Niissler, for example, whom we once saw at Ha- 1nover, managing a certain
contested
Heritage for Fried-
rich Wilhelm; adroit Niissler, though he has yet got no
fixed appointment, nor pay except by the job, is urged
to build; -- second year hence, 1733, occurs the case
of Niissler, and is copiously dwelt upon by Biisching
his biographer: "Build yourself a house in the Fried richs Strasse!
rich Wilhelm; adroit Niissler, though he has yet got no
fixed appointment, nor pay except by the job, is urged
to build; -- second year hence, 1733, occurs the case
of Niissler, and is copiously dwelt upon by Biisching
his biographer: "Build yourself a house in the Fried richs Strasse!
Thomas Carlyle
Give the
"'Margraf his Heron-hunt (chasse au Mron), he cares for no-
"'thing; and his people pluck him at no allowance. ' I said:
"That if these Princes would regulate their expenditure, they
"might, little by little, pay off their debts; that I had been
"told at Vienna the Baireuth Bailliages were mortgaged on
"very low terms, those who now held them making eight or
"ten per-cent of their money;" -- that the Margraf ought to
make an effort; and so on. "I saw very well that these Loans
"the King makes are not to his mind.
"Directly on rising from table, he went away; excusing
"himself to me, That he could not pass the night here; that
"the King would not like his sleeping in the Town; besides
"that he had still several things to complete in a Report he
"was sending off to his Majesty. He went to Massin, and
"slept there. For my own share, I did not press him to re-
"main; what I did was rather in the way of form. There
"were with him President Munchow," civil gentleman whom
we know, "an Engineer CaptainReger, and the three Gen-
"tlemen of his Court," Wolden, Kohwedel, Natzmer who once
twirled his finger in a certain mouth, the insipid fellow.
"He is no great eater; but I observed he likes the small
"dishes (petils plats) and the high tastes: he does not care for
"fish; though I had very fine trouts, he never touched them.
"He does not take brown soup (soupe au bouillon). It did not
"seem to me he cared for wine: he tastes at all the wines;
"but commonly stands by burgundy with water.
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? 184 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [book VIII.
19th Oct. 1731.
"I introduced to him all the Officers of my Regiment who
"are here; he received them in the style of a king" (en roi, plenty of quiet pride in him, Herr General). "It is certain he
"feels what he is born to; and if ever he get to it, will stand
"on the top of it. As to me, I mean to keep myself retired;
"and shall see of him as little as I can. I perceive well he
"does not like advice," especially when administered in the
way of preachment, by stiff old military gentlemen of the all-
wise stamp;--"and does not take pleasure except with people
inferior to him in mind. His first aim is to find out the ridi-
culous side of every one, and he loves to banter and quiz. It
"is a fault in a Prince: he ought to know people's faults, and
"not to make them known to anybody whatever,"-- which,
we perceive, is not quite the method with private gentlemen,
of the allwise type! --
"I speak to your Excellency as a friend; and assure you "he is a Prince who has talent, but who will be the slave of
"his passions (sefera dominerpar sespassions," -- not a felici-
tous prophecy, Herr General); "and will like nobody but
"such as encourage him therein. For me, I think all
"Princes are cast in the same mould; there is only a more
"and a less.
"At parting, he embraced me twice; and said: 'I am
"'sorry I cannot stay longer; but another time I will profit
"' better. ' Wolden" (one of the Three) "told me he could not
"describe how well-intentioned for your Excellency the
"Prince-Royal is" (cunning dog! ), "who says often to Wol-
"den" (doubtless guessing it will be re-said), "'If I cannot
"' show him my gratitude, I will his posterity:'" -- profoundly
obliged to the Grumkow kindred first and last! -- "Iremain
"your Excellency's" most pipeclayed
"Von ScHulenburg. "*
? Fb'rster, HI. 71-73.
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? CHAP, v. ] schulenburg's second letter. 185
22d Oct. 17S1.
And so, after survey of the spademen at Carzig and
Himmelstadt (where Colonel Wreech, by the way, is
Amts-Hauptmann, official Head Man), after shooting a
Spiesser or two, and dining and talking in this sort,
his Royal-Highness goes to sleep at Massin; and ends
one day of his then life. We proceed to Letter No. 3.
A day or two after No. 2, it would appear, his
Majesty, who is commonly at Wusterhausen hunting in
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? 186 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [book vm.
22d Oct. 1731.
this season, has been rapidly out to Crossen, in these
Landsberg regions (to south, within a day's drive of
Landsberg), rapidly looking after something; Grumkow
and another Official attending him: -- other Official,
"Truchsess," is Truchsess von Waldburg, a worthy
soldier and gentleman of those parts, whom we shall
again hear of. In No. 3 there is mention likewise of
the "Kurfiirst of Koln," -- Elector of Cologne; languid
lanky gentleman of Bavarian breed, whom we saw last
year at Bonn, richest Pluralist of the Church; whom
doubtless our poor readers have forgotten again.
Mention of him; and also considerable sulky humour,
of the Majesty's-Opposition kind, on Schulenburg's part;
for which reason, and generally as a poor direct reflex
of time and place, -- reflex by ruffled bog-water,
through sedges, and in twilight; dim but indubitable,
-- we give the Letter, though the Prince is little
spoken of in it:
No. 3. To the Excellency Grumkow (as above) in Berlin.
"Landsberg, 22d October (Monday) 1731.
"Monsieur, -- I trust your Excellency made your journey
"to Crossen with all the satisfaction imaginable. Had I been
"warned sooner, I would have come; not only to see the King,
"but for your Excellency's sake and Truchsess's: but I re-
ceived your Excellency's Letter only yesterday morning; so "I could not have arrived before yesternight, and that late;
"for it is fifty miles off, and one has to send relays beforehand;
"there being no posthorses on that road.
"We are, -- not to make comparisons, -- like Harlequin!
"No sooner out of one scrape, than we get into another; and
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? CHAP, v. ] schulenburg's third letter. 187
22d Oct. 1731.
