They are now turning more southeastward;
they sleep here, in the Kaiser's territory, welcomed by
some Official persons; who signify that the overjoyed
Imperial Majesty has, as was extremely natural, paid
the bill everywhere.
they sleep here, in the Kaiser's territory, welcomed by
some Official persons; who signify that the overjoyed
Imperial Majesty has, as was extremely natural, paid
the bill everywhere.
Thomas Carlyle
?
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl.
handle.
net/2027/hvd.
hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.
hathitrust.
org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISEE.
April 1733.
CHAPTER IV.
PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISER.
Majesty seeing all these matters well in train, --
Salzburgers under way, Crown-Prince betrothed ac-
cording to his Majesty's and the Kaiser's (not to her
Majesty's, and high-flying little George of England my
Brother the Comedian's) mind and will, -- begins to
think seriously of another enterprise, half business half
pleasure, which has been hovering in his mind for some
time. "Visit to my Daughter at Baireuth," he calls it
publicly; but it means intrinsically Excursion into Bbh-
men, to have a word with the Kaiser, and see his Im-
perial Majesty in the body for once. Too remarkable
a thing to be omitted by us here.
Crown-Prince does not accompany on this occasion;
Crown-Prince is with his Regiment all this while; busy
minding his own affairs in the Ruppin quarter; -- only
hears, with more or less interest, of these Salzburg-
Pilgrim movements, of this Excursion into Bohmen.
Here are certain scraps of Letters; which, if once made
legible, will assist readers to conceive his situation and
employments there. Letters otherwise of no importance;
but worth reading on that score. The first (or rather
first three, which we huddle into one) is from "Nauen,"
few miles off Ruppin; where one of our Battalions lies;
requiring frequent visits there:
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 280 friedrich's apprenticeship, last stage, [bookix.
May 1732.
1. To Grumkow, at Berlin (From the Crown-Prince).
"Nauen, 25th April 1732.
"Monsieur my dearest Friend, -- I send you a big mass of
"papers, which a certain gentleman named Plotz has trans- "mitted me. In faith, I know not in the least what it is: I
"pray you present it" (to his Majesty, orintheproper quarter),
"and make me rid of it.
"Tomorrow I go to Potsdam" (a drive of forty miles south-
ward) , "to see the exercise, and if we do it here according to
"pattern. Neue Besen kehren gut" (Newbrooms sweep clean,
in German); "I shall have to illustrate my new character" of
"Colonel; and show that I am ein tuchtiger Of/icier (a right
"Officer). Be what I may, I shall to you always be," &c. &c.
Nauen, 1th May 1732. "? ? Thousand thanks for informing
"me how everything goes on in the world. Things far from
"agreeable, those leagues" (imaginary, in Tobacco-Par-
liament) "suspected to be forming against our House! But
"if the Kaiser don't abandon us;" "if God second the valour
"of 80,000 men resolved to spend their life," -- "let us hope
"there will nothing bad happen.
"Meanwhile, till events arrive, I make a pretty stir here
"(me tre'mousse ifi d'importance), to bring my Kegiment to its
"requisite perfection; and I hope I shall succeed. The other
"day I drank your dear health, Monsieur; and I wait only the
"news from my Cattlestall that the Calf I am fattening there
"is ready for sending to you. I unite Mars and Housekeeping,
"you see. Send me your Secretary's name, that I may ad-
"dress your Letters that way," -- our Correspondence needing
to be secret in certain quarters. * * "With a" truly infinite
esteem:
"FitiD&uc. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISEB. 281
July 1731.
Nauen, 10th May 1732. "You will see by this that I am
"exact to follow your instruction; and that the Schulz of
"Tremmen" (Village in the Brandenburg quarter, with a
Schulz or Mayor to be depended on) "becomes for the present
"the mainspring of our correspondence. I return you all the
"things (pieces) you had the goodness to communicate to me,
"-- except Charles Douze,* which attaches me infinitely. The
"particulars hitherto unknown which he reports; the greatness
"of that Prince's actions, and the perverse singularity (bizar-
"rerie) of his fortune: all this, joined to the lively, brilliant
"and charming way the Author has of telling it, renders this
"Book interesting to the supreme degree. * * * I send you a
"fragment of my correspondence with the most illustrious
"SieurCrochet," some French Envoy or Emissary, I conclude:
"you perceive we go on very sweetly together, and are in a
"high strain. I am sorry I burnt one of his Letters, wherein
"he assured me he would in the Versailles Antechamber itself
"speak of me to the King, and that my name had actually
"been mentioned at the King's Levee. It certainly is not my
"ambition to choose this illustrious mortal to publish my
"renown; on the contrary, I should think it soiled by such a
"mouth, and prostituted if he were the publisher. But enough
"of the Crochet: the kindest thing we can do for so con-
"temptible an object is to say nothing of him at all. " ** -- * *
Letter Second is to Jagermeister Hacke, Captain of
the Potsdam Guard; who stands in great nearness to
the King's Majesty; and, in fact, is fast becoming his
factotum in Army-details. We, with the Duke of Lor-
raine and Majesty in person, saw his marriage to the
Excellency Creutz's Fraulein Daughter not long since;
* Voltaire's new Book; lately oome out, "Bale, 1731. "
CEuvres de Fridiric, xvi. 49, 51.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 282 friedrich's apprenticeship, last stage, [book u.
who we trust has made him happy; -- rich he is at
any rate, and will be Adjutant-General before long:
powerful in such intricacies as this that the Prince has
fallen into.
The Letter has its obscurities; turns earnestly on
Recruits tall and short; nor have idle Editors helped us,
by the least hint, towards "reading" it with more than
the eyes. Old Dessauer at this time is Commandant at
Magdeburg; Buddenbrock, now passing by Ruppin, we
know for a high old General, fit to carry messages
from Majesty: we can guess, that the flattering Dessauer
has sent his Majesty Five gigantic men from the Magde-
burg regiments, and that Friedrich is ordered to hustle
out Thirty of insignificant stature from his own, by way
of counter-gift to the Dessauer; -- which Friedrich does
instantly, but cannot, for his life, see how (being to-
tally cashless) he is to replace them with better, or re-
place them at all!
2. To Captain Hacke, of the Potsdam Guard.
"Mein Gott, what a piece of news Buddenbrock has brought
"me! I am to get nothing out of Brandenburg, my dear
"Hacke? Thirty men I had to sift out of my company in
"consequence" (of Buddenbrock's order); "and where am I
"now to get other thirty? I would gladly give the King tall
"men, as the Dessauer at Magdeburg does; but I have no
"money; and I don't get, or set up for getting, six men for
"one" (thirty short for five tall), "as he does. So true is that
"Scripture: To him that hath shall be given; and from him
"that hath not shall be taken away even that he hath.
"Ruppin, 15th July 1732.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISER. 283
July 1732.
