They pull and haul the poor old
gentleman
so many
"ways, that he does not know where to turn, or into whose
"arms to throw himself.
"ways, that he does not know where to turn, or into whose
"arms to throw himself.
Thomas Carlyle
First, it has
in it, as one of the Austrian Deputies, that Baron von
Bentenrieder, tallest of living Diplomatists, who was
pressed, at one time, for a Prussian soldier; -- readers
recollect it? Walking through the streets of Halber-
stadt, to stretch his long limbs till his carriage came
up, the Prussian sentries laid hold of him, "Excellent
Potsdam giant, this one! " -- and haled him off to
their guardhouse; till carriage and lackeys came; then,
"Thousand humblest pardons, your Excellenz! " who
forgave the fellows. Barely possible some lighter
readers might wish to see, for one moment, an Ex-
cellenz that has been seized by a Pressgang? Which
perhaps never happened to any other Excellenz; --
the like of which, I have been told, might merit him
a soiree from strong-minded women, in some remoter
parts of the world. Not to say that he is the tallest of
living Diplomatists; another unique circumstance! --
Bentenrieder soon died; and had his place at Soissons
filled up by an Excellenz of the ordinary height, who
had never been pressed. But nothing can rob the Con-
gress of this fact, that it once had Bentenrieder for
member; and, so far, is entitled to the pluperfect
distinction in one particular.
Another point is humanly interesting in this Con-
gress; but cannot fully be investigated for want of
dates. Always, we perceive, according to the news of
it that reach Berlin, -- of England going right for the
Kaiser or going wrong for him, -- his Prussian Ma-
jesty's treatment of his children varies. If England go
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? 144 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
June 1728-Nov. 1729.
right for the Kaiser, well, and his Majesty is in good-
humour with Queen, with Crown-Prince and Wilhel-
mina. If England go wrong for the Kaiser, dark
clouds gather on the royal brow, in the royal heart;
explode in thunderstorms; and at length crockery goes
flying through the rooms, blows descend on the poor
Prince's back; and her Majesty is in tears, mere Chaos
come again. For as a general rule, unless the English
Negotiation have some prospering fit, and produce ex-
ceptional phenomena, Friedrich Wilhelm, ever loyal
in heart, stands steadfast by his Kaiser; ever ready
"to strike out (los zu schlagen," as he calls it) with
his best strength in behalf of a cause which, good
soul, he thinks is essentially German; -- all the
readier if at any time it seem now exclusively Ger-
man, the French, Spanish, English, and other un-
lovely Foreign world being clean cut loose from it, or
even standing ranked against it. "When will it go off,
then {Warm, geht es los)? " asks Friedrich Wilhelm
often; diligently drilling his Sixty Thousand, and snort-
ing contempt on "TJngermanism (Undeutschheit) " be it
on the part of friends or of enemies. Good soul, and
whether he will ever get Jiilich and Berg out of it, is
distractingly problematical; and the Tobacco-Parliament
is busy with him.
Curious to see, so far as dates go, how Friedrich
Wilhelm changes his tune to Wife and Children, in
exact correspondence to the notes given out at Soissons
for a Kaiser and his Pragmatic Sanction. Poor Prus-
sian Household, poor back, and heart, of Crown-Prince;
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? CHAP, v. ] CONGRESS OF SOISSONS. 14B
June 1728-Nov. 1729.
what a concert it is in this world, Smoking Parliament
for souffleur! Let the big Diplomatist Bassoon of the
Universe go this way, there are caresses for a young
Soldier and his behaviour in the giant regiment; let the
same Bassoon sound that way, bangs and knocks descend
on him; the two keep time together, -- so busy is the
Smoking Parliament with his Majesty of Prussia. The
world has seen, with horror and wonder, Friedrich
Wilhelm's beating of his grown children: but the pair
of Meerkatzen, or enchanted Demon-Apes, disguised as
loyal Counsellors, riding along with him the length of
a Terrestrial Equator, have not been so familiar
to the world. Seckendorf, Grumkow: we had often
heard of Devil-Diplomatists; and shuddered over hor-
rible pictures of them in Novels, hoping it was all
fancy: but here actually is a pair of them, transcend-
ing all Novels; -- perhaps the highest cognisable fact
to be met with in Devil-Diplomacy. And it may be
a kind of comfort to readers, both to know it, and to
discern gradually what the just gods make of it withal.
Devil-Diplomatists do exist, at least have existed, never
doubt it farther; and their astonishingly dextrous men-
dacities and enchanted spiderwebs, -- can these go any
road but one in this Universe?
That the Congress of Cambrai was not a myth, we
convinced ourselves by a Letter of Voltaire's, who
actually saw it dining there in the Year 1722, as he
passed that way. Here, for Soissons, in like manner,
are two Letters, by a less celebrated but a still known
Carlule, Frederic the Great. III. 10
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? 146 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
July 1728.
English hand; which, as utterances in presence of the
fact itself, leave no doubt on the subject. These the
afflicted reader will perhaps consent to take a glance
of. If the Congress of Soissons, for the sake of memor-
able objects concerned there, is still to be remembered,
and believed in, for a little while, -- the question
arises, How to do it, then?
The writer of these Letters is a serious, rather long-
nosed young English gentleman, not without intel-
ligence, and of a wholesome and honest nature; who
became Lord Lyttleton, First of those Lords, called
also "the Good Lord," father of "the Bad:" a lineal
descendant of that Lyttleton upon whom Coke sits, or
seems to sit, till the end of things: author by and by
of a History of Henry the Second and other well-meant
things: a man of real worth, who attained to some note
in the world. He is now upon the Grand Tour, --
which ran, at that time, by Luneville and Lorraine, as
would appear; at which point we shall first take him
up. He writes to his Father, Sir Thomas, at Hagley
among the pleasant Hills of Worcestershire, -- date
shortly after the assembling of that Congress to rear of
him; -- and we strive to add a minimum of commen-
tary. The "piece of negligence," the "Mr. D. ," --
none of mortals now knows who or what they were:
To Sir Thomas Lyttelton, Bart. , at Hagley.
"Luneville, 21st July" 1728.
"Dear Sir, -- I thank you for so kindly forgiving the piece
"of negligence I acquainted you of in my last. Young fellows
"are often guilty of voluntary forgetfulness in those affairs;
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? CHAP. v. J CONGRESS OF SOISSONS. 147
July 1728.
