Some rather handsome male Cousin of Mam-
sell, Medical Graduate or whatever he was, had ap-
peared in Dessau: -- "Seems to admire Mamsell much;
of course, in a Platonic way," said rumour.
sell, Medical Graduate or whatever he was, had ap-
peared in Dessau: -- "Seems to admire Mamsell much;
of course, in a Platonic way," said rumour.
Thomas Carlyle
She was at that
time Madame de Montbail; widow, as we said: she
afterwards wedded Roucoulles, a refugee gentleman of
her own Nation, who had gone into the Prussian Army,
as was common for the like of him. She had again
become a widow, Madame de Roucoulles this time,
with her daughter Montbail still about her, when by
the grateful good sense of Friedrich Wilhelm, she was
again intrusted as we see; -- and so had the honour
of governessing Frederick the Great for the first seven
years of his life. Respectable lady, she oversaw his
nurses, pap-boats, -- "beer-soup and bread," he him-
self tells us once, was his main diet in boyhood, --
beer-soups, dress-frocks, first attempts at walking; and
then also his little bits of intellectualities, moralities;
his incipiencies of speech, demeanour, and spiritual de-
velopment; and did her function very honestly, there is
no doubt.
Wilhelmina mentions her, at a subsequent period;
and we have a glimpse of this same Eoucoulles, gli-
ding about among the royal young-folk, "with only one
tooth left" (figuratively speaking), and somewhat given
to tattle, in Princess Wilhelmina's opinion. Grown
very old now, poor lady; and the dreadfullest bore,
when she gets upon Hanover, and her experiences,
and Queen Sophie Charlotte's, in that stupendously
magnificent court under Gentleman Ernst. Shun that
topic, if you love your peace of mind! * -- She did
? MHnoires, (above cited).
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? 112 fbiedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1713-1723.
certainly superintend the Boy Fritzkin for his first
seven years; that is a glory that cannot be taken from
her. And her Pupil, too, we agreeably perceive, was
always grateful for her services in that capacity. Once
a-week, if he were in Berlin, during his youthful time,
he was sure to appear at the Roucoulles Soiree, and
say and look various pleasant things to his "cher
Maman (dear Mamma)," as he used to call her, and
to the respectable small party she had. Not to speak
of other more substantial services, which also were not
wanting.
Roucoulles and the other female souls, mainly
French, among whom the incipient Fritz now was, ap-
pear to have done their part as well as could be looked
for. Respectable Edict-of-Nantes French ladies, with
high head-gear, wide hoops; a clear, correct, but some-
what barren and meagre species, tight-laced and high-
frizzled in mind and body. It is not a very fertile ele-
ment for a young soul: not very much of silent piety
in it; and perhaps of vocal piety more than enough in
proportion. An element founding on what they call
"enlightened Protestantism," "freedom of thought," and
the like, which is apt to become loquacious, and too
conscious of itself; tending, on the whole, rather to con-
tempt of the false, than to deep or very effective re-
cognition of the true.
But it is, in some important senses, a clear and pure
element withal. At lowest, there are no conscious
semifalsities, or volunteer hypocrisies, taught the poor
Boy: honour, clearness, truth of word at least; a de-
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? CHAP. 1. 1 CHILDHOOD: DOUBLE EDUCATIONAL ELEMENT. 113
1713-1723.
corous dignified bearing; various thin good things, are
honestly inculcated and exemplified; nor is any bad,
ungraceful or suspicious thing permitted there, if re-
cognised for such. It might have been a worse ele-
ment; and we must be thankful for it . Friedrich,
through life, carries deep traces of this French-Pro-
testant incipiency: -- a very big wide-branching royal
tree, in the end; but as small and flexible a seedling
once as any one of us!
The good old Dame de Roucoulles just lived to
witness his accession; on which grand juncture and
afterwards, as he had done before, he continued to ex-
press, in graceful and useful ways, his gratitude and
honest affection to her and hers. Tea-services, pre-
sents in cut-glass and other kinds, with Letters that
were still more precious to the old Lady, had come
always at due intervals: and one of his earliest kingly
gifts was that of some suitable small Pension for Mont-
bail, the elderly daughter of this poor old Roucoulles,*
? Preuss: Friedrich der Grosse, eine Lcbensgeschichle (5 vols. Berlin,
1832-1834), v. (Urkundenbuch, p. 4). (Euvres de Fridiric (same Prelum's.
Edition, Berlin, 1846-1850, Ac), xvi. 184, 191. -- The Herr Doctor J. I). E.
Preuss, "Historiographer of Brandenburg," devoted wholly to the study of
Friedrich for five-and-twenty years past, and for above a dozen years
busily engaged in editing the (Euvres de Frederic, -- has, besides that Le~
bensgeschichte just cited, three or four smaller Books, of indistinctly dif-
ferent titles, on the same subject. A meritoriously exact man; acquainted
with the outer details of Friedrich's Biography (had he any way of
arranging, organising or setting them forth) as few men ever were or will
be. We shall mean always this Lebensgeschichle here, when no other title
is given; and (Enures de Fridiric shall signify his Edition, unless the
the contrary be stated.
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. II. 8
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? 114 friedrich's appkenticeship, fikst stage, [bookw,
1713-1723.
. who was just singing her Dimittas, as it were, still in
a blithe and pious manner. For she saw now (in
1740) her little nurseling grown to be a brilliant man
and King; King gone out to the Wars, too, with all
Europe inquiring and wondering what the issue would
be. As for her, she closed her poor old eyes, at this
stage of the business; piously, in foreign parts, far
from her native Normandy; and did not see farther
what the issue was. Good old Dame, I have, as was
observed, read some seven times over what they call
biographical accounts of her; but have seven times (by
Heaven's favour, I do partly believe) mostly forgotten
them again; and would not, without cause, inflict on
any reader the like sorrow. To remember one worthy
thing, how many thousand unworthy things must a man
be able to forget!
From this Edict-of-Nantes environment, which taught
our young Fritz his first lessons of human behaviour,
-- a polite sharp little Boy, we do hope and under-
stand, -- he learned also to clothe his bits of notions,
emotions, and garrulous utterabilities, in the French
dialect. Learned to speak, and likewise, what is more
important, to think, in French; which was otherwise
quite domesticated in the Palace, amd became his se-
cond mother-tongue. Not a bad dialect; yet also none
of the best . Very lean and shallow, if very clear and
convenient; leaving much in poor Fritz unuttered, un-
thought, unpractised, which might otherwise have come
into activity in the course of his life. He learned to
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? CHAP. I. J CHILDHOOD: DOUBLE EDUCATIONAL ELEMENT. 115
1713-1723.
read very soon, I presume; but he did not, now or
afterwards, ever learn to spell. He spells indeed dread-
fully ill, at his first appearance on the writing stage, as
we shall see by and by; and he continued, to the last,
one of the bad spellers of his day. A circumstance
which I never can fully account for, and will leave to
the reader's study.