"all for the sake of those Big Blockheads (Vamour de ces
"grands colosses). What the Kurfiirst of Koln has done, in
"his character of Bishop of Osnabriick," -- a deed not known
to this Editor, but clearly in the way of snubbing our re-
cruiting system, -- "is too droll: but if we avenge ourselves,
"there will be high play, and plenty of it, all round our
"borders! If such things would make any impression on the
"spirit of our Master: but they do not; they" -- in short, this
recruiting system is delirious, thinks the stiff Schulenburg;
and scruples not to say so, though not in his place in Parlia-
ment , or even Tobacco-Parliament. For there is a Majesty's
Opposition in all lands and times. "We ruin the Country,"
says the Honourable Member, "sending annually millions of
"money out of it, for a set of vagabond fellows {gens a sac et
"acorde), who will never do us the least service. One sees
"clearly it is the hand of God," darkening some people's
understanding; "otherwise it might be possible their eyes
"would open, one time or another! " -- A stiff pipeclayed
gentleman of great wisdom, with plenty of sulphur burning
in the heart of him. The rest of his Letter is all in the Oppo-
sition strain (almost as if from his place in Parliament, only
far briefer than is usual "within these walls"); and winds up
with a glance at Victor Amadeus's strange feat, or rather at
the Son's feat done upon Victor, over in Sardinia; preceded
by this interjectionary sentence on a Prince nearer home:
"As to the Prince-Koyal, depend on it he will do whatever
"is required of him" (marry anybody you like&c), "if you
"give him more elbow-room, for that is whither he aims. --
"Not a bad stroke that, of the King of Sardinia" -- Grand
news of the day, at that time; now somewhat forgotten, and
requiring a word from us:
Old King Victor Amadeus of Sardinia had solemnly
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? 188 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [BOOKVm
23d Oct 173].
abdicated in favour of his Son; went, for a twelvemonth
or more, into private felicity with an elderly Lady-
love whom he had long esteemed the first of women;
-- tired of such felicity, after a twelvemonth; demanded
his crown back, and could not get it! Lady-love and
he are taken prisoners; lodged in separate castles:*
and the wrath of the proud old gentleman is Olympian
in character, -- split an oak table, smiting it while he
spoke (say the cicerones); -- and his silence, and the
fiery daggers he looks, are still more emphatic. But
the young fellow holds out; you cannot play handy-
dandy with a king's crown, your Majesty! say his new
Ministers. Is and will continue King. "Not a bad
stroke of him," thinks Schulenburg, --
-- "especially if his Father meant to play him the same trick,"
that is, clap him in prison. Not a bad stroke; -- which per-
haps there is another that could imitate, "if his Papa gave
"him the opportunity! But this Papa will take good care;
"and the Queen will not forget the Sardinian business,
"when he talks again of abdicating," as he does when in ill
humour. --
"But now had not we better have been friends with Eng-
land, should war rise upon that Sardinian business? General
"Schulenburg," -- the famed Venetian Fieldmarshal, bruiser
of the Turks in Candia,** my honoured Uncle, who sometimes -
* 2d September 1730, abdicated, went to Chamber? ; reclaims, is locked
in Blvoll, 8th October 1731 (news of it just come to Schulenburg); dies
there, 31st October 1732, his 67th year.
*? Same who was beaten by Charles XII. before; a worthy soldier
nevertheless, say the Authorities: Lift of him by Varnhagen von Ease
(Biographitche Denkmale, Berlin, 1845).
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? CHAP, v. ] schulenburg's third letter. 189
22(1 Oct. 1731.
used to visit his Sister the Maypole, now Emerita, in Lon-
don, and sip beer and take tobacco on an evening, with
George I. of famous memory, --he also "writes me this Victor-
"Amadeusnews, from Paris;" so that it is certain; Ex-King
locked in Kivoli near a fortnight ago: "he, General Schulen-
"burg, says farther, To judge by the outside, all appears
" very quiet; but many think, at the bottom of the bag it will
"not be the same. " --
"lam, with respect," your Excellency's much in buckram,
"Le Comte de Schoulenboubg. " *
So far Lieutenant-General Schulenburg; whom we
thank for these contemporary glimpses of a young man
that has become historical, and of the scene he lived
in. And with these three accidental utterances, as if
they (which are alone left) had been the sum of all he
said in the world, let the Lieutenant-General withdraw
now into silence: he will turn up twice again, after
half-a-score of years, once in a nobler than talking
attitude, the close-harnessed, stalwart, slightly atrabiliar
military gentleman of the old Prussian school.
These glimpses of the Crown-Prince, reflected on
us in this manner, are not very luculent to the reader, -- light being indifferent, and mirror none of the best: -- but some features do gleam forth, good and not so
good; which, with others coming, may gradually coalesce
into something conceivable. A Prince clearly of much
spirit, and not without petulance; abundant fire, much
of it shining and burning irregularly at present; being
sore held down from without, and anomalously situated.
* Fb'rster, Hi. 73-75.
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? 190 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [book Vm.
Oct. 1731.
Pride enough, thinks Schulenburg, capricious petulance
enough, -- likely to go into "a reign of the passions,"
if we live. As will be seen! --
Wilhelmina was betrothed in June last: Wilhelmina,
a Bride these six months, continues to be much tor-
mented by Mamma. But the Bridegroom, Prince of
Baireuth, is gradually recommending himself to persons
of judgment, to Wilhelmina among others. One day
he narrowly missed an unheard-of accident: a foolish
servant, at some boar-hunt, gave him a loaded piece on
the half-cock; half-cock slipped in the handling; bullet
grazed his Majesty's very temple, was felt twitching
the hair there: -- ye Heavens! Whereupon imperti-
nent remarks from some of the Dessau people (allies of
Schwedt and the Margravine in high colours); which
were well answered by the Prince, and noiselessly but
severely checked by a well-bred King. * King has
given the Prince of Baireuth a regiment; and likes him
tolerably, though the young man will not always drink
as could be wished. Wedding, in spite of clouds from
her Majesty, is coming steadily on.
His Majesty's Building Operations.
"This year," says Fassmann, "the building opera-
"tions both in Berlin and Stettin," -- in Stettin where
new fortifications are completed, in Berlin where gra-
dually whole new quarters are getting built, -- "were
? Wilhelmina, i. 356.
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? CHAP, v. ] majesty's building operations. 191
Oct. 1731.
"exceedingly pushed forward (ausserst poussirt). " Alas,
yes; this too is a questionable memorable feature of
his Majesty's reign. Late Majesty, old King Fried-
rich L, wishful, as others had been, for the growth of
Berlin, laid out a new Quarter, and called it Friedrichs
Stadt; -- scraggy boggy ground, planned out into
streets, Friedrichs Strasse the chief street, with here and
there a house standing lonesomely prophetic on it.
But it is this present Majesty, Friedrich Wilhelm, that
gets the plan executed, and the Friedrichs Strasse ac-
tually built, not always in the soft or spontaneous
manner. Friedrich Wilhelm was the iEdile of his
Country, as well as the Drill-sergeant; Berlin City did
not rise of its own accord, or on the principle of leave-
alone, any more than the Prussian Army itself. Wreck
and rubbish Friedrich Wilhelm will not leave alone, in
any kind; but is intent by all chances to sweep them
from the face of the Earth, that something useful,
seemly to the Royal mind, may stand there instead.
Hence these building-operations in the Friedrich Street
and elsewhere, so "exceedingly pushed forward. "
The number of scraggy waste places he swept clear,
first and last, and built tight human dwellings upon, is
almost uncountable. A common gift from him (as from
his Son after him) to a man in favour, was that of a
new good House, -- an excellent gift. Or if the man
is himself able to build, Majesty will help him, incite
him: "Timber enough is in the royal forests; stone,
lime are in the royal quarries; scraggy waste is abun-
dant: why should any man, of the least industry or
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? 192 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [book vin.