"but I assure you mine was quite accidental:" -- Never mind
it, my Son!
"Mr. D. tellsyou true that I am weary of losing money at
"Cards; but it is no less certain that without them I shall
"soon be weary of Lorraine. The spirit of quadrille" (ob-
solete game at cards) "has possessed the land from morning
"till midnight; there is nothing else in every house in Town.
"This Court is fond of strangers, but with a proviso that
"strangers love quadrille. Would you win the hearts of the
"Maids of Honour, you must lose your money at quadrille;
"would you be thought a well-bred man, you must play
"genteelly at quadrille; would you get a reputation of good
"sense, show judgment at quadrille. However, in summer
"one may pass a day without quadrille; because there are
"agreeable promenades, and little parties out-of-doors. But
"in winter you are reduced to play at it, or sleep, like a fly,
"till the return of spring.
"Indeed in the morning the Duke hunts," -- mark that
Duke, and two Sons he has. "But my malicious stars have
"so contrived it, that I am no more a sportsman than a
"gamester. There are no men of learning in the whole Coun-
"try; on the contrary, it is a character they despise. A man
"of quality caught me, the other day, reading a Latin
'' Author; and asked me, with an air of contempt, Whether I
"was designed for the Church? All this would be tolerable
"if I was not doomed to converse with a set of English, who
"are still more ignorant than the French; and from whom,
"with my utmost endeavours, I cannot be absent six hours in
"the day. Lord" Blank, --Baltimore, or Heaven-knows-
who, -- "is the only one among them who has common sense;
"and he is so scandalously debauched, in his principles as
"well as practice, that his conversation is equally shocking to
"my morals and my reason. " -- Could not one contrive to get
10*
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? 148 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [eOOKvI. .
July 1728.
away from them; to Soissons, for example, to see business
going on, and the Terrestrial Balance settling itself a little?
"My only improvement here is in the company of the
"Duke," who is a truly distinguished Duke to his bad
Country; "and in the exercise of the Academy," -- of Horse-
manship, or what? "I have been absent from the latter near
"three weeks, by reason of a sprain I got in the sinews of my
"leg. My duty to my dear Mother; I hope you and she con-
"tinue well. I am, Sir, your dutiful Son. -- G. L. " *
These poor Lorrainers are in a bad way; their
Country all trampled to pieces by France, in the Louis-
Fourteenth and still earlier times. Indeed ever since
the futile Siege of Metz, where we saw the great Kaiser,
Karl V. , silently weeping because he could not recap-
ture Metz,** the French have been busy with this poor
Country; -- new sections of it clipt away by them;
"military roads through it, ten miles broad," bargained
for; its Dukes oftenest in exile, especially the Father
of this present Duke:***-- and they are now waiting a
* The Works of Lord George Lyttelton, by Ayscough (London, 1786),
lii. 218.
** Antea, vol. i. p. 304. *** A famed Soldier in his day; nnder Kaiser Leopold, "the little Kaiser
in the red stockings," one of whose Daughters he had to wife. He was at
the Rescue of Vienna (Sobieski's), and in how many far fiercer services;
his life was but a battle and a march. Here is his famed Letter to the
Kaiser, when Death suddenly called, Halt!
"Wels near Linz on the Donau, 17th April 1690.
"Sacred Majesty, -- According to your Orders, I set out from Inns-
"pruck to come to Vienna; but I am stopped here by a Greater Master.
"I go to render account to Him of a life which I had wholly consecrated to
'yon. Remember that I leave a Wife with whom you are concerned" (qui
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? CHAP, v. ] CONGRESS OP SOISSONS. 149
July 1728.
good opportunity to swallow it whole, while the people
are so busy with quadrille-parties. The present Duke,
returning from exile, found his Land in desolation,
much of it "running fast to wild forest again;" and he
has signalised himself by unwearied efforts in every
direction to put new life into it, which have been rather
successful. Lyttelton, we perceive, finds improvement
in his company. The name of this brave Duke is
Leopold; age now forty-nine; life and reign not far
from done: a man about whom even Voltaire gets into
enthusiasm. *
The Court and Country of Lorraine, under Duke
Leopold, will prove to deserve this brief glance from
Lyttelton and us. Two sons Duke Leopold has: the
elder, Franz, now about twenty, is at Vienna, with
the highest outlooks there: Kaiser Karl is his Father's
uncle; and Kaiser Karl's young Daughter, high beauti-
ful Maria Theresa, -- the sublimest maiden now ex-
tant, -- yes, this lucky Franz is to have her: what a
prize, even without Pragmatic Sanction! With the
younger son, Karl of Lorraine, Lyttelton may have
made acquaintance, if he cared: a lad of sixteen; by
and by an Austrian General, as his father had been;
General much noised of, -- whom we shall often see
vous louche, -- who Is your lawful Daughter); "children to whom I can be-
"queath nothing but my sword; and Subjects who are under Oppression. --
"ChArles of LorrAine.
(Ildnault, Abregi Chronologiqut, Paris, 1775, p. 850). -- Charles 'V. ' the
French uniformly call this one; Charles 'IV. ' the Germans, who, Icon-
clude, know better.
* Slecle de Louis XIV ((Emitcs, xxvi. 95-97); HHbner, t. Ml.
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? "1
150 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT. [bOOKTI. beaten, in this world, at the head of men. -- But let
us now get to Soissons itself, skipping an intermediate
Letter or two:
To Sir Thomas Lyttelton, Bart. , atHagley.
"Soissons, 28th October" 1728.
"I thank you, my dear Sir, for complying so much with
"my inclinations as to let me stay some time at Soissons: but
"as you have not fixed how long, I wait for farther orders.
"One of my chief reasons for disliking LuneVille was the
"multitude of English there; who, most of them, were such
"worthless fellows that they were a dishonour to the name
"and Nation. With these I was obliged to dine and sup, and
"pass a great part of my time. You may be sure I avoided it
"as much as possible; but malgri moi I suffered a great deal.
"To prevent any comfort from other people, they had made a
"law among themselves, not to admit any foreigner into their
"company: so that there was nothing but English talked
"from June to January. -- On the contrary, my countrymen
"at Soissons are men of virtue and good sense; they mix per-
petually with the French, and converse for the most part in
"that language. I will trouble you no more upon this sub-
"ject: but give me leave to say that, however capricious I
"may have been on other subjects, my sentiments in this
"particular are the strongest proofs I ever gave you of my
"strong and hereditary aversion to vice and folly.
