visit to them next
month; [4th September, 1736 (Ib.).]--raising the sacred hearth into its
first considerable blaze, and crowning the operation in a human manner.
And so there has a new epoch arisen for the Crown-Prince and his
Consort. A new, and much-improved one. It lasted into the fourth year;
rather improving all the way: and only Kingship, which, if a higher
sphere, was a far less pleasant one, put an end to it. Friedrich's
happiest time was this at Reinsberg; the little Four Years of Hope,
Composure, realizable Idealism: an actual snatch of something like the
Idyllic, appointed him in a life-pilgrimage consisting otherwise of
realisms oftenest contradictory enough, and sometimes of very grim
complexion. He is master of his work, he is adjusted to the practical
conditions set him; conditions once complied with, daily work done,
he lives to the Muses, to the spiritual improvements, to the social
enjoyments; and has, though not without flaws of ill-weather,--from
the Tobacco-Parliament perhaps rather less than formerly, and from
the Finance-quarter perhaps rather more,--a sunny time. His innocent
insipidity of a Wife, too, appears to have been happy. She had the
charm of youth, of good looks; a wholesome perfect loyalty of character
withal; and did not "take to pouting," as was once apprehended of
her, but pleasantly gave and received of what was going. This poor
Crown-Princess, afterwards Queen, has been heard, in her old age,
reverting, in a touching transient way, to the glad days she had at
Reinsberg. Complaint openly was never heard from her, in any kind of
days; but these doubtless were the best of her life.
Reinsberg, we said, is in the AMT Ruppin; naturally under the
Crown-Prince's government at present: the little Town or Village of
Reinsberg stands about, ten miles north of the Town Ruppin;--not quite
a third-part as big as Ruppin is in our time, and much more pleasantly
situated. The country about is of comfortable, not unpicturesque
character; to be distinguished almost as beautiful, in that region
of sand and moor. Lakes abound in it; tilled fields; heights called
"hills;" and wood of fair growth,--one reads of "beech-avenues" of "high
linden-avenues:"--a country rather of the ornamented sort, before the
Prince with his improvements settled there. Many lakes and lakelets in
it, as usual hereabouts; the loitering waters straggle, all over that
region, into meshes of lakes. Reinsberg itself, Village and Schloss,
stands on the edge of a pleasant Lake, last of a mesh of such: the
SUMMARY, or outfall, of which, already here a good strong brook or
stream, is called the RHEIN, Rhyn or Rein; and gives name to the little
place. We heard of the Rein at Ruppin: it is there counted as a kind of
river; still more, twenty miles farther down, where it falls into the
Havel, on its way to the Elbe. The waters, I think, are drab-colored,
not peat-brown: and here, at the source, or outfall from that mesh
of lakes, where Reinsberg is, the country seems to be about the
best;--sufficient, in picturesqueness and otherwise, to satisfy a
reasonable man.
The little Town is very old; but, till the Crown-Prince settled there,
had no peculiar vitality in it. I think there are now some potteries,
glass-manufactories: Friedrich Wilhelm, just while the Crown-Prince
was removing thither, settled a first Glass-work there; which took
good root, and rose to eminence in the crystal, Bohemian-crystal,
white-glass, cut-glass, and other commoner lines, in the Crown-Prince's
time. [_Bescheibung des Lutschlosses &c. zu Reinsberg_ (Berlin, 1788);
Author, a "Lieutenant Hennert," thoroughly acquainted with his subject.]
Reinsberg stands on the east or southeast side of its pretty Lake: Lake
is called "the GRINERICK SEE" (as all those remote Lakes have their
names); Mansion is between the Town and Lake. A Mansion fronting, we may
say, four ways; for it is of quadrangular form, with a wet moat from
the Lake begirdling it, and has a spacious court for interior: but the
principal entrance is from the Town side; for the rest, the Building is
ashlar on all sides, front and rear. Stands there, handsomely abutting
on the Lake with two Towers, a Tower at each angle, which it has on that
lakeward side; and looks, over Reinsberg, and its steeple rising amid
friendly umbrage which hides the house-tops, towards the rising sun.
