As thus:
In regard to the Anli-Macchiavel, -- Sire, deign to give me
your permissions as to the scoundrel of a Van Duren; well
worthwhile, Sire, -- '' it is a monument for the latest poste-
rity; the only Book worthy of a King for these Fifteen
"hundred years.
In regard to the Anli-Macchiavel, -- Sire, deign to give me
your permissions as to the scoundrel of a Van Duren; well
worthwhile, Sire, -- '' it is a monument for the latest poste-
rity; the only Book worthy of a King for these Fifteen
"hundred years.
Thomas Carlyle
Settlement about Ost-Friesland.
Expectancy of Ost-
"Friesland, soon to fall heirless, which was granted we long
"since, though Hanover makes hagglings, counter-claimings;
"I must have some Settlement about that.
"3<>. The like about those perplexities in Mecklenburg.
"No difficulty there if we try heartily, nor is there such press-
ing haste about it.
"These are my three claims on England; and I will try to
"serve England as far in return, if it will tellme how. 'Ah,
"beware of throwing yourself into the arms of France! '
"modestly suggests Dickens. -- ' Well, if France will guaran-
tee me those Duchies, and you will not do anything? ' an-
"swers his Majesty with a fine laugh: 'England I consider my
"most natural friend and ally; but I must know what there is
"to depend on there. Princes are ruled by their interest;
"cannot follow their feelings. Let me have an explicit an-
"swer; say, at Wesel, where I am to be on the 24th,'"--ten
days hence. Britannic Majesty is at Hanover, and can an-
swer within that time. "This he twice told'me, Wesel, 24th,'
"in the course of our interview. Permit me to recommend the
"matter to your Lordship," -- my Lord Harrington, now at-
tending the Britannic Majesty.
"During the whole audience," addsDickens, "theKing
"was in extreme good humour; and not only heard with at-
"tention all the considerations I offered, but was not the least
"offended at any objections I made to what he said. It is un-
"doubtedly the best way to behave with frankness to him. "
These last are Dickens's own words; let them modestly be a
memorandum to your Lordship. This King goes himself
direct to the point; and straightforwardness, as a primary
condition, will profit your Lordship with him. *
Most true advice, this ; -- and would perhaps be followed,
were it quite easy! But things are very complicated. And the
Britannic Majesty, much plagued with Spanish War and Par-
* Dickens (in State-Paper Office), 17th August 1710.
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? chap, ii. ] THE HOMAGINGS. 55
Jane--Sept. 1740.
liamentary noises in that unquiet Island, is doubtless glad to
get away to Hanover for a little; and would fain be on holiday
in these fine rural months. Which is not well possible either.
Jenkins's Ear, rising at last like a fiery portent, has kindled
the London Fog over yonder, in a strange way, and the murky
stagnancy is all getting on fire; the English intent, as seldom
any Nation was, to give the Spaniards an effectual beating.
Which they hope they can, -- though unexpected difficulties
will occur. And, in the mean while, what a riddle of poten-
tialities for his poor Majesty to read, and pick his way
from! --
Bielfeld,in spite of all this, would fain be full of admiration
for the Britannic Majesty. Confesses he is below the middle
size, in fact a tiny little creature, but then his shape is perfect;
leg much to be commended, -- which his Majesty knows,
standing always with one leg slightly advanced, and the Order
of the Garter on it, that mankind may take notice. Here is
Bielfeld's description faithfully abridged:
"Big blue eyes, perhaps rather of parboiled character,
"though proud enough; eyes flush with his face or more,
"rather in relief than on a level with it," -- a fleur de tete, after
the manner of a fish, if one might say so, and betokening sucli
an intellect behind them! "Attitude constrained, leg advanced
"in that way; his courtiers call it majestic. Biggish mouth,
"strictly shut in the crescent or horse-shoe form (ferme'e en
"croissant); curly wig (a noeuds, reminding you of lamb's-
"weol, colour not known); eyebrows, however, you can see
"are ashy-blond; general tint is fundamentally livid; but
"when in good case, the royal skin will take tolerably bright
"colours (prend d'assez belles coulews). As to the royal mmd
"and understanding, what shall Bielfeld say? That his Ma-
jesty sometimes makes ingenious and just remarks, and is
"laudably serious at all times, and can majestically hold his
"tongue, and stand with advanced leg, and eyes rather more
"than flush. Sense of his dignity is high, as it ought to be;
"on great occasions you see pride and a kind of joy mantling
"in the royal countenance. Has been known to make ex-
plosions, and to be very furious to Prince Fred and others,
"when pricked into: -- but, my friend, what mortal is exempt
"from failings? Majesty reads the English Newspapers every
"morning in bed, which are often biting. Majesty has his
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? 56 PRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book XI.
June--Sept. 1740.
"Walmoden, a Hanoverian Improper-Female, Countess of
"Yarmouth so-called; quiet, autumnal, fair-complexioned,
"stupid; who is much a comfort to him. She keeps out of
"mischief, political or other; and givesBielfeld a gracious nod
"now and men. " * Harrington is here too; -- and Britannic
Majesty and he are busy governing the English Nation on
these terms. -- We return now to the Prussian Majesty.
About six weeks after that of Dickens, -- Cleve
Journey and much else now ended, -- Pratorius the
Danish Envoy, whom we slightly knew at Reinsberg
once, gives this testimony; writing home to an Ex-
cellency at Copenhagen, whose name we need not
inquire into:
"To give your Excellency a just idea of the new Govern -
'' ment here, I must observe that hitherto the King of Prussia
"does as it were everything himself; and that, excepting the
"Finance Minister vonBoden, who preaches frugality, and
"finds for that doctrine uncommon acceptance, almost greater
"even than in the former reign, his Majesty allows no coun-
"selling from any Minister; so that Herr vonPodewils, who
"is now the working hand in the department of Foreign
"Affairs, has nothing given him to do but to expedite the
"orders he receives from the Cabinet, his advice not being
"asked upon any matter; and so it is with the other Ministers.
"People thought the loss of Herr von Thulmeyer," veteran
Foreign Minister whom we have transiently heard of in the
Double-Marriage time, and perhaps have even seen at London
or elsewhere,** "would be irreparable; so expert was he, and
"a living archive in that business: however, his post seems to
"have vanished with himself. His salary is divided between
"Herr von Podewils," whom the reader will sometimes hear of
again, "Kriegsrath (Councillor of War) von llgen," son of the
old gentleman we used to know, "and Hofrath bellentin who is
"Rendant of the Legations-Kasse" (Ambassadors' Paymaster,
>> Bielfeld, i. 158.
** Died, 4th August (RSdenbeck, p. 20).
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? CHAP. II. ] THE HOMAGINGS. 57
Jane--Sept. 1740.
we could guess, Ambassador Body having specialty of cash
assigned it, comparable with the specialty of value received
from it, in this strict frugal Country), -- neither of which two
latter names shall the reader be troubled with farther. "A
"good many resolutions, and responses by the King, I have
"seen: they combine laconic expression with an admirable
"business eye (Geschaftsblick). Unhappily," -- at least for us
in the Diplomatic line, for your Excellency and me unhappily,
-- "there is nobody about the King who possesses his complete
"confidence, or whom we can make use of in regard to the ne-
cessary introductions and preliminary movements. Hereby
"it comes that, -- as certain things can only be handled with
"cautious foresight and circumlocution, and in the way of be-
"ginning wide, -- an Ambassador here is more thrown out of
"his course than in any other Court; and knows not, though
e" his object were steadily in sight, what road to strike into for
"getting towards it. " *
* Preuss, Thronbesteigung, p. 377 (2d October 1740).
