in Prose, the Memoirs of Brandenburg,
coming out as Papers in the Academy from time to
time:* in Verse, very secret as yet, the Palladion ("ex-
quisite Burlesque," think some), the Art of War
(reckoned truly his best Piece in verse): -- and wishes
sometimes he had Voltaire here to perfect him a little.
coming out as Papers in the Academy from time to
time:* in Verse, very secret as yet, the Palladion ("ex-
quisite Burlesque," think some), the Art of War
(reckoned truly his best Piece in verse): -- and wishes
sometimes he had Voltaire here to perfect him a little.
Thomas Carlyle
handle.
net/2027/hvd.
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org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP, in. ] EUROPEAN WAR PALLS DONE. 305
4th-10th Supt. 1749.
"theDevil, in ways not worth specifying, he saw himself,
"November 21st, 1750, flung prostrate suddenly: 'Putrid
"'fever! ' gloom the Doctors ominously to one another: and,
"November30th, the Devil (I am afraid it was he, though
"clad in roseate effulgence, and melodious exceedingly)
"carried him home on those kind terms, as from a Universe
'' all of Opera. 'Wait till 1759, -- till 1789! ' murmured the
"Devil to himself. "
Tragic News that concern us, of Voltaire and
Others.
About two months after those Saxe-Friedrich hospi-
talities at Sans-Souci, Voltaire, writing, late at night,
from the hospitable Palace of Titular Stanislaus, has
these words, to his trusted D'Argental:
I*'Luneville, 4th September 1749. * * "Madame du Chate-
"let, this night, while scribbling over her Newton, felt a little
"twinge; she called a waiting-maid, who had only time to
"hold out herapron, and catch a little Girl, whom they carried
"to its cradle. The Mother arranged her papers, went to
"bed; and the whole of that (tout cela) is sleeping like a
"dormouse, at the hour I write to you. My guardian angels,
"poor I shan't have so easy a delivery of my Catilina"
(my Rome Saved, for the confusion of old Cr^billon and the
cabals) ! f * *
And then, six days later, hear another Witness present
there:
Luniville Palace, 10th September. "For the first three or
"four days, the health of the Mother appeared excellent;
"denoting nothing but the weakness inseparable from her
"situation. The weather was very warm. Milk-fever came,
"which made the heat worse. In spite of remonstrances, she
"would have some iced barley-water; drank a big glass of it;
t (Enures, lxiiv. 57 (Voltaire to d'Argental).
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. VIII. 20
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? 306 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
x 174S-1749.
"-- and some instants after, had great pain in her head;
"followed by other bad symptoms. " Which brought the
Doctor in again, several Doctors, hastily summoned; who,
after difficulties, thought again that all was coming right.
And so, on the sixth night, 10th September, inquiring friends
had left the sick-room hopefully , and gone down to supper,
"the rather as Madame seemed inclined to sleep. There re-
"mained none with her but M. de St. Lambert, one of her
"maids and I. M. de St. Lambert, as soon as the strangers
"were gone, went forward and spoke some moments to her;
"but seeing her sleepy, drew back, and sat chatting with us
"two. Eight or ten minutes after, we heard a kind of rattle
"in the throat, intermixed with hiccoughs: we ran to the bed;
"found her senseless; raised her to a sitting posture, tried
"vinaigrettes, rubbed her feet, knocked into the palms of her
"hands; -- all in vain; she was dead!
"Of course the supper-party burst up, into her room;
"M. le Marquis duChatelet, M. de Voltaire, and the others.
"Profound consternation: to tears, to cries succeeded a
"mournful silence. Voltaire and St. Lambert remained the
"last about her bed. At length Voltaire quitted the room;
"got out by the Grand Entrance, hardly knowing which way
"he went. At the foot of the Outer Stairs, near a sentry's
"box, he fell full length on the pavement. His lackey, who
"was a step or two behind, rushed forward to raise him. At
"that moment came M. de St. Lambert; who had taken the
"same road, and who now hastened to help. M. de Voltaire,
"once on his feet again, and recognising who it was, said,
"through his tears and with the most pathetic accent, 'Ah,
''' mon ami, it is you that have killed her to me! ' -- and then
"suddenly, as if starting awake, with the tone of reproach
"and despair, 'Eh, mon Dieu, Monsieur, de quoi vous avisiez-
"'vous de lui faire un enfant (Good God, Sir, what put it into
"'your head to -- to --)! "'* --
Poor M. de Voltaire; suddenly become widower,
and flung out upon his shifts again, at his time of life!
May now wander, Ishmael-like, whither he will, in this
* Longchamp et Wagnitre, Memoires sur Voltaire, n. 250, 251; -- Long-
champ loquitur.
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? CHAP. III. ] EUROPEAN WAR FALLS DONE. 307
1748-1749.
hard lonesome world. His grief is overwhelming,
mixed with other sharp feelings due on the matter;
but does not last very long, in that poignant form. He
will turn up on us, in his new capacity of single-man,
again brilliant enough, within year and day.
Last Autumn, September 1748, Wilhelmina's one
Daughter, one child, was wedded; to that young Durch-
laucht of Wurtemberg, whom we saw gallanting the
little girl, to Wilhelmina's amusement, some years ago.
About the wedding, nothing; nor about the wedded
life, what would have been more curious: -- no Wil-
helmina now to tell us anything; not even whether
Mamma the Improper Duchess was there. From Berlin,
the Two youngest Princes, Henri and Ferdinand, at-
tended at Baireuth; -- Mannstein, our old Russian
friend, now Prussian again, escorting them. * The King,
too busy, I suppose, with Silesian Reviews and the
like, sends his best wishes, -- for indeed the Match
was of his sanctioning and advising; -- though his
wishes proved mere disappointment in the sequel.
Friedrich got no "furtherance in the Swabian Franco-
nian Circles," or favour anywhere, by means of this
Durchlaucht; in the end, far the reverse! -- In a
word, the happy couple rolled away to Wurtemberg
(September 26th, 1748); he twenty, she sixteen, poor
young creatures; and in years following, became un-
happy to a degree.
There was but one child, and it soon died. The
young Serene Lady was of airy high spirit; graceful,
clever, good too, they said; perhaps a thought too
proud: -- but as for her Reigning Duke, there was
* Seyfarth, n. 76.
20*
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? 308
THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. " [book xvr.
