A
much-admired invention in its time, that of letting-go
the rudder, or setting a wooden figure expensively
dressed to take charge of it, and discerning that the
ship would sail of itself so much more easily!
much-admired invention in its time, that of letting-go
the rudder, or setting a wooden figure expensively
dressed to take charge of it, and discerning that the
ship would sail of itself so much more easily!
Thomas Carlyle
net/2027/hvd.
hn6m7g Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.
hathitrust.
org/access_use#pd-google
? BOOK V.
DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT, AND WHAT ELEMENT
IT FELL INTO
1723-1726.
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? 1723-1726.
CHAPTER L
DOUBLE-MARRIAGE IS DECIDED ON.
We saw George I. at Berlin in October 1723, look-
ing-out upon his little Grandson drilling the Cadets
there; but we did not mention what important errand
had brought his Majesty thither.
Visits between Hanover and Berlin had been fre-
quent for a long time back; the young Queen of Prus-
sia, sometimes with her Husband, sometimes without,
running often over to see her Father; who, even after
his accession to the English crown, was generally for
some months every year to be met-with in those
favourite regions of his. He himself did not much
visit, being of taciturn splenetic nature: but this once he
had agreed to return a visit they had lately made him,
-- where a certain weighty Business had been agreed
upon, withal; which his Britannic Majesty was to con-
summate formally, by treaty, when the meeting in
Berlin took effect. His Britannic Majesty, accordingly,
is come; the business in hand is no other than that
thrice-famous "Double-Marriage" of Prussia with Eng-
land; which once had such a sound in the ear of Ru-
mour, and still bulks so big in the archives of the
Eighteenth Century; which worked such woe to all
parties concerned in it; and is, in fact, a first-rate nui-
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. //. 18
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? 274 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [bookv.
1723-1726.
sance in the History of that poor Century, as written
hitherto. Nuisance demanding urgently to be abated;
-- were that well possible at present. Which, alas, it
is not, to any great degree; there being an important
young Friedrich inextricably wrapt-up in it, to whom
it was of such vital or almost fatal importance! With-
out a Friedrich, the affair could be reduced to some-
thing like its real size, and recorded in a few pages;
or might even, with advantage, be forgotten alto-
gether, and become zero. More gigantic instance of
much ado about nothing has seldom occurred in human
annals; -- had not there been a Friedrich in the heart
of it
.
Crown-Prince Friedrich is still very young for mar-
riage-speculations on his score: but Mamma has thought
good to take matters in time. And so we shall, in the
next ensuing parts of this poor History, have to hear
almost as much about Marriage as in the foolishest
Three-volume Novel, and almost to still less purpose.
For indeed, in that particular, Friedrich's young Life
may be called a Romance flung heels-over-head; -- Mar-
riage being the one event there, round which all events
turn, -- but turn in the inverse or reverse way (as if
the Devil were in them); not only towards no happy
goal, for him or Mamma, or us, but at last towards
hardly any goal at all for anybody! So mad did the
affair grow; -- and is so madly recorded in those in-
extricable, dateless, chaotic Books. We have now come
to regions of Narrative, which seem to consist of murky
Nothingness put on-boil; not land, or water, or air, or
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? CHAP. I. J DOUBLE-MARRIAGE IS DECIDED ON. 275
1723-1726.
fire, but a tumultuously whirling commixture of all the
four; -- of immense extent, too. Which must be got
crossed, in some human manner. Courage, patience,
good reader!
Queen Sophie Dorothee has taken Time by the Forelock.
Already, for a dozen years, this matter has been
treated of. Queen Sophie Dorothee, ever since the
birth of her Wilhelmina, has had the notion of it; and,
on her first visit afterwards to Hanover, proposed it to
"Princess Caroline," -- Queen Caroline of England
who was to be, and who in due course was; -- an ex-
cellent accomplished Brandenburg-Anspach Lady, fa-
miliar from of old in the Prussian Court: "You, Caro-
line, Cousin dear, have a little Prince, Fritz, or let us
call him Fred, since he is to be English; little Fred,
who will one day, if all go right, be King of England.
He is two years older than my little Wilhelmina: why
should not they wed, and the two chief Protestant
Houses, and Nations, tbereby? be united? " Princess
Caroline was very willing; so was Electress Sophie,
the Great-Grandmother of both the parties; so were the
Georges, Father and Grandfather of Fred: little Fred
himself was highly charmed, when told of it; even
little Wilhelmina, with her dolls, looked pleasantly
demure on the occasion. So it remained settled in
fact, though not in form; and little Fred (a florid milk-
faced foolish kind of Boy, I guess) made presents to
his little Prussian Cousin, wrote bits of love-letters to
18*
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? 27G DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [bookv.
1728-1736.
her; and all along afterwards fancied himself, and at
length ardently enough became, her little lover and
intended, -- always rather a little fellow: -- to which
sentiments Wilhelmina signifies that she responded with
the due maidenly indifference, but not in an offensive
manner.
After our Prussian Fritz's birth, the matter took a
still closer form: "You, dear Princess Caroline, you
have now two little Princesses again, either of whom
might suit my little Fritzchen: let us take Amelia, the
second of them, who is nearest his age? " "Agreed! "
answered Princess Caroline again. "Agreed! " answered
all the parties interested: and so it was settled, that
the Marriage of Prussia to England should be a Double
one, Fred of Hanover and England to Wilhelmina,
Fritz of Prussia to Amelia; and children and parents
lived thenceforth in the constant understanding that
such, in due course of years, was to be the case, though
nothing yet was formally concluded by treaty upon it? *
Queen Sophie Dorothee of Prussia was always
eager enough for treaty, and conclusion to her scheme.
True to it, she, as needle to the pole in all weathers;
sometimes in the wildest weather, poor lady. Nor did
the Hanover Serene Highnesses, at any time, draw
back or falter: but having very soon got wafted across
to England, into new more complex conditions, and
wider anxieties in that new country, they were not so
impressively eager as Queen Sophie, on this interesting
point . Electress Sophie, judicious Great-Grandmother,
* Pollnitzi Memoiren, ii. 188.
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? CHAP. 1. 1 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE IS DECIDED ON. 277
1723-1726.
was not now there: Electress Sophie had died about a
month before queen Anne; and never saw the English
Canaan, much as she had longed for it. George I. ,
her son, a taciturn, rather splenetic elderly Gentleman,
very foreign in England, and oftenest rather sulky
there and elsewhere, was not in a humour to be forward in that particular business.
