28-28th
November
1716: Fassmann, p.
Thomas Carlyle
178 friedrich's APPRENTICESHIP, FIRST STAGE.
[bOOKIV.
This Siege of Stralsund, the last military scene of
Charles XII. , and the first ever practically heard-of by
our little Fritz, who is now getting into his fourth year,
and must have thought a great deal about it in his
little head, -- Papa and even Mamma being absent on
it, and such a marching and rumouring going on all
round him, -- proved to be otherwise of some im-
portance to little Fritz.
Most of his Tutors were picked-up by the careful
Papa in this Stralsund business. Duhan de Jandun, a
young French gentleman, family-tutor to General Count
Dohna (a cousin of our Minister Dohna's), but fonder
of fighting than of teaching grammar; whom Friedrich Wilhelm found doing soldier's work in the trenches,
and liked the ways of; he, as the foundation-stone of
tutorage, is to be first mentioned. And then Count
Fink von Finkenstein, a distinguished veteran, high in
command (of whose qualities as Head-Tutor, or occa-
sional travelling-guardian, Friedrich Wilhelm had ex-
perience in his own young days*); and Lieutenant-
? Biogrophisches Lexikon oiler Heldcn und WlUalrpmuuen, welche sieh
in Preuuitchen Dienstm berUhmt gemacht haben (4vola. Berlin, 1788), 1. 418,
? Finkenstein. -- A praiseworthy, modest, highly correct Book, of its kind;
which we shall, in future, call MiUtair-Lexikon. when referring to it.
CHAPTER VI.
THE LITTLE DRUMMER.
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? CRAP. vI. ]
179
THE LITTLE DKTJMMER.
1715.
Colonel Kalkstein, a prisoner-of-war from the Swedish
side, whom Friedrich Wilhelm, judging well of him,
adopts into his own service with this view: these Three
come all from Stralsund Siege; and were of vital mo-
ment to our little Fritz in the subsequent time. Colonel
Seckendorf, again, who had a command in the Four-
thousand Saxons here, and refreshed into intimacy a
transient old acquaintance with Friedrich Wilhelm, --
is not he too of terrible importance to Fritz and him?
As we shall see in time! --
For the rest, here is another little incident. We
said it had been a disappointment to Papa that his
little Fritz showed almost no appetite for soldiering,
but found other sights more interesting to him than the
drill-ground. Sympathise, then, with the earnest Papa,
as he returns home one afternoon, -- date not given,
but to all appearance, of that year 1715, when there
was such war-rumouring, and marching towards Stral-
sund; -- and found the little Fritz, with Wilhelmina
looking over him, strutting about, and assiduously
beating a little drum.
The paternal heart ran-over with glad fondness, in-
voking Heaven to confirm the omen. Mother was told
of it; the phenomenon was talked of, -- beautifullest, hopefullest of little drummers. Painter Pesne, a French
Immigrant, or Importee, of the last reign, a man of
great skill with his brush, whom History yet thanks
on several occasions, was sent for; or he heard of the
incident, and volunteered his services. A Portrait of
12*
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? 180 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
little Fritz drumming, with Wilhelmina looking on; to
which, probably for the sake of colour and pictorial
effect, a Blackamoor, aside with tray in hand, grinning
approbation, has been added, -- was sketched, and
dextrously worked-out in oil, by Painter Pesne. Pic-
ture approved by mankind there and then. And it
still hangs on the wall, in a perfect state in Char-
lottenburg Palace; where the judicious tourist may
see it without difficulty, and institute reflections on it.
A really graceful little Picture; and certainly, to
Prussian men, not without weight of meaning. Nor
perhaps to Picture-Collectors and Cognoscenti generally,
of whatever country, -- if they could forget, for a mo-
ment, the coreggiosity of Coreggio, and the learned
babble of the Sale-room and varnishing Auctioneer;
and think, "Why it is, probably, that Pictures exist
in this world, and to what end the divine art of Paint-
ing was bestowed, by the earnest gods, upon poor
mankind? " I could advise it, once, for a little! Flaying
of Saint Bartholomew, Rape of Europa, Rape of the
Sabines, Piping and Amours of goat-footed Pan, Ro-
mulus suckled by the Wolf: all this, and much else
of fabulous, distant, unimportant, not to say impos-
sible, ugly and unworthy, shall pass without undue
severity of criticism, in a Household of such opulence
as ours, where much goes to waste, and where things
are not on an earnest footing for this long while past!
As Created Objects, or as Phantasms of such, pictorially
done, all this shall have much worth, or shall have
little. But I say, Here withal is one not phantasmal;
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? CHAP. vI. ] THE LITTLE DBUMMEK. 181
1716.
of indisputable certainty, homegrown, just commencing
business, who carried it far!
Fritz is still, if not in "long-clothes," at least in
longish and flowing clothes, of the petticoat sort, which
look as of dark-blue velvet, very simple, pretty and
appropriate; in a cap of the same; has a short raven's
feather in the cap; and looks up, with a face and eyes
full of beautiful vivacity and child's enthusiasm, one
of the beautifullest little figures, while the little drum
responds to his bits of drum-sticks. Sister Wilhelmina,
taller by some three years, looks on in pretty stooping
attitude, and with a graver smile. Blackamoor, and
room-furniture elegant enough; and finally the figure of
a grenadier, on guard, seen far off through an open
window, -- make-up the background.
We have Engravings of this Picture; which are of
clumsy poor quality, and misrepresent it much: an ex-
cellent Copy in oil, what might be called almost a fac-
simile and the perfection of a Copy, is now (1854) in
Lord Ashburton's Collection here in England. In the
Berlin Galleries, -- which are made-up, like other
Galleries, of goat-footed Pan, Europa's Bull, Romulus's She-Wolf, and the coreggiosity of Coreggio; and con-
tain, for instance, no Portrait of Friedrich the Great;
no Likenesses at all, or next to none at all, of the
noble series of Human Realities, or of any part of
them, who have sprung not from the idle brains of
dreaming Dilettanti, but from the Head of God Almighty,
to make this poor authentic Earth a little memorable
for us, and to do a little work that may be eternal
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? 182 fkiedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1713-1723.
there: -- in those expensive Halls of "High Art" at
Berlin, there were, to my experience, few Pictures more
agreeable than this of Pesne's. Welcome, like one tiny
islet of Reality amid the shoreless sea of Phantasms, to
the reflective mind, seriously loving and seeking what
is worthy and memorable, seriously hating and avoiding
what is the reverse, and intent not to play the dilettante
in this world.
