He
was struck by apoplexy on the road, -- arm fallen
powerless, early in the day, head dim and heavy; ob-
viously an alarming case.
was struck by apoplexy on the road, -- arm fallen
powerless, early in the day, head dim and heavy; ob-
viously an alarming case.
Thomas Carlyle
org/access_use#pd-google
? BOOK VI.
DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT, AND CROWN-PRINCE,
GOING ADRIFT UNDER THE STORM-WINDS.
1727-1730.
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? 1727.
CHAPTER L
FI1TH CRISIS IN THE KAISER'S SPECTRE-HUNT.
The Crown-Prince's young Life being, by perverse
chance, involved and as it were absorbed in that foolish
question of his English Marriage, we have nothing for
it but to continue our sad function; and go on pain-
fully fishing out, and reducing to an authentic form,
what traces of him there are, from that disastrous beg-
garly element, -- till once he got free of it, either dead
or alive. The winds (partly by Art-Magic) rise to the
hurricane pitch, upon this Marriage Project and him;
and as for the sea, or general tide of European Po-
litics -- But let the reader look with his own eyes.
In the spring of 1727, War, as anticipated, breaks
out; Spaniards actually begin battering at Gibraltar;
Kaiser's Ambassador at London is angrily ordered to
begone. Causes of war were many: 1". Duke do
Ripperda, -- tumbled-out now, that illustrious diplo-
matic bulldog, at Madrid, -- sought asylum in the English Ambassador's house; and no respect was had
to such asylum: that is one cause. 2? . Then, you
English, what is the meaning of these war-fleets in the
West-Indies; in the Mediterranean, on the very coast
of Spain? We demand that you at once take them
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? 7C DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT [book vI.
1727.
home again: -- which cannot be complied with. 3". But
above all things, we demand Gibraltar of you; -- which
can still less be complied with. Termagant Elizabeth
has set her heart on Gibraltar: that, in such oppor-
tunity as this unexpected condition of the Balances now
gives her, is the real cause of the War.
Cession of Gibraltar: there had been vague promises, years ago, on the Kaiser's part; nay George
himself, raw to England at that date, is said to have
thought the thing might perhaps be done. -- "Do it at
once, then! " said the Termagant Queen, and repeated,
with ever more emphasis; -- and there being not the
least compliance, she has opened parallels before the
place, and begun war and ardent firing there;* preceded
by protocols, debates in Parliament, and the usual
phenomena. It is the Fifth grand Crisis in the Kaiser's
spectre-huntings; fifth change in the colour of the world-
lobster getting boiled in that singular manner; -- Second
Sputter of actual War.
Which proved futile altogether; and amounts now,
in the human memory, to flat zero, -- unless the fol-
lowing infinitesimally small fraction be countable again:
"Sputtering of War; that is to say, Siege of Gibraltar.
"A Siege utterly unmemorable, and without the least interest
"for existing mankind with their ungrateful humour,-- if it
"be not, once more, that the Father of Tristram Shandy was
"in it: still a Lieutenant of foot, poor fellow; brisk, small,
* 22d Feb. 1727 (Schb'll, II. 212). Salmon, Chronological Historian
(London, 1747; a very incorrect dark Book, useful only in defect of better),
ii, 173. Cose, Memoirs of Walpole, i. 260, 261; ii. 498-515.
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? CHAP. I. ] FIFTH CRISIS IN THE SPECTKE-HUNT. 77
1727.
"hot-tempered, loving, 'liable to be cheated ten times a-day
"if nine will not suffice you. ' He was in this Siege; shipped
"to the Rock to make stand there; and would have done so
"with the boldest,-- only he got into duel (hot-tempered,
"though of lamb-like innocence), and was run-through the
"body; not entirely killed, but within a hairsbreadth of it;
"and unable for service while this sputtering went on. Little
"Lorry is still living; gone to school in Yorkshire, after
"pranks enough, and misventures,-- half-drowning 'in the
"mill-race at Annamoe in Ireland,' for one. * The poor
"Lieutenant Father died, soldiering in the West Indies,
"soon after this; and we shall not mention him again. But
"History ought to remember that he is 'Uncle Toby,' this
"poor Lieutenant, and take her measures! -- The Siege of
"Gibraltar, we still see with our eyes, was in itself Nothing. "
Truly it might well enough have grown to universal
flame of War. But this always needs two parties; and
pacific George would not be second party in it. George,
guided by pacific Walpole, backed by pacific Fleury,
answers the ardent firing by phlegmatic patience and
protocolling; not by counterfiring, except quite at his
convenience, from privateers, from war-ships here and
there, and in sulky defence from Gibraltar itself.
Probably the Termagant, with all the fire she has,
will not do much damage upon Gibraltar? Such was
George's hope. Whereby the flame of war, ardent
only in certain Spanish batteries upon the point of San
Roque, does not spread hitherto, -- though all mortals,
and Friedrich Wilhelm as much as any, can see the
* Laurence Sterne's Autobiography (cited above).
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? 78 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
1727.
imminent likelihood there is. In such circumstances,
what a stroke of policy to have disjoined Friedrich
Wilhelm from the Hanover Alliance, and brought him
over to our own! Is not Grumkow worth his pension?
"Grumkow serves honourably. " Let the invaluable
Seckendorf persevere.
Crown-Prince seen in Dryasdust's glass, darkly.
To know the special figure of the Crown-Prince's
way of life in those years, who his friends, companions
were, what his pursuits and experiences, would be
agreeable to us; but beyond the outline already given,
there is little definite on record. He now resides habi-
tually at Potsdam, be the Court there or not; attending
strictly to his military duties in the Giant Regiment;
it is only on occasion, chiefly perhaps in "Carnival
time," that he gets to Berlin, to partake in the gaieties
of society. Who his associates there or at Potsdam
were? Suhm, the Saxon Resident, a cultivated man of
literary turn, famed as his friend in time coming, is
already at his diplomatic post in Berlin, post of diffi-
culty just now; but I know not whether they have yet
any intimacy. * This we do know, the Crown-Prince
begins to be noted for his sprightly sense, his love of
literature, his ingenuous ways; in the Court or other
circles, whatsoever has intelligence attracts him, and is
attracted by him. The Roucoulles Soirees, -- gone all
to dim buckram for us, though once so lively in their
* Preuss: Friedrich mil seinen Verwandlen und Fi emden, p. 24.