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? 58 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book XI.
June--Sept. 1710.
CHAPTEK III.
FRIEDRICH MAKES AN EXCURSION, NOT OF DIRECT SORT,
INTO THE CLEVE COUNTRIES.
King Friedrich did not quite keep his day at
Wesel; indeed this 24th was not the first day, but the
last of several, he had appointed to himself for finis to
that Journey in the Cleve Countries; Journey rather
complex to arrange. He has several businesses ahead
in those parts; and as usual, will group them with
good judgment, and thrift of time. Not inspections
merely, but amusements, meetings with [friends, espe-
cially French friends: the question is, how to group
them with skill, so that the necessary elements may
converge at the right moment, and one shot kill three
or four birds. This is Friedrich's fine way, perceptible
in all these Journeys. The French friends, flying each
on his own track, with his own load of impediments,
Voltaire with his Madame for instance, are a difficult
element in such problem; and there has been, and is,
much scheming and corresponding about it, within the
last month especially.
Voltaire is now at Brussels with his Du Chatelet,
prosecuting that endless "lawsuit with the House of
Honsbruck," -- which he, and we, are both desirous
to have done with. He is at the Hague, too, now and
then; printing, about to print, the Anti-Macchiavel;
corresponding, to right and left, quarrelling with Van
Duren the Printer; lives, while there, in the Vieille,
Cour, in the vast dusky rooms with faded gilding, and
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? CHAP. HI. ] EXCURSION TO THE CLEVB COUNTRIES. 59
June--Sept. 1740.
grand old Bookshelves "with the biggest spider-webs
in Europe. " Brussels is his place for Law-Consulta-
tions, general family residence; the Hague and that
old spider-web Palace for correcting Proofsheets; doing
one's own private studies, which we never quite neglect.
Fain would Friedrich see him, fain he Friedrich; but
there is a divine Emilie, there is a Maupertuis, there
are -- In short never were such difficulties, in the
cooking of an egg with water boiling; and much vain
correspondence has already been on that subject, as on
others equally extinct. Correspondence which is not
pleasant reading at this time; the rather as no reader
can, without endless searching, even understand it.
Correspondence left to us, not in the cosmic, elucidated
or legible state; left mainly as the Editorial rubbish-
waggons chose to shoot it; like a tumbled quarry, like
the ruins of a sacked city; -- avoidable by readers
who are not forced into it! * Take the following
select bricks as sample, which are of some use; the
general Heading is,
King Friedrich to M. de Voltaire (at the Hague, or at Brussels).
"Charlottenburg, 12th June 1140. -- ** My dear Voltaire,
"resist no longer the eagerness I have to see you. Do in my
"favour whatever your humanity allows. In the end of Au-
"gust I go to Wesel, and perhaps farther. Promise that you
"will come and join me; for I could not live happy, nor die
"tranquil, without having embraced you! Thousand com-
pliments to the Marquise," divine Emilie. "I am busy with
"both hands" (Corn-Magazines, Free Press, Abolition of
Torture, and much else); "working at the Army with the
"one hand, at the People and tbe Fine Arts with the other. "
"Berlin, 5th August 1740. -- * * I will write to Madame du
"Chatelet, incompliance with your wish:" mark it, reader.
* Herr Preuss's edition (CEuvies de Frederic, Voll. xxi. xxii. xxiii. ) has
come out since the above was written: it is agreeably exceptional; being,
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? 60 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [bOOK XI.
June--Sept. 1740.
"To speak to you frankly concerning her journey, it is Vol-
"taire, it is you, it is my Friend that I desire to see; and the
"divine Emiliewith all her divinity is only theAccessory of the
"Apollo Newtonised.
"Icannot yet say whether I shall travel" (incognito into
foreign parts a little) "or not travel;" there have been ru-
mours , perhaps private wishes; but--** " Adieu, dear friend;
"sublime spirit, first-born of thinking beings. Love me al-
"ways sincerely, and be persuaded that none can love and
"esteem you more than I. Vale. "F? d? ric. "
"Berlin 6th August" (which is next day). -- "You will have
"received aLetter from me dated yesterday; this is the second
"I write to you from Berlin; I refer you to what was in the
"other. If it must be (faut) that Emilie accompany Apollo, I
"consent; but if I could see you alone, that is what I would
"prefer. I should be too much dazzled; I could not stand so
"much splendour all at once; it would overpower me. I
"should need the veil of Moses to temper the united radiance
"of your two divinities. " * * In short, don't bring her,
if you please.
"Remusberg" (poetic for Reinsberg), "8th August 1740. --
u * * jfy ,jear Voltaire, I do believe Van Duren costs you
"more trouble and pains than you had with Henri Quatre. In
"versifying the Life of a Hero, you wrote the history of your
"own thoughts; but in coercing a scoundrel you fence with an
"enemy who is not worthy of you. " To punish him, and cut
short his profits, "print, then, as you wish" (your own
edition of the Anti-Macchiavel, to go along with his, and trip
the feet from it). "Faites rouler la presse; erase, change,
"correct; do as you see best; your judgment about it shall be
"mine. "-- "In eight days I,leave for" -- (where thinks the
reader? "Dantzig deliberately print all the Editors, careful
Preuss among them; overturnmg the terrestrial azimuths for
us, and making day night! ) -- "for Leipzig, and reckon on
"being at Frankfort on the 22d. In case you could be there,
"I expect, on my passage, to give you lodging! At Cleve or
"in Holland, I depend for certain on embracing you. " *
for the first time, correctly printed, and the editor himself having mostly
understood it, --though the reader still cannot, on the terms there allowed.
* Preuss, lEunres (ie Frederic, ix. pp. 5, 19-21; Voltaire, (Euvrns,
Ixxii. 226, &c. (not worth citing, in comparison).
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? CHAP, in. ] EXCURSION TO THE CLEVE COUNTRIES. 61
Juno--Sept. 1740.
Intrinsically the Friedrich correspondence at this
time, with Voltaire especially, among many friends
now on the wing towards Berlin and sending letters,
has, -- if you are forced into struggling for some un-
derstanding of it, and do get to read parts of it with
the eyes of Friedrich and Voltaire, -- has a certain
amiability; and is nothing like so waste and dreary as
it looks in the chaotic or sacked-city condition. Fried-
rich writes with brevity, oftenest on practicalities (the
Anti-Macchiavel, the coming Interview, and the like),
evidently no time to spare; writes always with con-
siderable sincerity; with friendliness, much admiration,
and an ingenuous vivacity, to M. de Voltaire. Voltaire,
at his leisure in Brussels or the Old-Palace and its spider-
webs, writes much more expansively; not with insin-
cerity, he either;-- with endless airy graciosities, and
ingenious twirls, and touches of flattering unction,
which latter, he is aware, must not be laid on too
thick.
