No More Learning

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? 102 SHIPWRECK OP DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT, [book VET.
51b Sept-25th Oct. 1730.
Crown-Prince in Ciistrin.
Poor Friedrich meanwhile has had a grim time of
it, these two months back; left alone, in coarse brown
prison dress, within his four bare walls at Ciistrin; in
uninterrupted, unfathomable colloquy with the Destinies
and the Necessities there. The King's stern orders
must be fulfilled to the letter; the Crown-Prince is im-
mured in that manner. At Berlin, there are the wildest
rumours as to the state he has fallen into; "covered
"with rags and vermin, unshaven, no comb allowed
"him, lights his own fire," says one testimony, which
Captain Dickens thinks worth reporting. For the
truth is, no unofficial eye can see the Crown-Prince, or
know what state he is in. And we find, in spite of
the Edict, "tongues," not "cut out," kept wagging at a
high rate. "People of all ranks are unspeakably in-
"dignant" at certain heights of the business: "Margravine
"Albert said publicly, 'A tyrant as bad as Nero! '"*
How long the Crown-Prince's defiant humour held
out, we are not told. By the middle of October there
comes proposal of "entire confession" from the Prince;
and though, when Papa sends deputies accordingly,
there is next to nothing new confessed, and Papa's
anger blazes out again, probably we may take this as
the turning-point on his Son's part. With him, of
course, that mood of mind could not last. There is no
wildest lion, but finding his bars are made of iron,
ceases to bite them. The Crown-Prince there, in his
? Dickens, 7th November, 2d December 1730.
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? CHAP. IX. ] COURT-MARTIAL ON CROWN-PRINCE. 103
6th Sept. -25th Oct. 1730.
horror, indignation and despair, had a lucid human
judgment in him too; loyal to facts, and well knowing
their inexorable nature. Just sentiments are in this
young man, not capable of permanent distortion into
spasm by any form of injustice laid on them. It is not
long till he begins to discern, athwart this terrible,
quasi-infernal element, that so the facts are; and that
nothing but destruction, and no honour that were not
dishonour, will be got by not conforming to the facts.
My Father may be a tyrant, and driven mad against
me: well, well, let not me at least go mad!
Grumkow is busy on the mild side of the business;
of course Grumkow and all official men. Grumkow
cannot but ask himself this question among others:
How if the King should suddenly die upon us! Grum-
kow is out at Ciistrin, and again out; explaining to
the Prince, what the enormous situation is; how in-
flexible, inexorable, and of peril and horror incalculable
to Mother and Sister and self and royal House; and
that there is one possibility of good issue, and only
one: that of loyally yielding, where one cannot resist.
By degrees, some lurid troublous but perceptible light-
gleam breaks athwart the black whirl-wind of our in-
dignation and despair; and saner thoughts begin to
insinuate themselves. "Obey, thou art not the strongest,
there are stronger than thou! All men, the highest
among them, are called to learn obedience. "
Moreover, the first sweep of royal fury being past,
his Majesty's stern regulations at Ciistrin began to relax
in fulfilment; to be obeyed only by those immediately
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? 104 SHIPWRECK OP DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT. [eOOK VH.
5th Sept. -25th Oct. 1730.
responsible, and in letter rather than in spirit even by
those. President von Miinchow, who is Head of the
Domain-Kammer, chief representative of Government
at Ciistrin, and resides in the Fortress there, ventures
after a little, the Prince's doors being closed as we
saw, to have an orifice bored through the floor above,
and thereby to communicate with the Prince, and sym-
pathetically ask, What he can do for him? Many
things, books among others, are, under cunning con-
trivance, smuggled in by the judicious Miinchow, willing
to risk himself in such a service. For example, Miinchow has a son, a clever boy of seven years old; who, to
the wonder of neighbours, goes into child's-petticoats
again; and testifies the liveliest desire to be admitted
to the Prince, and bear him company a little! Surely
the law of No-company does not extend to that of an
innocent child? The innocent child has a row of
pockets all round the inside of his long gown; and
goes laden, miscellaneously, like a ship of the desert,
or cockboat not forbidden to cross the line. Then
there are stools, one stool at least indispensable to
human nature; and the inside of this, once you open
it, is a chest-of-drawers, containing paper, ink, new
literature and much else. No end to Miinchow's good-
will, and his ingenuity is great. *
A Captain Fouque- also, furthered I think by the
Old Dessauer, whose man he is, comes to Ciistrin Gar-
rison, on duty or as volunteer, by and by. He is an
old friend of the Prince's; -- ran off, being the Des-
* Prcuss, 1. 46.