Oct. 1781.
private capital, live in a bad house? " By degrees,
the pressure of his Majesty upon private men to build
with encouragement became considerable, became ex-
cessive, irresistible; and was much complained of, in
these years now come. Old Colonel Derschau is the
King's Agent, at Berlin, in this matter; a hard stiff
man; squeezes men, all manner of men with the least
capital, till they build.
Niissler, for example, whom we once saw at Ha- 1nover, managing a certain contested Heritage for Fried-
rich Wilhelm; adroit Niissler, though he has yet got no
fixed appointment, nor pay except by the job, is urged
to build; -- second year hence, 1733, occurs the case
of Niissler, and is copiously dwelt upon by Biisching
his biographer: "Build yourself a house in the Fried richs Strasse! " urges Derschau. "But I have no pay,
no capital! " pleads Niissler. -- "Tush, your Father-in-
law, abstruse Kanzler von Ludwig, in Halle University,
monster of law-learning there, is not he a monster of
hoarded moneys withal? He will lend you, for his own
and his Daughter's sake. * Or shall his Majesty compel
him? " urges Derschau. And slowly, continually turns
the screw upon Niissler, till he too raises for himself a
firm good house in the Friedrichs Stadt, -- Friedrichs
Strasse, or Street, as they now call it, which the Tourist
of these days knows. Substantial clear ashlar Street,
miles or half-miles long; straight as a line: -- Friedrich
Wilhelm found it scrag and quagmire; and left it what
the Tourist sees, by these hard methods. Thus Herr
* BUaching: BeitrSge, i. 324.
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? chap, v. ] majesty's building operations. 193
Oct. 1781.
Privy-Councillor Klinggraf too, Niissler's next neigh-
bour: he did not want to build; far from it; but was
obliged, on worse terms than Nussler. You have such
work, founding your house; -- for the Nussler-Kling-
graf spot was a fish-pool, and "carps were dug up" in
founding; -- such piles, bound platform of solid beams;
"4,000 thalers gone before the first stone is laid:" and
in fact, the house must be built honestly, or it will be
worse for the house and you. "Cost me 12,000thalers
(1,800/. ) in all, and is worth perhaps 2,000! " sorrow-
fully ejaculates Nussler, when the job is over. Still
worse with Privy-Councillor Klinggraf: his house, the
next to Niissler's, is worth mere nothing to him when
built; a soap-boiler offers him 800 thalers (120Z. ) for
it; and Niissler, to avoid suffocation, purchases it him-
self of Klinggraf for that sum. Derschau, with his
slow screw-machinery, is very formidable; -- and Biisch-
ing knows it for a fact, "that respectable Berlin persons
"used to run out of the way of Biirgermeister Koch
"and him, when either of them turned up on the
"streets! "
These things were heavy to bear. Truly, yes:
where is the liberty of private capital, or liberty of al-
most any kind, on those terms? Liberty to annihilate
rubbish and chaos, under known conditions, you may
have; but not the least liberty to keep them about you,
though never so fond of doing it! What shall we say?
Nussler and the Soapboiler do both live in houses more
human than they once had. Berlin itself, and some
other things, did not spring from Free-trade. Berlin
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. IV. 13
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? 194 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [book Vm
Oct. 1731.
City would, to this day, have been a Place of Scrubs
("the Berlin" a mere appellative noun to that effect),
had Free-trade always been the rule there. I am sorry
his Majesty transgresses the limits; -- and we, my
friends, if we can make our Chaos into Cosmos by
firing Parliamentary eloquence into it, and bombarding
it with Blue-Books, we will much triumph over his
Majesty, one day! --
Thus are the building operations exceedingly pushed
forward, the Ear of Jenkins torn off, and Victor Ama-
deus locked in ward, while our Crown-Prince, in the
eclipsed state, is inspected by a Sage in pipeclay, and
Wilhelmina's wedding is coming on.
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? cHap, vi. ] wilhelmina's wedding. 195
20th Nov. 1731.
CHAPTER VI.
wilhelmina's wedding.
Tuesday, 20th November 1731, Wilhelmina's
wedding-day arrived, after a brideship of eight months;
and that young Lady's troublesome romance, more hap-
pily than might have been expected, did at last wind
itself up. Mamma's unreasonable humours continued,
more or less; but these also must now end. Old wooers
and outlooks, "the four or three crowned heads," --
they lie far over the horizon; faded out of one's very
thoughts, all these. Charles XII. , Peter II. are dead,
Weissenfels is not, but might as well be. Prince Fred,
not yet wedded elsewhere, is doing French madrigals
in Leicester House; tending towards the "West Wick-
ham" set of Politicians, the Pitt-Lyttleton set; stands
ill with Father and Mother, and will not come to much.
August the Dilapidated-Strong is deep in Polish troubles,
in Anti-Kaiser politics, in drinking-bouts; -- his great
toe never mended, never will mend. Gone to the
spectral state all these: here, blooming with life in its
cheeks, is the one practical Fact, our good Hereditary
Prince of Baireuth, -- privately our fate all along; --
which we will welcome cheerfully; and be thankful to
Heaven that we have not died in getting it decided for
us! --
Wedding was of great magnificence; Berlin Palace
13*
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? 196 CROWH-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [bOOKOT.
20th Nov. 1731.
and all things and creatures at their brightest; the Bruns-
wick-Beverns here, and other high Guests; no end of
pompous ceremonials, solemnities and splendours, --
the very train of one's gown was "twelve yards long. "
Eschewing all which, the reader shall commodiously
conceive it all, by two samples we have picked out for
him: one sample of a Person, high Guest present; one
of an Apartment where the sublimities went on.
The Duchess Dowager of Sachsen-Meiningen, who
has come to honour us on this occasion, a very large
Lady, verging towards sixty; she is the person. A
living elderly Daughter of the Great Elector himself;
half-sister to the late King, half-aunt to Friedrich Wil-
helm; widow now of her third husband: a singular
phenomenon to look upon, for a moment, through Wil-
helmina's satirical spectacles. One of her three hus-
bands, "Christian Ernst of Baireuth" (Margraf there,
while the present Line was but expectant), had been a
kind of Welsh-Uncle to the Prince now Bridegroom; so
that she has a double right to be here. "She had
found the secret of totally ruining Baireuth," says Wil-
helmina; "Baireuth, and Courland, as well, where her
"first wedlock was;" -- perhaps Meiningen was done
to her hand? Here is the Portrait of "my Grand-Aunt;"
dashed off in very high colours, not by a flattering
pencil:
"It is said she was very fond of pleasing, in her youth;
"one saw as much still by her affected manners. She would
"have made an excellent actress, to play fantastic parts of
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? cHap, vi. ] wilhelmina's weddino. 197
20th Nov. 1781.