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? CHAP. I. ] FIFTH CRISIS IN THE SPECTRE-HUNT, 79
1727.
high periwigs and speculations, -- fall on Wednesday.
When the Finckenstein or the others fall, -- no doubt
his Royal Highness knows it. In the Tabaks-Collegium, there also, driven by duty, he sometimes appears; but,
like Seckendorf and some others, he only affects to
smoke, and his pipe is mere white clay. Nor is the
social element, any more than the narcotic vapour
which prevails there, attractive to the young Prince, --
though he had better hide his feelings on the subject.
Out at Potsdam, again, life goes very heavy; the
winged Psyche much imprisoned in that pipeclay ele-
ment, a prey to vacancy and many tediums and longings.
Daily return the giant drill-duties; and daily, to the
uttermost of rigorous perfection, they must be done: --
"This, then, is the sum of one's existence, this? " Pa-
tience, young "man of genius," as the Newspapers
would now call you; it is indispensably beneficial
nevertheless! To swallow one's disgusts, and do faith-
fully the ugly commanded work, taking no council with
flesh and blood: know that "genius," everywhere in
Nature, means this first of all; that without this, it
means nothing, generally even less. And be thankful
for your Potsdam grenadiers and their pipeclay! --
Happily he has his Books about him; his flute:
Duhan, too, is here, still more or less didactic in some
branches; always instructive and companionable to him.
The Crown-Prince reads a great deal; very many
French Books, new and old, he reads; -- among the
new, we need not doubt, the Henriade of M. Arouet
Junior (who now calls himself Voltaire), which has
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? 80 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [bOOK vI.
1727.
risen like a star of the first magnitude in these years. *
An incomparable piece, patronised by Royalty in Eng-
land; the delight of all kindred Courts. The light
dancing march of this new "Epic," and the brisk clash
of cymbal music audible in it, had, as we find after-
wards, greatly captivated the young man. All is not
pipe-clay, then, and torpid formalism; aloft from the
murk of commonplace rise glancings of a starry splen-
dour, betokening -- 0 how much!
Out of Books, rumours and experiences, young ima-
gination is forming to itself some Picture of the World
as it is, as it has been. The curtains of this strange
life-theatre are mounting, mounting, -- wondrously as
in the case of all young souls; but with what spe-
cialties, moods or phenomena of light and shadow, to
this young soul, is not in any point recorded for us.
The "early Letters to Wilhelmina, which exist in great
numbers," from these we had hoped elucidation: but
these the learned Editor has "wholly withheld as use-
less," for the present . Let them be carefully preserved,
on the chance of somebody's arising to whom they may
have uses! --
The worst feature of these years is Friedrich Wil-
helm's discontent with them. A Crown-Prince sadly out
of favour with Papa. This has long been on the
growing hand; and these Double-Marriage troubles, not
to mention again the newfangled French tendencies
* London, 1723; by subscription (King, Prince and Princess ofWales
at the top of it), which yielded 8,000j. : see Voltaire, (Emres Complete$,
xiii- 408.
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? CHAP. I. ] FIFTH CEISIS IN THE SPECTRE-HUNT,
81
1727.
(Blitz Franzosen! ), much aggravate the matter, and ac-
celerate its rate of growth. Already the paternal coun-
tenance does not shine upon him; flames often, and
thunders, to a shocking degree; -- and worse days
are coming.
Carlyle, Frederic the Great- III,
8
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? 82 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT. [BOOK vI,
1727
CHAPTEE H.
DEATH OF GEORGE I.
Gibraltar still keeps sputtering; ardent ineffectual
bombardment from the one side, sulky, heavy blast of
response now and then from the other: but the fire does
not spread; nor will, we may hope. It is true, Sweden
and Denmark have joined the Treaty of Hanover, this
spring; and have troops on foot, and money paid them.
But George is pacific, Gibraltar is impregnable: let the
Spaniards spend their powder there.
As for the Kaiser, he is dreadfully poor; inapt for
battle himself. And in the end of this same May 1727,
we hear, his principal ally, Czarina Catherine, has
died; -- poor brown little woman, Lithuanian house-
maid, Russian Autocrat, it is now all one; -- dead she,
and can do nothing. Probably the Kaiser will sit
still? The Kaiser sits still; with eyes bent on Gibral-
tar, or rolling in grand Imperial inquiry and anxiety
round the world; war out-looks much dimmed for him
since the end of May.
Alas, in the end of June, what far other Job's-post
is this that reaches Berlin and Queen Sophie? That
George L, her royal Father, has suddenly sunk dead!
With the Solstice, or summer Pause of the Sun, 21st
or 22d June, almost uncertain which, the Majesty of
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? CHAP. n. ] DEATH OF GEORGE I. 83
21st June 1727.
George I. did likewise pause, -- in his carriage, on the
road to Osnabriick, -- never to move more. Where-
upon, among the simple People, arose rumours of
omens, preternaturalisms, for and against: How his de-
sperate MegEera of a Wife, in the act of dying, had
summoned him (as was presumable) to appear along
with her at the Great Judgment-Bar within year and
day; and how he has here done it. On the other hand,
some would have it noted, How "the nightingales in
"Herrenhausen Gardens had all ceased singing for the
"year, that night he died," -- out of loyalty on the
part of these little birds, it seemed presumable. *
What we know is, he was journeying towards
Hanover again, hopeful of a little hunting at the
Gohrde; and intended seeing Osnabriick and his Bro-
ther the Bishop there, as he passed. That day, 21st
June 1727, from some feelings of his own, he was in
great haste for Osnabriick; hurrying along by extra-
post, without real cause save hurry of mind. He had
left his poor old Maypole of a Mistress on the Dutch
Frontier, that morning, to follow at more leisure.
He
was struck by apoplexy on the road, -- arm fallen
powerless, early in the day, head dim and heavy; ob-
viously an alarming case. But he refused to stop any-
where; refused any surgery but such as could be done
at once. "Osnabriick, Osnabriick! " he reiterated,
growing visibly worse. Two subaltern Hanover Offi-
cials, "Privy-Councillor von Hardenberg, Kammerherr
"(Chamberlain) von Fabrice, were in the carriage with
* SceKBhler: MimibclnsUgmgen, x. 88.
