Many of my readers never heard of
and there ensued delay enough; actual Election not till January 24th,
1742.
and there ensued delay enough; actual Election not till January 24th,
1742.
Thomas Carlyle
&c.
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? 248
[book xn.
FIRST SILESIAN WAR.
Jan. 1711.
"don road, having chosen that as fittest, the waters being out;
"-- not arriving at Court till 9. Nor finding very much to
"comfort them, except on the. side of curiosity, when there.
"Ushers, Introducteuis, Cabinet Secretaries, were indeed
"assiduous to oblige; and the King's Levee will be: but if you
"follow it to the Chapel Royal to witness high mass, you must
"kneel at elevation of the host; and this, as reformed
"Christians, Reuss and his Tutor cannot undertake to do.
"They accept a dinner invitation (12 the hour) from some
"good Samaritan of Quality; and, for sights, will content
"themselves with the King's Levee itself, and generally with
"whatthe King's Ante-chamber, and the CEil-de-Bceur, can
"exhibit to them. The Most Christian King's Levee" (Lever,
"literally here his Getting out of Bed) "is a daily miracle of
"these localities, only grander on Newyear's day; and it is to
"the following effect:
"Till Majesty please to awaken, you saunter in the Salle
"des Ambassadeurs; whole crowds jostling one another there;
"gossiping together in a diligent, insipid manner;" gossip all
reported; snatches of which have acquired a certain flavour
by long keeping; -- which the reader shall imagine. "Mean-
"while you keep your eye on the Grate of the Inner Court,
"which as yet isonlyajar,Majesty inaccessible asyet. Behold,
"bed; that the privileged of mankind may approach, and see
"the miracles. " Geusau continues, abridged by Biisching
and us:
"The whole Assemblage passed now into the King's Ante-
"room; had to wait there about half an hour more, before the
"King's bedroom was opened. But then at last, loyou, --
"there is the King, visible to Geusau and everybody,'wash-
"ing his hands. ' Which effected itself in this way. 'The
"King was seated; a gentleman-in-waiting knelt before him,
"and held the Ewer, a square vessel silver-gilt, firm upon the
"King's breast; and another gentleman-in-waiting poured
"water on the King's hands. ' Merely an official wasning, we
"perceive; the real, it is to be hoped, had, in a much more
"effectual way, been going on during the half - hour just
"elapsed. After washing, the King rose for an instant; had
"his dressing-gown, a grand yellow silky article with silver
"flowerings, pulled off, and flung round his loins; upon which
"at last, Grate opens itself wide
IH--J. aT. _a j -i? 1
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? CHAP. VII. ] AT VERSAILLES, BELLEISLE WITH PAPERS. 249
Jan. 1741.
"he sat down again, and," -- observe it, ye privileged of
mankind, -- "the Change of Shirt took place! ' They put the
"clean shirt down over his head,' says Anton, 'and plucked
"up the dirty one from within, so that of the naked skin you
"saw little or nothing. '" Here is a miracle worth getting out
of bed to look at!
"His Majesty now quitted chair and dressing-gown; stood
"up before the fire; and, after getting on the rest of his cloth-
"ing, which, on account of Czarina Anne's death" (readers
remember that) " was of violet or mourning colour, he had the
"powder-mantle thrown round him, and sat down at the
"Toilette to have his hair frizzled. The Toilette, a table
"with white cover shoved into the middle of the room, had on
"it a mirror, a powder-knife, and"-- no mortal cares what.
"The King," what all mortals note as they do the heavenly
omens, "is somewhat talky; speaks sometimes with the Dutch
"Ambassador, sometimes with the Pope's Nuncio, who seems
"a jocose kind of gentleman; sometimes with different French
"Lords, and at last with the CardinalFleury also, -- to whom,
"however, he does not look particularly gracious," -- not
particularly, this time. These are the omens; happy who can
read them! -- " Majesty then did his morning-prayer, assisted
"only by the common Almoners-in-waiting (Cardinal took no
"hand, much less any other); Majesty knelt before his bed,
"and finished the business 'in less than six seconds. ' After
"which mankind can ebb out to the Ante-room again; pay
"their devoir to the Queen's Majesty, which all do; or wait
"for the Transit to Morning Chapel, and see Mesdames of
"France and the others flitting past in their sedans.
"Queen's Majesty was already altogether dressed," says
Geusau, almost as if with some disappointment; "all in black;
"a most affable courteous Majesty; stands conversing with
"the Russian Ambassador, with the Dutch ditto, with the
"Ladies about her, and at last, 'in a friendly and merry
"tone,' with old Cardinal Fleury. Her Ladies, when the
"Queen spoke with them, showed no constraint at all; leant
"loosely with their arms on the fire-screens, and took things
"easy. Mesdames of France" -- Geusau saw Mesdames.
Poor little souls, they are the Loque, the Cochon (Rag, Pig, so
Papa would call them, dear Papa), who become tragically
visible again in the Revolution time: -- all blooming young
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? 250
[boos xii.
FIRST SILESIA. N WAR.
Jan. 1741.
children as yet (Queen's Majesty some Thirty-seven gone),
and little dreaming what lies fifty years ahead! King Louis's
career of extraneous gallantries, which ended in theParc-aux-
Cerfs, is now just beginning: think of that too; and of her
Majesty's fine behaviour under it; so affable, so patient, silent,
now and always! -- "In a little while, their Majesties go along
'' the Great Gallery to Chapel;" whither the Protestant mind
cannot with comfort accompany. *
This is the daily miracle done at Versailles to the
believing multitude; only that on Newyear's clay, and
certain supreme occasions, the shirt is handed by a
Prince of the Blood, and the towel for drying the
royal hands by a ditto, with other improvements; and
the thing comes out in its highest power of effulgence,
-- especially if you could see high mass withal. la
the Antechamber and CEil-de-Bceuf, Geusau, among
hundreds of phenomena fallen dead to us, saw the
Four following, which have still some life:
1o. Many Knights of the Holy Ghost (Chevaliers du Sainl
Esprit) are about; magnificently piebald people, indistinct to
us, and fallen dead to us: but there, among the company, do
not we indisputably see, "in full Cardinal's costume," Fleury
the ancient Prime Minister talking to her Majesty. Blandly
smiling; soft as milk, yet with a flavour of alcoholic wit in
him here and there. That is a man worth looking at, had
they painted him at all. Red hat, red stockings; a serenely
definite old gentleman, with something of prudent wisdom,
and a touch of imperceptible jocosity at times; mildly inex-
pugnable in manner: this King, whose Tutor he was twenty
years ago, still looks to him as his father; Fleury is the real
King ofFrance at present. His age is eighty-seven gone; the
King's is thirty (seven years younger than his Queen): and
the Cardinal has red stockings and red hat; veritably there,
successively in both Antechambers, seen by Geusau, January
1st, 1741: that is all I know.
2o. The Prince de Clermont, a Prince of the Blood, j
* BUsching, Beylraye, ii. 59-78.
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? ! HAP. vn. ] AT VERSAILLES, BELLEISLE WITH PAPERS. 251
ran. 1741.
'handed the shirt," teste Geusau. Some other Prince, notable
:o Geusau, and to us nameless, had the honour of the
'towel:" but this Prince de Clermont, a dissolute fellow of
vasted parts, kind of Priest, kind of Soldier too, is seen visibly
landing the shirt there; -- whom the reader and I, if we cared
ibout it, shall again see, getting beaten by Prince Ferdinand,
it Crefeld, within twenty years hence. These are points first
ind second, slightly noticeable, slightly if at all.