"that kind. Her flaming red countenance, her shape, of such
"monstrous extent that she could hardly walk, gave her the
"air of a Female Bacchus. She took care to expose to view
"her," -- apart of her person, large but no longer beautiful,
-- "and continually kept patting it with her hands, to attract
"attention thither. Though sixty gone," -- fifty-seven in
point of fact, -- "she was tricked out like a girl; hair done
"in ribbon-locks (marronnes), all filled with gewgaws of rose-
"pink colour, which was the prevailing tint in her complexion,
"and so loaded with coloured jewels, you would have taken
"her for the rainbow. "*
This charming old Lady, daughtei\of. the Grosse
Kurfurst, and so very fat and rubicund, had a Son
once: he too is mentionable in his way, -- as a mile-
stone (parish milestone) in the obscure Chronology of
those parts. Her first Husband was the Duke of Cour-
land; to him she brought an heir, who became Duke in
his turn, -- and was the final Duke, last of the "Kett-
ler" or native Line of Dukes there. The Kettlers had
been Teutsch Ritters, Commandants in Courland; they
picked up that Country, for their own behoof, when
the Ritterdom went down; and this was the last of
them. He married Anne of Russia with the big cheek
(Czar Peter's Niece, who is since become Czarina); and
died shortly after, twenty years ago; with tears doubt-
less from the poor rosepink Mother, far away in Bai-
reuth and childless otherwise; and also in a sense to
the sorrow of Courland, which was hereby left vacant,
a prey to enterprising neighbours. And on those terms
? Wllhelmlna, i. 375.
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? 198 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [book vnr.
20th Nov. 1731.
it was that Saxon Moritz (our dissolute friend, who will
be Marechal de Saxe one day) made his clutch at Cour-
land, backed by moneys of the French Actress; rumour
of which still floats vaguely about. Moritz might have
succeeded, could he have done the first part of the feat,
fallen in love with swoln-cheeked Anne, Dowager
there; but he could not; could only pretend it: Cour-
land therefore (now that the Swoln-cheek is become
Czarina) falls to one Bieren, a born Courlander, who
could. * -- We hurry to the "Grand Apartment" in
Berlin Schloss, and glance rapidly, with Wilhelmina (in an abridged form), how magnificent it is:
Royal Apartment, third floor of the Palace at Berlin, one
must say, few things equal it in the world. "From the Outer
"Saloon or Antechamber, called Salle des Suisses" (where the
halberdier and valet people wait) "you pass through six
"grand rooms, into a saloon magnificently decorated; thence
"through two rooms more, and so into what they call the
"Picture-Gallery, a room ninety feet long. All this is in a
"line. " Grand all this; but still only common in comparison.
From the Picture-Gallery you turn (to right or left, is not
said, nor does it matter) into a suite of Fourteen great rooms,
each more splendid than the other: lustre from the ceiling of
the first room, for example, is of solid silver; weighs, in
* Last Kcttlcr, Anne's Husband, died (leaving only an old Uncle,
fallen into Papistry and other futility, who, till his death some twenty years
after, had to reside abroad and be nominal merely), 1711; Moritz's attempt
with Adrienne Lecouvreur's cash was, 1726; Anne became Sovereign of all
the Russias (on her poor Cousin Peter II. 's death), 1730; Bieren (Biron as
he tried to write himself, being of poor birth) did not get installed till 1737;
and had, he and Courland both, several tumbles after that before getting to
stable equilibrium.
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? chap, vi. ] wilhelmina's wedding. 199
20th Nov. 1731.
pounds avoirdupois I know not what, but in silver coin
"10,000 crowns:" ceilings painted as by Correggio; "wall-
"mirrors between each pair of windows are twelve feet high,
"and their piers (trumeaux) are of massive silver; in front of
"each mirror, table can be laid for twelve;" twelve Serenities
may dine there, flanked by their mirror, enjoying the Cor-
reggiosities above, and the practical sublimities all round.
"And this is but the first of the Fourteen;" and you go on
increasing in superbness, till, for example, in the last, or
superlative Saloon, you find "a lustre weighing 50,000
"crowns; the globe of it big enough to hold a child of eight
"years; and the branches (gueridons) of it," I forget how
many feet or fathoms in extent: silver to the heart. Nay
the music-balcony is of silver; wearied fiddler lays his elbow
on balustrades of that precious metal. Seldom if ever was
seen the like. In this superlative Saloon, the Nuptial Bene-
diction was given. *
Old King Friedrich, the expensive Herr, it was he
that did the furnishing and Correggio-painting of these
sublime rooms: but this of the masses of wrought silver,
this was done by Friedrich Wilhelm, -- incited thereto
by what he saw at Dresden in August the Strong's
Establishment; and reflecting, too, that silver is silver,
whether you keep it in barrels in a coined form, or
work it into chandeliers, mirror-frames and music-bal-
conies. -- These things we should not have mentioned,
except to say that the massive silver did prove a hoard
available, in after times, against a rainy day. Massive
silver (well mixed with copper first) was all melted
<< Wilholmina, i. 381; Nioolai, ii. 881.
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? 200 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [bOOKVUD
80th Nov. 1731.
down, stamped into current coins, native and foreign,
and sent wandering over the world, before a certain
Prince got through his Seven-Years Wars and other
pinches that are ahead! --
In fine, Wilhelmina's Wedding was magnificent;
though one had rubs too; and Mamma was rather
severe. "Hair went all wrong, by dint of over-dress-
"ing; and hung on one's face like a boy's. Crown-royal
"they had put (as indeed was proper) on one's head:
"hair was in twenty-four locks the size of your arm:
"such was the Queen's order. Gown was of cloth-of-
"silver, trimmed with Spanish gold-lace (avec un point
"d'Espagne d'or); train twelve yards long; -- one was
"like to sink to the earth in such equipment. " Courage,
my Princess! -- In fact, the Wedding went beautifully
off; with dances and sublimities, slow solemn Torch- dance to conclude with, in those unparalleled upper
rooms; Grand-Aunt Meiningen and many other stars
and rainbows witnessing; even the Margravine of
Schwedt, in her high colours, was compelled to be
there. Such variegated splendour, such a dancing of
the Constellations; sublunary Berlin, and all the world,
on tiptoe round it! Slow Torch-dance, winding it up,
melted into the shades of midnight, for this time; and
there was silence in Berlin.
But, on the following nights, there were Balls of a
less solemn character; far pleasanter for dancing pur-
poses. It is to these, to one of these, that we direct
the attention of all readers. Friday 23d, there was
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? CHAP, vi. ] wilhelmtna's WEDDING. x 201
33d Nov. 1731.
again Ball and Royal Evening Party -- " Grand Apart-
ment" so-called. Immense Ball, "seven hundred couples,
all people of condition;" there were "Four Quadrilles,"
or dancing places in the big sea of quality-figures; each
at its due distance in the grand suite of rooms: Wilhel-
mina presides in Quadrille Number One: place assigned
her was in the room called Picture-Gallery; Queen and
all the Principalities were with Wilhelmina, she is to
lead-off their quadrille, and take charge of it. Which
she did, with her accustomed fire and elasticity; -- and
was circling there, on the light fantastic toe, time
six in the evening, when Grumkow, whom she had
been dunning for his bargain about Friedrich the day
before, came up:
"Hikeddancing," says she, "and was taking advantage
"of my chances. Grumkow came up, and interrupted me in
"the middle of a minuet: 'Eh, mon Dieu, Madame! ' said
"Grumkow, 'you seem to have got bit by the tarantula!
