No More Learning

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? 42
[boos I.
BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.
was suspected: not quite so bad in the state of fact as
in that of rumour. Crime enough is in it, sin and folly
on both sides; there is killing too, but not assassina-
tion (as it turns out); on the whole there is nothing of
atrocity, or nothing that was not accidental, unavoidable;
-- and there is a certain greatness of decorum on the
part of those Hanover Princes and official gentlemen, a
depth of silence, of polite stoicism, which deserves
more praise than it will get in our times. Enough now
of the Konigsmark tragedy;* contemporaneous with
Friedrich Wilhelm's stay at Hannover, but not otherwise
much related to him or his doings there.
? A considerable dreary mass of books, pamphlets, lucubrations, false
all and of no worth or of leas, have accumulated on this dark subject, da-
ring the last hundred-and-fifty years; nor has the process yet stopped,-- aa
it now well might. For there have now two things occurred in regard to
it. First: In the year 1847, a Swedish Professor, named Palmblad, groping
about for other objects in the College Library of Lund (which is in the
country of the Konigsmark connexions), came upon a Box of old Letters,
-- Letters undated, signed only with initials, and very enigmatic till well
searched into, -- which have turned out to be the very Autographs of the
Princess and her Kb'nlgsmark; throwing of course a henceforth indispu-
table light on their relation. Second thing: A cautious exact old gentleman,
of diplomatic habits (understood to be 11 Count von Schnlenburg-Kloster-
rode of Dresden"), has, since that event, uuweariedly gone into the whole
matter; and has brayed it everywhere, and pounded it small; sifting, with
sublime patience, not only those Swedish Autographs, but the whole mass
of lying books, pamphlets, hints and notices, old and recent; and bringing
out (truly In an Intricate and thrice wearisome, but for the first time in an
authentio way) what real evidence there is. In which evidence the facts,
or essential fact. He at last indisputable enough. His Book, thick Pamphlet
rather, is that same Hertogin von Ahlden (Leipzig, 1852) cited above. The
dreary wheelbarrowful of others I had rather not mention again; but leave
Count von Schulenbnrg to mention and describe them, -- which he does
abundantly, so many as had accumulated np to that date of 1852, to the
affliction more or less of sane mankind.
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? chap, in. ]
43
FATHER AND MOTHER.
He got no improvement in breeding, as we inti-
mated; none at all; fought, on the contrary, with his
young Cousin (afterwards our George II. ), a boy twice
his age, though of weaker bone; and gave him a
bloody nose. To the scandal and consternation of the
French Protestant gentle-women and court-dames in
their stiff silks: "Ahee, your Electoral Highness! " This
had been a rough unruly boy from the first discovery
of him. At a very early stage, he, one morning while
the nurses were dressing him, took to investigating one
of his shoe-buckles; would, in spite of remonstrances,
slobber it about in his mouth; and at length swallowed
it down, -- beyond mistake; and the whole world can-
not get it up! "Whereupon, wild wail of nurses; and his
"Mother came screaming," poor mother; -- it is the
same small shoe-buckle which is still shown, with a
ticket and date to it, "31 December 1692," in the
Berlin Kunstkammer: for it turned out harmless, after
all the screaming; and a few grains of rhubarb restored
it safely to the light of day; henceforth a thrice-me-
morable shoe-buckle. *
Another time, it is recorded, though with less
precision of detail, his Governess the Dame Montbail
having ordered him to do something which was into-
lerable to the princely mind, the princely mind resisted
in a very strange way: the princely body, namely, flung
itself suddenly out of a third-story window, nothing but
the hands left within; and hanging on there by the sill,
? FBrster, i. 74. Erman: Mimoires de Sophie Charlotte (Berlin, 1801),
p. ISO.
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? 44
[book l
BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.
and fixedly resolute to obey gravitation rather than
Montbail, soon brought the poor lady to terms. Upon
which, indeed, he had been taken from her, and from the
women altogether, as evidently now needing rougher
government. Always an unruly fellow, and dangerous
to trust among crockery. At Hanover he could do no
good in the way of breeding; sage Leibnitz himself,
with his big black periwig and large patient nose, could
have put no metaphysics into such a boy. Sublime
Theodicee (Leibnitzian "justification of the ways of
God") was not an article this individual had the least
need of, nor at any time the least value for. "Justify?
