She quite corrupted
"Marwitz, in this and a subsequent visit; turned the poor
"girl's head into a French whirligig, and undermined any
"little moral principle she had.
"Marwitz, in this and a subsequent visit; turned the poor
"girl's head into a French whirligig, and undermined any
"little moral principle she had.
Thomas Carlyle
?
Stille, p/8.
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? CHAP. VIII. ] FRIEDRICH STARTS FOR MORAVIA. 129
24th Jan. 1742.
"now Segur's, but Khevenhiiller's. To Khevenhiiller's first
"summons M. de Segur had answered, 'I will hang on the
"highest gallows the next man that conies to propose such a
"thing! ' -- and within a week" (Khevenhiiller having seized
the Donau River to rear of Linz, and blasted off the Bavarian
party there), "M. de Se"gur did himself propose it ('Free
"[withdrawal; Not serve against you for a year'); and is this
"day beginning to march out of Linz. " * Here is an example
of defending Key-Positions! If Segur's be the pattern fol-
lowed, those Conquests on the Donau are like to go a fine
road! --
There came to Friedrich, in all privacy, during his
stay in Olmiitz at this Bishop's, a Diplomatic emissary
from Vienna, one Pfitzner; charged with apologies,
with important offers probably; -- important; but not
important enough. Friedrich blames himself for being
too abrupt on the man; might perhaps have learned
something from him by softer treatment. ** After three
days, Pfitzner had to go his ways again, having ac-
complished nothing of change upon Friedrich.
* Campngncs des Trois Marechatix, iii. 280, &c. ; Adelung, 111. a. p. 12,
and p. 15 (a Paris street-song on it).
** (Euvres de Frederic, ii. 109.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. Yll
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? 130 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [bOOK XIII.
24tU Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
CHAPTEE IX.
WILHELMINA GOES TO SEE THE GAIETIES AT FRANKFURT.
On the day when Friedrich, overhung by the grim
? winter Mountains, was approaching Glatz, same day
when Segur was evacuating Linz on those sad terms,
that is, on the 24th day of January 1742, -- Two
Gentlemen were galloping their best in the Frankfurt-
Mannheim regions; bearing what they reckoned grand
tidings towards Mannheim and Karl Albert; who is
here "on a visit" (for good reasons), after his triumphs
at Prag and elsewhere. The hindmost of the Two
Gentlemen is an Official of rank (little conscious that
he is preceded by a rival in message-bearing); Official
Gentleman, despatched by the Diet of Frankfurt to
inform Karl Albert, That he now is actually Kaiser of
the Holy Romish Empire; votes, by aid of Heaven and
Belleisle, having all fallen in his favour. Gallop, there-
fore, my Official Gentleman: -- alas, another Gentle-
man, Non-official, knowing how it would turn, already
sat booted and saddled, a good space beyond the walls
of Frankfurt, waiting till the cannon should fire; at the
first burst of cannon, he (cunning dog) gives his horse
the spur; and is miles ahead of the toiling Official
Gentleman, all the way. *
In the dreary mass of longwinded ceremonial
nothingnesses, and intricate Belleisle cobwebberies, we
seize this one poor speck of human foolery in the
native state, as almost the memorablest in that stupend-
* Adelung, iii. a, 52.
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? CHAP. ix. ] WILHELMINA AT THE FRANKFURT GAIETIES. 131
24th Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
ous business. Stupendous indeed; with which all Ger-
many has been in travail these sixteen months, on
such terms! And in verity has got the thing called
"German Kaiser" constituted, better or worse. Heavens,
was a Nation ever so bespun by gossamer; enchanted
into paralysis, by mountains of extinct tradition, and
the want of power to annihilate rubbish! There are
glittering threads of the finest Belleisle diplomacy,
which seem to go beyond the Dogstar, and to be
radiant, and irradiative, like paths of the gods: and
they are, seem what they might, poor threads of idle
gossamer, sunk already to dusty cobweb, unpleasant
to poor human nature; poor human nature concerned
only to get them well swept into the fire. The quan-
tities of which sad litter, in this Universe, are very
great! --
Karl Albert, now at the topgallant of his hopes;
homaged Archduke of Upper Austria, homaged King
of Bohemia, declared Kaiser of the German Nation, --
is the highest-titled mortal going: and, poor soul, it is
tragical, once more, to think what the reality of it
was for him. Ejection from house and home; into
difficulty, poverty, despair; life in furnished lodgings,
which he could not pay; -- and at last heart-break,
no refuge for him but in the grave. All which is
mercifully hidden, at present; so that he seems to him-
self a man at the topgallant of his wishes; and lives
pleasantly, among his friends, with a halo round his
head to his own foolish sense and theirs.
"Karl Albert, Kurfurst of Baiern" (lazy readers ought to
be reminded), "whose achievements will concern us to an un-
pleasant extent, for some years, is now a lean man of forty-
"five; lean, erect, and of middle stature; a Prince of
9*
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? 132 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [BOOK xm.
24th Jan. --12 tn Feb. 1742.
'distinguished look, they say; of elegant manners, and of
'fair extent of accomplishment, as Princes go. His ex-
'periences in this world, and sudden ups and downs, have
'been and will be many. Note a few particulars of them; the
'minimum of what are indispensable here.
"English readers know a Maximilian Kurfiirst of Baiern,
'who took into French courses in the great Spanish-Succession
'War; the Anti-Marl borough Maximilian, who was quite
'ruined out by the Battle of Blenheim; put to the Ban of the
'Empire, and reduced to depend on Louis XIV. for a living,
'-- till times mended with him again; till, after the Peace of
'Utrecht, he got reinstated in his Territories; and lived a
'dozen years more, in some comparative comfort, though
'much sunk in debt. Well, our Karl Albert is the son of
'that Anti - Marlborough Kurfiirst Maximilian; eldest sur-
'viving son; a daughter of the great Sobieski of Poland was
'his mother. Nay, he is great-grandson of another still more
'distinguished Maximilian, him of the Thirty-Years War, --
'(who took the Jesuits to his very heart, and let loose Ate on
'his poor Country for the sake of them, in a determined
'manner; and was the First of all the Bavarian Kurfiirsts,
'mere Dukes till then; having got for himself the poor Win-
'ter-King's Electorship, or split it into Two as ultimately
'settled, out of that bad Business), -- great-grandson, we
'say, of that forcible questionable First Kurfiirst Max; and
'descends from Kaiser Ludwig, 'Ludwig the Baier,' if that
'is much advantage to him. /
"In his young time he had a hard upcoming; seven years
'old at the Battle of Blenheim, and Papa living abroad under
'Louis XIV. 's shelter, the poor Boy was taken charge of by
'the victorious Austrian Kaisers, and brought up in remote
'Austrian Towns, as a young 'Graf von Wittelsbach'(no-
'thing but his family name left him), mere Graf and private
'nobleman henceforth. However, fortune took the turn we
'know, and he became Prince again; nothing the worse for
'this Spartan part of his breeding. He made the Grand Tour,
'Italy, France, perhaps more than once; saw, felt, and
'tasted; served 6lightly, at a Siege of Belgrad (one of the
'many Sieges of Belgrad); -- wedded, in 1722, a Daughter
'of the late Kaiser Joseph's, niece of the late Kaiser Karl's,
'cousin of Maria Theresa's; making the due 'renunciations,'
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? CHAP. IX. ] WILHELMINA AT THE FRANKFURT GAIETIES. 133
24th Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
"as was thought; and has beenKurfiirst himself for the last
"Fourteen Years, ever since 1726, when his Father died. A
"thrifty Kurfiirst, they say, or at least has occasionally tried
"to, be so, conscious of the load of debts left on him; fond of
"pomps withal, extremely polite, given to Devotion and to
"Billets-doux; of gracious address, generous temper (if he
"had the means), and great skill in speaking languages.