"Small art, that the Prince of Dessau's and the Magdeburg
"Regiments are fine, when they have money at command, and
"thirty men gratis over and above! I, poor devil, have
"nothing; nor shall have, all my days. Prithee, dear Hacke
"(bitte Ihn, lieber Hacke), think of all that: and if I have no
"money allowed, I must bring Asmus* alone as Recruit next
"year; and my Regiment will to a certainty be rubbish
"(Kroop). Once I had learned a German Proverb, --
"Verspreclien find hallen (To promise and to keep)
Ziemt wohl Jungcn und Alten (Is pretty for young and for old)! "
"I depend alone on you (Tin), dear Hacke; unless you help,
"there is a bad outlook. Today I have knocked again"
(written to Papa for money); "and if that does not help, it is
"over. If I could get any money to borrow, it would do; but
"I need not think of that. Help me then, dear Hacke! I
"assure you I will ever remember it; who, at all times, am my
"dear Herr Captain's devoted (gam ergebener) servant and
"friend, -- FbideeicH. " **
To which add only this Note, two days later, to
Seckendorf; indicating that the process of "borrowing"
has already, in some form, begun, -- process which
will have to continue, and to develop itself; -- and
that his Majesty, as Seckendorf well knows, is resolved
upon his Bohemian journey:
3. To the General Feldzeugmeister Graf von Seckendorf.
"Ruppin, 17th July 1732.
"My very dear General, -- I have written to the King, that
"I owed you 2,125 thalers for the Recruits; of which he says
* Recruit unknown to me.
*? In German: (Euvres, xxvii. part 3d, p. 177.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 284 friedrich's apprenticeship, last stage, [bookix.
July 1732.
"there are 600 paid: there remain, therefore, 1,525, which he
"will pay you directly.
"The King is going to Prague: I shall not be of the party"
(as you will). "To say truth, I am not very sorry; for it
"would infallibly give rise to foolish rumours in the world. At
"the same time, I should have much wished to see the Emperor,
"Empress, and Prince of Lorraine, for whom I have a quite
"particular esteem. I beg you, Monsieur, to assure him of it;
"-- and to assure yourself that I shall always be, -- with a
"great deal of consideration, Monsieur, mon tris-cher Ge-
"ne'ral," Sec
"Fr? dj5ric. "
And now for the Bohemian Journey, "Visit at
Kladrup" as they call it; -- Ruppin being left in this
assiduous and wholesome, if rather hampered condition.
Kaiser Karl and his Empress, in this summer of
1732, were at Karlsbad, taking the waters for a few
weeks. Friedrich Willi elm, who had long, for various
reasons, wished to see his Kaiser face to face, thought
this would be a good opportunity. The Kaiser himself,
knowing how it stood with the Julich-and-Berg and
other questions, was not anxious for such an interview:
still less were his official people; among whom the very
ceremonial for such a thing was matter of abstruse dif-
ficulty. Seckendorf accordingly had been instructed to
hunt wide, and throw in discouragements, so far as
possible; -- which he did, but without effect . Friedrich
Wilhelm had set his heart upon the thing; wished to
behold for once a Head of the Holy Roman Empire,
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISER. 285
July 1782.
and Supreme of Christendom; -- also to see a little,
with his own eyes, into certain matters Imperial.
And so, since an express visit to Karlsbad might
give rise to newspaper rumours, and will not suit, it is
settled, There shall be an accidental intersection of
routes, as the Kaiser travels homeward, -- say in some
quiet Bohemian Schloss or Hunting seat of the Kaiser's
own, whither the King may come incognito; and thus,
with a minimum of noise, may the needful passage of
hospitality be done. Easy all of this: only the Vienna
Ministers are dreadfully in doubt about the ceremonial,
Whether the Imperial hand can be given (I forget if
for kissing or for shaking)? -- nay at last they man-
fully declare that it cannot be given; and wish his
Prussian Majesty to understand that it must be refused. *
llBes summce consequents," say they; and shake solemnly
their big wigs. -- Nonsense (Narrenpossen)! answers the
Prussian Majesty: You, Seckendorf, settle about quar-
ters, reasonable food, reasonable lodging; and I will do
the ceremonial.
Seckendorf, -- worth glancing into, for biographical
purposes, in this place, -- has written to his Court:
That, as to the victual department, his Majesty goes
upon good common meat; flesh, to which may be added
all manner of river-fish and crabs: sound old Rhenish
is his drink, with supplements of brown and of white
beer. Dinner-table to be spread always in some airy
place, gardenhouse, tent, big clean barn, -- Majesty
likes air, of all things; -- will sleep, too, in a clean
? FBrster, i. 328.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 286 friedrich's apprenticeship, last stage, [bookk.
27th July1732.
barn or garden-house: better anything than being stifled,
thinks his Majesty. Who, for the rest, does not like
mounting stairs. * These are the regulations; and we
need not doubt they were complied with.
Sunday, 27th July 1732, accordingly, his Majesty,
with five or six carriages, quits Berlin, before the sun
is up, as is his wont: eastward, by the road for Frank-
furt on the Oder; "intends to look at Schulenburg's re-
giment," which lies in those parts, -- Schulenburg's
regiment for one thing: the rest is secret from the pro-
fane vulgar. Schulenburg's regiment (drawn up for
Church, I should suppose) is soon looked at; Schulen-
burg himself, by preappointment, joins the travelling
party, which now consists of the King and Eight: --
known figures, seven, Buddenbrock, Schulenburg,
Waldau, Derschau, Seckendorf, Grumkow, Captain
Hacke of the Potsdam Guard; and for eighth the Dutch
Ambassador, Ginkel, an accomplished knowing kind of
man, whom also my readers have occasionally seen.
Their conversation, road-colloquy, could it interest any
modern reader? It has gone all to dusk; we can know
only that it was human, solid, for most part, and had
much tobacco intermingled. They were all of the Cal-
vinistic persuasion, of the military profession; knew
that life is very serious, that speech without cause is
much to be avoided. They travelled swiftly, dined in
airy places: they are a fact, they and their summer
dustcloud there, whirling through the vacancy of that
* Seckendorf s Report (in Fb'rster, i. 830).
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISEB. 287
28th July 1182.
dim Time; and have an interest for us, though an un-
important one.
The first night they got to Griinberg; a pleasant
Town, of vineyards and of looms, across the Silesian
frontier.
They are now turning more southeastward;
they sleep here, in the Kaiser's territory, welcomed by
some Official persons; who signify that the overjoyed
Imperial Majesty has, as was extremely natural, paid
the bill everywhere. On the morrow, before the shuttles
awaken, Friedrich Wilhelm is gone again; towards the
Glogau region, intending forLiegnitz that night . Cour-
sing rapidly through the green Silesian Lowlands, blue
Giant Mountains (Riesengebirge) beginning to rise on the
south and left. Dines, at noon, under a splendid tent,
in a country place called Polkwitz,* with country No-
bility (sorrow on them, and yet thanks to them) come
to do reverence. At night he gets to Liegnitz.
Here is Liegnitz, then. Here are theKatzbach and
the Blackwater (Schwarzwasser), famed in war, your
Majesty; here they coalesce; gray ashlar houses (not
without inhabitants unknown to us) looking on. Here
are the venerable walls and streets of Liegnitz; and the
Castle which defied Baty Khan and his Tartars, five
hundred years ago. ** -- Oh, your Majesty, this Lieg-
nitz, with its princely Castle, and wide rich Territory,
the bulk of the Silesian Lowland, whose is it if right
* "Balkowitz," say Pb'llnltz (ii. 407) and Fb'rator; which is not the cor-
rect name.