What doomed dog questions it, then? Are you for
Bedlam, then? " -- and in maturer years his rattan
might have been dangerous! For this was a singular
individual of his day; human soul still in robust health,
and not given to spin its bowels into cobwebs. He
is known only to have quarrelled much with Cousin
George, during the year or so he spent in those parts. But there was another Cousin at Hanover, just
one other, little Sophie Dorothee (called after her
mother), a few months older than himself; by all ac-
counts, a really pretty little child, whom he liked a
great deal better. She, I imagine, was his main re-
source, while on this Hanover visit; with her were
laid the foundations of an intimacy which ripened well
afterwards. Some say it was already settled by the
parents that there was to be a marriage in due time.
Settled it could hardly be; for Wilhelmina tells us,*
* tMmoiret de la Margrave de Bareith, U 1.
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? chAP. in. ]
45
FATHER AND MOTHER.
her Father had a "choice of three" allowed him, on
coming to wed; and it is otherwise discernible there had
been eclipses and uncertainties, in the interim, on his
part . Settled, no; but hoped and vaguely prefigured,
we may well suppose. And at all events, it has actu-
ally come to pass; "Father being ardently in love with
the Hanover Princess," says our Margravine, "and
"much preferring her to the other two," or to any and
all others. Wedded, with great pomp, 28th November
1706;* -- and Sophie Dorothee, the same that was his
pretty little Cousin at Hanover twenty years ago, she
is mother of the little Boy now born and christened,
whom men are to call Frederick the Great in coming
generations.
Sophie Dorothee is described to us by courtier con-
temporaries as "one of the most beautiful princesses of
her day:" Wilhelmina, on the other hand, testifies that
she was never strictly to be called beautiful, but had a
pleasant attractive physiognomy; which may be con-
sidered better than strict beauty. Uncommon grace of
figure and look, testifies Wilhelmina; much dignity and
soft dexterity, on social occasions; perfect in all the
arts of deportment; and left an impression on you at
once kindly and royal. Portraits of her, as Queen at
a later age, are frequent in the Prussian Galleries; she
is painted sitting, where I best remember her. A
serious, comely, rather plump, maternal-looking Lady;
* FtSrster, i. 117.
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? 46
[book I.
BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.
something thoughtful in those gray still eyes of hers,
in the turn of her face and carriage of her head, as
she sits there, considerately gazing out upon a world
which would never conform to her will. Decidedly a
handsome, wholesome and affectionate aspect of face.
Hanoverian in type, that is to say, blond, florid,
slightly profuse; -- yet the better kind of Hanoverian,
little or nothing of the worse or at least the worst
kind. The eyes, as I say, are gray, and quiet, almost
sad; expressive of reticence and reflection, of slow con-
stancy rather than of speed in any kind. One expects,
could the picture speak, the querulous sound of
maternal and other solicitude; of a temper tending
towards the obstinate, the quietly unchangeable; --
loyal patience not wanting, yet in still larger measure
royal impatience well concealed, and long and carefully
cherished. This is what I read in Sophie Dorothee's
Portraits, -- probably remembering what I had other-
wise read, and come to know of her. She too will not
a little concern us in the first part of this History. I
find, for one thing, she had given much of her physi-
ognomy to the Friedrich now born. In his Portraits as
Prince-Royal, he strongly resembles her; it is his mo-
ther's face informed with youth and new fire, and trans-
lated into the masculine gender: in his later Portraits,
one less and less recognises the mother.
Friedrich Wilhelm, now in the sixth year of wed-
lock, is still very fond of his Sophie Dorothee, --
"Fiechen" (Pheekin, diminutive of Sophie), as he calls
her; she also having, and continuing to have, the due
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? CHAP. in. ]
47
FATHER AMD MOTHER.
wife's regard for her solid, honest, if somewhat explo-
sive bear. He troubles her a little now and then, it is
said, with whiffs of jealousy; but they are whiffs only,
the product of accidental moodinesses in him, or of
transient aspects, misinterpreted, in the court-life of a
young and pretty woman. As the general rule, he is
beautifully goodhumoured, kind even, for a bear; and,
on the whole, they have begun their partnership under
good omens. And indeed we may say, in spite of sad
tempests that arose, they continued it under such. She
brought him gradually no fewer than fourteen children,
of whom ten survived him and came to maturity: and
it is to be admitted their conjugal relation, though a
royal, was always a human one; the main elements of
it strictly observed on both sides; all quarrels in it
capable of being healed again, and the feeling on both
sides true, however troublous. A rare fact among
royal wedlocks, and perhaps a unique one in that
epoch.