"Likes hunting a little, -- likes several things, we see! --
"has lived tolerably with his Wife and children; tolerably
"with his Neighbours (though sour upon the late Kaiser now
"and then); and is an ornament to MUnchen, and well liked
"by the population there. A lean, elegant, middle-sized
"gentleman; descended direct from Ludwig the ancient
"Kaiser; from Maximilian the First Kurfiirst, who walked by
"the light of Father Lammerlein (Lambkin) and Company,
"thinking it light from Heaven; and lastly is Son of Maximi-
"lian the Third Kurfiirst, whom learned English readers
"know as the Anti-Marlborough one, ruined out by the
"Battle of Blenheim.
"His most important transaction hitherto has been the
"marriage with Kaiser Joseph's Daughter; -- of which, in
"Pollnitz somewhere, there is sublime account; forgettable,
"allexceptthe date (Vienna, 5th October 1722), if by chance
"that should concern anybody. Karl Albert (Kurprinz,
"Electoral Prince or Heir-Apparent, at that time) made free
"renunciation of all right to Austrian Inheritances, in such
"terms as pleased Karl VI. the then Kaiser; the due com-
'-plete 'renunciations' of inheriting in Austria; and it was
"hoped he would at once sign the Pragmatic Sanction, when
"published; but he has steadily refused to do so: 'I re-
nounced for my Wife,' says Kurfiirst Karl, 'and will never
"claim an inch of Austrian land on her account; but my own
"right, derived from Kaiser Ferdinand of blessed memory,
"who was Father of my Great-grandmother, I did not, do
"not, never will renounce; and I appeal to Ms Pragmatic
"Sanction, the much older and alone valid one, according to
"which, it is not you, it is I that am the real and sole Heir of
"Austria. '
"This he says, and has steadily said or meant: 'It is I that
"am to be King of Bohemia; I that shall and will inherit all
"your Austrias, Upper, Under, your Swabian Brisgau or
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? 134 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. (boOKXIII.
24th Jan. --12th Feb. 1712.
"Hither Austria, and what of the Tyrol remained wanting to
"me. Your Archduchess will have Hungary, the Styrian-
"Carinthian Territories; Florence, I suppose, and the Italian
"ones. What is hers by right I will be one of those that
"defend for her; what is not hers, but mine, I will defend
"against her, to the best of my ability! ' This was privately,
"what it is now publicly, his argument; from which he never
"would depart; refusing always to accept Kaiser Karl's new
"Pragmatic Sanction; getting Saxony (who likewise had a
"Ferdinand great-grandmother) to refuse, -- till Polish Elec-
tion compelled poor Saxony, for a time. Karl Albert had
"likewise secretly, in past years, got his abstruse old Cousin
"ofthePfalz (who mended the Heidelberg Tun) to back him
"in a Treaty; nay, still better, still more secretly, had got
"France itself to promise eventual backing: --and, on the
"whole, lived generally on rather bad terms with the late
"Kaiser Karl, his Wife's Uncle; any reconciliation they had
"proving always of temporary nature. In the Rhenish War
"(1734), Karl Albert, far from assisting the Kaiser, raised
"large forces of his own; kept drilling them, in four or three
"camps, in an alarming manner; and would not even send his
"Reichs-Contingent (small body of 3,000 he is by law bound
"to send), till he perceived the War was just expiring. He
"was in angry controversy with the Kaiser, claiming debts,
"-- debts contracted in the last generation, and debts going
"back to the Thirty-Years War, amounting to hundreds of
"millions, -- when the poor Kaiser died; refusing payment to
"the last, nay claiming lands left kirn, he says, by Margaret
"Mouthpoke: * 'Cannot pay your Serene Highness (having no
"money); and would not, if I could! ' Leaving Karl Albert
"to protest to the uttermost;" -- which, as we ourselves saw
in Vienna, he at once honourably did.
Karl Albert's subsequent history is known to
readers'; except the following small circumstance, which
occurred in his late transit, flight, or whatever we may
call it, to Mannheim, and is pleasantly made notable
to us by Wilhelmina. "His Highness on the way from
Miinchen," intimates our Princess, "passed through
* Michaclis, ii. 260; Buchholz, ii. 9; Hormayr, Anemonen, ii. 182; &c.
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? CHAP. IX. ] WILHELMINA AT THE FRANKFURT GAIETIES. 135
24th Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
Baireuth in a very "bad post-chaise. " This, as we
elsewhere pick out, was on January 16th; Karl Albert
in post-haste for the marriage-ceremony, which takes
place at Mannheim tomorrow. * "My Margraf, accident-
ally hearing, galloped] after him, came up with him
"about fifteen miles away: they embraced, talked half
"an hour; very content, both. "**
And eight days afterwards, 24th January 1742,
busy Belleisle (how busy for this year past, since we
saw him in the CEil-de-Boeuf! ) gets him elected Kaiser;
-- and Se'gur, in the self-same hours, is packing out of
Linz; and one's Donau "Conquests," not to say one's
Munchen; one's Baiern itself, are in a fine way! The
marriage-ceremony, witnessed on the 17th, was one of
the sublimest for Kur-Pfalz and kindred; and it too
had secretly a touch of tragedy in it for the poor Karl
Albert. A double marriage: Two young Princesses,
Grand-daughters, priceless Heiresses, to old Kur-Pfalz;
married, one of them to Duke Clement of Baiern, Karl
Albert's nephew, which is well enough: but married,
the other and elder of them, to Theodor of Deux Ponts,
who will one day, -- could we pierce the merciful
veil, -- be Kurfurst of Baiern; and succeed our own
childless Son! ***
"Kaiser Karl VII. ," such the style he took, is to
be crowned, February 12th; makes sublime Public
Entry into Frankfurt, with that view, January 31st;
-- both ceremonies splendid to a wonder, in spite of
finance considerations. Which circumstance should
little concern us, were jt not that Wilhelmina, hearing
the great news (though in a dim ill-dated state), de-
* Adelung, iii. a, 51.
"Wilhelmina, ii. 334. *** Michaelis, ii. 265. '
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? 136 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book xni.
2<<h Jan. --12th Feb. 1748.
cided to be there and see; did go; -- and has recorded
her experiences there, in a shrill human manner. Wish-
ful to see our fellow-creatures (especially if bound to
look at them), even when they are fallen fantasmal,
and to make persons of them again, we will give this
Piece; sorry that it is the last we have of that fine
hand. How welcome, in the murky puddle of Dryas-
dust, is any glimpse by a lively glib Wilhelmina, which
we can discern to be human! Hear what Wilhelmina
says (in a very condensed form):
Wilhelmina at the Coronation.
