when
referring
to it.
Thomas Carlyle
He storms
and rages forward, again and again, now here, now
there; but is met everywhere by steady deadly mus-
ketry; and has to retire, fruitless, about daybreak, him-
self wounded, and leaving his eight cannons, and four-
hundred slain.
Poor Charles, there had been no sleep for him that
night, and little for very many nights: "on getting to
"horse, on the shore at Stralsund, he fainted repeated-
"ly; fell out of one faint into another; but such was
"his rage, he always recovered himself, and got on
"horseback again. "* Poor Charles: a bit of right
royal Swedish-German stuff, after his kind; and tragi-
cally ill bested now at last! This is his exit he is
now making, -- still in a consistent manner. It is
fifteen years now since he waded ashore at Copen-
hagen, and first heard the bullets whistle round him,
t Bflchiioi)! , j. q? ,
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? 170 friedrich's APPRENTICESHIP, FIRST STAGE, [book Iv.
1718-1723.
Since which time, what a course has he run; crash-
ing athwart all manner of ranked armies, diplomatic
combinations, right onward, like a cannon-ball; tearing-
off many solemn wigs in those Northern parts, and
scattering them upon the winds, -- even as he did his
own full-buttom wig, impatiently, on that first day at
Copenhagen, finding it unfurthersome for actual busi-
ness in battle. *
In about a month hence, the last important horn-
work is forced; Charles, himself seen fiercely fighting
on the place, is swept back from his last hornwork;
and the general storm, now altogether irresistible, is
evidently at hand. On entreaty from his followers,
entreaty often renewed, with tears even (it is said) and
on bended knees, Charles at last consents to go. He
left no orders for surrender; would not name the word;
"left only ambiguous vague orders. " But on the 19th
December 1715, he does actually depart; gets on
board a little boat, towards a Swedish frigate, which is
lying above a mile out; the whole road to which, be-
tween Riigen and the mainland, is now solid ice, and
has to be cut as he proceeds. This slow operation,
which lasted all day, was visible, and its meaning well
known, in the besiegers' lines. The King of Den-
mark saw it; and brought a battery to bear upon it;
his thought had always been, that Charles should be
captured or killed in Stralsund, and not allowed to get
away. Friedrich Wilhelm was of quite another mind,
and had even used secret influences to that effect;
? KBhler: Mumbehistigungen, xlv. 213,
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? CHAP, v. ] FHIEDRICH WILHELM's ONE WAR. 171
1719.
eager that Charles should escape. It is said, he re-
monstrated very passionately with the Danish King
and this battery of his; nay, some add, since remon-
strances did not avail, and the battery still threatened
to fire, Friedrich Wilhelm drew-up a Prussian regiment
or two at the muzzles of it, and said, You shall shoot
us first, then. * Which is a pleasant myth at least; and
symbolical of what the reality was.
Charles reached his frigate about nightfall, but
made little way from the place, owing to defect of
wind. They say, he even heard the chamade beating
in Stralsund next day, and that a Danish frigate had
nearly taken him; both which statements are perhaps
also a little mythical. Certain only that he vanished at
this point into Scandinavia; and general Europe never
saw him more. Vanished into a cloud of untenable
schemes, guided by Alberoni, Baron Gortz and others;
wild schemes, financial, diplomatic, warlike, nothing not
chimerical in them but his own unquenchable real
energy; -- and found his death (by assassination, as
appears) in the trenches of Frederickshall, among the
Norway Hills, one winter night, three years hence.
Assassination instigated by the Swedish Official Per-
sons, it is thought. The bullet passed through both his
temples; he had clapt his hand upon the hilt of his
sword, and was found leant against the parapet, in that
attitude, -- gone upon a long march now. So vanished
Charles Twelfth; the distressed Official Persons and
Nobility exploding upon him in that rather damnable
? Buchholz, p. 138 n.
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? 172 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [bookiy.
1713-1723.
way, -- anxious to slip their muzzles at any cost what*
over. A man of antique character; true as a child,
simple, even bashful, and of a strength and valour
rarely exampled among men. Open-hearted Antique
populations would have much worshipped such an Ap-
pearance; -- Voltaire, too, for the artificial Moderns,
has made a myth of him, of another type; one of
those impossible cast-iron gentlemen, heroically mad,
such as they show in the Playhouses, pleasant but not
profitable, to an undiscerning Public* The last of the
Swedish Kings died in this way; and the unmuzzled
Official Persons have not made much of kinging it in
his stead. Charles died; and, as we may say, took the
life of Sweden along with him; for it has never shone
among the Nations since, or been much worth mention-
ing, except for its misfortunes, spasmodic impotences
and unwisdoms.
Stralsund instantly beat the chamade, as we heard;
and all was surrender and subjection in those regions.
Surrender; not yet pacification, not while Charles lived:
nor for half-a-century after his death, could Mecklen-
burg, Holstein-Gottorp, and other his confederates,
escape a sad coil of calamities bequeathed by him to
them. Friedrich Wilhelm returned to Berlin, victorious
from his first, which was also his last, Prussian War,
in January 1716; and was doubtless a happy man, not
"to be buried in the Schlosskirche (under penalty of
? See Alderfetd (Military Bitlory of Charles XII. London, 1740, 2 vols. ,
"from the Swedish," through the French) and Kb'hler (Mambeluitigunqen,
pbl supra), for some auUwntbto traits of his life and, him,
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? CHAP. V. ] FEIEDEICH WILHELM's ONE WAK. 173
Gad's curse)," but to find his little Fritz and Feekin,
and all the world, merry to see him, and all things put
square again, abroad as at home. He forbade the
"triumphal entry" which Berlin was preparing for him;
entered privately; and ordered a thanksgiving-sermon
in all the churches next Sunday.
The Devil in harness: Creutz the Finance-Minister.
In the King's absence nothing particular had occur-
red, -- except indeed the walking of a dreadful Spectre,
three nights over, in the corridors of the Palace at
Berlin; past the doors where our little Prince and Wil-
helmina slept: bringing with it not airs from Heaven,
we may fear, but blasts from the Other place! The stal-
wart sentries shook in their paces, and became "half-
dead" from terror. "A horrible noise, one night," says
Wilhelmina, "when all were buried in sleep: all the
"world started up, thinking it was fire; but they were
"much surprised to find that it was a Spectre. " Evident
Spectre, seen to pass this way, "and glide along that
"gallery, as if towards the apartments of the Queen's
"Ladies. " Captain of the Guard could find nothing in
that gallery, or anywhere, and withdrew again:-- but
lo, it returns the way it went! Stalwart sentries were
found melted into actual deliquium of swooning, as the
Preternatural swept-by this second time. "They said,
"It was the Devil in person; raised by Swedish wizards
"to kill the Prince-Royal. "* Poor Prince-Royal; sleep-
* Wilhelmina: Memoires de Bareith, I. 18,
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? 174 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1713-1723.
ing sound, we hope; little more than three years old
at this time, and knowing nothing of it! -- All Berlin
talked of the affair. People dreaded it might be a
"Spectre" of Swedish tendencies; aiming to burn the
Palace, spirit-off the Royal Children, and do one knew
not what?