From all manner of sources, -- from inferior vale-
taille, Prussian Officials, Royal Majesty itself when not
in gala, -- he learned, not less rootedly, the corrupt
Prussian dialect of German; and used the same, all his
days, among his soldiers, native officials, common sub-
jects and wherever it was most convenient; speaking
it, and writing and misspelling it, with great freedom,
though always with a certain aversion and undisguised
contempt, which has since brought him blame in some
quarters. It is true, the Prussian form of German is
but rude; and probably Friedrich, except sometimes
in Luther's Bible, never read any German Book. What,
if we will think of it, could he know of his first mother-
tongue? German, to this day, is a frightful dialect
for the stupid, the pedant and dullard sort! Only in
the hands of the gifted does it become supremely
good. It had not yet been the language of any Goethe,
any Lessing; though it stood on the eve of becoming
such. It had already been the language of Luther, of
Ulrich Hutten, Friedrich Barbarossa, Charlemagne and
others. And several extremely important things had
8*
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? 116 friedrich's apprenticeship, FIRST STAGE, [book IT.
J713'1723
been said in it, and some pleasant ones even sung in
it, from an old date, in a very appropriate manner, --
had Crown-Prince Friedrich known all that. But he
could not reasonably be expected to know: -- and the
wiser Germans now forgive him for not knowing, and
are even thankful that he did not.
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? CHAP. II. ]
117
THE GERMAN ELEMENT.
1713-1723.
CHAPTEE n.
THE GERMAN ELEMENT.
So that, as we said, there are two elements for
young Fritz, and highly diverse ones, from both of
which he is to draw nourishment, and assimilate what
he can. Besides that Edict-of-Nantes French element,
and in continual contact and contrast with it, which
prevails chiefly in the Female quarters of the Palace,
-- there is the native German element for young Fritz,
of which the centre is Papa, now come to be King,
and powerfully manifesting himself as such. An abrupt
peremptory young King; and German to the bone.
Along with whom, companions to him in his social
hours, and fellow-workers in his business, are a set of
very rugged German sons of Nature; differing much
from the French sons of Art. Baron Grumkow, Leo-
pold Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (not yet called the "Old
Dessauer," being under forty yet), General Glasenap,
Colonel Derschau, General Flans; these, and the other
nameless Generals and Officials, are a curious counter-
part to the Camases, the Hautcharmoys and Forcades,
with their nimble tongues and rapiers; still more to the
Beausobres, Achards, full of ecclesiastical logic, made
of Bayle and Calvin kneaded together; and to the
high-frizzled ladies rustling in stiff silk, with the shadow
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? 118 friedrich's apprenticeship, first STAGE. [BOOK Iv.
'1713-1723.
of Versailles and of the Dragonades alike present to
them.
Born Hyperboreans these others; rough as hemp,
and stout of fibre as hemp; native products of the
rigorous North. Of whom, after all our reading, we
know little. -- O Heaven, they have had long lines of
rugged ancestors, cast in the same rude stalwart mould,
and leading their rough life there, of whom we know
absolutely nothing! Dumb all those preceding busy
generations; and this of Friedrich Wilhelm is grown
almost dumb. Grim semi-articulate Prussian men; gone
all to pipeclay and moustache for us. Strange blond-
complexioned, not unbeautiful Prussian honourable
women, in hoops, brocades, and unintelligible head-gear
and hair-towers, -- ach Gott, they too are gone; and
their musical talk, in the French or German language,
that also is gone; and the hollow Eternities have swal-
lowed it, as their wont is, in a very surprising man-
ner! --
Grumkow, a cunning, greedy-hearted, long-headed
fellow, of the old Pomeranian Nobility by birth, has a
kind of superficial polish put upon his Hyperborea-
nisms: he has been in foreign countries, doing lega-
tions, diplomacies, for which, at least for the vulpine
parts of which, he has a turn. He writes and speaks
articulate grammatical French; but neither in that, nor
in native Pommerish Platt-Deutsch, does he show us
much, except the depths of his own greed, of his own
astucities and stealthy audacities. Of which we shall
hear more than enough by and by.
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? CHAP, n. l
119
THE GERMAN ELEMENT.
1713-1723.
Of the Dessauer, not yet "Old. "
As to the Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, rugged man,
whose very face is the colour of gunpowder, he also
knows French, and can even write in it, if he like, --
having duly had a Tutor of that nation, and strange
adventures with him on the grand tour and elsewhere;
-- but does not much practise writing, when it can be
helped. His children, I have heard, he expressly did
not teach to read or write, seeing no benefit in that
effeminate art, but left them to pick it up as they could.
His Princess, all rightly ennobled now, -- whom he
would not but marry, though sent on the grand tour to
avoid it, -- was the daughter of one Fos an Apothe-
cary at Dessau; and is still a beautiful and prudent
kind of woman, who seems to suit him well enough,
no worse than if she had been born a Princess. Much
talk has been of her, in princely and other circles; nor
is his marriage the only strange thing Leopold has
done. He is a man to keep the world's tongue wag-
ging, not too musically always; though himself of very
unvocal nature. Perhaps the biggest mass of inarti-
culate human vitality, certainly one of the biggest, then
going about in the world. A man of vast dumb faculty;
dumb, but fertile, deep; no end of ingenuities in the
rough head of him: -- as much mother-wit there,
I often guess, as could be found in whole talking par-
liaments, spouting themselves away in vocables and
eloquent wind!
A man of dreadful impetuosity withal. Set upon
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? 120 fkiedrich's apprenticeship, fikst stage, [book IT.
1713-1723.
Ms will as the one law of Nature; storming forward
with incontrollable violence: a very whirlwind of a man.
He was left a minor; his Mother guardian. Nothing
could prevent him from marrying this Fos the Apothe-
cary's Daughter; no tears nor contrivances of his
Mother, whom he much loved, and who took skilful
measures. Fourteen months of travel in Italy; grand
tour, with eligible French Tutor, -- whom he once
drew sword upon, getting some rebuke from him one
night in Venice, and would have killed, had not the
man been nimble, at once dextrous and sublime: -- it
availed not. The first thing he did on reentering Des-
sau, with his Tutor, was to call at Apothecary Fos's,
and see the charming Mamsell; to go and see his
Mother, was the second thing. Not even his grand pas-
sion for war could eradicate Fos: he went to Dutch Wil-
liam's wars; the wise Mother still counselling, who was
own Aunt to Dutch William, and liked the scheme. He
besieged Namur; fought and besieged up and down, --
with insatiable appetite for fighting and sieging; with
great honour, too, and ambitions awakening in him; --
campaign after campaign: but along with the flamy-
thundery ideal bride, figuratively called Bellona, there
was always a soft real one, Mamsell Fos of Dessau, to
whom he continued constant . The Government of his
Dominions he left cheerfully to his Mother, even when
he came of age: "I am for learning War, as the one
right trade; do with all things as you please, Mamma,
-- only not with Mamsell, not with her! " --
Headers may figure this scene too, and shudder
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? CHAP, n. ] THE GERMAN ELEMENT. 121
1713-1723.
over it.