Wilhelmina, in the end of January 1742, -- Karl Albert
having shot past, one day lately, in a bad post-chaise, and
kindled the thought in her, -- resolved to go and see him
crowned at Frankfurt, by way of pleasure-excursion. We
will, struggling to be briefer, speak in her person; and in-
dicate withal where the very words are hers, and where ours.
"The Marwitz, elder Marwitz, her poor father being
"wounded at Mollwitz,* had gone to Berlin to nurse him;
"but she returned just now, -- not much to my joy;" I being,
with some cause, jealous of that foolish minx. "The Duchess
"Dowager of Wiirtemberg also came, sorrow on her; a
"foolish talking woman, always cutting jokes, making eyes,
"giggling and coquetting; 'has some wit and manner, but
"wearies you at last: her charms, now on the decline, were
"never so considerable as rumour said; in the long-run she
"bores you with her French gaieties and sprightliness: her
'' character for gallantry is too notorious.
She quite corrupted
"Marwitz, in this and a subsequent visit; turned the poor
"girl's head into a French whirligig, and undermined any
"little moral principle she had. Shewas on the road to Berlin,'
---- of which anon, for it is not quite nothing to us; -- "' but
"she was in no hurry, and would right willingly have gone
"with us. ' And it required all our female diplomacy to get
"her under way again, and fairly out of our course. January
* Militair-Lexikon, iii. 23; and Preussische Adcls-Lexikon, iii. 365.
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? CHAP. IX. ] WILHELMINA AT THE FRANKFURT GAIETIES. 137
31st Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
"28th, she off to Berlin: we, same day. to Frankfurt-on-
"Mayn*
"Coronation was to have been" (or we Country-folk
thought it was), "January 31st: Let us be there incognito,
"the night before; see it, and return the day after. That
"was our plan. Bad roads, waters all out; we had to go
"night and day; -- reached the gates of Frankfurt, 30th
"January late. Berghover, our Legationsrath there, says
"we are known every where; Coronation is not to be till Feb-
"ruaryl2th! I was fatigued to death, a bad cold on me, too:
"we turned back to the last Village; staid there overnight.
"Back again to Berghover, in secret (a la sourdine), next
"night; will see the Public Entry of Karl Albert, which is to
"be tomorrow" (not quite, my Princess; January 3lst for
certain ,** did one the least care). "It was a very grand thing
"indeed (des plus superbes); but I will not stop describing it.
"Masked ball that night; where I had much amusement,
"tormenting the masks; not being known to anybody. We
"next day retired to a small private House, which Berghover
"had got for us, out of Town, for fear of being discovered;
"and lodged there, waiting February 12th, under difficulties. "
"The weather was bitterly cold; we had brought no
"clothes; my dames andlnothing earthly but ablack andrienne
"each" (whatever that may be), "to spare bulk of luggage:
"strictest incognito was indispensable. The Marwitzes, for
"giggling, raillery, French airs, and absolute impertinence,
"were intolerable, in that solitary place. We return to Frank-
furt again; have balls and theatres, at least: 'of these latter
"I missed none. One evening, my head-dress got accident-
ally shoved awry, and exposed my face [for a moment:
"Prince George of Hessen-Cassel, who was looking that way,
"recognised me; told the Prince of Orange of it; -- they are
"in our box, next minute! "'
Prince George of Hessen-Cassel, did readers ever hear of
him before? Transiently perhaps, in Friedrich's Letters to Ms
Father; but have forgotten him again; can know him only as
the outline of a shadow. A fat solid military man of fifty;
junior Brother of that solid Wilhelm, Viceregent and virtual
* Wilhelmina, ii. 334; see pp. 335, 338, 347, &c. for the other salient
points that follow.
** Adelung, iii. o. 63; Sec. &c.
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? 138 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
31st Jan. --12th Feb. 1712.
"Landgraf of Hessen"-- (vice an elder and eldest Brother,
Friedrich, the now Majesty of Sweden, who is actual Here-
ditary Landgraf, but being old, childless, idle, takes no
hold of it, and quite leaves it to Wilhelm), -- of whom English
readers may have heard, and will hear. For it is Wilhelm
that hires us those "subsidized 6,000," who go blaring about
on English pay (Prince George merely Commandant of them);
and Wilhelm, furthermore, has wedded his Heir-Apparent
to an English Princess lately; * which also (as the poor young
fellow became Papist by and by) costs certain English people,
among others, a good deal of trouble. Uncle George, we
say, is merely Commandant of those blaring 6,000; has had
his own real soldierings before this; his own labours, contra-
dictions, in his time; but has borne all patiently, and grown
fat upon it, not quarrelling with his burdens or his nourish-
ments. Perhaps we may transiently meet him again.
As to the Prince of Orange, him we have seen more than
once in times past: a young fellow in comparison, sprightly,
reckoned clever, but somewhat humpbacked; married an
English Princess, years ago ("Papa, if he were as ugly as a
baboon! ") -- which fine Princess, we find, has stopt short at
Cassel, too fatigued on the present occasion. "His esprit"
continues Wilhelmina, "and his conversation, delighted me.
"His Wife, he said, was at Cassel; he would persuade her to
"come and make my acquaintance;" -- could not; too far, in
this cold season. "These two Serene Highnesses would needs
"take me home in their carriage; they asked the Margrafto
"let them stay supper: from that hour they were never out of
"our house. Next morning, by means of them, the secret
"had got abroad. Kur-K6ln" (lanky hook-nosed gentleman,
richest Pluralist in the Church) "had set spies on us; next
"evening he came up to me, and said, 'Madame, I know
"your Highness; you must dance a measure with me! ' That
"comes of one's headgear getting awry! We had nothing for
"it but to give up the incognito, and take our fate! "
This dancing Elector of Koln, a man still only entering
his fortieses the new Emperor's Brother:** do readers wonder
* Princess Mary (age only about seventeen), 28th June 1740; Prince'. ')
name was Friedrich (became Catholic, 1749; wife made family-manager in
consequence. &c. &c).
** Clement August (Hiibner, t. 134).
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? CHAP. rx. ] TVILHELMINA AT THE FRANKFURT GAIETIES. 139
31st Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
to see him dance, being an Archbishop? The fact is certain,
-- let the Three Kings and the Eleven Thousand Virgins say
to it what they will. "' He talked a long time with me; pre-
sented to me the Princess Clemence his Niece'" (that is to
say, Wife of his Nephew Cleinenf; one of the Two whom his
now Imperial Majesty saw married the other day),* '"and
"then the Princess'" -- in fact, presented all the three Sulz-
baeh Princesses (for there is a youngest, still to wed),--
"' and then Prince Theodor'" (happy Husband of the eldest),
'"and Prince Clement'" (ditto of the youngest); "andwasvery
"polite indeed. How keep our incognito, with all these
"people heaping civilities upon us? Let us send to Baireuth
"for clothes, equipages; and retire to our country conceal-
"ment till they arrive.