Not that at all, by any means! The Captain of the
Guard, reinforcing himself to defiance even of the
Preternatural, does, on the third or fourth apparition,
clutch the Spectre; finds him to be -- a prowling
Scullion of the Palace, employed here he will not say
how; who is straight-way locked in prison, and so
exorcised at least. Exorcism is perfect; but Berlin is
left guessing as to the rest, -- secret of it discoverable
only by the Queen's Majesty and some few most inte-
rior parties. To the following effect.
Spectre-Scullion, it turns out, had been employed
by Grumkow, as spy upon one of the Queen's Maids
of Honour, -- suspected by him to be a No-maid of
Dishonour, and of ill-intentions too, -- who lodges in
that part of the Palace; of whom Herr Grumkow wishes
intensely to know, "Has she an intrigue with Creutz
the new Finance-Minister, or has she not? " "Has,
beyond doubt! " the Spectre-Scullion hopes he has dis-
covered, before exorcism. Upon which Grumkow, es-
sentially illuminated as to the required particular, ma-
nages to get the Spectre-Scullion loose again, not quite
hanged; glozing the matter off to his Majesty on his
return: for the rest, ruins entirely the Creutz specula-
tion; and has the No-maid called of Honour, -- with
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? CHAP, v. ] FRIEDRICH WILHELM's ONE WAS. 175
17J5.
whom Creutz thought to have seduced the young King
also, and made the young King amenable, -- dismissed
from Court in a peremptory irrefragable manner. This
is the secret of the Spectre-Scullion, fully revealed by
Wilhelmina many years after.
This one short glance into the Satan's Invisible-
World of the Berlin Palace, we could not but afford
the reader, when an actual Goblin of it happened to be
walking in our neighbourhood. Such an Invisible-
World of Satan exists in most human Houses, and in
all human Palaces; -- with its imps, familiar-demons,
spies, go-betweens, and industrious bad-angels, conti-
nually mounting and descending by their Jacob's-
Ladder, or Palace Backstairs: operated upon by Con-
jurors of the Grumkow-Creutz or other sorts. Tyrannous
Mamsell Leti,* treacherous Mamsell Ramen, valet-sur-
geon Eversmann, and plenty more: readers of Wil-
helmina's Book are too well acquainted with them.
Nor are expert Conjurors wanting; capable to work
strange feats with so plastic an element as Friedrich
Wilhelm's mind. Let this one short glimpse of such
Subterranean World be sufficient indication to the reader's
fancy.
Creutz was not dismissed, as some people had ex-
? Leti, Governess to Wilhelmina, but soon dismissed for insolent
cruelty and other bad conduct, was daughter of that Oregorlo Leti ("Pro-
testant Italian" Refugee, "Historiographer of Amsterdam," . fcc. &c), who
once had a pension in this country; and who wrote History Books, a Life of
Cromwell one of them, so regardless of the difference between true and
false.
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? 176 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book IT.
1713-1723.
pected he might be. Creutz continues Finance-Minister;
makes a great figure in the fashionable Berlin world in
these coming years, and is much talked-of in the old
Books, -- though, as he works mostly underground,
and merely does budgets and finance-matters with ex-
treme talent and success, we shall hope to hear almost
nothing more of him. Majesty, while Crown-Prince,
when he first got his regiment from Papa, had found
this Creutz "Auditor" in it; a poor but handsome fel-
low, with perhaps seven shillings a week to live upon;
but with such a talent for arranging, for reckoning
and recording, in brief for controlling finance, as more
and more charmed the royal mind. *
One of Majesty's first acts was to appoint him
Finance-Minister;** and there he continued steady, not
to be overset by little flaws of wind like this of the
Spectre-Scullion's raising. It is certain he did, himself,
become rich; and helped well to make his Majesty so.
"We are to fancy him his Majesty's bottleholder in that
battle with the Finance Nightmares and Imbroglios,
when so much had to be subjugated, and drilled into
step, in that department. Evidently a longheaded
cunning fellow; much of the Grumkow type; -- stand-
ing very low in Wilhelmina's judgment; and ill-seen,
when not avoidable altogether, by the Queen's Majesty.
"The man was a poor Country Bailiff's (Amtmann's,
? Hauvlllon ("Elder Mauvillon," Anonymous): llistoire de Frediric
Guillaume 1, par M. de M ? ? ? (Amsterdam et Leipzig, 1741), i. 47. A vague
flimsy Compilation; -- gives abundant "State Papers" (to such as want
them), and echoes of old Newspaper rumour. Very copious on Creutz,
? ? 4th May 1713: Preuss, 1. 349 n.
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? CHAP. v. ] PEIEDRICH WILHELM's ONE WAR. 177
1715.
"kind of Tax-manager's) son: from Auditor of a regi-
"ment," Papa's own regiment, "he had risen to be
"Director of Finance, and a Minister of State. His
"soul was as low as his birth; it was an assemblage of
"all the vices,"* says Wilhelmina, in the language of
exaggeration. -- Let him stand by his budgets; keep
well out of Wilhelmina's and the Queen's way; --
and very especially beware of coming on Grumkow's
field again.
? Wilhelmina, i. 16.
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. II,
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? 178 friedrich's APPRENTICESHIP, FIRST STAGE. [bOOKIV.
This Siege of Stralsund, the last military scene of
Charles XII. , and the first ever practically heard-of by
our little Fritz, who is now getting into his fourth year,
and must have thought a great deal about it in his
little head, -- Papa and even Mamma being absent on
it, and such a marching and rumouring going on all
round him, -- proved to be otherwise of some im-
portance to little Fritz.
Most of his Tutors were picked-up by the careful
Papa in this Stralsund business. Duhan de Jandun, a
young French gentleman, family-tutor to General Count
Dohna (a cousin of our Minister Dohna's), but fonder
of fighting than of teaching grammar; whom Friedrich Wilhelm found doing soldier's work in the trenches,
and liked the ways of; he, as the foundation-stone of
tutorage, is to be first mentioned. And then Count
Fink von Finkenstein, a distinguished veteran, high in
command (of whose qualities as Head-Tutor, or occa-
sional travelling-guardian, Friedrich Wilhelm had ex-
perience in his own young days*); and Lieutenant-
? Biogrophisches Lexikon oiler Heldcn und WlUalrpmuuen, welche sieh
in Preuuitchen Dienstm berUhmt gemacht haben (4vola. Berlin, 1788), 1. 418,
? Finkenstein. -- A praiseworthy, modest, highly correct Book, of its kind;
which we shall, in future, call MiUtair-Lexikon.
when referring to it.