1748-1749.
seldom seen so lurid a Serenity; and it was difficult to
live beside him. A most arbitrary Herr, with glooms
and whims; dim-eyed, ambitious, voracious, and the
temper of an angry mule, -- very fit to have been
haltered, in a judicious manner, instead of being set to
halter others! Enough, in six or seven years' time, the
bright Pair found itself grown thunderous, opaque
beyond description; and (in 1759) had to split asunder
for good. "Owing to the reigning Duke's behaviour,"
said everybody. "Has behaved so, I would run him
through the body, if we met! " said his own Brother
once: -- Brother Friedrich Eugen, a Prussian General
by that time, whom we shall hear of. * What thoughts for our dear Wilhelmina, in her latter
weak years; -- lapped in eternal silence, as so much
else is.
* Prensa, it. 149; Michaelis, m. 451.
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? CHAP. IV. ]
309
FRIEDRICH PRINTING HIS POESIES.
1749-1750.
CHAPTEE IV.
COCCEJI FINISHES THE LAW REFORM; FRIEDRICH IS
PRINTING HIS POESIES.
In these years, Friedrich goes on victoriously with
his Law-Reform; Herculean Cocceji with Assistants,
backed by Friedrich, beneficently conquering Province
after Province to him; -- Kur-Mark, Neu-Mark, Cleve
(all easy, in comparison, after Pommern), and finally
Preussen itself; -- to the joy and profit of the same.
Cocceji's method, so far as the Foreign onlooker can
discern across much haze, seems to be threefold:
1? . Extirpation (painless, were it possible) of the
Pettifogger Species; indeed, of the Attorney Species
altogether: "Seek other employments; disappear, all of
you, from these precincts, under penalty! " The Ad-
vocate himself takes charge of the suit, from first birth
of it; and sees it ended, -- he knows within what limit
of time.
2? . Sifting out of all incompetent Advocates, "Fol-
low that Attorney-Company, you; away! " -- sifting
out all these, and retaining in each Court, with fees
accurately settled, with character stamped sound, or at
least soundest, the number actually needed. In a milder
way, but still more strictly, Judges stupid or otherwise
incompetent are riddled out; able Judges appointed,
and their salaries raised.
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? 310 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
174S>>-1750.
3? . What seems to be Friedrich's own invention,
what in outcome he thinks will be the summary of all
good Law-Procedure: A final Sentence (three "in-
stances" you can have, but the third ends it for you)
within the Year. Good, surely. A justice that intends
to be exact, must front the complicacies in a resolute
piercing manner, and will not be tedious. Nay a jus-
tice that is not moderately swift, -- human hearts
waiting for it, the while, in a cancerous state, instead
of hopefully following their work, -- what, compara-
tively, is the use of its being never so exact! --
Simple enough methods; rough and ready. Needing,
in the execution, clear human eyesight, clear human
honesty, -- which happen to be present here, and
without which, no "method" whatever can be executed
that will really profit.
In the course of 1748, Friedrich, judging by Pom-
mern and the other symptoms that his enterprise was
safe, struck a victorious Medal upon it: "Fridericus
Borussorum Rex" pressing with his sceptre the oblique
Balance to a level posture; with Epigraph, "Emendato Jure. "* And by Newyears-day, 1750, the matter was
in effect completed; and "justice cheap, expeditious,
certain," a fact in all Prussian Lands.
Nay, in 1749-1751, to complete the matter, Coc-
ceji's "Project of a general Law-Code," Projekt des Cor-
poris Juris Fridericiani, came forth in print:** to the
admiration of mankind, at home and abroad; "theFirst
* Letter to Cocceji, accompanying Copy of the medal in Gold, "24th
June 1748" (Seyfarth, n. 67 n. ).
** Halle, 2 Toll. , folio (Preuss, i. 316; see lb. 815 n. , as to the Law Pro-
cedure &c. now settled by Coceeji).
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? CHaP. IT. ] friedrich printing his poesies. 311
1749-1750.
Code attempted since Justinian's time," say they. Pro-
ject translated into all languages, and read in all
countries. A poor mildewed copy of this Codex Fride-
ricianus, -- done at Edinburgh, 1761, not said by
whom; evidently bought at least twice, and mostly
never yet read (nor like being read), -- is known to
me, for years past, in a ghastly manner! Without the
least profit to this present, or to any other Enterprise;
-- though persons of name in Jurisprudence call it
meritorious in their Science; the first real attempt at a
Code in Modern times. But the truth is, this Cocceji
Codex remained a Project merely, never enacted any-
where. It was not till 1773, that Friedrich made
actual attempt to build a Law-Code; and did build one
(the foundation-story of one, for his share, completed
since), in which this of Cocceji had little part. In 1773,
the thing must again be mentioned; the "Second Law-
Reform," as they call it. What we practically know
from this time is, That Prussian Lawsuits, through
Friedrich's Reign, do all terminate, or push at their
utmost for terminating, within one year from birth;
and that Friedrich's fame, as a beneficent Justinian,
rose high in all Countries (strange in Countries that
had thought him a War-scourge and Conquering Hero);
strange, but undeniable;* and that his own People, if
more silently, yet in practice very gladly indeed, wel-
comed his Law-Reform; and, from day to day, enjoyed
the same, -- no doubt with occasional remembrance
who the Donor was.
* See Gentleman's Magazine, u. 215-218 ("May 1750"): eloquent, en-
thusiastic Letter, given there, "ofBarondeSpon to Chancellor D'Aguessau,"
on these inimitable Law Achievements.
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? 312
[book xvi. 1749-1750.
THE TEN TEARS OP PEACE.
Of Friedrich's Literary works, nobody, not even
Friedrich himself, will think it necessary that we say
much. But the fact is, he is doing a great many
things that way!
in Prose, the Memoirs of Brandenburg,
coming out as Papers in the Academy from time to
time:* in Verse, very secret as yet, the Palladion ("ex-
quisite Burlesque," think some), the Art of War
(reckoned truly his best Piece in verse): -- and wishes
sometimes he had Voltaire here to perfect him a little.
This too would be one of the practical charms of
Voltaire. ** For though King Friedrich knows and
remembers always, that these things, especially the
Verse part, are mere amusements in comparison, he
has the creditable wish to do these well; one would not
fantasy ill even on the Flute, if one could help it.
"Why doesn't Voltaire come; as Quantz of the Flute
has done? " Friedrich, now that Voltaire has fallen
widower, renews his pressings, "Why don't you
come? " Patience, your Majesty; Voltaire will come.
Nobody can wish details in this Department: but
there is one thing necessary to be mentioned, That
Friedrich in these years, 1749-1752, has Printers out
at Potsdam, and is Printing, "in beautiful quarto form,
with copperplates," to the extent of twelve copies, the
CEuvres (Poetical, that is) du Philosophe de Sans-Souci.
Only twelve Copies, I have heard; gift of a single
copy indicating that you are among the choicest of the
chosen. Copies have now fallen extremely rare (and
* From 1746 and onward: first published complete (after slight revision
by Voltaire), Berlin, 1751.