George I. had got into quarrel with his Prince of
Wales, Fred's Father, -- him who is one day to be
George II. , always a rather foolish little Prince, though
his Wife Caroline was Wisdom's self in a manner: --
George I. had other much more urgent cares than that
of marrying his disobedient foolish little Prince of
Wales's offspring; and he always pleaded difficulties,
Acts of Parliament that would be needed, and the like,
whenever Sophie Dorothee came to visit him at Hano-
ver, and urge this matter. The taciturn, inarticulately
thoughtful, rather sulky old Gentleman, he had weighty
burdens lying on him; felt fretted and galled, in many
ways; and had found life, Electoral and even Royal,
a deceptive sumptuosity, little better than a more or
less extensive "feast of shells," next to no real meat or
drink left in it to the hungry heart of man. Wife
sitting half-frantic in the Castle of Ahlden, waxing
more and more into a gray-haired Megaera (with whom
Sophie Dorothee under seven seals of secrecy cor-
responds a little, and even the Prince of Wales is
suspected of wishing to correspond); a foolish disobe-
dient Prince of Wales; Jacobite Pretender people with
their Mar Rebellions, with their Alberoni combinations;
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? 278 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [BOOK v.
1723-1726.
an English Parliament jangling and debating unmelodi-
ously, whose very language is a mystery to us, nothing
but Walpole in dog-latin to help us through it: truly
it is not a Heaven-on-Earth altogether, much as Mother
Sophie and her foolish favourite, our disobedient Prince
of Wales, might long for it! And the Hanover Tail,
the Robethons, Bernstorfs, Fabrices, even the Blackamoor
Porters, -- they are not beautiful either, to a taciturn
Majesty of some sense, if he cared about their doings
or them. Voracious, plunderous, all of them; like
hounds, long hungry, got into a rich house which has
no master, or a mere imaginary one. "Mentiris impu-
dentissime," said Walpole in his dog-latin once, in our
Royal presence, to one of these official plunderous
gentlemen, "You tell an impudent lie! "-- at which we
only laughed. *
His Britannic Majesty by no means wanted sense,
had not his situation been incurably absurd. In his
young time he had served creditably enough against
the Turks; twice commanded the Reichs-Army in the
Marlborough Wars, and did at least testify his indigna-
tion at the inefficient state of it. His Foreign Politics,
so-called, were not madder than those of others. Bremen
and Verden he had bought a bargain; and it was na-
tural to protect them by such resources as he had,
English or other. Then there was the World-Spectre
of the Pretender, stretching huge over Creation, like
the Brocken-Spectre in hazy weather; -- against whom
? Horace Walpole: Reminiscences of George J. and George II. (London,
1788).
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? CHAP. T. ] DOUBLE-MARRIAGE IS DECIDED ON. 279
1723-1726.
how protect yourself, except by cannonading for the
Kaiser at Messina; by rushing into every brabble that
rose, and hiring the parties with money to fight it out
well? It was the established method in that matter;
method not of George's inventing, nor did it cease with
George. As to Domestic Politics, except it were to
keep quiet, and eat what the gods had provided, one
does not find that he had any. -- The sage Leibnitz
would very fain have followed him to England; but,
for reasons indifferently good, could never be allowed.
If the truth must be told, the sage Leibnitz had a wis-
dom which now looks dreadfully like that of a wiseacre!
In Mathematics even, -- he did invent the Differential
Calculus, but it is certain also he never could believe
in Newton's System of the Universe, nor would read
the Principia at all. For the rest, he was in quarrel
about Newton with the Royal Society here; ill seen,
it is probable, by this sage and the other. To the
Hanover Official Gentlemen devouring their English
dead-horse, it did not appear that his presence could
be useful in these parts. *
Nor are the Hanover womankind his Majesty has
about him, quasi-wives or not, of a soul-entrancing cha-
racter; far indeed from that. Two in chief there are,
a fat and a lean: the lean, called "Maypole" by the
English populace, is "Duchess of Kendal," with excel-
lent pension, in the English Peerages; Schulenburg the
former German name of her; decidedly a quasi-wife
? Guhrauer, Gottfried Freiherr von Leibnitz, eine Biogrophie (Breslau,
1843); Ker of Keraland, Memoirs of Secret Transactions (London, 1727).
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? 280 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [bOOKV.
1728-1726.
(influential, against her will, in that sad Konigsmark
Tragedy, at Hanover long since), who is fallen thin
and old. "May-pole," -- or hare Hop-pole, with the
leaves all stript; lean, long, hard; -- though she once
had her summer verdures too; and still, as an old quasi-
wife, or were it only as an old article of furniture, has
her worth to the royal mind. Schulenburgs, kindred
of hers, are high in the military line; some of whom
we may meet.
Then, besides this lean one, there is a fat; of whom
Walpole (Horace, who had seen her in boyhood) gives
description. Big staring black eyes, with rim of cir-
cular eyebrow, like a coachwheel round its nave, very
black the eyebrows also; vast red face; cheeks running
into neck, neck blending indistinguishably with stomach,
-- a mere cataract of fluid tallow, skinned-over and
curiously dizened, according to Walpole's portraiture.
This charming creature, Kielmannsegge by German
name, was called "Countess of Darlington" in this
country, -- with excellent pension, as was natural.
They all had pensions: even Queen Sophie Dorothee,
I have noticed in our State-Paper Office, has her small
pension, "800Z. a-year on the Irish Establishment:"
Irish Establishment will never miss such a pittance for
our poor Child, and it may be useful over yonder! --
This Kielmannsegge Countess of Darlington was, and
is, believed by the gossiping English to have been a
second simultaneous Mistress of his Majesty's; but seems, after all, to have been his Half-Sister and nothing
more. Half-Sister (due to Gentleman Ernst and a
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? CHAP. I. ] DOUBLE-MAKRIAGE IS DECIDED ON. 281
1723-1728.
Countess Platen of bad Hanover fame); grown dread-
fully fat; but not without shrewdness, perhaps affection;
and worth something in this dull foreign country, mere
cataract of animal oils as she has become. These Two
are the amount of his Britannic Majesty's resources in
that matter; resources surely not extensive, after all! --
His Britannic Majesty's day, in St. James's, is not
of an interesting sort to him; and every evening, he
comes precisely at a certain hour to drink beer, sea-
soned with a little tobacco, and the company of these
two women. Drinks diligently in a sipping way, says
Horace; and smokes, with such dull speech as there
may be, -- not till he is drunk, but only perceptibly
drunkish; raised into a kind of cloudy narcotic Olympus,
and opaquely superior to the ills of life; in which state
he walks uncomplainingly to bed. Government, when
it can by any art be avoided, he rarely meddles with;
shows a rugged sagacity, where he does and must
meddle: consigns it to Walpole in dog-latin, --. laughs
at his "mentiris. " This is the First George; first
triumph of the Constitutional Principle, which has since
gone to such sublime heights among us, -- heights
which we at last begin to suspect might be depths,
leading down, all men now ask: Whitherwards?