"Mr. Stanhope,'' our Minister, the Colonel or Brigadier-
General, "is always at Fontainebleau. I went with Mr.
"Poyntz," Poyntz not yet a dim figure, but a brilliant, who
hints about employing me, "to Paris for four days, when the
"Colonel himself was there, to meet him; he received me
"with great civility and kindness. We have done expecting
Oct. 1728.
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? CHAP. v. J CONGRESS OP SOISSONS. 151
Dec. 1728.
"Mr. Walpole," fixed he in the Court regions; "who is
"obliged to keep strict guard over the Cardinal," sly old
Fleury, "for fear the German Ministers should take him from
"us.
They pull and haul the poor old gentleman so many
"ways, that he does not know where to turn, or into whose
"arms to throw himself. " Never fear him! --
"Ripperda's escape to England," -- grand Diplomatic
bulldog that was, who took refuge in Colonel Stanhope's at
Madrid to no purpose, and kindled the sputtering at Gibral-
tar, is now got across to England, and will go to Morocco and
farther, to no purpose, -- "will very much embroil affairs;
"which did not seem to want another obstacle to hinder them
"from coming to an accommodation. If the Devil is not very
"much wanting to his own interests in this Business, it is im-
possible that the good work of Peace should go on much
"longer. After all, most young fellows are of his party; and
"wish he may bring matters to a War: for they make but ill
"Ministers at a Congress, but would make good Soldiers in
"a Campaign.
"No news from Madam" Blank "and her beloved Hus-
"band. Their unreasonable fondness for each other can never
"last: they will soon grow as cold to one another as theTown
"to The Beggars' Opera. " And cannot warm again, you
think? "Pray Heaven I may prove a false prophet: butmar-
"ried Love and English Music are too domestic to continue
"long in favour. " * *
November 20th, Soissons still. "This is one of theagree-
'' ablest Towns in France. The people are infinitely obliging
"to strangers: we are of all their parties, and perpetually
"share with them in their pleasures. I have learnt more
'' French since I came hither, than I should have picked up in
"a twelvemonth in Lorraine. " * *
"A fool with a majority on his side is the greatest tyrant in
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? 152 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
1729.
"the world:" -- how can I go back to loiter in Lorraine,
honoured Father, where fools are in such majority? "Then
"the extraordinary civilities I receive from Mr. Poyntz: He
"has in a manner taken me into his family;" will evidently
make an Apprentice of me. "The first Packet that comes
"from Fontainebleau, I expect to be employed. Which is
"no small pleasure to me; and will I hope be of service. " * *
December 20th. "A sudden order to Mr. Poyntz has broken
"all my measures. He goes tomorrow to Paris, to stay there
"in the room of Messrs. Stanhope and Walpole, who are on
"their return for England. " Congress falling into complete
languor, if we knew it! But ought not I to accompany this
friendly and distinguished Mr. Poyntz, "who has already
"given me Papers to copy;" -- in fact I am settingoff with
him, honoured Father! * * *
"Prince Frederick's journey," -- first arrival in England
of dissolute Fred from Hanover, who had not been to Berlin to
get married last summer, -- "was very secret: Mr. Poyntz
"did not hear of it till Friday last; at least he had no public
"notice of it. " Why should he? "There will be fine strug-
"gling for places" in this Prince's new Household. "I hope
"my Brother will come-in for one. "* --
But here we pull the string of the curtain upon Lyttel-
ton, and upon his Congress falling into complete languor;
Congress destined, after dining for about a year more, to
explode, in the Treaty of Seville, and to leave the Kaiser
sitting horrorstruck, solitary amid the wreck of Political
Nature, -- which latter, however, pieces itself together
again for him and others. Beneficent Treaty of Vienna
was at last achieved; Treaty and Treaties there, which
<< Ayscongh's Lytlelton, iii. 200-231.
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? CHAP. v. ] CONGRESS OP SOISSONS. 153
Feb. 1729.
brought matters to their old bearing again, -- Austria
united with the Sea-Powers, Pragmatic Sanction ac-
cepted by them, subsidies again to be expected from
them; Baby Carlos fitted with his Apanages, in some
tolerable manner; and the Problem, with which Crea-
tion had groaned for some twenty years past, finally
accomplished better or worse.
Lyttelton himself will get a place in Prince Frede-
rick's Household, and then lose it; place in Majesty's
Ministry at last, but not for a long while yet . He will
be one of Prince Frederick's men, of the Carterets,
Chesterfields, Pitts, who "patronise Literature," and
are in opposition to dark Walpole; one of the "West-
Wickham set;"-- and will be of the Opposition party,
and have his adventures in the world. Meanwhile let
him go to Paris with Mr. Poyntz; and do his wisest
there and elsewhere.
"Who's dat who ride astride de pony,
"So long, so lean, so lank and bony?
"Oh, he be de great orator, Little-ton-y. " *
For now we are round at Friedrich Wilhelm's
Pommeranian Hunting again, in the Newyear's time of
1729; and must look again into the magnanimous sick-
room which ensued thereon; where a small piece of
business is going forward. What a magnanimous pa-
tient Friedrich Wilhelm was, in Fassmann's judgment,
* Caricature of 1741, on Lyttelton's getting into the Ministry, with
Carteret, Chesterfield, Argyll, and the rest: see Phillimore's Lyttelton
(London, 1849), i. 110; Johnson's Lives of the Poets, ? Lyttelton; &c. &a.
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? 154 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
March 1729.
we know: but it will be good to show both sides of the
tapestry, and let Wilhelmina also speak. The small
business is only, a Treaty of Marriage for one of our
Princesses: not Wilhelmina, but Louisa the next-
younger, who has been asked, and will consent, as
appears.
Fassmann makes a very touching scene of it. King
is in bed, ill of his gout after that slaughter of the
3,602 wild swine: attendants are sitting round his Ma-
jesty, in the way we know; Queen Sophie at his head,
"Seckendorf and several others" round the bed. Letters
arrive; Princess Frederica Louisa, a very young Lady,
has also had a Letter; which, she sees by the seal, will
be interesting, but which she must not herself open.