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? CHAP. IX. ] COURT-MARTIAL ON CROWN-PRINCE. 105
S5th Oct. 1730.
sauer's little page, to the Siege of Stralsund, long ago,
to be the Dessauer's little soldier there: -- a ready-
witted, hot-tempered, highly estimable man; and his
real duty here is to do the Prince what service may
be possible. He is often with the Prince; their light
is extinguished precisely at seven o'clock: "Very well,
Lieutenant," he would say, "you have done your orders
"to the Crown-Prince's light. But his Majesty has no
"concern with Captain Fouque's candles! " and there-
upon would light a pair. Nay, I have heard of Lieute-
nants who punctually blew out the Prince's light, as a
matter of duty and command; and then kindled it
again, as a civility left free to human nature. In short,
his Majesty's orders can only be fulfilled to the letter;
Commandant Lepel and all Officers are willing not to
see, where they can help seeing. Even in the letter
his Majesty's orders are severe enough.
Sentence of Court-Martial.
Meanwhile the Court-Martial, selected with intense
study, instals itself at Cbpenick; and on the 25th of
October commences work. This Deserter Crown-Prince
and his accomplices, especially Katte his chief accom-
plice, what is to be done with them? Copenick lies
on the road to Cilstrin, within a morning's drive of
Berlin; there is an ancient Palace here, and room for
a Court-Martial. "Que faire? Us ont des canons! " said
the old Prussian Raths, wandering about in these woods,
when Gustavus and his Swedes were at the door. "Que
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? 106 SHIPWRECK OP DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT, [book vn.
25th Oct. 1730.
faireV may the new military gentlemen think to them-
selves, here again, while the brown leaves rustle down
upon them, after a hundred years!
The Court consists of a President, Lieutenant-
General Schulenburg, an elderly Malplaquet gentleman
of good experience; one of the many Schulenburgs
conspicuous for soldiering, and otherwise, in those times.
He is nephew of George I. 's lean Mistress; who also
was a Schulenburg originally, and conspicuous not for
soldiering. Lean mistress we say; not the Fat one, or
cataract of tallow, with eyebrows like a cartwheel, and
dim coaly disks for eyes, who was George I. 's half-
sister, probably not his mistress at all; and who now,
as Countess of Darlington so-called, sits at Isleworth
with good fat pensions, and a tame raven come-of-will,
-- probably the soul of George I. in some form. * Not
this one, we say: -- but the threadpaper Duchess of
Kendal, actual Ex-mistress; who tore her hair on the
road when apoplexy overtook poor George, and who
now attends chapel diligently, poor old anatomy or
lean human nailrod. For the sake of the English reader
searching into what is called "History," I, with in-
dignation, endeavour to discriminate these two beings
once again; that each may be each, till both are hap-
pily forgotten to all eternity. It was the latter, lean
maypole or nailrod one, that was Aunt of Schulenburg,
the elderly Malplaquet gentleman who now presides at
Copenick. And let the reader remember him; for he
will turn up repeatedly again.
? SeeWalpole, Reminiscence*.
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? CHAP. IX. ] COURT-MARTIAL ON CROWN-PRINCE. 107
25th-31st Oct. 1730.
