We described the Crown-Prince as intent to comply, especially in
all visible external particulars, with Papa's will and pleasure;--to
distinguish himself by real excellence in Commandantship of the Regiment
Goltz, first of all. But before ever getting into that, there has
another point risen, on which obedience, equally essential, may be still
more difficult.
Ever since the grand Catastrophe went off WITHOUT taking Friedrich's
head along with it, and there began to be hopes of a pacific settlement,
question has been, Whom shall the Crown-Prince marry? And the debates
about it in the Royal breast and in Tobacco-Parliament, and rumors
about it in the world at large, have been manifold and continual. In the
Schulenburg Letters we saw the Crown-Prince himself much interested, and
eagerly inquisitive on that head. As was natural: but it is not in the
Crown-Prince's mind, it is in the Tobacco-Parliament, and the Royal
breast as influenced there, that the thing must be decided. Who in the
world will it be, then? Crown-Prince himself hears now of this party,
now of that. England is quite over, and the Princess Amelia sunk below
the horizon. Friedrich himself appears a little piqued that Hotham
carried his nose so high; that the English would not, in those
life-and-death circumstances, abate the least from their "Both marriages
or none,"--thinks they should have saved Wilhelmina, and taken his word
of honor for the rest. England is now out of his head;--all romance
is too sorrowfully swept out: and instead of the "sacred air-cities of
hope" in this high section of his history, the young man is looking into
the "mean clay hamlets of reality," with an eye well recognizing them
for real. With an eye and heart already tempered to the due hardness for
them. Not a fortunate result, though it was an inevitable one. We
saw him flirting with the beautiful wedded Wreech; talking to
Lieutenant-General Schulenburg about marriage, in a way which shook the
pipe-clay of that virtuous man. He knows he would not get his choice,
if he had one; strives not to care. Nor does he, in fact, much care; the
romance being all out of it. He looks mainly to outward advantages; to
personal appearance, temper, good manners; to "religious principle,"
sometimes rather in the reverse way (fearing an OVERPLUS rather);--but
always to likelihood of moneys by the match, as a very direct item.
Ready command of money, he feels, will be extremely desirable in a Wife;
desirable and almost indispensable, in present straitened circumstances.
These are the notions of this ill-situated Coelebs.
The parties proposed first and last, and rumored of in Newspapers and
the idle brains of men, have been very many,--no limit to their numbers;
it MAY be anybody: an intending purchaser, though but possessed
of sixpence, is in a sense proprietor of the whole Fair! Through
Schulenburg we heard his own account of them, last Autumn;--but the
far noblest of the lot was hardly glanced at, or not at all, on that
occasion. The Kaiser's eldest Daughter, sole heiress of Austria and
these vast Pragmatic-Sanction operations; Archduchess Maria Theresa
herself,--it is affirmed to have been Prince Eugene's often-expressed
wish, That the Crown-Prince of Prussia should wed the future Empress
[Hormayr, _Allgemeine Geschichte der neueslen Zeit_ (Wien, 1817),
i. 13; cited in Preuss, i. 71.] Which would indeed have saved immense
confusions to mankind! Nay she alone of Princesses, beautiful,
magnanimous, brave, was the mate for such a Prince,--had the Good
Fairies been consulted, which seldom happens:--and Romance itself might
have become Reality in that case: with high results to the very soul
of this young Prince! Wishes are free: and wise Eugene will have been
heard, perhaps often, to express this wish; but that must have been all.
Alas, the preliminaries, political, especially religious, are at once
indispensable and impossible: we have to dismiss that daydream. A
Papal-Protestant Controversy still exists among mankind; and this is one
penalty they pay for not having settled it sooner. The Imperial Court
cannot afford its Archduchess on the terms possible in that quarter.
What the Imperial Court can do is, to recommend a Niece of theirs,
insignificant young Princess, Elizabeth Christina of Brunswick-Bevern,
who is Niece to the Empress; and may be made useful in this way, to
herself and us, think the Imperial Majesties;--will be a new tie upon
the Prussians and the Pragmatic Sanction, and keep the Alliance still
surer for our Archduchess in times coming, think their Majesties. She,
it is insinuated by Seckendorf in Tobacco-Parliament; ought not she,
Daughter of your Majesty's esteemed friend,--modest-minded, innocent
young Princess, with a Brother already betrothed in your Majesty's
House,--to be the Lady? It is probable she will.
Did we inform the reader once about Kaiser Karl's young marriage
adventures; and may we, to remind him, mention them a second time? How
Imperial Majesty, some five-and-twenty years ago, then only King of
Spain, asked Princess Caroline of Anspach, who was very poor, and an
orphan in the world. Who at once refused, declining to think of changing
her religion on such a score;--and now governs England, telegraphing
with Walpole, as Queen there instead. How Karl, now Imperial Majesty,
then King of Spain, next applied to Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel; and met with
a much better reception there. Applied to old Anton Ulrich, reigning
Duke, who writes big Novels, and does other foolish good-natured
things;--who persuaded his Grand-daughter that a change to Catholicism
was nothing in such a case, that he himself should not care in the
least to change. How the Grand-daughter changed accordingly, went to
Barcelona, and was wedded;--and had to dun old Grandpapa, "Why don't you
change, then?" Who did change thereupon; thinking to himself, "Plague on
it I must, then!" the foolish old Herr. He is dead; and his Novels, in
six volumes quarto, are all dead: and the Grand-daughter is Kaiserinn,
on those terms, a serene monotonous well-favored Lady, diligent in her
Catholic exercises; of whom I never heard any evil, good rather, in her
eminent serene position. Pity perhaps that she had recommended her Niece
for this young Prussian gentleman; whom it by no means did "attach to
the Family" so very careful about him at Vienna! But if there lay a sin,
and a punishment following on it, here or elsewhere, in her Imperial
position, surely it is to be charged on foolish old Anton Ulrich; not
on her, poor Lady, who had never coveted such height, nor durst for her
soul take the leap thitherward, till the serene old literary gentleman
showed her how easy it was.
Well, old Anton Ulrich is long since dead, [1714, age 70. Huber, t.