The same Pesne, an excellent Artist, has painted
Friedrich as Prince-Royal: a beautiful young man; with
moi'st-looking enthusiastic eyes of extraordinary brilli-
ancy, smooth oval face; considerably resembling his
Mother. After which period, authentic Pictures of
Friedrich are sought-for to little purpose. For, it seems,
he never sat to any Painter, in his reigning days; and
the Prussian Chodowiecki* Saxon Graff, English Cun-
ningham, had to pick-up his physiognomy from the
distance, intermittently, as they could. Nor is Rauch's
grand equestrian Sculpture a thing to be believed, or
perhaps pretending much to be so. The commonly-
received Portrait of Friedrich, which all German limners
can draw at once, -- the cocked-hat, big eyes and
alert air, reminding you of some uncommonly brisk
Invalid Drill-sergeant or Greenwich Pensioner, as much
as of a Royal Hero, -- is nothing but a general extract
and average of all the faces of Friedrich, such as has
been tacitly agreed upon; and is definable as a received
? Pronounce Kodov-ycttki; -- and endeavour to make some acquaint-
ance with this 'Prussian Hogarth,' who has real worth and originality.
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? CHAP. vI. l THE LITTLE DRUMMER. 183
1716.
pictorial-myth, by no means as a fact, or credible re-
semblance of life.
But enough now of Pictures. This of the Little
Drummer, the painting and the thing painted which
remain to us, may be taken as Friedrich's first ap-
pearance on the stage of the world; and welcomed ac-
cordingly. It is one of the very few visualities or de-
finite certainties we can lay hold of, in those young
years of his, and bring conclusively home to our ima-
gination, out of the waste Prussian dustclouds of unin-
structive garrulity which pretend to record them for us.
Whether it came into existence as a shadowy emana-
tion from the Stralsund Expedition, can only be
matter of conjecture. To judge by size, these figu-
res must have been painted about the year 1715; Fritz
some three or four years old, his sister Wilhelmina seven.
It remains only to be intimated, that Friedrich Wil-
helm, for his part, had got all he claimed from this
Expedition: namely, Stettin with the dependent Towns,
and quietness in Pommern. Stettin was, from of
old, the capital of his own part of Pommern; thrown-
in along with the other part of Pommern, and given
to Sweden (from sheer necessity, it was avowed), at
the Peace of Westphalia, sixty years ago or more: --
and now, by good chance, it has come back. Wait
another hundred years, and perhaps Swedish Pommern
altogether will come back! But from all this Fried-
rich Wilhelm is still far. Stettin and quiet are all he
dreams of demanding there.
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? 184 fkiedkich's apprenticeship, fikst stage, [book Iv.
'1713-1723.
Stralsund he did not reckon his; left it with the
Danes, to hold in pawn till some general Treaty. Nor
was there farther outbreak of war in those regions;
though actual Treaty of Peace did not come till 1720,
and make matters sure. It was the new Queen of
Sweden, Ulrique Eleonora (Charles's younger Sister,
wedded to the young Landgraf of Hessen-Cassel), --
much aided by an English Envoy, -- who made this
Peace with Friedrich Wilhelm. A young English
Envoy, called Lord Carteret, was very helpful in
this matter; one of his first feats in the diplomatic
world. For which Peace* Friedrich Wilhelm was so
thankful, good pacific armed-man, that, happening
to have a Daughter born to him just about that
time, he gave the little creature her Swedish Ma-
jesty's name; a new "Ulrique," who grew to proper
stature, and became notable in Sweden, herself, by
and by. **
? Stockholm, 21st January 1720: in Mauvillon (1. 380-417) the Docu-
ment itself at large.
? ? Louisa Ulrique, born 24th July 1720; Queen of Sweden in time coming.
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? CHAP. TO. ]
185
TRANSIT OF CZAR PETER.
1717.
CHAPTEK VII.
TRANSIT OF CZAR PETER.
In the autumn of 1717, Peter the Great, coming
home from his celebrated French journey, paid Fried-
rich Wilhelm a visit; and passed four days at Ber-
lin. Of which let us give one glimpse, if we can with
brevity.
Friedrich Wilhelm and the Czar, like in several
points, though so dissimilar in others, had always a
certain regard for one another; and at this time, they
had been brought into closer intercourse by their com-
mon peril from Charles XII. , ever since that Stral-
sund business. The peril was real, especially with
a Gortz and Alberoni putting hand to it; and the
alarm, the rumour, and uncertainty were great in those
years. The wounded Lion driven indignant into his
lair, with Plotting Artists now operating upon the rage
of the noble animal: who knows what spring he will
next take?
George I. had a fleet cruising in the Baltic Sounds,
and again a fleet; -- paying, in that oblique way, for
Bremen and Verden; which were got, otherwise, such
a bargain to his Hanover. Czar Peter had marched
an Army into Denmark; united Russians and Danes
count Fifty-thousand there; for a conjunct invasion,
and probable destruction, of Sweden: but that came
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? 186 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1718-1723.
to nothing; Charles looking across npon it too dan-
gerously, "visible in clear weather over from the Danish
side. "* So Peter's troops have gone home again;
Denmark too glad to get them away. Perhaps they
would have staid in Denmark altogether; much liking
the green pastures and convenient situation, -- had not
Admiral Norris with his cannon been there! Per-
haps? And the Pretender is coming again, they say?
And who knows what is coming? -- How Gortz, in
about a year hence, was laid hold of, and let go, and
then ultimately tried and beheaded (once his lion Ma-
ster was disposed of),** how, Ambassador Cellamare,
and the Spanish part of the Plot, having been dis-
covered in Paris, Cardinal Alberoni at Madrid was dis-
covered, and the whole mystery laid bare: all that
mad business, of bringing the Pretender into England,
throwing-out George I. , throwing-out the Eegent d'Or-
leans, and much more, -- is now sunk silent enough,
not worthy of reawakening; but it was then a most
loud matter; filling the European Courts, and especially
that of Berlin, with rumours and apprehensions. No
wonder Friedrich Wilhelm was grateful for that Swe-
dish Peace of his, and named his little Daughter
"Ulricpe" in honour of it. Tumultuous cloud-world of
Lapland Witchcraft had ceased hereby, and daylight
had begun: old women (or old Cardinals) riding through
the sky, on broomsticks, to meet Satan, where now
? 1716: Fassmann, p. 171.
19th March 1719: see KBhler (M&nzbelustigtmgen, vl. 238-240 , xvil.
297-804) for many curious details of GBrtz and his end. . ,
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? CHAP. TO. ] TRANSIT OF CZAR PETER. 187
1717.
are they? The fact still dimly perceptible is, Eu-
rope, thanks to that pair of Black-Artists, Gortz and
Alberoni, not to mention Law the Finance-Wizard
and his French incantations, had been kept generally,
for those three or four years past, in the state of
a Haunted House; riotous Goblins, of unknown dire
intent, walking now in this apartment of it, now
in that; no rest anywhere for the perturbed inha-
bitants.