Of the actual transit to High Mass, transit very visible in
:he Great Gallery or CEil-de-Bceuf, why should a human beiDg
iow say anything? Queen, poor Stanislaus's Daughter, and
ner Ladies, in their sublime sedans, one flood of jewels, sail
irst; next sails King Louis, shirt warm on his back, with
'Thirty-four Chevaliers of the Holy Ghost" escorting; next
"the Dauphin" (Boy of eleven, Louis XVI. 's Father), and
"Mesdames of France, with" -- But even Geusau stops short.
Protestants cannot enter, that Chapel, without peril of idola-
try; wherefore Geusau and Pupil kept strolling in the gene-
ral CEil-de-Boeuf, -- and "the Dutch Ambassador approved
of it," he for one. And here now is another point, slightly
noticeable:
3". High Mass over, his Majesty sails back from Chapel,
in the same magnificently piebald manner; and vanishes into
the interior; -- leaving his Knights of the Holy Ghost, and
other Courtier-multitude, to simmer about, and ebb away as
they found good. Geusau and his young Reuss had now the
honour of being introduced to various people; among others
"to the Prince de Soubise. " Prince de Soubise: frivolous,
insignificant being; of whom I have no portrait that is not
nearly blank, and content to be so; -- though Herr von Geusau
would have one, with features and costume to it, when he
heard of the Beating at Rossbach, long after! Prince de Sou-
bise is pretty much a blank to everybody; -- and no sooner
are we loose of him, than (what every reader will do well
to note)
4:o. Our Herren Travellers are introduced to a real Nota-
bility: Monseigneur, soon to be Marechal, the Comte de
Belleisle; whom my readers and I are to be much concerned
"Mann), without much air of quality," thinks Geusau; but
with much swift intellect and energy, and a distinguished
"A tall lean man (langer hagerer
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? 252 FIRST SIXESIAN WAR. [book Xn,
Jan. 1741.
character, whatever Geusau might think. "Comte deBelleisle
"was very civil; but apologised; in a courtly and kind way.
"for the hurry he was in; regretting the impossibility of
"doing the honours to the Comte de Reuss in this Country, --
"his, Belleisle's, Journey into Germany, which was close at
"hand, overwhelming him with occupations and engagements
"at present. And indeed, even while he spoke to us," says
Geusau, "all manner of Papers were put into his hand. "*
"Journey to Germany, Papers put into his hand:'
there is perhaps no Human Figure in the world, tbifl
Sunday (except the one Figure now in those same
moments over at Breslau, gently pressing upon the
locked Gates there), who is so momentous for oar
Silesian Operations: and indeed he will kindle all
Europe into delirium; and produce mere thunder and
lightning, for seven years to come, -- with almost no
result in it, except Silesia! A tall lean man; there
stands he, age now fifty-six, just about setting out on
such errand. Whom one is thankful to have seen for
a moment, even in that slight manner.
Of Belleisle and his Plans.
Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, Comte de Belleisle.
is Grandson of that Intendant Fouquet, sumptuous
Financier, whom Louis XIV. at last threw out, and
locked into the Fortress of Pignerol, amid the Savoy
Alps, there to meditate for life, which lasted thirty
years longer. It was never understood that the
sumptuous Fouquet had altogether stolen public
moneys, nor indeed rightly what he had done to merit
Pignerol; and always, though fallen somehow into
such dire disfavour, he was pitied and respected by a
good portion of the public. "Has angered Colbert,"
* BUacuing, ii. 79: Bee Barbier, ii. 282, 287.
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? 1HAP. to. ] AT VERSAILLES, BELLEISLE WITH PAPERS. 253
Fan. 1741.
;aid the public; "dangerous rivalry to Colbert; that is
ivhat has brought Pignerol upon him. "
Out of Pignerol that Fouquet never came; but his
Family bloomed up into light again; had its ad-
ventures, sometimes its troubles, in the Regency time,
but was always in a rising way: -- and here, in this
;all lean man getting papers put into his hand, it has
risen very high indeed. Going as Ambassador Extra-
ordinary to the Germanic Diet, "To assist good neigh-
bours, as a neighbour and Most Christian Majesty
should, in choosing their new Kaiser to the best ad-
vantage:" that is the official colour his mission is to
have. Surely a proud mission; -- and Belleisle intends
to execute it in a way that will surprise the Germanic
Diet and mankind. Privately, Belleisle intends that he,
by his own industries, shall himself choose the right
Kaiser, such Kaiser as will suit the Most Christian
Majesty and him; he intends to make a new French
thing of Germany in general; and carries in his head
plans of an amazing nature! He and a Brother he
has, called the Chevalier de Belleisle, who is also a
distinguished man, and seconds M. le Comte with
eloquent fire and zeal in all things, are grandsons of
that old Fouquet, and the most shining men in France
at present. France little dreams how much better
it perhaps were, had they also been kept safe in
Pignerol! --
The Count, lean and growing old,- is not healthy;
is ever and anon tormented, and laid up for weeks,
with rheumatisms, gouts and ailments: but otherwise
he is still a swift ardent elastic spirit; with grand
schemes, with fiery notions and convictions, which
captivate and hurry-off men's minds, more than eloquence
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? 254
[book m.
FIRST SILESIAN WAR.
Jan. 1711.
could, so intensely true are they to the Count himself;
-- and then his Brother the Chevalier is always then
to put them into the due language and logic, where
needed. * A magnanimous highflown spirit; thought
to be of supreme skill both in War and in Diplomacy:
fit for many things; and is still full of ambition to
distinguish himself, and tell the world at all moments,
"Me. voila; World, I too am here! " -- His plans, just
now, which are dim even to himself, except on the
hither skirt of them, stretch out immeasurable, and lie
piled up high as the skies. The hither skirt of them,
which will suffice the reader at present, is:
That your Grand-Duke Franz, Maria Theresias
Husband, shall in no wise, as the world and Duke
Franz expect, be the Kaiser chosen. Not he, but an-
other who will suit France better: "Kur-Sachsen
perhaps, the so-called King of Poland? Or say it
were Karl Albert Kur-Baiern, the hereditary friend and
dependant of France? We are not tied to a man:
only, at any and at all rates, not Grand-Duke Franz.
This is the grand, essential and indispensable point:
alpha and omega of points; very clear this one to
Belleisle, -- and towards this the first steps, if as yet
only the first, are also clear to him. Namely that
"the 27th of February next," -- which is the time set
by Kur-Mainz and the native Officials for the actual
meeting of their Reichstag to begin Election Business,
will be too early a time; and must be got postponed. **
* Voltaire, xxVill. 74; xxix. 392 j &c.
** Adelung,ii. 185 ("27th February -- 1st March 1711, at Frankfurt-on-
Mayn," appointed by Kur-Mainz, "Arch-Chancellor of the ReicA/' under
date November 3d, 1740): -- ib. 236 ("Delay for a month or two," suggati
Kur-Pfalz, on January 12th , seconded by others in the French interest); -
upon which the appointment, after some arguing, collapsed into the npft
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? CHAP. VII. ] AT VERSAILLES, BELLEISLE WITH PAPERS. 255
Jan. 1741.
Postponed; which will be possible, perhaps for long;
one knows not for how long: that is a first step
definitely clear to Belleisle. Towards which, a pre-
liminary to it and to all the others in a dimmer state,
there is a second thing clear, and has even been
officially settled (all but the day): That, in the mean
while, and surely the sooner the better, he, Belleisle,
Most Christian Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary to
the Reichstag coming, -- do, in his most dazzling and
persuasive manner, make a Tour among German Courts.