6*
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? 84 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [bOOK vI.
22d Jane 1727.
"him;"* King chiefly dozing, and at last supported in
the arms of Fabrice, was heard murmuring, "C'est fait
de mot ('Tis all over with me)! " And "Osnabriick!
Osnabriick! " slumberously reiterated he: To Osnabriick,
where my poor old Brother, Bishop as they call him,
once a little Boy that trotted at my knee with blithe
face, will have some human pity on me! So they
rushed along all day, as at the gallop, his few atten-
dants and he; and when the shades of night fell, and
speech had now left the poor man, he still passionately
gasped some gurgle of a sound like "Osnabriick;" -- hanging in the arms of Fabrice, and now evidently in
the article of death. What a gallop t sweeping through
the slumber of the world: To Osnabriick, Osnabriick!
In the hollow of the night (some say, one in the
morning), they reach Osnabriick. And the poor old
Brother, -- Ernst August, once youngest of six brothers,
of seven children, now the one survivor, has human
pity in the heart of him, full surely. But George is
dead; careless of it now. ** After sixty-seven years of
it, he has flung his big burdens, -- English crowns,
Hanoverian crownlets, sulkinesses, indignations, lean
women and fat, and earthly contradictions and confu-
sions, -- fairly off him; and lies there.
* Gottfried: Hislorische Chronik (Frankfurt, 1759), iii. 872. Boyer:
The Political State of Great Britain, vol, xxxiii. pp. 545, 546.
** Coxe (I. 266) is "indebted to his friend Nathaniel Wraxall" for these
details, -- the since famous Sir Nathaniel, in whose Memoirs (vague, but
not mendacious, not unintelligent) they are now published more at large.
See his Memoirs of the Courts of Berlin, Dresden, Ac. (London, 1799),
i. 35-40; also Historical Memoirs (London, 1836), iv. 516-518.
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? CHAP. II. ] DEATH OF GEORGE I. 85
1727.
The man had his big burdens, his honours so-called,
absurd enough some of them, in this world; but he
bore them with a certain gravity and discretion: a man
of more probity, insight and general human faculty,
than he now gets credit for. His word was sacred to
him. He had the courage of a Welf, or Lion-Man;
quietly royal in that respect at least. His sense of
equity, of what was true and honourable in men and
things, remained uneffaced to a respectable degree; --
and surely it had resisted much. Wilder puddle of
muddy infatuations from without and from within, if
we consider it well, -- of irreconcilable incoherences,
bottomless universal hypocrisies, solecisms bred with him
and imposed on him, -- few Sons of Adam had hitherto
lived in.
He was, in one word, the First of our Hanover
Series of English Kings; that hitherto unique sort,
who are really strange to look at in the History of the
World. Of whom, in the English annals, there is
hitherto no Picture to be had; nothing but an empty
blur of discordant nonsenses, and idle, generally angry
flourishings of the pen, by way of Picture. The Eng-
lish Nation, having flung its old Puritan, Sword-and-
Bible Faith into the cesspool, -- or rather having set
its old Bible-Faith, minus any Sword, well up in the
organ-loft, with plenty of revenue, there to preach and
organ at discretion, on condition always of meddling
with nobody's practice farther, -- thought the same
(such their mistake) a mighty pretty arrangement; but
found it hitch before long. They had to throw out
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? 86 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
1727.
their beautiful Nell-Gwyn Defenders of the Faith; fling
them also into the cesspool; and were rather at a loss
what next to do. "Where is our real King, then?
Who is to lead us Heavenward, then; to rally the noble
of us to him, in some small measure, and save the rest
and their affairs from running Devilward? " -- The
English Nation being in some difficulty as to Kings,
the English Nation clutched up the readiest that came
to hand; "Here is our King! " said they, -- again
under mistake, still under their old mistake. And, what
was singular, they then avenged themselves by mocking,
calumniating, by angrily speaking, writing and laughing
at the poor mistaken King so clutched! -- It is high
time the English were candidly asking themselves,
with very great seriousness indeed, What it was they
had done, in the sight of God and man, on that and
the prior occasion? And above all, What it is they
will now propose to do in the sequel of it! Dig gold-
nuggets, and rally the ? '<raoble of us? --
George's poor lean Mistress, coming on at the usual
rate of the road, was met, next morning, by the sad
tidings. She sprang from her carriage into the dusty
highway; tore her hair (or head-dress), half frantic; de-
clared herself a ruined woman; -- and drove direct to
Berlin, there to compose her old mind. She was not
ill seen at Court there; had her connexions in the
world. Fieldmarshal Schulenburg, who once had the
honour of fighting (not to his advantage) with
Charles XH. , and had since grown famous by his
Anti-Turk performances in the Venetian service, is a
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? CHAP. II. ]
87
DEATH OF GEORGE I.
J727.
Brother of this poor Maypole's; and there is a Nephew
of hers, one of Friedrich Wilhelm's Field-Officers here,
whom we shall meet by and by. She has been obli-
ging to Queen Sophie on occasions; they can, and do,
now weep heartily together. I believe she returned to
England, being Duchess of Kendal, with heavy pen-
sions there; and "assiduously attended divine ordi-
nances, according to the German Protestant form, ever
afterwards. " Poor foolish old soul, what is this world,
with all its dukeries! --
The other or fat Mistress, "Cataract of fluid Tal-
low," Countess of Darlington, whom I take to have
been a Half-Sister rather, sat sorrowful at Isleworth;
and kept for many years a Black Raven, which had
come flying in upon her; which she somehow understood
to be the soul, or connected with the soul of his Ma-
jesty of happy memory. * Good Heavens, what fat
fluid-tallowy stupor, and entirely sordid darkness,
dwells among mankind; and occasionally finds itself
lifted to the very top, by way of sample! --
Friedrich Wilhelm wept tenderly to Brigadier Du-
bourgay, the British Minister at Berlin (an old military
gentleman, of diplomatic merit, who spells rather ill),
when they spoke of this sad matter. My poor old
Uncle; he was so good to me in boyhood, in those old
days, when I blooded Cousin George's nose! Not un-
kind, ah, only proud and sad; and was called sulky,
being of few words and heavy-laden. Ah me, your * Horace Walpole, Reminiscences.