As to Friedrich Wilhelm, his plan, in 1717, as all
along in this bewitched state of matters, was: To fortify
his Frontier Towns; Memel, Wesel, to the right and
left; especially to fortify Stettin, his new acquisition;
-- and to put his Army, and his Treasury (or Army-
Chest), more and more in order. In that way we shall
better meet whatever goblins there may be, thinks
Friedrich Wilhelm. Count Lottum, hero of the Prus-
sians at Malplaquet, is doing his scientific uttermost in
Stettin and those Frontier Towns. For the rest, his
Majesty, invited by the Czar and France, has been
found willing to make paction with them, as he is
with all pacific neighbours. In fact, the Czar and
he had their private Conference, at Havelberg, last
year, -- Havelberg, some sixty miles from Berlin, on
the road towards Denmark, as Peter was passing that
way; -- ample Conference of five days;* -- privately
agreeing there, about many points conducive to tran-
quillity.
And it was on that same errand, though ostensibly
?
28-28th November 1716: Fassmann, p. 172.
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? 188 freedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1713-1723.
to look after Art and the higher forms of Civilisation
so-called, that Peter had been to France on this cele-
brated occasion of 1717. We know he saw much Art
withal; saw Marly, Trianon and the grandeurs and
politenesses; -- saw, among other things "a Medal of
"himself fall accidentally at his feet;" polite Medal
"just getting struck in the Mint, with a Rising Sun on
"it; and the motto, vires acquirit etjndo. "* Osten-
sibly it was to see cette belle France; but privately
withal the Czar wished to make his bargain, with the
Regent d'Orle'ans, as to these goblins walking in the
Northern and Southern parts, and what was to be
done with them. And the result has been, the Czar,
Friedrich Wilhelm and the said Regent have just con-
cluded an Agreement;** undertaking, in general, that
the goblins shall be well watched; that they Three
will stand-by one another in watching them. And
now the Czar will visit Berlin in passing homewards
again. That is the position of affairs, when he pays
this visit. Peter had been in Berlin more than once
before; but almost always in a succinct rapid con-
dition; never with his "Court" about him till now.
This is his last, and by far his greatest, appearance in
Berlin.
Such a transit, of the Barbaric semi-fabulous Sove-
reignties, could not but be wonderful to everybody
? Voltaire: (Emrcs Completes (llistoire in Czar Pierre), xxxl. 336. --
KBhler, in ilUnzbelusligtmgeu, xvii. 386-392 (this very Medal the subject),
gives authentic account, day by day, of the Czar's visit there,
? ? 4th August 1717: Buchholz, i. 43.
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? CHAP. Vft. ] TRANSIT OF CZAR PETER. 189
1717.
there. It evidently struck Wilhelmina's fancy, now in
her ninth year, very much. What her little Brother
did in it, or thought of it, I nowhere find hinted; con-
clude only that it would remain in his head too, visible
occasionally to the end of his life. Wilhelmina's Nar-
rative, very loose, dateless or misdated, plainly wrong
in various particulars, has still its value for us: human
eyes, even a child's, are worth something, in comparison
to human want-of-eyes, which is too frequent in History-
books and elsewhere! -- Czar Peter is now fifty-five,
his Czarina Catherine about thirty-three. It was in
1698 that he first passed this way, going towards
Sardam and practical Shipbuilding: within which
twenty years, what a spell of work done! Victory of
Pultawa is eight years behind him;* victories in many
kinds are behind him: by this time he is to be reckoned
a triumphant Czar; and is certainly the strangest mix-
ture of heroic virtue and brutish Samoiedic savagery
the world at any time had.
It was Sunday, 19th September 1717, when the
Czar arrived in Berlin. Being already sated with
scenic parades, he had begged to be spared all cere-
mony; begged to be lodged in Monbijou, the Queen's
little Garden-Palace, with river and trees round it,
where he hoped to be quietest. Monbijou has been
set apart accordingly; the Queen, not in the benignest
humour, sweeping all her crystals and brittle things
away; knowing the manners of the Muscovites. Nor
in the way of ceremony was there much: King and
? 27th Jane 1709.
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? 190 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book IT.
* 1719
Queen drove-out to meet him; rampart-guns gave three
big salvoes, as the Czarish Majesty stept forth. "I am
glad to see you, my Brother Friedrich," said Peter, in
German, his only intelligible language; shaking hands
with the Brother Majesty, in a cordial human manner.
The Queen he, still more cordially, "would have kissed;"
but this she evaded, in some graceful, effective way.
As to the Czarina, -- who, for obstetric and other
reasons, of no moment to us, had staid in Wesel all
the time he was in France, -- she followed him now
at two-days distance; not along with him, as Wilhel-
mina has it . Wilhelmina says, she kissed the Queen's
hand, and again and again kissed it; begged to present
her Ladies, -- "about four-hundred so-called Ladies,
who were of her Suite. " -- Surely not so many as
Four-hundred, you too-witty Princess? "Mere German
"serving-maids for most part," says the witty Princess;
"Ladies when there is occasion, then acting as chamber-
"maids, cooks, washerwomen, when that is over. "
Queen Sophie was averse to salute these creatures;
but the Czarina Catherine making reprisals upon our
Margravines, and the King looking painfully earnest in
it, she prevailed upon herself. Was there ever seen
such a travelling tagraggery of a Sovereign Court be-
fore? "Several of these creatures" (prcsque toutes,
says the exaggerative Princess) "had, in their arms, a
"baby in rich dress; and if you asked, 'Is that yours,
"then? ' they answered, making salaams in Russian
"style, 'The Czar did me the honour (m'a fait Vhonneur
"de me faire cet enfant)! '" --
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? CHAP. TO. ] TRANSIT OP CZAR PETER. 191
1717.
Which statement, if we deduct the due 25 per-cent,
is probably not mythic, after all. A day or two ago,
the Czar had been at Magdeburg, on his way hither,
intent upon inspecting matters there; and the Official
Gentlemen, -- President Cocceji (afterwards a very
celebrated man) at the head of them, -- waited on the
Czar, to do what was needful. On entering, with the
proper Address or complimentary Harangue, they found
his Czarish Majesty "standing between two Russian
Ladies," clearly Ladies of the above sort; for they
stood close by him, one of his arms was round the
neck of each, and his hands amused themselves by
taking liberties in that posture, all the time Cocceji
spoke. Nay, even this was as nothing among the
Magdeburg phenomena. Next day, for instance, there
appeared in the audience-chamber a certain Serene high-
pacing Duke of Mecklenburg, with his Duchess; -- thrice-
unfortunate Duke, of whom we shall too often hear again;
who after some adventures, under Charles XII. first of
all, and then under the enemies of Charles, had, about
a year ago, after divorcing his first Wife, married a
Niece of Peter's: -- Duke and Duchess arrive now,
by order or gracious invitation of their Sovereign Uncle,
to accompany him in those parts; and are announced
to an eager Czar, giving audience to his select Magde-
burg public. At sight of which most desirable Duchess
and Brother's Daughter, how Peter started up, satyr-
like, clasping her in his arms, and snatching her into
an inner room, with the door left ajar, and there -- It
is too Samoiedic for human speech; and would excel
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? 192 friedrich's apprenticeship, first STAGE. [BOOK IT.