"'Just as we were about setting off thither, I waiting till
"the Margraf were ready, the Margraf entered, and a Lady
"withhim; who, he informed me, was Madame de Belleisle,
"the French Ambassador's Wife;'" -- Wife of the great Belle-
isle, the soul of all these high congregatings, consultations,
coronations, who is ;not Kaiser but maker of Kaisers: what is
to be done! -- "'I had carefully avoided her; reckoning she
"would have pretensions I should not be in the humour to
"grant. I took my resolution at the moment'" (being a swift
decisive creature); "' and received her like any other Lady
"that might have come to me. Her visit was not long. The
"conversation turned altogether upon praises of the King'"
(my Brother). '"I found Madame de Belleisle very different
"from the notion I had formed of her. You could see she had
"moved in high company (seniailson monde)\ but her airap-'
"peared to me that of a waiting-maid (soubrette), and her
"manners insignificant. '" Let Madame take that.
"Monseigneur himself," -- when our equipages had come,
"waited on me several times," -- Monseigneur the grand
Marshal de Belleisle, among the other Principalities and
Lordships: but of this lean man in black (who has done such
famous things, and will have to do the Retreat of Prag within
year and day), there is not a word farther said. OldSecken-
dorftooishere; "Beich's-Governor of Philipsburg;" very ill
with Austria, no wonder; and striving to be well with the
new Kaiser. Doubtless old Seckendorf made his visit too
* Michaelis, ii. 256, 123; Hiibner, tt. Ill, 134.
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? 140 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
31at Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
(being of Baireuth kin withal), and snuffled his respects:
much unworthy of mention; not lovely to Wilhelmina.
"Prince of Orange," hunchbacked, but sprightly and much
the Prince, "bore me faithful company all the Coronation
"time; nor was George of Hessen-Cassel wanting, good fat
"man.
"Of the Coronation itself, though it was truly grand," and
even of an Oriental splendour,* "I will say nothing. The
"poor Kaiser could not enjoy it much. He was dying of gout
"and gravel, and could scarcely stand on his feet. " Poor
gentleman; and the French are driven dismally out ofLinz;
and the Austrians are spreading like a lava-flood or general
conflagration over Baiern -- Demon Mentzel, whom they call
Colonel Mentzel, (if we knew it) is in Munchen itself, just as
we are getting crowned here! And unless King Friedrich, who
is falling into Mahren, in the flank of them, call back this
Infernal Chase a little, what hope is there in those parts! --
"The poor Kaiser, oftenest in his bed, is courting all manner
"of German Princes", -- consulting with Seckendorfs, with
cunning old stagers. "He has managed to lead my Margraf
"into a foolish bargain, about raising men for him. Which
"bargain I, on fairly getting sight of it, persuade my Margraf
"to back out of; and, in the end, he does so. Meanwhile, it
"detains us some time longer in Frankfurt, which is still full
"of Principalities, busy with visitings and ceremonials.
"Among other things, by way ot forwarding that Bargain
"I was so averse to, our Official People had settled that I
"could not well go without having seen the Empress, after her
"crowning. Foolish people; entangling me in new intrica-
"cies! For if she is a Kaiser's Daughter and Kaiser's Spouse,
"am not I somewhat too? 'How a King's Daughter and an
"Empress are to meet, was probably never settled by ex-
"ample: what number of steps down stairs does she come?
"The armchair (fauteuil), is that to be denied me? ' And
"numerous other questions. The official people, Baireuthers
"especially, are in despair; and in fact there were scenes.
"But I held firm; and the Berlin ambassadors tempering, a
"medium was struck: steps of stairs, to the due number, are
"conceded me; armchair no, but the Empress to 'take a
"very small armchair', and I to have a big common chair
* Anemonen, ubi supra.
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? CHAP. IX. ] WILHELMINA AT THE FRAUKFTJRT GAIETIES. 141
3ist Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
"(granddossier). So we meet, and I have sight ofthisPrin-
"cess, next day.
"In her place, I confess I would have invented all manner
"of eticmettes, or any sort of contrivance, to save myself from
"showing face. Heavens! 'The Empress is below middle
"size, and so corpulent (pitissante), she looks like a ball; she
"is ugly to the utmost (laide au possible), and without air or
"grace:' Kaiser Joseph's youngest Daughter, -- the gods, it
seems, have not been kind to her in figure or feature! "And
"her mind corresponds to her appearance: she is bigoted to
"excess; passes her nights and days in her oratory, with mere
"rosaries and gaunt superstitious platitudes of that nature;
"a dark fat dreary little Empress. 'She was all in a tremble
"in receiving me; and had so discountenanced an air, she
"couldn't speak a word. We took seats. After a little
"silence, I began the conversation, in French. She answered
"me in her Austrian jargon, That she did not well understand
"that language, and begged I would speak to her in German.
"Our conversation was not long. Her Austrian dialect and
"my Lower-Saxon are so different that, till you have prac-
tised , you are not mutually intelligible in them. Accord-
ingly we were not. A bystander would have split with
"laughing at the Babel we made of it; each catching only a
"word here and there, and guessing the rest. This Princess
"was so tied to her etiquette, she would have reckoned it a
"crime against the Reich to speak to me in a foreign lan-
guage; for she knew French well enough.
"The Kaiser was to have been of this visit; but he had
"fallen so ill, he was considered even in danger of his life.
"Poor Prince, what a lot had he achieved for himself! '" re-
flects Wilhelmina, as we often do. "He was soft, humane
"affable; had the gift of captivating hearts. Not without
"talent either; but then of an ambition far disproportionate
"to it. 'Would have shone in the second rank, but in the
"first went sorrowfully eclipsed,' as they say! He could not
"be a great man, nor had about him any one that could; and
"he needed now to be so. " This is the service a Belleisle can
do; inflating a poor man to Kaisership, beyond his natural
size! Crowned Kaiser, and Mentzel just entering his Munchen
the while; a Kaiser bedrid, stranded; lying ill there of gout
and gravel, with the Demon Mentzels eating him: -- well may
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? 142 FIRST SILESIAN WAR EKDS. [book Xin.
31st Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
his poor little bullet of a Kaiserinn pray for him night and day,
if that will avail! --
The Duchess Dowager of Wiirtemberg, returning from
Berlin, favours ics with another Visit.
I am sorry to say this is almost the last scene we
shall get out of Wilhelmina. She returns to Baireuth;
breaks there conclusively that unwise Frankfurt bargain;
receives by and by (after several months, when much
has come and gone in the world) the returning Duchess
of Wiirtemberg, effulgent Dowager "spoken of only as
a Lais;" and has other adventures, alluded to up and
down, but not put in record by herself any farther. --
Sorrowfully let us hear Wilhelmina yet a little, on this
Lais Duchess, who will concern us somewhat. Dowager,
much too effulgent, of the late Karl Alexander, a
Reichs-Feldmarschall (or fourth-part of one, if readers
could remember) and Duke of Wiirtemberg, -- whom
we once dined with, at Prag, in old Friedrich-Wilhelm
and Prince-Eugene times:
"This Princess, very famous on the bad side, had been at
"Berlin to see her three Boys settled there, whose education
"she" (and the Stande of Wiirtemberg, she being Regent)
"had committed to the King. These Princes had Deen with
"us on their road thither, just before their Mamma last time.
"The Eldest, age fourteen, had gone quite agog (s'etoit
"amourache) about my little Girl, age only nine; and had
"greatly diverted us by his little gallantries" (mark that, with
an Alas! ). "The Duchess, following somewhat at leisure,"
had missed the King that time; who was gone for Mahren,
January 18th. * * "I found this Princess wearing pretty
"well.
