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God help me but I have always looked upon a “grand duke” pretty much in
the same light that I have regarded the “Great Lama,” that is to say, a
very singular and curious object of worship in its native country. How
any thing totally destitute of sovereign attributes could ever be an
idol, either for religious or political adoration, is somewhat singular,
and after much pains and reflections on the subject, I came to the
opinion, that German princes were valued by their subjects pretty much
on the principle the Indians select their idols, and knowing men admire
thorough-bred Scotch terriers--viz., not their beauty.
Of all the cant this most canting age abounds in, nothing is more
repulsive and disgusting than the absurd laudation which travellers
pour forth concerning these people, by the very ludicrous blunder of
comparing a foreign aristocracy with our own. Now, what is a German
grand duke? Picture to yourself a very corpulent, moustached, and
befrogged individual, who has a territory about the size of the Phoenix
Park, and a city as big and as flourishing as the Blacklock; the
expenses of his civil list are defrayed by a chalybeate spring, and the
budget of his army by the license of a gambling house, and then read
the following passage from “Howitt's life in Germany,” which, with that
admirable appreciation of excellence so eminently their characteristic,
the newspapers have been copying this week past--
“You may sometimes see a grand duke come into a country inn, call for
his glass of ale, drink it, pay for it, and go away as unceremoniously
as yourself. The consequence of this easy familiarity is, that princes
are everywhere popular, and the daily occurrence of their presence
amongst the people, prevents that absurd crush and stare at them, which
prevails in more luxurious and exclusive countries.”
That princes do go into country inns, call for ale, and drink it, I
firmly believe; a circumstance, however, which I put the less value
upon, inasmuch as the inn is pretty much like the prince's own house,
the ale very like what he has at home, and the innkeeper as near as
possible, in breeding, manner, and appearance, his equal. That he _pays_
for the drink, which our author takes pains to mention, excites all
my admiration; but I confess I have no words to express my pleasure
on reading that “he goes away again,” and, as Mr. Howitt has it, “as
unceremoniously as yourself,” neither stopping to crack the landlord's
crown, smash the pewter, break the till, nor even put a star in the
looking-glass over the fire-place, a condescension on his part which
leads to the fact, that “princes are everywhere popular.”
Now, considering that Mr. Howitt is a Quaker, it is somewhat remarkable
the high estimate he entertains of this “grand ducal” forbearance. What
he expected his highness to have done when he had finished his drink, I
am as much at a loss to conjecture, as what trait we are called upon to
admire in the entire circumstance; when the German prince went into the
inn, and knocking three times with a copper krentzer on the counter,
called for his choppin of beer, he was exactly acting up to the ordinary
habits of his station, as when the Duke of Northumberland, on his
arriving with four carriages at the “Clarendon.” occupied a complete
suite of apartments, and partook of a most sumptuous dinner. Neither
more nor less. His Grace of Alnwick might as well be lauded for his
ducal urbanity as the German prince for his, each was fulfilling his
destiny in his own way, and there was not anything a whit more worthy of
admiration in the one case, than in the other.
But three hundred pounds per annum, even in a cheap country, afford few
luxuries; and if the Germans are indifferent to cholic, there might be,
after all, something praiseworthy in the beer-drinking, and here I leave
it.
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