Townward there is room for a spacious esplanade; and then for the
stables, outbuildings, well masked; which still farther shut off the
Town. To this day, Reinsberg stands with the air of a solid respectable
Edifice; still massive, rain-tight, though long since deserted by
the Princeships,--by Friedrich nearly sixscore years ago, and nearly
threescore by Prince Henri, Brother of Friedrich's, who afterwards had
it. Last accounts I got were, of talk there had risen of planting an
extensive NORMAL-SCHOOL there; which promising plan had been laid aside
again for the time.
The old Schloss, residence of the Bredows and other feudal people for
a long while, had good solid masonry in it, and around it orchards,
potherb gardens; which Friedrich Wilhelm's Architects took good care to
extend and improve, not to throw away: the result of their art is what
we see, a beautiful Country-House, what might be called a Country-Palace
with all its adjuncts;--and at a rate of expense which would fill
English readers, of this time, with amazement. Much is admirable to us
as we study Reinsberg, what it had been, what it became, and how it was
made; but nothing more so than the small modicum of money it cost. To
our wondering thought, it seems as if the shilling, in those parts, were
equal to the guinea in these; and the reason, if we ask it, is by no
means flattering altogether. "Change in the value of money?" Alas,
reader, no; that is not above the fourth part of the phenomenon.
Three-fourths of the phenomenon are change in the methods of
administering money,--difference between managing it with wisdom and
veracity on both sides, and managing it with unwisdom and mendacity on
both sides. Which is very great indeed; and infinitely sadder than
any one, in these times, will believe!--But we cannot dwell on
this consideration. Let the reader take it with him, as a constant
accompaniment in whatever work of Friedrich Wilhelm's or of Friedrich
his Son's, he now or at any other time may be contemplating. Impious
waste, which means disorder and dishonesty, and loss of much other than
money to all, parties,--disgusting aspect of human creatures, master and
servant, working together as if they were not human,--will be spared
him in those foreign departments; and in an English heart thoughts will
arise, perhaps, of a wholesome tendency, though very sad, as times are.
It would but weary the reader to describe this Crown-Prince Mansion;
which, by desperate study of our abstruse materials, it is possible to
do with auctioneer minuteness. There are engraved VIEWS of Reinsberg
and its Environs; which used to lie conspicuous in the portfolios of
collectors,---which I have not seen. [See Hennert, just cited, for the
titles of them.] Of the House itself, engraved Frontages (FACADES),
Ground-plans, are more accessible; and along with them, descriptions
which are little descriptive,--wearisomely detailed, and as it were dark
by excess of light (auctioneer light) thrown on them. The reader
sees, in general, a fine symmetrical Block of Buildings, standing in
rectangular shape, in the above locality;--about two hundred English
feet, each, the two longer sides measure, the Townward and the Lakeward,
on their outer front: about a hundred and thirty, each, the two shorter;
or a hundred and fifty, taking in their Towers just spoken of. The
fourth or Lakeward side, however, which is one of the longer pair,
consists mainly of "Colonnade;" spacious Colonnade "with vases and
statues;" catching up the outskirts of said Towers, and handsomely
uniting everything.
Beyond doubt, a dignified, substantial pile of stone-work; all of good
proportions. Architecture everywhere of cheerfully serious, solidly
graceful character; all of sterling ashlar; the due RISALITES
(projecting spaces) with their attics and statues atop, the due
architraves, cornices and corbels,--in short the due opulence of
ornament being introduced, and only the due. Genuine sculptors, genuine
painters, artists have been busy; and in fact all the suitable fine
arts, and all the necessary solid ones, have worked together, with
a noticeable fidelity, comfortable to the very beholder to this day.