'1713-1723.
belief, were not the testimony so strong. * A Duke of
Mecklenburg, it would appear, who may count himself
the Non-plus-ultra of Husbands, in that epoch; -- as
among Sovereign Rulers, too, in a small or great way,
he seeks his fellow for ill luck!
Duke and Duchess accompanied the Czar to Berlin,
where Wilhelmina mentions them, as presentees; part
of these "four-hundred" anomalies. They took the
Czar home with them to Mecklenburg: where indeed
some Russian Regiments of his, left here on their return
from Denmark, had been very useful in coercing the
rebellious Rittershaft (Knightage, or Landed-Gentry) of
this Duke, -- till at length the general outcry, and
voice of the Reich itself, had ordered the said Regi-
ments to get on march again, and take themselves
away. ** For all is rebellion, passive-rebellion, in Mecklen-
burg; taxes being so indispensable; and the Knights
so disinclined; and this Duke a Sovereign, -- such as
we may construe from his quarrelling with almost every-
body, and his not quarrelling with an Uncle Peter of
that kind. *** His troubles as Sovereign Duke, his flights
to Dantzig, oustings, returns, law-pleadings and foolish
confusions, lasted all his life, thirty years to come; and
were bequeathed as a sorrowful legacy to Posterity and
* PSUnltl (Memoiren, Ii. 95) givesFrledrichWilhelm as voucher, "who
used to relate it as from eye-and-ear witnesses. "
? ? Tbe last of them, "July 1717;' two months ago. (Michaells, Ii. 418. )
? ? ? One poor hint, on his behalf, let us not omit: "Wife quitted him in 1719, and lived at Moscow afterwards! " (General Mannsteln: Memoirt of
ftuttia, London, 1770, p. 27 n. )
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? CHAP, vn. ]
193
TRANSIT OF CZAE PETER.
1717.
the neighbouring Countries. Voltaire says, the Czar
wished to buy his Duchy from him. * And truly, for
this wretched Duke, it would have been good to sell it
at any price: but there were other words than his to
such a bargain, had it ever been seriously meditated.
By this extraordinary Duchess, he becomes Father
(real or putative) of a certain Princess, whom we may
hear of; and through her again is Grandfather of an
unfortunate Russian Prince, much bruited about, as
"the murdered Iwan," in subsequent times. With such
a Duke and Duchess let our acquaintance be the mini-
mum of what necessity compels.
Wilhelmina goes by hearsay hitherto; and, it is
to be hoped, had heard nothing of these Magdeburg-
Mecklenburg phenomena; but after the Czarina's arrival,
the little creature saw with her own eyes:
"Next day," that is Wednesday22d, "the Czar and his
"Spouse came to return the Queen's visit; and I saw the Court
"myself. " Palace Grand-Apartments; Queen advancing a
due length, even to the outer guard-room; giving the Czarina
her right hand, and leading her into her audience-chamber in
that distinguished manner: King and Czar followed close; --
and here it was thatWilhelmina's personal experiences began.
"The Czar at once recognised me, having seen me before five
"years ago" (March 1713). "He caught me in his arms; fell
"to kissing me, like to flay the skin off my face. I boxed his
"ears, sprawled, and struggled with all my strength; saying
"I would not allow such familiarities, and that he was dis-
"honouring me. He laughed greatly at this idea; made ? Ubi supra, uxl. 414.
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. II. 13
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? 194 frtedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1713-1723.
"peace, and talked a long time with me. I had got my lesson:
"I spoke of his fleet and his conquests; -- which charmed him
"so much, that he said more than once to the Czarina, 'If he
"could have a child like me, he would willingly give one of his
"Provinces in exchange. ' The Czarina also caressed me a
"good deal. The Queen" (Mamma) "and she placed them-
"selves under the dais, each in an arm-chair" of proper
dignity; "I was at the Queen's side, and the Princesses of the
"Blood," Margravines above spoken of, "were opposite to
"her," -- all in a standing posture, as is proper.
"The Czarina was a little stumpy body, very brown, and
"had neither air nor grace; you needed only look at her, to
"guess her low extraction. " It is no secret, she had been a
kitchen-wench in her Lithuanian native country; afterwards
a female of the kind called unfortunate, under several figures:
however, she saved the Czar once, by her ready-wit and
courage, from a devouring Turkish Difficulty, and he made
her fortunate and a Czarina, to sit under the dais as now.
"With her huddle of clothes, she looked for all the world like
"a German Playactress; her dress, you would have said, had
"been bought at a second-hand shop; all was out of fashion,
"all was loaded with silver and greasy dirt. The front of her
"bodice she had ornamented with jewels in a very singular
"pattern: A double-eagle in embroidery, and the plumes of it
''set with poor little diamonds, of the smallest possible carat,
"and very ill mounted. All along the facing of her gown were
"Orders and little things of metal; a dozen Orders, and as
"many Portraits of saints, of relics and the like; so that when
"she walked, it was with a jingling, as if you heard a mule
"with bells to its harness. " -- Poor little Czarina; shifty nut-
brown fellow-creature, strangely chased-about from the bot-
tom to the top of this world; it is evident she does not succeed
at Queen Sophie Dorothee's Court! --
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? CHAP. vII. J TrANSIT OF CZAR PETER. 195
1717.
"The Czar, on the other hand, was very tall, and might be
'1 called handsome," continues Wilhelmina: "hiscountenance
"was beautiful, but had something of savage in it which put
"you in fear. " Partly a kind of Milton's-Devil physiognomy?
The Portraits give it rather so. Archangel not quite ruined,
yet in sadly ruinous condition; its heroism so bemired, -- with
a turn for strong-drink, too, at times! A physiognomy to make
one reflect. "His dress was of sailor fashion, coat altogether
"plain. "
"The Czarina, who spoke German very ill herself, and did
"not understand well what the Queen said, beckoned to her
"Fool to come near," -- a poor female creature, who had once
been a Princess Galitzin, but having got into mischief, had
been excused to the Czar by her high relations as mad, and
saved from death or Siberia, into her present strange harbour
of refuge. With her the Czarina talked in unknown Russ,
evidently "laughing much and loud," till Supper was an-
nounced.
"At table," continues Wilhelmina, "the Czar placed him-
"self beside the Queen. It is understood this Prince was at-
"tempted with poison in his youth, and that something of it
"had settled on his nerves ever after. One thing is certain,
"there took him very often a sort of convulsion, like Tic orSt. -
''Vitus, which it was beyond his power to control. That hap-
pened at table now. He got into contortions, gesticulations;
1'and as the knife was in his hand, and went dancing about
"within armslength of the Queen, it frightened her, and she
"motioned several times to rise. The Czar begged her not to
"mind, for he would do her no ill; at the same time he took
"her by the hand, which he grasped with such violence that
"the Queen was forced to shriek-out. This set him heartily
"laughing; saying she had not bones of so hard a texture as
"his Catherine's. Supper done, a grand Ball had been got
13*
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?