190.] and his religious accounts are all settled beyond cavil; and only
the sad duty devolves on me of explaining a little what and who his
rather insipid offspring are, so far as related to readers of this
History. Anton Ulrich left two sons; the elder of whom was Duke, and
the younger had an Apanage, Blankenburg by name. Only this younger had
children,--serene Kaiserinn that now is, one of them: The elder died
childless, [1731, Michaelis, i. 132.] precisely a few months before
the times we are now got to; reigning Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel,
["Welf-BOOTHS" (Hunted Camp of the Welfs), according to Etymology.
"Brunswick," again, is BRAUN'S-Wick; "Braun" (Brown) being an old
militant Welf in those parts, who built some lodge for himself, as a
convenience there,--Year 880, say the uncertain old Books. Hubner, t.
149; Michaelis, &c.] all but certain Apanages, and does not concern
us farther. To that supreme dignity the younger has now come, and his
Apanage of Blankenburg and children with him;--so that there is now only
one outstanding Apanage (Bevern, not known to us yet); which also will
perhaps get reunited, if we cared for it. Ludwig Rudolf is the name of
this new sovereign Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, or Duke in chief;
age now sixty; has a shining, bustling, somewhat irregular Duchess,
says Wilhelmina; and a nose--or rather almost no nose, for sad reasons!
[Wilhelmina, ii. 121.] Other qualities or accidents I know not of
him,--except that he is Father of the Vienna Kaiserinn; Grandfather of
the Princess whom Seckendorf suggests for our Friedrich of Prussia.
In Ludwig Rudolf's insipid offspring our readers are unexpectedly
somewhat interested; let readers patiently attend, therefore. He
had three Daughters, never any son. Two of his Daughters, eldest and
youngest, are alive still; the middle one had a sad fate long ago. She
married, in 1711, Alexius the Czarowitz of Peter the Great: foolish
Czarowitz, miserable and making others miserable, broke her heart by ill
conduct, ill usage, in four years; so that she died; leaving him only a
poor small Peter II., who is now dead too, and that matter ended all
but the memory of it. Some accounts bear, that she did not die; that she
only pretended it, and ran and left her intolerable Czarowitz. That she
wedded, at Paris, in deep obscurity, an Officer just setting out for
Louisiana; lived many years there as a thrifty soldier's wife; returned
to Paris with her Officer reduced to half-pay; and told him--or told
some select Official person after him, under seven-fold oath, being then
a widow and necessitous--her sublime secret. Sublime secret, which
came thus to be known to a supremely select circle at Paris; and was
published in Books, where one still reads it. No vestige of truth
in it,--except that perhaps a necessitous soldier's widow at Paris,
considering of ways and means, found that she had some trace of likeness
to the Pictures of this Princess, and had heard her tragic story.
Ludwig Rudolf's second Daughter is dead long years ago; nor has
this fable as yet risen from her dust. Of Ludwig Rudolf's other two
Daughters, we have said that one, the eldest, was the Kaiserinn;
Empress Elizabeth Christina, age now precisely forty; with two beautiful
Daughters, sublime Maria Theresa the elder of them, and no son that
would live. Which last little circumstance has caused the Pragmatic
Sanction, and tormented universal Nature for so many years back!
Ludwig Rudolf has a youngest Daughter, also married, and a Mother in
Germany,--to this day conspicuously so;--of whom next, or rather of her
Husband and Family-circle, we must say a word.
Her Husband is no other than the esteemed Friend of Friedrich Wilhelm;
Duke of Brunswick-Bevern, by title; who, as a junior branch, lives on
the Apanage of Bevern, as his Father did; but is sure now to inherit the
sovereignty and be Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel at large, he or his
Sons, were the present incumbent, Ludwig Rudolf, once out. Present
incumbent, we have just intimated, is his Father-in-law; but it is
not on that ground that he looks to inherit. He is Nephew of old Anton
Ulrich, Son of a younger Brother (who was also "Bevern" in Anton's
time); and is the evident Heir-male; old Anton being already fallen into
the distaff, with nothing but three Grand-daughters. Anton's heir
will now be this Nephew; Nephew has wedded one of the Grand-daughters,
youngest of the Three, youngest Daughter of Ludwig Rudolf, Sovereign
Duke that now is; which Lady, by the family she brought him, if no
otherwise, is memorable or mentionable here, and may be called, a Mother
in Germany.
[ANTON ULRICH (1833-1714). Duke in Chief; that is, Duke of
Brunswick-WOLFENBUTTEL.
AUGUST WILHELM, elder Son and Heir (1662, 1714, 1731); had no
children.
LUDWIG RUDOLF, the younger Son (1671, 1731, 1735), apanagad in
Blankenburg: Duke of Brunswick-BLANKENBURG; became WOLFENBUTTEL.
1731, died, 1st March, 1735. No Son; so that now the Bevern
succeeded. Three Daughters:
Elizabeth Christina, the Kaiserinn (1691, 1708, 1750).
Charlotte Christina (1694, 1711, 1715), Alexius of Russia's,
had a FABULOUS end.
Antoinette Amelia (1695, 1712, 1762); Bevern's Wife,--a
"Mother in Germany."
FERDINAND ALBERT (1636-1687), his younger Brother apanaged in
Bevern; that is, Duke of Brunswick-BEVERN.
FERDINAND ALBERT, eldest Son (an elder had perished, 1704, on
the Schellenberg under Marlborough), followed in Bevern (1680,
1687-1704, 1735); Kaiser's soldier, Friedrich Wilhelm's friend;
married his Cousin, Antoinette Amelia ("Mother in Germany," as
we call her). Duke in Chief, 1st March, 1785, on Ludwig Rudolf's
decease; died himself, 3d September same year.
BORN 1713, Karl the Heir (to marry our Friedrich's Sister).
1714, Anton Ulrich (Russia; tragedy of Czar Iwan).
1715, 8th November, Elizabeth Christina (Crown Prince's).
1718, Ludwig Ernst (Holland, 1787).
1721, Ferdinand (Chatham's and England's) of the Seven Years
War.
1722, 1724, 1725, 1732, Four others; Boys the youngest Two,
who were both killed in Friedrich's Wars.]
Father Bevern her Husband, Ferdinand Albert the name of him, is now
just fifty, only ten years younger than his serene Father-in-law, Ludwig
Rudolf:--whom, I may as well say here, he does at last succeed, three
years hence (1735) and becomes Duke of Brunswick in General, according
to hope; but only for a few months, having himself died that same year.