The young couple, as is natural in their present
position, have many eyes upon them, and not quite a
paved path in this confused court of Friedrich I. But
they are true to one another; they seem indeed to have
held well aloof from all public business or private
cabal; and go along silently expecting, and perhaps
silently resolving this and that in the future tense; but
with moderate immunity from paternal or other criti-
cisms, for the present . The Crown-Prince drills or
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? 48
[book I.
BIRTH AND PARENTAGE
hunts, with his Grumkows, Anhalt-Dessaus: these are
harmless employments; -- and a man may have within
his own head what thoughts he pleases, without offence
so long as he keeps them there. Friedrich the old
Grandfather lived only thirteen months after the birth
of his grandson: Friedrich Wilhelm was then King;
thoughts then, to any length, could become actions on
the part of Friedrich Wilhelm.
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? chAP. rV. ]
fAther's mothee.
CHAPTER IV.
fAther's mother.
Friedrich Wilhelm's Mother, as we hinted, did
not live to see this marriage which she had forecast in
her maternal heart. She died, rather suddenly, in
1705,* at Hanover, whither she had gone on a visit;
shortly after parting with this her one boy and child,
Friedrich Wilhelm, who is then about seventeen; whom
she had with effort forced herself to send abroad, that
he might see the world a little, for the first time. Her
sorrow on this occasion has in it something beautiful,
in so bright and gay a woman: shows us the mother
strong in her, to a touching degree. The rough cub,
in whom she noticed rugged perverse elements, "ten-
dencies to avarice," and a want of princely graces, and
the more brilliant qualities in mind and manner, had
given her many thoughts and some uneasy ones. But
he was evidently all she had to love in the world; a
rugged creature inexpressibly precious to her. For
days after his departure, she had kept solitary; busied
with little; indulging in her own sad reflections without
stint. Among the papers she had been scribbling,
* 1st February (Erman, p. 241; FSrster, i. 114): born, 20th October
1668; wedded, 28th September 1684; died, 1st February 1705.
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. I. 4
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? 50
[book I.
BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.
there was found one slip with a heart sketched on it,
and round the heart, 'PArti' (Gone): My heart is
gone! -- poor lady, and after what a jewel! But
Nature is very kind, to all children and to all mothers
that are true to her.
Sophie Charlotte's deep sorrow and dejection on
this parting was the secret herald of fate to herself.
It had meant ill health withal, and the gloom of
broken nerves. All autumn and into winter she had
felt herself indefinitely unwell; she determined, how-
ever, on seeing Hanover and her good old Mother at
the usual time. The gloomy sorrow over Friedrich
Wilhelm had been the premonition of a sudden illness
which seized her on the road to Hanover, some five
months afterwards, and which ended fatally in that
city. Her death was not in the light style Friedrich
her grandson ascribes to it;* she died without epigram,
and though in perfect simple courage, with the reverse
of levity.
Here, at first hand, is the specific account of that
event; which, as it is brief and indisputable, we may
well fish from the imbroglios, and render legible, to
counteract such notions, and illuminate for moments an
old scene of things. The writing, apparently a quite
private piece, is by "M. de la Bergerie, Pastor of the
French Church at Hanover," respectable Edict-of-
Nantes gentleman, who had been called in on the oc-
casion; -- gives an authentic momentary picture,
* Mimoires de Brandebourg (Preuss's Edition of (Eusret, Berlin, 1847
el teqq. ), i. 112.
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? CHAP. IV. ]
51
fAther's mother.
though a feeble and vacant one, of a locality at that
time very interesting to Englishmen. M. de la Bergerie
privately records:
"The night between the last of January and the first of
"February 1705, between one and two o'clock in the morning,
"I was called to the Queen of Prussia, who was then danger-
ously ill.
"Entering the room, I threw myself at the foot of her bed,
"testifying to her in words my profound grief to see her in
"this state. After which I took occasion to say, 'She might
"know now that Kings and Queens are mortal equally with
"all other men; and that they are obliged to appear before
"the throne of the majesty of God, to give an account of their
"deeds done, no less than the meanest of their subjects. '
"To which her Majesty replied, 'I know it well (Je le sais
"bien).