*> 1241, the Invasion, and Battle here, of this unexpected Barbarian.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 288 friedrich's apprenticeship, last stage, [bookix.
28th July 1732.
were done? Hm, his Majesty knows full well; in
Seckendorfs presence, and going on such an errand,
we must not speak of certain things. But the undis-
puted truth is, Duke Friedrich II. , come of the Sovereign
Piasts, made that Erbverbruderung, and his Grandson's
Grandson died childless: so the heirship fell to us, as
the biggest wig in the most benighted Chancery would
have to grant; -- only the Kaiser will not, never would;
the Kaiser plants his armed self on Schlesien, and will
hear no pleading. Jagerndorf too, which we purchased
with our own money -- No more of that; it is too
miserable! Very impossible too, while we have Berg
and Jiilich in the wind! --
At Liegnitz, Friedrich Wilhelm "reviews the garri-
son, cavalry and infantry," before starting; then off for
Glatz, some sixty miles before we can dine. The goal
is towards Bohemia, all this while; and his Majesty,
had he liked the mountain-passes, and unlevel ways of
the Giant Mountains, might have found a shorter road
and a much more picturesque one. Road abounding in
gloomy valleys, intricate rock-labyrinths, haunts of
Sprite Riibezahl, sources of the Elbe and I know not
what. Majesty likes level roads, and interesting rock-
labyrinths built by man rather than by Nature. Majesty
makes a wide sweep round to the east of all that; leaves
the Giant Mountains, and their intricacies, as a blue
Sierra far on his left, -- had rather see Glatz Fortress
than the caverns of the Elbe; and will cross into Bohe-
mia, where the Hills are fallen lowest. At Glatz during
dinner, numerous Nobilities are again in waiting. Glatz
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISER. 289
29th July 1732.
is in Jagerndorf region: Jagerndorf, which we purchased
with our own money, is and remains ours, in spite of
the mishaps of the Thirty-Years War; -- ours, the
darkest Chancery would be obliged to say, from under
the immensest wig! Patience, your Majesty; Time
brings roses! --
From Glatz, after viewing the works, drilling the
guard a little, not to speak of dining, and despatching
the Nobilities, his Majesty takes the road again; turns
now abruptly westward, across the Hills at their lowest
point; into Bohemia, which is close at hand. Lewin,
Nachod, these are the Bohemian villages, with their
remnant of Czechs; not a prosperous population to look
upon: but it is the Kaiser's own Kingdom; "King of
Bohemia" one of his Titles ever since Sigismund Super-
Grammaticam's time. And here now, at the meeting of
the waters (Elbe one of them, a brawling mountain-
stream) is Jaromierz, respectable little Town, with an
Imperial Officiality in it, -- where the Official Gentle-
men meet us all in gala, "Thrice welcome to this
Kingdom, your Majesty! " -- and signify that they are
to wait upon us henceforth, while we do the Kaiser's
Kingdom of Bohemia that honour.
It is Tuesday night, 29th July, this first night in
Bohemia. The Official Gentlemen lead his Majesty to
superb rooms, new-hung with crimson velvet, and the
due gold fringes and tresses, -- very grand indeed;
but probably not so airy as we wish. "This is the
way the Kaiser lodges in his journeys; and your Majesty
is to be served like him. " The goal of our journey is
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. IV. 19
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 290 frtedrich's apprenticesHip, last stage. [BOOK IX.
30th July 1732.
now within few miles. Wednesday, 30th July 1732,
his Majesty awakens again, within these crimson-velvet
hangings with the gold tresses and fringes, not so airy
as he could wish; despatches Grumkow to the Kaiser,
who is not many miles off, to signify what honour we
would do ourselves.
It was on Saturday last that the Kaiser and Kai-
serinn, returning from Karlsbad, illuminated Prag with
their serene presence; "attended high-mass, vespers,"
and a good deal of other worship, as the meagre old
Newspapers report for us, on that and the Sunday
following. And then "on Monday, at six in the morn-
ing," both the Majesties left Prag, for a place called
Chlumetz, southwestward thirty miles off, in the Elbe
region, where they have a pretty Hunting Castle; Kaiser
intending "sylvan sport for a few days," says the old
rag of a Newspaper, "and then to return to Prag. " It
is here that Grumkow, after a pleasant morning's drive
of thirty miles with the sun on his back, finds Kaiser
Karl VL; and makes his announcements, and diplo-
matic inquiries what next.
Had Friedrich Wilhelm been in Potsdam or Wuster-
hausen, and heard that Kaiser Karl was within thirty
miles of him, Friedrich Wilhelm would have cried, with
open arms, Come, come! But the Imperial Majesty is
otherwise hampered; has his rhadamanthine Aulic Coun-
cillors, in vast amplitude of wig, sternly engaged in
study of the etiquettes: they have settled that the
meeting cannot be in Chlumetz; lest it might lead to
night's lodgings, and to intricacies. "Let it be at
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISEB. 291
Slat July 1732.
Kladrup," say the Ample-wigged; Kladrup, an Imperial
Stud, or Horse-Farm, half-a-dozen miles from this;
where there is room for nothing more than dinner.
There let the meeting be, tomorrow at a set hour; and,
in the mean time, we will take precautions for the eti-
quettes. So it is settled, and Grumkow returns with
the decision in a complimentary form.
Through Koniggratz, down the right bank of the
Upper Elbe, on the morrow morning, Thursday, 31st
July 1732, Friedrich Wilhelm rushes on towards Klad-
rup; finds that little village, with the Horse Edifices,
looking snug enough in the valley of Elbe; -- alights,
welcomed by Prince Eugenio von Savoye, with word
that the Kaiser is not come, but steadily expected soon.
Prince Eugenio von Savoye: Ach Gott, it is another
thing, your Highness, than when we met in the Flanders
Wars, long since; -- at Malplaquet that morning, when
your Highness had been to Brussels, visiting your Lady
Mother in case of the worst! Slightly grayer your
Highness is grown; I too am nothing like so nimble;
the great Duke, poor man, is dead! -- Prince Eugenio
von Savoye, we need not doubt, took snuff, and
answered in a sprightly appropriate manner.
Kladrup is a Country House as well as a Horse
Farm: a square court is the interior, as I gather, the
Horse-buildings at a reverent distance forming the
fourth side. In the centre of this court, -- see what a
contrivance the Aulic Councillors have hit upon, --
there is a wooden stand built, with three staircases
19*
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 292 friedrich's apprenticeship, last stage, [bookix.