She steps in with it; "beautiful as an angel, but rather
"foolish, and a spoilt child of fifteen," says Wilhelmina:
trips softly in with it; hands it to the King. "Give it
"to thy Mother, let her read it," says the King. Mother
reads it, with audible soft voice: Formal demand in
marriage from the Serenity of Anspach, as foreseen.
"Hearken, Louisa {Here Luise), it is still time,"
said the King: "Tell us, wouldst thou rather go to
Anspach, now, or stay with me? If thou choose to
stay, thou shalt want for nothing, either, to the end of
thy life. Speak! " -- "At such unexpected question,"
says Fassmann, "there rose a fine blush over the Prin-
"cess's face, who seemed to be at a loss for her answer.
"However, she soon collected herself; kissed his Ma-
jesty's hand, and said: 'Most gracious Papa, I will to
"Anspach! ' To which the King: 'Very well, then;
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? OHAP. v. ]
March 1729.
CONGRESS OP SOISSONS.
155"God give thee all happiness and thousand blessings!
"-- But hearken, Louisa,' the King's Majesty was
'pleased at the same time to add, 'We will make a
"bargain, thou and I. You have excellent Flour at
"Anspach (sch&nes Meht); but in Hams and Smoked
"Sausages you don't come up, either in quality or
"quantity, to us in this Country. Now I, for my
"part, like good pastries. So, from time to time, thou
"shalt send me a box of nice flour, and I will keep
"thee in hams and sausages. Wilt thou, Louisa? '
"That the Princess answered Yea," says poor Fassmann
with the tear in his eye, "may readily be supposed! "
Nay all that heard the thing round the royal bed there,
-- simple humanities of that kind from so great a King,
-- had almost or altogether tears in their eyes. *
This surely is a very touching scene. But now
listen to Wilhelmina's account of another on the same
subject, between the same parties. "At table;" no
date indicated, or a wrong one, but evidently after
this; in fact, we find it was about the beginning of
March 1729; and had sad consequences for Wilhel-
mina.
"At table his Majesty told the Queen that he had Letters
"from Anspach; the young Margraf to be at Berlin in May
"for his wedding; that M. Bremer his Tutor was just coming
"with the ring of betrothal for Louisa. He asked my Sister,
"If that gave her pleasure? and How she would regulate her
"housekeeping when married? My Sister had got into the
* Fassmann, pp. 393, 394.
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? 156 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [bOOKvI.
March 1729.
"way of telling him whatever she thought, and home-truths
"sometimes, without his taking it ill. She answered with her
"customary frankness, That she would have a good table,
"which should be delicately served; and, added she, 'which
"'shall be better than yours. And if I have children, I will
"' not maltreat them like you, nor force them to eat what they
"'have an aversion to. " -- "What do you mean by that? "
"replied the King: 'What is there wanting at my table? " --
'"There is this wanting,' she said, 'that one cannot have
"'enough; and the little there is consists of coarse potherbs
"'that nobody can eat. ' The King," as was not unnatural,
"had begun to get angry at her first answer: this last put him
"quite in a fury; but all his anger fell on my Brother and me.
"He first threw a plate at my Brother's head, who ducked out
"of the way; he then let fly another at me, which I avoided
"in like manner. A hailstorm of abuse followed these first
"hostilities. He rose into a passion against the Queen; re-
proaching her with the bad training she gave her children;
"and, addressing my Brother:'You have reason to curse your
"'Mother,' said he, 'for it is she that causes your being an ill-
"'governed fellow (un mal gouverni). I had a Preceptor,' con-
"tinued he, 'who was an honest man. I remember always a
''' story he told me inmy youth. There was aman, atCarthage,
"' who had been condemned to die for many crimes he had
"' committed. While they were leading him to execution, he
"'desired he might speak to his Mother. They brought his
"'Mother: he came near, as if to whisper something to her;--
"'and bit away a piece of her ear. I treatyou thus, said he,
"' to make you an example to all parents who take no heed to
''' bring-up their children in the practice of virtue! -- Make the
"'application,' continued he, always addressing my Brother:
"and getting no answer from him, he again set to abusing us
"till he could speak no longer. We rose from table. As we
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? CBAP. V. ] CONGRESS OF SOISSONS. 157
1729.
"had to pass near him in going out, he aimed a great blow at
"me with his crutch; which, if I had not jerked away from it,
"would have ended me. He chased me for a while in his
"wheel-chair, but the people drawing it gave me time to
"escape into the Queen's chamber. " *
Poor Wilhelmina, beaten-upon by Papa in this
manner, takes to bed in miserable feverish pain, is
ordered out by Mamma to evening party, all the same;
is evidently falling very ill. "111? I will cure you! "
says Papa next day, and makes her swallow a great
draught of wine. Which completes the thing: "de-
clared smallpox," say all the Doctors now. So that
Wilhelmina is absent thenceforth, as Fassmann already
told us, from the magnanimous paternal sickroom; and
lies balefully eclipsed, till the paternal gout and some
other things have run their course. "Smallpox; what will
Prince Fred think? A perfect fright, if she do live! "
say the English Court-gossips in the interim. But we
are now arrived at a very singular Prussian-English
phenomenon; and ought to take a new Chapter.
* Wilhelmina, i. 159.
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? 158 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT. [boOKVI.
1729.
CHAPTER VI.
IMMINENCY OF WAR OR DUEL, BETWEEN THE BRITANNIC
AND PRUSSIAN MAJESTIES.
The Double-Marriage negotiation hung fire, in the
end of 1728; but everybody thought, especially Queen
Sophie thought, it would come to perfection; oldHgen,
almost the last thing he did, shed tears of joy about it
.
These fine outlooks received a sad shock in the Year
now come; when secret grudges burst out into open
flame; and Berlin, instead of scenic splendours for a
Polish Majesty, was clangorous with note of prepara-
tion for imminent War. Probably Queen Sophie never
had a more agitated Summer than this of 1729. We
are now arrived at that thrice-famous Quarrel, or almost
Duel, of Friedrich Wilhelm and his Britannic Brother-
in-law little George II. ; and must try to riddle from
those distracted Paper-masses some notice of it, not
wholly unintelligible to the reader. It is loudly talked
of, loudly, but alas also loosely to a degree, in all
manner of dull Books; and is at once thrice-famous and
extremely obscure. The fact is, Nature intended it for
eternal oblivion;-- and that, sure enough, would have
been its fate long since, had not persons who were then
thought to be of no importance, but are now seen to
be of some, stood connected with it more or less.
