English hand; which, as utterances in
presence
of the
fact itself, leave no doubt on the subject.
fact itself, leave no doubt on the subject.
Thomas Carlyle
hathitrust.
org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. Iv. ] DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT NOT DEAD. 137
Feb. -March 1729.
Crown-Prince reads, we say, with a voice of melodious
clearness, in French more or less instructive. "At other
"times there went on discourse, about public matters,
"foreign news, things in general; discourse of a cheer-
"ful or of a serious nature," always with some sub-
stance of sense in it, -- "and not the least smut per-
mitted, as is too much the case in certain higher
"circles! " says adoring Fassmann; who privately knows
of "Courts" (perhaps the Glorwurdigste, Gloryworthiest,
August the Great's Court, for one? ) "with their hired
Tom-Fools," not yet an extinct species, attempting to
ground wit on that bad basis. Prussian Majesty could
not endure any "Zoten:" profanity and indecency, both
avaunt. "He had to hold out in this way, awake till
"ten o'clock, for the chance of night's sleep. " Earlier
in the afternoon, we said, he perhaps does a little in
oil-painting, having learnt something of that art in
young times; -- there is a poor Artist in attendance,
to mix the colours, and do the first sketch of the thing.
Specimens of such Pictures still exist, Portraits gene-
rally; all with this epigraph, Fredericus Wilhelmus in
tormentis pinxit (Painted by Friedrich Wilhelm in his
torments); and are worthy the attention of the curious. *
Is not this a sublime patient?
Fassmann admits, "there might be spurts of im-
"patience now and then; but how richly did Majesty
"make it good again after reflection! He was also
"subject to whims even about people whom he other-
"wise esteemed. One meritorious gentleman, who shall
* Fassmann, p. 392; see FSrstor, &c.
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? 138 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [BOOKVI.
Fcb. -March 1729.
"be nameless, much thought of by the King, his Ma-
jesty's nerves could not endure, though his mind well
"did: "Makes my gout worse to see him drilling in
"the esplanade there; let another do it! "--and vouch-
safed an apologetic assurance "to the meritorious gen-
tleman afflicted in consequence. " -- O my dim old
Friend, these surely are sublimities of the sick bed?
"So it lasted for some five weeks long," well on to-
wards the summer of this bad Year 1729. Wilhel-
mina says, in briefer business language, and look-
ing only at the wrong-side of the tapestry, "It was
"a Hell-on-Earth to us, Les peines du Purgatoire ne
"pouvaient e'galer celles que nous endurions;"* and sup-
ports the statement by abundant examples, during those
flamy weeks.
For, in the interim, withal, the English negotiation
is as good as gone out; nay there are waterspouts brew-
ing aloft yonder, enough to wash negotiation from the
world. Of which terrible weather-phenomena we shall
have to speak by and by: but must first, by way of
commentary, give a glance at Soissons and the Ter-
restrial Libra, so far as necessary for human objects,
-- not far by any means.
* i. 157.
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? CHAP, v. ] CONGRESS OF SOISSONS.
Juno 1728-Nov. 1729.
CHAPTER V.
CONGRESS OF SOISSONS, SIXTH CRISIS IN THE SPECTRE-HUNT.
The so-called Spanish-War, and dangerous futile
Siege of Gibraltar, had not ended at the death of
George I. ; though measures had already been agreed
upon, by the Kaiser and parties interested, to end
it, -- only the King of Spain (or King's Wife, we
should say) made difficulties. Difficulties, she; and
kept firing, without effect, at the Fortress for about
a year more; after which her humour or her powder
being out, Spanish Majesty signed like the others.
Peace again for all and sundry of us: "Preliminaries"
of Peace signed at Paris, 31st May 1727, three
weeks before George's death, "Peace" itself finally
at the Pardo or at Madrid, the Termagant having
spent her powder, 6th March 1728;* and a "Con-
gress" (bless the mark! ) to settle on what terms in
every point.
Congress, say at Aix-la-Chapelle; say at Cambrai
again, -- for there are difficulties about the place.