CHAPTER VI.
THE LITTLE DRUMMER.
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? CRAP. vI. ]
179
THE LITTLE DKTJMMER.
1715.
Colonel Kalkstein, a prisoner-of-war from the Swedish
side, whom Friedrich Wilhelm, judging well of him,
adopts into his own service with this view: these Three
come all from Stralsund Siege; and were of vital mo-
ment to our little Fritz in the subsequent time. Colonel
Seckendorf, again, who had a command in the Four-
thousand Saxons here, and refreshed into intimacy a
transient old acquaintance with Friedrich Wilhelm, --
is not he too of terrible importance to Fritz and him?
As we shall see in time! --
For the rest, here is another little incident. We
said it had been a disappointment to Papa that his
little Fritz showed almost no appetite for soldiering,
but found other sights more interesting to him than the
drill-ground. Sympathise, then, with the earnest Papa,
as he returns home one afternoon, -- date not given,
but to all appearance, of that year 1715, when there
was such war-rumouring, and marching towards Stral-
sund; -- and found the little Fritz, with Wilhelmina
looking over him, strutting about, and assiduously
beating a little drum.
The paternal heart ran-over with glad fondness, in-
voking Heaven to confirm the omen. Mother was told
of it; the phenomenon was talked of, -- beautifullest, hopefullest of little drummers. Painter Pesne, a French
Immigrant, or Importee, of the last reign, a man of
great skill with his brush, whom History yet thanks
on several occasions, was sent for; or he heard of the
incident, and volunteered his services. A Portrait of
12*
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? 180 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
little Fritz drumming, with Wilhelmina looking on; to
which, probably for the sake of colour and pictorial
effect, a Blackamoor, aside with tray in hand, grinning
approbation, has been added, -- was sketched, and
dextrously worked-out in oil, by Painter Pesne. Pic-
ture approved by mankind there and then. And it
still hangs on the wall, in a perfect state in Char-
lottenburg Palace; where the judicious tourist may
see it without difficulty, and institute reflections on it.
A really graceful little Picture; and certainly, to
Prussian men, not without weight of meaning. Nor
perhaps to Picture-Collectors and Cognoscenti generally,
of whatever country, -- if they could forget, for a mo-
ment, the coreggiosity of Coreggio, and the learned
babble of the Sale-room and varnishing Auctioneer;
and think, "Why it is, probably, that Pictures exist
in this world, and to what end the divine art of Paint-
ing was bestowed, by the earnest gods, upon poor
mankind? " I could advise it, once, for a little! Flaying
of Saint Bartholomew, Rape of Europa, Rape of the
Sabines, Piping and Amours of goat-footed Pan, Ro-
mulus suckled by the Wolf: all this, and much else
of fabulous, distant, unimportant, not to say impos-
sible, ugly and unworthy, shall pass without undue
severity of criticism, in a Household of such opulence
as ours, where much goes to waste, and where things
are not on an earnest footing for this long while past!
As Created Objects, or as Phantasms of such, pictorially
done, all this shall have much worth, or shall have
little. But I say, Here withal is one not phantasmal;
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? CHAP. vI. ] THE LITTLE DBUMMEK. 181
1716.
of indisputable certainty, homegrown, just commencing
business, who carried it far!
Fritz is still, if not in "long-clothes," at least in
longish and flowing clothes, of the petticoat sort, which
look as of dark-blue velvet, very simple, pretty and
appropriate; in a cap of the same; has a short raven's
feather in the cap; and looks up, with a face and eyes
full of beautiful vivacity and child's enthusiasm, one
of the beautifullest little figures, while the little drum
responds to his bits of drum-sticks. Sister Wilhelmina,
taller by some three years, looks on in pretty stooping
attitude, and with a graver smile. Blackamoor, and
room-furniture elegant enough; and finally the figure of
a grenadier, on guard, seen far off through an open
window, -- make-up the background.
We have Engravings of this Picture; which are of
clumsy poor quality, and misrepresent it much: an ex-
cellent Copy in oil, what might be called almost a fac-
simile and the perfection of a Copy, is now (1854) in
Lord Ashburton's Collection here in England. In the
Berlin Galleries, -- which are made-up, like other
Galleries, of goat-footed Pan, Europa's Bull, Romulus's She-Wolf, and the coreggiosity of Coreggio; and con-
tain, for instance, no Portrait of Friedrich the Great;
no Likenesses at all, or next to none at all, of the
noble series of Human Realities, or of any part of
them, who have sprung not from the idle brains of
dreaming Dilettanti, but from the Head of God Almighty,
to make this poor authentic Earth a little memorable
for us, and to do a little work that may be eternal
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? 182 fkiedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1713-1723.
there: -- in those expensive Halls of "High Art" at
Berlin, there were, to my experience, few Pictures more
agreeable than this of Pesne's. Welcome, like one tiny
islet of Reality amid the shoreless sea of Phantasms, to
the reflective mind, seriously loving and seeking what
is worthy and memorable, seriously hating and avoiding
what is the reverse, and intent not to play the dilettante
in this world.
The same Pesne, an excellent Artist, has painted
Friedrich as Prince-Royal: a beautiful young man; with
moi'st-looking enthusiastic eyes of extraordinary brilli-
ancy, smooth oval face; considerably resembling his
Mother. After which period, authentic Pictures of
Friedrich are sought-for to little purpose. For, it seems,
he never sat to any Painter, in his reigning days; and
the Prussian Chodowiecki* Saxon Graff, English Cun-
ningham, had to pick-up his physiognomy from the
distance, intermittently, as they could. Nor is Rauch's
grand equestrian Sculpture a thing to be believed, or
perhaps pretending much to be so. The commonly-
received Portrait of Friedrich, which all German limners
can draw at once, -- the cocked-hat, big eyes and
alert air, reminding you of some uncommonly brisk
Invalid Drill-sergeant or Greenwich Pensioner, as much
as of a Royal Hero, -- is nothing but a general extract
and average of all the faces of Friedrich, such as has
been tacitly agreed upon; and is definable as a received
? Pronounce Kodov-ycttki; -- and endeavour to make some acquaint-
ance with this 'Prussian Hogarth,' who has real worth and originality.
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? CHAP. vI. l THE LITTLE DRUMMER. 183
1716.
pictorial-myth, by no means as a fact, or credible re-
semblance of life.