Poor Duke; rather a good man, by all the accounts I could hear;
though not of qualities that shone. He is at present "Duke
of Brunswick-Bevern,"--such his actual nomenclature in those
ever-fluctuating Sibyl's-leaves of German History-Books, Wilhelmina's
and the others;--expectant Duke of Brunswick in General; much a friend
of Friedrich Wilhelm. A kind of Austrian soldier he was formerly, and
will again be for brief times; General-Feldmarschall so styled; but is
not notable in War, nor otherwise at all, except for the offspring
he had by this serene Spouse of his. Insipid offspring, the impatient
reader says; but permits me to enumerate one or two of them:--
1. Karl, eldest Son; who is sure to be Brunswick in General; who is
betrothed to Princess Charlotte of Prussia,--"a satirical creature,
she, fonder of my Prince than of him," Wilhelmina thinks. The wedding
nevertheless took effect. Brunswick in General duly fell in, first to
the Father; then, in a few months more, to Karl with his Charlotte: and
from them proceeded, in due time, another Karl, of whom we shall hear
in this History;--and of whom all the world heard much in the French
Revolution Wars; in 1792, and still more tragically afterwards. Shot,
to death or worse, at the Battle of Jena, October, 1806; "battle lost
before it was begun,"--such the strategic history they give of it. He
peremptorily ordered the French Revolution to suppress itself; and that
was the answer the French Revolution made him. From this Karl, what NEW
Queens Caroline of England and portentous Dukes of Brunswick, sent upon
their travels through the anarchic world, profitable only to Newspapers,
we need not say!--
2. Anton Ulrich; named after his august Great-Grandfather; does not
write novels like him. At present a young gentleman of eighteen; goes
into Russia before long, hoping to beget Czars; which issues dreadfully
for himself and the potential Czars he begot. The reader has heard of
a potential "Czar Iwan," violently done to death in his room, one dim
moonlight night of 1764, in the Fortress of Schlusselburg, middle of
Lake Ladoga; misty moon looking down on the stone battlements, on the
melancholy waters, and saying nothing.--But let us not anticipate.
3. Elizabeth Christina; to us more important than any of them.
Namesake of the Kaiserinn, her august Aunt; age now seventeen; insipid
fine-complexioned young lady, who is talked of for the Bride of our
Crown-Prince. Of whom the reader will hear more. Crown-Prince fears she
is "too religious,"--and will have "CAGOTS" about her (solemn persons
in black, highly unconscious how little wisdom they have), who may be
troublesome.
4. A merry young Boy, now ten, called Ferdinand; with whom England
within the next thirty years will ring, for some time, loud enough: the
great "Prince Ferdinand" himself,--under whom the Marquis of Granby
and others became great; Chatham superintending it. This really was a
respectable gentleman, and did considerable things,--a Trismegistus in
comparison with the Duke of Cumberland whom he succeeded. A cheerful,
singularly polite, modest, well-conditioned man withal. To be slightly
better known to us, if we live. He at present is a Boy of ten, chasing
the thistle's beard.
5. Three other sons, all soldiers, two of them younger than Ferdinand;
whose names were in the gazettes down to a late period;--whom we shall
ignore in this place. The last of them was marched out of Holland, where
he had long been Commander-in-chief on rather Tory principles, in
the troubles of 1787. Others of them we shall see storming forward
on occasion, valiantly meeting death in the field of fight, all
conspicuously brave of character; but this shall be enough of them at
present.
It is of these that Ludwig Rudolf's youngest daughter, the serene
Ferdinand Albert's wife, is Mother in Germany; highly conspicuous in
their day. If the question is put, it must be owned they are all
rather of the insipid type. Nothing but a kind of albuminous simplicity
noticeable in them; no wit, originality, brightness in the way
of uttered intellect. If it is asked, How came they to the least
distinction in this world?--the answer is not immediately apparent. But
indeed they are Welf of the Welfs, in this respect as in others. One
asks, with increased wonder, noticing in the Welfs generally nothing
but the same albuminous simplicity, and poverty rather than opulence
of uttered intellect, or of qualities that shine, How the Welfs came to
play such a part, for the last thousand years, and still to be at it,
in conspicuous places? Reader, I have observed that uttered intellect is
not what permanently makes way, but unuttered. Wit, logical brilliancy,
spiritual effulgency, true or FALSE,--how precious to idle mankind,
and to the Newspapers and History-Books, even when it is false:
while, again, Nature and Practical Fact care next to nothing for it in
comparison, even when it is true! Two silent qualities you will notice
in these Welfs, modern and ancient; which Nature much values: FIRST,
consummate human Courage; a noble, perfect, and as it were unconscious
superiority to fear. And then SECONDLY, much weight of mind, a noble not
too conscious Sense of what is Right and Not-Right, I have found in
some of them;--which means mostly WEIGHT, or good gravitation, good
observance of the perpendicular; and is called justice, veracity,
high-honor, and other such names. These are fine qualities indeed,
especially with an "albuminous simplicity" as vehicle to them. If the
Welfs had not much articulate intellect, let us guess they made a good
use, not a bad or indifferent, as is commoner, of what they had.
WHO HIS MAJESTY'S CHOICE IS; AND WHAT THE CROWN-PRINCE THINKS OF IT.
Princess Elizabeth Christina, the insipid Brunswick specimen, backed
by Seckendorf and Vienna, proves on consideration the desirable to
Friedrich Wilhelm in this matter. But his Son's notions, who as yet
knows her only by rumor, do not go that way. Insipidity, triviality; the
fear of "CAGOTAGE" and frightful fellows in black supremely unconscious
what blockheads they are, haunts him a good deal. And as for any money
coming,--her sublime Aunt the Kaiserinn never had much ready money;
one's resources on that side are likely to be exiguous. He would prefer
the Princess of Mecklenburg, Semi-Russian Catharine or Anna, of whom we
have heard; would prefer the Princess of Eisenach (whose name he does
not know rightly); thinks there are many Princesses preferable. Most of
all he would prefer, what is well known of him in Tobacco-Parliament,
but known to be impossible, this long while back, to go upon a round of
travel,--as for instance the Prince of Lorraine is now doing,--and look
about him a little.