As thus:
In regard to the Anli-Macchiavel, -- Sire, deign to give me
your permissions as to the scoundrel of a Van Duren; well
worthwhile, Sire, -- '' it is a monument for the latest poste-
rity; the only Book worthy of a King for these Fifteen
"hundred years. "
This is a strongish trowelful, thrown on direct,
with adroitness; and even this has a kind of sincerity.
Safer, however, to do it in the oblique or reflex way,
-- by Ambassador Camas, for example:
"I will tell you boldly, Sir" (you M. de Camas), "I put
"more value on this Book [Anti-Macchiavel) than on the Em-
peror Julian's Ccesa? ; or on the Maxims of Marcus Aurelius,"
-- I do indeed, having a kind of property in it withal! *
* Voltaire, (Euvrcs, lxxii. 280 (To Camas, 18th October 174. 0J.
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? 62 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book XI.
15tU Aug. 1740.
In fact, Voltaire too is beautiful, in this part of
the Correspondence; but much in a twitter, -- the
Queen of Sheba, not the sedate Solomon, in prospect
of what is coming. He plumes himself a little, we
perceive, to his d'Argentals and French Correspondents,
on this sublime intercourse he has got into with a
Crowned Head, the cynosure of mankind: -- Perhaps
even you, my best friend, did not quite know me, and
what merits I had! Plumes himself a little; but studies
to be modest withal; has not much of the peacock, and
of the turkey has nothing, to his old friends. All which
is very naive and transparent; natural and even pretty,
on the part of M. de Voltaire as the weaker vessel. --
For the rest, it is certain Maupertuis is getting under
way at Paris towards the Cleve rendezvous. Brussels,
too, is so near these Cleve Countries; within two days
good driving: -- if only the times and routes would
rightly intersect?
Friedrich's intention is by no means for a straight
journey towards Cleve: he intends for Baireuth first,
then back from Baireuth to Cleve, -- making a huge
southward elbow on the map, with Baireuth for apex
or turning-point: -- in this manner he will make the
times suit, and have a convergence at Cleve. To Bai-
reuth;-- who knows if not farther? All summer there
has gone fitfully a rumour, that he wished to see France;
perhaps Paris itself incognito? The rumour, which
was heard even at Petersburg, * is now sunk dead
again; but privately, there is no doubt, a glimpse of
the sublime French Nation would be welcome to Fried-
* Raumer's Beitrdfie (English Translation, London, 1837), p. 15
ch'a Despatch, 24th Jane 1740).
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? CHAP. III. ] EXCURSION TO THE CLEVE COUNTRIES. G3
17th Aug. i740.
rich. He could never get to Travelling in his young
time; missed his Grand Tour altogether, much as he
wished it; and he is capable of pranks! -- Enough,
on Monday morning, 15th August 1740,* Friedrich
and Suite leave Potsdam, early enough; go, by Leip-
zig, by the route already known to readers, through
Coburg and the Voigtland regions; Wilhelmina has got
warning, sits eagerly expecting her Brother in the Her-
mitage at Baireuth, gladdest of shrill sisters; and full
of anxieties how her Brother would now be. The trav-
elling party consisted, besides the King, of seven per-
sons: Prince August Wilhelm, King's next Brother,
Heir-apparent if there come no children, now a brisk
youth of eighteen; Leopold Prince of Anhalt-Dessau,
Old Dessauer's eldest, what we may call the "Young
Dessauer;" Colonel von Borck, whom we shall hear
of again; Colonel von Stille, already heard of (grave
men of fifty, these two); milk-beard Munchow, an Ad-
jutant, youngest of the promoted Munchows; Algarotti,
indispensable for talk; and Fredersdorf, the House-
steward and domestic Factotum, once Private in
Schwerin's Regiment, whom Bielfeld so admired at
Reinsberg, foreseeing what he would come to. One of
Friedrich's late acts was to give Factotum Fredersdorf
an Estate of Land (small enough, I fancy, but with
country-house on it) for solace to the leisure of so use-
ful a man, -- studious of chemistry too, as I have
heard. Seven in all, besides the King. ** Direct to-
wards Baireuth, incognito, and at the top of their
speed. Wednesday, 17th, they actually arrive. Poor
* Hiiilenbeck, p. 15, slightly in error: sco Dickens's Interview, supra,
p. 50.
** Eci. lcnbeck, p. 10 (and for Chamberlain Fredcrsdorf's estate, p. 15;.
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? 64 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book XI.
17ttt-20th Aug. 1740.
Wilhelmina, she finds her Brother changed; -- become
a King in fact, and sternly solitary; alone in soul, even
as a King must be! * --
"Algarotti, one of the first beaux-esprits of this age,"
as Wilhelmina defines him, -- Friend Algarotti, the
young Venetian gentleman of elegance, in dusky skin,
in very white linen and frills, with his fervid black
eyes, "does the expenses of the conversation. " He is
full of elegant logic, has speculations on the great world
and the little, on Nature, Art, Papistry, Anti-Papistry,
and takes up the Opera in an earnest manner, as ca-
pable of being a school of virtue and the moral sublime.
His respectable Books on the Opera and other topics
are now all forgotten, and crave not to be mentioned.
To me he is not supremely beautiful, though much
the gentleman in manners as in ruffles, and ingeniously
logical: -- rather yellow to me, in mind as in skin,
and with a taint of obsolete Venetian Macassar. But
to Friedrich he is thrice dear; who loves the sharp
facetted cut of the man, and does not object to his
yellow or Extinct-Macassar qualities of mind. Thanks
to that wandering Baltimore for picking up such a
jewel and carrying him Northward! Algarotti himself
likes the North: here in our hardy climates, -- espe-
cially at Berlin, and were his loved Friedrich not a
King, -- Algarotti could be very happy in the liberty
allowed. At London, where there is no King, or none
to speak of, and plenty of free Intelligences, Carterets,
Lytteltons, young Pitts and the like, he is also well,
were it not for the horrid smoke upon one's linen, and
the little or no French of those proud Islanders.
Wilhelmina seems to like him here; is glad, at any
* Wilholmina, ii. 322, 323.
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? CHAP. III. ] EXCURSION TO THE CLEVE COUNTRIES. 65
17tk-S0th Aug. 1740.
rate, that he does the costs of conversation, better or
worse. In the rest is no hope. Stille, Borck are ac-
complished military gentlemen; but of tacit nature,
reflective, practical, rather than discursive, and do not
waste themselves by incontinence of tongue. Stille, by
his military Commentaries, which are still known to
soldiers that read, maintains some lasting remembrance
of himself: Borck we shall see engaged in a small bit
of business before long. As to Miinchow, the jeune
moneux of an Aidecamp, he, though his manners are
well enough, and he wears military plumes in his hat,
is still an unfledged young creature, "bill still yellow,"
so to speak; -- and marks himself chiefly by a visible
hankering after that troublesome creature Marwitz, who
is always coquetting. Friedrich's conversation, espe-
cially to my Wilhelmina, seems "tjuinde, set on stilts,"
likewise there are frequent cuts of banter in him; and
it is painfully evident he distinguishes my Sister of
Anspach and her foolish Husband, whom he has in-
vited over hither in a most eager manner, beyond what
a poor Wilhelmina with her old love can pretend to.