** Friedrich's Letter to Algarotti ((Euvres, xvm. 66), "12th September
1749. "
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? CHAP. IV. ] FRIEDRICH PRINTING HIS POESIES. 313
1749-1750.
are not in request at all, with my readers or me): but
there was one Copy which, or the Mis-title of which,
as CEuvre de "Poe'shie" du Roi mon Maitre, became
miraculously famous in a year or two; -- and is still
memorable to us all! On Voltaire's arrival, we shall
hear more of these things. Enough to say at present
that the (Euvres du Philosophe de Sans-Souci: Au Donjon
du Chateau: Avec Privilege d'Apollon, -- "three thinnish
"quarto volumes, all the Poetry then on hand," -- was
finished early in 1750, before Voltaire came. That,
when Voltaire came, a revisal was undertaken, a new
Edition, with Voltaire's corrections and other changes
(total suppression of the Palladion, for one creditable
change): that this Edition was to have been in Two
Volumes; that One, accordingly, rather thicker than
the former sort, was got finished in 1752 (same Title,
only the new Date, and "no Donjon du Chateau this
time"), One Volume in 1752; after which, owing to
the explosions that ensued, no Second came, nor ever
will; -- and that the actual contents of that far-famed
CEuvre de "Poeshie" (number of volumes even) are
points of mystery to me, at this day. *
Friedrich's other employments are multifarious as
those of a Land's Husband (not inferior to his Father
in that respect); and, like the benefits of the diurnal
* Herr Preuss, -- in the Chronological List of Friedrich's Writings fa
useful accurate Piece otherwise), and in two other places where he tries, --
is very indistinct on this of Donjon du Chateau; and it is all but impossible
to ascertain from him, what, in an indisputable manner, the (Euvre de
'Poeshie' may have been. Here are the places for groping, if another
should be induced to try: (Euvres de Frederic, x. (Preface, p. ix. ); ib. xi.
(Preface, p. ix. ); ib. Table Chronologique (in what Volume this is, you
cannot yet say; seems preliminary to a General Index, which is infinitely
wanted, but has not yet appeared to this Editor's aid), p. 14.
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? 314 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [boOKXVI.
1749-1750.
Sun, are to be considered incessant, innumerable and,
-- in result to usward, -- silent also, impossible to
speak of in this place. From the highest pitch of
State-craft (Russian Czarina now fallen plainly hostile,
and needing lynx-eyed diplomacy ever and anon),
down to that of Dredging and Fascine-work (as at
Stettin and elsewhere), of Oder-canals, of Soap-boiler
Companies, and Mulberry-and-Silk Companies; nay of
ordaining Where, and where not, the Crows are to be
shot, and (owing to cattle murrain) No veal to be
killed:* daily comes the tide of great and of small, and
daily the punctual Friedrich keeps abreast of it, -- and
Dryasdust has noted the details, and stuffed them into
blind sacks, -- for forty years.
The Review seasons, I notice, go somewhat as
follows. For Berlin and neighbourhood, May, or per-
haps end of April (weather now bright, and ground
firm); sometimes with considerable pomp ("both Queens
out," and beautiful Female Nobilities, in "twenty-four
green tents"), and often with great complicacy of
manoeuvre. In June, to Magdeburg, round by Cleve;
and home again for some days. July, is Pommern:
onward thence to Schlesien, oftenest in August; Schlesien
the last place, and generally not done with till well on
in September. But we will speak of these things, more
specially, another time. Such "Reviews," for strictness
of inspection civil and military, as probably were not
seen in the world since, -- or before, except in the
case of this King's Father only.
* Seyfarth, n. 71, 83, 81; Preuss, Bucft fur Jedermann. i. 101-109; ftc.
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? CHaP, v. ] STRANGERS OP NOTE COME TO BERLIN. 315
16tn July 1750.
CHAPTER V.
STRANGERS OF NOTE COME TO BERLIN, IN 1750.
British Diplomacies, next to the Russian, cause
some difficulties in those Years: of which more by and
by. Early in 1748, while Aix-la-Chapelle was starting,
Ex-Exchequer Legge came to Berlin; on some obscure
object of a small Patch of Principality, hanging loose
during those Negotiations: "Could not we secure it for
his Royal Highness of Cumberland, thinks your Ma-
jesty? " Ex-Exchequer Legge was here;* got handsome
assurances of a general nature; but no furtherance to-
wards his obscure, completely impracticable object; and
went home in November following, to a new Parlia-
mentary Career.
And the second year after, early in 1750, came
Sir Hanbury Williams, famed London-Wit of Walpole's
circle, on objects which, in the main, were equally
chimerical: "King of the Romans, much wanted;" "No
Damage to your Majesty's Shipping from our British
Privateers;" and the like; -- about which some notice,
and not very much, will be due farther on. Here, in
his own words, is Hanbury's Account of his First
Audience:
* * "On Thursday," 16th July 1750, "I went to Court
"by appointment, at 11 a. m. The King of Prussia arrived
* Coxe's Pelham, i. 431, &c. ; Rodenbeck, pp. 155,160 (first audience,
1st May 1748); -- recalled, 22d November, Aix being over.
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? 316 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
16th July 1750.
"about 12" (at Berlin; King in from Potsdam, for one day);
"and Count Podewils immediately introduced me into the
"Royal closet; when I delivered his Britannic Majesty's
"Letters into the King of Prussia's hands, and made the
"usual compliments to him in the best manner I was able.
"To which nis Prussian Majesty replied, to the best of my
"remembrance, as follows:
"' I have the truest esteem for the King of Britain's person;
"'and I set the highest value on his friendship. I have at
"'different times received essential proofs of it; and I desire
"'you would acquaint the King your Master that I will (sic)
"' never forget them. ' His Prussian Majesty afterwards said
"something with respect to myself, and then asked me
"several questions about indifferent things and persons. He
"seemed to express a great deal of esteem for my Lord
"Chesterfield, and a great deal of kindness for Mr. Villiers,"
useful in the Peace-of-Dresden time; "but did not once
"mention Lord Hyndford or Mr. Legge," -- how singular!
"I was in the closet with his Majesty exactly five minutes
"and a half. My audience done, Prussian Majesty came out
"into the general room, where Foreign Ministers were wait-
"ing. He said, on stepping in, just one word" to the
Austrian Excellency; not even one to the Russian Excellency,
nor to me the Britannic; "conversed with the French,
"Swedish, Danish;" -- happy to be off, which I do not
wonder at; to dine with Mamma at Monbijou, among faces
pleasant to him; and return to his Businesses and Books next
day. *
Witty Excellency Hanbury did not succeed at
Berlin on the "Komish-King Question," or otherwise;
and indeed went off rather in a hurry. But for the
next six or seven years, he puddles about, at a great
rate, in those Northern Courts; giving away a great
deal of money, hatching many futile expensive intrigues
at Petersburg, Warsaw (not much at Berlin, after the
first trial there); and will not be altogether avoidable
? Walpole, George the Second, i. 449; Rfldenbeck, i. 204.