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? 88 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PEOJECT GOING ADRIFT. [BOOK VT.
1727.
Excellenz; if the little nightingales have all fallen
silent, what may not I, his Son and Nephew do? --
And the rugged Majesty blubbered with great tender-
ness;* having fountains of tears withal, hidden in the
rocky heart of him, not suspected by every one.
I add only, that the Fabrice, who had poor George
in his arms that night, is a man worth mentioning.
The same Fabrice (Fabricius, or perhaps Goldschmidt
in German) who went as Envoy from the Holstein-Got-
torp people to Charles XII. in his Turkish time; and
stayed with his Swedish Majesty there, for a year or
two, indeed till the catastrophe came. His Official
Letters from that scene are in print, this long while,
though considerably forgotten;** a little Volume, worth
many big ones that have been published on that sub-
ject. The same Fabrice, following Hanover after-
wards, came across to London in due course; and there
he did another memorable thing: made acquaintance
with the Monsieur Arouet, then a young French Exile
there, Arouet Junior Q'le Jeune, or I. j"), who, -- by
an ingenious anagram, contrived in his indignation at
such banishment, -- writes himself Voltaire ever since,
who has been publishing a Henriade, and doing other
things. Now it was by questioning this Fabrice, and
industriously picking the memory of him clean, that
M. de Voltaire wrote another Book, much more of an
* Dubourgay's Despatches, in the State-Paper Office.
** Anecdotes da Sijour in Hoi de Suede i Bender, ou Leltres de M. le
Baron de Fabrice pour servir d'Cclaircissement a VHisLoire de Charles Xll.
(Hambourg, 1760, 8vo) >>
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? CHAP, n. ] DEATH OP GEORGE I. 89
1727.
"Epic" than Henri IV. , -- a History, namely, of
Charles XII. ;* which seems to me the best-written of
all his Books, and wants nothing but truth (indeed a
dreadful want) to make it a possession forever. Vol-
taire, if you want fine writing; Adlerfeld and Fabrice,
if you would see the features of the Fact: these three
are still the Books upon Charles XII.
His Prussian Majesty falls into one of his Hypo-
chondriacal Fits.
Before this event, his Majesty was in gloomy
humour; and special vexations had superadded them-
selves. Early in the Spring, a difficult huff of quarrel,
the consummation of a good many grudges long sub-
sisting, had fallen-out with his neighbour of Saxony,
the Majesty of Poland, August, whom we have formerly
heard of. A conspicuous Majesty in those days; called
even "August the Great" by some persons in his own
time; but now chiefly remembered by his splendour of
upholstery, his enormous expenditure in drinking and
otherwise, also by his Three-Hundred and Fifty-four
Bastards (probably the maximum of any King's per-
formance in that line), and called August der Starke,
"August the Physically Strong. " This exemplary
Sovereign could not well be a man according to Fried-
rich Wilhelm's heart: accordingly they had their huffs
and little collisions now and then: that of the Protestant
* See Voltaire, (Euvret Completes, ii. 149, xxx. 7, 127. Came out In
1731 (ib. xxx. Avant-Propos, p. ii. ).
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? 90 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
1727.
Directorate and Heidelberg Protestants, for instance;
indeed it was generally about Protestantism; and more
lately there had been high words and correspondings
about the "Protestants of Thorn" (a bad tragedy, of
Jesuit intrusion and Polish ferocity, enacted there in
1724);* -- in which sad business Friedrich Wilhelm
loyally interfered, though Britannic George of blessed
memory, and others were but lukewarm; and nothing
could be done in it. Nothing except angry correspond-
ence with King August; very provoking to the poor
soul, who had no hand but a nominal one in the Thorn
catastrophe, being driven into it by his unruly Diet
alone.
In fact, August, with his glittering eyes and excel-
lent physical constitution, was a very good-humoured
fellow; supremely pleasant in society; and by no means
wishful to cheat you, or do you a mischief in business,
-- unless his necessities compelled him; which often
were great. But Friedrich Wilhelm always kept a
good eye on such points; and had himself suffered
nothing from the gay eupeptic Son of Belial, either in
their old Stralsund copartnery or otherwise. So that,
except for these Protestant affairs, -- and alas, one
other little cause, -- Friedrich Wilhelm had con-
tentedly left the Physically Strong to his own course,
doing the civilities of the road to him when they met;
and nothing ill had fallen-out between them. This
other little cause -- alas, it is the old story of recruiting;
one's poor Hobby again giving offence! Special re-
* Account of it in Buchholz, i. 98-102.
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? CHAP, n. ] DEATH OF (JEORGE I. 91
1727.
cruiting brabbles there had been; severe laws passed
in Saxony about these kidnapping operations: and al-
ways in the Diets, when question rose of this matter,
August had been particularly loud in his denouncings.
Which was unkind, though not unexpected. But now,
in the Spring of 1727, here has a worse case than any
arisen.
Captain Natzmer, of I know not what Prussian
Regiment, "Sachsen-Weimar Cuirassiers"* or another,
had dropt over into Saxony, to see what could be done
in picking up a tall man or two. Tall men, one or
two, Captain Natzmer did pick up, nay a tall deserter
or two (Saxon soldier, inveigled to desert); but finding
his operations get air, he hastily withrew into Branden-
burg territory again. Saxon Officials followed him
into Brandenburg territory; snapt him back into Saxon;
tried him by Saxon law there; -- Saxon law, express
in such case, condemns him to be hanged; and that is
his doom accordingly.
"Captain Natzmer to swing on the gallows? Taken
on Brandenburg territory, too, and not the least notice
given me? " Friedrich Wilhelm blazes into flaming
whirl-wind; sends an Official Gentleman, one Katsch,
to his Excellenz Baron von Sulim (the Crown-Prince's
cultivated friend), with this appalling message: "If
Natzmer be hanged, for certain I will use reprisals;
you yourself shall swing! " Whereupon Suhm, in
panic, fled over the marches to his Master; who bullied
him for his pusillanimous terrors; and applied to Fried- * MUilaii-Lexikon, Hi. 104.