Patience, my shrill Princess, Beauty of Baireuth and
the world; let us hope all will come right again! My
shrill Princess, -- who has a melodious strength like
that of war-fifes, too, -- knows how to be patient; and
veils many things, though of a highly unhypocritical
nature.
These were Three great Days at Baireuth; Wilhel-
mina is to come soon, and return the visit at Berlin.
To wait upon the King, known though incognito, "the
Bishop of Bamberg" came driving over: * Schonborn,
Austrian Kanzler, or who? His old City we once saw
* llelden-Geschichle, I. 419.
Cerbjle, Frederick the Great. VI. ?
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? 66 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [bOOK XI.
20th Aug. 1740.
(and plenty of hanged malefactors swinging round it,
during that Journey to the Reich); -- but the Bishop
himself never to our knowledge, Bishop being absent
then. I hope it is the same Bishop of Bamberg whom
a Friend of Busching's, touring there about that same
time, saw dining in a very extraordinary manner, with
mediaeval trumpeters, "with waiters in spurs and buff-
belts: * if it is not, I have not the slightest shadow of
acquaintance with him, -- there have been so many
Bishops of Bamberg with whom one wishes to have
none! On the third day Friedrich and his company
went away towards Wiirzburg; and Wilhelmina was
left alone with her reflections. "I had had so much to
"say to him; I had got nothing said at all:" alas, it is
ever so. "The King was so changed, grown so much
"bigger (grandt), you could not have known him again;"
stands finely erect and at full breadth, every inch a
King; his very stature, you would say, increased. --
Adieu, my Princess, pearl of Princesses; all readers
will expect your return-visit at Berlin, which is to be
soon.
Friedrich strikes off to the left, and has a View of
Strasburg for Two Days.
Through Wiirzburg, Frankfurt on the Mayn, speeds
Friedrich; -- Wilhelmina and mankind understand that
it is homewards and to Cleve: but at Frankfurt, in
deepest privacy, there occurs a sudden whirl south-
ward, -- up the Rhine-Valley; direct towards Stras-
burg, for a sight of France in that quarter! So has
Friedrich decided, -- not quite suddenly, on new Let-
* Biisching's Beulrage; -- Schlosser (History of the Eighteenth Century)
also qaotes the scene.
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? CHAP. III. ] EXCURSION TO THE CLEVE COUNTRIES. 67
22d-25th Aug. 1840.
ters here, or new computations about Cleve; but by
forethought taken at Baireuth, as rather appears. From
Frankfurt to Strasburg, say 150 miles; from Strasburg
home, is not much farther than from Frankfurt home:
it can be done, then; husht! --
The incognito is to be rigorous: Friedrich becomes
Comte Dufour, a Prussian-French gentleman; Prince
August Wilhelm is Graf von Schaffgotsch, Algarotti is
Graf von Pfuhl, Germans these two; what Leopold, the
Young Dessauer called himself, -- still less what the
others, or whether the others were there at all, and not
shoved on, direct towards Wesel, out of the way as is
likelier, -- can remain uncertain to readers and me.
From Frankfurt, then, on Monday morning, 22d Au-
gust 1740, as I compute, through old known Philips-
burg-Campaign country, and the lines of Ettlingen
and Stollhofen; there the royal Party speeds eagerly
(weather very bad, as appears): and it is certain they
are at Kehl on Tuesday evening; looking across the
long Rhine Bridge, Strasburg and its steeples now
close at hand.
This looks to be a romantic fine passage in the
History of the young King; -- though in truth it is
not, and proves but a feeble story either to him or us.
Concerning which, however, the reader, especially if
lie should hear that there exists precise Account of it,
Two Accounts indeed, one from the King's own hand,
will not fail of a certain craving to become acquainted
with details. This craving, foolish rather than wise,
we consider it thriftiest to satisfy at once; and shall
give the King's Narrative entire, though it is a jingling
lean scraggy Piece, partly rhyme, "in the manner of
Bachaumont and La Chapelle;" written at the gallop,
5*
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? 68 FRIEDKICII TAKES TIIE REINS IN HAND. [book XI.
22il-25th Aug. 1740.
a few days hence, and despatched to Voltaire: --
"You," dear Voltaire, l<rwish to know what I have
"been about, since leaving Berlin; annexed you will
"find a description of it," writes Friedrich. * Out of
Voltaire's and other people's wastebaskets, it has at
length been fished up, patch by patch, and pasted to-
gether by victorious modern Editors; and here it is
again entire. The other Narrative, which got into the
Newspapers soon after, is likewise of authentic nature,
-- Fassmann, our poor old friend, confirming it, if
that were needful, --, and is happily in prose. ** Hold-
ing these two Pieces well together, and giving the
King's, faithfully translated, in a complete state, it
will be possible to satisfy foolish cravings, and make
this Strasburg Adventure luminous enough.
King Friedrich to Voltaire (from Wesel, 2d September 1740),
chiefly in Doggerel, concerning the Run to Strasburg. ***
"I have just finished a Journey, intermingled with singular
"adventures, sometimes pleasant, sometimes the reverse.
"You know I had set out for Baireuth," -- Bruxelles the
beautiful French Editor wrote, which makes Egyptian dark-
ness of the Piece! -- "to see a Sister whom I love no less than
"esteem. On the road" (thither or thence; or likeliest, there),
"Algarotti and I consulted the map, to settle our route for
"returning by Wesel. Frankfurt on the Mayn comes always
"as a principal stage; -- Strasburg was no great roundabout:
"we chose that route in preference. The incognito was de-
"cided, names pitched upon" (Comte Dufour,and the others);
* (Enures, xxii. 25 (Wesel, 2d September 1740).
** Given in tlelden-Geschichtc, i. 420-423; -- see likewise Fassmann's
Mei'kwHrdigster Itegierungs-Anlrui (poor old Book on Friedrick's Acces-
sion); Preuss (Tltronbesteinunq, pp. 395-400; &c. &c. )
*** Part of it, incorrect, in Voltaire, (Envres (scandalous Piece now
called UemoireB, once Vie Priv^e du Hoi dcPnisse), ii. 24-26; finally, in
Preuss, iEtnres de Fiederic, xiv. I5fi-161, the real and complete affair, -- . is
fished up by victorious Preuss and others.
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? CHAP. HI. ] EXCURSION TO THE CLEVE COUNTRIES. 09
22d-25th Aug. 1740.
"story we were to tell: in fine all was arranged and concerted
"to a nicety as well as possible. We fancied we should get to
"Strasburg in three days," from Baireuth.
"But Heaven, which disposes of all
"things,
"Differently regulated this thing.
"With lank-sided coursers,
"Lineal descendants from Rosi-
"nante,
"With ploughmen in the dress of
"postillions,
"Blockheads of impertinent nature;
"Our carriages sticking fast a hun-
"dred times in the road,
"We went along with gravity at a
"leisurely pace,
"Knocking against the crags.