"'Margraf his Heron-hunt (chasse au Mron), he cares for no-
"'thing; and his people pluck him at no allowance. ' I said:
"That if these Princes would regulate their expenditure, they
"might, little by little, pay off their debts; that I had been
"told at Vienna the Baireuth Bailliages were mortgaged on
"very low terms, those who now held them making eight or
"ten per-cent of their money;" -- that the Margraf ought to
make an effort; and so on. "I saw very well that these Loans
"the King makes are not to his mind.
"Directly on rising from table, he went away; excusing
"himself to me, That he could not pass the night here; that
"the King would not like his sleeping in the Town; besides
"that he had still several things to complete in a Report he
"was sending off to his Majesty. He went to Massin, and
"slept there. For my own share, I did not press him to re-
"main; what I did was rather in the way of form. There
"were with him President Munchow," civil gentleman whom
we know, "an Engineer CaptainReger, and the three Gen-
"tlemen of his Court," Wolden, Kohwedel, Natzmer who once
twirled his finger in a certain mouth, the insipid fellow.
"He is no great eater; but I observed he likes the small
"dishes (petils plats) and the high tastes: he does not care for
"fish; though I had very fine trouts, he never touched them.
"He does not take brown soup (soupe au bouillon). It did not
"seem to me he cared for wine: he tastes at all the wines;
"but commonly stands by burgundy with water.
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? 184 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [book VIII.
19th Oct. 1731.
"I introduced to him all the Officers of my Regiment who
"are here; he received them in the style of a king" (en roi, plenty of quiet pride in him, Herr General). "It is certain he
"feels what he is born to; and if ever he get to it, will stand
"on the top of it. As to me, I mean to keep myself retired;
"and shall see of him as little as I can. I perceive well he
"does not like advice," especially when administered in the
way of preachment, by stiff old military gentlemen of the all-
wise stamp;--"and does not take pleasure except with people
inferior to him in mind. His first aim is to find out the ridi-
culous side of every one, and he loves to banter and quiz. It
"is a fault in a Prince: he ought to know people's faults, and
"not to make them known to anybody whatever,"-- which,
we perceive, is not quite the method with private gentlemen,
of the allwise type! --
"I speak to your Excellency as a friend; and assure you "he is a Prince who has talent, but who will be the slave of
"his passions (sefera dominerpar sespassions," -- not a felici-
tous prophecy, Herr General); "and will like nobody but
"such as encourage him therein. For me, I think all
"Princes are cast in the same mould; there is only a more
"and a less.
"At parting, he embraced me twice; and said: 'I am
"'sorry I cannot stay longer; but another time I will profit
"' better. ' Wolden" (one of the Three) "told me he could not
"describe how well-intentioned for your Excellency the
"Prince-Royal is" (cunning dog! ), "who says often to Wol-
"den" (doubtless guessing it will be re-said), "'If I cannot
"' show him my gratitude, I will his posterity:'" -- profoundly
obliged to the Grumkow kindred first and last! -- "Iremain
"your Excellency's" most pipeclayed
"Von ScHulenburg. "*
? Fb'rster, HI. 71-73.
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? CHAP, v. ] schulenburg's second letter. 185
22d Oct. 17S1.
And so, after survey of the spademen at Carzig and
Himmelstadt (where Colonel Wreech, by the way, is
Amts-Hauptmann, official Head Man), after shooting a
Spiesser or two, and dining and talking in this sort,
his Royal-Highness goes to sleep at Massin; and ends
one day of his then life. We proceed to Letter No. 3.
A day or two after No. 2, it would appear, his
Majesty, who is commonly at Wusterhausen hunting in
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? 186 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [book vm.
22d Oct. 1731.
this season, has been rapidly out to Crossen, in these
Landsberg regions (to south, within a day's drive of
Landsberg), rapidly looking after something; Grumkow
and another Official attending him: -- other Official,
"Truchsess," is Truchsess von Waldburg, a worthy
soldier and gentleman of those parts, whom we shall
again hear of. In No. 3 there is mention likewise of
the "Kurfiirst of Koln," -- Elector of Cologne; languid
lanky gentleman of Bavarian breed, whom we saw last
year at Bonn, richest Pluralist of the Church; whom
doubtless our poor readers have forgotten again.
Mention of him; and also considerable sulky humour,
of the Majesty's-Opposition kind, on Schulenburg's part;
for which reason, and generally as a poor direct reflex
of time and place, -- reflex by ruffled bog-water,
through sedges, and in twilight; dim but indubitable,
-- we give the Letter, though the Prince is little
spoken of in it:
No. 3. To the Excellency Grumkow (as above) in Berlin.
"Landsberg, 22d October (Monday) 1731.
"Monsieur, -- I trust your Excellency made your journey
"to Crossen with all the satisfaction imaginable. Had I been
"warned sooner, I would have come; not only to see the King,
"but for your Excellency's sake and Truchsess's: but I re-
ceived your Excellency's Letter only yesterday morning; so "I could not have arrived before yesternight, and that late;
"for it is fifty miles off, and one has to send relays beforehand;
"there being no posthorses on that road.
"We are, -- not to make comparisons, -- like Harlequin!
"No sooner out of one scrape, than we get into another; and
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? CHAP, v. ] schulenburg's third letter. 187
22d Oct. 1731.
"all for the sake of those Big Blockheads (Vamour de ces
"grands colosses). What the Kurfiirst of Koln has done, in
"his character of Bishop of Osnabriick," -- a deed not known
to this Editor, but clearly in the way of snubbing our re-
cruiting system, -- "is too droll: but if we avenge ourselves,
"there will be high play, and plenty of it, all round our
"borders! If such things would make any impression on the
"spirit of our Master: but they do not; they" -- in short, this
recruiting system is delirious, thinks the stiff Schulenburg;
and scruples not to say so, though not in his place in Parlia-
ment , or even Tobacco-Parliament. For there is a Majesty's
Opposition in all lands and times. "We ruin the Country,"
says the Honourable Member, "sending annually millions of
"money out of it, for a set of vagabond fellows {gens a sac et
"acorde), who will never do us the least service. One sees
"clearly it is the hand of God," darkening some people's
understanding; "otherwise it might be possible their eyes
"would open, one time or another! " -- A stiff pipeclayed
gentleman of great wisdom, with plenty of sulphur burning
in the heart of him. The rest of his Letter is all in the Oppo-
sition strain (almost as if from his place in Parliament, only
far briefer than is usual "within these walls"); and winds up
with a glance at Victor Amadeus's strange feat, or rather at
the Son's feat done upon Victor, over in Sardinia; preceded
by this interjectionary sentence on a Prince nearer home:
"As to the Prince-Koyal, depend on it he will do whatever
"is required of him" (marry anybody you like&c), "if you
"give him more elbow-room, for that is whither he aims. --
"Not a bad stroke that, of the King of Sardinia" -- Grand
news of the day, at that time; now somewhat forgotten, and
requiring a word from us:
Old King Victor Amadeus of Sardinia had solemnly
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? 188 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [BOOKVm
23d Oct 173].