The Court consisted farther of three Major-Generals,
among whom I name only Grumkow (Major-General
by rank, though more of a diplomatist and black-artist
than a soldier), and Schwerin, Kurt von Schwerin of
Mecklenburg (whom Madam Knyphausen regrets, in
her now exile to the Country); three Colonels, Der-
Bchau one of them; three Lieutenant-Colonels, three
Majors and three Captains, all of whom shall be name-
less here. Lastly come three of the "Auditor" or the
Judge-Advocate sort: Mylius, the Compiler of sad
Prussian Quartos, known to some; Gerber, whose red
cloak has frightened us once already; and the Auditor
of Katte's regiment. A complete Court-Martial, and of
symmetrical structure, by the rule of three; -- of whose
proceedings we know mainly the result, nor seek much
to know more. This Court met on Wednesday, 25th
October 1730, in the little Town of Copenick; and in
six days had ended, signed, sealed and despatched to
his Majesty; and got back to Berlin on the Tuesday
next. His Majesty, who is now at Wusterhausen, in
hunting time, finds conclusions to the following effect:
Accomplices of theCrown-Princeare two: First, Lieutenant
Keith, actual deserter (who cannot be caught): To be hanged
in effigy, cut in four quarters, and nailed to the gallows at
Wesel: -- Good, says his Majesty. Secondly, Lieutenant
Katte of the Gens-d'Armes, intended deserter, not actually
deserting, and much tempted thereto: All things considered,
Two years of Fortress Arrest to Lieutenant Katte: -- Not
Good this; Bad this, thinks Majesty; this provokes from his
Majesty an angry rebuke to the too lax Court-Martial. Rebuke
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? 108 SHIPWRECK OF DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT, [book VU.
1st Nov. 1730.
which can still be read, in growling, unlucid phraseology; but
with a rhadamanthine idea clear enough in it, and with a
practical purport only too clear: That Katte was a sworn
soldier, of the Gens-d'Armes even, or Bodyguard of the
Prussian Majesty; and did nevertheless, in the teeth of his
oath, 'worship the Eising Sun' when minded to desert; did
plot and colleague with foreign Courts in aid of said Rising Sun, and of an intended high crime against the Prussian
Majesty itself on Eising Sun's part; far from at once revealing
the same, as duty ordered Lieutenant Katte to do. That
Katte's crime amounts to high-treason (crimenlascemajestatis);
that the rule is, Fiatjustitia, el pereat mundus; --and that, in
brief, Katte's doom is, and is hereby declared to be, Death.
Death by the gallows and hot pincers is the usual doom of
Traitors; but his Majesty will say in this case, Death by the
sword and headsman simply; certain circumstances moving
the royal clemency to go so far, no farther. And the Court-
Martial has straightway to apprise Katte of this same; and so
doing, "shall say, That his Majesty is sorry for Katte; but
"that it is better he die than that justice depart out of the
"world" (Wusterhausen, 1st November 1730. J
"FrIEDRICH WllHElM. " *
This is the iron doom of Katte; which no prayer
or influence of mortal will avail to alter, -- lest justice
depart out of the world. Katte's Father is a General
of rank, Commandant of Konigsberg at this moment;
Katte's Grandfather by the Mother's side, old Field-
marshal Wartensleben, is a man in good favour with
Friedrich Wilhelm, and of high esteem and mark in
* Prenss, i. 44.
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? CHAP. IX. ] COURT-MARTIAL ON CROWN-PRINCE. 109
6th Nov. 1730.
his country for half a century past. But all this can
effect nothing. Old Wartensleben thinks of the Daughter
he lost; for happily Katte's Mother is dead long since.
Old Wartensleben writes to Friedrich Wilhelm; his
mournful Letter, and Friedrich Wilhelm's mournful but
inexorable answer, can be read in the Histories; but
show only what we already know.
Katte's Mother, Fieldmarshal Wartensleben's Daugh-
ter, died in 1706; leaving Katte only two years old.
He is now twenty-six; very young for such grave
issues; and his fate is certainly very hard. Poor
young soul, he did not resist farther, or quarrel with
the inevitable and inexorable. He listened to Chaplain
Miiller of the Gens-d'Armes; admitted profoundly, after
his fashion, that the great God was just, and the poor
Katte sinful, foolish, only to be saved by miracle of
mercy; and piously prepared himself to die on these
terms. There are three Letters of his to his Grand-
father, which can still be read, one of them in Wilhel-
mina's Book,* the sound of it like that of dirges borne
on the wind. Wilhelmina evidently pities Katte very
tenderly; in her heart she has a fine royal-maiden kind
of feeling to the poor youth. He did heartily repent
and submit; left with Chaplain Miiller a Paper of
pious considerations, admonishing the Prince to submit.
These are Katte's last employments in his prison at
Berlin, after sentence had gone forth.
? Wilhelmina, i. 302.