This Siege of Stralsund, the last military scene of
Charles XII. , and the first ever practically heard-of by
our little Fritz, who is now getting into his fourth year,
and must have thought a great deal about it in his
little head, -- Papa and even Mamma being absent on
it, and such a marching and rumouring going on all
round him, -- proved to be otherwise of some im-
portance to little Fritz.
Most of his Tutors were picked-up by the careful
Papa in this Stralsund business. Duhan de Jandun, a
young French gentleman, family-tutor to General Count
Dohna (a cousin of our Minister Dohna's), but fonder
of fighting than of teaching grammar; whom Friedrich Wilhelm found doing soldier's work in the trenches,
and liked the ways of; he, as the foundation-stone of
tutorage, is to be first mentioned. And then Count
Fink von Finkenstein, a distinguished veteran, high in
command (of whose qualities as Head-Tutor, or occa-
sional travelling-guardian, Friedrich Wilhelm had ex-
perience in his own young days*); and Lieutenant-
? Biogrophisches Lexikon oiler Heldcn und WlUalrpmuuen, welche sieh
in Preuuitchen Dienstm berUhmt gemacht haben (4vola. Berlin, 1788), 1. 418,
? Finkenstein. -- A praiseworthy, modest, highly correct Book, of its kind;
which we shall, in future, call MiUtair-Lexikon. when referring to it.
CHAPTER VI.
THE LITTLE DRUMMER.
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? CRAP. vI. ]
179
THE LITTLE DKTJMMER.
1715.
Colonel Kalkstein, a prisoner-of-war from the Swedish
side, whom Friedrich Wilhelm, judging well of him,
adopts into his own service with this view: these Three
come all from Stralsund Siege; and were of vital mo-
ment to our little Fritz in the subsequent time. Colonel
Seckendorf, again, who had a command in the Four-
thousand Saxons here, and refreshed into intimacy a
transient old acquaintance with Friedrich Wilhelm, --
is not he too of terrible importance to Fritz and him?
As we shall see in time! --
For the rest, here is another little incident. We
said it had been a disappointment to Papa that his
little Fritz showed almost no appetite for soldiering,
but found other sights more interesting to him than the
drill-ground. Sympathise, then, with the earnest Papa,
as he returns home one afternoon, -- date not given,
but to all appearance, of that year 1715, when there
was such war-rumouring, and marching towards Stral-
sund; -- and found the little Fritz, with Wilhelmina
looking over him, strutting about, and assiduously
beating a little drum.
The paternal heart ran-over with glad fondness, in-
voking Heaven to confirm the omen. Mother was told
of it; the phenomenon was talked of, -- beautifullest, hopefullest of little drummers. Painter Pesne, a French
Immigrant, or Importee, of the last reign, a man of
great skill with his brush, whom History yet thanks
on several occasions, was sent for; or he heard of the
incident, and volunteered his services. A Portrait of
12*
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? 180 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
little Fritz drumming, with Wilhelmina looking on; to
which, probably for the sake of colour and pictorial
effect, a Blackamoor, aside with tray in hand, grinning
approbation, has been added, -- was sketched, and
dextrously worked-out in oil, by Painter Pesne. Pic-
ture approved by mankind there and then. And it
still hangs on the wall, in a perfect state in Char-
lottenburg Palace; where the judicious tourist may
see it without difficulty, and institute reflections on it.
A really graceful little Picture; and certainly, to
Prussian men, not without weight of meaning. Nor
perhaps to Picture-Collectors and Cognoscenti generally,
of whatever country, -- if they could forget, for a mo-
ment, the coreggiosity of Coreggio, and the learned
babble of the Sale-room and varnishing Auctioneer;
and think, "Why it is, probably, that Pictures exist
in this world, and to what end the divine art of Paint-
ing was bestowed, by the earnest gods, upon poor
mankind? " I could advise it, once, for a little! Flaying
of Saint Bartholomew, Rape of Europa, Rape of the
Sabines, Piping and Amours of goat-footed Pan, Ro-
mulus suckled by the Wolf: all this, and much else
of fabulous, distant, unimportant, not to say impos-
sible, ugly and unworthy, shall pass without undue
severity of criticism, in a Household of such opulence
as ours, where much goes to waste, and where things
are not on an earnest footing for this long while past!
As Created Objects, or as Phantasms of such, pictorially
done, all this shall have much worth, or shall have
little. But I say, Here withal is one not phantasmal;
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? CHAP. vI. ] THE LITTLE DBUMMEK. 181
1716.
of indisputable certainty, homegrown, just commencing
business, who carried it far!
Fritz is still, if not in "long-clothes," at least in
longish and flowing clothes, of the petticoat sort, which
look as of dark-blue velvet, very simple, pretty and
appropriate; in a cap of the same; has a short raven's
feather in the cap; and looks up, with a face and eyes
full of beautiful vivacity and child's enthusiasm, one
of the beautifullest little figures, while the little drum
responds to his bits of drum-sticks. Sister Wilhelmina,
taller by some three years, looks on in pretty stooping
attitude, and with a graver smile. Blackamoor, and
room-furniture elegant enough; and finally the figure of
a grenadier, on guard, seen far off through an open
window, -- make-up the background.
We have Engravings of this Picture; which are of
clumsy poor quality, and misrepresent it much: an ex-
cellent Copy in oil, what might be called almost a fac-
simile and the perfection of a Copy, is now (1854) in
Lord Ashburton's Collection here in England. In the
Berlin Galleries, -- which are made-up, like other
Galleries, of goat-footed Pan, Europa's Bull, Romulus's She-Wolf, and the coreggiosity of Coreggio; and con-
tain, for instance, no Portrait of Friedrich the Great;
no Likenesses at all, or next to none at all, of the
noble series of Human Realities, or of any part of
them, who have sprung not from the idle brains of
dreaming Dilettanti, but from the Head of God Almighty,
to make this poor authentic Earth a little memorable
for us, and to do a little work that may be eternal
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? 182 fkiedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1713-1723.
there: -- in those expensive Halls of "High Art" at
Berlin, there were, to my experience, few Pictures more
agreeable than this of Pesne's. Welcome, like one tiny
islet of Reality amid the shoreless sea of Phantasms, to
the reflective mind, seriously loving and seeking what
is worthy and memorable, seriously hating and avoiding
what is the reverse, and intent not to play the dilettante
in this world.