A
much-admired invention in its time, that of letting-go
the rudder, or setting a wooden figure expensively
dressed to take charge of it, and discerning that the
ship would sail of itself so much more easily! Which
it will, if a peculiarly good sea-boat, in certain kinds
of sea, -- for a time. Till the Sindbad "Magnetic
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? 282 DODBLE-MAREIAOE PROJECT STARTED. [lOOKv.
1723-1726
Mountains" begin to be felt pulling, or the circles oi
Charybdis get you in their sweep; and then what an
invention it was! -- This, we say, is the new Sovereign
Man, whom the English People, being in some per-
plexity about the Pope and other points, have called-
in from Hanover, to walk before them in the ways of
heroism, and by command and by example guide Hea-
venwards their affairs and them. And they hope that
he will do it? Or perhaps that their affairs will go
thither of their own accord? Always a singular
People! --
Poor George, careless of these ulterior issues, has
always trouble enough with the mere daily details,
Parliamentary insolences, Jacobite plottings, South-Sea
Bubbles; and wishes to hunt, when he gets over to
Hanover, rather than to make Marriage-Treaties. Be-
sides, as Wilhelmina tells us, they have filled him with
lies, these Hanover Women and their emissaries: "Your
Princess Wilhelmina is a monster of ill-temper, crooked
in the back and what-not," say they. If there is to be
a Marriage, double or single, these Improper Females
must first be persuaded to consent. * Difficulties enough.
And there is none to help; Friedrich Wilhelm cares
little about the matter, though he has given his Yes,
-- Yes, since you will.
But Sophie Dorothee is diligent and urgent, by all
opportunities; -- and, at length, in 1723, the conjunc-
ture is propitious, Domestic Jacobitism, in the shape
? Mimoires ie Bareith.
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? CHAP. I. J DOUBLE-MARRIAGE IS DECIDED ON. 283
1728-1726.
of Bishop Atterbury, has got itself well banished; Al-
beroni and his big schemes, years ago they are blown
into outer darkness; Charles XII. is well dead, and of
our Bremen and Verden no question henceforth; even
the Kaiser's Spectre-Hunt, or Spanish Duel, is at rest
for the present, and the Congress of Cambrai is sitting,
or trying all it can to sit: at home or abroad, there is
nothing, not even Wood's Irish Halfpence, as yet
making noise. And on the other hand, Czar Peter is
rumoured (not without foundation) to be coming west-
ward, with some huge Armament; which, whether "in-
tended for Sweden" or not, renders a Prussian alliance
doubly valuable.
And so now at last, in this favourable aspect of
the stars, King George, over at Herrenhausen, was by
much management of his Daughter Sophie's, and after
many hitches, brought to the mark. And Friedrich
Wilhelm came over too; ostensibly to bring home his
Queen, but in reality to hear his Father-in-law's com-
pliance to the Double-Marriage, -- for which his Prus-
sian Majesty is willing enough, if others are willing.
Praised be Heaven, King George has agreed to every-
thing; consents, one propitious day (Autumn 1723, day
not otherwise dated), -- Czar Peter's Armament, and
the questionable aspects in France, perhaps quickening
his volitions a little. Upon which, Friedrich Wilhelm
and Queen Sophie have returned home, content in that
matter; and expect shortly his Britannic Majesty's
counter-visit, to perfect the details, and make a Treaty
of it.
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? 284 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [BOOK v.
. 1723-1756.
His Britannic Majesty, we say, has in substance
agreed to everything. And now, in the silence of Na-
ture, the brown leaves of October still hanging to the
trees in a picturesque manner, and Wood's Halfpence
not yet begun to jingle in the Drapier's Letters of
Dean Swift, -- his Britannic Majesty is expected at
Berlin. At Berlin; properly at Charlottenburg, a plea-
sant rural or suburban Palace (built by his Britannic
Majesty's late noble Sister, Sophie Charlotte, "the Re-
publican Queen," and named after her, as was once
mentioned), a mile or two South-west of that City.
There they await King George's counter-visit.
Poor Wilhelmina is in much trepidation about it;
and imparts her poor little feelings, her anticipations
and experiences, in readable terms:
"There came, in those weeks, one of the Duke of Glou-
"cester's gentlemen to Berlin," -- Duke of Gloucester is Fred
our intended, not yetPrince of Wales, and if the reader should
ever hear of a Duke of Edinburgh, that too is Fred, -- "Duke
"of Gloucester's gentlemen to Berlin," says Wilhelmina: "the
"Queen had Soiree (Appartement); he was presented to her as
"well as to me. He made me a very obliging compliment on
"his Master's part; I blushed, and answered only by a curtsy.
"The Queen, who had her eye on me, was very angry I had
"answered the Duke's compliments in mere silence; and rated
"me sharply (me lava la iete d'importance) for it; and ordered
"me, under pain of her indignation, to repair that fault to-
"morrow. I retired, all in tears, to my room; exasperated
"against the Queen and against the Duke; I swore I would
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? CHAP. I. l DOUBLE-MARRIAGE IS DECIDED ON. 285
8th Oct. 1723.
"never marry him, would throw myself at the feet" -- And so
on, as young ladies of vivacious temper, in extreme circum-
stances, are wont: -- did speak, however, next day, to my
Hanover gentleman about his Duke, a little, though in an em-
barrassed manner. Alas, I am yet but fourteen, gone the 3d
of July last: tremulous as aspen-leaves; or say, as sheet-
lightning bottled in one of the thinnest human skins; and have
no experience of foolish Dukes and affairs! --
1'Meanwhile," continues Wilhelmina, '' the King of Eng-
land's time of arrival was drawing nigh. We repaired, on
"the 6th of October, to Charlottenburg to receive him. The
"heart of me kept beating, and I was in cruel agitations.
"King George" (my Grandfather and Grand Uncle) "arrived
"on the 8th, about seven in the evening;" -- dusky shades
already sinking over Nature everywhere, and all paths
growing dim. Abundant flunkeys, of course, rush-out with
torches or what is needful. "The King of Prussia, the Queen
"and all their Suite received him in the Court of the Palace,
? 'the 'Apartments'being on the ground-floor. So soon as he
"had saluted the King and Queen, I was presented to him.
"He embraced me; and turning to the Queen said to her,
"' Your daughter is very big of her age! ' He gave the Queen
"his hand, and led her into her apartment, whither everybody
"followed them. As soon as I came in,, he took a light from
"the table, and surveyed me from head to foot. I stood mo-
"tionless as a statue, and was much put out of countenance.
"All this went on without his uttering the least word. Having
"thus passed me in review, he addressed himself to my Bro-
"ther, whom he caressed much, and amused himself with, for
"a good while. " Pretty little Grandson this, your Majesty;
-- any future of history in this one, think you? "I," says
Wilhelmina, "took the opportunity of slipping-out;" --
hopeful to get away; but could not, the Queen having noticed,
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? 286 DQUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [book Y.