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?
? BOOK VI.
DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT, AND CROWN-PRINCE,
GOING ADRIFT UNDER THE STORM-WINDS.
1727-1730.
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? 1727.
CHAPTER L
FI1TH CRISIS IN THE KAISER'S SPECTRE-HUNT.
The Crown-Prince's young Life being, by perverse
chance, involved and as it were absorbed in that foolish
question of his English Marriage, we have nothing for
it but to continue our sad function; and go on pain-
fully fishing out, and reducing to an authentic form,
what traces of him there are, from that disastrous beg-
garly element, -- till once he got free of it, either dead
or alive. The winds (partly by Art-Magic) rise to the
hurricane pitch, upon this Marriage Project and him;
and as for the sea, or general tide of European Po-
litics -- But let the reader look with his own eyes.
In the spring of 1727, War, as anticipated, breaks
out; Spaniards actually begin battering at Gibraltar;
Kaiser's Ambassador at London is angrily ordered to
begone. Causes of war were many: 1". Duke do
Ripperda, -- tumbled-out now, that illustrious diplo-
matic bulldog, at Madrid, -- sought asylum in the English Ambassador's house; and no respect was had
to such asylum: that is one cause. 2? . Then, you
English, what is the meaning of these war-fleets in the
West-Indies; in the Mediterranean, on the very coast
of Spain? We demand that you at once take them
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? 7C DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT [book vI.
1727.
home again: -- which cannot be complied with. 3". But
above all things, we demand Gibraltar of you; -- which
can still less be complied with. Termagant Elizabeth
has set her heart on Gibraltar: that, in such oppor-
tunity as this unexpected condition of the Balances now
gives her, is the real cause of the War.
Cession of Gibraltar: there had been vague promises, years ago, on the Kaiser's part; nay George
himself, raw to England at that date, is said to have
thought the thing might perhaps be done. -- "Do it at
once, then! " said the Termagant Queen, and repeated,
with ever more emphasis; -- and there being not the
least compliance, she has opened parallels before the
place, and begun war and ardent firing there;* preceded
by protocols, debates in Parliament, and the usual
phenomena. It is the Fifth grand Crisis in the Kaiser's
spectre-huntings; fifth change in the colour of the world-
lobster getting boiled in that singular manner; -- Second
Sputter of actual War.
Which proved futile altogether; and amounts now,
in the human memory, to flat zero, -- unless the fol-
lowing infinitesimally small fraction be countable again:
"Sputtering of War; that is to say, Siege of Gibraltar.
"A Siege utterly unmemorable, and without the least interest
"for existing mankind with their ungrateful humour,-- if it
"be not, once more, that the Father of Tristram Shandy was
"in it: still a Lieutenant of foot, poor fellow; brisk, small,
* 22d Feb. 1727 (Schb'll, II. 212). Salmon, Chronological Historian
(London, 1747; a very incorrect dark Book, useful only in defect of better),
ii, 173. Cose, Memoirs of Walpole, i. 260, 261; ii. 498-515.
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? CHAP. I. ] FIFTH CRISIS IN THE SPECTKE-HUNT. 77
1727.
"hot-tempered, loving, 'liable to be cheated ten times a-day
"if nine will not suffice you. ' He was in this Siege; shipped
"to the Rock to make stand there; and would have done so
"with the boldest,-- only he got into duel (hot-tempered,
"though of lamb-like innocence), and was run-through the
"body; not entirely killed, but within a hairsbreadth of it;
"and unable for service while this sputtering went on. Little
"Lorry is still living; gone to school in Yorkshire, after
"pranks enough, and misventures,-- half-drowning 'in the
"mill-race at Annamoe in Ireland,' for one. * The poor
"Lieutenant Father died, soldiering in the West Indies,
"soon after this; and we shall not mention him again. But
"History ought to remember that he is 'Uncle Toby,' this
"poor Lieutenant, and take her measures! -- The Siege of
"Gibraltar, we still see with our eyes, was in itself Nothing. "
Truly it might well enough have grown to universal
flame of War. But this always needs two parties; and
pacific George would not be second party in it. George,
guided by pacific Walpole, backed by pacific Fleury,
answers the ardent firing by phlegmatic patience and
protocolling; not by counterfiring, except quite at his
convenience, from privateers, from war-ships here and
there, and in sulky defence from Gibraltar itself.
Probably the Termagant, with all the fire she has,
will not do much damage upon Gibraltar? Such was
George's hope. Whereby the flame of war, ardent
only in certain Spanish batteries upon the point of San
Roque, does not spread hitherto, -- though all mortals,
and Friedrich Wilhelm as much as any, can see the
* Laurence Sterne's Autobiography (cited above).
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? 78 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
1727.
imminent likelihood there is. In such circumstances,
what a stroke of policy to have disjoined Friedrich
Wilhelm from the Hanover Alliance, and brought him
over to our own! Is not Grumkow worth his pension?
"Grumkow serves honourably. " Let the invaluable
Seckendorf persevere.
Crown-Prince seen in Dryasdust's glass, darkly.
To know the special figure of the Crown-Prince's
way of life in those years, who his friends, companions
were, what his pursuits and experiences, would be
agreeable to us; but beyond the outline already given,
there is little definite on record. He now resides habi-
tually at Potsdam, be the Court there or not; attending
strictly to his military duties in the Giant Regiment;
it is only on occasion, chiefly perhaps in "Carnival
time," that he gets to Berlin, to partake in the gaieties
of society. Who his associates there or at Potsdam
were? Suhm, the Saxon Resident, a cultivated man of
literary turn, famed as his friend in time coming, is
already at his diplomatic post in Berlin, post of diffi-
culty just now; but I know not whether they have yet
any intimacy. * This we do know, the Crown-Prince
begins to be noted for his sprightly sense, his love of
literature, his ingenuous ways; in the Court or other
circles, whatsoever has intelligence attracts him, and is
attracted by him. The Roucoulles Soirees, -- gone all
to dim buckram for us, though once so lively in their
* Preuss: Friedrich mil seinen Verwandlen und Fi emden, p. 24.