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? CHAP. V. ] STRANGERS OP NOTE COME TO BERLIN. 317
16th July 1750.
to us in time coming, as one could have wished. Be-
sides, he is Horace Walpole's friend and select London
Wit: he contributed a good deal to the English notions
about Friedrich; and has left considerable bits of acrid
testimony on Friedrich, "clear words of an Eye-wit-
ness," men call them, -- which are still read by every-
body; the said Walpole, and others, having since
printed them, in very dark condition. * Brevity is
much due to Hanbury and his testimonies, since silence
in the circumstances is not allowable. Here is one Ex-
cerpt, with the necessary light for reading it:
* * It is on this Romish-King, and other the like
chimerical errands, that witty Hanbury, then a much more
admirable man than we now find him, is prowling about in
the German Courts, off and on, for some ten years in all, six
of them still to come. A sharp-eyed man, of shrewish quality;
given to intriguing, to spying, to bribing; anxious to win his
Diplomatic game by every method, though the stake (as
here) is oftenest zero; with fatal proclivity to Scandal, and
what in London circles he has heard called Wit. Little or
nothing of real laughter in the soul of him, at any time; only
a laboured continual grin, always of malicious nature, and
much trouble and jerking about, to keep that up. Had
evidently some modicum of real intellect, of capacity for
being wise; but now has fatally devoted it nearly all to being
witty, on those poor terms! A perverse, barren, spiteful
little wretch; the grin of him generally an affliction, at this
date. His Diplomatic Correspondence I do not know. ** He
* In Walpole, George the Second (i. 448-461), the Pieces which regard
Friedrich. In Sir Charles Hanbury Williams's Works (edited by a diligent,
reverential, but ignorant gentleman, whom I could guess to be Bookseller
Jeffery in person: London, 1822, 3 vols. small 8vo), are witty Verses, and
considerable sections of Prose, relating to other persons and objects now
rather of an obsolete nature.
** Nothing of him is discoverable in the State-Paper Office. Many of
his Papers, it would seem, are in the Earl of Essex's hands; -- and might
be of some Historical use, not of very much, could the British Museum get
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? 318 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
16th July 1750.
did a great deal of Diplomatic business, issuing in zero,--
of which I have sometimes longed to know the exact dates;
seldom anything farther. His "History of Poland," trans-
mitted to the Right Hon. Henry Fox, by instalments from
Dresden, in 1748, is* -- Well, I should be obliged to call it
worthier of Goody Two-Shoes than of that Right Hon.
Henry, who was a man of parts, but evidently quite a vacuum
on the Polish side!
Of Hanbury's News-Letters from Foreign Courts, four or
five, incidentally printed, are like the contents of a slop-
pail; uncomfortable to the delicate mind. Not lies on the
part of Hanbury, but foolish scandal poured into him; a man
more filled with credulous incredible scandal, evil rumours,
of malfeasances by Kings and magnates, than most people
known. His rumoured mysteries between poor Polish Majesty
and pretty Daughter-in-law (the latter a clever and graceful
creature, Daughter of the late unfortunate Kaiser, and a
distinguished Correspondent of Friedrich's), are to be re-
garded as mere poisoned wind. ** That "Polish Majesty gets
"into his dressing-gown at two in the afternoon" (inacces-
sible thenceforth, poor lazy creature), one most readily be-
lieves; but there, or pretty much there, one's belief has to
stop. The stories, in Walpole, on the King of Prussia, have
a grain of fact in them, twisted into huge irrecognisable
caricature in the Williams optic-machinery. Much else one
can discern to be, in essence, false altogether. Friedrich,
who could not stand that intriguing, spying, shrewish, un-
friendly kind of fellow at his Court, applied to England in
not many months hence, and got Williams sent away:*** on
to Russia, or I forget whither; -- which did not mend the
Hanbury optical-machinery on that side.
The dull, tobacco-smoking Saxon-Polish Majesty, about
whom he idly retails so many scandals, had never done him
any offence. -- On the whole, if anybody wanted a swim in
possession of them. Abundance of Back-stairs History, on those Northern
Courts, especially on Petersburg, and Warsaw-Dresden, -- authentic Court-
gossip , generally malicious, often not true, but never mendacious on the
part of Williams, -- is one likely item.
* See Hanbury's Works, vol. in.
** In Hanbury's Works, n. 209-240.
? ** "22d January 1751" (Ms. List in State-Paper Office).
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? CHaP, v. ] STRANGERS OF NOTE COME XO BERLIN. 319
16th July 1750.
the slop-pails of that extinct generation, Hanbury, could he
find an Editor to make him legible, might be printed. For
he really was deep in that slop-pail or extinct-scandal depart-
ment, and had heard a great many things. Apart from that,
in almost any other department, -- except in so far as he
seems to date rather carefully, -- I could not recommend him.
The Letters and Excerpts given in Walpole are definable as
one pennyworth of bread, -- much ruined by such immersion,
but very harmless otherwise, could you pick it out and clean
it, -- to twenty gallons of Hanbury sherris-sack, or chamber-
slop. I have found nothing that seems to be, in all points,
true or probable, but this; worth cutting out, and rendering
legible, on other accounts. Hanbury loquitur (in condensed
form):
"In the summer of last year, 1749, there was, somewhere
"in Mahren, a great Austrian Muster or Review;" all the
more interesting, as it was believed, or known, that the
Prussian methods and manoeuvres were now to be the rule for
Austria. Not much of a Review otherwise, this of 1749;
Empress-Queen and Husband not personally there, as in
coming Years they are wont to be; that high Lady being
ardent to reform her Army, root and branch, according to
the Prussian model, -- more praise to her. * "At this Muster
"in Miihren, Three Prussian Officers happened to make their
"appearance, -- for several imaginable reasons, of little "significance: 'For the purpose of inveigling people to
"'desert, and enlist with them! ' said the Austrian Autho-
"rities; and ordered the Three Prussian Officers uncere-
"moniously off the ground. Which Friedrich, when he
"heard of it, thought an unhandsome pipeclay procedure,
"and kept in mind against the Austrian Authorities.