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? CHAP. VIII. ] FRIEDRICH STARTS FOR MORAVIA. 129
24th Jan. 1742.
"now Segur's, but Khevenhiiller's. To Khevenhiiller's first
"summons M. de Segur had answered, 'I will hang on the
"highest gallows the next man that conies to propose such a
"thing! ' -- and within a week" (Khevenhiiller having seized
the Donau River to rear of Linz, and blasted off the Bavarian
party there), "M. de Se"gur did himself propose it ('Free
"[withdrawal; Not serve against you for a year'); and is this
"day beginning to march out of Linz. " * Here is an example
of defending Key-Positions! If Segur's be the pattern fol-
lowed, those Conquests on the Donau are like to go a fine
road! --
There came to Friedrich, in all privacy, during his
stay in Olmiitz at this Bishop's, a Diplomatic emissary
from Vienna, one Pfitzner; charged with apologies,
with important offers probably; -- important; but not
important enough. Friedrich blames himself for being
too abrupt on the man; might perhaps have learned
something from him by softer treatment. ** After three
days, Pfitzner had to go his ways again, having ac-
complished nothing of change upon Friedrich.
* Campngncs des Trois Marechatix, iii. 280, &c. ; Adelung, 111. a. p. 12,
and p. 15 (a Paris street-song on it).
** (Euvres de Frederic, ii. 109.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. Yll
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? 130 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [bOOK XIII.
24tU Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
CHAPTEE IX.
WILHELMINA GOES TO SEE THE GAIETIES AT FRANKFURT.
On the day when Friedrich, overhung by the grim
? winter Mountains, was approaching Glatz, same day
when Segur was evacuating Linz on those sad terms,
that is, on the 24th day of January 1742, -- Two
Gentlemen were galloping their best in the Frankfurt-
Mannheim regions; bearing what they reckoned grand
tidings towards Mannheim and Karl Albert; who is
here "on a visit" (for good reasons), after his triumphs
at Prag and elsewhere. The hindmost of the Two
Gentlemen is an Official of rank (little conscious that
he is preceded by a rival in message-bearing); Official
Gentleman, despatched by the Diet of Frankfurt to
inform Karl Albert, That he now is actually Kaiser of
the Holy Romish Empire; votes, by aid of Heaven and
Belleisle, having all fallen in his favour. Gallop, there-
fore, my Official Gentleman: -- alas, another Gentle-
man, Non-official, knowing how it would turn, already
sat booted and saddled, a good space beyond the walls
of Frankfurt, waiting till the cannon should fire; at the
first burst of cannon, he (cunning dog) gives his horse
the spur; and is miles ahead of the toiling Official
Gentleman, all the way. *
In the dreary mass of longwinded ceremonial
nothingnesses, and intricate Belleisle cobwebberies, we
seize this one poor speck of human foolery in the
native state, as almost the memorablest in that stupend-
* Adelung, iii. a, 52.
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? CHAP. ix. ] WILHELMINA AT THE FRANKFURT GAIETIES. 131
24th Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
ous business. Stupendous indeed; with which all Ger-
many has been in travail these sixteen months, on
such terms! And in verity has got the thing called
"German Kaiser" constituted, better or worse. Heavens,
was a Nation ever so bespun by gossamer; enchanted
into paralysis, by mountains of extinct tradition, and
the want of power to annihilate rubbish! There are
glittering threads of the finest Belleisle diplomacy,
which seem to go beyond the Dogstar, and to be
radiant, and irradiative, like paths of the gods: and
they are, seem what they might, poor threads of idle
gossamer, sunk already to dusty cobweb, unpleasant
to poor human nature; poor human nature concerned
only to get them well swept into the fire. The quan-
tities of which sad litter, in this Universe, are very
great! --
Karl Albert, now at the topgallant of his hopes;
homaged Archduke of Upper Austria, homaged King
of Bohemia, declared Kaiser of the German Nation, --
is the highest-titled mortal going: and, poor soul, it is
tragical, once more, to think what the reality of it
was for him. Ejection from house and home; into
difficulty, poverty, despair; life in furnished lodgings,
which he could not pay; -- and at last heart-break,
no refuge for him but in the grave. All which is
mercifully hidden, at present; so that he seems to him-
self a man at the topgallant of his wishes; and lives
pleasantly, among his friends, with a halo round his
head to his own foolish sense and theirs.
"Karl Albert, Kurfurst of Baiern" (lazy readers ought to
be reminded), "whose achievements will concern us to an un-
pleasant extent, for some years, is now a lean man of forty-
"five; lean, erect, and of middle stature; a Prince of
9*
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? 132 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [BOOK xm.
24th Jan. --12 tn Feb. 1742.
'distinguished look, they say; of elegant manners, and of
'fair extent of accomplishment, as Princes go. His ex-
'periences in this world, and sudden ups and downs, have
'been and will be many. Note a few particulars of them; the
'minimum of what are indispensable here.
"English readers know a Maximilian Kurfiirst of Baiern,
'who took into French courses in the great Spanish-Succession
'War; the Anti-Marl borough Maximilian, who was quite
'ruined out by the Battle of Blenheim; put to the Ban of the
'Empire, and reduced to depend on Louis XIV. for a living,
'-- till times mended with him again; till, after the Peace of
'Utrecht, he got reinstated in his Territories; and lived a
'dozen years more, in some comparative comfort, though
'much sunk in debt. Well, our Karl Albert is the son of
'that Anti - Marlborough Kurfiirst Maximilian; eldest sur-
'viving son; a daughter of the great Sobieski of Poland was
'his mother. Nay, he is great-grandson of another still more
'distinguished Maximilian, him of the Thirty-Years War, --
'(who took the Jesuits to his very heart, and let loose Ate on
'his poor Country for the sake of them, in a determined
'manner; and was the First of all the Bavarian Kurfiirsts,
'mere Dukes till then; having got for himself the poor Win-
'ter-King's Electorship, or split it into Two as ultimately
'settled, out of that bad Business), -- great-grandson, we
'say, of that forcible questionable First Kurfiirst Max; and
'descends from Kaiser Ludwig, 'Ludwig the Baier,' if that
'is much advantage to him. /
"In his young time he had a hard upcoming; seven years
'old at the Battle of Blenheim, and Papa living abroad under
'Louis XIV. 's shelter, the poor Boy was taken charge of by
'the victorious Austrian Kaisers, and brought up in remote
'Austrian Towns, as a young 'Graf von Wittelsbach'(no-
'thing but his family name left him), mere Graf and private
'nobleman henceforth. However, fortune took the turn we
'know, and he became Prince again; nothing the worse for
'this Spartan part of his breeding. He made the Grand Tour,
'Italy, France, perhaps more than once; saw, felt, and
'tasted; served 6lightly, at a Siege of Belgrad (one of the
'many Sieges of Belgrad); -- wedded, in 1722, a Daughter
'of the late Kaiser Joseph's, niece of the late Kaiser Karl's,
'cousin of Maria Theresa's; making the due 'renunciations,'
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? CHAP. IX. ] WILHELMINA AT THE FRANKFURT GAIETIES. 133
24th Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
"as was thought; and has beenKurfiirst himself for the last
"Fourteen Years, ever since 1726, when his Father died. A
"thrifty Kurfiirst, they say, or at least has occasionally tried
"to, be so, conscious of the load of debts left on him; fond of
"pomps withal, extremely polite, given to Devotion and to
"Billets-doux; of gracious address, generous temper (if he
"had the means), and great skill in speaking languages.