The same Pesne, an excellent Artist, has painted
Friedrich as Prince-Royal: a beautiful young man; with
moi'st-looking enthusiastic eyes of extraordinary brilli-
ancy, smooth oval face; considerably resembling his
Mother. After which period, authentic Pictures of
Friedrich are sought-for to little purpose. For, it seems,
he never sat to any Painter, in his reigning days; and
the Prussian Chodowiecki* Saxon Graff, English Cun-
ningham, had to pick-up his physiognomy from the
distance, intermittently, as they could. Nor is Rauch's
grand equestrian Sculpture a thing to be believed, or
perhaps pretending much to be so. The commonly-
received Portrait of Friedrich, which all German limners
can draw at once, -- the cocked-hat, big eyes and
alert air, reminding you of some uncommonly brisk
Invalid Drill-sergeant or Greenwich Pensioner, as much
as of a Royal Hero, -- is nothing but a general extract
and average of all the faces of Friedrich, such as has
been tacitly agreed upon; and is definable as a received
? Pronounce Kodov-ycttki; -- and endeavour to make some acquaint-
ance with this 'Prussian Hogarth,' who has real worth and originality.
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? CHAP. vI. l THE LITTLE DRUMMER. 183
1716.
pictorial-myth, by no means as a fact, or credible re-
semblance of life.
But enough now of Pictures. This of the Little
Drummer, the painting and the thing painted which
remain to us, may be taken as Friedrich's first ap-
pearance on the stage of the world; and welcomed ac-
cordingly. It is one of the very few visualities or de-
finite certainties we can lay hold of, in those young
years of his, and bring conclusively home to our ima-
gination, out of the waste Prussian dustclouds of unin-
structive garrulity which pretend to record them for us.
Whether it came into existence as a shadowy emana-
tion from the Stralsund Expedition, can only be
matter of conjecture. To judge by size, these figu-
res must have been painted about the year 1715; Fritz
some three or four years old, his sister Wilhelmina seven.
It remains only to be intimated, that Friedrich Wil-
helm, for his part, had got all he claimed from this
Expedition: namely, Stettin with the dependent Towns,
and quietness in Pommern. Stettin was, from of
old, the capital of his own part of Pommern; thrown-
in along with the other part of Pommern, and given
to Sweden (from sheer necessity, it was avowed), at
the Peace of Westphalia, sixty years ago or more: --
and now, by good chance, it has come back. Wait
another hundred years, and perhaps Swedish Pommern
altogether will come back! But from all this Fried-
rich Wilhelm is still far. Stettin and quiet are all he
dreams of demanding there.
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? 184 fkiedkich's apprenticeship, fikst stage, [book Iv.
'1713-1723.
Stralsund he did not reckon his; left it with the
Danes, to hold in pawn till some general Treaty. Nor
was there farther outbreak of war in those regions;
though actual Treaty of Peace did not come till 1720,
and make matters sure. It was the new Queen of
Sweden, Ulrique Eleonora (Charles's younger Sister,
wedded to the young Landgraf of Hessen-Cassel), --
much aided by an English Envoy, -- who made this
Peace with Friedrich Wilhelm. A young English
Envoy, called Lord Carteret, was very helpful in
this matter; one of his first feats in the diplomatic
world. For which Peace* Friedrich Wilhelm was so
thankful, good pacific armed-man, that, happening
to have a Daughter born to him just about that
time, he gave the little creature her Swedish Ma-
jesty's name; a new "Ulrique," who grew to proper
stature, and became notable in Sweden, herself, by
and by. **
? Stockholm, 21st January 1720: in Mauvillon (1. 380-417) the Docu-
ment itself at large.
? ? Louisa Ulrique, born 24th July 1720; Queen of Sweden in time coming.
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? CHAP. TO. ]
185
TRANSIT OF CZAR PETER.
1717.
CHAPTEK VII.
TRANSIT OF CZAR PETER.
In the autumn of 1717, Peter the Great, coming
home from his celebrated French journey, paid Fried-
rich Wilhelm a visit; and passed four days at Ber-
lin. Of which let us give one glimpse, if we can with
brevity.
Friedrich Wilhelm and the Czar, like in several
points, though so dissimilar in others, had always a
certain regard for one another; and at this time, they
had been brought into closer intercourse by their com-
mon peril from Charles XII. , ever since that Stral-
sund business. The peril was real, especially with
a Gortz and Alberoni putting hand to it; and the
alarm, the rumour, and uncertainty were great in those
years. The wounded Lion driven indignant into his
lair, with Plotting Artists now operating upon the rage
of the noble animal: who knows what spring he will
next take?
George I. had a fleet cruising in the Baltic Sounds,
and again a fleet; -- paying, in that oblique way, for
Bremen and Verden; which were got, otherwise, such
a bargain to his Hanover. Czar Peter had marched
an Army into Denmark; united Russians and Danes
count Fifty-thousand there; for a conjunct invasion,
and probable destruction, of Sweden: but that came
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? 186 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1718-1723.
to nothing; Charles looking across npon it too dan-
gerously, "visible in clear weather over from the Danish
side. "* So Peter's troops have gone home again;
Denmark too glad to get them away. Perhaps they
would have staid in Denmark altogether; much liking
the green pastures and convenient situation, -- had not
Admiral Norris with his cannon been there! Per-
haps? And the Pretender is coming again, they say?
And who knows what is coming? -- How Gortz, in
about a year hence, was laid hold of, and let go, and
then ultimately tried and beheaded (once his lion Ma-
ster was disposed of),** how, Ambassador Cellamare,
and the Spanish part of the Plot, having been dis-
covered in Paris, Cardinal Alberoni at Madrid was dis-
covered, and the whole mystery laid bare: all that
mad business, of bringing the Pretender into England,
throwing-out George I. , throwing-out the Eegent d'Or-
leans, and much more, -- is now sunk silent enough,
not worthy of reawakening; but it was then a most
loud matter; filling the European Courts, and especially
that of Berlin, with rumours and apprehensions. No
wonder Friedrich Wilhelm was grateful for that Swe-
dish Peace of his, and named his little Daughter
"Ulricpe" in honour of it. Tumultuous cloud-world of
Lapland Witchcraft had ceased hereby, and daylight
had begun: old women (or old Cardinals) riding through
the sky, on broomsticks, to meet Satan, where now
? 1716: Fassmann, p. 171.
19th March 1719: see KBhler (M&nzbelustigtmgen, vl. 238-240 , xvil.
297-804) for many curious details of GBrtz and his end. . ,
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? CHAP. TO. ] TRANSIT OF CZAR PETER. 187
1717.
are they? The fact still dimly perceptible is, Eu-
rope, thanks to that pair of Black-Artists, Gortz and
Alberoni, not to mention Law the Finance-Wizard
and his French incantations, had been kept generally,
for those three or four years past, in the state of
a Haunted House; riotous Goblins, of unknown dire
intent, walking now in this apartment of it, now
in that; no rest anywhere for the perturbed inha-
bitants.