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in it, as one of the Austrian Deputies, that Baron von
Bentenrieder, tallest of living Diplomatists, who was
pressed, at one time, for a Prussian soldier; -- readers
recollect it? Walking through the streets of Halber-
stadt, to stretch his long limbs till his carriage came
up, the Prussian sentries laid hold of him, "Excellent
Potsdam giant, this one! " -- and haled him off to
their guardhouse; till carriage and lackeys came; then,
"Thousand humblest pardons, your Excellenz! " who
forgave the fellows. Barely possible some lighter
readers might wish to see, for one moment, an Ex-
cellenz that has been seized by a Pressgang? Which
perhaps never happened to any other Excellenz; --
the like of which, I have been told, might merit him
a soiree from strong-minded women, in some remoter
parts of the world. Not to say that he is the tallest of
living Diplomatists; another unique circumstance! --
Bentenrieder soon died; and had his place at Soissons
filled up by an Excellenz of the ordinary height, who
had never been pressed. But nothing can rob the Con-
gress of this fact, that it once had Bentenrieder for
member; and, so far, is entitled to the pluperfect
distinction in one particular.
Another point is humanly interesting in this Con-
gress; but cannot fully be investigated for want of
dates. Always, we perceive, according to the news of
it that reach Berlin, -- of England going right for the
Kaiser or going wrong for him, -- his Prussian Ma-
jesty's treatment of his children varies. If England go
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? 144 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
June 1728-Nov. 1729.
right for the Kaiser, well, and his Majesty is in good-
humour with Queen, with Crown-Prince and Wilhel-
mina. If England go wrong for the Kaiser, dark
clouds gather on the royal brow, in the royal heart;
explode in thunderstorms; and at length crockery goes
flying through the rooms, blows descend on the poor
Prince's back; and her Majesty is in tears, mere Chaos
come again. For as a general rule, unless the English
Negotiation have some prospering fit, and produce ex-
ceptional phenomena, Friedrich Wilhelm, ever loyal
in heart, stands steadfast by his Kaiser; ever ready
"to strike out (los zu schlagen," as he calls it) with
his best strength in behalf of a cause which, good
soul, he thinks is essentially German; -- all the
readier if at any time it seem now exclusively Ger-
man, the French, Spanish, English, and other un-
lovely Foreign world being clean cut loose from it, or
even standing ranked against it. "When will it go off,
then {Warm, geht es los)? " asks Friedrich Wilhelm
often; diligently drilling his Sixty Thousand, and snort-
ing contempt on "TJngermanism (Undeutschheit) " be it
on the part of friends or of enemies. Good soul, and
whether he will ever get Jiilich and Berg out of it, is
distractingly problematical; and the Tobacco-Parliament
is busy with him.
Curious to see, so far as dates go, how Friedrich
Wilhelm changes his tune to Wife and Children, in
exact correspondence to the notes given out at Soissons
for a Kaiser and his Pragmatic Sanction. Poor Prus-
sian Household, poor back, and heart, of Crown-Prince;
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? CHAP, v. ] CONGRESS OF SOISSONS. 14B
June 1728-Nov. 1729.
what a concert it is in this world, Smoking Parliament
for souffleur! Let the big Diplomatist Bassoon of the
Universe go this way, there are caresses for a young
Soldier and his behaviour in the giant regiment; let the
same Bassoon sound that way, bangs and knocks descend
on him; the two keep time together, -- so busy is the
Smoking Parliament with his Majesty of Prussia. The
world has seen, with horror and wonder, Friedrich
Wilhelm's beating of his grown children: but the pair
of Meerkatzen, or enchanted Demon-Apes, disguised as
loyal Counsellors, riding along with him the length of
a Terrestrial Equator, have not been so familiar
to the world. Seckendorf, Grumkow: we had often
heard of Devil-Diplomatists; and shuddered over hor-
rible pictures of them in Novels, hoping it was all
fancy: but here actually is a pair of them, transcend-
ing all Novels; -- perhaps the highest cognisable fact
to be met with in Devil-Diplomacy. And it may be
a kind of comfort to readers, both to know it, and to
discern gradually what the just gods make of it withal.
Devil-Diplomatists do exist, at least have existed, never
doubt it farther; and their astonishingly dextrous men-
dacities and enchanted spiderwebs, -- can these go any
road but one in this Universe?
That the Congress of Cambrai was not a myth, we
convinced ourselves by a Letter of Voltaire's, who
actually saw it dining there in the Year 1722, as he
passed that way. Here, for Soissons, in like manner,
are two Letters, by a less celebrated but a still known
Carlule, Frederic the Great. III. 10
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? 146 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
July 1728.
English hand; which, as utterances in presence of the
fact itself, leave no doubt on the subject. These the
afflicted reader will perhaps consent to take a glance
of. If the Congress of Soissons, for the sake of memor-
able objects concerned there, is still to be remembered,
and believed in, for a little while, -- the question
arises, How to do it, then?
The writer of these Letters is a serious, rather long-
nosed young English gentleman, not without intel-
ligence, and of a wholesome and honest nature; who
became Lord Lyttleton, First of those Lords, called
also "the Good Lord," father of "the Bad:" a lineal
descendant of that Lyttleton upon whom Coke sits, or
seems to sit, till the end of things: author by and by
of a History of Henry the Second and other well-meant
things: a man of real worth, who attained to some note
in the world. He is now upon the Grand Tour, --
which ran, at that time, by Luneville and Lorraine, as
would appear; at which point we shall first take him
up. He writes to his Father, Sir Thomas, at Hagley
among the pleasant Hills of Worcestershire, -- date
shortly after the assembling of that Congress to rear of
him; -- and we strive to add a minimum of commen-
tary. The "piece of negligence," the "Mr. D. ," --
none of mortals now knows who or what they were:
To Sir Thomas Lyttelton, Bart. , at Hagley.
"Luneville, 21st July" 1728.
"Dear Sir, -- I thank you for so kindly forgiving the piece
"of negligence I acquainted you of in my last. Young fellows
"are often guilty of voluntary forgetfulness in those affairs;
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? CHAP. v. J CONGRESS OF SOISSONS. 147
July 1728.
"but I assure you mine was quite accidental:" -- Never mind
it, my Son!