General height is about forty feet; two stories of ample proportions:
the Towers overlooking them are sixty feet in height. Extent of outer
frontage, if you go all round, and omit the Colonnade, will be five
hundred feet and more: this, with the rearward face, is a thousand
feet of room frontage:--fancy the extent of lodging space. For "all the
kitchens and appurtenances are underground;" the "left front" (which is
a new part of the Edifice) rising comfortably over these. Windows I did
not count; but they must go high up into the Hundreds. No end to
lodging space. Way in a detached side-edifice subsequently built, called
Cavalier House, I read of there being, for one item, "fifty lodging
rooms," and for another "a theatre." And if an English Duke of Trumps
were to look at the bills for all that, his astonishment would be
extreme, and perhaps in a degree painful and salutary to him.
In one of these Towers the Crown-Prince has his Library: a beautiful
apartment; nothing wanting to it that the arts could furnish, "ceiling
done by Pesne" with allegorical geniuses and what not,--looks out on
mere sky, mere earth and water in an ornamental state: silent as in
Elysium. It is there we are to fancy the Correspondence written, the
Poetries and literary industries going on. There, or stepping down for
a turn in the open air, or sauntering meditatively under the Colonnade
with its statues and vases (where weather is no object), one commands
the Lake, with its little tufted Islands, "Remus Island" much famed
among them, and "high beech-woods" on the farther side. The Lake is very
pretty, all say; lying between you and the sunset;--with perhaps some
other lakelet, or solitary pool in the wilderness, many miles away,
"revealing itself as a cup of molten gold," at that interesting moment.
What the Book-Collection was, in the interior, I know not except by mere
guess.
The Crown-Princess's Apartment, too, which remained unaltered at the
last accounts had of it, [From Hennert, namely, in 1778.] is very
fine;--take the anteroom for specimen: "This fine room," some twenty
feet height of ceiling, "has six windows; three of them, in the main
front, looking towards the Town, the other three, towards the Interior
Court. The light from these windows is heightened by mirrors covering
all the piers (SCHAFTE, interspaces of the walls), to an uncommonly
splendid pitch; and shows the painting of the ceiling, which again is
by the famous Pesne, to much perfection. The Artist himself, too, has
managed to lay on his colors there so softly, and with such delicate
skill, that the light-beams seem to prolong themselves in the painted
clouds and air, as if it were the real sky you had overhead." There in
that cloud-region "Mars is being disarmed by the Love-goddesses, and
they are sporting with his weapons. He stretches out his arm towards the
Goddess, who looks upon him with fond glances. Cupids are spreading
out a draping." That is Pesne's luxurious performance in the
ceiling.--"Weapon-festoons, in basso-relievo, gilt, adorn the walls of
this room; and two Pictures, also by Pesne, which represent, in life
size, the late King and Queen [our good friends Friedrich Wilhelm and
his Sophie], are worthy of attention. Over each of the doors, you
find in low-relief the Profiles of Hannibal, Pompey, Scipio, Caesar,
introduced as Medallions."
All this is very fine; but all this is little to another ceiling, in
some big Saloon elsewhere, Music-saloon, I think: Black Night, making
off, with all her sickly dews, at one end of the ceiling; and at the
other end, the Steeds of Phoebus bursting forth, and the glittering
shafts of Day,--with Cupids, Love-goddesses, War-gods, not omitting
Bacchus and his vines, all getting beautifully awake in consequence. A
very fine room indeed;--used as a Music-saloon, or I know not what,--and
the ceiling of it almost an ideal, say the connoisseurs.
Endless gardens, pavilions, grottos, hermitages, orangeries, artificial
ruins, parks and pleasances surround this favored spot and its Schloss;
nothing wanting in it that a Prince's establishment needs,--except
indeed it be hounds, for which this Prince never had the least demand.