31st July 1732.
leading up to it, one for each person, and three gal-
leries leading off from it into suites of rooms: no
question of precedence here, where each of you has his
own staircase and own gallery to his apartment! Fried-
rich Wilhelm looks down like a rhinoceros on all those
cohwehberies. No sooner are the Kaiser's carriage-
wheels heard within the court, than Friedrich Wilhelm
rushes down, by what staircase is readiest; forward to
the very carriage-door; and flings his arms about the
Kaiser, embracing and embraced, like mere human
friends glad to see one another. On these terms, they
mount their wooden-stand, Majesty of Prussia, Kaiser,
Kaiserinn, each by his own staircase; see, for a space
of two hours, the Kaiser's foals and horses led about,
-- which at least fills up any gap in conversation that
may threaten to occur. The Kaiser, a little man of
high and humane air, is not bright in talk; the Empress,
a Brunswick Princess of fine carriage, Granddaughter
of old Anton Ulrich who wrote the Novels, if likewise
of mute humour in public life: but old Nord-Teutsch-
land, cradle of one's existence; Brunswick reminiscences;
news of your Imperial Majesty's serene Father, serene
Sister, Brother-in-Law the Feldmarschall, and Insipid
Niece whom we have had the satisfaction to betroth
lately, -- furnish small-talk where needful.
Dinner being near, you go by your own gallery to
dress. From the drawing-room, Friedrich Wilhelm
leads out the Kaiserinn; the Kaiser, as Head of the
world, walks first, though without any lady. How
they drank the healths, gave and received the ewers
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? cnAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISER. 293
81st July 1738.
and towels, is written duly in the old Books, but was
as indifferent to Friedrich Wilhelm as it is to us; what
their conversation was, let no man presume to ask. Dullish,
we should apprehend, -- and perhaps better lost to us?
But where there are tongues, there are topics: the Loom
of Time wags always, and with it the tongues of men.
Kaiser and Kaiserinn have both been in Karlsbad
lately; Kaiser and Kaiserinn both have sailed to Spain,
in old days, and been in sieges and things memorable:
Friedrich Wilhelm, solid Squire Western of the North,
does not want for topics, and talks as a solid rustic
gentleman will. Native politeness he knows on
occasion; to etiquette, so far as concerns his own
pretensions, he feels callous altogether, -- dimly
sensible that the Eighteenth Century is setting in, and
that solid musketeers and not goldsticks are now the
important thing. "I felt mad to see him so humiliate
"himself," said Grumkow afterwards to Wilhelmina,
i'fenrageais dans ma peau:" why not?
Dinner lasted two hours; the Empress rising, Tried-
rich Wilhelm leads her to her room; then retires to his
own, and "in a quarter of an hour" is visited there by
the Kaiser; "who conducts him," in so many minutes
exact by the watch, "back to the Empress," -- for a
sip of coffee, as one hopes; which may wind up the
Interview well. The sun is still a good space from
setting, when Friedrich Wilhelm, after cordial adieus,
neglectful of etiquette, is rolling rapidly towards Nim-
burg, thirty miles off on the Prag Highway; and
Kaiser Karl with his Spouse move deliberately towards
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 294 friedrich's apprenticeship, last stage, [bookh.
lst-9th Aug. 1732.
Chlumetz to hunt again. In Nimburg Friedrich Wil-
helm sleeps, that night; -- Imperial Majesties, in a
much-tumbled world, of wild horses, ceremonial ewers,
and Eugenios of Savoy and Malplaquet, probably
peopling his dreams. If it please Heaven, there may
be another private meeting, a day or two hence.
Nimburg, ah your Majesty, Son Fritz will have a
night in Nimburg too; -- riding slowly thither amid
the wrecks of Kolin Battle, not to sleep well; -- but
that happily is hidden from your Majesty. Kolin,
Ozaslau (Chotusitz), Elbe Teinitz, -- here in this
Kladrup region, your Majesty is driving amid poor
Villages which will be very famous by and by. And
Prag itself will be doubly famed in war, if your
Majesty knew it, and the Ziscaberg be of bloodier
memory than the Weissenberg itself! -- His Majesty,
the morrow's sun having risen upon Nimburg, rolls
into Prag successfully about eleven A. m. , Hill of Zisca
not disturbing him; goes to the Klein-Seite Quarter,
where an Aulic Councillor with fine Palace is ready;
all the cannon thundering from the walls at his Majesty's
advent; and Prince Eugenio, the ever-present, being
there to receive his Majesty, -- and in fact to invite
him to dinner this day at half-past twelve. It is
Friday, 1st of August 1732.
By a singular chance, there is preserved for us in
Fassmann's Book, what we may call an Excerpt from
the old Morning Post of Prag, bringing that extinct
Day into clear light again; recalling the vanished
Dinner-Party from the realms of Hades, as a thing
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISER. 295
lst-8th Aug. 1732.
that once actually was. The List of the Dinner-guests
is given complete; vanished ghosts, whom, in studying
the old History-Books, you can, with a kind of interest,
fish up into visibility at will. There is Prince Eugenio
von Savoye at the bottom of the table, in the Thurn- and-Taxis Palace where he lodges; there bodily, the
little man, in gold-laced coat of unknown cut; the eyes
and the temper bright and rapid, as usual, or more;
nose not unprovided with snuff, and lips in con-
sequence rather open. Be seated, your Majesty, high
gentlemen all.
A big chair of state stands for his Majesty, at the
upper end of the table: his Majesty will none of it; sits
down close by Prince Eugene at the very bottom, and
opposite Prince Alexander of Wiirtemberg, whom we
had at Berlin lately, a General of note in the Turkish
and other wars: here probably there will be better
talk; and the big chair may preside over us in vacancy.
Which it does. Prince Alexander, Imperial General
against the Turks, and Heir-Apparent of Wiirtemberg
withal, can speak of many things, -- hardly much of
his serene Cousin the reigning Duke; whose health is
in a too interesting state, the good though unlucky
man. Of the Gravenitz sitting now in limbo, or
travelling about disowned, tonjours un lavement a ses
trousses, let there be deep silence. But the Prince
Alexander can answer abundantly on other heads. He
comes to his inheritance a few months hence; actual
reigning Duke, the poor serene Cousin having died:
and perhaps we shall meet him transiently again.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 296 frebdkich's apprenticeship, last stage, [book ix.
lst-9thAug. 1732.
He is Ancestor of the Czars of Russia, this Prince
Alexander, who is now dining here in the body, along
with Friedrich Wilhelm and Prince Eugene: Paul of
Russia, unbeautiful Paul, married the second time, from
Miimpelgard (what the French call Montbeillard, in
Alsace), a serene Granddaughter of his, from whom
come the Czars, -- thanks to her or not. Prince
Alexander is Ancestor withal of our present "Kings of
Wiirtemberg," if that mean anything: Father (what
will mean something) to the serene Duke, still in
swaddling-clothes,* who will be Son-in-law to Princess
Wilhelmina of Baireuth (could your Majesty foresee it);
and will do strange pranks in the world, upon Poet
Schiller and others. Him too, and Brothers of his,
were they born and become of size, we shall meet. A
noticeable man, and not without sense, this Prince
Alexander; who is now of a surety eating with us, --
as we find by the extinct Morning Post in Fassmann's
old Book.
Of the other eating figures, Stahrenbergs, Stern-
bergs, Kinsky Ambassador to England, Kinsky Am-
bassador to France, high Austrian dignitaries, we shall
say nothing: -- who would listen to us? Hardly can
the Hof-Kanzler Count von Sinzendorf, supreme of
Aulic men, who holds the rudder of Austrian State-
Policy, and probably feels himself loaded with import-
ance beyond most mortals now eating here or else-
where, -- gain the smallest recognition from oblivious
? Born, 21st January 1732; Karl Eugen the name of him (Michaelis,
lii. 450).