"Next Summer," next Spring, 1750, "an Austrian Captain
"being in Mecklenburg, travelling about, met there an old
"acquaintance, one Chapeau" (Hat! can it be possible? )
"who is in great favour with the King of Prussia:"-- very
well, Excellency Hanbury; but who, in the name of wonder,
can this Hat, or Chapeau, have been? After study, one
perceives that Hanbury wrote Chazeau, meaning Chasot, an
* Maria Thercsiens Men, p. 160 (what she did that way, Anno 1749);
p. 162 (present at the Reviews, Anno 1750).
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? CHAP, in. ] EUROPEAN WAR PALLS DONE. 305
4th-10th Supt. 1749.
"theDevil, in ways not worth specifying, he saw himself,
"November 21st, 1750, flung prostrate suddenly: 'Putrid
"'fever! ' gloom the Doctors ominously to one another: and,
"November30th, the Devil (I am afraid it was he, though
"clad in roseate effulgence, and melodious exceedingly)
"carried him home on those kind terms, as from a Universe
'' all of Opera. 'Wait till 1759, -- till 1789! ' murmured the
"Devil to himself. "
Tragic News that concern us, of Voltaire and
Others.
About two months after those Saxe-Friedrich hospi-
talities at Sans-Souci, Voltaire, writing, late at night,
from the hospitable Palace of Titular Stanislaus, has
these words, to his trusted D'Argental:
I*'Luneville, 4th September 1749. * * "Madame du Chate-
"let, this night, while scribbling over her Newton, felt a little
"twinge; she called a waiting-maid, who had only time to
"hold out herapron, and catch a little Girl, whom they carried
"to its cradle. The Mother arranged her papers, went to
"bed; and the whole of that (tout cela) is sleeping like a
"dormouse, at the hour I write to you. My guardian angels,
"poor I shan't have so easy a delivery of my Catilina"
(my Rome Saved, for the confusion of old Cr^billon and the
cabals) ! f * *
And then, six days later, hear another Witness present
there:
Luniville Palace, 10th September. "For the first three or
"four days, the health of the Mother appeared excellent;
"denoting nothing but the weakness inseparable from her
"situation. The weather was very warm. Milk-fever came,
"which made the heat worse. In spite of remonstrances, she
"would have some iced barley-water; drank a big glass of it;
t (Enures, lxiiv. 57 (Voltaire to d'Argental).
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. VIII. 20
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? 306 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
x 174S-1749.
"-- and some instants after, had great pain in her head;
"followed by other bad symptoms. " Which brought the
Doctor in again, several Doctors, hastily summoned; who,
after difficulties, thought again that all was coming right.
And so, on the sixth night, 10th September, inquiring friends
had left the sick-room hopefully , and gone down to supper,
"the rather as Madame seemed inclined to sleep. There re-
"mained none with her but M. de St. Lambert, one of her
"maids and I. M. de St. Lambert, as soon as the strangers
"were gone, went forward and spoke some moments to her;
"but seeing her sleepy, drew back, and sat chatting with us
"two. Eight or ten minutes after, we heard a kind of rattle
"in the throat, intermixed with hiccoughs: we ran to the bed;
"found her senseless; raised her to a sitting posture, tried
"vinaigrettes, rubbed her feet, knocked into the palms of her
"hands; -- all in vain; she was dead!
"Of course the supper-party burst up, into her room;
"M. le Marquis duChatelet, M. de Voltaire, and the others.
"Profound consternation: to tears, to cries succeeded a
"mournful silence. Voltaire and St. Lambert remained the
"last about her bed. At length Voltaire quitted the room;
"got out by the Grand Entrance, hardly knowing which way
"he went. At the foot of the Outer Stairs, near a sentry's
"box, he fell full length on the pavement. His lackey, who
"was a step or two behind, rushed forward to raise him. At
"that moment came M. de St. Lambert; who had taken the
"same road, and who now hastened to help. M. de Voltaire,
"once on his feet again, and recognising who it was, said,
"through his tears and with the most pathetic accent, 'Ah,
''' mon ami, it is you that have killed her to me! ' -- and then
"suddenly, as if starting awake, with the tone of reproach
"and despair, 'Eh, mon Dieu, Monsieur, de quoi vous avisiez-
"'vous de lui faire un enfant (Good God, Sir, what put it into
"'your head to -- to --)! "'* --
Poor M. de Voltaire; suddenly become widower,
and flung out upon his shifts again, at his time of life!
May now wander, Ishmael-like, whither he will, in this
* Longchamp et Wagnitre, Memoires sur Voltaire, n. 250, 251; -- Long-
champ loquitur.
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? CHAP. III. ] EUROPEAN WAR FALLS DONE. 307
1748-1749.
hard lonesome world. His grief is overwhelming,
mixed with other sharp feelings due on the matter;
but does not last very long, in that poignant form. He
will turn up on us, in his new capacity of single-man,
again brilliant enough, within year and day.
Last Autumn, September 1748, Wilhelmina's one
Daughter, one child, was wedded; to that young Durch-
laucht of Wurtemberg, whom we saw gallanting the
little girl, to Wilhelmina's amusement, some years ago.
About the wedding, nothing; nor about the wedded
life, what would have been more curious: -- no Wil-
helmina now to tell us anything; not even whether
Mamma the Improper Duchess was there. From Berlin,
the Two youngest Princes, Henri and Ferdinand, at-
tended at Baireuth; -- Mannstein, our old Russian
friend, now Prussian again, escorting them. * The King,
too busy, I suppose, with Silesian Reviews and the
like, sends his best wishes, -- for indeed the Match
was of his sanctioning and advising; -- though his
wishes proved mere disappointment in the sequel.
Friedrich got no "furtherance in the Swabian Franco-
nian Circles," or favour anywhere, by means of this
Durchlaucht; in the end, far the reverse! -- In a
word, the happy couple rolled away to Wurtemberg
(September 26th, 1748); he twenty, she sixteen, poor
young creatures; and in years following, became un-
happy to a degree.
There was but one child, and it soon died. The
young Serene Lady was of airy high spirit; graceful,
clever, good too, they said; perhaps a thought too
proud: -- but as for her Reigning Duke, there was
* Seyfarth, n. 76.
20*
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? 308
THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. " [book xvr.
1748-1749.
seldom seen so lurid a Serenity; and it was difficult to
live beside him. A most arbitrary Herr, with glooms
and whims; dim-eyed, ambitious, voracious, and the
temper of an angry mule, -- very fit to have been
haltered, in a judicious manner, instead of being set to
halter others! Enough, in six or seven years' time, the
bright Pair found itself grown thunderous, opaque
beyond description; and (in 1759) had to split asunder
for good. "Owing to the reigning Duke's behaviour,"
said everybody. "Has behaved so, I would run him
through the body, if we met! " said his own Brother
once: -- Brother Friedrich Eugen, a Prussian General
by that time, whom we shall hear of. * What thoughts for our dear Wilhelmina, in her latter
weak years; -- lapped in eternal silence, as so much
else is.