These candid considerations the Crown-Prince earnestly suggests to
Grumkow, and the secret committee of Tobacco-Parliament; earnestly again
and again, in his Correspondence with that gentleman, which goes on very
brisk at present. "Much of it lost," we hear;--but enough, and to spare,
is saved! Not a beautiful correspondence: the tone of it shallow, hard
of heart; tragically flippant, especially on the Crown-Prince's part;
now and then even a touch of the hypocritical from him, slight touch
and not with will: alas, what can the poor young man do? Grumkow--whose
ground, I think, is never quite so secure since that Nosti
business--professes ardent attachment to the real interests of the
Prince; and does solidly advise him of what is feasible, what not, in
head-quarters; very exemplary "attachment;" credible to what length, the
Prince well enough knows. And so the Correspondence is unbeautiful; not
very descriptive even,--for poor Friedrich is considerably under mask,
while he writes to that address; and of Grumkow himself we want no more
"description;" and is, in fact, on its own score, an avoidable article
rather than otherwise; though perhaps the reader, for a poor involved
Crown-Prince's sake, will wish an exact Excerpt or two before we quite
dismiss it.
Towards turning off the Brunswick speculation, or turning on the
Mecklenburg or Eisenach or any other in its stead, the Correspondence
naturally avails nothing. Seckendorf has his orders from Vienna: Grumkow
has his pension,--his cream-bowl duly set,--for helping Beckendorf.
Though angels pleaded, not in a tone of tragic flippancy, but with
the voice of breaking hearts, it would be to no purpose. The Imperial
Majesties have ordered, Marry him to Brunswick, "bind him the better to
our House in time coming;" nay the Royal mind at Potsdam gravitates, of
itself, that way, after the first hint is given. The Imperial will has
become the Paternal one; no answer but obedience. What Grumkow can do
will be, if possible, to lead or drive the Crown-Prince into obeying
smoothly, or without breaking of harness again. Which, accordingly, is
pretty much the sum of his part in this unlovely Correspondence:
the geeho-ing of an expert wagoner, who has got a fiery young Arab
thoroughly tied into his dastard sand-cart, and has to drive him by
voice, or at most by slight crack of whip; and does it. Can we hope, a
select specimen or two of these Documents, not on Grumkow's part, or for
Grumkow's unlovely sake, may now be acceptable to the reader? A Letter
or two picked from that large stock, in a legible state, will show
us Father and Son, and how that tragic matter went on, better than
description could.
Papa's Letters to the Crown-Prince during that final Custrin
period,--when Carzig and Himmelstadt were going on, and there was such
progress in Economics, are all of hopeful ruggedly affectionate tenor;
and there are a good few of them: style curiously rugged, intricate,
headlong; and a strong substance of sense and worth tortuously visible
everywhere. Letters so delightful to the poor retrieved Crown-Prince
then and there; and which are still almost pleasant reading to
third-parties, once you introduce grammar and spelling. This is one
exact specimen; most important to the Prince and us. Suddenly, one
night, by estafette, his Majesty, meaning nothing but kindness,
and grateful to Seckendorf and Tobacco-Parliament for such an idea,
proposes,--in these terms (merely reduced to English and the common
spelling):--
"TO THE CROWN-PRINCE AT CUSTRIN (from Papa). "POTSDAM, 4th February,
1732
"MY DEAR SON FRITZ,--I am very glad you need no more physic. But you
must have a care of yourself, some days yet, for the severe weather;
which gives me and everybody colds; so pray be on your guard (NEHMET
EUCH KUBSCH IN ACHT).
"You know, my dear Son, that when my children are obedient, I love
them much: so, when you were at Berlin, I from my heart forgave you
everything; and from that Berlin time, since I saw you, have thought
of nothing but of your well-being and how to establish you,--not in the
Army only, but also with a right Step-daughter, and so see you married
in my lifetime. You may be well persuaded I have had the Princesses
of Germany taken survey of, so far as possible, and examined by trusty
people, what their conduct is, their education and so on: and so a
Princess has been found, the Eldest one of Bevern, who is well brought
up, modest and retiring, as women ought to be.
"You will without delay (CITO) write me your mind on this. I have
purchased the Von Katsch House; the Feldmarschall," old Wartensleben,
poor Katte's grandfather, "as Governor" of Berlin, "will get that to
live in: and his Government House, [Fine enough old House, or Palace,
built by the Great Elector; given by him to Graf Feldmarschall von
Schomberg, the "Duke Schomberg" who was killed in the Battle of the
Boyne: "same House, opposite the Arsenal, which belongs now (1855) to
his Royal Highness Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia." (Preuss, i. 73;
and _ OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxvi. 12 n.)] I will have made new for you,
and furnish it all; and give you enough to keep house yourself there;
and will command you into the Army, April coming [which is quite a
subordinate story, your Majesty!].
"The Princess is not ugly, nor beautiful. You must mention it to no
mortal;--write indeed to Mamma (DER MAMA) that I have written to
you. And when you shall have a Son, I will let you go on your
Travels,--wedding, however, cannot be before winter next. Meanwhile I
will try aud contrive opportunity that you see one another, a few
times, in all honor, yet so that you get acquainted with her. She is
a God-fearing creature (GOTTESFURCHTIGES MENSCH), which is all in all;
will suit herself to you [be COMPORTABLE to you] as she does to the
Parents-in-law.
"God give his blessing to it; and bless You and your Posterity, and keep
Thee as a good Christian. And have God always before your eyes;--and
don't believe that damnable PARTICULAR tenet [Predestination]; and be
obedient and faithful: so shall it, here in Time and there in Eternity,
go well with thee;--and whoever wishes that from the heart, let him say
Amen.
"Your true Father to the death,
"FRIEDRICH WILHELM.
"When the Duke of Lorraine comes, I will have thee come. I think
thy Bride will be here then. Adieu; God be with you." [_ OEuvres de
Frederic,_ xxvii, part 3d, p. 55.]