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
?
? CHAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISEE.
April 1733.
CHAPTER IV.
PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISER.
Majesty seeing all these matters well in train, --
Salzburgers under way, Crown-Prince betrothed ac-
cording to his Majesty's and the Kaiser's (not to her
Majesty's, and high-flying little George of England my
Brother the Comedian's) mind and will, -- begins to
think seriously of another enterprise, half business half
pleasure, which has been hovering in his mind for some
time. "Visit to my Daughter at Baireuth," he calls it
publicly; but it means intrinsically Excursion into Bbh-
men, to have a word with the Kaiser, and see his Im-
perial Majesty in the body for once. Too remarkable
a thing to be omitted by us here.
Crown-Prince does not accompany on this occasion;
Crown-Prince is with his Regiment all this while; busy
minding his own affairs in the Ruppin quarter; -- only
hears, with more or less interest, of these Salzburg-
Pilgrim movements, of this Excursion into Bohmen.
Here are certain scraps of Letters; which, if once made
legible, will assist readers to conceive his situation and
employments there. Letters otherwise of no importance;
but worth reading on that score. The first (or rather
first three, which we huddle into one) is from "Nauen,"
few miles off Ruppin; where one of our Battalions lies;
requiring frequent visits there:
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 280 friedrich's apprenticeship, last stage, [bookix.
May 1732.
1. To Grumkow, at Berlin (From the Crown-Prince).
"Nauen, 25th April 1732.
"Monsieur my dearest Friend, -- I send you a big mass of
"papers, which a certain gentleman named Plotz has trans- "mitted me. In faith, I know not in the least what it is: I
"pray you present it" (to his Majesty, orintheproper quarter),
"and make me rid of it.
"Tomorrow I go to Potsdam" (a drive of forty miles south-
ward) , "to see the exercise, and if we do it here according to
"pattern. Neue Besen kehren gut" (Newbrooms sweep clean,
in German); "I shall have to illustrate my new character" of
"Colonel; and show that I am ein tuchtiger Of/icier (a right
"Officer). Be what I may, I shall to you always be," &c. &c.
Nauen, 1th May 1732. "? ? Thousand thanks for informing
"me how everything goes on in the world. Things far from
"agreeable, those leagues" (imaginary, in Tobacco-Par-
liament) "suspected to be forming against our House! But
"if the Kaiser don't abandon us;" "if God second the valour
"of 80,000 men resolved to spend their life," -- "let us hope
"there will nothing bad happen.
"Meanwhile, till events arrive, I make a pretty stir here
"(me tre'mousse ifi d'importance), to bring my Kegiment to its
"requisite perfection; and I hope I shall succeed. The other
"day I drank your dear health, Monsieur; and I wait only the
"news from my Cattlestall that the Calf I am fattening there
"is ready for sending to you. I unite Mars and Housekeeping,
"you see. Send me your Secretary's name, that I may ad-
"dress your Letters that way," -- our Correspondence needing
to be secret in certain quarters. * * "With a" truly infinite
esteem:
"FitiD&uc. "
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISEB. 281
July 1731.
Nauen, 10th May 1732. "You will see by this that I am
"exact to follow your instruction; and that the Schulz of
"Tremmen" (Village in the Brandenburg quarter, with a
Schulz or Mayor to be depended on) "becomes for the present
"the mainspring of our correspondence. I return you all the
"things (pieces) you had the goodness to communicate to me,
"-- except Charles Douze,* which attaches me infinitely. The
"particulars hitherto unknown which he reports; the greatness
"of that Prince's actions, and the perverse singularity (bizar-
"rerie) of his fortune: all this, joined to the lively, brilliant
"and charming way the Author has of telling it, renders this
"Book interesting to the supreme degree. * * * I send you a
"fragment of my correspondence with the most illustrious
"SieurCrochet," some French Envoy or Emissary, I conclude:
"you perceive we go on very sweetly together, and are in a
"high strain. I am sorry I burnt one of his Letters, wherein
"he assured me he would in the Versailles Antechamber itself
"speak of me to the King, and that my name had actually
"been mentioned at the King's Levee. It certainly is not my
"ambition to choose this illustrious mortal to publish my
"renown; on the contrary, I should think it soiled by such a
"mouth, and prostituted if he were the publisher. But enough
"of the Crochet: the kindest thing we can do for so con-
"temptible an object is to say nothing of him at all. " ** -- * *
Letter Second is to Jagermeister Hacke, Captain of
the Potsdam Guard; who stands in great nearness to
the King's Majesty; and, in fact, is fast becoming his
factotum in Army-details. We, with the Duke of Lor-
raine and Majesty in person, saw his marriage to the
Excellency Creutz's Fraulein Daughter not long since;
* Voltaire's new Book; lately oome out, "Bale, 1731. "
CEuvres de Fridiric, xvi. 49, 51.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 282 friedrich's apprenticeship, last stage, [book u.
who we trust has made him happy; -- rich he is at
any rate, and will be Adjutant-General before long:
powerful in such intricacies as this that the Prince has
fallen into.
The Letter has its obscurities; turns earnestly on
Recruits tall and short; nor have idle Editors helped us,
by the least hint, towards "reading" it with more than
the eyes. Old Dessauer at this time is Commandant at
Magdeburg; Buddenbrock, now passing by Ruppin, we
know for a high old General, fit to carry messages
from Majesty: we can guess, that the flattering Dessauer
has sent his Majesty Five gigantic men from the Magde-
burg regiments, and that Friedrich is ordered to hustle
out Thirty of insignificant stature from his own, by way
of counter-gift to the Dessauer; -- which Friedrich does
instantly, but cannot, for his life, see how (being to-
tally cashless) he is to replace them with better, or re-
place them at all!
2. To Captain Hacke, of the Potsdam Guard.
"Mein Gott, what a piece of news Buddenbrock has brought
"me! I am to get nothing out of Brandenburg, my dear
"Hacke? Thirty men I had to sift out of my company in
"consequence" (of Buddenbrock's order); "and where am I
"now to get other thirty? I would gladly give the King tall
"men, as the Dessauer at Magdeburg does; but I have no
"money; and I don't get, or set up for getting, six men for
"one" (thirty short for five tall), "as he does. So true is that
"Scripture: To him that hath shall be given; and from him
"that hath not shall be taken away even that he hath.
"Ruppin, 15th July 1732.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISER. 283
July 1732.