* Prensa, it. 149; Michaelis, m. 451.
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? CHAP. IV. ]
309
FRIEDRICH PRINTING HIS POESIES.
1749-1750.
CHAPTEE IV.
COCCEJI FINISHES THE LAW REFORM; FRIEDRICH IS
PRINTING HIS POESIES.
In these years, Friedrich goes on victoriously with
his Law-Reform; Herculean Cocceji with Assistants,
backed by Friedrich, beneficently conquering Province
after Province to him; -- Kur-Mark, Neu-Mark, Cleve
(all easy, in comparison, after Pommern), and finally
Preussen itself; -- to the joy and profit of the same.
Cocceji's method, so far as the Foreign onlooker can
discern across much haze, seems to be threefold:
1? . Extirpation (painless, were it possible) of the
Pettifogger Species; indeed, of the Attorney Species
altogether: "Seek other employments; disappear, all of
you, from these precincts, under penalty! " The Ad-
vocate himself takes charge of the suit, from first birth
of it; and sees it ended, -- he knows within what limit
of time.
2? . Sifting out of all incompetent Advocates, "Fol-
low that Attorney-Company, you; away! " -- sifting
out all these, and retaining in each Court, with fees
accurately settled, with character stamped sound, or at
least soundest, the number actually needed. In a milder
way, but still more strictly, Judges stupid or otherwise
incompetent are riddled out; able Judges appointed,
and their salaries raised.
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? 310 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
174S>>-1750.
3? . What seems to be Friedrich's own invention,
what in outcome he thinks will be the summary of all
good Law-Procedure: A final Sentence (three "in-
stances" you can have, but the third ends it for you)
within the Year. Good, surely. A justice that intends
to be exact, must front the complicacies in a resolute
piercing manner, and will not be tedious. Nay a jus-
tice that is not moderately swift, -- human hearts
waiting for it, the while, in a cancerous state, instead
of hopefully following their work, -- what, compara-
tively, is the use of its being never so exact! --
Simple enough methods; rough and ready. Needing,
in the execution, clear human eyesight, clear human
honesty, -- which happen to be present here, and
without which, no "method" whatever can be executed
that will really profit.
In the course of 1748, Friedrich, judging by Pom-
mern and the other symptoms that his enterprise was
safe, struck a victorious Medal upon it: "Fridericus
Borussorum Rex" pressing with his sceptre the oblique
Balance to a level posture; with Epigraph, "Emendato Jure. "* And by Newyears-day, 1750, the matter was
in effect completed; and "justice cheap, expeditious,
certain," a fact in all Prussian Lands.
Nay, in 1749-1751, to complete the matter, Coc-
ceji's "Project of a general Law-Code," Projekt des Cor-
poris Juris Fridericiani, came forth in print:** to the
admiration of mankind, at home and abroad; "theFirst
* Letter to Cocceji, accompanying Copy of the medal in Gold, "24th
June 1748" (Seyfarth, n. 67 n. ).
** Halle, 2 Toll. , folio (Preuss, i. 316; see lb. 815 n. , as to the Law Pro-
cedure &c. now settled by Coceeji).
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? CHaP. IT. ] friedrich printing his poesies. 311
1749-1750.
Code attempted since Justinian's time," say they. Pro-
ject translated into all languages, and read in all
countries. A poor mildewed copy of this Codex Fride-
ricianus, -- done at Edinburgh, 1761, not said by
whom; evidently bought at least twice, and mostly
never yet read (nor like being read), -- is known to
me, for years past, in a ghastly manner! Without the
least profit to this present, or to any other Enterprise;
-- though persons of name in Jurisprudence call it
meritorious in their Science; the first real attempt at a
Code in Modern times. But the truth is, this Cocceji
Codex remained a Project merely, never enacted any-
where. It was not till 1773, that Friedrich made
actual attempt to build a Law-Code; and did build one
(the foundation-story of one, for his share, completed
since), in which this of Cocceji had little part. In 1773,
the thing must again be mentioned; the "Second Law-
Reform," as they call it. What we practically know
from this time is, That Prussian Lawsuits, through
Friedrich's Reign, do all terminate, or push at their
utmost for terminating, within one year from birth;
and that Friedrich's fame, as a beneficent Justinian,
rose high in all Countries (strange in Countries that
had thought him a War-scourge and Conquering Hero);
strange, but undeniable;* and that his own People, if
more silently, yet in practice very gladly indeed, wel-
comed his Law-Reform; and, from day to day, enjoyed
the same, -- no doubt with occasional remembrance
who the Donor was.
* See Gentleman's Magazine, u. 215-218 ("May 1750"): eloquent, en-
thusiastic Letter, given there, "ofBarondeSpon to Chancellor D'Aguessau,"
on these inimitable Law Achievements.
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? 312
[book xvi. 1749-1750.
THE TEN TEARS OP PEACE.
Of Friedrich's Literary works, nobody, not even
Friedrich himself, will think it necessary that we say
much. But the fact is, he is doing a great many
things that way!
in Prose, the Memoirs of Brandenburg,
coming out as Papers in the Academy from time to
time:* in Verse, very secret as yet, the Palladion ("ex-
quisite Burlesque," think some), the Art of War
(reckoned truly his best Piece in verse): -- and wishes
sometimes he had Voltaire here to perfect him a little.
This too would be one of the practical charms of
Voltaire. ** For though King Friedrich knows and
remembers always, that these things, especially the
Verse part, are mere amusements in comparison, he
has the creditable wish to do these well; one would not
fantasy ill even on the Flute, if one could help it.
"Why doesn't Voltaire come; as Quantz of the Flute
has done? " Friedrich, now that Voltaire has fallen
widower, renews his pressings, "Why don't you
come? " Patience, your Majesty; Voltaire will come.
Nobody can wish details in this Department: but
there is one thing necessary to be mentioned, That
Friedrich in these years, 1749-1752, has Printers out
at Potsdam, and is Printing, "in beautiful quarto form,
with copperplates," to the extent of twelve copies, the
CEuvres (Poetical, that is) du Philosophe de Sans-Souci.
Only twelve Copies, I have heard; gift of a single
copy indicating that you are among the choicest of the
chosen. Copies have now fallen extremely rare (and
* From 1746 and onward: first published complete (after slight revision
by Voltaire), Berlin, 1751.