'-- I went on to say to her, 'Madame, your Majesty
"must also recognise in this hour the vanity and nothingness
"of the things here below, for which, it may be, you have had
"too much interest; and the importance of the things of
"Heaven, which perhaps you have neglected and contemned. ' "Thereupon the Queen answered, 'True (Cela est vrai)V
"'Nevertheless, Madame,' said I, 'does not your Majesty
"place really your trust in God? Do you not very earnestly
"(bien serieusement) crave pardon of Him for all the sins you
"have committed? Do not you fly (n'a-t-elle pas recours) to
"the blood and merits of Jesus Christ, without which it is
"impossible for us to stand before God? ' The Queen an-
"swered,' Oui (Yes). ' -- While this was going on, her Brother,
"Duke Ernst August, came into the Queen's room," --per-
haps with his eye upon me and my motions? "As they wished
"to speak together, I withdrew by order. "
4*
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? 52
[book I.
BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.
This Duke Ernst August, age now thirty-one, is
the youngest Brother of the family; there never was
any Sister but this dying one, who is four years older.
Ernst August has some tincture of soldiership at this
time (Marlborough Wars, and the like), as all his
kindred had; but ultimately he got the Bishoprick of
Osnabriick, that singular spiritual heirloom or half-
heirloom of the family; and there lived or vegetated
without noise. Poor soul, he is the same Bishop of
Osnabriick, to whose House, twenty-two years hence,
George I. , struck by apoplexy, was breathlessly gal-
loping in the summer midnight, one wish now left in
him, to be with his brother; -- and arrived dead, or in
the article of death. That was another scene Ernst
August had to witness in his life. I suspect him at
present of a thought that M. de la Bergerie, with his
pious commonplaces, is likely to do no good. Other
trait of Ernst August's life; or of the Schloss of Han-
over that night, -- or where the sorrowing old Mother
sat, invincible though weeping, in some neighbouring
room, -- I cannot give. M. de la Bergerie continues
his narrative:
"Some time after, I again presented myself before the
"Queen's bed, to see if I could have occasion to speak to her
"on the matter of her salvation. But Monseigneur the Duke
"Ernst August then said to me, That it was not necessary;
"that the Queen was at peace with her God (kail bien avec son
"Dieu). " -- Which will mean also that M. de la Bergerie may
go home? However, he still writes:
"Next day the Prince told me, That observing I was come
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? CHAP. IV. ]
fAther's mother.
"near the Queen's bed, he had asked her if she wished I should
"still speak to her; but she had replied, that it was not ne cessary in any way (nullement), that she already knew all
"that could be said to her on such an occasion; that she had
"said it to herself, that she was still saying it, and that she
"hoped to be well with her God.
"In the end a faint coming upon the Queen, which was
"what terminated her life, I threw myself on my knees at the
"other side of her bed, the curtains of which were open; and
"I called to God with a loud voice, 'That He would rank his
"angels round this great Princess, to guard her from the in-
"sults of Satan; that He would have pity on her soul; that
"He would wash her with the blood of Jesus Christ her
"heavenly Spouse; that, having forgiven her all her sins, He
"would receive her to his glory. ' And in that moment she
"expired. " * -- Age thirty-six and some months. Only
Daughter of Electress Sophie; and Father's Mother of Fre-
derick the Great.
She was, in her time, a highly distinguished woman;
and has left, one may say, something of her likeness
still traceable in the Prussian Nation, and its form of
culture, to this day. Charlottenburg (Charlotte's Town,
so called by the sorrowing Widower), where she lived, shone with a much-admired French light under her
presidency, -- French essentially, Versaillese, Sceptico-
Calvinistic, reflex and direct, -- illuminating the dark
North; and indeed has never been so bright since.
The light was not what we can call inspired; lunar
rather, not of the genial or solar kind: but, in good
truth, it was the best then going; and Sophie Char-
? Erman, p. 242.
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? 54
[book I.
BIHTH AND PARENTAGE.
lotte, who was her Mother's daughter in this as in other
respects, had made it her own. They were deep in
literature, these two Royal Ladies; especially deep in
French theological polemics, with a strong leaning to
the rationalist side.
They had stopped in Rotterdam once, on a certain
journey homewards from Flanders and the Baths of
Aix-la-Chapelle, to see that admirable sage, the
doubter Bayle. Their sublime messenger roused the
poor man, in his garret there, in the Bompies, -- after
dark: but he had a headache that night; was in bed,
and could not come. He followed them next day;
leaving his paper imbroglios, his historical, philosophi-
cal, anti-theological marine-stores; and suspended his
never-ending scribble, on their behalf; -- but would not
accept a pension, and give it up. *
They were shrewd, noticing, intelligent and lively
women; persuaded that there was some nobleness for
man beyond what the tailor imparts to him; and even
very eager to discover it, had they known how. In
these very days, while our little Friedrich at Berlin
lies in his cradle, sleeping most of his time, sage
Leibnitz, a rather weak but hugely ingenious old gen-
tleman, with bright eyes and long nose, with vast black
peruke and bandy legs, is seen daily in the Linden
Avenue at Hanover (famed Linden Alley, leading from
Town Palace to Country one, a couple of miles long,
rather disappointing when one sees it), daily driving or
walking towards Herrenhausen, where the Court, where
? Erman, pp. Ill, 112. Date la 1700 (late in the autumn probably).