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? CHAP. I. ] FIFTH CRISIS IN THE SPECTRE-HUNT, 79
1727.
high periwigs and speculations, -- fall on Wednesday.
When the Finckenstein or the others fall, -- no doubt
his Royal Highness knows it. In the Tabaks-Collegium, there also, driven by duty, he sometimes appears; but,
like Seckendorf and some others, he only affects to
smoke, and his pipe is mere white clay. Nor is the
social element, any more than the narcotic vapour
which prevails there, attractive to the young Prince, --
though he had better hide his feelings on the subject.
Out at Potsdam, again, life goes very heavy; the
winged Psyche much imprisoned in that pipeclay ele-
ment, a prey to vacancy and many tediums and longings.
Daily return the giant drill-duties; and daily, to the
uttermost of rigorous perfection, they must be done: --
"This, then, is the sum of one's existence, this? " Pa-
tience, young "man of genius," as the Newspapers
would now call you; it is indispensably beneficial
nevertheless! To swallow one's disgusts, and do faith-
fully the ugly commanded work, taking no council with
flesh and blood: know that "genius," everywhere in
Nature, means this first of all; that without this, it
means nothing, generally even less. And be thankful
for your Potsdam grenadiers and their pipeclay! --
Happily he has his Books about him; his flute:
Duhan, too, is here, still more or less didactic in some
branches; always instructive and companionable to him.
The Crown-Prince reads a great deal; very many
French Books, new and old, he reads; -- among the
new, we need not doubt, the Henriade of M. Arouet
Junior (who now calls himself Voltaire), which has
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? 80 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [bOOK vI.
1727.
risen like a star of the first magnitude in these years. *
An incomparable piece, patronised by Royalty in Eng-
land; the delight of all kindred Courts. The light
dancing march of this new "Epic," and the brisk clash
of cymbal music audible in it, had, as we find after-
wards, greatly captivated the young man. All is not
pipe-clay, then, and torpid formalism; aloft from the
murk of commonplace rise glancings of a starry splen-
dour, betokening -- 0 how much!
Out of Books, rumours and experiences, young ima-
gination is forming to itself some Picture of the World
as it is, as it has been. The curtains of this strange
life-theatre are mounting, mounting, -- wondrously as
in the case of all young souls; but with what spe-
cialties, moods or phenomena of light and shadow, to
this young soul, is not in any point recorded for us.
The "early Letters to Wilhelmina, which exist in great
numbers," from these we had hoped elucidation: but
these the learned Editor has "wholly withheld as use-
less," for the present . Let them be carefully preserved,
on the chance of somebody's arising to whom they may
have uses! --
The worst feature of these years is Friedrich Wil-
helm's discontent with them. A Crown-Prince sadly out
of favour with Papa. This has long been on the
growing hand; and these Double-Marriage troubles, not
to mention again the newfangled French tendencies
* London, 1723; by subscription (King, Prince and Princess ofWales
at the top of it), which yielded 8,000j. : see Voltaire, (Emres Complete$,
xiii- 408.
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? CHAP. I. ] FIFTH CEISIS IN THE SPECTRE-HUNT,
81
1727.
(Blitz Franzosen! ), much aggravate the matter, and ac-
celerate its rate of growth. Already the paternal coun-
tenance does not shine upon him; flames often, and
thunders, to a shocking degree; -- and worse days
are coming.
Carlyle, Frederic the Great- III,
8
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? 82 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT. [BOOK vI,
1727
CHAPTEE H.
DEATH OF GEORGE I.
Gibraltar still keeps sputtering; ardent ineffectual
bombardment from the one side, sulky, heavy blast of
response now and then from the other: but the fire does
not spread; nor will, we may hope. It is true, Sweden
and Denmark have joined the Treaty of Hanover, this
spring; and have troops on foot, and money paid them.
But George is pacific, Gibraltar is impregnable: let the
Spaniards spend their powder there.
As for the Kaiser, he is dreadfully poor; inapt for
battle himself. And in the end of this same May 1727,
we hear, his principal ally, Czarina Catherine, has
died; -- poor brown little woman, Lithuanian house-
maid, Russian Autocrat, it is now all one; -- dead she,
and can do nothing. Probably the Kaiser will sit
still? The Kaiser sits still; with eyes bent on Gibral-
tar, or rolling in grand Imperial inquiry and anxiety
round the world; war out-looks much dimmed for him
since the end of May.
Alas, in the end of June, what far other Job's-post
is this that reaches Berlin and Queen Sophie? That
George L, her royal Father, has suddenly sunk dead!
With the Solstice, or summer Pause of the Sun, 21st
or 22d June, almost uncertain which, the Majesty of
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? CHAP. n. ] DEATH OF GEORGE I. 83
21st June 1727.
George I. did likewise pause, -- in his carriage, on the
road to Osnabriick, -- never to move more. Where-
upon, among the simple People, arose rumours of
omens, preternaturalisms, for and against: How his de-
sperate MegEera of a Wife, in the act of dying, had
summoned him (as was presumable) to appear along
with her at the Great Judgment-Bar within year and
day; and how he has here done it. On the other hand,
some would have it noted, How "the nightingales in
"Herrenhausen Gardens had all ceased singing for the
"year, that night he died," -- out of loyalty on the
part of these little birds, it seemed presumable. *
What we know is, he was journeying towards
Hanover again, hopeful of a little hunting at the
Gohrde; and intended seeing Osnabriick and his Bro-
ther the Bishop there, as he passed. That day, 21st
June 1727, from some feelings of his own, he was in
great haste for Osnabriick; hurrying along by extra-
post, without real cause save hurry of mind. He had
left his poor old Maypole of a Mistress on the Dutch
Frontier, that morning, to follow at more leisure.
He
was struck by apoplexy on the road, -- arm fallen
powerless, early in the day, head dim and heavy; ob-
viously an alarming case. But he refused to stop any-
where; refused any surgery but such as could be done
at once. "Osnabriick, Osnabriick! " he reiterated,
growing visibly worse. Two subaltern Hanover Offi-
cials, "Privy-Councillor von Hardenberg, Kammerherr
"(Chamberlain) von Fabrice, were in the carriage with
* SceKBhler: MimibclnsUgmgen, x. 88.