"Small art, that the Prince of Dessau's and the Magdeburg
"Regiments are fine, when they have money at command, and
"thirty men gratis over and above! I, poor devil, have
"nothing; nor shall have, all my days. Prithee, dear Hacke
"(bitte Ihn, lieber Hacke), think of all that: and if I have no
"money allowed, I must bring Asmus* alone as Recruit next
"year; and my Regiment will to a certainty be rubbish
"(Kroop). Once I had learned a German Proverb, --
"Verspreclien find hallen (To promise and to keep)
Ziemt wohl Jungcn und Alten (Is pretty for young and for old)! "
"I depend alone on you (Tin), dear Hacke; unless you help,
"there is a bad outlook. Today I have knocked again"
(written to Papa for money); "and if that does not help, it is
"over. If I could get any money to borrow, it would do; but
"I need not think of that. Help me then, dear Hacke! I
"assure you I will ever remember it; who, at all times, am my
"dear Herr Captain's devoted (gam ergebener) servant and
"friend, -- FbideeicH. " **
To which add only this Note, two days later, to
Seckendorf; indicating that the process of "borrowing"
has already, in some form, begun, -- process which
will have to continue, and to develop itself; -- and
that his Majesty, as Seckendorf well knows, is resolved
upon his Bohemian journey:
3. To the General Feldzeugmeister Graf von Seckendorf.
"Ruppin, 17th July 1732.
"My very dear General, -- I have written to the King, that
"I owed you 2,125 thalers for the Recruits; of which he says
* Recruit unknown to me.
*? In German: (Euvres, xxvii. part 3d, p. 177.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 284 friedrich's apprenticeship, last stage, [bookix.
July 1732.
"there are 600 paid: there remain, therefore, 1,525, which he
"will pay you directly.
"The King is going to Prague: I shall not be of the party"
(as you will). "To say truth, I am not very sorry; for it
"would infallibly give rise to foolish rumours in the world. At
"the same time, I should have much wished to see the Emperor,
"Empress, and Prince of Lorraine, for whom I have a quite
"particular esteem. I beg you, Monsieur, to assure him of it;
"-- and to assure yourself that I shall always be, -- with a
"great deal of consideration, Monsieur, mon tris-cher Ge-
"ne'ral," Sec
"Fr? dj5ric. "
And now for the Bohemian Journey, "Visit at
Kladrup" as they call it; -- Ruppin being left in this
assiduous and wholesome, if rather hampered condition.
Kaiser Karl and his Empress, in this summer of
1732, were at Karlsbad, taking the waters for a few
weeks. Friedrich Willi elm, who had long, for various
reasons, wished to see his Kaiser face to face, thought
this would be a good opportunity. The Kaiser himself,
knowing how it stood with the Julich-and-Berg and
other questions, was not anxious for such an interview:
still less were his official people; among whom the very
ceremonial for such a thing was matter of abstruse dif-
ficulty. Seckendorf accordingly had been instructed to
hunt wide, and throw in discouragements, so far as
possible; -- which he did, but without effect . Friedrich
Wilhelm had set his heart upon the thing; wished to
behold for once a Head of the Holy Roman Empire,
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISER. 285
July 1782.
and Supreme of Christendom; -- also to see a little,
with his own eyes, into certain matters Imperial.
And so, since an express visit to Karlsbad might
give rise to newspaper rumours, and will not suit, it is
settled, There shall be an accidental intersection of
routes, as the Kaiser travels homeward, -- say in some
quiet Bohemian Schloss or Hunting seat of the Kaiser's
own, whither the King may come incognito; and thus,
with a minimum of noise, may the needful passage of
hospitality be done. Easy all of this: only the Vienna
Ministers are dreadfully in doubt about the ceremonial,
Whether the Imperial hand can be given (I forget if
for kissing or for shaking)? -- nay at last they man-
fully declare that it cannot be given; and wish his
Prussian Majesty to understand that it must be refused. *
llBes summce consequents," say they; and shake solemnly
their big wigs. -- Nonsense (Narrenpossen)! answers the
Prussian Majesty: You, Seckendorf, settle about quar-
ters, reasonable food, reasonable lodging; and I will do
the ceremonial.
Seckendorf, -- worth glancing into, for biographical
purposes, in this place, -- has written to his Court:
That, as to the victual department, his Majesty goes
upon good common meat; flesh, to which may be added
all manner of river-fish and crabs: sound old Rhenish
is his drink, with supplements of brown and of white
beer. Dinner-table to be spread always in some airy
place, gardenhouse, tent, big clean barn, -- Majesty
likes air, of all things; -- will sleep, too, in a clean
? FBrster, i. 328.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 286 friedrich's apprenticeship, last stage, [bookk.
27th July1732.
barn or garden-house: better anything than being stifled,
thinks his Majesty. Who, for the rest, does not like
mounting stairs. * These are the regulations; and we
need not doubt they were complied with.
Sunday, 27th July 1732, accordingly, his Majesty,
with five or six carriages, quits Berlin, before the sun
is up, as is his wont: eastward, by the road for Frank-
furt on the Oder; "intends to look at Schulenburg's re-
giment," which lies in those parts, -- Schulenburg's
regiment for one thing: the rest is secret from the pro-
fane vulgar. Schulenburg's regiment (drawn up for
Church, I should suppose) is soon looked at; Schulen-
burg himself, by preappointment, joins the travelling
party, which now consists of the King and Eight: --
known figures, seven, Buddenbrock, Schulenburg,
Waldau, Derschau, Seckendorf, Grumkow, Captain
Hacke of the Potsdam Guard; and for eighth the Dutch
Ambassador, Ginkel, an accomplished knowing kind of
man, whom also my readers have occasionally seen.
Their conversation, road-colloquy, could it interest any
modern reader? It has gone all to dusk; we can know
only that it was human, solid, for most part, and had
much tobacco intermingled. They were all of the Cal-
vinistic persuasion, of the military profession; knew
that life is very serious, that speech without cause is
much to be avoided. They travelled swiftly, dined in
airy places: they are a fact, they and their summer
dustcloud there, whirling through the vacancy of that
* Seckendorf s Report (in Fb'rster, i. 830).
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISEB. 287
28th July 1182.
dim Time; and have an interest for us, though an un-
important one.
The first night they got to Griinberg; a pleasant
Town, of vineyards and of looms, across the Silesian
frontier.
They are now turning more southeastward;
they sleep here, in the Kaiser's territory, welcomed by
some Official persons; who signify that the overjoyed
Imperial Majesty has, as was extremely natural, paid
the bill everywhere. On the morrow, before the shuttles
awaken, Friedrich Wilhelm is gone again; towards the
Glogau region, intending forLiegnitz that night . Cour-
sing rapidly through the green Silesian Lowlands, blue
Giant Mountains (Riesengebirge) beginning to rise on the
south and left. Dines, at noon, under a splendid tent,
in a country place called Polkwitz,* with country No-
bility (sorrow on them, and yet thanks to them) come
to do reverence. At night he gets to Liegnitz.
Here is Liegnitz, then. Here are theKatzbach and
the Blackwater (Schwarzwasser), famed in war, your
Majesty; here they coalesce; gray ashlar houses (not
without inhabitants unknown to us) looking on. Here
are the venerable walls and streets of Liegnitz; and the
Castle which defied Baty Khan and his Tartars, five
hundred years ago. ** -- Oh, your Majesty, this Lieg-
nitz, with its princely Castle, and wide rich Territory,
the bulk of the Silesian Lowland, whose is it if right
* "Balkowitz," say Pb'llnltz (ii. 407) and Fb'rator; which is not the cor-
rect name.
*> 1241, the Invasion, and Battle here, of this unexpected Barbarian.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 288 friedrich's apprenticeship, last stage, [bookix.