But enough now of Pictures. This of the Little
Drummer, the painting and the thing painted which
remain to us, may be taken as Friedrich's first ap-
pearance on the stage of the world; and welcomed ac-
cordingly. It is one of the very few visualities or de-
finite certainties we can lay hold of, in those young
years of his, and bring conclusively home to our ima-
gination, out of the waste Prussian dustclouds of unin-
structive garrulity which pretend to record them for us.
Whether it came into existence as a shadowy emana-
tion from the Stralsund Expedition, can only be
matter of conjecture. To judge by size, these figu-
res must have been painted about the year 1715; Fritz
some three or four years old, his sister Wilhelmina seven.
It remains only to be intimated, that Friedrich Wil-
helm, for his part, had got all he claimed from this
Expedition: namely, Stettin with the dependent Towns,
and quietness in Pommern. Stettin was, from of
old, the capital of his own part of Pommern; thrown-
in along with the other part of Pommern, and given
to Sweden (from sheer necessity, it was avowed), at
the Peace of Westphalia, sixty years ago or more: --
and now, by good chance, it has come back. Wait
another hundred years, and perhaps Swedish Pommern
altogether will come back! But from all this Fried-
rich Wilhelm is still far. Stettin and quiet are all he
dreams of demanding there.
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? 184 fkiedkich's apprenticeship, fikst stage, [book Iv.
'1713-1723.
Stralsund he did not reckon his; left it with the
Danes, to hold in pawn till some general Treaty. Nor
was there farther outbreak of war in those regions;
though actual Treaty of Peace did not come till 1720,
and make matters sure. It was the new Queen of
Sweden, Ulrique Eleonora (Charles's younger Sister,
wedded to the young Landgraf of Hessen-Cassel), --
much aided by an English Envoy, -- who made this
Peace with Friedrich Wilhelm. A young English
Envoy, called Lord Carteret, was very helpful in
this matter; one of his first feats in the diplomatic
world. For which Peace* Friedrich Wilhelm was so
thankful, good pacific armed-man, that, happening
to have a Daughter born to him just about that
time, he gave the little creature her Swedish Ma-
jesty's name; a new "Ulrique," who grew to proper
stature, and became notable in Sweden, herself, by
and by. **
? Stockholm, 21st January 1720: in Mauvillon (1. 380-417) the Docu-
ment itself at large.
? ? Louisa Ulrique, born 24th July 1720; Queen of Sweden in time coming.
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? CHAP. TO. ]
185
TRANSIT OF CZAR PETER.
1717.
CHAPTEK VII.
TRANSIT OF CZAR PETER.
In the autumn of 1717, Peter the Great, coming
home from his celebrated French journey, paid Fried-
rich Wilhelm a visit; and passed four days at Ber-
lin. Of which let us give one glimpse, if we can with
brevity.
Friedrich Wilhelm and the Czar, like in several
points, though so dissimilar in others, had always a
certain regard for one another; and at this time, they
had been brought into closer intercourse by their com-
mon peril from Charles XII. , ever since that Stral-
sund business. The peril was real, especially with
a Gortz and Alberoni putting hand to it; and the
alarm, the rumour, and uncertainty were great in those
years. The wounded Lion driven indignant into his
lair, with Plotting Artists now operating upon the rage
of the noble animal: who knows what spring he will
next take?
George I. had a fleet cruising in the Baltic Sounds,
and again a fleet; -- paying, in that oblique way, for
Bremen and Verden; which were got, otherwise, such
a bargain to his Hanover. Czar Peter had marched
an Army into Denmark; united Russians and Danes
count Fifty-thousand there; for a conjunct invasion,
and probable destruction, of Sweden: but that came
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? 186 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1718-1723.
to nothing; Charles looking across npon it too dan-
gerously, "visible in clear weather over from the Danish
side. "* So Peter's troops have gone home again;
Denmark too glad to get them away. Perhaps they
would have staid in Denmark altogether; much liking
the green pastures and convenient situation, -- had not
Admiral Norris with his cannon been there! Per-
haps? And the Pretender is coming again, they say?
And who knows what is coming? -- How Gortz, in
about a year hence, was laid hold of, and let go, and
then ultimately tried and beheaded (once his lion Ma-
ster was disposed of),** how, Ambassador Cellamare,
and the Spanish part of the Plot, having been dis-
covered in Paris, Cardinal Alberoni at Madrid was dis-
covered, and the whole mystery laid bare: all that
mad business, of bringing the Pretender into England,
throwing-out George I. , throwing-out the Eegent d'Or-
leans, and much more, -- is now sunk silent enough,
not worthy of reawakening; but it was then a most
loud matter; filling the European Courts, and especially
that of Berlin, with rumours and apprehensions. No
wonder Friedrich Wilhelm was grateful for that Swe-
dish Peace of his, and named his little Daughter
"Ulricpe" in honour of it. Tumultuous cloud-world of
Lapland Witchcraft had ceased hereby, and daylight
had begun: old women (or old Cardinals) riding through
the sky, on broomsticks, to meet Satan, where now
? 1716: Fassmann, p. 171.
19th March 1719: see KBhler (M&nzbelustigtmgen, vl. 238-240 , xvil.
297-804) for many curious details of GBrtz and his end. . ,
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? CHAP. TO. ] TRANSIT OF CZAR PETER. 187
1717.
are they? The fact still dimly perceptible is, Eu-
rope, thanks to that pair of Black-Artists, Gortz and
Alberoni, not to mention Law the Finance-Wizard
and his French incantations, had been kept generally,
for those three or four years past, in the state of
a Haunted House; riotous Goblins, of unknown dire
intent, walking now in this apartment of it, now
in that; no rest anywhere for the perturbed inha-
bitants.
As to Friedrich Wilhelm, his plan, in 1717, as all
along in this bewitched state of matters, was: To fortify
his Frontier Towns; Memel, Wesel, to the right and
left; especially to fortify Stettin, his new acquisition;
-- and to put his Army, and his Treasury (or Army-
Chest), more and more in order. In that way we shall
better meet whatever goblins there may be, thinks
Friedrich Wilhelm. Count Lottum, hero of the Prus-
sians at Malplaquet, is doing his scientific uttermost in
Stettin and those Frontier Towns. For the rest, his
Majesty, invited by the Czar and France, has been
found willing to make paction with them, as he is
with all pacific neighbours. In fact, the Czar and
he had their private Conference, at Havelberg, last
year, -- Havelberg, some sixty miles from Berlin, on
the road towards Denmark, as Peter was passing that
way; -- ample Conference of five days;* -- privately
agreeing there, about many points conducive to tran-
quillity.
And it was on that same errand, though ostensibly
? 28-28th November 1716: Fassmann, p. 172.