"The atmosphere in uproar with
"loud thunder,
"The rain-torrents streaming over
"the Earth
"Threatened mankind with theBay
"of Judgment [very bad weather],
"And in spite of our impatience
"Four good days are, in penance,
"Lost forever in these juinblings.
"Friesland, soon to fall heirless, which was granted we long
"since, though Hanover makes hagglings, counter-claimings;
"I must have some Settlement about that.
"3<>. The like about those perplexities in Mecklenburg.
"No difficulty there if we try heartily, nor is there such press-
ing haste about it.
"These are my three claims on England; and I will try to
"serve England as far in return, if it will tellme how. 'Ah,
"beware of throwing yourself into the arms of France! '
"modestly suggests Dickens. -- ' Well, if France will guaran-
tee me those Duchies, and you will not do anything? ' an-
"swers his Majesty with a fine laugh: 'England I consider my
"most natural friend and ally; but I must know what there is
"to depend on there. Princes are ruled by their interest;
"cannot follow their feelings. Let me have an explicit an-
"swer; say, at Wesel, where I am to be on the 24th,'"--ten
days hence. Britannic Majesty is at Hanover, and can an-
swer within that time. "This he twice told'me, Wesel, 24th,'
"in the course of our interview. Permit me to recommend the
"matter to your Lordship," -- my Lord Harrington, now at-
tending the Britannic Majesty.
"During the whole audience," addsDickens, "theKing
"was in extreme good humour; and not only heard with at-
"tention all the considerations I offered, but was not the least
"offended at any objections I made to what he said. It is un-
"doubtedly the best way to behave with frankness to him. "
These last are Dickens's own words; let them modestly be a
memorandum to your Lordship. This King goes himself
direct to the point; and straightforwardness, as a primary
condition, will profit your Lordship with him. *
Most true advice, this ; -- and would perhaps be followed,
were it quite easy! But things are very complicated. And the
Britannic Majesty, much plagued with Spanish War and Par-
* Dickens (in State-Paper Office), 17th August 1710.
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? chap, ii. ] THE HOMAGINGS. 55
Jane--Sept. 1740.
liamentary noises in that unquiet Island, is doubtless glad to
get away to Hanover for a little; and would fain be on holiday
in these fine rural months. Which is not well possible either.
Jenkins's Ear, rising at last like a fiery portent, has kindled
the London Fog over yonder, in a strange way, and the murky
stagnancy is all getting on fire; the English intent, as seldom
any Nation was, to give the Spaniards an effectual beating.
Which they hope they can, -- though unexpected difficulties
will occur. And, in the mean while, what a riddle of poten-
tialities for his poor Majesty to read, and pick his way
from! --
Bielfeld,in spite of all this, would fain be full of admiration
for the Britannic Majesty. Confesses he is below the middle
size, in fact a tiny little creature, but then his shape is perfect;
leg much to be commended, -- which his Majesty knows,
standing always with one leg slightly advanced, and the Order
of the Garter on it, that mankind may take notice. Here is
Bielfeld's description faithfully abridged:
"Big blue eyes, perhaps rather of parboiled character,
"though proud enough; eyes flush with his face or more,
"rather in relief than on a level with it," -- a fleur de tete, after
the manner of a fish, if one might say so, and betokening sucli
an intellect behind them! "Attitude constrained, leg advanced
"in that way; his courtiers call it majestic. Biggish mouth,
"strictly shut in the crescent or horse-shoe form (ferme'e en
"croissant); curly wig (a noeuds, reminding you of lamb's-
"weol, colour not known); eyebrows, however, you can see
"are ashy-blond; general tint is fundamentally livid; but
"when in good case, the royal skin will take tolerably bright
"colours (prend d'assez belles coulews). As to the royal mmd
"and understanding, what shall Bielfeld say? That his Ma-
jesty sometimes makes ingenious and just remarks, and is
"laudably serious at all times, and can majestically hold his
"tongue, and stand with advanced leg, and eyes rather more
"than flush. Sense of his dignity is high, as it ought to be;
"on great occasions you see pride and a kind of joy mantling
"in the royal countenance. Has been known to make ex-
plosions, and to be very furious to Prince Fred and others,
"when pricked into: -- but, my friend, what mortal is exempt
"from failings? Majesty reads the English Newspapers every
"morning in bed, which are often biting. Majesty has his
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? 56 PRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book XI.
June--Sept. 1740.
"Walmoden, a Hanoverian Improper-Female, Countess of
"Yarmouth so-called; quiet, autumnal, fair-complexioned,
"stupid; who is much a comfort to him. She keeps out of
"mischief, political or other; and givesBielfeld a gracious nod
"now and men. " * Harrington is here too; -- and Britannic
Majesty and he are busy governing the English Nation on
these terms. -- We return now to the Prussian Majesty.
About six weeks after that of Dickens, -- Cleve
Journey and much else now ended, -- Pratorius the
Danish Envoy, whom we slightly knew at Reinsberg
once, gives this testimony; writing home to an Ex-
cellency at Copenhagen, whose name we need not
inquire into:
"To give your Excellency a just idea of the new Govern -
'' ment here, I must observe that hitherto the King of Prussia
"does as it were everything himself; and that, excepting the
"Finance Minister vonBoden, who preaches frugality, and
"finds for that doctrine uncommon acceptance, almost greater
"even than in the former reign, his Majesty allows no coun-
"selling from any Minister; so that Herr vonPodewils, who
"is now the working hand in the department of Foreign
"Affairs, has nothing given him to do but to expedite the
"orders he receives from the Cabinet, his advice not being
"asked upon any matter; and so it is with the other Ministers.
"People thought the loss of Herr von Thulmeyer," veteran
Foreign Minister whom we have transiently heard of in the
Double-Marriage time, and perhaps have even seen at London
or elsewhere,** "would be irreparable; so expert was he, and
"a living archive in that business: however, his post seems to
"have vanished with himself. His salary is divided between
"Herr von Podewils," whom the reader will sometimes hear of
again, "Kriegsrath (Councillor of War) von llgen," son of the
old gentleman we used to know, "and Hofrath bellentin who is
"Rendant of the Legations-Kasse" (Ambassadors' Paymaster,
>> Bielfeld, i. 158.
** Died, 4th August (RSdenbeck, p. 20).
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? CHAP. II. ] THE HOMAGINGS. 57
Jane--Sept. 1740.
we could guess, Ambassador Body having specialty of cash
assigned it, comparable with the specialty of value received
from it, in this strict frugal Country), -- neither of which two
latter names shall the reader be troubled with farther. "A
"good many resolutions, and responses by the King, I have
"seen: they combine laconic expression with an admirable
"business eye (Geschaftsblick). Unhappily," -- at least for us
in the Diplomatic line, for your Excellency and me unhappily,
-- "there is nobody about the King who possesses his complete
"confidence, or whom we can make use of in regard to the ne-
cessary introductions and preliminary movements. Hereby
"it comes that, -- as certain things can only be handled with
"cautious foresight and circumlocution, and in the way of be-
"ginning wide, -- an Ambassador here is more thrown out of
"his course than in any other Court; and knows not, though
e" his object were steadily in sight, what road to strike into for
"getting towards it. " *
* Preuss, Thronbesteigung, p. 377 (2d October 1740).