Some rather handsome male Cousin of Mam-
sell, Medical Graduate or whatever he was, had ap-
peared in Dessau: -- "Seems to admire Mamsell much;
of course, in a Platonic way," said rumour. -- "He?
Admire? " thinks Leopold; -- thinks a good deal of it,
not in the philosophic mood. As he was one day pass-
ing Fos's, Mamsell and the Medical Graduate are
visible, standing together at the window inside. Plea-
santly looking-out upon Nature, -- of course quite ca-
sually, say some Histories with a sneer. In fact, it
seems possible this Medical Graduate may have been
set to act shoeing-horn; but he had better not. Leopold
storms into the House, "Draw, scandalous canaille,
and defend yourself! " -- And in this, or some such
way, a confident tradition says, he killed the poor Me-
dical Graduate there and then. One tries always to
hope not: but Varnhagen is positive, though the other
Histories say nothing of it . God knows. The man
was a Prince; no Reichshofrath, Speyer-Wetzlar Ram-
mer, or other Supreme Court, would much trouble itself,
except with formal shakings of the wig, about such a
peccadillo. In fine, it was better for Leopold to marry
the Miss Fos; which he actually did (1698, in his
twenty-second year), "with the left-hand," -- and then
with the right and both hands; having got her properly
ennobled before long, by his splendid military services.
She made, as we have hinted, an excellent Wife to
him, for the fifty or sixty ensuing years.
This is a strange rugged specimen, this inarticulate
Leopold; already getting mythic, as we can perceive,
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? 122 frtedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book IV.
'1718-1723.
to the polished vocal ages; which mix all manner of
fables with the considerable history he has. Readera
will see him turn-up again in notable forms. A man
hitherto unknown except in his own country; and yet
of very considerable significance to all European
countries whatsoever; the fruit of his activities, without
his name attached, being now manifest in all of them.
He invented the iron ramrod; he invented the equal
step; in fact he is the inventor of modern military tac-
tics. Even so, if we knew it: the Soldiery of every
civilized country still receives from this man, on
parade-fields and battle-fields, its word of command;
out of his rough head proceeded the essential of all
that the innumerable Drill-sergeants, in various lan-
guages, daily repeat and enforce. Such a man is worth
some transient glance from his fellow-creatures, --
especially with a little Fritz trotting at his foot, and
drawing inferences from him.
Dessau, we should have said for the English
reader's behoof, was and still is a little independent
Principality; about the size of Huntingdonshire, but
with woods instead of bogs; -- revenue of it, at this
day, is 60,000/. , was perhaps not 20, or even 10,000
in Leopold's first time. It lies some four-score miles
south-west of Berlin, attainable by post-horses in a day.
Leopold, as his Father had done, stood by Prussia as
if wholly native to it. Leopold's Mother was Sister of
that fine Louisa, the Great Elector's first Wife; his
Sister is wedded to the Margraf of Schwedt, Friedrich
Wilhelm's half-uncle. Lying in such neighbourhood,
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? CHAP, n. ] THB GERMAN ELEMENT. 123
1713-1723.
and being in such affinity to the Prussian House, the
Dessauers may be said to have, in late times, their
headquarters at Berlin. Leopold and Leopold son's, as
his Father before him had done, without neglecting
their Dessau and Principality, hold by the Prussian
Army as their main employment. Not neglecting Des-
sau either; but going thither in winter, or on call
otherwise; Leopold least of all neglecting it, who ne-
glects nothing that can be useful to him.
He is General Field-Marshal of the Prussian Armies,
the foremost man in war-matters with this new King;
and well worthy to be so. He is inventing, or brood-
ing in the way to invent, a variety of things, -- "iron
ramrods" for one; a very great improvement on the
fragile ineffective wooden implement, say all the Books,
but give no date to it: -- that is the first thing; and
there will be others, likewise undated, but posterior, re-
quiring mention by and by. Inventing many things;
-- and always well practising what is already in-
vented, and known for certain. In a word, he is drill-
ing to perfection, with assiduous rigour, the Prussian
Infantry to be the wonder of the world. He has fought
with them, too, in a conclusive manner; and is at all
times ready for fighting.
He was in Malplaquet with them, if only as volun-
teer on that occasion. He commanded them in Blen-
heim itself; stood, in the right or Eugene wing of that
famed Battle of Blenheim, fiercely at bay, when the
Austrian Cavalry had all fled; -- fiercely volleying,
charging, dextrously wheeling and manoeuvring;
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? 124 friedbich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book nr.
1713-1723.
sticking to his ground with a mastiff-like tenacity, --
till Marlborough, and victory from the left, relieved
him and others. He was at the Bridge of Cassano;
where Eugene and Vend6me came to handgrips; --
where Mirabeau's Grandfather, Col-cCArgent, got his
six-and-thirty wounds, and was "killed" as he used to
term it. * "The hottest fire I ever saw," said Eugene,
who had not seen Malplaquet at that time. While
Col-d'Argent sank collapsed upon the Bridge, and the
horse charged over him, and again charged, and beat
and were beaten three several times, -- Anhalt-Dessau,
impatient of such fiddling hither and thither, swashed
into the stream itself with his Prussian Foot; swashed
through it, waistdeep or breastdeep; and might have
settled the matter, had not his cartridges got wetted.
Old King Friedrich rebuked him angrily for his im-
petuosity in this matter, and the sad loss of men.
Then again he was at the Storming of the Lines of
Turin, -- Eugene's feat of 1706, and a most volcanic
business; -- was the first man that got over the en-
trenchment there. Foremost man; face all black with
the smoke of gunpowder, only channelled here and
there with rivulets of sweat; -- not a lovely phenome-
non to the French in the interior! Who still fought
like madmen, but were at length driven into heaps,
and obliged to run. A while before they ran, Anhalt-
Dessau, noticing some Captain posted with his company
in a likely situation, stept aside to him for a moment,
and asked, "Am I wounded, think you? -- No? Then
? Csrlyle's Miscellanies, iv. ? Mirabenu.
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? CHAP? It. ] TkE GERMAN ELEMENT. 125
1713-1723.
have you anything to drink? " and deliberately "drank
a glass of aquavitse," the judicious Captain carrying a
pocket-pistol of that sort, in case of accident; and like-
wise "eat, with great appetite, a bit of bread from one
"of the soldiers' havresacks; saying, He believed the
"heat of the job was done, and that there was no fear
"now. "* --
A man that has been in many wars; in whose
rough head are schemes hatching. Any religion he
has is of Protestant nature; but he has not much, --
on the doctrinal side, very little. Luther's Hymn,
Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott, he calls "God Al-
mighty's grenadier-march. " On joining battle, he au-
dibly utters, with bared head, some growl of rugged
prayer, far from orthodox at times, but much in earn-
est: that lifting of his hat, for prayer, is his last signal
on such occasions. He is very cunning as required,
withal; not disdaining the serpentine method when no
other will do. With Friedrich Wilhelm, who is his
second-cousin (Mother's grand-nephew, if the reader
can count that), he is from of old on the best footing,
and contrives to be his Mentor in many things besides
War. Till his quarrel with Grumkow, of which we
shall hear, he took the lead in political advising, too;
and had schemes, or was thought to have, of which
Queen Sophie was in much terror.