** Friedrich's Letter to Algarotti ((Euvres, xvm. 66), "12th September
1749. "
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? CHAP. IV. ] FRIEDRICH PRINTING HIS POESIES. 313
1749-1750.
are not in request at all, with my readers or me): but
there was one Copy which, or the Mis-title of which,
as CEuvre de "Poe'shie" du Roi mon Maitre, became
miraculously famous in a year or two; -- and is still
memorable to us all! On Voltaire's arrival, we shall
hear more of these things. Enough to say at present
that the (Euvres du Philosophe de Sans-Souci: Au Donjon
du Chateau: Avec Privilege d'Apollon, -- "three thinnish
"quarto volumes, all the Poetry then on hand," -- was
finished early in 1750, before Voltaire came. That,
when Voltaire came, a revisal was undertaken, a new
Edition, with Voltaire's corrections and other changes
(total suppression of the Palladion, for one creditable
change): that this Edition was to have been in Two
Volumes; that One, accordingly, rather thicker than
the former sort, was got finished in 1752 (same Title,
only the new Date, and "no Donjon du Chateau this
time"), One Volume in 1752; after which, owing to
the explosions that ensued, no Second came, nor ever
will; -- and that the actual contents of that far-famed
CEuvre de "Poeshie" (number of volumes even) are
points of mystery to me, at this day. *
Friedrich's other employments are multifarious as
those of a Land's Husband (not inferior to his Father
in that respect); and, like the benefits of the diurnal
* Herr Preuss, -- in the Chronological List of Friedrich's Writings fa
useful accurate Piece otherwise), and in two other places where he tries, --
is very indistinct on this of Donjon du Chateau; and it is all but impossible
to ascertain from him, what, in an indisputable manner, the (Euvre de
'Poeshie' may have been. Here are the places for groping, if another
should be induced to try: (Euvres de Frederic, x. (Preface, p. ix. ); ib. xi.
(Preface, p. ix. ); ib. Table Chronologique (in what Volume this is, you
cannot yet say; seems preliminary to a General Index, which is infinitely
wanted, but has not yet appeared to this Editor's aid), p. 14.
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? 314 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [boOKXVI.
1749-1750.
Sun, are to be considered incessant, innumerable and,
-- in result to usward, -- silent also, impossible to
speak of in this place. From the highest pitch of
State-craft (Russian Czarina now fallen plainly hostile,
and needing lynx-eyed diplomacy ever and anon),
down to that of Dredging and Fascine-work (as at
Stettin and elsewhere), of Oder-canals, of Soap-boiler
Companies, and Mulberry-and-Silk Companies; nay of
ordaining Where, and where not, the Crows are to be
shot, and (owing to cattle murrain) No veal to be
killed:* daily comes the tide of great and of small, and
daily the punctual Friedrich keeps abreast of it, -- and
Dryasdust has noted the details, and stuffed them into
blind sacks, -- for forty years.
The Review seasons, I notice, go somewhat as
follows. For Berlin and neighbourhood, May, or per-
haps end of April (weather now bright, and ground
firm); sometimes with considerable pomp ("both Queens
out," and beautiful Female Nobilities, in "twenty-four
green tents"), and often with great complicacy of
manoeuvre. In June, to Magdeburg, round by Cleve;
and home again for some days. July, is Pommern:
onward thence to Schlesien, oftenest in August; Schlesien
the last place, and generally not done with till well on
in September. But we will speak of these things, more
specially, another time. Such "Reviews," for strictness
of inspection civil and military, as probably were not
seen in the world since, -- or before, except in the
case of this King's Father only.
* Seyfarth, n. 71, 83, 81; Preuss, Bucft fur Jedermann. i. 101-109; ftc.
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? CHaP, v. ] STRANGERS OP NOTE COME TO BERLIN. 315
16tn July 1750.
CHAPTER V.
STRANGERS OF NOTE COME TO BERLIN, IN 1750.
British Diplomacies, next to the Russian, cause
some difficulties in those Years: of which more by and
by. Early in 1748, while Aix-la-Chapelle was starting,
Ex-Exchequer Legge came to Berlin; on some obscure
object of a small Patch of Principality, hanging loose
during those Negotiations: "Could not we secure it for
his Royal Highness of Cumberland, thinks your Ma-
jesty? " Ex-Exchequer Legge was here;* got handsome
assurances of a general nature; but no furtherance to-
wards his obscure, completely impracticable object; and
went home in November following, to a new Parlia-
mentary Career.
And the second year after, early in 1750, came
Sir Hanbury Williams, famed London-Wit of Walpole's
circle, on objects which, in the main, were equally
chimerical: "King of the Romans, much wanted;" "No
Damage to your Majesty's Shipping from our British
Privateers;" and the like; -- about which some notice,
and not very much, will be due farther on. Here, in
his own words, is Hanbury's Account of his First
Audience:
* * "On Thursday," 16th July 1750, "I went to Court
"by appointment, at 11 a. m. The King of Prussia arrived
* Coxe's Pelham, i. 431, &c. ; Rodenbeck, pp. 155,160 (first audience,
1st May 1748); -- recalled, 22d November, Aix being over.
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? 316 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
16th July 1750.
"about 12" (at Berlin; King in from Potsdam, for one day);
"and Count Podewils immediately introduced me into the
"Royal closet; when I delivered his Britannic Majesty's
"Letters into the King of Prussia's hands, and made the
"usual compliments to him in the best manner I was able.
"To which nis Prussian Majesty replied, to the best of my
"remembrance, as follows:
"' I have the truest esteem for the King of Britain's person;
"'and I set the highest value on his friendship. I have at
"'different times received essential proofs of it; and I desire
"'you would acquaint the King your Master that I will (sic)
"' never forget them. ' His Prussian Majesty afterwards said
"something with respect to myself, and then asked me
"several questions about indifferent things and persons. He
"seemed to express a great deal of esteem for my Lord
"Chesterfield, and a great deal of kindness for Mr. Villiers,"
useful in the Peace-of-Dresden time; "but did not once
"mention Lord Hyndford or Mr. Legge," -- how singular!
"I was in the closet with his Majesty exactly five minutes
"and a half. My audience done, Prussian Majesty came out
"into the general room, where Foreign Ministers were wait-
"ing. He said, on stepping in, just one word" to the
Austrian Excellency; not even one to the Russian Excellency,
nor to me the Britannic; "conversed with the French,
"Swedish, Danish;" -- happy to be off, which I do not
wonder at; to dine with Mamma at Monbijou, among faces
pleasant to him; and return to his Businesses and Books next
day. *
Witty Excellency Hanbury did not succeed at
Berlin on the "Komish-King Question," or otherwise;
and indeed went off rather in a hurry. But for the
next six or seven years, he puddles about, at a great
rate, in those Northern Courts; giving away a great
deal of money, hatching many futile expensive intrigues
at Petersburg, Warsaw (not much at Berlin, after the
first trial there); and will not be altogether avoidable
? Walpole, George the Second, i. 449; Rfldenbeck, i. 204.