abdicated in favour of his Son; went, for a twelvemonth
or more, into private felicity with an elderly Lady-
love whom he had long esteemed the first of women;
-- tired of such felicity, after a twelvemonth; demanded
his crown back, and could not get it! Lady-love and
he are taken prisoners; lodged in separate castles:*
and the wrath of the proud old gentleman is Olympian
in character, -- split an oak table, smiting it while he
spoke (say the cicerones); -- and his silence, and the
fiery daggers he looks, are still more emphatic. But
the young fellow holds out; you cannot play handy-
dandy with a king's crown, your Majesty! say his new
Ministers. Is and will continue King. "Not a bad
stroke of him," thinks Schulenburg, --
-- "especially if his Father meant to play him the same trick,"
that is, clap him in prison. Not a bad stroke; -- which per-
haps there is another that could imitate, "if his Papa gave
"him the opportunity! But this Papa will take good care;
"and the Queen will not forget the Sardinian business,
"when he talks again of abdicating," as he does when in ill
humour. --
"But now had not we better have been friends with Eng-
land, should war rise upon that Sardinian business? General
"Schulenburg," -- the famed Venetian Fieldmarshal, bruiser
of the Turks in Candia,** my honoured Uncle, who sometimes -
* 2d September 1730, abdicated, went to Chamber? ; reclaims, is locked
in Blvoll, 8th October 1731 (news of it just come to Schulenburg); dies
there, 31st October 1732, his 67th year.
*? Same who was beaten by Charles XII. before; a worthy soldier
nevertheless, say the Authorities: Lift of him by Varnhagen von Ease
(Biographitche Denkmale, Berlin, 1845).
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? CHAP, v. ] schulenburg's third letter. 189
22(1 Oct. 1731.
used to visit his Sister the Maypole, now Emerita, in Lon-
don, and sip beer and take tobacco on an evening, with
George I. of famous memory, --he also "writes me this Victor-
"Amadeusnews, from Paris;" so that it is certain; Ex-King
locked in Kivoli near a fortnight ago: "he, General Schulen-
"burg, says farther, To judge by the outside, all appears
" very quiet; but many think, at the bottom of the bag it will
"not be the same. " --
"lam, with respect," your Excellency's much in buckram,
"Le Comte de Schoulenboubg. " *
So far Lieutenant-General Schulenburg; whom we
thank for these contemporary glimpses of a young man
that has become historical, and of the scene he lived
in. And with these three accidental utterances, as if
they (which are alone left) had been the sum of all he
said in the world, let the Lieutenant-General withdraw
now into silence: he will turn up twice again, after
half-a-score of years, once in a nobler than talking
attitude, the close-harnessed, stalwart, slightly atrabiliar
military gentleman of the old Prussian school.
These glimpses of the Crown-Prince, reflected on
us in this manner, are not very luculent to the reader, -- light being indifferent, and mirror none of the best: -- but some features do gleam forth, good and not so
good; which, with others coming, may gradually coalesce
into something conceivable. A Prince clearly of much
spirit, and not without petulance; abundant fire, much
of it shining and burning irregularly at present; being
sore held down from without, and anomalously situated.
* Fb'rster, Hi. 73-75.
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? 190 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [book Vm.
Oct. 1731.
Pride enough, thinks Schulenburg, capricious petulance
enough, -- likely to go into "a reign of the passions,"
if we live. As will be seen! --
Wilhelmina was betrothed in June last: Wilhelmina,
a Bride these six months, continues to be much tor-
mented by Mamma. But the Bridegroom, Prince of
Baireuth, is gradually recommending himself to persons
of judgment, to Wilhelmina among others. One day
he narrowly missed an unheard-of accident: a foolish
servant, at some boar-hunt, gave him a loaded piece on
the half-cock; half-cock slipped in the handling; bullet
grazed his Majesty's very temple, was felt twitching
the hair there: -- ye Heavens! Whereupon imperti-
nent remarks from some of the Dessau people (allies of
Schwedt and the Margravine in high colours); which
were well answered by the Prince, and noiselessly but
severely checked by a well-bred King. * King has
given the Prince of Baireuth a regiment; and likes him
tolerably, though the young man will not always drink
as could be wished. Wedding, in spite of clouds from
her Majesty, is coming steadily on.
His Majesty's Building Operations.
"This year," says Fassmann, "the building opera-
"tions both in Berlin and Stettin," -- in Stettin where
new fortifications are completed, in Berlin where gra-
dually whole new quarters are getting built, -- "were
? Wilhelmina, i. 356.
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? CHAP, v. ] majesty's building operations. 191
Oct. 1731.
"exceedingly pushed forward (ausserst poussirt). " Alas,
yes; this too is a questionable memorable feature of
his Majesty's reign. Late Majesty, old King Fried-
rich L, wishful, as others had been, for the growth of
Berlin, laid out a new Quarter, and called it Friedrichs
Stadt; -- scraggy boggy ground, planned out into
streets, Friedrichs Strasse the chief street, with here and
there a house standing lonesomely prophetic on it.
But it is this present Majesty, Friedrich Wilhelm, that
gets the plan executed, and the Friedrichs Strasse ac-
tually built, not always in the soft or spontaneous
manner. Friedrich Wilhelm was the iEdile of his
Country, as well as the Drill-sergeant; Berlin City did
not rise of its own accord, or on the principle of leave-
alone, any more than the Prussian Army itself. Wreck
and rubbish Friedrich Wilhelm will not leave alone, in
any kind; but is intent by all chances to sweep them
from the face of the Earth, that something useful,
seemly to the Royal mind, may stand there instead.
Hence these building-operations in the Friedrich Street
and elsewhere, so "exceedingly pushed forward. "
The number of scraggy waste places he swept clear,
first and last, and built tight human dwellings upon, is
almost uncountable. A common gift from him (as from
his Son after him) to a man in favour, was that of a
new good House, -- an excellent gift. Or if the man
is himself able to build, Majesty will help him, incite
him: "Timber enough is in the royal forests; stone,
lime are in the royal quarries; scraggy waste is abun-
dant: why should any man, of the least industry or
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? 192 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [book vin.
Oct. 1781.
private capital, live in a bad house? " By degrees,
the pressure of his Majesty upon private men to build
with encouragement became considerable, became ex-
cessive, irresistible; and was much complained of, in
these years now come. Old Colonel Derschau is the
King's Agent, at Berlin, in this matter; a hard stiff
man; squeezes men, all manner of men with the least
capital, till they build.