Or say finally at Soissons; where Fleury wished it
to be, that he might get the reins of it better in hand;
and where it finally was, -- and where the ghost or
name of it yet is, an empty enigma in the memories
of some men. Congress of Soissons did meet, 14th
* Schtm, ii. 212, 213.
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? 140 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
Junc-1728-Nov. 1729.
June 1728; opened itself, as a Corporeal Entity in this
world; sat for above a year; -- and did nothing;
Fleury quite declining the Pragmatic Sanction, though
the anxious Kaiser was ready to make astonishing
sacrifices, give up his Ostend Company (Paper Shadow
of a Company), or what you will of that kind, -- if
men would have conformed.
These Diplomatic gentlemen, -- say, are they aught?
They seem to understand me, by each at once his
choppy finger laying on his skinny lips! Princes of
the Powers of the Air, shall we define them? It is
certain the solid Earth or her facts, except being held
in perpetual terror by such workings of the Shadow-
world, reaped no effect from those Twenty Years of
Congressing; Seckendorf himself might as well have
lain in bed, as ridden those 25,000 miles, and done
such quantities of double-distillations. No effect at all:
only some futile gunpowder spent on Gibraltar, and
splinters of shot and shells (saleable as old iron) found
about the rocks there; which is not much of an effect,
for Twenty Years of such industry.
The sublime Congress of Soissons met, as we say,
at the above date (just while the Polish Majesty was
closing his Berlin Visit); but found itself no abler for
work than that of Cambrai had been. The Deputies
from France I do not mention; nor from Spain, nor
from Austria. The Deputies from England were Co-
lonel or now properly Brigadier-General Stanhope, after-
wards Lord Harrington; Horace Walpole (who is Ro-
bert's Brother, and whose Secretary is Sir Thomas
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? CHAP. V. ] CONGRESS OP SOISSONS. 141
June 1728-Nov. 1729.
Robinson, "Quoi done, Crusoe? " -whom we shall hear
of farther); and Stephen Poyntz, a once bright gentle-
man, now dim and obsolete, whom the readers of
Coxe's Walpole have some nominal acquaintance with.
Here, for Chronology's sake, is a clipping from the
old English Newspapers to accompany them: "There
"is rumour that Polly Peachum is gone to attend
"the Congress at Soissons; where, it is thought, she
"will make as good a figure, and do her country
"as much service, as several others that shall be
"nameless. "*
Their task seemed easy to the sanguine mind.
The Kaiser has agreed with Spain in the Italian-
Apanage matter; with the Sea-Powers in regard to his
Ostend Company, which is abolished forever: what
then is to prevent a speedy progress, and glad con-
clusion? The Pragmatic Sanction. "Accept my Pragma-
tic Sanction," said the Kaiser; "let that be the pre-
liminary of all things. " -- "Not the preliminary,"
answered Fleury; "we will see to that as we go
on; not the preliminary, by any means! " There was
the rub. The sly old Cardinal had his private treaties
with Sardinia; views of his own in the Mediterranean,
in the Rhine quarter; and answered steadily, "Not
the preliminary, by any means! " The Kaiser was
equally inflexible. Whereupon immensities of proto-
colling, arguing, and the Congress "fell into complete
languor," say the Histories. ** Congress ate its dinner
* Mist's Weekly Journal, 29th June 1728.
** SehSU, U. 215.
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? 142 DOUBLE-MABMAGE PEOJECT GOING ADRIFT, [bOOKvI.
Juno 1728-Nov. 1729.
heartily, and wrote immensely, for the space of eighteen
months; but advanced no hairsbreadth anywhither; no
prospect before it, but that of dinner only, for un-
limited periods.
Kaiser will have his Pragmatic Sanction, or not
budge from the place; stands mulelike amid the rain of
cudgellings from the bystanders; can be beaten to death,
but stir he will not. Hints, glances of the eye,
pass between Elizabeth Farnese and the other by-
standers: suddenly, 9th November 1729, it is found
they have all made a "Treaty of Seville" with Eliza-
beth Farnese; France, England, Holland, Spain, have
all closed, -- Italian Apanages to be at once secured,
Ostend to be at once suppressed, with what else be-
hoves;-- and the Kaiser is left alone; standing upon his
Pragmatic Sanction there, nobody bidding him now
budge!