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? 188 freedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1713-1723.
to look after Art and the higher forms of Civilisation
so-called, that Peter had been to France on this cele-
brated occasion of 1717.
and rages forward, again and again, now here, now
there; but is met everywhere by steady deadly mus-
ketry; and has to retire, fruitless, about daybreak, him-
self wounded, and leaving his eight cannons, and four-
hundred slain.
Poor Charles, there had been no sleep for him that
night, and little for very many nights: "on getting to
"horse, on the shore at Stralsund, he fainted repeated-
"ly; fell out of one faint into another; but such was
"his rage, he always recovered himself, and got on
"horseback again. "* Poor Charles: a bit of right
royal Swedish-German stuff, after his kind; and tragi-
cally ill bested now at last! This is his exit he is
now making, -- still in a consistent manner. It is
fifteen years now since he waded ashore at Copen-
hagen, and first heard the bullets whistle round him,
t Bflchiioi)! , j. q? ,
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? 170 friedrich's APPRENTICESHIP, FIRST STAGE, [book Iv.
1718-1723.
Since which time, what a course has he run; crash-
ing athwart all manner of ranked armies, diplomatic
combinations, right onward, like a cannon-ball; tearing-
off many solemn wigs in those Northern parts, and
scattering them upon the winds, -- even as he did his
own full-buttom wig, impatiently, on that first day at
Copenhagen, finding it unfurthersome for actual busi-
ness in battle. *
In about a month hence, the last important horn-
work is forced; Charles, himself seen fiercely fighting
on the place, is swept back from his last hornwork;
and the general storm, now altogether irresistible, is
evidently at hand. On entreaty from his followers,
entreaty often renewed, with tears even (it is said) and
on bended knees, Charles at last consents to go. He
left no orders for surrender; would not name the word;
"left only ambiguous vague orders. " But on the 19th
December 1715, he does actually depart; gets on
board a little boat, towards a Swedish frigate, which is
lying above a mile out; the whole road to which, be-
tween Riigen and the mainland, is now solid ice, and
has to be cut as he proceeds. This slow operation,
which lasted all day, was visible, and its meaning well
known, in the besiegers' lines. The King of Den-
mark saw it; and brought a battery to bear upon it;
his thought had always been, that Charles should be
captured or killed in Stralsund, and not allowed to get
away. Friedrich Wilhelm was of quite another mind,
and had even used secret influences to that effect;
? KBhler: Mumbehistigungen, xlv. 213,
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? CHAP, v. ] FHIEDRICH WILHELM's ONE WAR. 171
1719.
eager that Charles should escape. It is said, he re-
monstrated very passionately with the Danish King
and this battery of his; nay, some add, since remon-
strances did not avail, and the battery still threatened
to fire, Friedrich Wilhelm drew-up a Prussian regiment
or two at the muzzles of it, and said, You shall shoot
us first, then. * Which is a pleasant myth at least; and
symbolical of what the reality was.
Charles reached his frigate about nightfall, but
made little way from the place, owing to defect of
wind. They say, he even heard the chamade beating
in Stralsund next day, and that a Danish frigate had
nearly taken him; both which statements are perhaps
also a little mythical. Certain only that he vanished at
this point into Scandinavia; and general Europe never
saw him more. Vanished into a cloud of untenable
schemes, guided by Alberoni, Baron Gortz and others;
wild schemes, financial, diplomatic, warlike, nothing not
chimerical in them but his own unquenchable real
energy; -- and found his death (by assassination, as
appears) in the trenches of Frederickshall, among the
Norway Hills, one winter night, three years hence.
Assassination instigated by the Swedish Official Per-
sons, it is thought. The bullet passed through both his
temples; he had clapt his hand upon the hilt of his
sword, and was found leant against the parapet, in that
attitude, -- gone upon a long march now. So vanished
Charles Twelfth; the distressed Official Persons and
Nobility exploding upon him in that rather damnable
? Buchholz, p. 138 n.
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? 172 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [bookiy.
1713-1723.
way, -- anxious to slip their muzzles at any cost what*
over. A man of antique character; true as a child,
simple, even bashful, and of a strength and valour
rarely exampled among men. Open-hearted Antique
populations would have much worshipped such an Ap-
pearance; -- Voltaire, too, for the artificial Moderns,
has made a myth of him, of another type; one of
those impossible cast-iron gentlemen, heroically mad,
such as they show in the Playhouses, pleasant but not
profitable, to an undiscerning Public* The last of the
Swedish Kings died in this way; and the unmuzzled
Official Persons have not made much of kinging it in
his stead. Charles died; and, as we may say, took the
life of Sweden along with him; for it has never shone
among the Nations since, or been much worth mention-
ing, except for its misfortunes, spasmodic impotences
and unwisdoms.
Stralsund instantly beat the chamade, as we heard;
and all was surrender and subjection in those regions.
Surrender; not yet pacification, not while Charles lived:
nor for half-a-century after his death, could Mecklen-
burg, Holstein-Gottorp, and other his confederates,
escape a sad coil of calamities bequeathed by him to
them. Friedrich Wilhelm returned to Berlin, victorious
from his first, which was also his last, Prussian War,
in January 1716; and was doubtless a happy man, not
"to be buried in the Schlosskirche (under penalty of
? See Alderfetd (Military Bitlory of Charles XII. London, 1740, 2 vols. ,
"from the Swedish," through the French) and Kb'hler (Mambeluitigunqen,
pbl supra), for some auUwntbto traits of his life and, him,
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? CHAP. V. ] FEIEDEICH WILHELM's ONE WAK. 173
Gad's curse)," but to find his little Fritz and Feekin,
and all the world, merry to see him, and all things put
square again, abroad as at home. He forbade the
"triumphal entry" which Berlin was preparing for him;
entered privately; and ordered a thanksgiving-sermon
in all the churches next Sunday.
The Devil in harness: Creutz the Finance-Minister.
In the King's absence nothing particular had occur-
red, -- except indeed the walking of a dreadful Spectre,
three nights over, in the corridors of the Palace at
Berlin; past the doors where our little Prince and Wil-
helmina slept: bringing with it not airs from Heaven,
we may fear, but blasts from the Other place! The stal-
wart sentries shook in their paces, and became "half-
dead" from terror. "A horrible noise, one night," says
Wilhelmina, "when all were buried in sleep: all the
"world started up, thinking it was fire; but they were
"much surprised to find that it was a Spectre. " Evident
Spectre, seen to pass this way, "and glide along that
"gallery, as if towards the apartments of the Queen's
"Ladies. " Captain of the Guard could find nothing in
that gallery, or anywhere, and withdrew again:-- but
lo, it returns the way it went! Stalwart sentries were
found melted into actual deliquium of swooning, as the
Preternatural swept-by this second time. "They said,
"It was the Devil in person; raised by Swedish wizards
"to kill the Prince-Royal. "* Poor Prince-Royal; sleep-
* Wilhelmina: Memoires de Bareith, I. 18,
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? 174 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1713-1723.
ing sound, we hope; little more than three years old
at this time, and knowing nothing of it! -- All Berlin
talked of the affair. People dreaded it might be a
"Spectre" of Swedish tendencies; aiming to burn the
Palace, spirit-off the Royal Children, and do one knew
not what?