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? CHAP. V. ] STRANGERS OP NOTE COME TO BERLIN. 317
16th July 1750.
to us in time coming, as one could have wished. Be-
sides, he is Horace Walpole's friend and select London
Wit: he contributed a good deal to the English notions
about Friedrich; and has left considerable bits of acrid
testimony on Friedrich, "clear words of an Eye-wit-
ness," men call them, -- which are still read by every-
body; the said Walpole, and others, having since
printed them, in very dark condition. * Brevity is
much due to Hanbury and his testimonies, since silence
in the circumstances is not allowable. Here is one Ex-
cerpt, with the necessary light for reading it:
* * It is on this Romish-King, and other the like
chimerical errands, that witty Hanbury, then a much more
admirable man than we now find him, is prowling about in
the German Courts, off and on, for some ten years in all, six
of them still to come. A sharp-eyed man, of shrewish quality;
given to intriguing, to spying, to bribing; anxious to win his
Diplomatic game by every method, though the stake (as
here) is oftenest zero; with fatal proclivity to Scandal, and
what in London circles he has heard called Wit. Little or
nothing of real laughter in the soul of him, at any time; only
a laboured continual grin, always of malicious nature, and
much trouble and jerking about, to keep that up. Had
evidently some modicum of real intellect, of capacity for
being wise; but now has fatally devoted it nearly all to being
witty, on those poor terms! A perverse, barren, spiteful
little wretch; the grin of him generally an affliction, at this
date. His Diplomatic Correspondence I do not know. ** He
* In Walpole, George the Second (i. 448-461), the Pieces which regard
Friedrich. In Sir Charles Hanbury Williams's Works (edited by a diligent,
reverential, but ignorant gentleman, whom I could guess to be Bookseller
Jeffery in person: London, 1822, 3 vols. small 8vo), are witty Verses, and
considerable sections of Prose, relating to other persons and objects now
rather of an obsolete nature.
** Nothing of him is discoverable in the State-Paper Office. Many of
his Papers, it would seem, are in the Earl of Essex's hands; -- and might
be of some Historical use, not of very much, could the British Museum get
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? 318 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
16th July 1750.
did a great deal of Diplomatic business, issuing in zero,--
of which I have sometimes longed to know the exact dates;
seldom anything farther. His "History of Poland," trans-
mitted to the Right Hon. Henry Fox, by instalments from
Dresden, in 1748, is* -- Well, I should be obliged to call it
worthier of Goody Two-Shoes than of that Right Hon.
Henry, who was a man of parts, but evidently quite a vacuum
on the Polish side!
Of Hanbury's News-Letters from Foreign Courts, four or
five, incidentally printed, are like the contents of a slop-
pail; uncomfortable to the delicate mind. Not lies on the
part of Hanbury, but foolish scandal poured into him; a man
more filled with credulous incredible scandal, evil rumours,
of malfeasances by Kings and magnates, than most people
known. His rumoured mysteries between poor Polish Majesty
and pretty Daughter-in-law (the latter a clever and graceful
creature, Daughter of the late unfortunate Kaiser, and a
distinguished Correspondent of Friedrich's), are to be re-
garded as mere poisoned wind. ** That "Polish Majesty gets
"into his dressing-gown at two in the afternoon" (inacces-
sible thenceforth, poor lazy creature), one most readily be-
lieves; but there, or pretty much there, one's belief has to
stop. The stories, in Walpole, on the King of Prussia, have
a grain of fact in them, twisted into huge irrecognisable
caricature in the Williams optic-machinery. Much else one
can discern to be, in essence, false altogether. Friedrich,
who could not stand that intriguing, spying, shrewish, un-
friendly kind of fellow at his Court, applied to England in
not many months hence, and got Williams sent away:*** on
to Russia, or I forget whither; -- which did not mend the
Hanbury optical-machinery on that side.
The dull, tobacco-smoking Saxon-Polish Majesty, about
whom he idly retails so many scandals, had never done him
any offence. -- On the whole, if anybody wanted a swim in
possession of them. Abundance of Back-stairs History, on those Northern
Courts, especially on Petersburg, and Warsaw-Dresden, -- authentic Court-
gossip , generally malicious, often not true, but never mendacious on the
part of Williams, -- is one likely item.
* See Hanbury's Works, vol. in.
** In Hanbury's Works, n. 209-240.
? ** "22d January 1751" (Ms. List in State-Paper Office).
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? CHaP, v. ] STRANGERS OF NOTE COME XO BERLIN. 319
16th July 1750.
the slop-pails of that extinct generation, Hanbury, could he
find an Editor to make him legible, might be printed. For
he really was deep in that slop-pail or extinct-scandal depart-
ment, and had heard a great many things. Apart from that,
in almost any other department, -- except in so far as he
seems to date rather carefully, -- I could not recommend him.
The Letters and Excerpts given in Walpole are definable as
one pennyworth of bread, -- much ruined by such immersion,
but very harmless otherwise, could you pick it out and clean
it, -- to twenty gallons of Hanbury sherris-sack, or chamber-
slop. I have found nothing that seems to be, in all points,
true or probable, but this; worth cutting out, and rendering
legible, on other accounts. Hanbury loquitur (in condensed
form):
"In the summer of last year, 1749, there was, somewhere
"in Mahren, a great Austrian Muster or Review;" all the
more interesting, as it was believed, or known, that the
Prussian methods and manoeuvres were now to be the rule for
Austria. Not much of a Review otherwise, this of 1749;
Empress-Queen and Husband not personally there, as in
coming Years they are wont to be; that high Lady being
ardent to reform her Army, root and branch, according to
the Prussian model, -- more praise to her. * "At this Muster
"in Miihren, Three Prussian Officers happened to make their
"appearance, -- for several imaginable reasons, of little "significance: 'For the purpose of inveigling people to
"'desert, and enlist with them! ' said the Austrian Autho-
"rities; and ordered the Three Prussian Officers uncere-
"moniously off the ground. Which Friedrich, when he
"heard of it, thought an unhandsome pipeclay procedure,
"and kept in mind against the Austrian Authorities.
"Next Summer," next Spring, 1750, "an Austrian Captain
"being in Mecklenburg, travelling about, met there an old
"acquaintance, one Chapeau" (Hat! can it be possible? )
"who is in great favour with the King of Prussia:"-- very
well, Excellency Hanbury; but who, in the name of wonder,
can this Hat, or Chapeau, have been? After study, one
perceives that Hanbury wrote Chazeau, meaning Chasot, an
* Maria Thercsiens Men, p. 160 (what she did that way, Anno 1749);
p. 162 (present at the Reviews, Anno 1750).
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