Except the old Ruppin duties, which imply continual journeyings thither,
distance only a morning's ride; except these, and occasional commissions
from Papa, Friedrich is left master of his time and pursuits in this new
Mansion. There are visits to Potsdam, periodical appearances at
Berlin; some Correspondence to keep the Tobacco-Parliament in tune. But
Friedrich's taste is for the Literatures, Philosophies: a--young Prince
bent seriously to cultivate his mind; to attain some clear knowledge of
this world, so all-important to him. And he does seriously read, study
and reflect a good deal; his main recreations, seemingly, are Music,
and the converse of well-informed, friendly men. In Music we find him
particularly rich. Daily, at a fixed hour of the afternoon, there is
concert held; the reader has seen in what kind of room: and if the
Artists entertained here for that function were enumerated (high names,
not yet forgotten in the Musical world), it would still more astonish
readers. I count them to the number of twenty or nineteen; and mention
only that "the two Brothers Graun" and "the two Brothers Benda" were of
the lot; suppressing four other Fiddlers of eminence, and "a Pianist
who is known to everybody." [Hennert, p. 21.] The Prince has a fine
sensibility to Music: does himself, with thrilling adagios on the
flute, join in these harmonious acts; and, no doubt, if rightly vigilant
against the Nonsenses, gets profit, now and henceforth, from this part
of his resources.
He has visits, calls to make, on distinguished persons within reach; he
has much Correspondence, of a Literary or Social nature. For instance,
there is Suhm the Saxon Envoy translating _Wolf's Philosophy_ into
French for him; sending it in fascicles; with endless Letters to and
from, upon it,--which were then highly interesting, but are now dead
to every reader. The Crown-Prince has got a Post-Office established
at Reinsberg; leathern functionary of some sort comes lumbering round,
southward, "from the Mecklenburg quarter twice a week, and goes by
Fehrbellin," for the benefit of his Correspondences. Of his calls in the
neighborhood, we mean to show the reader one sample, before long; and
only one.
There are Lists given us of the Prince's "Court" at Reinsberg; and one
reads, and again reads, the dreariest unmemorable accounts of them; but
cannot, with all one's industry, attain any definite understanding of
what they were employed in, day after day, at Reinsberg:--still more
are their salaries and maintenance a mystery to us, in that frugal
establishment. There is Wolden for Hofmarschall, our old Custrin friend;
there is Colonel Senning, old Marlborough Colonel with the wooden leg,
who taught Friedrich his drillings and artillery-practices in boyhood,
a fine sagacious old gentleman this latter. There is a M. Jordan,
Ex-Preacher, an ingenious Prussian-Frenchman, still young, who acts
as "Reader and Librarian;" of whom we shall hear a good deal more.
"Intendant" is Captain (Ex-Captain) Knobelsdorf; a very sensible
accomplished man, whom we saw once at Baireuth; who has been to Italy
since, and is now returned with beautiful talents for Architecture: it
is he that now undertakes the completing of Reinsberg, [Hennert, p.
29.] which he will skilfully accomplish in the course of the next three
years. Twenty Musicians on wind or string; Painters, Antoine Pesne but
one of them; Sculptors, Glume and others of eminence; and Hof-Cavaliers,
to we know not what extent:--how was such a Court kept up, in harmonious
free dignity, and no halt in its finances, or mean pinch of any kind
visible? The Prince did get in debt; but not deep, and it was mainly for
the tall recruits he had to purchase. His money-accounts are by no means
fully known to me: but I should question if his expenditure (such is my
guess) ever reached 3,000 pounds a year; and am obliged to reflect more
and more, as the ancient Cato did, what an admirable revenue frugality
is!
Many of the Cavaliers, I find, for one thing, were of the Regiment
Goltz; that was one evident economy. "Rittmeister van Chasot," as the
Books call him: readers saw that Chasot flying to Prince Eugene, and
know him since the Siege of Philipsburg. He is not yet Rittmeister,
or Captain of Horse, as he became; but is of the Ruppin Garrison;
Hof-Cavalier; "attended Friedrich on his late Prussian journey;" and
is much a favorite, when he can be spared from Ruppin. Captain Wylich,
afterwards a General of mark; the Lieutenant Buddenbrock who did the
parson-charivari at Ruppin, but is now reformed from those practices:
all these are of Goltz. Colonel Keyserling, not of Goltz, nor in active
military duty here, is a friend of very old standing; was officially
named as "Companion" to the Prince, a long while back; and got into
trouble on his account in the disastrous Ante-Custrin or Flight Epoch:
one of the Prince's first acts, when he got pardoned after Custrin, was
to beg for the pardon of this Keyserling; and now he has him here, and
is very fond of him. A Courlander, of good family, this Keyserling;
of good gifts too,--which, it was once thought, would be practically
sublime; for he carried off all manner of college prizes, and was the
Admirable-Crichton of Konigsberg University and the Graduates there. But
in the end they proved to be gifts of the vocal sort rather: and have
led only to what we see. A man, I should guess, rather of buoyant
vivacity than of depth or strength in intellect or otherwise.