"Mr. D. tellsyou true that I am weary of losing money at
"Cards; but it is no less certain that without them I shall
"soon be weary of Lorraine. The spirit of quadrille" (ob-
solete game at cards) "has possessed the land from morning
"till midnight; there is nothing else in every house in Town.
"This Court is fond of strangers, but with a proviso that
"strangers love quadrille. Would you win the hearts of the
"Maids of Honour, you must lose your money at quadrille;
"would you be thought a well-bred man, you must play
"genteelly at quadrille; would you get a reputation of good
"sense, show judgment at quadrille. However, in summer
"one may pass a day without quadrille; because there are
"agreeable promenades, and little parties out-of-doors. But
"in winter you are reduced to play at it, or sleep, like a fly,
"till the return of spring.
"Indeed in the morning the Duke hunts," -- mark that
Duke, and two Sons he has. "But my malicious stars have
"so contrived it, that I am no more a sportsman than a
"gamester. There are no men of learning in the whole Coun-
"try; on the contrary, it is a character they despise. A man
"of quality caught me, the other day, reading a Latin
'' Author; and asked me, with an air of contempt, Whether I
"was designed for the Church? All this would be tolerable
"if I was not doomed to converse with a set of English, who
"are still more ignorant than the French; and from whom,
"with my utmost endeavours, I cannot be absent six hours in
"the day. Lord" Blank, --Baltimore, or Heaven-knows-
who, -- "is the only one among them who has common sense;
"and he is so scandalously debauched, in his principles as
"well as practice, that his conversation is equally shocking to
"my morals and my reason. " -- Could not one contrive to get
10*
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? 148 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [eOOKvI. .
July 1728.
away from them; to Soissons, for example, to see business
going on, and the Terrestrial Balance settling itself a little?
"My only improvement here is in the company of the
"Duke," who is a truly distinguished Duke to his bad
Country; "and in the exercise of the Academy," -- of Horse-
manship, or what? "I have been absent from the latter near
"three weeks, by reason of a sprain I got in the sinews of my
"leg. My duty to my dear Mother; I hope you and she con-
"tinue well. I am, Sir, your dutiful Son. -- G. L. " *
These poor Lorrainers are in a bad way; their
Country all trampled to pieces by France, in the Louis-
Fourteenth and still earlier times. Indeed ever since
the futile Siege of Metz, where we saw the great Kaiser,
Karl V. , silently weeping because he could not recap-
ture Metz,** the French have been busy with this poor
Country; -- new sections of it clipt away by them;
"military roads through it, ten miles broad," bargained
for; its Dukes oftenest in exile, especially the Father
of this present Duke:***-- and they are now waiting a
* The Works of Lord George Lyttelton, by Ayscough (London, 1786),
lii. 218.
** Antea, vol. i. p. 304. *** A famed Soldier in his day; nnder Kaiser Leopold, "the little Kaiser
in the red stockings," one of whose Daughters he had to wife. He was at
the Rescue of Vienna (Sobieski's), and in how many far fiercer services;
his life was but a battle and a march. Here is his famed Letter to the
Kaiser, when Death suddenly called, Halt!
"Wels near Linz on the Donau, 17th April 1690.
"Sacred Majesty, -- According to your Orders, I set out from Inns-
"pruck to come to Vienna; but I am stopped here by a Greater Master.
"I go to render account to Him of a life which I had wholly consecrated to
'yon. Remember that I leave a Wife with whom you are concerned" (qui
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? CHAP, v. ] CONGRESS OP SOISSONS. 149
July 1728.
good opportunity to swallow it whole, while the people
are so busy with quadrille-parties. The present Duke,
returning from exile, found his Land in desolation,
much of it "running fast to wild forest again;" and he
has signalised himself by unwearied efforts in every
direction to put new life into it, which have been rather
successful. Lyttelton, we perceive, finds improvement
in his company. The name of this brave Duke is
Leopold; age now forty-nine; life and reign not far
from done: a man about whom even Voltaire gets into
enthusiasm. *
The Court and Country of Lorraine, under Duke
Leopold, will prove to deserve this brief glance from
Lyttelton and us. Two sons Duke Leopold has: the
elder, Franz, now about twenty, is at Vienna, with
the highest outlooks there: Kaiser Karl is his Father's
uncle; and Kaiser Karl's young Daughter, high beauti-
ful Maria Theresa, -- the sublimest maiden now ex-
tant, -- yes, this lucky Franz is to have her: what a
prize, even without Pragmatic Sanction! With the
younger son, Karl of Lorraine, Lyttelton may have
made acquaintance, if he cared: a lad of sixteen; by
and by an Austrian General, as his father had been;
General much noised of, -- whom we shall often see
vous louche, -- who Is your lawful Daughter); "children to whom I can be-
"queath nothing but my sword; and Subjects who are under Oppression. --
"ChArles of LorrAine.
(Ildnault, Abregi Chronologiqut, Paris, 1775, p. 850). -- Charles 'V. ' the
French uniformly call this one; Charles 'IV. ' the Germans, who, Icon-
clude, know better.
* Slecle de Louis XIV ((Emitcs, xxvi. 95-97); HHbner, t. Ml.
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? "1
150 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT. [bOOKTI. beaten, in this world, at the head of men. -- But let
us now get to Soissons itself, skipping an intermediate
Letter or two:
To Sir Thomas Lyttelton, Bart. , atHagley.
"Soissons, 28th October" 1728.
"I thank you, my dear Sir, for complying so much with
"my inclinations as to let me stay some time at Soissons: but
"as you have not fixed how long, I wait for farther orders.
"One of my chief reasons for disliking LuneVille was the
"multitude of English there; who, most of them, were such
"worthless fellows that they were a dishonour to the name
"and Nation. With these I was obliged to dine and sup, and
"pass a great part of my time. You may be sure I avoided it
"as much as possible; but malgri moi I suffered a great deal.
"To prevent any comfort from other people, they had made a
"law among themselves, not to admit any foreigner into their
"company: so that there was nothing but English talked
"from June to January. -- On the contrary, my countrymen
"at Soissons are men of virtue and good sense; they mix per-
petually with the French, and converse for the most part in
"that language. I will trouble you no more upon this sub-
"ject: but give me leave to say that, however capricious I
"may have been on other subjects, my sentiments in this
"particular are the strongest proofs I ever gave you of my
"strong and hereditary aversion to vice and folly.