Not that at all, by any means! The Captain of the
Guard, reinforcing himself to defiance even of the
Preternatural, does, on the third or fourth apparition,
clutch the Spectre; finds him to be -- a prowling
Scullion of the Palace, employed here he will not say
how; who is straight-way locked in prison, and so
exorcised at least. Exorcism is perfect; but Berlin is
left guessing as to the rest, -- secret of it discoverable
only by the Queen's Majesty and some few most inte-
rior parties. To the following effect.
Spectre-Scullion, it turns out, had been employed
by Grumkow, as spy upon one of the Queen's Maids
of Honour, -- suspected by him to be a No-maid of
Dishonour, and of ill-intentions too, -- who lodges in
that part of the Palace; of whom Herr Grumkow wishes
intensely to know, "Has she an intrigue with Creutz
the new Finance-Minister, or has she not? " "Has,
beyond doubt! " the Spectre-Scullion hopes he has dis-
covered, before exorcism. Upon which Grumkow, es-
sentially illuminated as to the required particular, ma-
nages to get the Spectre-Scullion loose again, not quite
hanged; glozing the matter off to his Majesty on his
return: for the rest, ruins entirely the Creutz specula-
tion; and has the No-maid called of Honour, -- with
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? CHAP, v. ] FRIEDRICH WILHELM's ONE WAS. 175
17J5.
whom Creutz thought to have seduced the young King
also, and made the young King amenable, -- dismissed
from Court in a peremptory irrefragable manner. This
is the secret of the Spectre-Scullion, fully revealed by
Wilhelmina many years after.
This one short glance into the Satan's Invisible-
World of the Berlin Palace, we could not but afford
the reader, when an actual Goblin of it happened to be
walking in our neighbourhood. Such an Invisible-
World of Satan exists in most human Houses, and in
all human Palaces; -- with its imps, familiar-demons,
spies, go-betweens, and industrious bad-angels, conti-
nually mounting and descending by their Jacob's-
Ladder, or Palace Backstairs: operated upon by Con-
jurors of the Grumkow-Creutz or other sorts. Tyrannous
Mamsell Leti,* treacherous Mamsell Ramen, valet-sur-
geon Eversmann, and plenty more: readers of Wil-
helmina's Book are too well acquainted with them.
Nor are expert Conjurors wanting; capable to work
strange feats with so plastic an element as Friedrich
Wilhelm's mind. Let this one short glimpse of such
Subterranean World be sufficient indication to the reader's
fancy.
Creutz was not dismissed, as some people had ex-
? Leti, Governess to Wilhelmina, but soon dismissed for insolent
cruelty and other bad conduct, was daughter of that Oregorlo Leti ("Pro-
testant Italian" Refugee, "Historiographer of Amsterdam," . fcc. &c), who
once had a pension in this country; and who wrote History Books, a Life of
Cromwell one of them, so regardless of the difference between true and
false.
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? 176 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book IT.
1713-1723.
pected he might be. Creutz continues Finance-Minister;
makes a great figure in the fashionable Berlin world in
these coming years, and is much talked-of in the old
Books, -- though, as he works mostly underground,
and merely does budgets and finance-matters with ex-
treme talent and success, we shall hope to hear almost
nothing more of him. Majesty, while Crown-Prince,
when he first got his regiment from Papa, had found
this Creutz "Auditor" in it; a poor but handsome fel-
low, with perhaps seven shillings a week to live upon;
but with such a talent for arranging, for reckoning
and recording, in brief for controlling finance, as more
and more charmed the royal mind. *
One of Majesty's first acts was to appoint him
Finance-Minister;** and there he continued steady, not
to be overset by little flaws of wind like this of the
Spectre-Scullion's raising. It is certain he did, himself,
become rich; and helped well to make his Majesty so.
"We are to fancy him his Majesty's bottleholder in that
battle with the Finance Nightmares and Imbroglios,
when so much had to be subjugated, and drilled into
step, in that department. Evidently a longheaded
cunning fellow; much of the Grumkow type; -- stand-
ing very low in Wilhelmina's judgment; and ill-seen,
when not avoidable altogether, by the Queen's Majesty.
"The man was a poor Country Bailiff's (Amtmann's,
? Hauvlllon ("Elder Mauvillon," Anonymous): llistoire de Frediric
Guillaume 1, par M. de M ? ? ? (Amsterdam et Leipzig, 1741), i. 47. A vague
flimsy Compilation; -- gives abundant "State Papers" (to such as want
them), and echoes of old Newspaper rumour. Very copious on Creutz,
? ? 4th May 1713: Preuss, 1. 349 n.
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? CHAP. v. ] PEIEDRICH WILHELM's ONE WAR. 177
1715.
"kind of Tax-manager's) son: from Auditor of a regi-
"ment," Papa's own regiment, "he had risen to be
"Director of Finance, and a Minister of State. His
"soul was as low as his birth; it was an assemblage of
"all the vices,"* says Wilhelmina, in the language of
exaggeration. -- Let him stand by his budgets; keep
well out of Wilhelmina's and the Queen's way; --
and very especially beware of coming on Grumkow's
field again.
? Wilhelmina, i. 16.
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. II,
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? 178 friedrich's APPRENTICESHIP, FIRST STAGE. [bOOKIV.
This Siege of Stralsund, the last military scene of
Charles XII. , and the first ever practically heard-of by
our little Fritz, who is now getting into his fourth year,
and must have thought a great deal about it in his
little head, -- Papa and even Mamma being absent on
it, and such a marching and rumouring going on all
round him, -- proved to be otherwise of some im-
portance to little Fritz.
Most of his Tutors were picked-up by the careful
Papa in this Stralsund business. Duhan de Jandun, a
young French gentleman, family-tutor to General Count
Dohna (a cousin of our Minister Dohna's), but fonder
of fighting than of teaching grammar; whom Friedrich Wilhelm found doing soldier's work in the trenches,
and liked the ways of; he, as the foundation-stone of
tutorage, is to be first mentioned. And then Count
Fink von Finkenstein, a distinguished veteran, high in
command (of whose qualities as Head-Tutor, or occa-
sional travelling-guardian, Friedrich Wilhelm had ex-
perience in his own young days*); and Lieutenant-
? Biogrophisches Lexikon oiler Heldcn und WlUalrpmuuen, welche sieh
in Preuuitchen Dienstm berUhmt gemacht haben (4vola. Berlin, 1788), 1. 418,
? Finkenstein. -- A praiseworthy, modest, highly correct Book, of its kind;
which we shall, in future, call MiUtair-Lexikon.
when referring to it.