Let us visit, in our highest and yet in our softest
splendour, the accessible German Courts, especially the
likely or well-disposed: Mainz, Koln, Trier, these, the
Three called Spiritual, lie on our very route; then
Pfalz, Baiern, Sachsen: ,-- we will tour diligently up
and down; try whether, by optic machinery and art-
magic of the mind, one cannot bring them round.
In all these preliminary steps and points, and even
in that alpha and omega of excluding Grand-Duke
Franz, and getting a Kaiser of his own, Belleisle suc-
ceeded. ' With painful results to himself and to millions
of his fellow-creatures, -- to readers of this History,
among others. And became in consequence the most
famous of mankind; and filled the whole world with
rumour of Belleisle, in those years. -- A man of such
intrinsic distinction as Belleisle, whom Friedrich after-
wards deliberately called a great Captain, and the
only Frenchman with a genius for war; and who, for
some time, played in Europe at large a part like that
of Warwick the Kingmaker: how has he fallen into
such oblivion?
Many of my readers never heard of
and there ensued delay enough; actual Election not till January 24th,
1742.
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? 256
[book 5n.
FIRST SILESIAN WAR.
Jan. 1741.
him before; nor, in writing or otherwise, is there
symptom that any living memory now harbours him,
or has the least approach to an image of him! "For
the times are babbly," says Goethe, "And then again
the times are dumb:
"Denn geschwdtzig sind die Zeiten,
"Und sie sind auch wieder slumm. "
Alas, if a man sow only chaff, in never so sublime
a manner, with the whole Earth and the long-eared
populations looking on, and chorally singing approval,
rendering night hideous, -- it will avail him nothing.
And that, to a lamentable extent, was Belleisle's case.
His scheme of action was in most felicitously just
accordance with the national sense of France, but hy
no means so with the Laws of Nature and of Fact;
his aim, grandiose, patriotic, what you will, was un-
luckily false and not true. How could "the times''
continue talking of him? They found they had already
talked too much. Not to say that the French Revolu-
tion has since come; and has blown all that into the
air, miles aloft, -- where even the solid part of it,
which must be recovered one day, much more the
gaseous, which we trust is forever irrecoverable, now
wanders and whirls; and many things are abolished,
for the present, of more value than Belleisle! --
For my own share, being, as it were, forced
accidentally to look at him again, I find in Belleisle a
really notable man; far superior to the vulgar of noted
men, in his time or ours. Sad destiny for such a man!
But when the general Life-element becomes so unspeak-
ably phantasmal as under Louis XV. , it is difficult for
any man to be real; to be other than a play-actor,
more or less eminent and artistically dressed. Sad
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? CHAP. VII. ] AT VERSAILLES, BELLEISLE WITH PAPERS. 257
Jan. 1741.
enough, surely, when the truth of your relation to the
Universe, and the tragically earnest meaning of your
Life, is quite lied out of you, by a world sunk in lies;
and you can, with effort, attain to nothing but to be a
more or less splendid lie along with it! Your very
existence all become a vesture, a hypocrisy and hear-
say; nothing left of you but this sad faculty of sowing
chaff in the fashionable manner! After Friedrich and
Voltaire, in both of whom, under the given circum-
stances, one finds a perennial reality, more or less, --
Belleisle is next; none fails to escape the mournful
common lot by a nearer miss than Belleisle.
Beyond doubt, there are in this man the biggest
projects any French head has carried, since Louis XIV.
with his sublime periwig first took to striking the stars.
How the indolent Louis XV. and the pacific Fleury
have been got into this sublimely adventurous mood?
By Belleisle chiefly, men say; -- and by King Louis's
first Mistresses, blown upon by Belleisle; poor Louis
having now, at length, left his poor Queen to her
reflections, and taken into that sad line, in which by
degrees he carried it so far. There are three of them,
it seems; -- the first female souls that could ever
manage to kindle, into flame or into smoke, in this or
any other kind, that poor torpid male soul: . those
Mailly Sisters, three in number (I am shocked to hear),
successive, nay in part simultaneous! They are proud
women, especially the two younger; with ambition in
them, with a bravura magnanimity, of the theatrical or
operatic kind; of whom Louis is very fond. "To raise
France to its place, your Majesty; the top of the Uni-
verse, namely! " "Well; if it could be done, -- and
quite without trouble? " thinks Louis. Bravura magna-
Carljle, Frederick the Great. VI. 17
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? 258
[book sn.
FIRST SILESIAN WAR.
Jan. 1741.
nimity, blown upon by Belleisle, prevails among these
high Improper-Females, and generally in the Younger
Circles of the Court; so that poor old Fleury has had
no choice but to obey it or retire. And so Belleisle
stalks across the CEil-de-Boeuf in that important
manner, visibly to Geusau; and is the shining object
in Paris, and much the topic there at present.
A few weeks hence, he is farther, -- a little out of
the common turn, but not beyond his military merits
or capabilities, -- made Marechal de France; * by way
of giving him a new splendour in the German Political
World, and assisting in his operations there, which
depend much upon the laws of vision. French epigrams
circulate in consequence, and there are witty criticisms;
to which Belleisle, such a dusky world of Possibility
lying ahead, is grandly indifferent. Marechal de
France; -- and Geusau hears (what is a fact) that
there are to be "thirty young French Lords in his
suite;" his very "Livery," or mere plush retinue, "to
consist of 110persons;" such an outfit for magnificence
as was never seen before. And in this equipment,
"early in March" (exact day not given), magnificence
of outside corresponding to grandiosity of faculty and
idea, Belleisle, we shall find, does practically set off
towards Germany; -- like a kind of French Belus, or
God of the Sun; capable to dazzle weak German
Courts, by optical machinery, and to set much rotten
thatch on fire! --
"There are curious daguerreotype glimpses of old Paris
"to be found in that Notebook of Geusau's,' says another EX-
"cerpt; "which come strangely home to us, like reality at
"first-hand; -- and a rather unexpected Paris it is, to most
* Fastes de Louie XV, i. 356 (12th February 1741).
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? CHAP. VII. ] AT VERSAILLES, BELLEISLE WITH TAPERS. 259
Jan. 1741.
"readers; many things then alive there, which are now deep
"underground. Much Jansenist Theology afloat: grand
"French Ladies piously eager to convert a young Protestant
"Nobleman like Reuss; sublime Dorcases, who do not rouge,
"or dress high, but eschew the evil world, and are thrifty for
"the Poor's sake, redeeming the time. There is a Cardinal
"de Polignac, venerable sage and ex-political person, of
"astonishing erudition, collector of Antiques (with whom we
"dined); there is the Chevalier Ramsay, theological Scotch
"Jacobite, late Tutor of the young Turenne. So many
"shining persons, now fallen indistinct again. And then,
"besides gossip, which is of mild quality, and in fair propor-
"tion, -- what talk, casuistic and other, about the Moral
"Duties, the still feasible Pieties, the Constitution Unigenitus!
"All this alive, resonant at dinner-tables of Conservative
"stamp; the Miracles of Abbe Paris much a topic there: --
"and not a whisper of Infidel Philosophies; the very name of
"Voltaire not once mentioned in the Reuss section or Parisian
"things.
"There is rumour now and then of a 'Comte de Rothen-
"bourg,' conspicuous in the Parisian circles; a shining mili-
"tary man, but seemingly in want of employment; who has
"lost in gambling, within the last four years, upwards of
"50,000/. (1,300,000 livres, the exact cipher given). This is
"the Graf von Rothenburg whom Friedrich made acquaint-
ance with, in the Rhine Campaign six years ago, and has
"ever since had in his eye; -- whom, in a few weeks hence,
"Friedrich beckons over to him into the Prussian States:
'"Hither, and you shall have work! ' Which Rothenburg
"accepts; with manifold advantage to both parties: -- one
"of Friedrich's most distinguished friends for the rest of
"his life.