"Mr. Stanhope,'' our Minister, the Colonel or Brigadier-
General, "is always at Fontainebleau. I went with Mr.
"Poyntz," Poyntz not yet a dim figure, but a brilliant, who
hints about employing me, "to Paris for four days, when the
"Colonel himself was there, to meet him; he received me
"with great civility and kindness. We have done expecting
Oct. 1728.
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? CHAP. v. J CONGRESS OP SOISSONS. 151
Dec. 1728.
"Mr. Walpole," fixed he in the Court regions; "who is
"obliged to keep strict guard over the Cardinal," sly old
Fleury, "for fear the German Ministers should take him from
"us.
They pull and haul the poor old gentleman so many
"ways, that he does not know where to turn, or into whose
"arms to throw himself. " Never fear him! --
"Ripperda's escape to England," -- grand Diplomatic
bulldog that was, who took refuge in Colonel Stanhope's at
Madrid to no purpose, and kindled the sputtering at Gibral-
tar, is now got across to England, and will go to Morocco and
farther, to no purpose, -- "will very much embroil affairs;
"which did not seem to want another obstacle to hinder them
"from coming to an accommodation. If the Devil is not very
"much wanting to his own interests in this Business, it is im-
possible that the good work of Peace should go on much
"longer. After all, most young fellows are of his party; and
"wish he may bring matters to a War: for they make but ill
"Ministers at a Congress, but would make good Soldiers in
"a Campaign.
"No news from Madam" Blank "and her beloved Hus-
"band. Their unreasonable fondness for each other can never
"last: they will soon grow as cold to one another as theTown
"to The Beggars' Opera. " And cannot warm again, you
think? "Pray Heaven I may prove a false prophet: butmar-
"ried Love and English Music are too domestic to continue
"long in favour. " * *
November 20th, Soissons still. "This is one of theagree-
'' ablest Towns in France. The people are infinitely obliging
"to strangers: we are of all their parties, and perpetually
"share with them in their pleasures. I have learnt more
'' French since I came hither, than I should have picked up in
"a twelvemonth in Lorraine. " * *
"A fool with a majority on his side is the greatest tyrant in
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? 152 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
1729.
"the world:" -- how can I go back to loiter in Lorraine,
honoured Father, where fools are in such majority? "Then
"the extraordinary civilities I receive from Mr. Poyntz: He
"has in a manner taken me into his family;" will evidently
make an Apprentice of me. "The first Packet that comes
"from Fontainebleau, I expect to be employed. Which is
"no small pleasure to me; and will I hope be of service. " * *
December 20th. "A sudden order to Mr. Poyntz has broken
"all my measures. He goes tomorrow to Paris, to stay there
"in the room of Messrs. Stanhope and Walpole, who are on
"their return for England. " Congress falling into complete
languor, if we knew it! But ought not I to accompany this
friendly and distinguished Mr. Poyntz, "who has already
"given me Papers to copy;" -- in fact I am settingoff with
him, honoured Father! * * *
"Prince Frederick's journey," -- first arrival in England
of dissolute Fred from Hanover, who had not been to Berlin to
get married last summer, -- "was very secret: Mr. Poyntz
"did not hear of it till Friday last; at least he had no public
"notice of it. " Why should he? "There will be fine strug-
"gling for places" in this Prince's new Household. "I hope
"my Brother will come-in for one. "* --
But here we pull the string of the curtain upon Lyttel-
ton, and upon his Congress falling into complete languor;
Congress destined, after dining for about a year more, to
explode, in the Treaty of Seville, and to leave the Kaiser
sitting horrorstruck, solitary amid the wreck of Political
Nature, -- which latter, however, pieces itself together
again for him and others. Beneficent Treaty of Vienna
was at last achieved; Treaty and Treaties there, which
<< Ayscongh's Lytlelton, iii. 200-231.
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? CHAP. v. ] CONGRESS OP SOISSONS. 153
Feb. 1729.
brought matters to their old bearing again, -- Austria
united with the Sea-Powers, Pragmatic Sanction ac-
cepted by them, subsidies again to be expected from
them; Baby Carlos fitted with his Apanages, in some
tolerable manner; and the Problem, with which Crea-
tion had groaned for some twenty years past, finally
accomplished better or worse.
Lyttelton himself will get a place in Prince Frede-
rick's Household, and then lose it; place in Majesty's
Ministry at last, but not for a long while yet . He will
be one of Prince Frederick's men, of the Carterets,
Chesterfields, Pitts, who "patronise Literature," and
are in opposition to dark Walpole; one of the "West-
Wickham set;"-- and will be of the Opposition party,
and have his adventures in the world. Meanwhile let
him go to Paris with Mr. Poyntz; and do his wisest
there and elsewhere.
"Who's dat who ride astride de pony,
"So long, so lean, so lank and bony?
"Oh, he be de great orator, Little-ton-y. " *
For now we are round at Friedrich Wilhelm's
Pommeranian Hunting again, in the Newyear's time of
1729; and must look again into the magnanimous sick-
room which ensued thereon; where a small piece of
business is going forward. What a magnanimous pa-
tient Friedrich Wilhelm was, in Fassmann's judgment,
* Caricature of 1741, on Lyttelton's getting into the Ministry, with
Carteret, Chesterfield, Argyll, and the rest: see Phillimore's Lyttelton
(London, 1849), i. 110; Johnson's Lives of the Poets, ? Lyttelton; &c. &a.
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? 154 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
March 1729.
we know: but it will be good to show both sides of the
tapestry, and let Wilhelmina also speak. The small
business is only, a Treaty of Marriage for one of our
Princesses: not Wilhelmina, but Louisa the next-
younger, who has been asked, and will consent, as
appears.
Fassmann makes a very touching scene of it. King
is in bed, ill of his gout after that slaughter of the
3,602 wild swine: attendants are sitting round his Ma-
jesty, in the way we know; Queen Sophie at his head,
"Seckendorf and several others" round the bed. Letters
arrive; Princess Frederica Louisa, a very young Lady,
has also had a Letter; which, she sees by the seal, will
be interesting, but which she must not herself open.
She steps in with it; "beautiful as an angel, but rather
"foolish, and a spoilt child of fifteen," says Wilhelmina:
trips softly in with it; hands it to the King. "Give it
"to thy Mother, let her read it," says the King. Mother
reads it, with audible soft voice: Formal demand in
marriage from the Serenity of Anspach, as foreseen.