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? 110 SHIPWRECK OF DOUBIiE-MAREIAGE PROJECT, [book VII.
6th Nov. 1780.
Katte's End, 6th November 1730.
On Sunday evening, 5th November, it is intimated
to him, unexpectedly at the moment, that he has to go
to Custrin, and there die; -- carriage now waiting at
the gate. Katte masters the sudden flurry; signifies that
all is ready, then; and so, under charge of his old
Major and two brother Officers, who, and Chaplain
Miiller, are in the carriage with him, a troop of his
own old Cavalry Regiment escorting, he leaves Berlin
(rather on sudden summons); drives all night, towards
Ciistrin and immediate death. Words of sympathy were
not wanting, to which Katte answered cheerily; grim
faces wore a cloud of sorrow for the poor youth, that
night. Chaplain Muller's exhortations were fervent and
continual; and, from time to time, there were heard,
hoarsely melodious through the damp darkness and the
noise of wheels, snatches of "devotional singing," led
by Miiller.
It was in the gray of the winter morning, 6th No-
vember 1730, that Katte arrived in Custrin Garrison.
He took kind leave of Major and men: Adieu, my
brothers; good be with you evermore! -- And, about
nine o'clock, he is on the road towards the Rampart of
the Castle, where a scaffold stands. Katte wore, by
order, a brown dress exactly like the Prince's; the
Prince is already brought down into a lower room, to
see Katte as he passes (to "see Katte die," had been
the royal order; but they smuggled that into abeyance);
and Katte knows he shall see him. Faithful Miiller
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? CHAP. IS. ] COURT-MARTIAL ON CROWS-PRINCE. Ill
6tfe Nov. 1730.
was in the death-car along with Katte; and he had
adjoined to himself one Besserer, the Chaplain of the
Garrison, in this sad function, since arriving. Here is
a glimpse from Besserer, which we may take as better
than nothing:
"His (Katte's) eyes were mostly directed to God; and we
"(Miiller and I), on our part, strove to hold his heart up
"heavenwards, by presenting the examples of those who had
"died in the Lord,-- as of God's Son himself, and Stephen,
"and the Thief on the Cross, --till, under such discoursing,
"we approached the Castle. Here, after long wistful looking
"about, he did get sight of his beloved Jonathan," Royal Highness the Crown-Prince, "at a window in the Castle;
"from whom he, with the politest and most tender expres-
sion, spoken in French, took leave, with no little emotion
"of sorrow. "*
President Munchow and the Commandant were with
the Prince; whose emotions one may fancy, but not
describe. Seldom did any Prince or man stand in such
a predicament. Vain to say, and again say: "In the
"name of God, I ask you, stop the execution till I
"write to the King! " Impossible that; as easily stop
the course of the stars. And so here Katte comes;
cheerful loyalty still beaming on his face, death now
nigh. "Pardonnez-moi, mon cher Katte! " cried Friedrich
in a tone: Pardon me, dear Katte; 0, that this should
be what I have done for you! -- "Death is sweet for
* Letter to Katte's Father (Extract, In Preuss: Friedrich mit Freunden
vnd Verwandtcn, p. 7).
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? 112 SHIPWRECK OF DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT. [BOOK vn.
6th Nov. 1730.
a Prince I love so well," said Katte, "La mort est
douce pour un si aimable Prince;"* and fared on, --
round some angle of the Fortress, it appears; not in
sight of Friedrich; who sank into a faint, and had seen
his last glimpse of Katte in this world.
The body lay all day upon the scaffold, by royal
order; and was buried at night obscurely in the com-
mon churchyard; friends, in silence, took mark of the
place against better times, -- and Katte's dust now
lies elsewhere, among that of his own kindred.
"Never was such a transaction before or since, in
Modern History," cries the angry reader: "cruel, like
the grinding of human hearts under millstones, like --"
Or indeed like the doings of the gods, which are cruel,
though not that alone? This is what, after much sort-
ing and sifting, I could get to know about the definite
facts of it. Commentary, not likely to be very final at
this epoch, the reader himself shall supply at dis-
cretion.
* Wilhelmina, i. 307; Preuss, i. 45.
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? book vm.
CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED: LIFE AT CtJSTRIN.
November 1730 -- February 1732.