At which the Kaiser is naturally thrice and four
times wroth and alarmed: -- and Seckendorf in the
Tabaks-Collegium had need to be doubly busy. As
we shall find he is (though without effect), when the
time comes round: -- but we have not yet got to
November of this Year 1729; there are still six or
eight important months between us and that . Important
months; and a Prussian-English "Waterspout," as we
have named it, to be seen, with due wonder, in the
political sky! --
Congress of Soissons, now fallen mythical to man-
kind, and as inane as that of Cambrai, is perhaps still
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? CHAP, v. ] CONGRESS OF SOISSONS. 143
June 1728-Nov. 1729.
memorable in one or two slight points. First, it has
in it, as one of the Austrian Deputies, that Baron von
Bentenrieder, tallest of living Diplomatists, who was
pressed, at one time, for a Prussian soldier; -- readers
recollect it? Walking through the streets of Halber-
stadt, to stretch his long limbs till his carriage came
up, the Prussian sentries laid hold of him, "Excellent
Potsdam giant, this one! " -- and haled him off to
their guardhouse; till carriage and lackeys came; then,
"Thousand humblest pardons, your Excellenz! " who
forgave the fellows. Barely possible some lighter
readers might wish to see, for one moment, an Ex-
cellenz that has been seized by a Pressgang? Which
perhaps never happened to any other Excellenz; --
the like of which, I have been told, might merit him
a soiree from strong-minded women, in some remoter
parts of the world. Not to say that he is the tallest of
living Diplomatists; another unique circumstance! --
Bentenrieder soon died; and had his place at Soissons
filled up by an Excellenz of the ordinary height, who
had never been pressed. But nothing can rob the Con-
gress of this fact, that it once had Bentenrieder for
member; and, so far, is entitled to the pluperfect
distinction in one particular.
Another point is humanly interesting in this Con-
gress; but cannot fully be investigated for want of
dates. Always, we perceive, according to the news of
it that reach Berlin, -- of England going right for the
Kaiser or going wrong for him, -- his Prussian Ma-
jesty's treatment of his children varies. If England go
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? 144 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
June 1728-Nov. 1729.
right for the Kaiser, well, and his Majesty is in good-
humour with Queen, with Crown-Prince and Wilhel-
mina. If England go wrong for the Kaiser, dark
clouds gather on the royal brow, in the royal heart;
explode in thunderstorms; and at length crockery goes
flying through the rooms, blows descend on the poor
Prince's back; and her Majesty is in tears, mere Chaos
come again. For as a general rule, unless the English
Negotiation have some prospering fit, and produce ex-
ceptional phenomena, Friedrich Wilhelm, ever loyal
in heart, stands steadfast by his Kaiser; ever ready
"to strike out (los zu schlagen," as he calls it) with
his best strength in behalf of a cause which, good
soul, he thinks is essentially German; -- all the
readier if at any time it seem now exclusively Ger-
man, the French, Spanish, English, and other un-
lovely Foreign world being clean cut loose from it, or
even standing ranked against it. "When will it go off,
then {Warm, geht es los)? " asks Friedrich Wilhelm
often; diligently drilling his Sixty Thousand, and snort-
ing contempt on "TJngermanism (Undeutschheit) " be it
on the part of friends or of enemies. Good soul, and
whether he will ever get Jiilich and Berg out of it, is
distractingly problematical; and the Tobacco-Parliament
is busy with him.
Curious to see, so far as dates go, how Friedrich
Wilhelm changes his tune to Wife and Children, in
exact correspondence to the notes given out at Soissons
for a Kaiser and his Pragmatic Sanction. Poor Prus-
sian Household, poor back, and heart, of Crown-Prince;
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? CHAP, v. ] CONGRESS OF SOISSONS. 14B
June 1728-Nov. 1729.