6*
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? 84 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [bOOK vI.
22d Jane 1727.
"him;"* King chiefly dozing, and at last supported in
the arms of Fabrice, was heard murmuring, "C'est fait
de mot ('Tis all over with me)! " And "Osnabriick!
Osnabriick! " slumberously reiterated he: To Osnabriick,
where my poor old Brother, Bishop as they call him,
once a little Boy that trotted at my knee with blithe
face, will have some human pity on me! So they
rushed along all day, as at the gallop, his few atten-
dants and he; and when the shades of night fell, and
speech had now left the poor man, he still passionately
gasped some gurgle of a sound like "Osnabriick;" -- hanging in the arms of Fabrice, and now evidently in
the article of death. What a gallop t sweeping through
the slumber of the world: To Osnabriick, Osnabriick!
In the hollow of the night (some say, one in the
morning), they reach Osnabriick. And the poor old
Brother, -- Ernst August, once youngest of six brothers,
of seven children, now the one survivor, has human
pity in the heart of him, full surely. But George is
dead; careless of it now. ** After sixty-seven years of
it, he has flung his big burdens, -- English crowns,
Hanoverian crownlets, sulkinesses, indignations, lean
women and fat, and earthly contradictions and confu-
sions, -- fairly off him; and lies there.
* Gottfried: Hislorische Chronik (Frankfurt, 1759), iii. 872. Boyer:
The Political State of Great Britain, vol, xxxiii. pp. 545, 546.
** Coxe (I. 266) is "indebted to his friend Nathaniel Wraxall" for these
details, -- the since famous Sir Nathaniel, in whose Memoirs (vague, but
not mendacious, not unintelligent) they are now published more at large.
See his Memoirs of the Courts of Berlin, Dresden, Ac. (London, 1799),
i. 35-40; also Historical Memoirs (London, 1836), iv. 516-518.
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? CHAP. II. ] DEATH OF GEORGE I. 85
1727.
The man had his big burdens, his honours so-called,
absurd enough some of them, in this world; but he
bore them with a certain gravity and discretion: a man
of more probity, insight and general human faculty,
than he now gets credit for. His word was sacred to
him. He had the courage of a Welf, or Lion-Man;
quietly royal in that respect at least. His sense of
equity, of what was true and honourable in men and
things, remained uneffaced to a respectable degree; --
and surely it had resisted much. Wilder puddle of
muddy infatuations from without and from within, if
we consider it well, -- of irreconcilable incoherences,
bottomless universal hypocrisies, solecisms bred with him
and imposed on him, -- few Sons of Adam had hitherto
lived in.
He was, in one word, the First of our Hanover
Series of English Kings; that hitherto unique sort,
who are really strange to look at in the History of the
World. Of whom, in the English annals, there is
hitherto no Picture to be had; nothing but an empty
blur of discordant nonsenses, and idle, generally angry
flourishings of the pen, by way of Picture. The Eng-
lish Nation, having flung its old Puritan, Sword-and-
Bible Faith into the cesspool, -- or rather having set
its old Bible-Faith, minus any Sword, well up in the
organ-loft, with plenty of revenue, there to preach and
organ at discretion, on condition always of meddling
with nobody's practice farther, -- thought the same
(such their mistake) a mighty pretty arrangement; but
found it hitch before long. They had to throw out
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? 86 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
1727.
their beautiful Nell-Gwyn Defenders of the Faith; fling
them also into the cesspool; and were rather at a loss
what next to do. "Where is our real King, then?
Who is to lead us Heavenward, then; to rally the noble
of us to him, in some small measure, and save the rest
and their affairs from running Devilward? " -- The
English Nation being in some difficulty as to Kings,
the English Nation clutched up the readiest that came
to hand; "Here is our King! " said they, -- again
under mistake, still under their old mistake. And, what
was singular, they then avenged themselves by mocking,
calumniating, by angrily speaking, writing and laughing
at the poor mistaken King so clutched! -- It is high
time the English were candidly asking themselves,
with very great seriousness indeed, What it was they
had done, in the sight of God and man, on that and
the prior occasion? And above all, What it is they
will now propose to do in the sequel of it! Dig gold-
nuggets, and rally the ? '<raoble of us? --
George's poor lean Mistress, coming on at the usual
rate of the road, was met, next morning, by the sad
tidings. She sprang from her carriage into the dusty
highway; tore her hair (or head-dress), half frantic; de-
clared herself a ruined woman; -- and drove direct to
Berlin, there to compose her old mind. She was not
ill seen at Court there; had her connexions in the
world. Fieldmarshal Schulenburg, who once had the
honour of fighting (not to his advantage) with
Charles XH. , and had since grown famous by his
Anti-Turk performances in the Venetian service, is a
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? CHAP. II. ]
87
DEATH OF GEORGE I.
J727.
Brother of this poor Maypole's; and there is a Nephew
of hers, one of Friedrich Wilhelm's Field-Officers here,
whom we shall meet by and by. She has been obli-
ging to Queen Sophie on occasions; they can, and do,
now weep heartily together. I believe she returned to
England, being Duchess of Kendal, with heavy pen-
sions there; and "assiduously attended divine ordi-
nances, according to the German Protestant form, ever
afterwards. " Poor foolish old soul, what is this world,
with all its dukeries! --
The other or fat Mistress, "Cataract of fluid Tal-
low," Countess of Darlington, whom I take to have
been a Half-Sister rather, sat sorrowful at Isleworth;
and kept for many years a Black Raven, which had
come flying in upon her; which she somehow understood
to be the soul, or connected with the soul of his Ma-
jesty of happy memory. * Good Heavens, what fat
fluid-tallowy stupor, and entirely sordid darkness,
dwells among mankind; and occasionally finds itself
lifted to the very top, by way of sample! --
Friedrich Wilhelm wept tenderly to Brigadier Du-
bourgay, the British Minister at Berlin (an old military
gentleman, of diplomatic merit, who spells rather ill),
when they spoke of this sad matter. My poor old
Uncle; he was so good to me in boyhood, in those old
days, when I blooded Cousin George's nose! Not un-
kind, ah, only proud and sad; and was called sulky,
being of few words and heavy-laden. Ah me, your * Horace Walpole, Reminiscences.