As to Friedrich Wilhelm, his plan, in 1717, as all
along in this bewitched state of matters, was: To fortify
his Frontier Towns; Memel, Wesel, to the right and
left; especially to fortify Stettin, his new acquisition;
-- and to put his Army, and his Treasury (or Army-
Chest), more and more in order. In that way we shall
better meet whatever goblins there may be, thinks
Friedrich Wilhelm. Count Lottum, hero of the Prus-
sians at Malplaquet, is doing his scientific uttermost in
Stettin and those Frontier Towns. For the rest, his
Majesty, invited by the Czar and France, has been
found willing to make paction with them, as he is
with all pacific neighbours. In fact, the Czar and
he had their private Conference, at Havelberg, last
year, -- Havelberg, some sixty miles from Berlin, on
the road towards Denmark, as Peter was passing that
way; -- ample Conference of five days;* -- privately
agreeing there, about many points conducive to tran-
quillity.
And it was on that same errand, though ostensibly
?
28-28th November 1716: Fassmann, p. 172.
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? 188 freedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1713-1723.
to look after Art and the higher forms of Civilisation
so-called, that Peter had been to France on this cele-
brated occasion of 1717. We know he saw much Art
withal; saw Marly, Trianon and the grandeurs and
politenesses; -- saw, among other things "a Medal of
"himself fall accidentally at his feet;" polite Medal
"just getting struck in the Mint, with a Rising Sun on
"it; and the motto, vires acquirit etjndo. "* Osten-
sibly it was to see cette belle France; but privately
withal the Czar wished to make his bargain, with the
Regent d'Orle'ans, as to these goblins walking in the
Northern and Southern parts, and what was to be
done with them. And the result has been, the Czar,
Friedrich Wilhelm and the said Regent have just con-
cluded an Agreement;** undertaking, in general, that
the goblins shall be well watched; that they Three
will stand-by one another in watching them. And
now the Czar will visit Berlin in passing homewards
again. That is the position of affairs, when he pays
this visit. Peter had been in Berlin more than once
before; but almost always in a succinct rapid con-
dition; never with his "Court" about him till now.
This is his last, and by far his greatest, appearance in
Berlin.
Such a transit, of the Barbaric semi-fabulous Sove-
reignties, could not but be wonderful to everybody
? Voltaire: (Emrcs Completes (llistoire in Czar Pierre), xxxl. 336. --
KBhler, in ilUnzbelusligtmgeu, xvii. 386-392 (this very Medal the subject),
gives authentic account, day by day, of the Czar's visit there,
? ? 4th August 1717: Buchholz, i. 43.
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? CHAP. Vft. ] TRANSIT OF CZAR PETER. 189
1717.
there. It evidently struck Wilhelmina's fancy, now in
her ninth year, very much. What her little Brother
did in it, or thought of it, I nowhere find hinted; con-
clude only that it would remain in his head too, visible
occasionally to the end of his life. Wilhelmina's Nar-
rative, very loose, dateless or misdated, plainly wrong
in various particulars, has still its value for us: human
eyes, even a child's, are worth something, in comparison
to human want-of-eyes, which is too frequent in History-
books and elsewhere! -- Czar Peter is now fifty-five,
his Czarina Catherine about thirty-three. It was in
1698 that he first passed this way, going towards
Sardam and practical Shipbuilding: within which
twenty years, what a spell of work done! Victory of
Pultawa is eight years behind him;* victories in many
kinds are behind him: by this time he is to be reckoned
a triumphant Czar; and is certainly the strangest mix-
ture of heroic virtue and brutish Samoiedic savagery
the world at any time had.
It was Sunday, 19th September 1717, when the
Czar arrived in Berlin. Being already sated with
scenic parades, he had begged to be spared all cere-
mony; begged to be lodged in Monbijou, the Queen's
little Garden-Palace, with river and trees round it,
where he hoped to be quietest. Monbijou has been
set apart accordingly; the Queen, not in the benignest
humour, sweeping all her crystals and brittle things
away; knowing the manners of the Muscovites. Nor
in the way of ceremony was there much: King and
? 27th Jane 1709.
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? 190 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book IT.
* 1719
Queen drove-out to meet him; rampart-guns gave three
big salvoes, as the Czarish Majesty stept forth. "I am
glad to see you, my Brother Friedrich," said Peter, in
German, his only intelligible language; shaking hands
with the Brother Majesty, in a cordial human manner.
The Queen he, still more cordially, "would have kissed;"
but this she evaded, in some graceful, effective way.
As to the Czarina, -- who, for obstetric and other
reasons, of no moment to us, had staid in Wesel all
the time he was in France, -- she followed him now
at two-days distance; not along with him, as Wilhel-
mina has it . Wilhelmina says, she kissed the Queen's
hand, and again and again kissed it; begged to present
her Ladies, -- "about four-hundred so-called Ladies,
who were of her Suite. " -- Surely not so many as
Four-hundred, you too-witty Princess? "Mere German
"serving-maids for most part," says the witty Princess;
"Ladies when there is occasion, then acting as chamber-
"maids, cooks, washerwomen, when that is over. "
Queen Sophie was averse to salute these creatures;
but the Czarina Catherine making reprisals upon our
Margravines, and the King looking painfully earnest in
it, she prevailed upon herself. Was there ever seen
such a travelling tagraggery of a Sovereign Court be-
fore? "Several of these creatures" (prcsque toutes,
says the exaggerative Princess) "had, in their arms, a
"baby in rich dress; and if you asked, 'Is that yours,
"then? ' they answered, making salaams in Russian
"style, 'The Czar did me the honour (m'a fait Vhonneur
"de me faire cet enfant)! '" --
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? CHAP. TO. ] TRANSIT OP CZAR PETER. 191
1717.
Which statement, if we deduct the due 25 per-cent,
is probably not mythic, after all. A day or two ago,
the Czar had been at Magdeburg, on his way hither,
intent upon inspecting matters there; and the Official
Gentlemen, -- President Cocceji (afterwards a very
celebrated man) at the head of them, -- waited on the
Czar, to do what was needful. On entering, with the
proper Address or complimentary Harangue, they found
his Czarish Majesty "standing between two Russian
Ladies," clearly Ladies of the above sort; for they
stood close by him, one of his arms was round the
neck of each, and his hands amused themselves by
taking liberties in that posture, all the time Cocceji
spoke. Nay, even this was as nothing among the
Magdeburg phenomena. Next day, for instance, there
appeared in the audience-chamber a certain Serene high-
pacing Duke of Mecklenburg, with his Duchess; -- thrice-
unfortunate Duke, of whom we shall too often hear again;
who after some adventures, under Charles XII. first of
all, and then under the enemies of Charles, had, about
a year ago, after divorcing his first Wife, married a
Niece of Peter's: -- Duke and Duchess arrive now,
by order or gracious invitation of their Sovereign Uncle,
to accompany him in those parts; and are announced
to an eager Czar, giving audience to his select Magde-
burg public. At sight of which most desirable Duchess
and Brother's Daughter, how Peter started up, satyr-
like, clasping her in his arms, and snatching her into
an inner room, with the door left ajar, and there -- It
is too Samoiedic for human speech; and would excel
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? 192 friedrich's apprenticeship, first STAGE. [BOOK IT.