Excessively buoyant, ingenious; full of wit, kindly exuberance; a
loyal-hearted, gay-tempered man, and much a favorite in society as well
as with the Prince. If we were to dwell on Reinsberg, Keyserling would
come prominently forward.
Major van Stille, ultimately Major-General von Stille, I should also
mention: near twenty years older than the Prince; a wise thoughtful
soldier (went, by permission, to the Siege of Dantzig lately, to improve
himself); a man capable of rugged service, when the time comes. His
military writings were once in considerable esteem with professional
men; and still impress a lay reader with favorable notions towards
Stille, as a man of real worth and sense. [_Campagnes du Roi de
Prusse;_--a posthumous Book; ANTERIOR to the Seven-Years War.]
OF MONSIEUR JORDAN AND THE LITERARY SET.
There is, of course, a Chaplain in the Establishment: a Reverend "M.
Deschamps;" who preaches to them all,--in French no doubt. Friedrich
never hears Deschamps: Friedrich is always over at Ruppin on Sundays;
and there "himself reads a sermon to the Garrison," as part of the day's
duties. Reads finely, in a melodious feeling manner, says Formey, who
can judge: "even in his old days, he would incidentally," when some
Emeritus Parson, like Formey, chanced to be with him, "roll out choice
passages from Bossuet, from Massillon," in a voice and with a look,
which would have been perfection in the pulpit, thinks Formey.
[_Souvenirs d'un Citoyen_ (2de edition, Paris, 1797), i. 37.]
M. Jordan, though he was called "LECTEUR (Reader)," did not read to him,
I can perceive; but took charge of the Books; busied himself honestly to
be useful in all manner of literary or quasi-literary ways. He was,
as his name indicates, from the French-refugee department; a recent
acquisition, much valued at Reinsberg. As he makes a figure afterwards,
we had better mark him a little.
Jordan's parents were wealthy religious persons, in trade at Berlin;
this Jordan (Charles Etienne, age now thirty-six) was their eldest son.
It seems they had destined him from birth, consulting their own pious
feelings merely, to be a Preacher of the Gospel; the other sons, all of
them reckoned clever too, were brought up to secular employments. And
preach he, this poor Charles Etienne, accordingly did; what best Gospel
he had; in an honest manner, all say,--though never with other than a
kind of reluctance on the part of Nature, forced out of her course. He
had wedded, been clergyman in two successive country places; when his
wife died, leaving him one little daughter, and a heart much overset by
that event. Friends, wealthy Brothers probably, had pushed him out into
the free air, in these circumstances: "Take a Tour; Holland, England;
feel the winds blowing, see the sun shining, as in times past: it will
do you good!"
Jordan, in the course of his Tour, came to composure on several points.
He found that, by frugality, by wise management of some peculium already
his, his little Daughter and he might have quietness at Berlin, and the
necessary food and raiment;--and, on the whole, that he would altogether
cease preaching, and settle down there, among his Books, in a frugal
manner. Which he did;--and was living so, when the Prince, searching for
that kind of person, got tidings of him. And here he is at Reinsberg;
bustling about, in a brisk, modestly frank and cheerful manner: well
liked by everybody; by his Master very well and ever better, who grew
into real regard, esteem and even friendship for him, and has much
Correspondence, of a freer kind than is common to him, with little
Jordan, so long as they lived together. Jordan's death, ten years hence,
was probably the one considerable pain he had ever given his neighbors,
in this the ultimate section of his life.