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? 58 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book XI.
June--Sept. 1710.
CHAPTEK III.
FRIEDRICH MAKES AN EXCURSION, NOT OF DIRECT SORT,
INTO THE CLEVE COUNTRIES.
King Friedrich did not quite keep his day at
Wesel; indeed this 24th was not the first day, but the
last of several, he had appointed to himself for finis to
that Journey in the Cleve Countries; Journey rather
complex to arrange. He has several businesses ahead
in those parts; and as usual, will group them with
good judgment, and thrift of time. Not inspections
merely, but amusements, meetings with [friends, espe-
cially French friends: the question is, how to group
them with skill, so that the necessary elements may
converge at the right moment, and one shot kill three
or four birds. This is Friedrich's fine way, perceptible
in all these Journeys. The French friends, flying each
on his own track, with his own load of impediments,
Voltaire with his Madame for instance, are a difficult
element in such problem; and there has been, and is,
much scheming and corresponding about it, within the
last month especially.
Voltaire is now at Brussels with his Du Chatelet,
prosecuting that endless "lawsuit with the House of
Honsbruck," -- which he, and we, are both desirous
to have done with. He is at the Hague, too, now and
then; printing, about to print, the Anti-Macchiavel;
corresponding, to right and left, quarrelling with Van
Duren the Printer; lives, while there, in the Vieille,
Cour, in the vast dusky rooms with faded gilding, and
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? CHAP. HI. ] EXCURSION TO THE CLEVB COUNTRIES. 59
June--Sept. 1740.
grand old Bookshelves "with the biggest spider-webs
in Europe. " Brussels is his place for Law-Consulta-
tions, general family residence; the Hague and that
old spider-web Palace for correcting Proofsheets; doing
one's own private studies, which we never quite neglect.
Fain would Friedrich see him, fain he Friedrich; but
there is a divine Emilie, there is a Maupertuis, there
are -- In short never were such difficulties, in the
cooking of an egg with water boiling; and much vain
correspondence has already been on that subject, as on
others equally extinct. Correspondence which is not
pleasant reading at this time; the rather as no reader
can, without endless searching, even understand it.
Correspondence left to us, not in the cosmic, elucidated
or legible state; left mainly as the Editorial rubbish-
waggons chose to shoot it; like a tumbled quarry, like
the ruins of a sacked city; -- avoidable by readers
who are not forced into it! * Take the following
select bricks as sample, which are of some use; the
general Heading is,
King Friedrich to M. de Voltaire (at the Hague, or at Brussels).
"Charlottenburg, 12th June 1140. -- ** My dear Voltaire,
"resist no longer the eagerness I have to see you. Do in my
"favour whatever your humanity allows. In the end of Au-
"gust I go to Wesel, and perhaps farther. Promise that you
"will come and join me; for I could not live happy, nor die
"tranquil, without having embraced you! Thousand com-
pliments to the Marquise," divine Emilie. "I am busy with
"both hands" (Corn-Magazines, Free Press, Abolition of
Torture, and much else); "working at the Army with the
"one hand, at the People and tbe Fine Arts with the other. "
"Berlin, 5th August 1740. -- * * I will write to Madame du
"Chatelet, incompliance with your wish:" mark it, reader.
* Herr Preuss's edition (CEuvies de Frederic, Voll. xxi. xxii. xxiii. ) has
come out since the above was written: it is agreeably exceptional; being,
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? 60 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [bOOK XI.
June--Sept. 1740.
"To speak to you frankly concerning her journey, it is Vol-
"taire, it is you, it is my Friend that I desire to see; and the
"divine Emiliewith all her divinity is only theAccessory of the
"Apollo Newtonised.
"Icannot yet say whether I shall travel" (incognito into
foreign parts a little) "or not travel;" there have been ru-
mours , perhaps private wishes; but--** " Adieu, dear friend;
"sublime spirit, first-born of thinking beings. Love me al-
"ways sincerely, and be persuaded that none can love and
"esteem you more than I. Vale. "F? d? ric. "
"Berlin 6th August" (which is next day). -- "You will have
"received aLetter from me dated yesterday; this is the second
"I write to you from Berlin; I refer you to what was in the
"other. If it must be (faut) that Emilie accompany Apollo, I
"consent; but if I could see you alone, that is what I would
"prefer. I should be too much dazzled; I could not stand so
"much splendour all at once; it would overpower me. I
"should need the veil of Moses to temper the united radiance
"of your two divinities. " * * In short, don't bring her,
if you please.
"Remusberg" (poetic for Reinsberg), "8th August 1740. --
u * * jfy ,jear Voltaire, I do believe Van Duren costs you
"more trouble and pains than you had with Henri Quatre. In
"versifying the Life of a Hero, you wrote the history of your
"own thoughts; but in coercing a scoundrel you fence with an
"enemy who is not worthy of you. " To punish him, and cut
short his profits, "print, then, as you wish" (your own
edition of the Anti-Macchiavel, to go along with his, and trip
the feet from it). "Faites rouler la presse; erase, change,
"correct; do as you see best; your judgment about it shall be
"mine. "-- "In eight days I,leave for" -- (where thinks the
reader? "Dantzig deliberately print all the Editors, careful
Preuss among them; overturnmg the terrestrial azimuths for
us, and making day night! ) -- "for Leipzig, and reckon on
"being at Frankfort on the 22d. In case you could be there,
"I expect, on my passage, to give you lodging! At Cleve or
"in Holland, I depend for certain on embracing you. " *
for the first time, correctly printed, and the editor himself having mostly
understood it, --though the reader still cannot, on the terms there allowed.
* Preuss, lEunres (ie Frederic, ix. pp. 5, 19-21; Voltaire, (Euvrns,
Ixxii. 226, &c. (not worth citing, in comparison).
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? CHAP, in. ] EXCURSION TO THE CLEVE COUNTRIES. 61
Juno--Sept. 1740.
Intrinsically the Friedrich correspondence at this
time, with Voltaire especially, among many friends
now on the wing towards Berlin and sending letters,
has, -- if you are forced into struggling for some un-
derstanding of it, and do get to read parts of it with
the eyes of Friedrich and Voltaire, -- has a certain
amiability; and is nothing like so waste and dreary as
it looks in the chaotic or sacked-city condition. Fried-
rich writes with brevity, oftenest on practicalities (the
Anti-Macchiavel, the coming Interview, and the like),
evidently no time to spare; writes always with con-
siderable sincerity; with friendliness, much admiration,
and an ingenuous vivacity, to M. de Voltaire. Voltaire,
at his leisure in Brussels or the Old-Palace and its spider-
webs, writes much more expansively; not with insin-
cerity, he either;-- with endless airy graciosities, and
ingenious twirls, and touches of flattering unction,
which latter, he is aware, must not be laid on too
thick.