This important Missive reached Custrin, by estafette, that same
midnight, 4th-5th February; when Wolden, "Hofmarschall of the Prince's
Court" (titular Goldstick there, but with abundance of real functions
laid on him), had the honor to awaken the Crown-Prince into the joy of
reading. Crown-Prince instantly despatched, by another estafette, the
requisite responses to Papa and Mamma,--of which Wolden does not know
the contents at all, not he, the obsequious Goldstick;--but doubtless
they mean "Yes," Crown-Prince appearing so overjoyed at this splendid
evidence of Papa's love, as the Goldstick could perceive. [Wolden's
LETTER to Friedrich Wilhelm, "5th February, 1732:" in Preuss, ii. part
2d (or URKUNDENOUCH), p. 206. Mamma's answer to the message brought
her by this return estafette, a mere formal VERY-WELL, written from the
fingers outward, exists (_OEuvres,_ xxvi. 65); the rest have happily
vanished.]
What the Prince's actual amount of joy was, we shall learn better
from the following three successive utterances of his, confidentially
despatched to Grumkow in the intermediate days, before Berlin or this
"Duke of Lorraine" (whom our readers and the Crown-Prince are to wait
upon), with actual sight of Papa and the Intended, came in course.
Grumkow's Letters to the Crown-Prince in this important interval are not
extant, nor if they were could we stand them: from the Prince's Answers
it will be sufficiently apparent what the tenor of them was. Utterance
first is about a week after that of the estafette at midnight:--
TO GENERAL FELDMARSCHALL VON GRUMKOW, AT POTSDAM (from the
Crown-Prince).
"CUSTRIN, 11th February, 1732.
"MY DEAR GENERAL AND FRIEND,--I was charmed to learn by your Letter
that my affairs are on so good a footing [Papa so well satisfied with
my professions of obedience]; and you may depend on it I am docile to
follow your advice. I will lend myself to whatever is possible for me;
and provided I can secure the King's favor by my obedience, I will do
all that is within my power.
"Nevertheless, in making my bargain with the Duke of Bevern, manage that
the CORPUS DELICTI [my Intended] be brought up under her Grandmother
[Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, Ludwig Rudolf's Spouse, an airy
coquettish Lady,--let her be the tutoress and model of my Intended, O
General]. For I should prefer being made a"--what shall we say? by
a light wife,--"or to serve under the haughty FONTANGE [Species
of topknot; so named from Fontange, an unfortunate female of Louis
Fourteenth's, who invented the ornament.] of my Spouse [as Ludwig Rudolf
does, by all accounts], than to have a blockhead who would drive me mad
by her ineptitudes? and whom I should be ashamed to produce.
"I beg you labor at this affair. When one hates romance heroines as
heartily as I do, one dreads those 'virtues' of the ferocious type [LES
VERTUS FAROUCHES, so terribly aware that they are virtuous]; and I had
rather marry the greatest--[unnamable]--in Berlin, than a devotee with
half a dozen ghastly hypocrites (CAGOTS) at her beck. If it were still
MOGLICH [possible, in German] to make her Calvinist [REFORMEE; our
Court-Creed, which might have an allaying tendency, and at least would
make her go with the stream]? But I doubt that:--I will insist, however,
that her Grandmother have the training of her. What you can do to help
in this, my dear Friend, I am persuaded you will do.
"It afflicted me a little that the King still has doubts of me, while I
am obeying in such a matter, diametrically opposite to my own ideas. In
what way shall I offer stronger proofs? I may give myself to the Devil,
it will be to no purpose; nothing but the old song over again, doubt on
doubt.--Don't imagine I am going to disoblige the Duke, the Duchess or
the Daughter, I beseech you! I know too well what is due to them, and
too much respect their merits, not to observe the strictest rules
of what is proper,--even if I hated their progeny and them like the
pestilence.
"I hope to speak to you with open heart at Berlin.--You may think, too,
how I shall be embarrassed, having to do the AMOROSO perhaps without
being it, and to take an appetite for mute ugliness,--for I don't
much trust Count Seckendorf's taste in this article,"--in spite of his
testimonies in Tobacco-Parliament and elsewhere. "Monsieur! Once more,
get this Princess to learn by heart the ECOLE DES MARIS and the ECOLE
DES FEMMES; that will do her much more good than TRUE CHRISTIANITY by
the late Mr. Arndt! [Johann Arndt ("late" this long while back), _Von
wahren Christenthum,_ Magdeburg, 1610.] If, besides, she would learn
steadiness of humor (TOUJOURS DANSER SUR UN PIED), learn music; and,
NOTA BENE, become rather too free than too virtuous,--ah then, my dear
General, then I should feel some liking for her, and a Colin marrying
a Phyllis, the couple would be in accordance: but if she is stupid,
naturally I renounce the Devil and her.--It is said she has a Sister,
who at least has common sense. Why take the eldest, if so? To the King
it must be all one. There is also a Princess Christina Marie of Eisenach
[real name being Christina WILHELMINA, but no matter], who would be
quite my fit, and whom I should like to try for. In fine, I mean to come
soon into your Countries; [Did come, 26th February, as we shall see.]
and perhaps will say like Caesar, VENI, VIDI, VICI."...
Paragraph of tragic compliments to Grumkow we omit. Letter ends in this
way:--
"Your Baireuth News is very interesting; I hope, in September next [time
of a grand problem coming there for Wilhelmina], my Sister will recover
her first health. If I go travelling, I hope to have the consolation of
seeing her for a fortnight or three weeks; I love her more than my
life; and for all my obediences to the King, surely I shall deserve
that recompense. The diversions for the Duke of Lorraine are very well
schemed; but"--but what mortal can now care about them? Close, and seal.
[Forster, iii. 160-162; _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xvi, 37-39.]
As to this Duke of Lorraine just coming, he is Franz Stephan, a pleasant
young man of twenty-five, son of that excellent Duke Leopold Joseph,
whom young Lyttelton of Hagley was so taken with, while touring in those
parts in the Congress-of-Soissons time. Excellent Duke Leopold Joseph is
since dead; and this Franz has succeeded to him,--what succession there
was; for Lorraine as a Dukedom has its neck under the foot of France
this great while, and is evidently not long for this world. Old Fleury,
men say, has his eye upon it. And in fact it was, as we shall see, eaten
up by Fleury within four years' time; and this Franz proved the last
of all the Dukes there. Let readers notice him: a man of high destiny
otherwise, of whom we are to hear much. For ten years past he has lived
about Vienna, being a born Cousin of that House (Grandmother was Kaiser
Leopold's own Sister); and it is understood, nay it is privately settled
he is to marry the transcendent Archduchess, peerless Maria Theresa
herself; and is to reap, he, the whole harvest of that Pragmatic
Sanction sown with such travail of the Universe at large. May be King of
the Romans (which means successor to the Kaisership) any day; and actual
Kaiser one day.