Carlfle, Frederic the Great. IV.
8
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? 1
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? 6th-19th Nov. 1730.
CHAPTER L
CHAPLAIN MUIXER WAITS ON TOE CROWN-PRINCE.
Friedrich's feelings at this juncture are not made
known to us by himself in the least; or credibly by
others in any considerable degree. As indeed in these
confused Prussian History-Books, opulent in nugatory
pedantisms and learned marine-stores, all that is human
remains distressingly obscure to us; so seldom, and then
only as through endless clouds of ever-whirling idle
dust, can we catch the smallest direct feature of the
young man, and of his real demeanour or meaning, on
the present or other occasions! But it is evident this
last phenomenon fell upon him like an overwhelming
cataract; crushed him down under the immensity of
sorrow, confusion, and despair; his own death not a
theory now, but probably a near fact, -- a welcome
one in wild moments, and then anon so unwelcome.
Frustrate, bankrupt, chargeable with a friend's lost life,
sure enough he, for one, is: what is to become of him?
Whither is he to turn, thoroughly beaten, foiled in all
his enterprises? Proud young soul as he was: the
ruling Powers, be they just, be they unjust, have
proved too hard for him! We hear of tragic vestiges
still traceable of Friedrich, belonging to this time:
texts of Scripture quoted by him, pencil-sketches of
8>>
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? 116 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [bOOK vm.
6th-19th Not. 1730.
his drawing; expressive of a mind dwelling in Golgo-
thas, and pathetically, not defiantly, contemplating the
very worst.
Chaplain Miiller of the Gens-d'Armes, being found
a pious and intelligent man, has his orders not to
return at once from Ciistrin; but to stay there, and
deal with the Prince, on that horrible Predestination
topic and his other unexampled backslidings, which
have ended so. Miiller staid accordingly, for a couple
of weeks; intensely busy on the Predestination topic,
and generally in assuaging, and mutually mollifying,
paternal Majesty and afflicted Son. In all which he
had good success; and especially on the Predestination
point, was triumphantly successful. Miiller left a little
Book in record of his procedures there; which, had it
not been bound-over to the official tone, might have
told us something. His Correspondence with the King,
during those two weeks, has likewise been mostly
printed;* and is of course still more official, -- teach-
ing us next to nothing, except poor Friedrich Wilhelm's
profoundly devotional mood, anxieties about "the claws
of Satan" and the like, which we were glad to hear of
above. In Miiller otherwise is small help for us.
But, fifty years afterwards, there was alive a Son
of this Miiller's; an innocent Country Parson, not want-
ing in sense, and with much simplicity and veracity;
who was fished-out by Nicolai, and set to recalling
what his Father used to say of this adventure, much
? Fb'reter, i. 876-379.
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? CHAP. I. ] CHAPLAIN MtjLLER Waits OJ< tiu prtvoi! . 117
6th-19th Nov. 1730.
the grandest of his life. In Miiller Junior's Letter of
Reminiscences to Nicolai we find some details, got
from his Father, which are worth gleaning:
"When my Father first attempted, by royal order, to bring
"the Crown-Prince to acknowledgment and repentance of the
"fault committed, Crown-Prince gave this excuse or explana-
tion: 'As his Father could not endure the sight of him, he
'"had meant to get out of the way of his displeasure, and go to
"'a Court with which his Father was in friendship and re-
"' lationship,"' -- clearly indicating England, think the Miil-
lers Junior and Senior.
"For proof that the intention was towards England this
"other circumstance serves, That the one confidant -- Herr
"vonKeith, if I mistake not" (no, you don't mistake), "had
"already bespoken a ship for passage out. " --- Here is some-
thing still more unexpected:
"My Father used to say, he found an excellent knowledge
"and conviction of the truths of religion in the Crown-Prince.
"By the Prince's arrangement, my Father, who at first lodged
"with the Commandant, had to take up his quarters in the
"room right above the Prince; who daily, often as early as
"six in the morning, rapped on the ceiling for him to come
"down; and then they would dispute and discuss, sometimes
"half-days long, about the different tenets of the Christian
"Sects; -- and my Father said, the Prince was perfectly at
"home in the Polemic Doctrines of the Reformed (Calvinistic)
"Church, even to the minutest points. As my Father brought
"him proofs from Scripture, the Prince asked him one time,
"How he could keep chapter and verse so exactly in hisme-
"mory? Father drew from his pocket a little Hand-Con-
"cordance, and showed it him, as one help. This he had to
"leave with the Prince for some days. On getting it back,
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? 118 CKUWJS-PKUSiCE RETRIEVED. [bOOK VIII.