I find him described, at Reinsberg, as a small nimble figure, of
Southern-French aspect; black, uncommonly bright eyes; and a general
aspect of adroitness, modesty, sense, sincerity; good prognostics, which
on acquaintance with the man were pleasantly fulfilled.
For the sake of these considerations, I fished out, from the Old-Book
Catalogues and sea of forgetfulness, some of the poor Books he wrote;
especially a _Voyage Litteraire,_ [_Histoire d'un Voyage Litteraire
fait, en MDCCXXXIII., en France, en Angleterre et en Hollande_ (2de
edition, a La Haye, 1736).] Journal of that first Sanitary Excursion or
Tour he took, to get the clouds blown from his mind. A LITERARY VOYAGE
which awakens a kind of tragic feeling; being itself dead, and treating
of matters which are all gone dead. So many immortal writers, Dutch
chiefly, whom Jordan is enabled to report as having effloresced, or
being soon to effloresce, in such and such forms, of Books important to
be learned: leafy, blossomy Forest of Literature, waving glorious in
the then sunlight to Jordan;--and it lies all now, to Jordan and us, not
withered only, but abolished; compressed into a film of indiscriminate
PEAT. Consider what that peat is made of, O celebrated or uncelebrated
reader, and take a moral from Jordan's Book! Other merit, except indeed
clearness and commendable brevity, the _Voyage Litteraire_ or other
little Books of Jordan's have not now. A few of his Letters to
Friedrich, which exist, are the only writings with the least life
left in them, and this an accidental life, not momentous to him or
us. Dryasdust informs me, "Abbe Jordan, alone of the Crown-Prince's
cavaliers, sleeps in the Town of Reinsberg, not in the Schloss:" and if
I ask, Why?--there is no answer. Probably his poor little Daughterkin
was beside him there?--
We have to say of Friedrich's Associates, that generally they were of
intelligent type, each of them master of something or other, and
capable of rational discourse upon that at least. Integrity, loyalty of
character, was indispensable; good humor, wit if it could be had, were
much in request. There was no man of shining distinction there; but
they were the best that could be had, and that is saying all. Friedrich
cannot be said, either as Prince or as King, to have been superlatively
successful in his choice of associates. With one single exception, to
be noticed shortly, there is not one of them whom we should now remember
except for Friedrich's sake;--uniformly they are men whom it is now a
weariness to hear of, except in a cursory manner. One man of shining
parts he had, and one only; no man ever of really high and great mind.
The latter sort are not so easy to get; rarely producible on the soil of
this Earth! Nor is it certain how Friedrich might have managed with one
of this sort, or he with Friedrich;--though Friedrich unquestionably
would have tried, had the chance offered. For he loved intellect as few
men on the throne, or off it, ever did; and the little he could gather
of it round him often seems to me a fact tragical rather than otherwise.
With the outer Berlin social world, acting and reacting, Friedrich has
his connections, which obscurely emerge on us now and then. Literary
Eminences, who are generally of Theological vesture; any follower of
Philosophy, especially if he be of refined manners withal, or known in
fashionable life, is sure to attract him; and gains ample recognition
at Reinsberg or on Town-visits. But the Berlin Theological or Literary
world at that time, still more the Berlin Social, like a sunk extinct
object, continues very dim in those old records; and to say truth, what
features we have of it do not invite to miraculous efforts for farther
acquaintance. Venerable Beausobre, with his _History of the Manicheans,
[_Histoire critique de Manichee et du Manicheisme:_ wrote also
_Remarques &c. sur le Nouveau Testament,_ which were once famous;
_Histoire de la Reformation;_ &c. &c. He is Beausobre SENIOR; there were
two Sons (one of them born in second wedlock, after Papa was 70), who
were likewise given to writing.--See Formey, _Souvenirs d'un Citoyen
since, in Toland and the Republican Queen's time, as a light of the
world. He is now fourscore, grown white as snow; very serene, polite,
with a smack of French noblesse in him, perhaps a smack of affectation
traceable too. The Crown-Prince, on one of his Berlin visits, wished to
see this Beausobre; got a meeting appointed, in somebody's rooms "in
the French College," and waited for the venerable man. Venerable man
entered, loftily serene as a martyr Preacher of the Word, something
of an ancient Seigneur de Beausobre in him, too; for the rest, soft as
sunset, and really with fine radiances, in a somewhat twisted state,
in that good old mind of his. "What have you been reading lately, M. de
Beausobre?" said the Prince, to begin conversation. "Ah, Monseigneur,
I have just risen from reading the sublimest piece of writing that
exists."--"And what?" "The exordium of St. John's Gospel: _In the
Beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God, and the Word was--"_
Which somewhat took the Prince by surprise, as Formey reports; though he
rallied straightway, and got good conversation out of the old gentleman.