Niissler, for example, whom we once saw at Ha- 1nover, managing a certain contested Heritage for Fried-
rich Wilhelm; adroit Niissler, though he has yet got no
fixed appointment, nor pay except by the job, is urged
to build; -- second year hence, 1733, occurs the case
of Niissler, and is copiously dwelt upon by Biisching
his biographer: "Build yourself a house in the Fried richs Strasse! " urges Derschau. "But I have no pay,
no capital! " pleads Niissler. -- "Tush, your Father-in-
law, abstruse Kanzler von Ludwig, in Halle University,
monster of law-learning there, is not he a monster of
hoarded moneys withal? He will lend you, for his own
and his Daughter's sake. * Or shall his Majesty compel
him? " urges Derschau. And slowly, continually turns
the screw upon Niissler, till he too raises for himself a
firm good house in the Friedrichs Stadt, -- Friedrichs
Strasse, or Street, as they now call it, which the Tourist
of these days knows. Substantial clear ashlar Street,
miles or half-miles long; straight as a line: -- Friedrich
Wilhelm found it scrag and quagmire; and left it what
the Tourist sees, by these hard methods. Thus Herr
* BUaching: BeitrSge, i. 324.
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? chap, v. ] majesty's building operations. 193
Oct. 1781.
Privy-Councillor Klinggraf too, Niissler's next neigh-
bour: he did not want to build; far from it; but was
obliged, on worse terms than Nussler. You have such
work, founding your house; -- for the Nussler-Kling-
graf spot was a fish-pool, and "carps were dug up" in
founding; -- such piles, bound platform of solid beams;
"4,000 thalers gone before the first stone is laid:" and
in fact, the house must be built honestly, or it will be
worse for the house and you. "Cost me 12,000thalers
(1,800/. ) in all, and is worth perhaps 2,000! " sorrow-
fully ejaculates Nussler, when the job is over. Still
worse with Privy-Councillor Klinggraf: his house, the
next to Niissler's, is worth mere nothing to him when
built; a soap-boiler offers him 800 thalers (120Z. ) for
it; and Niissler, to avoid suffocation, purchases it him-
self of Klinggraf for that sum. Derschau, with his
slow screw-machinery, is very formidable; -- and Biisch-
ing knows it for a fact, "that respectable Berlin persons
"used to run out of the way of Biirgermeister Koch
"and him, when either of them turned up on the
"streets! "
These things were heavy to bear. Truly, yes:
where is the liberty of private capital, or liberty of al-
most any kind, on those terms? Liberty to annihilate
rubbish and chaos, under known conditions, you may
have; but not the least liberty to keep them about you,
though never so fond of doing it! What shall we say?
Nussler and the Soapboiler do both live in houses more
human than they once had. Berlin itself, and some
other things, did not spring from Free-trade. Berlin
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. IV. 13
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? 194 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [book Vm
Oct. 1731.
City would, to this day, have been a Place of Scrubs
("the Berlin" a mere appellative noun to that effect),
had Free-trade always been the rule there. I am sorry
his Majesty transgresses the limits; -- and we, my
friends, if we can make our Chaos into Cosmos by
firing Parliamentary eloquence into it, and bombarding
it with Blue-Books, we will much triumph over his
Majesty, one day! --
Thus are the building operations exceedingly pushed
forward, the Ear of Jenkins torn off, and Victor Ama-
deus locked in ward, while our Crown-Prince, in the
eclipsed state, is inspected by a Sage in pipeclay, and
Wilhelmina's wedding is coming on.
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? cHap, vi. ] wilhelmina's wedding. 195
20th Nov. 1731.
CHAPTER VI.
wilhelmina's wedding.
Tuesday, 20th November 1731, Wilhelmina's
wedding-day arrived, after a brideship of eight months;
and that young Lady's troublesome romance, more hap-
pily than might have been expected, did at last wind
itself up. Mamma's unreasonable humours continued,
more or less; but these also must now end. Old wooers
and outlooks, "the four or three crowned heads," --
they lie far over the horizon; faded out of one's very
thoughts, all these. Charles XII. , Peter II. are dead,
Weissenfels is not, but might as well be. Prince Fred,
not yet wedded elsewhere, is doing French madrigals
in Leicester House; tending towards the "West Wick-
ham" set of Politicians, the Pitt-Lyttleton set; stands
ill with Father and Mother, and will not come to much.
August the Dilapidated-Strong is deep in Polish troubles,
in Anti-Kaiser politics, in drinking-bouts; -- his great
toe never mended, never will mend. Gone to the
spectral state all these: here, blooming with life in its
cheeks, is the one practical Fact, our good Hereditary
Prince of Baireuth, -- privately our fate all along; --
which we will welcome cheerfully; and be thankful to
Heaven that we have not died in getting it decided for
us! --
Wedding was of great magnificence; Berlin Palace
13*
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? 196 CROWH-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [bOOKOT.
20th Nov. 1731.
and all things and creatures at their brightest; the Bruns-
wick-Beverns here, and other high Guests; no end of
pompous ceremonials, solemnities and splendours, --
the very train of one's gown was "twelve yards long. "
Eschewing all which, the reader shall commodiously
conceive it all, by two samples we have picked out for
him: one sample of a Person, high Guest present; one
of an Apartment where the sublimities went on.
The Duchess Dowager of Sachsen-Meiningen, who
has come to honour us on this occasion, a very large
Lady, verging towards sixty; she is the person. A
living elderly Daughter of the Great Elector himself;
half-sister to the late King, half-aunt to Friedrich Wil-
helm; widow now of her third husband: a singular
phenomenon to look upon, for a moment, through Wil-
helmina's satirical spectacles. One of her three hus-
bands, "Christian Ernst of Baireuth" (Margraf there,
while the present Line was but expectant), had been a
kind of Welsh-Uncle to the Prince now Bridegroom; so
that she has a double right to be here. "She had
found the secret of totally ruining Baireuth," says Wil-
helmina; "Baireuth, and Courland, as well, where her
"first wedlock was;" -- perhaps Meiningen was done
to her hand? Here is the Portrait of "my Grand-Aunt;"
dashed off in very high colours, not by a flattering
pencil:
"It is said she was very fond of pleasing, in her youth;
"one saw as much still by her affected manners. She would
"have made an excellent actress, to play fantastic parts of
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? cHap, vi. ] wilhelmina's weddino. 197
20th Nov. 1781.