CHAPTER VI.
THE LITTLE DRUMMER.
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? CRAP. vI. ]
179
THE LITTLE DKTJMMER.
1715.
Colonel Kalkstein, a prisoner-of-war from the Swedish
side, whom Friedrich Wilhelm, judging well of him,
adopts into his own service with this view: these Three
come all from Stralsund Siege; and were of vital mo-
ment to our little Fritz in the subsequent time. Colonel
Seckendorf, again, who had a command in the Four-
thousand Saxons here, and refreshed into intimacy a
transient old acquaintance with Friedrich Wilhelm, --
is not he too of terrible importance to Fritz and him?
As we shall see in time! --
For the rest, here is another little incident. We
said it had been a disappointment to Papa that his
little Fritz showed almost no appetite for soldiering,
but found other sights more interesting to him than the
drill-ground. Sympathise, then, with the earnest Papa,
as he returns home one afternoon, -- date not given,
but to all appearance, of that year 1715, when there
was such war-rumouring, and marching towards Stral-
sund; -- and found the little Fritz, with Wilhelmina
looking over him, strutting about, and assiduously
beating a little drum.
The paternal heart ran-over with glad fondness, in-
voking Heaven to confirm the omen. Mother was told
of it; the phenomenon was talked of, -- beautifullest, hopefullest of little drummers. Painter Pesne, a French
Immigrant, or Importee, of the last reign, a man of
great skill with his brush, whom History yet thanks
on several occasions, was sent for; or he heard of the
incident, and volunteered his services. A Portrait of
12*
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? 180 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
little Fritz drumming, with Wilhelmina looking on; to
which, probably for the sake of colour and pictorial
effect, a Blackamoor, aside with tray in hand, grinning
approbation, has been added, -- was sketched, and
dextrously worked-out in oil, by Painter Pesne. Pic-
ture approved by mankind there and then. And it
still hangs on the wall, in a perfect state in Char-
lottenburg Palace; where the judicious tourist may
see it without difficulty, and institute reflections on it.
A really graceful little Picture; and certainly, to
Prussian men, not without weight of meaning. Nor
perhaps to Picture-Collectors and Cognoscenti generally,
of whatever country, -- if they could forget, for a mo-
ment, the coreggiosity of Coreggio, and the learned
babble of the Sale-room and varnishing Auctioneer;
and think, "Why it is, probably, that Pictures exist
in this world, and to what end the divine art of Paint-
ing was bestowed, by the earnest gods, upon poor
mankind? " I could advise it, once, for a little! Flaying
of Saint Bartholomew, Rape of Europa, Rape of the
Sabines, Piping and Amours of goat-footed Pan, Ro-
mulus suckled by the Wolf: all this, and much else
of fabulous, distant, unimportant, not to say impos-
sible, ugly and unworthy, shall pass without undue
severity of criticism, in a Household of such opulence
as ours, where much goes to waste, and where things
are not on an earnest footing for this long while past!
As Created Objects, or as Phantasms of such, pictorially
done, all this shall have much worth, or shall have
little. But I say, Here withal is one not phantasmal;
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? CHAP. vI. ] THE LITTLE DBUMMEK. 181
1716.
of indisputable certainty, homegrown, just commencing
business, who carried it far!
Fritz is still, if not in "long-clothes," at least in
longish and flowing clothes, of the petticoat sort, which
look as of dark-blue velvet, very simple, pretty and
appropriate; in a cap of the same; has a short raven's
feather in the cap; and looks up, with a face and eyes
full of beautiful vivacity and child's enthusiasm, one
of the beautifullest little figures, while the little drum
responds to his bits of drum-sticks. Sister Wilhelmina,
taller by some three years, looks on in pretty stooping
attitude, and with a graver smile. Blackamoor, and
room-furniture elegant enough; and finally the figure of
a grenadier, on guard, seen far off through an open
window, -- make-up the background.
We have Engravings of this Picture; which are of
clumsy poor quality, and misrepresent it much: an ex-
cellent Copy in oil, what might be called almost a fac-
simile and the perfection of a Copy, is now (1854) in
Lord Ashburton's Collection here in England. In the
Berlin Galleries, -- which are made-up, like other
Galleries, of goat-footed Pan, Europa's Bull, Romulus's She-Wolf, and the coreggiosity of Coreggio; and con-
tain, for instance, no Portrait of Friedrich the Great;
no Likenesses at all, or next to none at all, of the
noble series of Human Realities, or of any part of
them, who have sprung not from the idle brains of
dreaming Dilettanti, but from the Head of God Almighty,
to make this poor authentic Earth a little memorable
for us, and to do a little work that may be eternal
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? 182 fkiedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1713-1723.
there: -- in those expensive Halls of "High Art" at
Berlin, there were, to my experience, few Pictures more
agreeable than this of Pesne's. Welcome, like one tiny
islet of Reality amid the shoreless sea of Phantasms, to
the reflective mind, seriously loving and seeking what
is worthy and memorable, seriously hating and avoiding
what is the reverse, and intent not to play the dilettante
in this world.
The same Pesne, an excellent Artist, has painted
Friedrich as Prince-Royal: a beautiful young man; with
moi'st-looking enthusiastic eyes of extraordinary brilli-
ancy, smooth oval face; considerably resembling his
Mother. After which period, authentic Pictures of
Friedrich are sought-for to little purpose. For, it seems,
he never sat to any Painter, in his reigning days; and
the Prussian Chodowiecki* Saxon Graff, English Cun-
ningham, had to pick-up his physiognomy from the
distance, intermittently, as they could. Nor is Rauch's
grand equestrian Sculpture a thing to be believed, or
perhaps pretending much to be so. The commonly-
received Portrait of Friedrich, which all German limners
can draw at once, -- the cocked-hat, big eyes and
alert air, reminding you of some uncommonly brisk
Invalid Drill-sergeant or Greenwich Pensioner, as much
as of a Royal Hero, -- is nothing but a general extract
and average of all the faces of Friedrich, such as has
been tacitly agreed upon; and is definable as a received
? Pronounce Kodov-ycttki; -- and endeavour to make some acquaint-
ance with this 'Prussian Hogarth,' who has real worth and originality.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:12 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hn6m7g Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. vI. l THE LITTLE DRUMMER. 183
1716.
pictorial-myth, by no means as a fact, or credible re-
semblance of life.
But enough now of Pictures. This of the Little
Drummer, the painting and the thing painted which
remain to us, may be taken as Friedrich's first ap-
pearance on the stage of the world; and welcomed ac-
cordingly. It is one of the very few visualities or de-
finite certainties we can lay hold of, in those young
years of his, and bring conclusively home to our ima-
gination, out of the waste Prussian dustclouds of unin-
structive garrulity which pretend to record them for us.