We may as well say here, he did at length achieve these dignities,
though not quite in the time or on the terms proposed. King of the
Romans old Kaiser Karl never could quite resolve to make him,--having
always hopes of male progeny yet; which never came. For his peerless
Bride he waited six years still (owing to accidents), "attachment mutual
all the while;" did then wed, 1738, and was the happiest of men and
expectant Kaisers:--but found, at length, the Pragmatic Sanction to have
been a strange sowing of dragon's-teeth, and the first harvest reapable
from it a world of armed men!--For the present he is on a grand Tour,
for instruction and other objects; has been in England last; and is now
getting homewards again, to Vienna, across Germany; conciliating the
Courts as he goes. A pacific friendly eupeptic young man; Crown-Prince
Friedrich, they say, took much to him in Berlin; did not quite swear
eternal friendship; but kept up some correspondence for a while,
and "once sends him a present of salmon."--But to proceed with the
utterances to Grumkow.
Utterance SECOND is probably of prior date; but introducible here, being
an accidental Fragment, with the date lost:--
TO THE FELDMARSCHALL VON GRUMKOW (from the Crown-Prince; exact date
lost).
"... As to what you tell me of the Princess of Mecklenburg," for whom
they want a Brandenburg Prince,--"could not I marry her? Let her come
into this Country, and think no more of Russia: she would have a dowry
of two or three millions of roubles,--only fancy how I could live with
that! I think that project might succeed. The Princess is Lutheran;
perhaps she objects to go into the Greek Church?--I find none of these
advantages in this Princess of Bevern; who, as many people, even of the
Duke's Court, say, is not at all beautiful, speaks almost nothing,
and is given to pouting (FAISANT LA FACHEE). The good Kaiserinn has so
little herself, that the sums she could afford her Niece would be very
moderate." [Fragment given in _Sechendorfs Leben,_ iii. 249 u.]
"Given to pouting," too! No, certainly; your Insipidity of Brunswick,
without prospects of ready money; dangerous for CAGOTAGE; "not a word to
say for herself in company, and given to pouting:" I do not reckon her
the eligible article!--
Seckendorf, Schulenburg, Grumkow and all hands are busy in this matter:
geeho-ing the Crown-Prince towards the mark set before him. With or
without explosion, arrive there he must; other goal for him is none!--In
the mean while, it appears, illustrious Franz of Lorraine, coming on,
amid the proper demonstrations, through Magdeburg and the Prussian
Towns, has caught some slight illness and been obliged to pause; so
that Berlin cannot have the happiness of seeing him quite so soon as
it expected. The high guests invited to meet Duke Franz, especially
the high Brunswicks, are already there. High Brunswicks, Bevern with
Duchess, and still more important, with Son and with Daughter:--insipid
CORPUS DELICTI herself has appeared on the scene; and Grumkow, we
find, has been writing some description of her to the Crown-Prince.
Description of an unfavorable nature; below the truth, not above it, to
avert disappointment, nay to create some gleam of inverse joy, when the
actual meeting occurs. That is his art in driving the fiery little Arab
ignominiously yoked to him; and it is clear he has overdone it, for
once. This is Friedrich's THIRD utterance to him; much the most emphatic
there is:--
TO THE GENERAL FELDMARSCHALL VON GRUMKOW.
"CUSTRIN, 19th February, 1732.
"Judge, my dear General, if I can have been much charmed with the
description you give of the abominable object of my desires! For the
love of God, disabuse the King in regard to her [show him that she is a
fool, then]; and let him remember well that fools commonly are the most
obstinate of creatures.
"Some months ago he wrote a Letter to Walden," the obsequious Goldstick,
"of his giving me the choice of several Princesses: I hope he will not
give himself the lie in that. I refer you entirely to the Letter, which
Schulenburg will have delivered,"--little Schulenburg called here, in
passing your way; all hands busy. "For there is no hope of wealth,
no reasoning, nor chance of fortune that could change my sentiment as
expressed there [namely, that I will not have her, whatever become of
me]; and miserable for miserable, it is all one! Let the King but think
that it is not for himself that he is marrying me, but for MYself; nay
he too will have a thousand chagrins, to see two persons hating one
another, and the miserablest marriage in the world;--to hear their
mutual complaints, which will be to him so many reproaches for having
fashioned the instrument of our yoke. As a good Christian, let him
consider, If it is well done to wish to force people; to cause divorces,
and to be the occasion of all the sins that an ill-assorted marriage
leads us to commit! I am determined to front everything in the world
sooner: and since things are so, you may in some good way apprise the
Duke" of Bevern "that, happen what may, I never will have her.
"I have been unfortunate (MALHEUREUX) all my life; and I think it is
my destiny to continue so. One must be patient, and take the time as it
comes. Perhaps a sudden tract of good fortune, on the back of all the
chagrins I have made profession of ever since I entered this world,
would have made me too proud. In a word, happen what will, I have
nothing to reproach myself with. I have suffered sufficiently for an
exaggerated crime [that of "attempting to desert;"--Heavens!]--and I
will not engage myself to extend my miseries (CHAGRINS) into future
times. I have still resources:--a pistol-shot can deliver me from my
sorrows and my life: and I think a merciful God would not damn me
for that; but, taking pity on me, would, in exchange for a life of
wretchedness, grant me salvation. This is whitherward despair can lead
a young person, whose blood is not so quiescent as if he were seventy.
I have a feeling of myself, Monsieur; and perceive that, when one hates
the methods of force as much as I, our boiling blood will carry us
always towards extremities.
... "If there are honest people in the world, they must think how to
save me from one of the most perilous passages I have ever been in.
I waste myself in gloomy ideas; I fear I shall not be able to hide my
grief, on coming to Berlin. This is the sad state I am in;--but it will
never make me change from being,"--surely to an excessive degree, the
illustrious Grumkow's most &c. &c.
"FREDERIC."