"Of Cardinal Polignac there is much said, and several
"dinners with him are transacted, dialogue partly given: a
"pious wise old gentleman really, in his kind (age now
"eighty-four); looking mildly forth upon a world just about
"to overset itself and go topsy-turvy, as he sees it will. His
"Anti-Lucretius was once such a Poem! -- but we mention him
"here because his fine Cabinet of Antiques came to Berlin on
"his death, Friedrich purchasing; and one often hears of it
17*
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? 260
[book Xn.
FIRST SILESIAN WAR.
Jan. 1741.
"(if one eared to hear) from the Prussian Dryasdust in sub-
sequent years. *
"Of Friedrich's unexpected Invasion of Silesia there are
"also talkings and surmisings, but in a mild indifferent tone,
"and much in the vague. And in the best-informed circles it
"is thought Belleisle will manage to have Grand-Duke Franz,
"the Queen of Hungary's Husband, chosen Kaiser, and, in
"some mild good way, put an end to all that;" -- which is far
indeed from Belleisle's intention!
* Came to Charlottenburg, August 1742 (old Polignac had died, Novem-
ber last, ten months after those Geusau times): cost of the Polignac Cabi-
net was 40,000 thalevs (6,000/. ) say some, 90,000 livres (under 4,0001. ) say
others; cheap at either price; -- and, by chance, came opportunely, "a
fire having just burnt down the Academy Edifice," and destroyed much
ware of that kind. Rodenbeck, i. 73; Seyfarth (Anonymous), Getclnchl?
Friedrichs des Andcrn, i. 236.
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? CHAP. Till. ]
261
PHENOMENA IN PETERSBURG.
Jan. 1741.
CHAPTER VIII.
PHENOMENA IN PETERSBURG.
I know not whether Major Winterfeld, who was
sent to Petersburg in December last, had got back to
Berlin in February, now while Friedrich is there: but
for certain the good news of him had, That he had
been completely successful, and was coming speedily,
to resume his soldier duties in right time. As Winter-
feld is an important man (nearly buried into darkness
in the dull Prussian Books), let us pause for a moment
on this Negotiation of his; -- and on the mad Russian
vicissitudes which preceded and followed, so far as they
concern us. Russia, a big demi-savage neighbour next
door, with such caprices, such humours and interests, is
always an important, rather delicate object to Fried-
rich; and Fortune's mad wheel is plunging and canting
in a strange headlong way there, of late. Czarina
Anne, we know, is dead; the Autocrat of All the Rus-
sias following the Kaiser of the Romans within eight
days. Iwan, her little Nephew, still in swaddling-
clothes, is now Autocrat of All the Russias if he knew
it, poor little red-coloured creature; and Anton Ulrich
and his Mecklenburg Russian Princess -- But let us
take up the matter where our Notebooks left it, in
Friedrich Wilhelm's time:
"Czarina Anne with the big cheek," continues that Note-
book,* "was extremely delighted to see little Iwan; buten-
* Suprk, vol. v. p. 265.
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? 262
[book xn.
FIRST SILESIAN WAR.
Jan. 1741.
"joyed him only two months; being herself in dying circum-
"stances. She appointed little Iwan her Successor, his Mother
"and Father to be Guardians over him: but one Bieren (who
"writes himself Biron, and 'Duke of Courland/ being Cza-
"rina's Quasi-Husband these many years) to be Guardian, as
"it were, over both them and him. Such had been the trucu-
"lent insatiable Bieren's demand on his Czarina. 'You are
"running on your destruction,' said she, with tears; butcom-
"plied, as she had been wont.
"Czarina Anne died, 28th October 1740; leaving a Czar
"in his cradle; little Czar Iwan of two months, with Mother
"and Father to preside over him, and to be themselves pre-
"sided over by Bieren, in this manner. * This was the first
"great change for Anton Ulrich; but others greater are
"coming. Little Anton, readers know, is Friedrich's Brother-
"in-law, much patronised by Austria; Anton's spouse is the
"Half-Russian Princess Catherine of Mecklenburg (now
"wholly Russian, and called Princess Anne), whom Friedrich
"at one time thought of applying for, in his distress about a
"Wife. These two, will they side with Prussia, will they side
"with Austria? It was hardly worth inquiry, had not For-
"tune's wheel made suddenly a great cant, and pitched them
"to the top, for the time being.
"Bieren lasted only twenty days. He was very high and
"arbitrary upon everybody; Anne and Anton Ulrich suffering
"naturally most from him. They took counsel with Feld-
"marschall Munnich on the matter; who, after study, de-
"clared it a remediable case. Friday 18th November, Miin-
"nich had, by invitation, to dine with Duke Bieren; Miinnich
'' went accordingly that day, and dined; Duke looking a little
"flurried, they say: and the same evening, dinner being quite
"over, and midnight come, Munnich had his measures all
"taken, soldiers ready, warrant in hand; -- and arrested
"Bieren in his bed; mere Siberia, before sunrise, looming
"upon Bieren. Never was such a change as this from 18tn
"day to 19th with a supreme Bieren. Our friend Mannstein,
"excellent punctual Aide-de-Camp of Munnich, was the exe-
"cutor of the feat; and has left punctual record of it, as he
* Mannstein, pp. 264-267 (28th October, by Russian or Old Style, is
"nth;" we translate, in this and other cases, Russian or English, into
New Style, unless the contrary is indicated).
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? CHAP. VIII. ] PHENOMENA IN PETERSBURG. 263
Jan. 1741.
"does of every thing, -- what Bieren said, and what Madam
"Bieren, who was a little obstreperous on the occasion. *
"What side Anton Ulrich and Spouse will take in a quarrel
"between Prussia and Austria, is now well worth asking.
"Anton Ulrich and Wife Anne, that is to say, 'Regent
"Anne' and 'Generalissimo Anton Ulrich,' now ruled, with
"Miinnich for right-hand man; and these were high times for
"Anton Ulrich, Generalissimo and Czar's-Father; who indeed
"was modest, and did not often interfere in words, though
"grieved at the foolish ways his Wife had. An indolent flabby
"kind of creature, she, unfit for an Autocrat; sat in her pri-
vate apartments, all in a huddle of undress; had foolish
"notions, -- especially had soubrettes who led her about by
"the ear. And then there was a ' Princess Elizabeth,' Cousin-
"german of Regent Anne, -- daughter, that is to say, last
"child there now was, of Peter the Great and his little brown
"Catherine: -- who should have been better seen to. Harm-
"less foolish Princess, not without cunning; young, plump,
"and following merely her flirtations and her orthodox devo-
tions; very orthodox and soft, but capable of becoming
"dangerous, as a centre of the disaffected. As 'Czarina Eli-
"zabeth,' before long, and ultimately as Hnfume Catin du
"Nord,' she --" But let us not anticipate!
It was in this posture of affairs, about a month af-
ter it had begun, that Winterfeld arrived in Peters-
burg; and addressed himself to Miinnich, on the Prus-
sian errand. Winterfeld was Miinnich's Son-in-law
(properly stepson-in-law, having married Miinnich's
stepdaughter, a Fraulein von Malzahn, of good Prus-
sian kin); was acquainted with the latitudes and longi-
tudes here, and well equipped for the operation in hand.
To Madam Miinnich, once Madam Malzahn, his Mo-
ther-in-law, he carried a diamond ring of 1,200/. , "small
testimony of his Prussian Majesty's regard to so high
a Prussian Lady;" to Miinnich's Son and Madam's a
present of 3,000/. on the like score: and the wheels
"Mannstein, p. 268.