"that kind. Her flaming red countenance, her shape, of such
"monstrous extent that she could hardly walk, gave her the
"air of a Female Bacchus. She took care to expose to view
"her," -- apart of her person, large but no longer beautiful,
-- "and continually kept patting it with her hands, to attract
"attention thither. Though sixty gone," -- fifty-seven in
point of fact, -- "she was tricked out like a girl; hair done
"in ribbon-locks (marronnes), all filled with gewgaws of rose-
"pink colour, which was the prevailing tint in her complexion,
"and so loaded with coloured jewels, you would have taken
"her for the rainbow. "*
This charming old Lady, daughtei\of. the Grosse
Kurfurst, and so very fat and rubicund, had a Son
once: he too is mentionable in his way, -- as a mile-
stone (parish milestone) in the obscure Chronology of
those parts. Her first Husband was the Duke of Cour-
land; to him she brought an heir, who became Duke in
his turn, -- and was the final Duke, last of the "Kett-
ler" or native Line of Dukes there. The Kettlers had
been Teutsch Ritters, Commandants in Courland; they
picked up that Country, for their own behoof, when
the Ritterdom went down; and this was the last of
them. He married Anne of Russia with the big cheek
(Czar Peter's Niece, who is since become Czarina); and
died shortly after, twenty years ago; with tears doubt-
less from the poor rosepink Mother, far away in Bai-
reuth and childless otherwise; and also in a sense to
the sorrow of Courland, which was hereby left vacant,
a prey to enterprising neighbours. And on those terms
? Wllhelmlna, i. 375.
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? 198 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [book vnr.
20th Nov. 1731.
it was that Saxon Moritz (our dissolute friend, who will
be Marechal de Saxe one day) made his clutch at Cour-
land, backed by moneys of the French Actress; rumour
of which still floats vaguely about. Moritz might have
succeeded, could he have done the first part of the feat,
fallen in love with swoln-cheeked Anne, Dowager
there; but he could not; could only pretend it: Cour-
land therefore (now that the Swoln-cheek is become
Czarina) falls to one Bieren, a born Courlander, who
could. * -- We hurry to the "Grand Apartment" in
Berlin Schloss, and glance rapidly, with Wilhelmina (in an abridged form), how magnificent it is:
Royal Apartment, third floor of the Palace at Berlin, one
must say, few things equal it in the world. "From the Outer
"Saloon or Antechamber, called Salle des Suisses" (where the
halberdier and valet people wait) "you pass through six
"grand rooms, into a saloon magnificently decorated; thence
"through two rooms more, and so into what they call the
"Picture-Gallery, a room ninety feet long. All this is in a
"line. " Grand all this; but still only common in comparison.
From the Picture-Gallery you turn (to right or left, is not
said, nor does it matter) into a suite of Fourteen great rooms,
each more splendid than the other: lustre from the ceiling of
the first room, for example, is of solid silver; weighs, in
* Last Kcttlcr, Anne's Husband, died (leaving only an old Uncle,
fallen into Papistry and other futility, who, till his death some twenty years
after, had to reside abroad and be nominal merely), 1711; Moritz's attempt
with Adrienne Lecouvreur's cash was, 1726; Anne became Sovereign of all
the Russias (on her poor Cousin Peter II. 's death), 1730; Bieren (Biron as
he tried to write himself, being of poor birth) did not get installed till 1737;
and had, he and Courland both, several tumbles after that before getting to
stable equilibrium.
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? chap, vi. ] wilhelmina's wedding. 199
20th Nov. 1731.
pounds avoirdupois I know not what, but in silver coin
"10,000 crowns:" ceilings painted as by Correggio; "wall-
"mirrors between each pair of windows are twelve feet high,
"and their piers (trumeaux) are of massive silver; in front of
"each mirror, table can be laid for twelve;" twelve Serenities
may dine there, flanked by their mirror, enjoying the Cor-
reggiosities above, and the practical sublimities all round.
"And this is but the first of the Fourteen;" and you go on
increasing in superbness, till, for example, in the last, or
superlative Saloon, you find "a lustre weighing 50,000
"crowns; the globe of it big enough to hold a child of eight
"years; and the branches (gueridons) of it," I forget how
many feet or fathoms in extent: silver to the heart. Nay
the music-balcony is of silver; wearied fiddler lays his elbow
on balustrades of that precious metal. Seldom if ever was
seen the like. In this superlative Saloon, the Nuptial Bene-
diction was given. *
Old King Friedrich, the expensive Herr, it was he
that did the furnishing and Correggio-painting of these
sublime rooms: but this of the masses of wrought silver,
this was done by Friedrich Wilhelm, -- incited thereto
by what he saw at Dresden in August the Strong's
Establishment; and reflecting, too, that silver is silver,
whether you keep it in barrels in a coined form, or
work it into chandeliers, mirror-frames and music-bal-
conies. -- These things we should not have mentioned,
except to say that the massive silver did prove a hoard
available, in after times, against a rainy day. Massive
silver (well mixed with copper first) was all melted
<< Wilholmina, i. 381; Nioolai, ii. 881.
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? 200 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [bOOKVUD
80th Nov. 1731.
down, stamped into current coins, native and foreign,
and sent wandering over the world, before a certain
Prince got through his Seven-Years Wars and other
pinches that are ahead! --
In fine, Wilhelmina's Wedding was magnificent;
though one had rubs too; and Mamma was rather
severe. "Hair went all wrong, by dint of over-dress-
"ing; and hung on one's face like a boy's. Crown-royal
"they had put (as indeed was proper) on one's head:
"hair was in twenty-four locks the size of your arm:
"such was the Queen's order. Gown was of cloth-of-
"silver, trimmed with Spanish gold-lace (avec un point
"d'Espagne d'or); train twelve yards long; -- one was
"like to sink to the earth in such equipment. " Courage,
my Princess! -- In fact, the Wedding went beautifully
off; with dances and sublimities, slow solemn Torch- dance to conclude with, in those unparalleled upper
rooms; Grand-Aunt Meiningen and many other stars
and rainbows witnessing; even the Margravine of
Schwedt, in her high colours, was compelled to be
there. Such variegated splendour, such a dancing of
the Constellations; sublunary Berlin, and all the world,
on tiptoe round it! Slow Torch-dance, winding it up,
melted into the shades of midnight, for this time; and
there was silence in Berlin.
But, on the following nights, there were Balls of a
less solemn character; far pleasanter for dancing pur-
poses. It is to these, to one of these, that we direct
the attention of all readers. Friday 23d, there was
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? CHAP, vi. ] wilhelmtna's WEDDING. x 201
33d Nov. 1731.
again Ball and Royal Evening Party -- " Grand Apart-
ment" so-called. Immense Ball, "seven hundred couples,
all people of condition;" there were "Four Quadrilles,"
or dancing places in the big sea of quality-figures; each
at its due distance in the grand suite of rooms: Wilhel-
mina presides in Quadrille Number One: place assigned
her was in the room called Picture-Gallery; Queen and
all the Principalities were with Wilhelmina, she is to
lead-off their quadrille, and take charge of it. Which
she did, with her accustomed fire and elasticity; -- and
was circling there, on the light fantastic toe, time
six in the evening, when Grumkow, whom she had
been dunning for his bargain about Friedrich the day
before, came up:
"Hikeddancing," says she, "and was taking advantage
"of my chances. Grumkow came up, and interrupted me in
"the middle of a minuet: 'Eh, mon Dieu, Madame! ' said
"Grumkow, 'you seem to have got bit by the tarantula!