A tall, strongboned, hairy man; with cloudy brows,
vigilant swift eyes; has "a bluish tint of skin," says
? Des weltberiihmten Leopoldi Ac. (Anonymons, by Ranfft, cited
above), pp. 42-45, 52, 65.
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? 126 friedrich's apprenticeship, first STAGE, [book IV.
'1713-1723i
Wilhelmina, "as if the gunpowder still stuck to him. "
He wears long moustaches; triangular hat, plume and
other equipments, are of thrifty practical size. Can be
polite enough in speech; but hides much of his mean-
ing, which indeed is mostly inarticulate, and not al-
ways joyful to the by-stander. He plays rough pranks,
too, on occasion; and has a big horse-laugh in him,
where there is a fop to be roasted, or the like. We
will leave him for the present, in hope of other
meetings.
Remarkable men, many of those old Prussian sol-
diers: of whom one wishes, to no purpose, that there
had more knowledge been attainable. But the Books
are silent; no painter, no genial seeing-man to paint
with his pen, was there. Grim hirsute Hyperborean
figures, they pass mostly mute before us: burly, surly;
in moustaches, in dim uncertain garniture, of which
the buff-belts and the steel are alone conspicuous.
Growling in guttural Teutsch what little articulate
meaning they had: spending, of the inarticulate, a pro-
portion in games of chance, probably too in drinking
beer; yet having an immense overplus which they do
not so spend, but endeavour to utter in such working
as there may be. So have the Hyperboreans lived
from of old. From the times of Tacitus and Pytheas,
not to speak of Odin and Japhet, what hosts of them
have marched across Existence, in that manner; -- and
where is the memory that would, even if it could,
speak of them all! --
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? chap, n. ]
127
THE GERMAN ELEMENT.
1713-1723.
We will hope the mind of our little Fritz has
powers of assimilation. Bayle-Calvin logics, and sha-
dows of Versailles, on this hand, and gunpowder Leo-
polds and inarticulate Hyperboreans on that: here is
a wide diversity of nutriment, all rather tough in
quality, provided for the young soul. Innumerable
unconscious inferences he must have drawn in his little
head! Prince Leopold's face, with the whiskers and
blue skin, I find he was wont, at after-periods, to do
in caricature, under the figure of a Cat's; -- horror
and admiration not the sole feelings raised in him by
the Field-Marshal. -- For bodily nourishment he had
"beer-soup;" a decided Spartan tone prevailing, where-
ever possible, in the breeding and treatment of him.
And we need not doubt, by far the most important
element of his education was the unconscious Apprentice-
ship he continually served to such a Spartan as King
Friedrich Wilhelm. Of whose works and ways he could
not help taking note, angry or other, every day and
hour; nor in the end, if he were intelligent, help under-
standing them, and learning from them. A harsh Master
and almost half-mad, as it many times seemed to the
poor Apprentice; yet a true and solid one, whose real
wisdom was worth that of all the others, as he came at
length to recognise.
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? 128 fbiedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
17I3-172S.
CHAPTER m.
FRIEDRICH WILHELM IS KING.
With the death of old King Friedrich, there oc-
curred at once vast changes in the Court of Berlin; a
total and universal change in the mode of living and
doing business there. Friedrich Wilhelm, out of filial
piety, wore at his Father's funeral the grand French
peruke and other sublimities of French costume; but it
was for the last time: that sad duty once done, he
flung the whole aside, not without impatience, and on
no occasion wore such costume again. He was not a
friend to French fashions, nor had ever been; far the
contrary. In his boyhood, say the Biographers, there
was once a grand embroidered cloth-of-gold, or other-
wise supremely magnificent, little Dressing-gown given
him; but he would at no rate put it on, or be con-
cerned with it; on the contrary, stuffed it indignantly
"into the fire;" and demanded wholesome useful duffel
instead.
He began his reform literally at the earliest mo-
ment. Being summoned into the apartment where his
poor Father was in the last struggle, he could scarcely
get across for Kammerjunker, Kammerherrn, Goldsticks,
Silversticks, and the other solemn histrionic functiona-
ries, all crowding there to do their sad mimicry on the
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? CHAP. m. ] FRIEDRICH WILHELM IS KING. 129
1713.
occasion: not a lovely accompaniment in Friedrich Wil-
helm's eyes. His poor Father's death-struggle once
done, and all reduced to everlasting rest there, Fried-
rich Wilhelm looked in silence over the Unutterable,
for a short space, disregardful of the Goldsticks and
their eager new homaging; walked swiftly away from
it to his own room, shut the door with a slam; and
there, shaking the tears from his eyes, commenced by
a notable duty, -- the duty nearest hand, and there-
fore first to be done, as it seemed to him. It was
about one in the afternoon, 25th February 1713; his
Father dead half-an-hour before: "Tears at a Father's
deathbed, must they be dashed with rage by such a
set of greedy Histrios? " thought Friedrich Wilhelm.
He summoned these his Court-people, that is to say,
summoned their Ober-Hofmarschall and representative;
and through him signified to them, That, till the
Funeral was over, their service would continue; and
that, on the morrow after the Funeral, they were,
every soul of them, discharged; and from the highest
Goldstick down to the lowest Page-in-waiting, the
King's House should be swept entirely clean of them;
-- said House intending to start afresh upon a quite
new footing* Which spread such a consternation among
the courtier people, say the Histories, as was never
seen before.
The thing was done, however; and nobody durst
whisper discontent with it; this rugged young King,
with his plangent metallic voice, with his steady-beam-
? FBrstor, i. 174; PSllnitz, Memoiren, If. 4.
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. II. 9
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? 130 fbiedhich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book IT.
1713-1723.
ing eyes, seeming dreadfully in earnest about it, and
a person that might prove dangerous if you crossed
him. He reduced his Household accordingly, at once,
to the lowest footing of the indispensable; and dis-
charged a whole regiment of superfluous official per-
sons, court-flunkies, inferior, superior and supreme, in
the most ruthless manner. He does not intend keep-
ing any Ober-IIofmarschall, or the like idle person,
henceforth; thinks a minimum of Goldsticks ought to
suffice every man.