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? 248
[book xn.
FIRST SILESIAN WAR.
Jan. 1711.
"don road, having chosen that as fittest, the waters being out;
"-- not arriving at Court till 9. Nor finding very much to
"comfort them, except on the. side of curiosity, when there.
"Ushers, Introducteuis, Cabinet Secretaries, were indeed
"assiduous to oblige; and the King's Levee will be: but if you
"follow it to the Chapel Royal to witness high mass, you must
"kneel at elevation of the host; and this, as reformed
"Christians, Reuss and his Tutor cannot undertake to do.
"They accept a dinner invitation (12 the hour) from some
"good Samaritan of Quality; and, for sights, will content
"themselves with the King's Levee itself, and generally with
"whatthe King's Ante-chamber, and the CEil-de-Bceur, can
"exhibit to them. The Most Christian King's Levee" (Lever,
"literally here his Getting out of Bed) "is a daily miracle of
"these localities, only grander on Newyear's day; and it is to
"the following effect:
"Till Majesty please to awaken, you saunter in the Salle
"des Ambassadeurs; whole crowds jostling one another there;
"gossiping together in a diligent, insipid manner;" gossip all
reported; snatches of which have acquired a certain flavour
by long keeping; -- which the reader shall imagine. "Mean-
"while you keep your eye on the Grate of the Inner Court,
"which as yet isonlyajar,Majesty inaccessible asyet. Behold,
"bed; that the privileged of mankind may approach, and see
"the miracles. " Geusau continues, abridged by Biisching
and us:
"The whole Assemblage passed now into the King's Ante-
"room; had to wait there about half an hour more, before the
"King's bedroom was opened. But then at last, loyou, --
"there is the King, visible to Geusau and everybody,'wash-
"ing his hands. ' Which effected itself in this way. 'The
"King was seated; a gentleman-in-waiting knelt before him,
"and held the Ewer, a square vessel silver-gilt, firm upon the
"King's breast; and another gentleman-in-waiting poured
"water on the King's hands. ' Merely an official wasning, we
"perceive; the real, it is to be hoped, had, in a much more
"effectual way, been going on during the half - hour just
"elapsed. After washing, the King rose for an instant; had
"his dressing-gown, a grand yellow silky article with silver
"flowerings, pulled off, and flung round his loins; upon which
"at last, Grate opens itself wide
IH--J. aT. _a j -i? 1
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? CHAP. VII. ] AT VERSAILLES, BELLEISLE WITH PAPERS. 249
Jan. 1741.
"he sat down again, and," -- observe it, ye privileged of
mankind, -- "the Change of Shirt took place! ' They put the
"clean shirt down over his head,' says Anton, 'and plucked
"up the dirty one from within, so that of the naked skin you
"saw little or nothing. '" Here is a miracle worth getting out
of bed to look at!
"His Majesty now quitted chair and dressing-gown; stood
"up before the fire; and, after getting on the rest of his cloth-
"ing, which, on account of Czarina Anne's death" (readers
remember that) " was of violet or mourning colour, he had the
"powder-mantle thrown round him, and sat down at the
"Toilette to have his hair frizzled. The Toilette, a table
"with white cover shoved into the middle of the room, had on
"it a mirror, a powder-knife, and"-- no mortal cares what.
"The King," what all mortals note as they do the heavenly
omens, "is somewhat talky; speaks sometimes with the Dutch
"Ambassador, sometimes with the Pope's Nuncio, who seems
"a jocose kind of gentleman; sometimes with different French
"Lords, and at last with the CardinalFleury also, -- to whom,
"however, he does not look particularly gracious," -- not
particularly, this time. These are the omens; happy who can
read them! -- " Majesty then did his morning-prayer, assisted
"only by the common Almoners-in-waiting (Cardinal took no
"hand, much less any other); Majesty knelt before his bed,
"and finished the business 'in less than six seconds. ' After
"which mankind can ebb out to the Ante-room again; pay
"their devoir to the Queen's Majesty, which all do; or wait
"for the Transit to Morning Chapel, and see Mesdames of
"France and the others flitting past in their sedans.
"Queen's Majesty was already altogether dressed," says
Geusau, almost as if with some disappointment; "all in black;
"a most affable courteous Majesty; stands conversing with
"the Russian Ambassador, with the Dutch ditto, with the
"Ladies about her, and at last, 'in a friendly and merry
"tone,' with old Cardinal Fleury. Her Ladies, when the
"Queen spoke with them, showed no constraint at all; leant
"loosely with their arms on the fire-screens, and took things
"easy. Mesdames of France" -- Geusau saw Mesdames.
Poor little souls, they are the Loque, the Cochon (Rag, Pig, so
Papa would call them, dear Papa), who become tragically
visible again in the Revolution time: -- all blooming young
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? 250
[boos xii.
FIRST SILESIA. N WAR.
Jan. 1741.
children as yet (Queen's Majesty some Thirty-seven gone),
and little dreaming what lies fifty years ahead! King Louis's
career of extraneous gallantries, which ended in theParc-aux-
Cerfs, is now just beginning: think of that too; and of her
Majesty's fine behaviour under it; so affable, so patient, silent,
now and always! -- "In a little while, their Majesties go along
'' the Great Gallery to Chapel;" whither the Protestant mind
cannot with comfort accompany. *
This is the daily miracle done at Versailles to the
believing multitude; only that on Newyear's clay, and
certain supreme occasions, the shirt is handed by a
Prince of the Blood, and the towel for drying the
royal hands by a ditto, with other improvements; and
the thing comes out in its highest power of effulgence,
-- especially if you could see high mass withal. la
the Antechamber and CEil-de-Bceuf, Geusau, among
hundreds of phenomena fallen dead to us, saw the
Four following, which have still some life:
1o. Many Knights of the Holy Ghost (Chevaliers du Sainl
Esprit) are about; magnificently piebald people, indistinct to
us, and fallen dead to us: but there, among the company, do
not we indisputably see, "in full Cardinal's costume," Fleury
the ancient Prime Minister talking to her Majesty. Blandly
smiling; soft as milk, yet with a flavour of alcoholic wit in
him here and there. That is a man worth looking at, had
they painted him at all. Red hat, red stockings; a serenely
definite old gentleman, with something of prudent wisdom,
and a touch of imperceptible jocosity at times; mildly inex-
pugnable in manner: this King, whose Tutor he was twenty
years ago, still looks to him as his father; Fleury is the real
King ofFrance at present. His age is eighty-seven gone; the
King's is thirty (seven years younger than his Queen): and
the Cardinal has red stockings and red hat; veritably there,
successively in both Antechambers, seen by Geusau, January
1st, 1741: that is all I know.
2o. The Prince de Clermont, a Prince of the Blood, j
* BUsching, Beylraye, ii. 59-78.
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? ! HAP. vn. ] AT VERSAILLES, BELLEISLE WITH PAPERS. 251
ran. 1741.
'handed the shirt," teste Geusau. Some other Prince, notable
:o Geusau, and to us nameless, had the honour of the
'towel:" but this Prince de Clermont, a dissolute fellow of
vasted parts, kind of Priest, kind of Soldier too, is seen visibly
landing the shirt there; -- whom the reader and I, if we cared
ibout it, shall again see, getting beaten by Prince Ferdinand,
it Crefeld, within twenty years hence. These are points first
ind second, slightly noticeable, slightly if at all.