"Likes hunting a little, -- likes several things, we see! --
"has lived tolerably with his Wife and children; tolerably
"with his Neighbours (though sour upon the late Kaiser now
"and then); and is an ornament to MUnchen, and well liked
"by the population there. A lean, elegant, middle-sized
"gentleman; descended direct from Ludwig the ancient
"Kaiser; from Maximilian the First Kurfiirst, who walked by
"the light of Father Lammerlein (Lambkin) and Company,
"thinking it light from Heaven; and lastly is Son of Maximi-
"lian the Third Kurfiirst, whom learned English readers
"know as the Anti-Marlborough one, ruined out by the
"Battle of Blenheim.
"His most important transaction hitherto has been the
"marriage with Kaiser Joseph's Daughter; -- of which, in
"Pollnitz somewhere, there is sublime account; forgettable,
"allexceptthe date (Vienna, 5th October 1722), if by chance
"that should concern anybody. Karl Albert (Kurprinz,
"Electoral Prince or Heir-Apparent, at that time) made free
"renunciation of all right to Austrian Inheritances, in such
"terms as pleased Karl VI. the then Kaiser; the due com-
'-plete 'renunciations' of inheriting in Austria; and it was
"hoped he would at once sign the Pragmatic Sanction, when
"published; but he has steadily refused to do so: 'I re-
nounced for my Wife,' says Kurfiirst Karl, 'and will never
"claim an inch of Austrian land on her account; but my own
"right, derived from Kaiser Ferdinand of blessed memory,
"who was Father of my Great-grandmother, I did not, do
"not, never will renounce; and I appeal to Ms Pragmatic
"Sanction, the much older and alone valid one, according to
"which, it is not you, it is I that am the real and sole Heir of
"Austria. '
"This he says, and has steadily said or meant: 'It is I that
"am to be King of Bohemia; I that shall and will inherit all
"your Austrias, Upper, Under, your Swabian Brisgau or
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? 134 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. (boOKXIII.
24th Jan. --12th Feb. 1712.
"Hither Austria, and what of the Tyrol remained wanting to
"me. Your Archduchess will have Hungary, the Styrian-
"Carinthian Territories; Florence, I suppose, and the Italian
"ones. What is hers by right I will be one of those that
"defend for her; what is not hers, but mine, I will defend
"against her, to the best of my ability! ' This was privately,
"what it is now publicly, his argument; from which he never
"would depart; refusing always to accept Kaiser Karl's new
"Pragmatic Sanction; getting Saxony (who likewise had a
"Ferdinand great-grandmother) to refuse, -- till Polish Elec-
tion compelled poor Saxony, for a time. Karl Albert had
"likewise secretly, in past years, got his abstruse old Cousin
"ofthePfalz (who mended the Heidelberg Tun) to back him
"in a Treaty; nay, still better, still more secretly, had got
"France itself to promise eventual backing: --and, on the
"whole, lived generally on rather bad terms with the late
"Kaiser Karl, his Wife's Uncle; any reconciliation they had
"proving always of temporary nature. In the Rhenish War
"(1734), Karl Albert, far from assisting the Kaiser, raised
"large forces of his own; kept drilling them, in four or three
"camps, in an alarming manner; and would not even send his
"Reichs-Contingent (small body of 3,000 he is by law bound
"to send), till he perceived the War was just expiring. He
"was in angry controversy with the Kaiser, claiming debts,
"-- debts contracted in the last generation, and debts going
"back to the Thirty-Years War, amounting to hundreds of
"millions, -- when the poor Kaiser died; refusing payment to
"the last, nay claiming lands left kirn, he says, by Margaret
"Mouthpoke: * 'Cannot pay your Serene Highness (having no
"money); and would not, if I could! ' Leaving Karl Albert
"to protest to the uttermost;" -- which, as we ourselves saw
in Vienna, he at once honourably did.
Karl Albert's subsequent history is known to
readers'; except the following small circumstance, which
occurred in his late transit, flight, or whatever we may
call it, to Mannheim, and is pleasantly made notable
to us by Wilhelmina. "His Highness on the way from
Miinchen," intimates our Princess, "passed through
* Michaclis, ii. 260; Buchholz, ii. 9; Hormayr, Anemonen, ii. 182; &c.
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? CHAP. IX. ] WILHELMINA AT THE FRANKFURT GAIETIES. 135
24th Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
Baireuth in a very "bad post-chaise. " This, as we
elsewhere pick out, was on January 16th; Karl Albert
in post-haste for the marriage-ceremony, which takes
place at Mannheim tomorrow. * "My Margraf, accident-
ally hearing, galloped] after him, came up with him
"about fifteen miles away: they embraced, talked half
"an hour; very content, both. "**
And eight days afterwards, 24th January 1742,
busy Belleisle (how busy for this year past, since we
saw him in the CEil-de-Boeuf! ) gets him elected Kaiser;
-- and Se'gur, in the self-same hours, is packing out of
Linz; and one's Donau "Conquests," not to say one's
Munchen; one's Baiern itself, are in a fine way! The
marriage-ceremony, witnessed on the 17th, was one of
the sublimest for Kur-Pfalz and kindred; and it too
had secretly a touch of tragedy in it for the poor Karl
Albert. A double marriage: Two young Princesses,
Grand-daughters, priceless Heiresses, to old Kur-Pfalz;
married, one of them to Duke Clement of Baiern, Karl
Albert's nephew, which is well enough: but married,
the other and elder of them, to Theodor of Deux Ponts,
who will one day, -- could we pierce the merciful
veil, -- be Kurfurst of Baiern; and succeed our own
childless Son! ***
"Kaiser Karl VII. ," such the style he took, is to
be crowned, February 12th; makes sublime Public
Entry into Frankfurt, with that view, January 31st;
-- both ceremonies splendid to a wonder, in spite of
finance considerations. Which circumstance should
little concern us, were jt not that Wilhelmina, hearing
the great news (though in a dim ill-dated state), de-
* Adelung, iii. a, 51.
"Wilhelmina, ii. 334. *** Michaelis, ii. 265. '
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? 136 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book xni.
2<<h Jan. --12th Feb. 1748.
cided to be there and see; did go; -- and has recorded
her experiences there, in a shrill human manner. Wish-
ful to see our fellow-creatures (especially if bound to
look at them), even when they are fallen fantasmal,
and to make persons of them again, we will give this
Piece; sorry that it is the last we have of that fine
hand. How welcome, in the murky puddle of Dryas-
dust, is any glimpse by a lively glib Wilhelmina, which
we can discern to be human! Hear what Wilhelmina
says (in a very condensed form):
Wilhelmina at the Coronation.