Eight Lackeys, in the ante-chambers and elsewhere,
these, with each a Jagerbursch (what we should call
an Under-keeper) to assist when not hunting, will suffice:
Lackeys at "eight thalers monthly," which is six
shillings a week. Three active Pages, sometimes two,
instead of perhaps three-dozen idle that there used to
be. In King Friedrich's time, there were wont to be
a Thousand saddle-horses at corn and hay: but how
many of them were in actual use? Very many of them
were mere imaginary quadrupeds; their price and keep
pocketed by some knavish Stallmeister, Equerry or
Head-groom. Friedrich Wilhelm keeps only Thirty
horses; but these are very actual, not imaginary at all;
their corn not running into any knave's pocket, but
lying actually in the mangers here; getting ground for
you into actual fourfooted speed, when, on turf or high-
way, you require such a thing.
time Madame de Montbail; widow, as we said: she
afterwards wedded Roucoulles, a refugee gentleman of
her own Nation, who had gone into the Prussian Army,
as was common for the like of him. She had again
become a widow, Madame de Roucoulles this time,
with her daughter Montbail still about her, when by
the grateful good sense of Friedrich Wilhelm, she was
again intrusted as we see; -- and so had the honour
of governessing Frederick the Great for the first seven
years of his life. Respectable lady, she oversaw his
nurses, pap-boats, -- "beer-soup and bread," he him-
self tells us once, was his main diet in boyhood, --
beer-soups, dress-frocks, first attempts at walking; and
then also his little bits of intellectualities, moralities;
his incipiencies of speech, demeanour, and spiritual de-
velopment; and did her function very honestly, there is
no doubt.
Wilhelmina mentions her, at a subsequent period;
and we have a glimpse of this same Eoucoulles, gli-
ding about among the royal young-folk, "with only one
tooth left" (figuratively speaking), and somewhat given
to tattle, in Princess Wilhelmina's opinion. Grown
very old now, poor lady; and the dreadfullest bore,
when she gets upon Hanover, and her experiences,
and Queen Sophie Charlotte's, in that stupendously
magnificent court under Gentleman Ernst. Shun that
topic, if you love your peace of mind! * -- She did
? MHnoires, (above cited).
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? 112 fbiedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1713-1723.
certainly superintend the Boy Fritzkin for his first
seven years; that is a glory that cannot be taken from
her. And her Pupil, too, we agreeably perceive, was
always grateful for her services in that capacity. Once
a-week, if he were in Berlin, during his youthful time,
he was sure to appear at the Roucoulles Soiree, and
say and look various pleasant things to his "cher
Maman (dear Mamma)," as he used to call her, and
to the respectable small party she had. Not to speak
of other more substantial services, which also were not
wanting.
Roucoulles and the other female souls, mainly
French, among whom the incipient Fritz now was, ap-
pear to have done their part as well as could be looked
for. Respectable Edict-of-Nantes French ladies, with
high head-gear, wide hoops; a clear, correct, but some-
what barren and meagre species, tight-laced and high-
frizzled in mind and body. It is not a very fertile ele-
ment for a young soul: not very much of silent piety
in it; and perhaps of vocal piety more than enough in
proportion. An element founding on what they call
"enlightened Protestantism," "freedom of thought," and
the like, which is apt to become loquacious, and too
conscious of itself; tending, on the whole, rather to con-
tempt of the false, than to deep or very effective re-
cognition of the true.
But it is, in some important senses, a clear and pure
element withal. At lowest, there are no conscious
semifalsities, or volunteer hypocrisies, taught the poor
Boy: honour, clearness, truth of word at least; a de-
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? CHAP. 1. 1 CHILDHOOD: DOUBLE EDUCATIONAL ELEMENT. 113
1713-1723.
corous dignified bearing; various thin good things, are
honestly inculcated and exemplified; nor is any bad,
ungraceful or suspicious thing permitted there, if re-
cognised for such. It might have been a worse ele-
ment; and we must be thankful for it . Friedrich,
through life, carries deep traces of this French-Pro-
testant incipiency: -- a very big wide-branching royal
tree, in the end; but as small and flexible a seedling
once as any one of us!
The good old Dame de Roucoulles just lived to
witness his accession; on which grand juncture and
afterwards, as he had done before, he continued to ex-
press, in graceful and useful ways, his gratitude and
honest affection to her and hers. Tea-services, pre-
sents in cut-glass and other kinds, with Letters that
were still more precious to the old Lady, had come
always at due intervals: and one of his earliest kingly
gifts was that of some suitable small Pension for Mont-
bail, the elderly daughter of this poor old Roucoulles,*
? Preuss: Friedrich der Grosse, eine Lcbensgeschichle (5 vols. Berlin,
1832-1834), v. (Urkundenbuch, p. 4). (Euvres de Fridiric (same Prelum's.
Edition, Berlin, 1846-1850, Ac), xvi. 184, 191. -- The Herr Doctor J. I). E.
Preuss, "Historiographer of Brandenburg," devoted wholly to the study of
Friedrich for five-and-twenty years past, and for above a dozen years
busily engaged in editing the (Euvres de Frederic, -- has, besides that Le~
bensgeschichte just cited, three or four smaller Books, of indistinctly dif-
ferent titles, on the same subject. A meritoriously exact man; acquainted
with the outer details of Friedrich's Biography (had he any way of
arranging, organising or setting them forth) as few men ever were or will
be. We shall mean always this Lebensgeschichle here, when no other title
is given; and (Enures de Fridiric shall signify his Edition, unless the
the contrary be stated.
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. II. 8
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? 114 friedrich's appkenticeship, fikst stage, [bookw,
1713-1723.
. who was just singing her Dimittas, as it were, still in
a blithe and pious manner. For she saw now (in
1740) her little nurseling grown to be a brilliant man
and King; King gone out to the Wars, too, with all
Europe inquiring and wondering what the issue would
be. As for her, she closed her poor old eyes, at this
stage of the business; piously, in foreign parts, far
from her native Normandy; and did not see farther
what the issue was. Good old Dame, I have, as was
observed, read some seven times over what they call
biographical accounts of her; but have seven times (by
Heaven's favour, I do partly believe) mostly forgotten
them again; and would not, without cause, inflict on
any reader the like sorrow. To remember one worthy
thing, how many thousand unworthy things must a man
be able to forget!
From this Edict-of-Nantes environment, which taught
our young Fritz his first lessons of human behaviour,
-- a polite sharp little Boy, we do hope and under-
stand, -- he learned also to clothe his bits of notions,
emotions, and garrulous utterabilities, in the French
dialect. Learned to speak, and likewise, what is more
important, to think, in French; which was otherwise
quite domesticated in the Palace, amd became his se-
cond mother-tongue. Not a bad dialect; yet also none
of the best . Very lean and shallow, if very clear and
convenient; leaving much in poor Fritz unuttered, un-
thought, unpractised, which might otherwise have come
into activity in the course of his life. He learned to
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? CHAP. I. J CHILDHOOD: DOUBLE EDUCATIONAL ELEMENT. 115
1713-1723.
read very soon, I presume; but he did not, now or
afterwards, ever learn to spell. He spells indeed dread-
fully ill, at his first appearance on the writing stage, as
we shall see by and by; and he continued, to the last,
one of the bad spellers of his day. A circumstance
which I never can fully account for, and will leave to
the reader's study.