Of the actual transit to High Mass, transit very visible in
:he Great Gallery or CEil-de-Bceuf, why should a human beiDg
iow say anything? Queen, poor Stanislaus's Daughter, and
ner Ladies, in their sublime sedans, one flood of jewels, sail
irst; next sails King Louis, shirt warm on his back, with
'Thirty-four Chevaliers of the Holy Ghost" escorting; next
"the Dauphin" (Boy of eleven, Louis XVI. 's Father), and
"Mesdames of France, with" -- But even Geusau stops short.
Protestants cannot enter, that Chapel, without peril of idola-
try; wherefore Geusau and Pupil kept strolling in the gene-
ral CEil-de-Boeuf, -- and "the Dutch Ambassador approved
of it," he for one. And here now is another point, slightly
noticeable:
3". High Mass over, his Majesty sails back from Chapel,
in the same magnificently piebald manner; and vanishes into
the interior; -- leaving his Knights of the Holy Ghost, and
other Courtier-multitude, to simmer about, and ebb away as
they found good. Geusau and his young Reuss had now the
honour of being introduced to various people; among others
"to the Prince de Soubise. " Prince de Soubise: frivolous,
insignificant being; of whom I have no portrait that is not
nearly blank, and content to be so; -- though Herr von Geusau
would have one, with features and costume to it, when he
heard of the Beating at Rossbach, long after! Prince de Sou-
bise is pretty much a blank to everybody; -- and no sooner
are we loose of him, than (what every reader will do well
to note)
4:o. Our Herren Travellers are introduced to a real Nota-
bility: Monseigneur, soon to be Marechal, the Comte de
Belleisle; whom my readers and I are to be much concerned
"Mann), without much air of quality," thinks Geusau; but
with much swift intellect and energy, and a distinguished
"A tall lean man (langer hagerer
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? 252 FIRST SIXESIAN WAR. [book Xn,
Jan. 1741.
character, whatever Geusau might think. "Comte deBelleisle
"was very civil; but apologised; in a courtly and kind way.
"for the hurry he was in; regretting the impossibility of
"doing the honours to the Comte de Reuss in this Country, --
"his, Belleisle's, Journey into Germany, which was close at
"hand, overwhelming him with occupations and engagements
"at present. And indeed, even while he spoke to us," says
Geusau, "all manner of Papers were put into his hand. "*
"Journey to Germany, Papers put into his hand:'
there is perhaps no Human Figure in the world, tbifl
Sunday (except the one Figure now in those same
moments over at Breslau, gently pressing upon the
locked Gates there), who is so momentous for oar
Silesian Operations: and indeed he will kindle all
Europe into delirium; and produce mere thunder and
lightning, for seven years to come, -- with almost no
result in it, except Silesia! A tall lean man; there
stands he, age now fifty-six, just about setting out on
such errand. Whom one is thankful to have seen for
a moment, even in that slight manner.
Of Belleisle and his Plans.
Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, Comte de Belleisle.
is Grandson of that Intendant Fouquet, sumptuous
Financier, whom Louis XIV. at last threw out, and
locked into the Fortress of Pignerol, amid the Savoy
Alps, there to meditate for life, which lasted thirty
years longer. It was never understood that the
sumptuous Fouquet had altogether stolen public
moneys, nor indeed rightly what he had done to merit
Pignerol; and always, though fallen somehow into
such dire disfavour, he was pitied and respected by a
good portion of the public. "Has angered Colbert,"
* BUacuing, ii. 79: Bee Barbier, ii. 282, 287.
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? 1HAP. to. ] AT VERSAILLES, BELLEISLE WITH PAPERS. 253
Fan. 1741.
;aid the public; "dangerous rivalry to Colbert; that is
ivhat has brought Pignerol upon him. "
Out of Pignerol that Fouquet never came; but his
Family bloomed up into light again; had its ad-
ventures, sometimes its troubles, in the Regency time,
but was always in a rising way: -- and here, in this
;all lean man getting papers put into his hand, it has
risen very high indeed. Going as Ambassador Extra-
ordinary to the Germanic Diet, "To assist good neigh-
bours, as a neighbour and Most Christian Majesty
should, in choosing their new Kaiser to the best ad-
vantage:" that is the official colour his mission is to
have. Surely a proud mission; -- and Belleisle intends
to execute it in a way that will surprise the Germanic
Diet and mankind. Privately, Belleisle intends that he,
by his own industries, shall himself choose the right
Kaiser, such Kaiser as will suit the Most Christian
Majesty and him; he intends to make a new French
thing of Germany in general; and carries in his head
plans of an amazing nature! He and a Brother he
has, called the Chevalier de Belleisle, who is also a
distinguished man, and seconds M. le Comte with
eloquent fire and zeal in all things, are grandsons of
that old Fouquet, and the most shining men in France
at present. France little dreams how much better
it perhaps were, had they also been kept safe in
Pignerol! --
The Count, lean and growing old,- is not healthy;
is ever and anon tormented, and laid up for weeks,
with rheumatisms, gouts and ailments: but otherwise
he is still a swift ardent elastic spirit; with grand
schemes, with fiery notions and convictions, which
captivate and hurry-off men's minds, more than eloquence
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? 254
[book m.
FIRST SILESIAN WAR.
Jan. 1711.
could, so intensely true are they to the Count himself;
-- and then his Brother the Chevalier is always then
to put them into the due language and logic, where
needed. * A magnanimous highflown spirit; thought
to be of supreme skill both in War and in Diplomacy:
fit for many things; and is still full of ambition to
distinguish himself, and tell the world at all moments,
"Me. voila; World, I too am here! " -- His plans, just
now, which are dim even to himself, except on the
hither skirt of them, stretch out immeasurable, and lie
piled up high as the skies. The hither skirt of them,
which will suffice the reader at present, is:
That your Grand-Duke Franz, Maria Theresias
Husband, shall in no wise, as the world and Duke
Franz expect, be the Kaiser chosen. Not he, but an-
other who will suit France better: "Kur-Sachsen
perhaps, the so-called King of Poland? Or say it
were Karl Albert Kur-Baiern, the hereditary friend and
dependant of France? We are not tied to a man:
only, at any and at all rates, not Grand-Duke Franz.
This is the grand, essential and indispensable point:
alpha and omega of points; very clear this one to
Belleisle, -- and towards this the first steps, if as yet
only the first, are also clear to him. Namely that
"the 27th of February next," -- which is the time set
by Kur-Mainz and the native Officials for the actual
meeting of their Reichstag to begin Election Business,
will be too early a time; and must be got postponed. **
* Voltaire, xxVill. 74; xxix. 392 j &c.
** Adelung,ii. 185 ("27th February -- 1st March 1711, at Frankfurt-on-
Mayn," appointed by Kur-Mainz, "Arch-Chancellor of the ReicA/' under
date November 3d, 1740): -- ib. 236 ("Delay for a month or two," suggati
Kur-Pfalz, on January 12th , seconded by others in the French interest); -
upon which the appointment, after some arguing, collapsed into the npft
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? CHAP. VII. ] AT VERSAILLES, BELLEISLE WITH PAPERS. 255
Jan. 1741.
Postponed; which will be possible, perhaps for long;
one knows not for how long: that is a first step
definitely clear to Belleisle. Towards which, a pre-
liminary to it and to all the others in a dimmer state,
there is a second thing clear, and has even been
officially settled (all but the day): That, in the mean
while, and surely the sooner the better, he, Belleisle,
Most Christian Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary to
the Reichstag coming, -- do, in his most dazzling and
persuasive manner, make a Tour among German Courts.
Let us visit, in our highest and yet in our softest
splendour, the accessible German Courts, especially the
likely or well-disposed: Mainz, Koln, Trier, these, the
Three called Spiritual, lie on our very route; then
Pfalz, Baiern, Sachsen: ,-- we will tour diligently up
and down; try whether, by optic machinery and art-
magic of the mind, one cannot bring them round.