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? CHaP. Iv. ]
55
father's mother.
the old Electress is, who will have a touch of dialogue
with him to diversify her day. Not very edifying dia-
logue, we may fear; yet once more, the best that can
be had in present circumstances. Here is some lunar
reflex of Versailles, which is a polite court; direct rays
there are from the oldest written Gospels and the
newest; from the great unwritten Gospel of the Uni-
verse itself; and from one's own real effort, more or
less devout, to read all these aright . Let us not con-
demn that poor French element of Eclecticism, Scepti-
cism, Tolerance, Theodicea, and Bayle of the Bompies
versus the College of Saumur. Let us admit that it
was profitable, at least that it was inevitable; let us
pity it, and be thankful for it, and rejoice that we are
well out of it. Scepticism, which is there beginning
at the very top of the world-tree, and has to descend
through all the boughs with terrible results to mankind,
is as yet pleasant, tinting the leaves with fine autum-
nal red.
Sophie Charlotte partook of her Mother's tenden-
cies; and carried them with her to Berlin, there to be
expanded in many ways into ampler fulfilment. She
too had the sage Leibnitz often with her, at Berlin; no
end to her questionings of him; eagerly desirous to
draw water from that deep well, -- a wet rope, with
cobwebs sticking to it, too often all she got; endless
rope, and the bucket never coming to view. Which,
however, she took patiently, as a thing according to
Nature. She had her learned Beausobres and other
Reverend Edict-of-Nantes gentlemen, famed Berlin
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? 56
[BOOK I.
BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.
divines; whom, if any Papist notability, Jesuit Ambas-
sador or the like, happened to be there, she would set
disputing with him, in the Soiree at Charlottenburg.
She could right well preside over such a battle of the
Cloud-Titans, and conduct the lightnings softly, with-
out explosions. There is a pretty and very character-
istic Letter of hers, still pleasant to read, though turn-
ing on theologies now fallen dim enough; addressed
to Father Vota, the famous Jesuit, King's-confessor,
and diplomatist, from Warsaw, who had been doing
his best in one such rencontre before her Majesty (date
March 1703), -- seemingly on a series of evenings, in
the intervals of his diplomatic business; the Beausobre
champions being introduced to him successively, one
each evening, by Queen Sophie Charlotte. To all ap-
pearance the fencing had been keen; the lightnings in
need of some dextrous conductor. Vota, on his way
homeward, had written, to apologise for the sputter-
ings of fire struck out of him in certain pinches of the
combat; says, It was the rough handling the Primitive
Fathers got from these Beausobre gentlemen, who in-
deed to me, Vota in person, under your Majesty's fine
presidency, were politeness itself, though they treated
the Fathers so ill. Her Majesty, with beautiful art, in
this Letter, smooths the raven plumage of Vota; -- and,
at the same time, throws into him, as with invisible
needle-points, an excellent dose of acupuncturation, on
the subject of the Primitive Fathers and the Ecumenic
Councils, on her own score. Let us give some Excerpt,
in condensed state:
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? CHAP. IV. ]
57
fAther's mother.
"How can St. Jerome, for example, be a key to Scripture? "
she insinuates; citing from Jerome this remarkable avowal of
his method of composing books; "especially of his method in
"thatBook, Commentary on the Galatians, where he accuses
"both Peter and Paul of simulation and even of hypocrisy.
"The great St. Augustine has been charging him with this
"sadfact," says her Majesty, who gives chapter and verse;*
"and Jerome answers: 'I followed the Commentaries of
"Origen, of" -- five or six different persons, who turned out
mostly to be heretics before Jerome had quite done with them
in coming years! -- "' And to confess the honest truth to you,'
"continues Jerome, 'I read all that; and after having
"crammed my head with a great many things, I sent for my
"amanuensis, and dictated to him now my own thoughts, now
"those of others, without much recollecting the order, nor
"sometimes the words, nor even the sense. ' In another place
"(in the Book itself farther on**), he says: 'I do notmyself
"write; I have an amanuensis, and I dictate to him what
"comes into my mouth. If I wish to reflect a little, to say the
"thing better or a better thing, he knits his brows, and the
"whole look of him tells me sufficiently that he cannot endure
"to wait. '" -- Here is a sacred old gentleman, whom it is not
safe to depend on for interpreting the Scriptures, thinks her
Majesty; but does not say so, leaving Father Vota to his re-
flections.