From all manner of sources, -- from inferior vale-
taille, Prussian Officials, Royal Majesty itself when not
in gala, -- he learned, not less rootedly, the corrupt
Prussian dialect of German; and used the same, all his
days, among his soldiers, native officials, common sub-
jects and wherever it was most convenient; speaking
it, and writing and misspelling it, with great freedom,
though always with a certain aversion and undisguised
contempt, which has since brought him blame in some
quarters. It is true, the Prussian form of German is
but rude; and probably Friedrich, except sometimes
in Luther's Bible, never read any German Book. What,
if we will think of it, could he know of his first mother-
tongue? German, to this day, is a frightful dialect
for the stupid, the pedant and dullard sort! Only in
the hands of the gifted does it become supremely
good. It had not yet been the language of any Goethe,
any Lessing; though it stood on the eve of becoming
such. It had already been the language of Luther, of
Ulrich Hutten, Friedrich Barbarossa, Charlemagne and
others. And several extremely important things had
8*
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? 116 friedrich's apprenticeship, FIRST STAGE, [book IT.
J713'1723
been said in it, and some pleasant ones even sung in
it, from an old date, in a very appropriate manner, --
had Crown-Prince Friedrich known all that. But he
could not reasonably be expected to know: -- and the
wiser Germans now forgive him for not knowing, and
are even thankful that he did not.
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? CHAP. II. ]
117
THE GERMAN ELEMENT.
1713-1723.
CHAPTEE n.
THE GERMAN ELEMENT.
So that, as we said, there are two elements for
young Fritz, and highly diverse ones, from both of
which he is to draw nourishment, and assimilate what
he can. Besides that Edict-of-Nantes French element,
and in continual contact and contrast with it, which
prevails chiefly in the Female quarters of the Palace,
-- there is the native German element for young Fritz,
of which the centre is Papa, now come to be King,
and powerfully manifesting himself as such. An abrupt
peremptory young King; and German to the bone.
Along with whom, companions to him in his social
hours, and fellow-workers in his business, are a set of
very rugged German sons of Nature; differing much
from the French sons of Art. Baron Grumkow, Leo-
pold Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (not yet called the "Old
Dessauer," being under forty yet), General Glasenap,
Colonel Derschau, General Flans; these, and the other
nameless Generals and Officials, are a curious counter-
part to the Camases, the Hautcharmoys and Forcades,
with their nimble tongues and rapiers; still more to the
Beausobres, Achards, full of ecclesiastical logic, made
of Bayle and Calvin kneaded together; and to the
high-frizzled ladies rustling in stiff silk, with the shadow
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? 118 friedrich's apprenticeship, first STAGE. [BOOK Iv.
'1713-1723.
of Versailles and of the Dragonades alike present to
them.
Born Hyperboreans these others; rough as hemp,
and stout of fibre as hemp; native products of the
rigorous North. Of whom, after all our reading, we
know little. -- O Heaven, they have had long lines of
rugged ancestors, cast in the same rude stalwart mould,
and leading their rough life there, of whom we know
absolutely nothing! Dumb all those preceding busy
generations; and this of Friedrich Wilhelm is grown
almost dumb. Grim semi-articulate Prussian men; gone
all to pipeclay and moustache for us. Strange blond-
complexioned, not unbeautiful Prussian honourable
women, in hoops, brocades, and unintelligible head-gear
and hair-towers, -- ach Gott, they too are gone; and
their musical talk, in the French or German language,
that also is gone; and the hollow Eternities have swal-
lowed it, as their wont is, in a very surprising man-
ner! --
Grumkow, a cunning, greedy-hearted, long-headed
fellow, of the old Pomeranian Nobility by birth, has a
kind of superficial polish put upon his Hyperborea-
nisms: he has been in foreign countries, doing lega-
tions, diplomacies, for which, at least for the vulpine
parts of which, he has a turn. He writes and speaks
articulate grammatical French; but neither in that, nor
in native Pommerish Platt-Deutsch, does he show us
much, except the depths of his own greed, of his own
astucities and stealthy audacities. Of which we shall
hear more than enough by and by.
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? CHAP, n. l
119
THE GERMAN ELEMENT.
1713-1723.
Of the Dessauer, not yet "Old. "
As to the Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, rugged man,
whose very face is the colour of gunpowder, he also
knows French, and can even write in it, if he like, --
having duly had a Tutor of that nation, and strange
adventures with him on the grand tour and elsewhere;
-- but does not much practise writing, when it can be
helped. His children, I have heard, he expressly did
not teach to read or write, seeing no benefit in that
effeminate art, but left them to pick it up as they could.
His Princess, all rightly ennobled now, -- whom he
would not but marry, though sent on the grand tour to
avoid it, -- was the daughter of one Fos an Apothe-
cary at Dessau; and is still a beautiful and prudent
kind of woman, who seems to suit him well enough,
no worse than if she had been born a Princess. Much
talk has been of her, in princely and other circles; nor
is his marriage the only strange thing Leopold has
done. He is a man to keep the world's tongue wag-
ging, not too musically always; though himself of very
unvocal nature. Perhaps the biggest mass of inarti-
culate human vitality, certainly one of the biggest, then
going about in the world. A man of vast dumb faculty;
dumb, but fertile, deep; no end of ingenuities in the
rough head of him: -- as much mother-wit there,
I often guess, as could be found in whole talking par-
liaments, spouting themselves away in vocables and
eloquent wind!
A man of dreadful impetuosity withal. Set upon
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? 120 fkiedrich's apprenticeship, fikst stage, [book IT.
1713-1723.
Ms will as the one law of Nature; storming forward
with incontrollable violence: a very whirlwind of a man.
He was left a minor; his Mother guardian. Nothing
could prevent him from marrying this Fos the Apothe-
cary's Daughter; no tears nor contrivances of his
Mother, whom he much loved, and who took skilful
measures. Fourteen months of travel in Italy; grand
tour, with eligible French Tutor, -- whom he once
drew sword upon, getting some rebuke from him one
night in Venice, and would have killed, had not the
man been nimble, at once dextrous and sublime: -- it
availed not. The first thing he did on reentering Des-
sau, with his Tutor, was to call at Apothecary Fos's,
and see the charming Mamsell; to go and see his
Mother, was the second thing. Not even his grand pas-
sion for war could eradicate Fos: he went to Dutch Wil-
liam's wars; the wise Mother still counselling, who was
own Aunt to Dutch William, and liked the scheme. He
besieged Namur; fought and besieged up and down, --
with insatiable appetite for fighting and sieging; with
great honour, too, and ambitions awakening in him; --
campaign after campaign: but along with the flamy-
thundery ideal bride, figuratively called Bellona, there
was always a soft real one, Mamsell Fos of Dessau, to
whom he continued constant . The Government of his
Dominions he left cheerfully to his Mother, even when
he came of age: "I am for learning War, as the one
right trade; do with all things as you please, Mamma,
-- only not with Mamsell, not with her! " --
Headers may figure this scene too, and shudder
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? CHAP, n. ] THE GERMAN ELEMENT. 121
1713-1723.
over it.
Some rather handsome male Cousin of Mam-
sell, Medical Graduate or whatever he was, had ap-
peared in Dessau: -- "Seems to admire Mamsell much;
of course, in a Platonic way," said rumour. -- "He?