To whom, we perceive, he writes once or twice, [_OEuvres de Frederic,_
121-126. Dates are all of 1737; the last of Beausobre's years.]--a copy
of his own verses to correct, on one occasion,--and is very respectful
and considerate.
Formey tells us of another French sage, personally known to the Prince
since Boyhood; for he used to be about the Palace, doing something.
This is one La Croze; Professor of, I think, "Philosophy" in the French
College: sublime Monster of Erudition, at that time; forgotten now, I
fear, by everybody. Swag-bellied, short of wind; liable to rages, to
utterances of a coarse nature; a decidedly ugly, monstrous and rather
stupid kind of man. Knew twenty languages, in a coarse inexact way.
Attempted deep kinds of discourse, in the lecture-room and elsewhere;
but usually broke off into endless welters of anecdote, not always of
cleanly nature; and after every two or three words, a desperate sigh,
not for sorrow, but on account of flabbiness and fat. Formey gives a
portraiture of him; not worth copying farther. The same Formey, standing
one day somewhere on the streets of Berlin, was himself, he cannot
doubt, SEEN by the Crown-Prince in passing; "who asked M. Jordan, who
that was," and got answer:--is not that a comfortable fact? Nothing
farther came of it;--respectable Ex-Parson Formey, though ever
ready with his pen, being indeed of very vapid nature, not wanted at
Reinsberg, as we can guess.
There is M. Achard, too, another Preacher, supreme of his sort, in the
then Berlin circles; to whom or from whom a Letter or two exist. Letters
worthless, if it were not for one dim indication: That, on inquiry, the
Crown-Prince had been consulting this supreme Achard on the difficulties
of Orthodoxy; [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xvi. pp. 112-117: date,
March-June, 1736.] and had given him texts, or a text, to preach from.
Supreme Achard did not abolish the difficulties for his inquiring
Prince,--who complains respectfully that "his faith is weak," and leaves
us dark as to particulars. This Achard passage is almost the only
hint we have of what might have been an important chapter: Friedrich's
Religious History at Reinsberg. The expression "weak faith" I take to
be meant not in mockery, but in ingenuous regret and solicitude; much
painful fermentation, probably, on the religious question in those
Reinsberg years! But the old "GNADENWAHL" business, the Free-Grace
controversy, had taught him to be cautious as to what he uttered on
those points. The fermentation, therefore, had to go on under cover;
what the result of it was, is notorious enough; though the steps of the
process are not in any point known.
Enough now of such details. Outwardly or inwardly, there is no History,
or almost none, to be had of this Reinsberg Period; the extensive
records of it consisting, as usual, mainly of chaotic nugatory matter,
opaque to the mind of readers. There is copious correspondence of the
Crown-Prince, with at least dates to it for most part: but this,
which should be the main resource, proves likewise a poor one; the
Crown-Prince's Letters, now or afterwards, being almost never of a deep
or intimate quality; and seldom turning on events or facts at all, and
then not always on facts interesting, on facts clearly apprehensible to
us in that extinct element.
The Thing, we know always, IS there; but vision of the Thing is only to
be had faintly, intermittently. Dim inane twilight, with here and
there a transient SPARK falling somewhither in it;--you do at last, by
desperate persistence, get to discern outlines, features:--"The Thing
cannot always have been No-thing," you reflect! Outlines, features:--and
perhaps, after all, those are mostly what the reader wants on this
occasion.