Then again, coming to Councils, she quotes St. Gregory of
Nazianzen upon him; who is truly dreadful in regard to
Ecumenic Councils of the Church, -- and indeed may awaken
thoughts of Deliberative Assemblies generally, in the modern
constitutional mind. "He says,*** No Council ever was suc-
* "Epist. 28>>, edit. Paris. " And Jerome's answer "Ibid. Epist. 76*.
** "Commentary on the Galatians, chap, iii. "
*** ? ' Greg. Nazian. de Vita sua. "
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? 58
[book X,
BIRTH AND PARENTAGK.
"cessful; so many mean human passions getting into con-
"flagration there; with noise, with violence and uproar,
"'more like those of a tavern or still worse place,' -- these are
"his words. He, for his own share, had resolved to avoid all
"such 'rendezvousing of the Geese and Cranes, flocking to-
"gether to throttle and tatterone another in that sad manner. '
"Nor had St. Theodoret much opinion of the Council of Nice,
"except as a kind of miracle. 'Nothing good to be expected
"from Councils,' sayshe, 'except when God is pleased to in-
"terpose, and destroy the machinery of the Devil. '"
-- With more of the like sort; all delicate, as invisible
needle-points, in her Majesty's hand. * What is Father
Vota to say? -- The modern reader looks through
these chinks into a strange old scene, the stuff of it
fallen obsolete, the spirit of it not, nor worthy to fall.
These were Sophie Charlotte's reunions; very charm-
ing in their time. At which how joyful for Irish Toland
to be present, as was several times his luck. Toland,
a mere broken Heretic in his own country, who went
thither once as Secretary to some Embassy (Embassy
of Macclesfield's, 1701, announcing that the English
Crown had fallen Hanover-wards), and was no doubt
glad, poor headlong soul, to find himself a gentleman
and Christian again, for the time being, -- admires
* Letter undated (dateable "Ltitzelburg, March 1703"), ia to be found
entire, with all its adjuncts, in Erman, pp. 246-55. It was subsequently
translated by Toland, and published here, as an excellent Polemical Piece,
-- entirely forgotten in our time (A Letter against Popery by Sophia Char-
lotte the late Queen of Prussia: Being Ac. &c. London, 1712). But the
finest Duel of all was probably that between Beausobre and Toland himself
(reported by Beausobre, in something of a crowing manner. In Erman,
pp. 203-41, "October 1701"), of which Toland makes no mention anywhere.
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? CHaP. Iv. ]
59
father's mother.
Hanover and Berlin very much; and looks upon
Sophie Charlotte in particular as the pink of women.
Something between an earthly Queen and a divine
Egeria; 'Serena' he calls her; and, in his high-flown
fashion, is very laudatory. "The most beautiful Prin-
cess of her time," says he, -- meaning one of the most
beautiful: her features are extremely regular, and full
of vivacity; copious dark hair, blue eyes, complexion
excellently fair; -- "not very tall, and somewhat too
plump," he admits elsewhere. And then her mind,--
for gifts, for graces, culture, where will you find such
a mind? "Her reading is infinite, and she is conversant
"in all manner of subjects;" "knows the abstrusest
"problems of Philosophy;" says admiring Toland: much
knowledge everywhere exact, and handled as by an
artist and queen; for "her wit is inimitable," "her just-
ness of thought, her delicacy of expression," her felicity
of utterance and management, are great. Foreign cour-
tiers call her 'the Republican Queen. ' She detects you
a sophistry at one glance; pierces down direct upon
the weak point of an opinion: never in my whole life
did I, Toland, come upon a swifter or sharper intellect
.
And then she is so good withal, so bright and cheer-
ful, and "has the art of uniting what to the rest of the
"world are antagonisms, mirth and learning," -- say
even, mirth and good sense. Is deep in music, too;
plays daily on her harpsichord, and fantasies, and even
composes, in an eminent manner. * Toland's admira-
? An Account of the Courts of Prussia and Hanover, sent to a Minister of
State in Holland, by Mr. Toland (London, 1705), p. 892. Toland'a other
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? 60
[hook I.
BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.