what a concert it is in this world, Smoking Parliament
for souffleur! Let the big Diplomatist Bassoon of the
Universe go this way, there are caresses for a young
Soldier and his behaviour in the giant regiment; let the
same Bassoon sound that way, bangs and knocks descend
on him; the two keep time together, -- so busy is the
Smoking Parliament with his Majesty of Prussia. The
world has seen, with horror and wonder, Friedrich
Wilhelm's beating of his grown children: but the pair
of Meerkatzen, or enchanted Demon-Apes, disguised as
loyal Counsellors, riding along with him the length of
a Terrestrial Equator, have not been so familiar
to the world. Seckendorf, Grumkow: we had often
heard of Devil-Diplomatists; and shuddered over hor-
rible pictures of them in Novels, hoping it was all
fancy: but here actually is a pair of them, transcend-
ing all Novels; -- perhaps the highest cognisable fact
to be met with in Devil-Diplomacy. And it may be
a kind of comfort to readers, both to know it, and to
discern gradually what the just gods make of it withal.
Devil-Diplomatists do exist, at least have existed, never
doubt it farther; and their astonishingly dextrous men-
dacities and enchanted spiderwebs, -- can these go any
road but one in this Universe?
That the Congress of Cambrai was not a myth, we
convinced ourselves by a Letter of Voltaire's, who
actually saw it dining there in the Year 1722, as he
passed that way. Here, for Soissons, in like manner,
are two Letters, by a less celebrated but a still known
Carlule, Frederic the Great. III. 10
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? 146 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
July 1728.
English hand; which, as utterances in presence of the
fact itself, leave no doubt on the subject. These the
afflicted reader will perhaps consent to take a glance
of. If the Congress of Soissons, for the sake of memor-
able objects concerned there, is still to be remembered,
and believed in, for a little while, -- the question
arises, How to do it, then?
The writer of these Letters is a serious, rather long-
nosed young English gentleman, not without intel-
ligence, and of a wholesome and honest nature; who
became Lord Lyttleton, First of those Lords, called
also "the Good Lord," father of "the Bad:" a lineal
descendant of that Lyttleton upon whom Coke sits, or
seems to sit, till the end of things: author by and by
of a History of Henry the Second and other well-meant
things: a man of real worth, who attained to some note
in the world. He is now upon the Grand Tour, --
which ran, at that time, by Luneville and Lorraine, as
would appear; at which point we shall first take him
up. He writes to his Father, Sir Thomas, at Hagley
among the pleasant Hills of Worcestershire, -- date
shortly after the assembling of that Congress to rear of
him; -- and we strive to add a minimum of commen-
tary. The "piece of negligence," the "Mr. D. ," --
none of mortals now knows who or what they were:
To Sir Thomas Lyttelton, Bart. , at Hagley.
"Luneville, 21st July" 1728.
"Dear Sir, -- I thank you for so kindly forgiving the piece
"of negligence I acquainted you of in my last. Young fellows
"are often guilty of voluntary forgetfulness in those affairs;
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? CHAP. v. J CONGRESS OF SOISSONS. 147
July 1728.
"but I assure you mine was quite accidental:" -- Never mind
it, my Son!
"Mr. D. tellsyou true that I am weary of losing money at
"Cards; but it is no less certain that without them I shall
"soon be weary of Lorraine. The spirit of quadrille" (ob-
solete game at cards) "has possessed the land from morning
"till midnight; there is nothing else in every house in Town.
"This Court is fond of strangers, but with a proviso that
"strangers love quadrille. Would you win the hearts of the
"Maids of Honour, you must lose your money at quadrille;
"would you be thought a well-bred man, you must play
"genteelly at quadrille; would you get a reputation of good
"sense, show judgment at quadrille. However, in summer
"one may pass a day without quadrille; because there are
"agreeable promenades, and little parties out-of-doors. But
"in winter you are reduced to play at it, or sleep, like a fly,
"till the return of spring.
"Indeed in the morning the Duke hunts," -- mark that
Duke, and two Sons he has. "But my malicious stars have
"so contrived it, that I am no more a sportsman than a
"gamester. There are no men of learning in the whole Coun-
"try; on the contrary, it is a character they despise. A man
"of quality caught me, the other day, reading a Latin
'' Author; and asked me, with an air of contempt, Whether I
"was designed for the Church? All this would be tolerable
"if I was not doomed to converse with a set of English, who
"are still more ignorant than the French; and from whom,
"with my utmost endeavours, I cannot be absent six hours in
"the day. Lord" Blank, --Baltimore, or Heaven-knows-
who, -- "is the only one among them who has common sense;
"and he is so scandalously debauched, in his principles as
"well as practice, that his conversation is equally shocking to
"my morals and my reason. " -- Could not one contrive to get
10*
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? 148 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [eOOKvI. .