As thus:
In regard to the Anli-Macchiavel, -- Sire, deign to give me
your permissions as to the scoundrel of a Van Duren; well
worthwhile, Sire, -- '' it is a monument for the latest poste-
rity; the only Book worthy of a King for these Fifteen
"hundred years. "
This is a strongish trowelful, thrown on direct,
with adroitness; and even this has a kind of sincerity.
Safer, however, to do it in the oblique or reflex way,
-- by Ambassador Camas, for example:
"I will tell you boldly, Sir" (you M. de Camas), "I put
"more value on this Book [Anti-Macchiavel) than on the Em-
peror Julian's Ccesa? ; or on the Maxims of Marcus Aurelius,"
-- I do indeed, having a kind of property in it withal! *
* Voltaire, (Euvrcs, lxxii. 280 (To Camas, 18th October 174. 0J.
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? 62 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book XI.
15tU Aug. 1740.
In fact, Voltaire too is beautiful, in this part of
the Correspondence; but much in a twitter, -- the
Queen of Sheba, not the sedate Solomon, in prospect
of what is coming. He plumes himself a little, we
perceive, to his d'Argentals and French Correspondents,
on this sublime intercourse he has got into with a
Crowned Head, the cynosure of mankind: -- Perhaps
even you, my best friend, did not quite know me, and
what merits I had! Plumes himself a little; but studies
to be modest withal; has not much of the peacock, and
of the turkey has nothing, to his old friends. All which
is very naive and transparent; natural and even pretty,
on the part of M. de Voltaire as the weaker vessel. --
For the rest, it is certain Maupertuis is getting under
way at Paris towards the Cleve rendezvous. Brussels,
too, is so near these Cleve Countries; within two days
good driving: -- if only the times and routes would
rightly intersect?
Friedrich's intention is by no means for a straight
journey towards Cleve: he intends for Baireuth first,
then back from Baireuth to Cleve, -- making a huge
southward elbow on the map, with Baireuth for apex
or turning-point: -- in this manner he will make the
times suit, and have a convergence at Cleve. To Bai-
reuth;-- who knows if not farther? All summer there
has gone fitfully a rumour, that he wished to see France;
perhaps Paris itself incognito? The rumour, which
was heard even at Petersburg, * is now sunk dead
again; but privately, there is no doubt, a glimpse of
the sublime French Nation would be welcome to Fried-
* Raumer's Beitrdfie (English Translation, London, 1837), p. 15
ch'a Despatch, 24th Jane 1740).
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? CHAP. III. ] EXCURSION TO THE CLEVE COUNTRIES. G3
17th Aug. i740.
rich. He could never get to Travelling in his young
time; missed his Grand Tour altogether, much as he
wished it; and he is capable of pranks! -- Enough,
on Monday morning, 15th August 1740,* Friedrich
and Suite leave Potsdam, early enough; go, by Leip-
zig, by the route already known to readers, through
Coburg and the Voigtland regions; Wilhelmina has got
warning, sits eagerly expecting her Brother in the Her-
mitage at Baireuth, gladdest of shrill sisters; and full
of anxieties how her Brother would now be. The trav-
elling party consisted, besides the King, of seven per-
sons: Prince August Wilhelm, King's next Brother,
Heir-apparent if there come no children, now a brisk
youth of eighteen; Leopold Prince of Anhalt-Dessau,
Old Dessauer's eldest, what we may call the "Young
Dessauer;" Colonel von Borck, whom we shall hear
of again; Colonel von Stille, already heard of (grave
men of fifty, these two); milk-beard Munchow, an Ad-
jutant, youngest of the promoted Munchows; Algarotti,
indispensable for talk; and Fredersdorf, the House-
steward and domestic Factotum, once Private in
Schwerin's Regiment, whom Bielfeld so admired at
Reinsberg, foreseeing what he would come to. One of
Friedrich's late acts was to give Factotum Fredersdorf
an Estate of Land (small enough, I fancy, but with
country-house on it) for solace to the leisure of so use-
ful a man, -- studious of chemistry too, as I have
heard. Seven in all, besides the King. ** Direct to-
wards Baireuth, incognito, and at the top of their
speed. Wednesday, 17th, they actually arrive. Poor
* Hiiilenbeck, p. 15, slightly in error: sco Dickens's Interview, supra,
p. 50.
** Eci. lcnbeck, p. 10 (and for Chamberlain Fredcrsdorf's estate, p. 15;.
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? 64 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book XI.
17ttt-20th Aug. 1740.
Wilhelmina, she finds her Brother changed; -- become
a King in fact, and sternly solitary; alone in soul, even
as a King must be! * --
"Algarotti, one of the first beaux-esprits of this age,"
as Wilhelmina defines him, -- Friend Algarotti, the
young Venetian gentleman of elegance, in dusky skin,
in very white linen and frills, with his fervid black
eyes, "does the expenses of the conversation. " He is
full of elegant logic, has speculations on the great world
and the little, on Nature, Art, Papistry, Anti-Papistry,
and takes up the Opera in an earnest manner, as ca-
pable of being a school of virtue and the moral sublime.
His respectable Books on the Opera and other topics
are now all forgotten, and crave not to be mentioned.
To me he is not supremely beautiful, though much
the gentleman in manners as in ruffles, and ingeniously
logical: -- rather yellow to me, in mind as in skin,
and with a taint of obsolete Venetian Macassar. But
to Friedrich he is thrice dear; who loves the sharp
facetted cut of the man, and does not object to his
yellow or Extinct-Macassar qualities of mind. Thanks
to that wandering Baltimore for picking up such a
jewel and carrying him Northward! Algarotti himself
likes the North: here in our hardy climates, -- espe-
cially at Berlin, and were his loved Friedrich not a
King, -- Algarotti could be very happy in the liberty
allowed. At London, where there is no King, or none
to speak of, and plenty of free Intelligences, Carterets,
Lytteltons, young Pitts and the like, he is also well,
were it not for the horrid smoke upon one's linen, and
the little or no French of those proud Islanders.
Wilhelmina seems to like him here; is glad, at any
* Wilholmina, ii. 322, 323.
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? CHAP. III. ] EXCURSION TO THE CLEVE COUNTRIES. 65
17tk-S0th Aug. 1740.
rate, that he does the costs of conversation, better or
worse. In the rest is no hope. Stille, Borck are ac-
complished military gentlemen; but of tacit nature,
reflective, practical, rather than discursive, and do not
waste themselves by incontinence of tongue. Stille, by
his military Commentaries, which are still known to
soldiers that read, maintains some lasting remembrance
of himself: Borck we shall see engaged in a small bit
of business before long. As to Miinchow, the jeune
moneux of an Aidecamp, he, though his manners are
well enough, and he wears military plumes in his hat,
is still an unfledged young creature, "bill still yellow,"
so to speak; -- and marks himself chiefly by a visible
hankering after that troublesome creature Marwitz, who
is always coquetting. Friedrich's conversation, espe-
cially to my Wilhelmina, seems "tjuinde, set on stilts,"
likewise there are frequent cuts of banter in him; and
it is painfully evident he distinguishes my Sister of
Anspach and her foolish Husband, whom he has in-
vited over hither in a most eager manner, beyond what
a poor Wilhelmina with her old love can pretend to.