"Hearken, Louisa {Here Luise), it is still time,"
said the King: "Tell us, wouldst thou rather go to
Anspach, now, or stay with me? If thou choose to
stay, thou shalt want for nothing, either, to the end of
thy life. Speak! " -- "At such unexpected question,"
says Fassmann, "there rose a fine blush over the Prin-
"cess's face, who seemed to be at a loss for her answer.
"However, she soon collected herself; kissed his Ma-
jesty's hand, and said: 'Most gracious Papa, I will to
"Anspach! ' To which the King: 'Very well, then;
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? OHAP. v. ]
March 1729.
CONGRESS OP SOISSONS.
155"God give thee all happiness and thousand blessings!
"-- But hearken, Louisa,' the King's Majesty was
'pleased at the same time to add, 'We will make a
"bargain, thou and I. You have excellent Flour at
"Anspach (sch&nes Meht); but in Hams and Smoked
"Sausages you don't come up, either in quality or
"quantity, to us in this Country. Now I, for my
"part, like good pastries. So, from time to time, thou
"shalt send me a box of nice flour, and I will keep
"thee in hams and sausages. Wilt thou, Louisa? '
"That the Princess answered Yea," says poor Fassmann
with the tear in his eye, "may readily be supposed! "
Nay all that heard the thing round the royal bed there,
-- simple humanities of that kind from so great a King,
-- had almost or altogether tears in their eyes. *
This surely is a very touching scene. But now
listen to Wilhelmina's account of another on the same
subject, between the same parties. "At table;" no
date indicated, or a wrong one, but evidently after
this; in fact, we find it was about the beginning of
March 1729; and had sad consequences for Wilhel-
mina.
"At table his Majesty told the Queen that he had Letters
"from Anspach; the young Margraf to be at Berlin in May
"for his wedding; that M. Bremer his Tutor was just coming
"with the ring of betrothal for Louisa. He asked my Sister,
"If that gave her pleasure? and How she would regulate her
"housekeeping when married? My Sister had got into the
* Fassmann, pp. 393, 394.
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? 156 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [bOOKvI.
March 1729.
"way of telling him whatever she thought, and home-truths
"sometimes, without his taking it ill. She answered with her
"customary frankness, That she would have a good table,
"which should be delicately served; and, added she, 'which
"'shall be better than yours. And if I have children, I will
"' not maltreat them like you, nor force them to eat what they
"'have an aversion to. " -- "What do you mean by that? "
"replied the King: 'What is there wanting at my table? " --
'"There is this wanting,' she said, 'that one cannot have
"'enough; and the little there is consists of coarse potherbs
"'that nobody can eat. ' The King," as was not unnatural,
"had begun to get angry at her first answer: this last put him
"quite in a fury; but all his anger fell on my Brother and me.
"He first threw a plate at my Brother's head, who ducked out
"of the way; he then let fly another at me, which I avoided
"in like manner. A hailstorm of abuse followed these first
"hostilities. He rose into a passion against the Queen; re-
proaching her with the bad training she gave her children;
"and, addressing my Brother:'You have reason to curse your
"'Mother,' said he, 'for it is she that causes your being an ill-
"'governed fellow (un mal gouverni). I had a Preceptor,' con-
"tinued he, 'who was an honest man. I remember always a
''' story he told me inmy youth. There was aman, atCarthage,
"' who had been condemned to die for many crimes he had
"' committed. While they were leading him to execution, he
"'desired he might speak to his Mother. They brought his
"'Mother: he came near, as if to whisper something to her;--
"'and bit away a piece of her ear. I treatyou thus, said he,
"' to make you an example to all parents who take no heed to
''' bring-up their children in the practice of virtue! -- Make the
"'application,' continued he, always addressing my Brother:
"and getting no answer from him, he again set to abusing us
"till he could speak no longer. We rose from table. As we
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? CBAP. V. ] CONGRESS OF SOISSONS. 157
1729.
"had to pass near him in going out, he aimed a great blow at
"me with his crutch; which, if I had not jerked away from it,
"would have ended me. He chased me for a while in his
"wheel-chair, but the people drawing it gave me time to
"escape into the Queen's chamber. " *
Poor Wilhelmina, beaten-upon by Papa in this
manner, takes to bed in miserable feverish pain, is
ordered out by Mamma to evening party, all the same;
is evidently falling very ill. "111? I will cure you! "
says Papa next day, and makes her swallow a great
draught of wine. Which completes the thing: "de-
clared smallpox," say all the Doctors now. So that
Wilhelmina is absent thenceforth, as Fassmann already
told us, from the magnanimous paternal sickroom; and
lies balefully eclipsed, till the paternal gout and some
other things have run their course. "Smallpox; what will
Prince Fred think? A perfect fright, if she do live! "
say the English Court-gossips in the interim. But we
are now arrived at a very singular Prussian-English
phenomenon; and ought to take a new Chapter.
* Wilhelmina, i. 159.
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? 158 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT. [boOKVI.
1729.
CHAPTER VI.
IMMINENCY OF WAR OR DUEL, BETWEEN THE BRITANNIC
AND PRUSSIAN MAJESTIES.
The Double-Marriage negotiation hung fire, in the
end of 1728; but everybody thought, especially Queen
Sophie thought, it would come to perfection; oldHgen,
almost the last thing he did, shed tears of joy about it
.
These fine outlooks received a sad shock in the Year
now come; when secret grudges burst out into open
flame; and Berlin, instead of scenic splendours for a
Polish Majesty, was clangorous with note of prepara-
tion for imminent War. Probably Queen Sophie never
had a more agitated Summer than this of 1729. We
are now arrived at that thrice-famous Quarrel, or almost
Duel, of Friedrich Wilhelm and his Britannic Brother-
in-law little George II. ; and must try to riddle from
those distracted Paper-masses some notice of it, not
wholly unintelligible to the reader. It is loudly talked
of, loudly, but alas also loosely to a degree, in all
manner of dull Books; and is at once thrice-famous and
extremely obscure. The fact is, Nature intended it for
eternal oblivion;-- and that, sure enough, would have
been its fate long since, had not persons who were then
thought to be of no importance, but are now seen to
be of some, stood connected with it more or less.
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