In all these preliminary steps and points, and even
in that alpha and omega of excluding Grand-Duke
Franz, and getting a Kaiser of his own, Belleisle suc-
ceeded. ' With painful results to himself and to millions
of his fellow-creatures, -- to readers of this History,
among others. And became in consequence the most
famous of mankind; and filled the whole world with
rumour of Belleisle, in those years. -- A man of such
intrinsic distinction as Belleisle, whom Friedrich after-
wards deliberately called a great Captain, and the
only Frenchman with a genius for war; and who, for
some time, played in Europe at large a part like that
of Warwick the Kingmaker: how has he fallen into
such oblivion?
Many of my readers never heard of
and there ensued delay enough; actual Election not till January 24th,
1742.
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? 256
[book 5n.
FIRST SILESIAN WAR.
Jan. 1741.
him before; nor, in writing or otherwise, is there
symptom that any living memory now harbours him,
or has the least approach to an image of him! "For
the times are babbly," says Goethe, "And then again
the times are dumb:
"Denn geschwdtzig sind die Zeiten,
"Und sie sind auch wieder slumm. "
Alas, if a man sow only chaff, in never so sublime
a manner, with the whole Earth and the long-eared
populations looking on, and chorally singing approval,
rendering night hideous, -- it will avail him nothing.
And that, to a lamentable extent, was Belleisle's case.
His scheme of action was in most felicitously just
accordance with the national sense of France, but hy
no means so with the Laws of Nature and of Fact;
his aim, grandiose, patriotic, what you will, was un-
luckily false and not true. How could "the times''
continue talking of him? They found they had already
talked too much. Not to say that the French Revolu-
tion has since come; and has blown all that into the
air, miles aloft, -- where even the solid part of it,
which must be recovered one day, much more the
gaseous, which we trust is forever irrecoverable, now
wanders and whirls; and many things are abolished,
for the present, of more value than Belleisle! --
For my own share, being, as it were, forced
accidentally to look at him again, I find in Belleisle a
really notable man; far superior to the vulgar of noted
men, in his time or ours. Sad destiny for such a man!
But when the general Life-element becomes so unspeak-
ably phantasmal as under Louis XV. , it is difficult for
any man to be real; to be other than a play-actor,
more or less eminent and artistically dressed. Sad
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? CHAP. VII. ] AT VERSAILLES, BELLEISLE WITH PAPERS. 257
Jan. 1741.
enough, surely, when the truth of your relation to the
Universe, and the tragically earnest meaning of your
Life, is quite lied out of you, by a world sunk in lies;
and you can, with effort, attain to nothing but to be a
more or less splendid lie along with it! Your very
existence all become a vesture, a hypocrisy and hear-
say; nothing left of you but this sad faculty of sowing
chaff in the fashionable manner! After Friedrich and
Voltaire, in both of whom, under the given circum-
stances, one finds a perennial reality, more or less, --
Belleisle is next; none fails to escape the mournful
common lot by a nearer miss than Belleisle.
Beyond doubt, there are in this man the biggest
projects any French head has carried, since Louis XIV.
with his sublime periwig first took to striking the stars.
How the indolent Louis XV. and the pacific Fleury
have been got into this sublimely adventurous mood?
By Belleisle chiefly, men say; -- and by King Louis's
first Mistresses, blown upon by Belleisle; poor Louis
having now, at length, left his poor Queen to her
reflections, and taken into that sad line, in which by
degrees he carried it so far. There are three of them,
it seems; -- the first female souls that could ever
manage to kindle, into flame or into smoke, in this or
any other kind, that poor torpid male soul: . those
Mailly Sisters, three in number (I am shocked to hear),
successive, nay in part simultaneous! They are proud
women, especially the two younger; with ambition in
them, with a bravura magnanimity, of the theatrical or
operatic kind; of whom Louis is very fond. "To raise
France to its place, your Majesty; the top of the Uni-
verse, namely! " "Well; if it could be done, -- and
quite without trouble? " thinks Louis. Bravura magna-
Carljle, Frederick the Great. VI. 17
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? 258
[book sn.
FIRST SILESIAN WAR.
Jan. 1741.
nimity, blown upon by Belleisle, prevails among these
high Improper-Females, and generally in the Younger
Circles of the Court; so that poor old Fleury has had
no choice but to obey it or retire. And so Belleisle
stalks across the CEil-de-Boeuf in that important
manner, visibly to Geusau; and is the shining object
in Paris, and much the topic there at present.
A few weeks hence, he is farther, -- a little out of
the common turn, but not beyond his military merits
or capabilities, -- made Marechal de France; * by way
of giving him a new splendour in the German Political
World, and assisting in his operations there, which
depend much upon the laws of vision. French epigrams
circulate in consequence, and there are witty criticisms;
to which Belleisle, such a dusky world of Possibility
lying ahead, is grandly indifferent. Marechal de
France; -- and Geusau hears (what is a fact) that
there are to be "thirty young French Lords in his
suite;" his very "Livery," or mere plush retinue, "to
consist of 110persons;" such an outfit for magnificence
as was never seen before. And in this equipment,
"early in March" (exact day not given), magnificence
of outside corresponding to grandiosity of faculty and
idea, Belleisle, we shall find, does practically set off
towards Germany; -- like a kind of French Belus, or
God of the Sun; capable to dazzle weak German
Courts, by optical machinery, and to set much rotten
thatch on fire! --
"There are curious daguerreotype glimpses of old Paris
"to be found in that Notebook of Geusau's,' says another EX-
"cerpt; "which come strangely home to us, like reality at
"first-hand; -- and a rather unexpected Paris it is, to most
* Fastes de Louie XV, i. 356 (12th February 1741).
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? CHAP. VII. ] AT VERSAILLES, BELLEISLE WITH TAPERS. 259
Jan. 1741.
"readers; many things then alive there, which are now deep
"underground. Much Jansenist Theology afloat: grand
"French Ladies piously eager to convert a young Protestant
"Nobleman like Reuss; sublime Dorcases, who do not rouge,
"or dress high, but eschew the evil world, and are thrifty for
"the Poor's sake, redeeming the time. There is a Cardinal
"de Polignac, venerable sage and ex-political person, of
"astonishing erudition, collector of Antiques (with whom we
"dined); there is the Chevalier Ramsay, theological Scotch
"Jacobite, late Tutor of the young Turenne. So many
"shining persons, now fallen indistinct again. And then,
"besides gossip, which is of mild quality, and in fair propor-
"tion, -- what talk, casuistic and other, about the Moral
"Duties, the still feasible Pieties, the Constitution Unigenitus!
"All this alive, resonant at dinner-tables of Conservative
"stamp; the Miracles of Abbe Paris much a topic there: --
"and not a whisper of Infidel Philosophies; the very name of
"Voltaire not once mentioned in the Reuss section or Parisian
"things.
"There is rumour now and then of a 'Comte de Rothen-
"bourg,' conspicuous in the Parisian circles; a shining mili-
"tary man, but seemingly in want of employment; who has
"lost in gambling, within the last four years, upwards of
"50,000/. (1,300,000 livres, the exact cipher given). This is
"the Graf von Rothenburg whom Friedrich made acquaint-
ance with, in the Rhine Campaign six years ago, and has
"ever since had in his eye; -- whom, in a few weeks hence,
"Friedrich beckons over to him into the Prussian States:
'"Hither, and you shall have work! ' Which Rothenburg
"accepts; with manifold advantage to both parties: -- one
"of Friedrich's most distinguished friends for the rest of
"his life.