'1713-1723.
belief, were not the testimony so strong. * A Duke of
Mecklenburg, it would appear, who may count himself
the Non-plus-ultra of Husbands, in that epoch; -- as
among Sovereign Rulers, too, in a small or great way,
he seeks his fellow for ill luck!
Duke and Duchess accompanied the Czar to Berlin,
where Wilhelmina mentions them, as presentees; part
of these "four-hundred" anomalies. They took the
Czar home with them to Mecklenburg: where indeed
some Russian Regiments of his, left here on their return
from Denmark, had been very useful in coercing the
rebellious Rittershaft (Knightage, or Landed-Gentry) of
this Duke, -- till at length the general outcry, and
voice of the Reich itself, had ordered the said Regi-
ments to get on march again, and take themselves
away. ** For all is rebellion, passive-rebellion, in Mecklen-
burg; taxes being so indispensable; and the Knights
so disinclined; and this Duke a Sovereign, -- such as
we may construe from his quarrelling with almost every-
body, and his not quarrelling with an Uncle Peter of
that kind. *** His troubles as Sovereign Duke, his flights
to Dantzig, oustings, returns, law-pleadings and foolish
confusions, lasted all his life, thirty years to come; and
were bequeathed as a sorrowful legacy to Posterity and
* PSUnltl (Memoiren, Ii. 95) givesFrledrichWilhelm as voucher, "who
used to relate it as from eye-and-ear witnesses. "
? ? Tbe last of them, "July 1717;' two months ago. (Michaells, Ii. 418. )
? ? ? One poor hint, on his behalf, let us not omit: "Wife quitted him in 1719, and lived at Moscow afterwards! " (General Mannsteln: Memoirt of
ftuttia, London, 1770, p. 27 n. )
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? CHAP, vn. ]
193
TRANSIT OF CZAE PETER.
1717.
the neighbouring Countries. Voltaire says, the Czar
wished to buy his Duchy from him. * And truly, for
this wretched Duke, it would have been good to sell it
at any price: but there were other words than his to
such a bargain, had it ever been seriously meditated.
By this extraordinary Duchess, he becomes Father
(real or putative) of a certain Princess, whom we may
hear of; and through her again is Grandfather of an
unfortunate Russian Prince, much bruited about, as
"the murdered Iwan," in subsequent times. With such
a Duke and Duchess let our acquaintance be the mini-
mum of what necessity compels.
Wilhelmina goes by hearsay hitherto; and, it is
to be hoped, had heard nothing of these Magdeburg-
Mecklenburg phenomena; but after the Czarina's arrival,
the little creature saw with her own eyes:
"Next day," that is Wednesday22d, "the Czar and his
"Spouse came to return the Queen's visit; and I saw the Court
"myself. " Palace Grand-Apartments; Queen advancing a
due length, even to the outer guard-room; giving the Czarina
her right hand, and leading her into her audience-chamber in
that distinguished manner: King and Czar followed close; --
and here it was thatWilhelmina's personal experiences began.
"The Czar at once recognised me, having seen me before five
"years ago" (March 1713). "He caught me in his arms; fell
"to kissing me, like to flay the skin off my face. I boxed his
"ears, sprawled, and struggled with all my strength; saying
"I would not allow such familiarities, and that he was dis-
"honouring me. He laughed greatly at this idea; made ? Ubi supra, uxl. 414.
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. II. 13
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? 194 frtedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1713-1723.
"peace, and talked a long time with me. I had got my lesson:
"I spoke of his fleet and his conquests; -- which charmed him
"so much, that he said more than once to the Czarina, 'If he
"could have a child like me, he would willingly give one of his
"Provinces in exchange. ' The Czarina also caressed me a
"good deal. The Queen" (Mamma) "and she placed them-
"selves under the dais, each in an arm-chair" of proper
dignity; "I was at the Queen's side, and the Princesses of the
"Blood," Margravines above spoken of, "were opposite to
"her," -- all in a standing posture, as is proper.
"The Czarina was a little stumpy body, very brown, and
"had neither air nor grace; you needed only look at her, to
"guess her low extraction. " It is no secret, she had been a
kitchen-wench in her Lithuanian native country; afterwards
a female of the kind called unfortunate, under several figures:
however, she saved the Czar once, by her ready-wit and
courage, from a devouring Turkish Difficulty, and he made
her fortunate and a Czarina, to sit under the dais as now.
"With her huddle of clothes, she looked for all the world like
"a German Playactress; her dress, you would have said, had
"been bought at a second-hand shop; all was out of fashion,
"all was loaded with silver and greasy dirt. The front of her
"bodice she had ornamented with jewels in a very singular
"pattern: A double-eagle in embroidery, and the plumes of it
''set with poor little diamonds, of the smallest possible carat,
"and very ill mounted. All along the facing of her gown were
"Orders and little things of metal; a dozen Orders, and as
"many Portraits of saints, of relics and the like; so that when
"she walked, it was with a jingling, as if you heard a mule
"with bells to its harness. " -- Poor little Czarina; shifty nut-
brown fellow-creature, strangely chased-about from the bot-
tom to the top of this world; it is evident she does not succeed
at Queen Sophie Dorothee's Court! --
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? CHAP. vII. J TrANSIT OF CZAR PETER. 195
1717.
"The Czar, on the other hand, was very tall, and might be
'1 called handsome," continues Wilhelmina: "hiscountenance
"was beautiful, but had something of savage in it which put
"you in fear. " Partly a kind of Milton's-Devil physiognomy?
The Portraits give it rather so. Archangel not quite ruined,
yet in sadly ruinous condition; its heroism so bemired, -- with
a turn for strong-drink, too, at times! A physiognomy to make
one reflect. "His dress was of sailor fashion, coat altogether
"plain. "
"The Czarina, who spoke German very ill herself, and did
"not understand well what the Queen said, beckoned to her
"Fool to come near," -- a poor female creature, who had once
been a Princess Galitzin, but having got into mischief, had
been excused to the Czar by her high relations as mad, and
saved from death or Siberia, into her present strange harbour
of refuge. With her the Czarina talked in unknown Russ,
evidently "laughing much and loud," till Supper was an-
nounced.
"At table," continues Wilhelmina, "the Czar placed him-
"self beside the Queen. It is understood this Prince was at-
"tempted with poison in his youth, and that something of it
"had settled on his nerves ever after. One thing is certain,
"there took him very often a sort of convulsion, like Tic orSt. -
''Vitus, which it was beyond his power to control. That hap-
pened at table now. He got into contortions, gesticulations;
1'and as the knife was in his hand, and went dancing about
"within armslength of the Queen, it frightened her, and she
"motioned several times to rise. The Czar begged her not to
"mind, for he would do her no ill; at the same time he took
"her by the hand, which he grasped with such violence that
"the Queen was forced to shriek-out. This set him heartily
"laughing; saying she had not bones of so hard a texture as
"his Catherine's. Supper done, a grand Ball had been got
13*
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?