6th-19th Nov. 1730.
"he found inside on the fly-leaf, sketched in pencil," --
what is rather notable to History, -- "the figure of a man
"on his knees, with two swords hanging cross-wise over his
"head; and at the bottom these words of Psalm Seventy-
"third (verses 25,26), Wlwm have I in Heaven but thee? And
"there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh
"andmy heart fainteth and faileth; but God isthe strength of my
"heart and my portion forever. " -- PoorFriedrich, this is a very
unexpected pencil-sketch on his part; but an undeniable one;
betokening abstruse night-thoughts and forebodings, in the
presentjuncture! --
"Whoever considers this fine knowledge of religion, and
"reflects on the peculiar character and genius of the young
"Herr, which was ever struggling towards light and clearness
"(for at that time he had not become indifferent to religion,
"he often prayed with my Father on his knees), -- will find
"that it was morally impossible this young Prince could have
"thought" (as some foolish persons have asserted) "ofthrow-
"ing himself into the arms of Papal Superstition," (seeking
help at Vienna, marrying an Austrian Archduchess, and I
know not what,) "or allow the intrigues of Catholic Priests
"to " -- Oh no, Herr Miiller, nobody but very foolish persons
could imagine such a thing of this young Herr.
"When my Father, Herr von Katte's execution being
"ended, hastened to the Crown-Prince; he finds him miser-
"ably ill (sehr alterirt); advises him to take a cooling-powder
"in water, both which materials were ready on the table.
"This he presses on him: but the Prince always shakes his
"head. " Suspects poison, you think? "Hereupon my Father
"takes from his pocket a paper, in which he carried cooling-
"powder for his own use; shakes out a portion of it into his
"hand, and so into his mouth; and now the Crown-Prince
"grips at my Father's powder, and takes that. " Privately to
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. I. ] CHAPLAIN MtlLLEB WAITS ON THE PRINCE. 119
6th-19th Nov. 1730.
be made away with; death resolved upon in some way! thinks
the desperate young man? *
That scene of Katte's execution, and of the Prince's
and other people's position in regard to it, has never
yet been humanly set forth, otherwise the response had
been different. Not humanly set forth, -- and so was
only barked at, as by the infinitude of little dogs, in
all countries; and could never yet be responded to in
austere vox humana, deep as a De Profundis, terrible
as a Chorus of ^Eschylus, -- for in effect that is rather
the character of it, had the barking once pleased to
cease.
"King of Prussia cannot sleep," writes Dickens:
"the officers sit up with him every night, and in his
"slumbers he raves and talks of spirits and appari-
tions. "** We saw him, ghost-like, in the night time,
gliding about, seeking shelter with Feekin against
ghosts; Ginkel by daylight saw him, now clad in
thunderous tornado, and anon in sorrowful fog. Here, farther on, is a new item, -- and, joined to it and the
others, a remarkable old one:
"In regard to Wilhelmina's marriage, and whether
"a Father cannot give his Daughter in wedlock to
"whom he pleases, there have been eight Divines con-
sulted, four Lutheran, four Reformed (Calvinist); who,
"all but one" (he of the Garrison Church, a rhadaman-
thine fellow in serge), have answered, 'No, your Ma-
? Nicolai: Anekdoten, vi. 183-189. <<* Despatch, 3d October 1730.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijm Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 120 CECWU-PEINCE RETEIEVED. [book vm.
6th-19th Nov. 1730.
jesty! ' "It is remarkable that his Majesty has not
"gone to bed sober, for this month past. "*
What Seckendorf and Grumkow thought of all
these phenomena? They have done their job too well.
They are all for mercy; lean with their whole weight
that way, -- in black qualms, one of them withal,
thinking tremulously to himself, "What if his now
Majesty were to die upon us, in the interim! "
* Dickens, 9th and 19th December 1730.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:22 GMT / http://hdl.