Wilhelmina, in the end of January 1742, -- Karl Albert
having shot past, one day lately, in a bad post-chaise, and
kindled the thought in her, -- resolved to go and see him
crowned at Frankfurt, by way of pleasure-excursion. We
will, struggling to be briefer, speak in her person; and in-
dicate withal where the very words are hers, and where ours.
"The Marwitz, elder Marwitz, her poor father being
"wounded at Mollwitz,* had gone to Berlin to nurse him;
"but she returned just now, -- not much to my joy;" I being,
with some cause, jealous of that foolish minx. "The Duchess
"Dowager of Wiirtemberg also came, sorrow on her; a
"foolish talking woman, always cutting jokes, making eyes,
"giggling and coquetting; 'has some wit and manner, but
"wearies you at last: her charms, now on the decline, were
"never so considerable as rumour said; in the long-run she
"bores you with her French gaieties and sprightliness: her
'' character for gallantry is too notorious.
She quite corrupted
"Marwitz, in this and a subsequent visit; turned the poor
"girl's head into a French whirligig, and undermined any
"little moral principle she had. Shewas on the road to Berlin,'
---- of which anon, for it is not quite nothing to us; -- "' but
"she was in no hurry, and would right willingly have gone
"with us. ' And it required all our female diplomacy to get
"her under way again, and fairly out of our course. January
* Militair-Lexikon, iii. 23; and Preussische Adcls-Lexikon, iii. 365.
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? CHAP. IX. ] WILHELMINA AT THE FRANKFURT GAIETIES. 137
31st Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
"28th, she off to Berlin: we, same day. to Frankfurt-on-
"Mayn*
"Coronation was to have been" (or we Country-folk
thought it was), "January 31st: Let us be there incognito,
"the night before; see it, and return the day after. That
"was our plan. Bad roads, waters all out; we had to go
"night and day; -- reached the gates of Frankfurt, 30th
"January late. Berghover, our Legationsrath there, says
"we are known every where; Coronation is not to be till Feb-
"ruaryl2th! I was fatigued to death, a bad cold on me, too:
"we turned back to the last Village; staid there overnight.
"Back again to Berghover, in secret (a la sourdine), next
"night; will see the Public Entry of Karl Albert, which is to
"be tomorrow" (not quite, my Princess; January 3lst for
certain ,** did one the least care). "It was a very grand thing
"indeed (des plus superbes); but I will not stop describing it.
"Masked ball that night; where I had much amusement,
"tormenting the masks; not being known to anybody. We
"next day retired to a small private House, which Berghover
"had got for us, out of Town, for fear of being discovered;
"and lodged there, waiting February 12th, under difficulties. "
"The weather was bitterly cold; we had brought no
"clothes; my dames andlnothing earthly but ablack andrienne
"each" (whatever that may be), "to spare bulk of luggage:
"strictest incognito was indispensable. The Marwitzes, for
"giggling, raillery, French airs, and absolute impertinence,
"were intolerable, in that solitary place. We return to Frank-
furt again; have balls and theatres, at least: 'of these latter
"I missed none. One evening, my head-dress got accident-
ally shoved awry, and exposed my face [for a moment:
"Prince George of Hessen-Cassel, who was looking that way,
"recognised me; told the Prince of Orange of it; -- they are
"in our box, next minute! "'
Prince George of Hessen-Cassel, did readers ever hear of
him before? Transiently perhaps, in Friedrich's Letters to Ms
Father; but have forgotten him again; can know him only as
the outline of a shadow. A fat solid military man of fifty;
junior Brother of that solid Wilhelm, Viceregent and virtual
* Wilhelmina, ii. 334; see pp. 335, 338, 347, &c. for the other salient
points that follow.
** Adelung, iii. o. 63; Sec. &c.
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? 138 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
31st Jan. --12th Feb. 1712.
"Landgraf of Hessen"-- (vice an elder and eldest Brother,
Friedrich, the now Majesty of Sweden, who is actual Here-
ditary Landgraf, but being old, childless, idle, takes no
hold of it, and quite leaves it to Wilhelm), -- of whom English
readers may have heard, and will hear. For it is Wilhelm
that hires us those "subsidized 6,000," who go blaring about
on English pay (Prince George merely Commandant of them);
and Wilhelm, furthermore, has wedded his Heir-Apparent
to an English Princess lately; * which also (as the poor young
fellow became Papist by and by) costs certain English people,
among others, a good deal of trouble. Uncle George, we
say, is merely Commandant of those blaring 6,000; has had
his own real soldierings before this; his own labours, contra-
dictions, in his time; but has borne all patiently, and grown
fat upon it, not quarrelling with his burdens or his nourish-
ments. Perhaps we may transiently meet him again.
As to the Prince of Orange, him we have seen more than
once in times past: a young fellow in comparison, sprightly,
reckoned clever, but somewhat humpbacked; married an
English Princess, years ago ("Papa, if he were as ugly as a
baboon! ") -- which fine Princess, we find, has stopt short at
Cassel, too fatigued on the present occasion. "His esprit"
continues Wilhelmina, "and his conversation, delighted me.
"His Wife, he said, was at Cassel; he would persuade her to
"come and make my acquaintance;" -- could not; too far, in
this cold season. "These two Serene Highnesses would needs
"take me home in their carriage; they asked the Margrafto
"let them stay supper: from that hour they were never out of
"our house. Next morning, by means of them, the secret
"had got abroad. Kur-K6ln" (lanky hook-nosed gentleman,
richest Pluralist in the Church) "had set spies on us; next
"evening he came up to me, and said, 'Madame, I know
"your Highness; you must dance a measure with me! ' That
"comes of one's headgear getting awry! We had nothing for
"it but to give up the incognito, and take our fate! "
This dancing Elector of Koln, a man still only entering
his fortieses the new Emperor's Brother:** do readers wonder
* Princess Mary (age only about seventeen), 28th June 1740; Prince'. ')
name was Friedrich (became Catholic, 1749; wife made family-manager in
consequence. &c. &c).
** Clement August (Hiibner, t. 134).
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? CHAP. rx. ] TVILHELMINA AT THE FRANKFURT GAIETIES. 139
31st Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
to see him dance, being an Archbishop? The fact is certain,
-- let the Three Kings and the Eleven Thousand Virgins say
to it what they will. "' He talked a long time with me; pre-
sented to me the Princess Clemence his Niece'" (that is to
say, Wife of his Nephew Cleinenf; one of the Two whom his
now Imperial Majesty saw married the other day),* '"and
"then the Princess'" -- in fact, presented all the three Sulz-
baeh Princesses (for there is a youngest, still to wed),--
"' and then Prince Theodor'" (happy Husband of the eldest),
'"and Prince Clement'" (ditto of the youngest); "andwasvery
"polite indeed. How keep our incognito, with all these
"people heaping civilities upon us? Let us send to Baireuth
"for clothes, equipages; and retire to our country conceal-
"ment till they arrive.