"I have received a Letter from the King; all agog (BIEN COIFFE) about
the Princess. I think I may still finish the week here. [26th, did
arrive in Berlin: Preuss (in _OEuvres,_ xxvii. part 3d, p. 58 n).] When
his first fire of approbation is spent, you might, praising her all the
while, lead him to notice her faults. Mon Dieu, has he not already seen
what an ill-assorted marriage comes to,--my Sister of Anspach and her
Husband, who hate one another like the fire! He has a thousand vexations
from it every day.... And what aim has the King? If it is to assure
himself of me, that is not the way. Madam of Eisenach might do it; but a
fool not (POINT UNE BETE);--on the contrary, it is morally impossible to
love the cause of our misery. The King is reasonable; and I am persuaded
he will understand this himself." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xvi. 41, 42.]
Very passionate pleading; but it might as well address itself to
the east-winds. Have east-winds a heart, that they should feel pity?
JARNI-BLEU, Herr Feldzeugmeister,--only take care he don't overset
things again!
Grumkow, in these same hours, is writing a Letter to the Prince,
which we still have, [Ib. xvi. 43.] How charmed his Majesty is at such
obedience; "shed tears of joy," writes Grumkow, "and said it was the
happiest day of his life." Judge Grumkow's feelings soon after, on this
furious recalcitration breaking out! Grumkow's Answer, which also
we still have [Ib. xvi. pp. 44-46.] is truculence itself in a polite
form:--horror-struck as a Christian at the suicide notion, at the--in
fact at the whole matter; and begs, as a humble individual, not wishful
of violent death and destruction upon self and family, to wash his poor
hands of it altogether. Dangerous for the like of him; "interfering
between Royal Father and Royal Son of such opposite humors, would
break the neck of any man," thinks Grumkow; and sums up with this
pithy reminiscence: "I remember always what, the King said to me at
Wusterhausen, when your Royal Highness lay prisoner in the Castle of
Custrin, and I wished to take your part: _'Nein Grumkow, denket an diese
Stelle, Gott gebe dass ich nicht wahr rede, aber mein Sohn stirht nicht
eines naturlichen Todes; und Gott gebe dass er nicht unter Henkers Hande
komme._ No, Grumkow, think of what I now tell you: God grant it do
not come true,--but my Son won't die a natural death; God grant he do
not come into the Hangman's hands yet!' I shuddered at these words, and
the King repeated them twice to me: that is true, or may I never see
God's face, or have part in the merits of our Lord."--The Crown-Prince's
"pleadings" may fitly terminate here.
DUKE OF LORRAINE ARRIVES IN POTSDAM AND IN BERLIN.
Saturday, 23d February, 1732, his Serene Highness of Lorraine did
at length come to hand. Arrived in Potsdam that day; where the two
Majesties, with the Serene Beverns, with the Prince Alexander
of Wurtemberg, and the other high guests, had been some time in
expectation. Suitable persons invited for the occasion: Bevern, a
titular Austrian Feldmarschall; Prince Alexander of Wurtemberg, an
actual one (poor old Eberhard Ludwig's Cousin, and likely to be Heir
there soon); high quasi-Austrian Serenities;--not to mention Schulenburg
and others officially related to Austria, or acquainted with it. Nothing
could be more distinguished than the welcome of Duke Franz; and the
things he saw and did, during his three weeks' visit, are wonderful to
Fassmann and the extinct Gazetteers. Saw the Potsdam Giants do their
"EXERCITIA," transcendent in perfection; had a boar-hunt; "did divine
service in the Potsdam Catholic Church; "--went by himself to Spandau,
on the Tuesday (26th), where all the guns broke forth, and dinner was
ready: King, Queen and Party having made off for Berlin, in the interim,
to be ready for his advent there "in the evening about, five." Majesties
wait at Berlin, with their Party,--among whom, say the old Newspapers,
"is his Royal Highness the Crown-Prince:" Crown-Prince just come in from
Custrin; just blessed with the first sight of his Charmer, whom he finds
perceptibly less detestable than he expected.
Serene Highness of Lorraine arrived punctually at five, with outburst of
all the artilleries and hospitalities; balls, soirees, EXERCITIA of the
Kleist Regiment, of the Gerns-d'Armes; dinners with Grumkow, dinners
with Seckendorf, evening party with the Margravine Philip (Margravine
in high colors);--one scenic miracle succeeding another, for above a
fortnight to come.
The very first spectacle his Highness saw, a private one, and of no
intense interest to him, we shall mention here for our own behoof. "An
hour after his arrival the Duke was carried away to his Excellency Herr
Creutz the Finance-Minister's; to attend a wedding there, along with
his Majesty. Wedding of Excellency Creutz's only Daughter to the Herr
HOFJAGERMEISTER von Hacke."--HOFJAGERMEISTER (Master of the Hunt), and
more specifically Captain Hacke, of the Potsdam Guard or Giant regiment,
much and deservedly a favorite with his Majesty. Majesty has known,
a long while, the merits military and other of this Hacke; a valiant
expert exact man, of good stature, good service among the Giants and
otherwise, though not himself gigantic; age now turned of thirty;--and
unluckily little but his pay to depend on. Majesty, by way of increment
to Hacke, small increment on the pecuniary side, has lately made him
"Master of the Hunt;" will, before long, make him Adjutant-General, and
his right-hand man in Army matters, were he only rich;--has, in the mean
while, made this excellent match for him; which supplies that defect.
Majesty was the making of Creutz himself; who is grown very rich, and
has but one Daughter: "Let Hacke have her!" his Majesty advised;--and
snatches off the Duke of Lorraine to see it done. [Fassmann, p. 430.]
Did the reader ever hear of Finance-Minister Creutz, once a poor
Regiment's Auditor, when his Majesty, as yet Crown-Prince, found talent
in him? Can readers fish up from their memory, twenty years back,
anything of a terrific Spectre walking in the Berlin Palace, for certain
nights, during that "Stralsund Expedition" or famed Swedish-War time,
to the terror of mankind? Terrific Spectre, thought to be in Swedish
pay,--properly a spy Scullion, in a small concern of Grumkow VERSUS
Creutz? [Antea, vol. v. pp. 356-358; Wilhelmina.] This is the same
Creutz; of whom we have never spoken more, nor shall again, now that his
rich Daughter is well married to Hacke, a favorite of his Majesty's and
ours. It was the Duke's first sight in Berlin; February 26th; prologue
to the flood of scenic wonders there.