8th Oct. 1723.
"The Queen made me a sign to follow her; and passed
"into a neighbouring apartment, where she had the English
"and Germans of King George's Suite successively presented
"to her. After some talk with these gentlemen, she withdrew;
"leaving me to entertain them, and saying: 'Speak English
"'to my Daughter; you will find she speaks it very well. '
"I felt much less embarrassed, once the Queen was gone; and
"picking-up a little courage, I entered into conversation with
"these English. As I spoke their language like my mother-
"tongue, I got pretty well out of the affair, and everybody
"seemed charmed with me. They made my eulogy to the
"Queen; told her Ihad quite the English air, and was made
"to be their Sovereign one day. It was saying a great deal
"on their part: for these English think themselves so much
"above all other people, that they imagine they are paying a
"high compliment when they tell any one he has got English
"manners.
"Their King" (my Grandpapa) "had got Spanish man-
"ners, I should say: he was of an extreme gravity, and hardly
"spoke a word to anybody. He saluted Madam Sonsfeld"
(my invaluable thrice-dear Governess) "very coldly; and
"asked her, 'If I was always so serious, and if my humour
"'was of the melancholy turn? ' 'Anything but that, Sire,'
"answered the other: 'but the respect she has for your
"'Majesty prevents her from being as sprightly as shecora-
"'monly is. ' He wagged his head, and answered nothing.
"The reception he had given me, and this question, of which
"I heard, gave me such a chill, that I never had the courage
"to speak to him," -- was merely looked-at with a candle by
Grandpapa.
"We were summoned to supper at last, where this grave
"Sovereign still remained dumb. Perhaps he was right, per-
"haps he was wrong; but I think he followed the proverb,
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? CHAP. 1. ] DOUBLE-MARRIAGE IS DECIDED ON. 287
I2th Oct. 1723.
"which says, Better hold your tongue than speak badly. At
"the end of the repast he felt indisposed. The Queen would
"have persuaded him to quit table; they bandied compliments
"a good while on the point; but at last she threw-down her
'' napkin, and rose. The King of England naturally rose too;
"but began to stagger; the King of Prussia ran up to help
"him, all the company ran bustling about him; but it was to
"no purpose: he sank on his knees; his peruke falling on one
"side, and his hat" (or at least his head, Madam! ) "on the
"other. They stretched him softly on the floor; where he
"remained a good hour without consciousness. The pains
"they took with him brought back his senses, by degrees, at
"last. The Queen and the King (of Prussia) were in despair
"all this while. Many have thought this attack was a herald
''of the stroke of apoplexy which came by and by," -- within
four years from this date, and carried-off his Majesty in a very
gloomy manner.
"They passionately entreated him to retire now," con-
tinues Wilhelmina; "but he would not by any means. He
"led-out the Queen, and did the other ceremonies, according
"to rule; had a very bad night, as we learned underhand;" --
but persisted stoically nevertheless, being a crowned Majesty,
and bound to it. He stoically underwent four or three other
days, of festival, sight-seeing, "pleasure" so-called;--among
other sights, saw little Fritz drilling his Cadets at Berlin; --
and on the fourth day (12th October 1723, so thinks
Wilhelmina) fairly "signed the Treaty of the Double-Mar-
"riage," English Townshend and the Prussian Ministry
"having settled all things. "*
? Wilhelmina, Mmoiret Je Bareith, I. 88, 87. -- In Coxe (Memoirs of
Sir Robert Walpole, London, 1798), ii. 266,172, 278, are some faint hint*,
from Townshend, of this Berlin journey.
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? 288 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [bOOKv.
Oct. 172i
"Signed the Treaty," thinks Wilhemina, "all things
heing settled. " Which is an error on the part of Wilhel-
mina. Settled, many or all things were, by Townshend
and the others: but before signing, there was Parlia-
ment to be apprised, there were formalities, expendi-
ture of time; between the cup and the lip, such things
to intervene; -- and the sad fact is, the Double-Mar-
riage Treaty never was signed at all! -- However, all
things being now settled ready for signing, his Britannic
Majesty, next morning, set-off for the Gdhrde again, to
try if there were any hunting possible.
This authentic glimpse, one of the few that are
attainable, of their first Constitutional King, let English
readers make the most of. The act done proved dread-
fully momentous to our little Friend, his Grandson;
and will much concern us!
Thus, at any rate, was the Treaty of the Double-
Marriage settled, to the point of signing, . -- thought
to be as good as signed. It was at the time when Czar
Peter was making armaments to burn Sweden; when
Wood's Halfpence (on behalf of her Improper Grace
of Kendal, the lean Quasi-Wife, "Maypole" or Hop-
pole, who had run short of money, as she often did)
were about beginning to jingle in Ireland;* when
Law's Bubble "System" had fallen, well flaccid, into
Chaos again; when Dubois the unutterable Cardinal
had at length died, and d'Orhians the unutterable Re-
? Coxe (1. 216, 217, and supply the dates); Walpole to Townahend, 18th
October 1728 (lb. li. 276): "The Drapiev'i Letters" are of 1724,
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? CHAf. I. ] DOUBLE-MARRIAGE IS DECIDED OK. 289
Oct. 1723.
gent was unexpectedly about to do so, -- in a most
surprising Sodom-and-Gomorrah manner. * Not to men-
tion other dull and vile phenomena of putrid fermenta-
tion, which were transpiring, or skittishly bubbling-up,
in poor benighted rotten Europe here or there; --since
these are sufficient to date the Transaction for us; and
what does not stick to our Fritz and his affairs it is
more pleasant to us to forget than to remember, of such
an epoch.
Hereby, for the present, is a great load rolled from
Queen Sophie Dorothee's heart. One, and that the
highest, of her abstruse negociations, cherished, la-
boured in, these fourteen years, she has brought to a
victorious issue, -- has she not? Her poor Mother,
once so radiant, now so dim and angry, shut in the
Castle of Ahlden, does not approve this Double-Mar-
riage; not she for her part; -- as indeed evil to all
Hanoverian interests is now chiefly her good, poor
Lady; and she is growing more and more of a Megaera
every day. With whom Sophie Dorothee has her own
difficulties and abstruse practices; but struggles always
to maintain, under sevenfold secrecy, some thread of
correspondence and pious filial ministration wherever
possible; that the poor exasperated Mother, wretched-
est and angriest of women, be not quite cut-off from
the kinship of the living, but that some soft breath
of pity may cool her burning heart now and then. **
? 2d December 1723: Barbler, Journal Ilistorique du Rigne de Louis XV.
(Paris, 1847), i. 192, 196; Lacreteile, Histoire de France, 18m<< slide; *c.