"'Just as we were about setting off thither, I waiting till
"the Margraf were ready, the Margraf entered, and a Lady
"withhim; who, he informed me, was Madame de Belleisle,
"the French Ambassador's Wife;'" -- Wife of the great Belle-
isle, the soul of all these high congregatings, consultations,
coronations, who is ;not Kaiser but maker of Kaisers: what is
to be done! -- "'I had carefully avoided her; reckoning she
"would have pretensions I should not be in the humour to
"grant. I took my resolution at the moment'" (being a swift
decisive creature); "' and received her like any other Lady
"that might have come to me. Her visit was not long. The
"conversation turned altogether upon praises of the King'"
(my Brother). '"I found Madame de Belleisle very different
"from the notion I had formed of her. You could see she had
"moved in high company (seniailson monde)\ but her airap-'
"peared to me that of a waiting-maid (soubrette), and her
"manners insignificant. '" Let Madame take that.
"Monseigneur himself," -- when our equipages had come,
"waited on me several times," -- Monseigneur the grand
Marshal de Belleisle, among the other Principalities and
Lordships: but of this lean man in black (who has done such
famous things, and will have to do the Retreat of Prag within
year and day), there is not a word farther said. OldSecken-
dorftooishere; "Beich's-Governor of Philipsburg;" very ill
with Austria, no wonder; and striving to be well with the
new Kaiser. Doubtless old Seckendorf made his visit too
* Michaelis, ii. 256, 123; Hiibner, tt. Ill, 134.
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? 140 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
31at Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
(being of Baireuth kin withal), and snuffled his respects:
much unworthy of mention; not lovely to Wilhelmina.
"Prince of Orange," hunchbacked, but sprightly and much
the Prince, "bore me faithful company all the Coronation
"time; nor was George of Hessen-Cassel wanting, good fat
"man.
"Of the Coronation itself, though it was truly grand," and
even of an Oriental splendour,* "I will say nothing. The
"poor Kaiser could not enjoy it much. He was dying of gout
"and gravel, and could scarcely stand on his feet. " Poor
gentleman; and the French are driven dismally out ofLinz;
and the Austrians are spreading like a lava-flood or general
conflagration over Baiern -- Demon Mentzel, whom they call
Colonel Mentzel, (if we knew it) is in Munchen itself, just as
we are getting crowned here! And unless King Friedrich, who
is falling into Mahren, in the flank of them, call back this
Infernal Chase a little, what hope is there in those parts! --
"The poor Kaiser, oftenest in his bed, is courting all manner
"of German Princes", -- consulting with Seckendorfs, with
cunning old stagers. "He has managed to lead my Margraf
"into a foolish bargain, about raising men for him. Which
"bargain I, on fairly getting sight of it, persuade my Margraf
"to back out of; and, in the end, he does so. Meanwhile, it
"detains us some time longer in Frankfurt, which is still full
"of Principalities, busy with visitings and ceremonials.
"Among other things, by way ot forwarding that Bargain
"I was so averse to, our Official People had settled that I
"could not well go without having seen the Empress, after her
"crowning. Foolish people; entangling me in new intrica-
"cies! For if she is a Kaiser's Daughter and Kaiser's Spouse,
"am not I somewhat too? 'How a King's Daughter and an
"Empress are to meet, was probably never settled by ex-
"ample: what number of steps down stairs does she come?
"The armchair (fauteuil), is that to be denied me? ' And
"numerous other questions. The official people, Baireuthers
"especially, are in despair; and in fact there were scenes.
"But I held firm; and the Berlin ambassadors tempering, a
"medium was struck: steps of stairs, to the due number, are
"conceded me; armchair no, but the Empress to 'take a
"very small armchair', and I to have a big common chair
* Anemonen, ubi supra.
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? CHAP. IX. ] WILHELMINA AT THE FRAUKFTJRT GAIETIES. 141
3ist Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
"(granddossier). So we meet, and I have sight ofthisPrin-
"cess, next day.
"In her place, I confess I would have invented all manner
"of eticmettes, or any sort of contrivance, to save myself from
"showing face. Heavens! 'The Empress is below middle
"size, and so corpulent (pitissante), she looks like a ball; she
"is ugly to the utmost (laide au possible), and without air or
"grace:' Kaiser Joseph's youngest Daughter, -- the gods, it
seems, have not been kind to her in figure or feature! "And
"her mind corresponds to her appearance: she is bigoted to
"excess; passes her nights and days in her oratory, with mere
"rosaries and gaunt superstitious platitudes of that nature;
"a dark fat dreary little Empress. 'She was all in a tremble
"in receiving me; and had so discountenanced an air, she
"couldn't speak a word. We took seats. After a little
"silence, I began the conversation, in French. She answered
"me in her Austrian jargon, That she did not well understand
"that language, and begged I would speak to her in German.
"Our conversation was not long. Her Austrian dialect and
"my Lower-Saxon are so different that, till you have prac-
tised , you are not mutually intelligible in them. Accord-
ingly we were not. A bystander would have split with
"laughing at the Babel we made of it; each catching only a
"word here and there, and guessing the rest. This Princess
"was so tied to her etiquette, she would have reckoned it a
"crime against the Reich to speak to me in a foreign lan-
guage; for she knew French well enough.
"The Kaiser was to have been of this visit; but he had
"fallen so ill, he was considered even in danger of his life.
"Poor Prince, what a lot had he achieved for himself! '" re-
flects Wilhelmina, as we often do. "He was soft, humane
"affable; had the gift of captivating hearts. Not without
"talent either; but then of an ambition far disproportionate
"to it. 'Would have shone in the second rank, but in the
"first went sorrowfully eclipsed,' as they say! He could not
"be a great man, nor had about him any one that could; and
"he needed now to be so. " This is the service a Belleisle can
do; inflating a poor man to Kaisership, beyond his natural
size! Crowned Kaiser, and Mentzel just entering his Munchen
the while; a Kaiser bedrid, stranded; lying ill there of gout
and gravel, with the Demon Mentzels eating him: -- well may
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? 142 FIRST SILESIAN WAR EKDS. [book Xin.
31st Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
his poor little bullet of a Kaiserinn pray for him night and day,
if that will avail! --
The Duchess Dowager of Wiirtemberg, returning from
Berlin, favours ics with another Visit.
I am sorry to say this is almost the last scene we
shall get out of Wilhelmina. She returns to Baireuth;
breaks there conclusively that unwise Frankfurt bargain;
receives by and by (after several months, when much
has come and gone in the world) the returning Duchess
of Wiirtemberg, effulgent Dowager "spoken of only as
a Lais;" and has other adventures, alluded to up and
down, but not put in record by herself any farther. --
Sorrowfully let us hear Wilhelmina yet a little, on this
Lais Duchess, who will concern us somewhat. Dowager,
much too effulgent, of the late Karl Alexander, a
Reichs-Feldmarschall (or fourth-part of one, if readers
could remember) and Duke of Wiirtemberg, -- whom
we once dined with, at Prag, in old Friedrich-Wilhelm
and Prince-Eugene times:
"This Princess, very famous on the bad side, had been at
"Berlin to see her three Boys settled there, whose education
"she" (and the Stande of Wiirtemberg, she being Regent)
"had committed to the King. These Princes had Deen with
"us on their road thither, just before their Mamma last time.
"The Eldest, age fourteen, had gone quite agog (s'etoit
"amourache) about my little Girl, age only nine; and had
"greatly diverted us by his little gallantries" (mark that, with
an Alas! ). "The Duchess, following somewhat at leisure,"
had missed the King that time; who was gone for Mahren,
January 18th. * * "I found this Princess wearing pretty
"well.