Whether it came into existence as a shadowy emana-
tion from the Stralsund Expedition, can only be
matter of conjecture. To judge by size, these figu-
res must have been painted about the year 1715; Fritz
some three or four years old, his sister Wilhelmina seven.
It remains only to be intimated, that Friedrich Wil-
helm, for his part, had got all he claimed from this
Expedition: namely, Stettin with the dependent Towns,
and quietness in Pommern. Stettin was, from of
old, the capital of his own part of Pommern; thrown-
in along with the other part of Pommern, and given
to Sweden (from sheer necessity, it was avowed), at
the Peace of Westphalia, sixty years ago or more: --
and now, by good chance, it has come back. Wait
another hundred years, and perhaps Swedish Pommern
altogether will come back! But from all this Fried-
rich Wilhelm is still far. Stettin and quiet are all he
dreams of demanding there.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:12 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hn6m7g Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 184 fkiedkich's apprenticeship, fikst stage, [book Iv.
'1713-1723.
Stralsund he did not reckon his; left it with the
Danes, to hold in pawn till some general Treaty. Nor
was there farther outbreak of war in those regions;
though actual Treaty of Peace did not come till 1720,
and make matters sure. It was the new Queen of
Sweden, Ulrique Eleonora (Charles's younger Sister,
wedded to the young Landgraf of Hessen-Cassel), --
much aided by an English Envoy, -- who made this
Peace with Friedrich Wilhelm. A young English
Envoy, called Lord Carteret, was very helpful in
this matter; one of his first feats in the diplomatic
world. For which Peace* Friedrich Wilhelm was so
thankful, good pacific armed-man, that, happening
to have a Daughter born to him just about that
time, he gave the little creature her Swedish Ma-
jesty's name; a new "Ulrique," who grew to proper
stature, and became notable in Sweden, herself, by
and by. **
? Stockholm, 21st January 1720: in Mauvillon (1. 380-417) the Docu-
ment itself at large.
? ? Louisa Ulrique, born 24th July 1720; Queen of Sweden in time coming.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:12 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hn6m7g Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. TO. ]
185
TRANSIT OF CZAR PETER.
1717.
CHAPTEK VII.
TRANSIT OF CZAR PETER.
In the autumn of 1717, Peter the Great, coming
home from his celebrated French journey, paid Fried-
rich Wilhelm a visit; and passed four days at Ber-
lin. Of which let us give one glimpse, if we can with
brevity.
Friedrich Wilhelm and the Czar, like in several
points, though so dissimilar in others, had always a
certain regard for one another; and at this time, they
had been brought into closer intercourse by their com-
mon peril from Charles XII. , ever since that Stral-
sund business. The peril was real, especially with
a Gortz and Alberoni putting hand to it; and the
alarm, the rumour, and uncertainty were great in those
years. The wounded Lion driven indignant into his
lair, with Plotting Artists now operating upon the rage
of the noble animal: who knows what spring he will
next take?
George I. had a fleet cruising in the Baltic Sounds,
and again a fleet; -- paying, in that oblique way, for
Bremen and Verden; which were got, otherwise, such
a bargain to his Hanover. Czar Peter had marched
an Army into Denmark; united Russians and Danes
count Fifty-thousand there; for a conjunct invasion,
and probable destruction, of Sweden: but that came
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:12 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hn6m7g Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 186 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1718-1723.
to nothing; Charles looking across npon it too dan-
gerously, "visible in clear weather over from the Danish
side. "* So Peter's troops have gone home again;
Denmark too glad to get them away. Perhaps they
would have staid in Denmark altogether; much liking
the green pastures and convenient situation, -- had not
Admiral Norris with his cannon been there! Per-
haps? And the Pretender is coming again, they say?
And who knows what is coming? -- How Gortz, in
about a year hence, was laid hold of, and let go, and
then ultimately tried and beheaded (once his lion Ma-
ster was disposed of),** how, Ambassador Cellamare,
and the Spanish part of the Plot, having been dis-
covered in Paris, Cardinal Alberoni at Madrid was dis-
covered, and the whole mystery laid bare: all that
mad business, of bringing the Pretender into England,
throwing-out George I. , throwing-out the Eegent d'Or-
leans, and much more, -- is now sunk silent enough,
not worthy of reawakening; but it was then a most
loud matter; filling the European Courts, and especially
that of Berlin, with rumours and apprehensions. No
wonder Friedrich Wilhelm was grateful for that Swe-
dish Peace of his, and named his little Daughter
"Ulricpe" in honour of it. Tumultuous cloud-world of
Lapland Witchcraft had ceased hereby, and daylight
had begun: old women (or old Cardinals) riding through
the sky, on broomsticks, to meet Satan, where now
? 1716: Fassmann, p. 171.
19th March 1719: see KBhler (M&nzbelustigtmgen, vl. 238-240 , xvil.
297-804) for many curious details of GBrtz and his end. . ,
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? CHAP. TO. ] TRANSIT OF CZAR PETER. 187
1717.
are they? The fact still dimly perceptible is, Eu-
rope, thanks to that pair of Black-Artists, Gortz and
Alberoni, not to mention Law the Finance-Wizard
and his French incantations, had been kept generally,
for those three or four years past, in the state of
a Haunted House; riotous Goblins, of unknown dire
intent, walking now in this apartment of it, now
in that; no rest anywhere for the perturbed inha-
bitants.
As to Friedrich Wilhelm, his plan, in 1717, as all
along in this bewitched state of matters, was: To fortify
his Frontier Towns; Memel, Wesel, to the right and
left; especially to fortify Stettin, his new acquisition;
-- and to put his Army, and his Treasury (or Army-
Chest), more and more in order. In that way we shall
better meet whatever goblins there may be, thinks
Friedrich Wilhelm. Count Lottum, hero of the Prus-
sians at Malplaquet, is doing his scientific uttermost in
Stettin and those Frontier Towns. For the rest, his
Majesty, invited by the Czar and France, has been
found willing to make paction with them, as he is
with all pacific neighbours. In fact, the Czar and
he had their private Conference, at Havelberg, last
year, -- Havelberg, some sixty miles from Berlin, on
the road towards Denmark, as Peter was passing that
way; -- ample Conference of five days;* -- privately
agreeing there, about many points conducive to tran-
quillity.
And it was on that same errand, though ostensibly
? 28-28th November 1716: Fassmann, p. 172.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:12 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hn6m7g Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 188 freedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1713-1723.
to look after Art and the higher forms of Civilisation
so-called, that Peter had been to France on this cele-
brated occasion of 1717.