? ? In Memoirs of Sophia Dorothea (London, 1845), ii. 885, 393, are certain
fractions of this Correspondence, "edited" in an amazing manner.
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. II. 19
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? BOOK V.
DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT, AND WHAT ELEMENT
IT FELL INTO
1723-1726.
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? 1723-1726.
CHAPTER L
DOUBLE-MARRIAGE IS DECIDED ON.
We saw George I. at Berlin in October 1723, look-
ing-out upon his little Grandson drilling the Cadets
there; but we did not mention what important errand
had brought his Majesty thither.
Visits between Hanover and Berlin had been fre-
quent for a long time back; the young Queen of Prus-
sia, sometimes with her Husband, sometimes without,
running often over to see her Father; who, even after
his accession to the English crown, was generally for
some months every year to be met-with in those
favourite regions of his. He himself did not much
visit, being of taciturn splenetic nature: but this once he
had agreed to return a visit they had lately made him,
-- where a certain weighty Business had been agreed
upon, withal; which his Britannic Majesty was to con-
summate formally, by treaty, when the meeting in
Berlin took effect. His Britannic Majesty, accordingly,
is come; the business in hand is no other than that
thrice-famous "Double-Marriage" of Prussia with Eng-
land; which once had such a sound in the ear of Ru-
mour, and still bulks so big in the archives of the
Eighteenth Century; which worked such woe to all
parties concerned in it; and is, in fact, a first-rate nui-
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. //. 18
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? 274 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [bookv.
1723-1726.
sance in the History of that poor Century, as written
hitherto. Nuisance demanding urgently to be abated;
-- were that well possible at present. Which, alas, it
is not, to any great degree; there being an important
young Friedrich inextricably wrapt-up in it, to whom
it was of such vital or almost fatal importance! With-
out a Friedrich, the affair could be reduced to some-
thing like its real size, and recorded in a few pages;
or might even, with advantage, be forgotten alto-
gether, and become zero. More gigantic instance of
much ado about nothing has seldom occurred in human
annals; -- had not there been a Friedrich in the heart
of it
.
Crown-Prince Friedrich is still very young for mar-
riage-speculations on his score: but Mamma has thought
good to take matters in time. And so we shall, in the
next ensuing parts of this poor History, have to hear
almost as much about Marriage as in the foolishest
Three-volume Novel, and almost to still less purpose.
For indeed, in that particular, Friedrich's young Life
may be called a Romance flung heels-over-head; -- Mar-
riage being the one event there, round which all events
turn, -- but turn in the inverse or reverse way (as if
the Devil were in them); not only towards no happy
goal, for him or Mamma, or us, but at last towards
hardly any goal at all for anybody! So mad did the
affair grow; -- and is so madly recorded in those in-
extricable, dateless, chaotic Books. We have now come
to regions of Narrative, which seem to consist of murky
Nothingness put on-boil; not land, or water, or air, or
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? CHAP. I. J DOUBLE-MARRIAGE IS DECIDED ON. 275
1723-1726.
fire, but a tumultuously whirling commixture of all the
four; -- of immense extent, too. Which must be got
crossed, in some human manner. Courage, patience,
good reader!
Queen Sophie Dorothee has taken Time by the Forelock.
Already, for a dozen years, this matter has been
treated of. Queen Sophie Dorothee, ever since the
birth of her Wilhelmina, has had the notion of it; and,
on her first visit afterwards to Hanover, proposed it to
"Princess Caroline," -- Queen Caroline of England
who was to be, and who in due course was; -- an ex-
cellent accomplished Brandenburg-Anspach Lady, fa-
miliar from of old in the Prussian Court: "You, Caro-
line, Cousin dear, have a little Prince, Fritz, or let us
call him Fred, since he is to be English; little Fred,
who will one day, if all go right, be King of England.
He is two years older than my little Wilhelmina: why
should not they wed, and the two chief Protestant
Houses, and Nations, tbereby? be united? " Princess
Caroline was very willing; so was Electress Sophie,
the Great-Grandmother of both the parties; so were the
Georges, Father and Grandfather of Fred: little Fred
himself was highly charmed, when told of it; even
little Wilhelmina, with her dolls, looked pleasantly
demure on the occasion. So it remained settled in
fact, though not in form; and little Fred (a florid milk-
faced foolish kind of Boy, I guess) made presents to
his little Prussian Cousin, wrote bits of love-letters to
18*
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? 27G DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [bookv.
1728-1736.
her; and all along afterwards fancied himself, and at
length ardently enough became, her little lover and
intended, -- always rather a little fellow: -- to which
sentiments Wilhelmina signifies that she responded with
the due maidenly indifference, but not in an offensive
manner.
After our Prussian Fritz's birth, the matter took a
still closer form: "You, dear Princess Caroline, you
have now two little Princesses again, either of whom
might suit my little Fritzchen: let us take Amelia, the
second of them, who is nearest his age? " "Agreed! "
answered Princess Caroline again. "Agreed! " answered
all the parties interested: and so it was settled, that
the Marriage of Prussia to England should be a Double
one, Fred of Hanover and England to Wilhelmina,
Fritz of Prussia to Amelia; and children and parents
lived thenceforth in the constant understanding that
such, in due course of years, was to be the case, though
nothing yet was formally concluded by treaty upon it? *
Queen Sophie Dorothee of Prussia was always
eager enough for treaty, and conclusion to her scheme.
True to it, she, as needle to the pole in all weathers;
sometimes in the wildest weather, poor lady. Nor did
the Hanover Serene Highnesses, at any time, draw
back or falter: but having very soon got wafted across
to England, into new more complex conditions, and
wider anxieties in that new country, they were not so
impressively eager as Queen Sophie, on this interesting
point . Electress Sophie, judicious Great-Grandmother,
* Pollnitzi Memoiren, ii. 188.
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? CHAP. 1. 1 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE IS DECIDED ON. 277
1723-1726.
was not now there: Electress Sophie had died about a
month before queen Anne; and never saw the English
Canaan, much as she had longed for it. George I. ,
her son, a taciturn, rather splenetic elderly Gentleman,
very foreign in England, and oftenest rather sulky
there and elsewhere, was not in a humour to be forward in that particular business.