But perhaps the wonderfulest thing, had he quite understood it, was that
of the 10th March, which he was invited to. Last obligation laid upon
the Crown-Prince, "to bind him to the House of Austria," that evening.
Of which take this account, external and internal, from authentic
Documents in our hand.
BETROTHAL OF THE CROWN-PRINCE TO THE BRUNSWICK CHARMER, NIECE OF
IMPERIAL MAJESTY, MONDAY EVENING, 10th MARCH, 1732.
Document FIRST is of an internal nature, from the Prince's own hand,
written to his Sister four days before:--
TO THE PRINCESS WILHELMINA AT BAIREUTH.
"BERLIN, 6th March, 1732.
"MY DEAREST SISTER,--Next Monday comes my Betrothal, which will be done
just as yours was. The Person in question is neither beautiful nor
ugly, not wanting for sense, but very ill brought up, timid, and totally
behind in manners and social behavior (MANIERES DU SAVOIR-VIVRE): that
is the candid portrait of this Princess. You may judge by that, dearest
Sister, if I find her to my taste or not. The greatest merit she has is
that she has procured me the liberty of writing to you; which is the one
solacement I have in your absence.
"You never can believe, my adorable Sister, how concerned I am about
your happiness; all my wishes centre there, and every moment of my
life I form such wishes. You may see by this that I preserve still
that sincere friendship which has united our hearts from our tenderest
years:--recognize at least, my dear Sister, that you did me a sensible
wrong when you suspected me of fickleness towards you, and believed
false reports of my listening to tale-bearers; me, who love only you,
and whom neither absence nor lying rumors could change in respect of
you. At least don't again believe such things on my score, and never
mistrust me till you have had clear proof,--or till God has forsaken me,
and I have lost my wits. And being persuaded that such miseries are not
in store to overwhelm me, I here repeat how much I love you, and with
what respect and sincere veneration,--I am and shall be till death, my
dearest Sister,--Your most humble and faithful Brother and Valet,
FRIDERICH."
[_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxvii. part 1st, p. 5]
That was on the Thursday; Betrothal is on the Monday following. Document
SECOND is from poor old Fassmann, and quite of external nature; which we
much abridge:--
"Monday evening, all creatures are in gala, and the Royal Apartments
upstairs are brilliantly alight; Duke of Lorraine with the other high
strangers are requested to take their place up there, and wait for a
short while. Prussian Majesty, Queen and Crown-Prince with him, proceeds
then, in a solemn official manner, to the Durchlaucht of Bevern's
Apartment, in a lower floor of the Palace; where the Bevern Party,
Duke, Duchess, Son and intended Charmer are. Prussian Majesty asks the
Durchlaucht and Spouse, 'Whether the Marriage, some time treated of,
between that their Princess here present, and this his Crown-Prince
likewise here, is really a thing to their mind?' Serene Spouses answer,
to the effect, 'Yea, surely, very much!' Upon which they all solemnly
ascend to the Royal Apartments [upstairs where we have seen Wilhelmina
dancing before now], where Lorraine, Wurtemberg and the other
sublimities are in waiting. Lorraine and the sublimities form a
semicircle; with the two Majesties, and pair of young creatures, in the
centre. You young creatures, you are of one intention with your parents
in this matter? Alas, there is no doubt of it. Pledge yourselves, then,
by exchange of rings! said his Majesty with due business brevity. The
rings are exchanged: Majesty embraces the two young creatures with great
tenderness;" as do Queen and Serenities; and then all the world takes to
embracing and congratulating; and so the betrothal is a finished
thing. Bassoons and violins, striking up, whirl it off in universal
dancing,--in "supper of above two hundred and sixty persons," princely
or otherwise sublime in rank, with "spouses and noble ladies there" in
the due proportion. [Fassmann, pp. 432, 433.]
Here is fraction of another Note from the Crown-Prince to his Sister at
Baireuth, a fortnight after that event:--
BERLIN, 24th MARCH, 1732 (to Princess Wilhelmina).--... "God be praised
that you are better, dearest Sister! For nobody can love you more
tenderly than I do.--As to the Princess of Bevern [my Betrothed], the
Queen [Mamma, whom you have been consulting on these etiquettes] bids me
answer, That you need not style her `Highness,' and that you may write
to her quite as to an indifferent Princess. As to 'kissing of the
hands,' I assure you I have not kissed them, nor will kiss them; they
are not pretty enough to tempt one that way. God long preserve you in
perfect health! And you, preserve for me always the honor of your good
graces; and believe, my charming Sister, that never brother in the
world loved with such tenderness a sister so charming as mine; in short,
believe, dear Sister, that without compliments, and in literal truth, I
am yours wholly (TOUT A VOUS),
"FRIDERICH."
[Ib. xxvii. part 1st, p. 5.]
This is the Betrothal of the Crown-Prince to an Insipidity of Brunswick.
Insipidity's private feelings, perhaps of a languidly glad sort, are
not known to us; Crown-Prince's we have in part seen. He has decided to
accept his fate without a murmur farther. Against his poor Bride or her
qualities not a word more. In the Schloss of Berlin, amid such tempests
of female gossip (Mamma still secretly corresponding with England), he
has to be very reserved, on this head especially. It is understood he
did not, in his heart, nearly so much dislike the insipid Princess as he
wished Papa to think he did.
Duke Franz of Lorraine went off above a week ago, on the Saturday
following the Betrothal; an amiable serene young gentleman, well liked
by the Crown-Prince and everybody. "He avoided the Saxon Court, though
passing near it," on his way to old Kur-Mainz; "which is a sign,"
thinks Fassmann, "that mutual matters are on a weak footing in that
quarter;"--Pragmatic Sanction never accepted there, and plenty of
intricacies existing. Crown-Prince Friedrich may now go to Ruppin and
the Regiment Goltz; his business and destinies being now all reduced
to a steady condition;--steady sky, rather leaden, instead of the
tempestuous thunder-and-lightning weather which there heretofore was.
Leaden sky, he, if left well to himself, will perhaps brighten a little.
Study will be possible to him; improvement of his own faculties, at
any rate. It is much his determination. Outwardly, besides drilling the
Regiment Goltz, he will have a steady correspondence to keep up with his
Brunswick Charmer;--let him see that he be not slack in that.