28th July 1732.
were done? Hm, his Majesty knows full well; in
Seckendorfs presence, and going on such an errand,
we must not speak of certain things. But the undis-
puted truth is, Duke Friedrich II. , come of the Sovereign
Piasts, made that Erbverbruderung, and his Grandson's
Grandson died childless: so the heirship fell to us, as
the biggest wig in the most benighted Chancery would
have to grant; -- only the Kaiser will not, never would;
the Kaiser plants his armed self on Schlesien, and will
hear no pleading. Jagerndorf too, which we purchased
with our own money -- No more of that; it is too
miserable! Very impossible too, while we have Berg
and Jiilich in the wind! --
At Liegnitz, Friedrich Wilhelm "reviews the garri-
son, cavalry and infantry," before starting; then off for
Glatz, some sixty miles before we can dine. The goal
is towards Bohemia, all this while; and his Majesty,
had he liked the mountain-passes, and unlevel ways of
the Giant Mountains, might have found a shorter road
and a much more picturesque one. Road abounding in
gloomy valleys, intricate rock-labyrinths, haunts of
Sprite Riibezahl, sources of the Elbe and I know not
what. Majesty likes level roads, and interesting rock-
labyrinths built by man rather than by Nature. Majesty
makes a wide sweep round to the east of all that; leaves
the Giant Mountains, and their intricacies, as a blue
Sierra far on his left, -- had rather see Glatz Fortress
than the caverns of the Elbe; and will cross into Bohe-
mia, where the Hills are fallen lowest. At Glatz during
dinner, numerous Nobilities are again in waiting. Glatz
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISER. 289
29th July 1732.
is in Jagerndorf region: Jagerndorf, which we purchased
with our own money, is and remains ours, in spite of
the mishaps of the Thirty-Years War; -- ours, the
darkest Chancery would be obliged to say, from under
the immensest wig! Patience, your Majesty; Time
brings roses! --
From Glatz, after viewing the works, drilling the
guard a little, not to speak of dining, and despatching
the Nobilities, his Majesty takes the road again; turns
now abruptly westward, across the Hills at their lowest
point; into Bohemia, which is close at hand. Lewin,
Nachod, these are the Bohemian villages, with their
remnant of Czechs; not a prosperous population to look
upon: but it is the Kaiser's own Kingdom; "King of
Bohemia" one of his Titles ever since Sigismund Super-
Grammaticam's time. And here now, at the meeting of
the waters (Elbe one of them, a brawling mountain-
stream) is Jaromierz, respectable little Town, with an
Imperial Officiality in it, -- where the Official Gentle-
men meet us all in gala, "Thrice welcome to this
Kingdom, your Majesty! " -- and signify that they are
to wait upon us henceforth, while we do the Kaiser's
Kingdom of Bohemia that honour.
It is Tuesday night, 29th July, this first night in
Bohemia. The Official Gentlemen lead his Majesty to
superb rooms, new-hung with crimson velvet, and the
due gold fringes and tresses, -- very grand indeed;
but probably not so airy as we wish. "This is the
way the Kaiser lodges in his journeys; and your Majesty
is to be served like him. " The goal of our journey is
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. IV. 19
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 290 frtedrich's apprenticesHip, last stage. [BOOK IX.
30th July 1732.
now within few miles. Wednesday, 30th July 1732,
his Majesty awakens again, within these crimson-velvet
hangings with the gold tresses and fringes, not so airy
as he could wish; despatches Grumkow to the Kaiser,
who is not many miles off, to signify what honour we
would do ourselves.
It was on Saturday last that the Kaiser and Kai-
serinn, returning from Karlsbad, illuminated Prag with
their serene presence; "attended high-mass, vespers,"
and a good deal of other worship, as the meagre old
Newspapers report for us, on that and the Sunday
following. And then "on Monday, at six in the morn-
ing," both the Majesties left Prag, for a place called
Chlumetz, southwestward thirty miles off, in the Elbe
region, where they have a pretty Hunting Castle; Kaiser
intending "sylvan sport for a few days," says the old
rag of a Newspaper, "and then to return to Prag. " It
is here that Grumkow, after a pleasant morning's drive
of thirty miles with the sun on his back, finds Kaiser
Karl VL; and makes his announcements, and diplo-
matic inquiries what next.
Had Friedrich Wilhelm been in Potsdam or Wuster-
hausen, and heard that Kaiser Karl was within thirty
miles of him, Friedrich Wilhelm would have cried, with
open arms, Come, come! But the Imperial Majesty is
otherwise hampered; has his rhadamanthine Aulic Coun-
cillors, in vast amplitude of wig, sternly engaged in
study of the etiquettes: they have settled that the
meeting cannot be in Chlumetz; lest it might lead to
night's lodgings, and to intricacies. "Let it be at
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISEB. 291
Slat July 1732.
Kladrup," say the Ample-wigged; Kladrup, an Imperial
Stud, or Horse-Farm, half-a-dozen miles from this;
where there is room for nothing more than dinner.
There let the meeting be, tomorrow at a set hour; and,
in the mean time, we will take precautions for the eti-
quettes. So it is settled, and Grumkow returns with
the decision in a complimentary form.
Through Koniggratz, down the right bank of the
Upper Elbe, on the morrow morning, Thursday, 31st
July 1732, Friedrich Wilhelm rushes on towards Klad-
rup; finds that little village, with the Horse Edifices,
looking snug enough in the valley of Elbe; -- alights,
welcomed by Prince Eugenio von Savoye, with word
that the Kaiser is not come, but steadily expected soon.
Prince Eugenio von Savoye: Ach Gott, it is another
thing, your Highness, than when we met in the Flanders
Wars, long since; -- at Malplaquet that morning, when
your Highness had been to Brussels, visiting your Lady
Mother in case of the worst! Slightly grayer your
Highness is grown; I too am nothing like so nimble;
the great Duke, poor man, is dead! -- Prince Eugenio
von Savoye, we need not doubt, took snuff, and
answered in a sprightly appropriate manner.
Kladrup is a Country House as well as a Horse
Farm: a square court is the interior, as I gather, the
Horse-buildings at a reverent distance forming the
fourth side. In the centre of this court, -- see what a
contrivance the Aulic Councillors have hit upon, --
there is a wooden stand built, with three staircases
19*
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 292 friedrich's apprenticeship, last stage, [bookix.
31st July 1732.
leading up to it, one for each person, and three gal-
leries leading off from it into suites of rooms: no
question of precedence here, where each of you has his
own staircase and own gallery to his apartment! Fried-
rich Wilhelm looks down like a rhinoceros on all those
cohwehberies. No sooner are the Kaiser's carriage-
wheels heard within the court, than Friedrich Wilhelm
rushes down, by what staircase is readiest; forward to
the very carriage-door; and flings his arms about the
Kaiser, embracing and embraced, like mere human
friends glad to see one another. On these terms, they
mount their wooden-stand, Majesty of Prussia, Kaiser,
Kaiserinn, each by his own staircase; see, for a space
of two hours, the Kaiser's foals and horses led about,
-- which at least fills up any gap in conversation that
may threaten to occur. The Kaiser, a little man of
high and humane air, is not bright in talk; the Empress,
a Brunswick Princess of fine carriage, Granddaughter
of old Anton Ulrich who wrote the Novels, if likewise
of mute humour in public life: but old Nord-Teutsch-
land, cradle of one's existence; Brunswick reminiscences;
news of your Imperial Majesty's serene Father, serene
Sister, Brother-in-Law the Feldmarschall, and Insipid
Niece whom we have had the satisfaction to betroth
lately, -- furnish small-talk where needful.