George I. had got into quarrel with his Prince of
Wales, Fred's Father, -- him who is one day to be
George II. , always a rather foolish little Prince, though
his Wife Caroline was Wisdom's self in a manner: --
George I. had other much more urgent cares than that
of marrying his disobedient foolish little Prince of
Wales's offspring; and he always pleaded difficulties,
Acts of Parliament that would be needed, and the like,
whenever Sophie Dorothee came to visit him at Hano-
ver, and urge this matter. The taciturn, inarticulately
thoughtful, rather sulky old Gentleman, he had weighty
burdens lying on him; felt fretted and galled, in many
ways; and had found life, Electoral and even Royal,
a deceptive sumptuosity, little better than a more or
less extensive "feast of shells," next to no real meat or
drink left in it to the hungry heart of man. Wife
sitting half-frantic in the Castle of Ahlden, waxing
more and more into a gray-haired Megaera (with whom
Sophie Dorothee under seven seals of secrecy cor-
responds a little, and even the Prince of Wales is
suspected of wishing to correspond); a foolish disobe-
dient Prince of Wales; Jacobite Pretender people with
their Mar Rebellions, with their Alberoni combinations;
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? 278 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [BOOK v.
1723-1726.
an English Parliament jangling and debating unmelodi-
ously, whose very language is a mystery to us, nothing
but Walpole in dog-latin to help us through it: truly
it is not a Heaven-on-Earth altogether, much as Mother
Sophie and her foolish favourite, our disobedient Prince
of Wales, might long for it! And the Hanover Tail,
the Robethons, Bernstorfs, Fabrices, even the Blackamoor
Porters, -- they are not beautiful either, to a taciturn
Majesty of some sense, if he cared about their doings
or them. Voracious, plunderous, all of them; like
hounds, long hungry, got into a rich house which has
no master, or a mere imaginary one. "Mentiris impu-
dentissime," said Walpole in his dog-latin once, in our
Royal presence, to one of these official plunderous
gentlemen, "You tell an impudent lie! "-- at which we
only laughed. *
His Britannic Majesty by no means wanted sense,
had not his situation been incurably absurd. In his
young time he had served creditably enough against
the Turks; twice commanded the Reichs-Army in the
Marlborough Wars, and did at least testify his indigna-
tion at the inefficient state of it. His Foreign Politics,
so-called, were not madder than those of others. Bremen
and Verden he had bought a bargain; and it was na-
tural to protect them by such resources as he had,
English or other. Then there was the World-Spectre
of the Pretender, stretching huge over Creation, like
the Brocken-Spectre in hazy weather; -- against whom
? Horace Walpole: Reminiscences of George J. and George II. (London,
1788).
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? CHAP. T. ] DOUBLE-MARRIAGE IS DECIDED ON. 279
1723-1726.
how protect yourself, except by cannonading for the
Kaiser at Messina; by rushing into every brabble that
rose, and hiring the parties with money to fight it out
well? It was the established method in that matter;
method not of George's inventing, nor did it cease with
George. As to Domestic Politics, except it were to
keep quiet, and eat what the gods had provided, one
does not find that he had any. -- The sage Leibnitz
would very fain have followed him to England; but,
for reasons indifferently good, could never be allowed.
If the truth must be told, the sage Leibnitz had a wis-
dom which now looks dreadfully like that of a wiseacre!
In Mathematics even, -- he did invent the Differential
Calculus, but it is certain also he never could believe
in Newton's System of the Universe, nor would read
the Principia at all. For the rest, he was in quarrel
about Newton with the Royal Society here; ill seen,
it is probable, by this sage and the other. To the
Hanover Official Gentlemen devouring their English
dead-horse, it did not appear that his presence could
be useful in these parts. *
Nor are the Hanover womankind his Majesty has
about him, quasi-wives or not, of a soul-entrancing cha-
racter; far indeed from that. Two in chief there are,
a fat and a lean: the lean, called "Maypole" by the
English populace, is "Duchess of Kendal," with excel-
lent pension, in the English Peerages; Schulenburg the
former German name of her; decidedly a quasi-wife
? Guhrauer, Gottfried Freiherr von Leibnitz, eine Biogrophie (Breslau,
1843); Ker of Keraland, Memoirs of Secret Transactions (London, 1727).
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? 280 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [bOOKV.
1728-1726.
(influential, against her will, in that sad Konigsmark
Tragedy, at Hanover long since), who is fallen thin
and old. "May-pole," -- or hare Hop-pole, with the
leaves all stript; lean, long, hard; -- though she once
had her summer verdures too; and still, as an old quasi-
wife, or were it only as an old article of furniture, has
her worth to the royal mind. Schulenburgs, kindred
of hers, are high in the military line; some of whom
we may meet.
Then, besides this lean one, there is a fat; of whom
Walpole (Horace, who had seen her in boyhood) gives
description. Big staring black eyes, with rim of cir-
cular eyebrow, like a coachwheel round its nave, very
black the eyebrows also; vast red face; cheeks running
into neck, neck blending indistinguishably with stomach,
-- a mere cataract of fluid tallow, skinned-over and
curiously dizened, according to Walpole's portraiture.
This charming creature, Kielmannsegge by German
name, was called "Countess of Darlington" in this
country, -- with excellent pension, as was natural.
They all had pensions: even Queen Sophie Dorothee,
I have noticed in our State-Paper Office, has her small
pension, "800Z. a-year on the Irish Establishment:"
Irish Establishment will never miss such a pittance for
our poor Child, and it may be useful over yonder! --
This Kielmannsegge Countess of Darlington was, and
is, believed by the gossiping English to have been a
second simultaneous Mistress of his Majesty's; but seems, after all, to have been his Half-Sister and nothing
more. Half-Sister (due to Gentleman Ernst and a
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? CHAP. I. ] DOUBLE-MAKRIAGE IS DECIDED ON. 281
1723-1728.
Countess Platen of bad Hanover fame); grown dread-
fully fat; but not without shrewdness, perhaps affection;
and worth something in this dull foreign country, mere
cataract of animal oils as she has become. These Two
are the amount of his Britannic Majesty's resources in
that matter; resources surely not extensive, after all! --
His Britannic Majesty's day, in St. James's, is not
of an interesting sort to him; and every evening, he
comes precisely at a certain hour to drink beer, sea-
soned with a little tobacco, and the company of these
two women. Drinks diligently in a sipping way, says
Horace; and smokes, with such dull speech as there
may be, -- not till he is drunk, but only perceptibly
drunkish; raised into a kind of cloudy narcotic Olympus,
and opaquely superior to the ills of life; in which state
he walks uncomplainingly to bed. Government, when
it can by any art be avoided, he rarely meddles with;
shows a rugged sagacity, where he does and must
meddle: consigns it to Walpole in dog-latin, --. laughs
at his "mentiris. " This is the First George; first
triumph of the Constitutional Principle, which has since
gone to such sublime heights among us, -- heights
which we at last begin to suspect might be depths,
leading down, all men now ask: Whitherwards?
A
much-admired invention in its time, that of letting-go
the rudder, or setting a wooden figure expensively
dressed to take charge of it, and discerning that the
ship would sail of itself so much more easily! Which
it will, if a peculiarly good sea-boat, in certain kinds
of sea, -- for a time. Till the Sindbad "Magnetic
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? 282 DODBLE-MAREIAOE PROJECT STARTED. [lOOKv.