Admire? " thinks Leopold; -- thinks a good deal of it,
not in the philosophic mood. As he was one day pass-
ing Fos's, Mamsell and the Medical Graduate are
visible, standing together at the window inside. Plea-
santly looking-out upon Nature, -- of course quite ca-
sually, say some Histories with a sneer. In fact, it
seems possible this Medical Graduate may have been
set to act shoeing-horn; but he had better not. Leopold
storms into the House, "Draw, scandalous canaille,
and defend yourself! " -- And in this, or some such
way, a confident tradition says, he killed the poor Me-
dical Graduate there and then. One tries always to
hope not: but Varnhagen is positive, though the other
Histories say nothing of it . God knows. The man
was a Prince; no Reichshofrath, Speyer-Wetzlar Ram-
mer, or other Supreme Court, would much trouble itself,
except with formal shakings of the wig, about such a
peccadillo. In fine, it was better for Leopold to marry
the Miss Fos; which he actually did (1698, in his
twenty-second year), "with the left-hand," -- and then
with the right and both hands; having got her properly
ennobled before long, by his splendid military services.
She made, as we have hinted, an excellent Wife to
him, for the fifty or sixty ensuing years.
This is a strange rugged specimen, this inarticulate
Leopold; already getting mythic, as we can perceive,
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? 122 frtedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book IV.
'1718-1723.
to the polished vocal ages; which mix all manner of
fables with the considerable history he has. Readera
will see him turn-up again in notable forms. A man
hitherto unknown except in his own country; and yet
of very considerable significance to all European
countries whatsoever; the fruit of his activities, without
his name attached, being now manifest in all of them.
He invented the iron ramrod; he invented the equal
step; in fact he is the inventor of modern military tac-
tics. Even so, if we knew it: the Soldiery of every
civilized country still receives from this man, on
parade-fields and battle-fields, its word of command;
out of his rough head proceeded the essential of all
that the innumerable Drill-sergeants, in various lan-
guages, daily repeat and enforce. Such a man is worth
some transient glance from his fellow-creatures, --
especially with a little Fritz trotting at his foot, and
drawing inferences from him.
Dessau, we should have said for the English
reader's behoof, was and still is a little independent
Principality; about the size of Huntingdonshire, but
with woods instead of bogs; -- revenue of it, at this
day, is 60,000/. , was perhaps not 20, or even 10,000
in Leopold's first time. It lies some four-score miles
south-west of Berlin, attainable by post-horses in a day.
Leopold, as his Father had done, stood by Prussia as
if wholly native to it. Leopold's Mother was Sister of
that fine Louisa, the Great Elector's first Wife; his
Sister is wedded to the Margraf of Schwedt, Friedrich
Wilhelm's half-uncle. Lying in such neighbourhood,
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? CHAP, n. ] THB GERMAN ELEMENT. 123
1713-1723.
and being in such affinity to the Prussian House, the
Dessauers may be said to have, in late times, their
headquarters at Berlin. Leopold and Leopold son's, as
his Father before him had done, without neglecting
their Dessau and Principality, hold by the Prussian
Army as their main employment. Not neglecting Des-
sau either; but going thither in winter, or on call
otherwise; Leopold least of all neglecting it, who ne-
glects nothing that can be useful to him.
He is General Field-Marshal of the Prussian Armies,
the foremost man in war-matters with this new King;
and well worthy to be so. He is inventing, or brood-
ing in the way to invent, a variety of things, -- "iron
ramrods" for one; a very great improvement on the
fragile ineffective wooden implement, say all the Books,
but give no date to it: -- that is the first thing; and
there will be others, likewise undated, but posterior, re-
quiring mention by and by. Inventing many things;
-- and always well practising what is already in-
vented, and known for certain. In a word, he is drill-
ing to perfection, with assiduous rigour, the Prussian
Infantry to be the wonder of the world. He has fought
with them, too, in a conclusive manner; and is at all
times ready for fighting.
He was in Malplaquet with them, if only as volun-
teer on that occasion. He commanded them in Blen-
heim itself; stood, in the right or Eugene wing of that
famed Battle of Blenheim, fiercely at bay, when the
Austrian Cavalry had all fled; -- fiercely volleying,
charging, dextrously wheeling and manoeuvring;
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? 124 friedbich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book nr.
1713-1723.
sticking to his ground with a mastiff-like tenacity, --
till Marlborough, and victory from the left, relieved
him and others. He was at the Bridge of Cassano;
where Eugene and Vend6me came to handgrips; --
where Mirabeau's Grandfather, Col-cCArgent, got his
six-and-thirty wounds, and was "killed" as he used to
term it. * "The hottest fire I ever saw," said Eugene,
who had not seen Malplaquet at that time. While
Col-d'Argent sank collapsed upon the Bridge, and the
horse charged over him, and again charged, and beat
and were beaten three several times, -- Anhalt-Dessau,
impatient of such fiddling hither and thither, swashed
into the stream itself with his Prussian Foot; swashed
through it, waistdeep or breastdeep; and might have
settled the matter, had not his cartridges got wetted.
Old King Friedrich rebuked him angrily for his im-
petuosity in this matter, and the sad loss of men.
Then again he was at the Storming of the Lines of
Turin, -- Eugene's feat of 1706, and a most volcanic
business; -- was the first man that got over the en-
trenchment there. Foremost man; face all black with
the smoke of gunpowder, only channelled here and
there with rivulets of sweat; -- not a lovely phenome-
non to the French in the interior! Who still fought
like madmen, but were at length driven into heaps,
and obliged to run. A while before they ran, Anhalt-
Dessau, noticing some Captain posted with his company
in a likely situation, stept aside to him for a moment,
and asked, "Am I wounded, think you? -- No? Then
? Csrlyle's Miscellanies, iv. ? Mirabenu.
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? CHAP? It. ] TkE GERMAN ELEMENT. 125
1713-1723.
have you anything to drink? " and deliberately "drank
a glass of aquavitse," the judicious Captain carrying a
pocket-pistol of that sort, in case of accident; and like-
wise "eat, with great appetite, a bit of bread from one
"of the soldiers' havresacks; saying, He believed the
"heat of the job was done, and that there was no fear
"now. "* --
A man that has been in many wars; in whose
rough head are schemes hatching. Any religion he
has is of Protestant nature; but he has not much, --
on the doctrinal side, very little. Luther's Hymn,
Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott, he calls "God Al-
mighty's grenadier-march. " On joining battle, he au-
dibly utters, with bared head, some growl of rugged
prayer, far from orthodox at times, but much in earn-
est: that lifting of his hat, for prayer, is his last signal
on such occasions. He is very cunning as required,
withal; not disdaining the serpentine method when no
other will do. With Friedrich Wilhelm, who is his
second-cousin (Mother's grand-nephew, if the reader
can count that), he is from of old on the best footing,
and contrives to be his Mentor in many things besides
War. Till his quarrel with Grumkow, of which we
shall hear, he took the lead in political advising, too;
and had schemes, or was thought to have, of which
Queen Sophie was in much terror.