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? 88 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PEOJECT GOING ADRIFT. [BOOK VT.
1727.
Excellenz; if the little nightingales have all fallen
silent, what may not I, his Son and Nephew do? --
And the rugged Majesty blubbered with great tender-
ness;* having fountains of tears withal, hidden in the
rocky heart of him, not suspected by every one.
I add only, that the Fabrice, who had poor George
in his arms that night, is a man worth mentioning.
The same Fabrice (Fabricius, or perhaps Goldschmidt
in German) who went as Envoy from the Holstein-Got-
torp people to Charles XII. in his Turkish time; and
stayed with his Swedish Majesty there, for a year or
two, indeed till the catastrophe came. His Official
Letters from that scene are in print, this long while,
though considerably forgotten;** a little Volume, worth
many big ones that have been published on that sub-
ject. The same Fabrice, following Hanover after-
wards, came across to London in due course; and there
he did another memorable thing: made acquaintance
with the Monsieur Arouet, then a young French Exile
there, Arouet Junior Q'le Jeune, or I. j"), who, -- by
an ingenious anagram, contrived in his indignation at
such banishment, -- writes himself Voltaire ever since,
who has been publishing a Henriade, and doing other
things. Now it was by questioning this Fabrice, and
industriously picking the memory of him clean, that
M. de Voltaire wrote another Book, much more of an
* Dubourgay's Despatches, in the State-Paper Office.
** Anecdotes da Sijour in Hoi de Suede i Bender, ou Leltres de M. le
Baron de Fabrice pour servir d'Cclaircissement a VHisLoire de Charles Xll.
(Hambourg, 1760, 8vo) >>
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? CHAP, n. ] DEATH OP GEORGE I. 89
1727.
"Epic" than Henri IV. , -- a History, namely, of
Charles XII. ;* which seems to me the best-written of
all his Books, and wants nothing but truth (indeed a
dreadful want) to make it a possession forever. Vol-
taire, if you want fine writing; Adlerfeld and Fabrice,
if you would see the features of the Fact: these three
are still the Books upon Charles XII.
His Prussian Majesty falls into one of his Hypo-
chondriacal Fits.
Before this event, his Majesty was in gloomy
humour; and special vexations had superadded them-
selves. Early in the Spring, a difficult huff of quarrel,
the consummation of a good many grudges long sub-
sisting, had fallen-out with his neighbour of Saxony,
the Majesty of Poland, August, whom we have formerly
heard of. A conspicuous Majesty in those days; called
even "August the Great" by some persons in his own
time; but now chiefly remembered by his splendour of
upholstery, his enormous expenditure in drinking and
otherwise, also by his Three-Hundred and Fifty-four
Bastards (probably the maximum of any King's per-
formance in that line), and called August der Starke,
"August the Physically Strong. " This exemplary
Sovereign could not well be a man according to Fried-
rich Wilhelm's heart: accordingly they had their huffs
and little collisions now and then: that of the Protestant
* See Voltaire, (Euvret Completes, ii. 149, xxx. 7, 127. Came out In
1731 (ib. xxx. Avant-Propos, p. ii. ).
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? 90 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
1727.
Directorate and Heidelberg Protestants, for instance;
indeed it was generally about Protestantism; and more
lately there had been high words and correspondings
about the "Protestants of Thorn" (a bad tragedy, of
Jesuit intrusion and Polish ferocity, enacted there in
1724);* -- in which sad business Friedrich Wilhelm
loyally interfered, though Britannic George of blessed
memory, and others were but lukewarm; and nothing
could be done in it. Nothing except angry correspond-
ence with King August; very provoking to the poor
soul, who had no hand but a nominal one in the Thorn
catastrophe, being driven into it by his unruly Diet
alone.
In fact, August, with his glittering eyes and excel-
lent physical constitution, was a very good-humoured
fellow; supremely pleasant in society; and by no means
wishful to cheat you, or do you a mischief in business,
-- unless his necessities compelled him; which often
were great. But Friedrich Wilhelm always kept a
good eye on such points; and had himself suffered
nothing from the gay eupeptic Son of Belial, either in
their old Stralsund copartnery or otherwise. So that,
except for these Protestant affairs, -- and alas, one
other little cause, -- Friedrich Wilhelm had con-
tentedly left the Physically Strong to his own course,
doing the civilities of the road to him when they met;
and nothing ill had fallen-out between them. This
other little cause -- alas, it is the old story of recruiting;
one's poor Hobby again giving offence! Special re-
* Account of it in Buchholz, i. 98-102.
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? CHAP, n. ] DEATH OF (JEORGE I. 91
1727.
cruiting brabbles there had been; severe laws passed
in Saxony about these kidnapping operations: and al-
ways in the Diets, when question rose of this matter,
August had been particularly loud in his denouncings.
Which was unkind, though not unexpected. But now,
in the Spring of 1727, here has a worse case than any
arisen.
Captain Natzmer, of I know not what Prussian
Regiment, "Sachsen-Weimar Cuirassiers"* or another,
had dropt over into Saxony, to see what could be done
in picking up a tall man or two. Tall men, one or
two, Captain Natzmer did pick up, nay a tall deserter
or two (Saxon soldier, inveigled to desert); but finding
his operations get air, he hastily withrew into Branden-
burg territory again. Saxon Officials followed him
into Brandenburg territory; snapt him back into Saxon;
tried him by Saxon law there; -- Saxon law, express
in such case, condemns him to be hanged; and that is
his doom accordingly.
"Captain Natzmer to swing on the gallows? Taken
on Brandenburg territory, too, and not the least notice
given me? " Friedrich Wilhelm blazes into flaming
whirl-wind; sends an Official Gentleman, one Katsch,
to his Excellenz Baron von Sulim (the Crown-Prince's
cultivated friend), with this appalling message: "If
Natzmer be hanged, for certain I will use reprisals;
you yourself shall swing! " Whereupon Suhm, in
panic, fled over the marches to his Master; who bullied
him for his pusillanimous terrors; and applied to Fried- * MUilaii-Lexikon, Hi. 104.
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