"Of Cardinal Polignac there is much said, and several
"dinners with him are transacted, dialogue partly given: a
"pious wise old gentleman really, in his kind (age now
"eighty-four); looking mildly forth upon a world just about
"to overset itself and go topsy-turvy, as he sees it will. His
"Anti-Lucretius was once such a Poem! -- but we mention him
"here because his fine Cabinet of Antiques came to Berlin on
"his death, Friedrich purchasing; and one often hears of it
17*
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? 260
[book Xn.
FIRST SILESIAN WAR.
Jan. 1741.
"(if one eared to hear) from the Prussian Dryasdust in sub-
sequent years. *
"Of Friedrich's unexpected Invasion of Silesia there are
"also talkings and surmisings, but in a mild indifferent tone,
"and much in the vague. And in the best-informed circles it
"is thought Belleisle will manage to have Grand-Duke Franz,
"the Queen of Hungary's Husband, chosen Kaiser, and, in
"some mild good way, put an end to all that;" -- which is far
indeed from Belleisle's intention!
* Came to Charlottenburg, August 1742 (old Polignac had died, Novem-
ber last, ten months after those Geusau times): cost of the Polignac Cabi-
net was 40,000 thalevs (6,000/. ) say some, 90,000 livres (under 4,0001. ) say
others; cheap at either price; -- and, by chance, came opportunely, "a
fire having just burnt down the Academy Edifice," and destroyed much
ware of that kind. Rodenbeck, i. 73; Seyfarth (Anonymous), Getclnchl?
Friedrichs des Andcrn, i. 236.
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? CHAP. Till. ]
261
PHENOMENA IN PETERSBURG.
Jan. 1741.
CHAPTER VIII.
PHENOMENA IN PETERSBURG.
I know not whether Major Winterfeld, who was
sent to Petersburg in December last, had got back to
Berlin in February, now while Friedrich is there: but
for certain the good news of him had, That he had
been completely successful, and was coming speedily,
to resume his soldier duties in right time. As Winter-
feld is an important man (nearly buried into darkness
in the dull Prussian Books), let us pause for a moment
on this Negotiation of his; -- and on the mad Russian
vicissitudes which preceded and followed, so far as they
concern us. Russia, a big demi-savage neighbour next
door, with such caprices, such humours and interests, is
always an important, rather delicate object to Fried-
rich; and Fortune's mad wheel is plunging and canting
in a strange headlong way there, of late. Czarina
Anne, we know, is dead; the Autocrat of All the Rus-
sias following the Kaiser of the Romans within eight
days. Iwan, her little Nephew, still in swaddling-
clothes, is now Autocrat of All the Russias if he knew
it, poor little red-coloured creature; and Anton Ulrich
and his Mecklenburg Russian Princess -- But let us
take up the matter where our Notebooks left it, in
Friedrich Wilhelm's time:
"Czarina Anne with the big cheek," continues that Note-
book,* "was extremely delighted to see little Iwan; buten-
* Suprk, vol. v. p. 265.
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? 262
[book xn.
FIRST SILESIAN WAR.
Jan. 1741.
"joyed him only two months; being herself in dying circum-
"stances. She appointed little Iwan her Successor, his Mother
"and Father to be Guardians over him: but one Bieren (who
"writes himself Biron, and 'Duke of Courland/ being Cza-
"rina's Quasi-Husband these many years) to be Guardian, as
"it were, over both them and him. Such had been the trucu-
"lent insatiable Bieren's demand on his Czarina. 'You are
"running on your destruction,' said she, with tears; butcom-
"plied, as she had been wont.
"Czarina Anne died, 28th October 1740; leaving a Czar
"in his cradle; little Czar Iwan of two months, with Mother
"and Father to preside over him, and to be themselves pre-
"sided over by Bieren, in this manner. * This was the first
"great change for Anton Ulrich; but others greater are
"coming. Little Anton, readers know, is Friedrich's Brother-
"in-law, much patronised by Austria; Anton's spouse is the
"Half-Russian Princess Catherine of Mecklenburg (now
"wholly Russian, and called Princess Anne), whom Friedrich
"at one time thought of applying for, in his distress about a
"Wife. These two, will they side with Prussia, will they side
"with Austria? It was hardly worth inquiry, had not For-
"tune's wheel made suddenly a great cant, and pitched them
"to the top, for the time being.
"Bieren lasted only twenty days. He was very high and
"arbitrary upon everybody; Anne and Anton Ulrich suffering
"naturally most from him. They took counsel with Feld-
"marschall Munnich on the matter; who, after study, de-
"clared it a remediable case. Friday 18th November, Miin-
"nich had, by invitation, to dine with Duke Bieren; Miinnich
'' went accordingly that day, and dined; Duke looking a little
"flurried, they say: and the same evening, dinner being quite
"over, and midnight come, Munnich had his measures all
"taken, soldiers ready, warrant in hand; -- and arrested
"Bieren in his bed; mere Siberia, before sunrise, looming
"upon Bieren. Never was such a change as this from 18tn
"day to 19th with a supreme Bieren. Our friend Mannstein,
"excellent punctual Aide-de-Camp of Munnich, was the exe-
"cutor of the feat; and has left punctual record of it, as he
* Mannstein, pp. 264-267 (28th October, by Russian or Old Style, is
"nth;" we translate, in this and other cases, Russian or English, into
New Style, unless the contrary is indicated).
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? CHAP. VIII. ] PHENOMENA IN PETERSBURG. 263
Jan. 1741.
"does of every thing, -- what Bieren said, and what Madam
"Bieren, who was a little obstreperous on the occasion. *
"What side Anton Ulrich and Spouse will take in a quarrel
"between Prussia and Austria, is now well worth asking.
"Anton Ulrich and Wife Anne, that is to say, 'Regent
"Anne' and 'Generalissimo Anton Ulrich,' now ruled, with
"Miinnich for right-hand man; and these were high times for
"Anton Ulrich, Generalissimo and Czar's-Father; who indeed
"was modest, and did not often interfere in words, though
"grieved at the foolish ways his Wife had. An indolent flabby
"kind of creature, she, unfit for an Autocrat; sat in her pri-
vate apartments, all in a huddle of undress; had foolish
"notions, -- especially had soubrettes who led her about by
"the ear. And then there was a ' Princess Elizabeth,' Cousin-
"german of Regent Anne, -- daughter, that is to say, last
"child there now was, of Peter the Great and his little brown
"Catherine: -- who should have been better seen to. Harm-
"less foolish Princess, not without cunning; young, plump,
"and following merely her flirtations and her orthodox devo-
tions; very orthodox and soft, but capable of becoming
"dangerous, as a centre of the disaffected. As 'Czarina Eli-
"zabeth,' before long, and ultimately as Hnfume Catin du
"Nord,' she --" But let us not anticipate!
It was in this posture of affairs, about a month af-
ter it had begun, that Winterfeld arrived in Peters-
burg; and addressed himself to Miinnich, on the Prus-
sian errand. Winterfeld was Miinnich's Son-in-law
(properly stepson-in-law, having married Miinnich's
stepdaughter, a Fraulein von Malzahn, of good Prus-
sian kin); was acquainted with the latitudes and longi-
tudes here, and well equipped for the operation in hand.
To Madam Miinnich, once Madam Malzahn, his Mo-
ther-in-law, he carried a diamond ring of 1,200/. , "small
testimony of his Prussian Majesty's regard to so high
a Prussian Lady;" to Miinnich's Son and Madam's a
present of 3,000/. on the like score: and the wheels
"Mannstein, p. 268.
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