1723-1726
Mountains" begin to be felt pulling, or the circles oi
Charybdis get you in their sweep; and then what an
invention it was! -- This, we say, is the new Sovereign
Man, whom the English People, being in some per-
plexity about the Pope and other points, have called-
in from Hanover, to walk before them in the ways of
heroism, and by command and by example guide Hea-
venwards their affairs and them. And they hope that
he will do it? Or perhaps that their affairs will go
thither of their own accord? Always a singular
People! --
Poor George, careless of these ulterior issues, has
always trouble enough with the mere daily details,
Parliamentary insolences, Jacobite plottings, South-Sea
Bubbles; and wishes to hunt, when he gets over to
Hanover, rather than to make Marriage-Treaties. Be-
sides, as Wilhelmina tells us, they have filled him with
lies, these Hanover Women and their emissaries: "Your
Princess Wilhelmina is a monster of ill-temper, crooked
in the back and what-not," say they. If there is to be
a Marriage, double or single, these Improper Females
must first be persuaded to consent. * Difficulties enough.
And there is none to help; Friedrich Wilhelm cares
little about the matter, though he has given his Yes,
-- Yes, since you will.
But Sophie Dorothee is diligent and urgent, by all
opportunities; -- and, at length, in 1723, the conjunc-
ture is propitious, Domestic Jacobitism, in the shape
? Mimoires ie Bareith.
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? CHAP. I. J DOUBLE-MARRIAGE IS DECIDED ON. 283
1728-1726.
of Bishop Atterbury, has got itself well banished; Al-
beroni and his big schemes, years ago they are blown
into outer darkness; Charles XII. is well dead, and of
our Bremen and Verden no question henceforth; even
the Kaiser's Spectre-Hunt, or Spanish Duel, is at rest
for the present, and the Congress of Cambrai is sitting,
or trying all it can to sit: at home or abroad, there is
nothing, not even Wood's Irish Halfpence, as yet
making noise. And on the other hand, Czar Peter is
rumoured (not without foundation) to be coming west-
ward, with some huge Armament; which, whether "in-
tended for Sweden" or not, renders a Prussian alliance
doubly valuable.
And so now at last, in this favourable aspect of
the stars, King George, over at Herrenhausen, was by
much management of his Daughter Sophie's, and after
many hitches, brought to the mark. And Friedrich
Wilhelm came over too; ostensibly to bring home his
Queen, but in reality to hear his Father-in-law's com-
pliance to the Double-Marriage, -- for which his Prus-
sian Majesty is willing enough, if others are willing.
Praised be Heaven, King George has agreed to every-
thing; consents, one propitious day (Autumn 1723, day
not otherwise dated), -- Czar Peter's Armament, and
the questionable aspects in France, perhaps quickening
his volitions a little. Upon which, Friedrich Wilhelm
and Queen Sophie have returned home, content in that
matter; and expect shortly his Britannic Majesty's
counter-visit, to perfect the details, and make a Treaty
of it.
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? 284 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [BOOK v.
. 1723-1756.
His Britannic Majesty, we say, has in substance
agreed to everything. And now, in the silence of Na-
ture, the brown leaves of October still hanging to the
trees in a picturesque manner, and Wood's Halfpence
not yet begun to jingle in the Drapier's Letters of
Dean Swift, -- his Britannic Majesty is expected at
Berlin. At Berlin; properly at Charlottenburg, a plea-
sant rural or suburban Palace (built by his Britannic
Majesty's late noble Sister, Sophie Charlotte, "the Re-
publican Queen," and named after her, as was once
mentioned), a mile or two South-west of that City.
There they await King George's counter-visit.
Poor Wilhelmina is in much trepidation about it;
and imparts her poor little feelings, her anticipations
and experiences, in readable terms:
"There came, in those weeks, one of the Duke of Glou-
"cester's gentlemen to Berlin," -- Duke of Gloucester is Fred
our intended, not yetPrince of Wales, and if the reader should
ever hear of a Duke of Edinburgh, that too is Fred, -- "Duke
"of Gloucester's gentlemen to Berlin," says Wilhelmina: "the
"Queen had Soiree (Appartement); he was presented to her as
"well as to me. He made me a very obliging compliment on
"his Master's part; I blushed, and answered only by a curtsy.
"The Queen, who had her eye on me, was very angry I had
"answered the Duke's compliments in mere silence; and rated
"me sharply (me lava la iete d'importance) for it; and ordered
"me, under pain of her indignation, to repair that fault to-
"morrow. I retired, all in tears, to my room; exasperated
"against the Queen and against the Duke; I swore I would
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? CHAP. I. l DOUBLE-MARRIAGE IS DECIDED ON. 285
8th Oct. 1723.
"never marry him, would throw myself at the feet" -- And so
on, as young ladies of vivacious temper, in extreme circum-
stances, are wont: -- did speak, however, next day, to my
Hanover gentleman about his Duke, a little, though in an em-
barrassed manner. Alas, I am yet but fourteen, gone the 3d
of July last: tremulous as aspen-leaves; or say, as sheet-
lightning bottled in one of the thinnest human skins; and have
no experience of foolish Dukes and affairs! --
1'Meanwhile," continues Wilhelmina, '' the King of Eng-
land's time of arrival was drawing nigh. We repaired, on
"the 6th of October, to Charlottenburg to receive him. The
"heart of me kept beating, and I was in cruel agitations.
"King George" (my Grandfather and Grand Uncle) "arrived
"on the 8th, about seven in the evening;" -- dusky shades
already sinking over Nature everywhere, and all paths
growing dim. Abundant flunkeys, of course, rush-out with
torches or what is needful. "The King of Prussia, the Queen
"and all their Suite received him in the Court of the Palace,
? 'the 'Apartments'being on the ground-floor. So soon as he
"had saluted the King and Queen, I was presented to him.
"He embraced me; and turning to the Queen said to her,
"' Your daughter is very big of her age! ' He gave the Queen
"his hand, and led her into her apartment, whither everybody
"followed them. As soon as I came in,, he took a light from
"the table, and surveyed me from head to foot. I stood mo-
"tionless as a statue, and was much put out of countenance.
"All this went on without his uttering the least word. Having
"thus passed me in review, he addressed himself to my Bro-
"ther, whom he caressed much, and amused himself with, for
"a good while. " Pretty little Grandson this, your Majesty;
-- any future of history in this one, think you? "I," says
Wilhelmina, "took the opportunity of slipping-out;" --
hopeful to get away; but could not, the Queen having noticed,
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? 286 DQUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [book Y.
8th Oct. 1723.