A tall, strongboned, hairy man; with cloudy brows,
vigilant swift eyes; has "a bluish tint of skin," says
? Des weltberiihmten Leopoldi Ac. (Anonymons, by Ranfft, cited
above), pp. 42-45, 52, 65.
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? 126 friedrich's apprenticeship, first STAGE, [book IV.
'1713-1723i
Wilhelmina, "as if the gunpowder still stuck to him. "
He wears long moustaches; triangular hat, plume and
other equipments, are of thrifty practical size. Can be
polite enough in speech; but hides much of his mean-
ing, which indeed is mostly inarticulate, and not al-
ways joyful to the by-stander. He plays rough pranks,
too, on occasion; and has a big horse-laugh in him,
where there is a fop to be roasted, or the like. We
will leave him for the present, in hope of other
meetings.
Remarkable men, many of those old Prussian sol-
diers: of whom one wishes, to no purpose, that there
had more knowledge been attainable. But the Books
are silent; no painter, no genial seeing-man to paint
with his pen, was there. Grim hirsute Hyperborean
figures, they pass mostly mute before us: burly, surly;
in moustaches, in dim uncertain garniture, of which
the buff-belts and the steel are alone conspicuous.
Growling in guttural Teutsch what little articulate
meaning they had: spending, of the inarticulate, a pro-
portion in games of chance, probably too in drinking
beer; yet having an immense overplus which they do
not so spend, but endeavour to utter in such working
as there may be. So have the Hyperboreans lived
from of old. From the times of Tacitus and Pytheas,
not to speak of Odin and Japhet, what hosts of them
have marched across Existence, in that manner; -- and
where is the memory that would, even if it could,
speak of them all! --
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? chap, n. ]
127
THE GERMAN ELEMENT.
1713-1723.
We will hope the mind of our little Fritz has
powers of assimilation. Bayle-Calvin logics, and sha-
dows of Versailles, on this hand, and gunpowder Leo-
polds and inarticulate Hyperboreans on that: here is
a wide diversity of nutriment, all rather tough in
quality, provided for the young soul. Innumerable
unconscious inferences he must have drawn in his little
head! Prince Leopold's face, with the whiskers and
blue skin, I find he was wont, at after-periods, to do
in caricature, under the figure of a Cat's; -- horror
and admiration not the sole feelings raised in him by
the Field-Marshal. -- For bodily nourishment he had
"beer-soup;" a decided Spartan tone prevailing, where-
ever possible, in the breeding and treatment of him.
And we need not doubt, by far the most important
element of his education was the unconscious Apprentice-
ship he continually served to such a Spartan as King
Friedrich Wilhelm. Of whose works and ways he could
not help taking note, angry or other, every day and
hour; nor in the end, if he were intelligent, help under-
standing them, and learning from them. A harsh Master
and almost half-mad, as it many times seemed to the
poor Apprentice; yet a true and solid one, whose real
wisdom was worth that of all the others, as he came at
length to recognise.
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? 128 fbiedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
17I3-172S.
CHAPTER m.
FRIEDRICH WILHELM IS KING.
With the death of old King Friedrich, there oc-
curred at once vast changes in the Court of Berlin; a
total and universal change in the mode of living and
doing business there. Friedrich Wilhelm, out of filial
piety, wore at his Father's funeral the grand French
peruke and other sublimities of French costume; but it
was for the last time: that sad duty once done, he
flung the whole aside, not without impatience, and on
no occasion wore such costume again. He was not a
friend to French fashions, nor had ever been; far the
contrary. In his boyhood, say the Biographers, there
was once a grand embroidered cloth-of-gold, or other-
wise supremely magnificent, little Dressing-gown given
him; but he would at no rate put it on, or be con-
cerned with it; on the contrary, stuffed it indignantly
"into the fire;" and demanded wholesome useful duffel
instead.
He began his reform literally at the earliest mo-
ment. Being summoned into the apartment where his
poor Father was in the last struggle, he could scarcely
get across for Kammerjunker, Kammerherrn, Goldsticks,
Silversticks, and the other solemn histrionic functiona-
ries, all crowding there to do their sad mimicry on the
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? CHAP. m. ] FRIEDRICH WILHELM IS KING. 129
1713.
occasion: not a lovely accompaniment in Friedrich Wil-
helm's eyes. His poor Father's death-struggle once
done, and all reduced to everlasting rest there, Fried-
rich Wilhelm looked in silence over the Unutterable,
for a short space, disregardful of the Goldsticks and
their eager new homaging; walked swiftly away from
it to his own room, shut the door with a slam; and
there, shaking the tears from his eyes, commenced by
a notable duty, -- the duty nearest hand, and there-
fore first to be done, as it seemed to him. It was
about one in the afternoon, 25th February 1713; his
Father dead half-an-hour before: "Tears at a Father's
deathbed, must they be dashed with rage by such a
set of greedy Histrios? " thought Friedrich Wilhelm.
He summoned these his Court-people, that is to say,
summoned their Ober-Hofmarschall and representative;
and through him signified to them, That, till the
Funeral was over, their service would continue; and
that, on the morrow after the Funeral, they were,
every soul of them, discharged; and from the highest
Goldstick down to the lowest Page-in-waiting, the
King's House should be swept entirely clean of them;
-- said House intending to start afresh upon a quite
new footing* Which spread such a consternation among
the courtier people, say the Histories, as was never
seen before.
The thing was done, however; and nobody durst
whisper discontent with it; this rugged young King,
with his plangent metallic voice, with his steady-beam-
? FBrstor, i. 174; PSllnitz, Memoiren, If. 4.
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. II. 9
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? 130 fbiedhich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book IT.
1713-1723.
ing eyes, seeming dreadfully in earnest about it, and
a person that might prove dangerous if you crossed
him. He reduced his Household accordingly, at once,
to the lowest footing of the indispensable; and dis-
charged a whole regiment of superfluous official per-
sons, court-flunkies, inferior, superior and supreme, in
the most ruthless manner. He does not intend keep-
ing any Ober-IIofmarschall, or the like idle person,
henceforth; thinks a minimum of Goldsticks ought to
suffice every man.
Eight Lackeys, in the ante-chambers and elsewhere,
these, with each a Jagerbursch (what we should call
an Under-keeper) to assist when not hunting, will suffice:
Lackeys at "eight thalers monthly," which is six
shillings a week. Three active Pages, sometimes two,
instead of perhaps three-dozen idle that there used to
be. In King Friedrich's time, there were wont to be
a Thousand saddle-horses at corn and hay: but how
many of them were in actual use? Very many of them
were mere imaginary quadrupeds; their price and keep
pocketed by some knavish Stallmeister, Equerry or
Head-groom. Friedrich Wilhelm keeps only Thirty
horses; but these are very actual, not imaginary at all;
their corn not running into any knave's pocket, but
lying actually in the mangers here; getting ground for
you into actual fourfooted speed, when, on turf or high-
way, you require such a thing.