Dinner being near, you go by your own gallery to
dress. From the drawing-room, Friedrich Wilhelm
leads out the Kaiserinn; the Kaiser, as Head of the
world, walks first, though without any lady. How
they drank the healths, gave and received the ewers
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? cnAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISER. 293
81st July 1738.
and towels, is written duly in the old Books, but was
as indifferent to Friedrich Wilhelm as it is to us; what
their conversation was, let no man presume to ask. Dullish,
we should apprehend, -- and perhaps better lost to us?
But where there are tongues, there are topics: the Loom
of Time wags always, and with it the tongues of men.
Kaiser and Kaiserinn have both been in Karlsbad
lately; Kaiser and Kaiserinn both have sailed to Spain,
in old days, and been in sieges and things memorable:
Friedrich Wilhelm, solid Squire Western of the North,
does not want for topics, and talks as a solid rustic
gentleman will. Native politeness he knows on
occasion; to etiquette, so far as concerns his own
pretensions, he feels callous altogether, -- dimly
sensible that the Eighteenth Century is setting in, and
that solid musketeers and not goldsticks are now the
important thing. "I felt mad to see him so humiliate
"himself," said Grumkow afterwards to Wilhelmina,
i'fenrageais dans ma peau:" why not?
Dinner lasted two hours; the Empress rising, Tried-
rich Wilhelm leads her to her room; then retires to his
own, and "in a quarter of an hour" is visited there by
the Kaiser; "who conducts him," in so many minutes
exact by the watch, "back to the Empress," -- for a
sip of coffee, as one hopes; which may wind up the
Interview well. The sun is still a good space from
setting, when Friedrich Wilhelm, after cordial adieus,
neglectful of etiquette, is rolling rapidly towards Nim-
burg, thirty miles off on the Prag Highway; and
Kaiser Karl with his Spouse move deliberately towards
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 294 friedrich's apprenticeship, last stage, [bookh.
lst-9th Aug. 1732.
Chlumetz to hunt again. In Nimburg Friedrich Wil-
helm sleeps, that night; -- Imperial Majesties, in a
much-tumbled world, of wild horses, ceremonial ewers,
and Eugenios of Savoy and Malplaquet, probably
peopling his dreams. If it please Heaven, there may
be another private meeting, a day or two hence.
Nimburg, ah your Majesty, Son Fritz will have a
night in Nimburg too; -- riding slowly thither amid
the wrecks of Kolin Battle, not to sleep well; -- but
that happily is hidden from your Majesty. Kolin,
Ozaslau (Chotusitz), Elbe Teinitz, -- here in this
Kladrup region, your Majesty is driving amid poor
Villages which will be very famous by and by. And
Prag itself will be doubly famed in war, if your
Majesty knew it, and the Ziscaberg be of bloodier
memory than the Weissenberg itself! -- His Majesty,
the morrow's sun having risen upon Nimburg, rolls
into Prag successfully about eleven A. m. , Hill of Zisca
not disturbing him; goes to the Klein-Seite Quarter,
where an Aulic Councillor with fine Palace is ready;
all the cannon thundering from the walls at his Majesty's
advent; and Prince Eugenio, the ever-present, being
there to receive his Majesty, -- and in fact to invite
him to dinner this day at half-past twelve. It is
Friday, 1st of August 1732.
By a singular chance, there is preserved for us in
Fassmann's Book, what we may call an Excerpt from
the old Morning Post of Prag, bringing that extinct
Day into clear light again; recalling the vanished
Dinner-Party from the realms of Hades, as a thing
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IV. ] PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISER. 295
lst-8th Aug. 1732.
that once actually was. The List of the Dinner-guests
is given complete; vanished ghosts, whom, in studying
the old History-Books, you can, with a kind of interest,
fish up into visibility at will. There is Prince Eugenio
von Savoye at the bottom of the table, in the Thurn- and-Taxis Palace where he lodges; there bodily, the
little man, in gold-laced coat of unknown cut; the eyes
and the temper bright and rapid, as usual, or more;
nose not unprovided with snuff, and lips in con-
sequence rather open. Be seated, your Majesty, high
gentlemen all.
A big chair of state stands for his Majesty, at the
upper end of the table: his Majesty will none of it; sits
down close by Prince Eugene at the very bottom, and
opposite Prince Alexander of Wiirtemberg, whom we
had at Berlin lately, a General of note in the Turkish
and other wars: here probably there will be better
talk; and the big chair may preside over us in vacancy.
Which it does. Prince Alexander, Imperial General
against the Turks, and Heir-Apparent of Wiirtemberg
withal, can speak of many things, -- hardly much of
his serene Cousin the reigning Duke; whose health is
in a too interesting state, the good though unlucky
man. Of the Gravenitz sitting now in limbo, or
travelling about disowned, tonjours un lavement a ses
trousses, let there be deep silence. But the Prince
Alexander can answer abundantly on other heads. He
comes to his inheritance a few months hence; actual
reigning Duke, the poor serene Cousin having died:
and perhaps we shall meet him transiently again.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 296 frebdkich's apprenticeship, last stage, [book ix.
lst-9thAug. 1732.
He is Ancestor of the Czars of Russia, this Prince
Alexander, who is now dining here in the body, along
with Friedrich Wilhelm and Prince Eugene: Paul of
Russia, unbeautiful Paul, married the second time, from
Miimpelgard (what the French call Montbeillard, in
Alsace), a serene Granddaughter of his, from whom
come the Czars, -- thanks to her or not. Prince
Alexander is Ancestor withal of our present "Kings of
Wiirtemberg," if that mean anything: Father (what
will mean something) to the serene Duke, still in
swaddling-clothes,* who will be Son-in-law to Princess
Wilhelmina of Baireuth (could your Majesty foresee it);
and will do strange pranks in the world, upon Poet
Schiller and others. Him too, and Brothers of his,
were they born and become of size, we shall meet. A
noticeable man, and not without sense, this Prince
Alexander; who is now of a surety eating with us, --
as we find by the extinct Morning Post in Fassmann's
old Book.
Of the other eating figures, Stahrenbergs, Stern-
bergs, Kinsky Ambassador to England, Kinsky Am-
bassador to France, high Austrian dignitaries, we shall
say nothing: -- who would listen to us? Hardly can
the Hof-Kanzler Count von Sinzendorf, supreme of
Aulic men, who holds the rudder of Austrian State-
Policy, and probably feels himself loaded with import-
ance beyond most mortals now eating here or else-
where, -- gain the smallest recognition from oblivious
? Born, 21st January 1732; Karl Eugen the name of him (Michaelis,
lii. 450).
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:23 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
?