"The Queen made me a sign to follow her; and passed
"into a neighbouring apartment, where she had the English
"and Germans of King George's Suite successively presented
"to her. After some talk with these gentlemen, she withdrew;
"leaving me to entertain them, and saying: 'Speak English
"'to my Daughter; you will find she speaks it very well. '
"I felt much less embarrassed, once the Queen was gone; and
"picking-up a little courage, I entered into conversation with
"these English. As I spoke their language like my mother-
"tongue, I got pretty well out of the affair, and everybody
"seemed charmed with me. They made my eulogy to the
"Queen; told her Ihad quite the English air, and was made
"to be their Sovereign one day. It was saying a great deal
"on their part: for these English think themselves so much
"above all other people, that they imagine they are paying a
"high compliment when they tell any one he has got English
"manners.
"Their King" (my Grandpapa) "had got Spanish man-
"ners, I should say: he was of an extreme gravity, and hardly
"spoke a word to anybody. He saluted Madam Sonsfeld"
(my invaluable thrice-dear Governess) "very coldly; and
"asked her, 'If I was always so serious, and if my humour
"'was of the melancholy turn? ' 'Anything but that, Sire,'
"answered the other: 'but the respect she has for your
"'Majesty prevents her from being as sprightly as shecora-
"'monly is. ' He wagged his head, and answered nothing.
"The reception he had given me, and this question, of which
"I heard, gave me such a chill, that I never had the courage
"to speak to him," -- was merely looked-at with a candle by
Grandpapa.
"We were summoned to supper at last, where this grave
"Sovereign still remained dumb. Perhaps he was right, per-
"haps he was wrong; but I think he followed the proverb,
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? CHAP. 1. ] DOUBLE-MARRIAGE IS DECIDED ON. 287
I2th Oct. 1723.
"which says, Better hold your tongue than speak badly. At
"the end of the repast he felt indisposed. The Queen would
"have persuaded him to quit table; they bandied compliments
"a good while on the point; but at last she threw-down her
'' napkin, and rose. The King of England naturally rose too;
"but began to stagger; the King of Prussia ran up to help
"him, all the company ran bustling about him; but it was to
"no purpose: he sank on his knees; his peruke falling on one
"side, and his hat" (or at least his head, Madam! ) "on the
"other. They stretched him softly on the floor; where he
"remained a good hour without consciousness. The pains
"they took with him brought back his senses, by degrees, at
"last. The Queen and the King (of Prussia) were in despair
"all this while. Many have thought this attack was a herald
''of the stroke of apoplexy which came by and by," -- within
four years from this date, and carried-off his Majesty in a very
gloomy manner.
"They passionately entreated him to retire now," con-
tinues Wilhelmina; "but he would not by any means. He
"led-out the Queen, and did the other ceremonies, according
"to rule; had a very bad night, as we learned underhand;" --
but persisted stoically nevertheless, being a crowned Majesty,
and bound to it. He stoically underwent four or three other
days, of festival, sight-seeing, "pleasure" so-called;--among
other sights, saw little Fritz drilling his Cadets at Berlin; --
and on the fourth day (12th October 1723, so thinks
Wilhelmina) fairly "signed the Treaty of the Double-Mar-
"riage," English Townshend and the Prussian Ministry
"having settled all things. "*
? Wilhelmina, Mmoiret Je Bareith, I. 88, 87. -- In Coxe (Memoirs of
Sir Robert Walpole, London, 1798), ii. 266,172, 278, are some faint hint*,
from Townshend, of this Berlin journey.
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? 288 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [bOOKv.
Oct. 172i
"Signed the Treaty," thinks Wilhemina, "all things
heing settled. " Which is an error on the part of Wilhel-
mina. Settled, many or all things were, by Townshend
and the others: but before signing, there was Parlia-
ment to be apprised, there were formalities, expendi-
ture of time; between the cup and the lip, such things
to intervene; -- and the sad fact is, the Double-Mar-
riage Treaty never was signed at all! -- However, all
things being now settled ready for signing, his Britannic
Majesty, next morning, set-off for the Gdhrde again, to
try if there were any hunting possible.
This authentic glimpse, one of the few that are
attainable, of their first Constitutional King, let English
readers make the most of. The act done proved dread-
fully momentous to our little Friend, his Grandson;
and will much concern us!
Thus, at any rate, was the Treaty of the Double-
Marriage settled, to the point of signing, . -- thought
to be as good as signed. It was at the time when Czar
Peter was making armaments to burn Sweden; when
Wood's Halfpence (on behalf of her Improper Grace
of Kendal, the lean Quasi-Wife, "Maypole" or Hop-
pole, who had run short of money, as she often did)
were about beginning to jingle in Ireland;* when
Law's Bubble "System" had fallen, well flaccid, into
Chaos again; when Dubois the unutterable Cardinal
had at length died, and d'Orhians the unutterable Re-
? Coxe (1. 216, 217, and supply the dates); Walpole to Townahend, 18th
October 1728 (lb. li. 276): "The Drapiev'i Letters" are of 1724,
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? CHAf. I. ] DOUBLE-MARRIAGE IS DECIDED OK. 289
Oct. 1723.
gent was unexpectedly about to do so, -- in a most
surprising Sodom-and-Gomorrah manner. * Not to men-
tion other dull and vile phenomena of putrid fermenta-
tion, which were transpiring, or skittishly bubbling-up,
in poor benighted rotten Europe here or there; --since
these are sufficient to date the Transaction for us; and
what does not stick to our Fritz and his affairs it is
more pleasant to us to forget than to remember, of such
an epoch.
Hereby, for the present, is a great load rolled from
Queen Sophie Dorothee's heart. One, and that the
highest, of her abstruse negociations, cherished, la-
boured in, these fourteen years, she has brought to a
victorious issue, -- has she not? Her poor Mother,
once so radiant, now so dim and angry, shut in the
Castle of Ahlden, does not approve this Double-Mar-
riage; not she for her part; -- as indeed evil to all
Hanoverian interests is now chiefly her good, poor
Lady; and she is growing more and more of a Megaera
every day. With whom Sophie Dorothee has her own
difficulties and abstruse practices; but struggles always
to maintain, under sevenfold secrecy, some thread of
correspondence and pious filial ministration wherever
possible; that the poor exasperated Mother, wretched-
est and angriest of women, be not quite cut-off from
the kinship of the living, but that some soft breath
of pity may cool her burning heart now and then. **
? 2d December 1723: Barbler, Journal Ilistorique du Rigne de Louis XV.
(Paris, 1847), i. 192, 196; Lacreteile, Histoire de France, 18m<< slide; *c.
? ? In Memoirs of Sophia Dorothea (London, 1845), ii. 885, 393, are certain
fractions of this Correspondence, "edited" in an amazing manner.
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. II. 19
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