Patience, my shrill Princess, Beauty of Baireuth and
the world; let us hope all will come right again! My
shrill Princess, -- who has a melodious strength like
that of war-fifes, too, -- knows how to be patient; and
veils many things, though of a highly unhypocritical
nature.
These were Three great Days at Baireuth; Wilhel-
mina is to come soon, and return the visit at Berlin.
To wait upon the King, known though incognito, "the
Bishop of Bamberg" came driving over: * Schonborn,
Austrian Kanzler, or who? His old City we once saw
* llelden-Geschichle, I. 419.
Cerbjle, Frederick the Great. VI. ?
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? 66 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [bOOK XI.
20th Aug. 1740.
(and plenty of hanged malefactors swinging round it,
during that Journey to the Reich); -- but the Bishop
himself never to our knowledge, Bishop being absent
then. I hope it is the same Bishop of Bamberg whom
a Friend of Busching's, touring there about that same
time, saw dining in a very extraordinary manner, with
mediaeval trumpeters, "with waiters in spurs and buff-
belts: * if it is not, I have not the slightest shadow of
acquaintance with him, -- there have been so many
Bishops of Bamberg with whom one wishes to have
none! On the third day Friedrich and his company
went away towards Wiirzburg; and Wilhelmina was
left alone with her reflections. "I had had so much to
"say to him; I had got nothing said at all:" alas, it is
ever so. "The King was so changed, grown so much
"bigger (grandt), you could not have known him again;"
stands finely erect and at full breadth, every inch a
King; his very stature, you would say, increased. --
Adieu, my Princess, pearl of Princesses; all readers
will expect your return-visit at Berlin, which is to be
soon.
Friedrich strikes off to the left, and has a View of
Strasburg for Two Days.
Through Wiirzburg, Frankfurt on the Mayn, speeds
Friedrich; -- Wilhelmina and mankind understand that
it is homewards and to Cleve: but at Frankfurt, in
deepest privacy, there occurs a sudden whirl south-
ward, -- up the Rhine-Valley; direct towards Stras-
burg, for a sight of France in that quarter! So has
Friedrich decided, -- not quite suddenly, on new Let-
* Biisching's Beulrage; -- Schlosser (History of the Eighteenth Century)
also qaotes the scene.
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? CHAP. III. ] EXCURSION TO THE CLEVE COUNTRIES. 67
22d-25th Aug. 1840.
ters here, or new computations about Cleve; but by
forethought taken at Baireuth, as rather appears. From
Frankfurt to Strasburg, say 150 miles; from Strasburg
home, is not much farther than from Frankfurt home:
it can be done, then; husht! --
The incognito is to be rigorous: Friedrich becomes
Comte Dufour, a Prussian-French gentleman; Prince
August Wilhelm is Graf von Schaffgotsch, Algarotti is
Graf von Pfuhl, Germans these two; what Leopold, the
Young Dessauer called himself, -- still less what the
others, or whether the others were there at all, and not
shoved on, direct towards Wesel, out of the way as is
likelier, -- can remain uncertain to readers and me.
From Frankfurt, then, on Monday morning, 22d Au-
gust 1740, as I compute, through old known Philips-
burg-Campaign country, and the lines of Ettlingen
and Stollhofen; there the royal Party speeds eagerly
(weather very bad, as appears): and it is certain they
are at Kehl on Tuesday evening; looking across the
long Rhine Bridge, Strasburg and its steeples now
close at hand.
This looks to be a romantic fine passage in the
History of the young King; -- though in truth it is
not, and proves but a feeble story either to him or us.
Concerning which, however, the reader, especially if
lie should hear that there exists precise Account of it,
Two Accounts indeed, one from the King's own hand,
will not fail of a certain craving to become acquainted
with details. This craving, foolish rather than wise,
we consider it thriftiest to satisfy at once; and shall
give the King's Narrative entire, though it is a jingling
lean scraggy Piece, partly rhyme, "in the manner of
Bachaumont and La Chapelle;" written at the gallop,
5*
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? 68 FRIEDKICII TAKES TIIE REINS IN HAND. [book XI.
22il-25th Aug. 1740.
a few days hence, and despatched to Voltaire: --
"You," dear Voltaire, l<rwish to know what I have
"been about, since leaving Berlin; annexed you will
"find a description of it," writes Friedrich. * Out of
Voltaire's and other people's wastebaskets, it has at
length been fished up, patch by patch, and pasted to-
gether by victorious modern Editors; and here it is
again entire. The other Narrative, which got into the
Newspapers soon after, is likewise of authentic nature,
-- Fassmann, our poor old friend, confirming it, if
that were needful, --, and is happily in prose. ** Hold-
ing these two Pieces well together, and giving the
King's, faithfully translated, in a complete state, it
will be possible to satisfy foolish cravings, and make
this Strasburg Adventure luminous enough.
King Friedrich to Voltaire (from Wesel, 2d September 1740),
chiefly in Doggerel, concerning the Run to Strasburg. ***
"I have just finished a Journey, intermingled with singular
"adventures, sometimes pleasant, sometimes the reverse.
"You know I had set out for Baireuth," -- Bruxelles the
beautiful French Editor wrote, which makes Egyptian dark-
ness of the Piece! -- "to see a Sister whom I love no less than
"esteem. On the road" (thither or thence; or likeliest, there),
"Algarotti and I consulted the map, to settle our route for
"returning by Wesel. Frankfurt on the Mayn comes always
"as a principal stage; -- Strasburg was no great roundabout:
"we chose that route in preference. The incognito was de-
"cided, names pitched upon" (Comte Dufour,and the others);
* (Enures, xxii. 25 (Wesel, 2d September 1740).
** Given in tlelden-Geschichtc, i. 420-423; -- see likewise Fassmann's
Mei'kwHrdigster Itegierungs-Anlrui (poor old Book on Friedrick's Acces-
sion); Preuss (Tltronbesteinunq, pp. 395-400; &c. &c. )
*** Part of it, incorrect, in Voltaire, (Envres (scandalous Piece now
called UemoireB, once Vie Priv^e du Hoi dcPnisse), ii. 24-26; finally, in
Preuss, iEtnres de Fiederic, xiv. I5fi-161, the real and complete affair, -- . is
fished up by victorious Preuss and others.
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? CHAP. HI. ] EXCURSION TO THE CLEVE COUNTRIES. 09
22d-25th Aug. 1740.
"story we were to tell: in fine all was arranged and concerted
"to a nicety as well as possible. We fancied we should get to
"Strasburg in three days," from Baireuth.
"But Heaven, which disposes of all
"things,
"Differently regulated this thing.
"With lank-sided coursers,
"Lineal descendants from Rosi-
"nante,
"With ploughmen in the dress of
"postillions,
"Blockheads of impertinent nature;
"Our carriages sticking fast a hun-
"dred times in the road,
"We went along with gravity at a
"leisurely pace,
"Knocking against the crags.
"The atmosphere in uproar with
"loud thunder,
"The rain-torrents streaming over
"the Earth
"Threatened mankind with theBay
"of Judgment [very bad weather],
"And in spite of our impatience
"Four good days are, in penance,
"Lost forever in these juinblings.