July 1728.
away from them; to Soissons, for example, to see business
going on, and the Terrestrial Balance settling itself a little?
"My only improvement here is in the company of the
"Duke," who is a truly distinguished Duke to his bad
Country; "and in the exercise of the Academy," -- of Horse-
manship, or what? "I have been absent from the latter near
"three weeks, by reason of a sprain I got in the sinews of my
"leg. My duty to my dear Mother; I hope you and she con-
"tinue well. I am, Sir, your dutiful Son. -- G. L. " *
These poor Lorrainers are in a bad way; their
Country all trampled to pieces by France, in the Louis-
Fourteenth and still earlier times. Indeed ever since
the futile Siege of Metz, where we saw the great Kaiser,
Karl V. , silently weeping because he could not recap-
ture Metz,** the French have been busy with this poor
Country; -- new sections of it clipt away by them;
"military roads through it, ten miles broad," bargained
for; its Dukes oftenest in exile, especially the Father
of this present Duke:***-- and they are now waiting a
* The Works of Lord George Lyttelton, by Ayscough (London, 1786),
lii. 218.
** Antea, vol. i. p. 304. *** A famed Soldier in his day; nnder Kaiser Leopold, "the little Kaiser
in the red stockings," one of whose Daughters he had to wife. He was at
the Rescue of Vienna (Sobieski's), and in how many far fiercer services;
his life was but a battle and a march. Here is his famed Letter to the
Kaiser, when Death suddenly called, Halt!
"Wels near Linz on the Donau, 17th April 1690.
"Sacred Majesty, -- According to your Orders, I set out from Inns-
"pruck to come to Vienna; but I am stopped here by a Greater Master.
"I go to render account to Him of a life which I had wholly consecrated to
'yon. Remember that I leave a Wife with whom you are concerned" (qui
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? CHAP, v. ] CONGRESS OP SOISSONS. 149
July 1728.
good opportunity to swallow it whole, while the people
are so busy with quadrille-parties. The present Duke,
returning from exile, found his Land in desolation,
much of it "running fast to wild forest again;" and he
has signalised himself by unwearied efforts in every
direction to put new life into it, which have been rather
successful. Lyttelton, we perceive, finds improvement
in his company. The name of this brave Duke is
Leopold; age now forty-nine; life and reign not far
from done: a man about whom even Voltaire gets into
enthusiasm. *
The Court and Country of Lorraine, under Duke
Leopold, will prove to deserve this brief glance from
Lyttelton and us. Two sons Duke Leopold has: the
elder, Franz, now about twenty, is at Vienna, with
the highest outlooks there: Kaiser Karl is his Father's
uncle; and Kaiser Karl's young Daughter, high beauti-
ful Maria Theresa, -- the sublimest maiden now ex-
tant, -- yes, this lucky Franz is to have her: what a
prize, even without Pragmatic Sanction! With the
younger son, Karl of Lorraine, Lyttelton may have
made acquaintance, if he cared: a lad of sixteen; by
and by an Austrian General, as his father had been;
General much noised of, -- whom we shall often see
vous louche, -- who Is your lawful Daughter); "children to whom I can be-
"queath nothing but my sword; and Subjects who are under Oppression. --
"ChArles of LorrAine.
(Ildnault, Abregi Chronologiqut, Paris, 1775, p. 850). -- Charles 'V. ' the
French uniformly call this one; Charles 'IV. ' the Germans, who, Icon-
clude, know better.
* Slecle de Louis XIV ((Emitcs, xxvi. 95-97); HHbner, t. Ml.
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? "1
150 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT. [bOOKTI. beaten, in this world, at the head of men. -- But let
us now get to Soissons itself, skipping an intermediate
Letter or two:
To Sir Thomas Lyttelton, Bart. , atHagley.
"Soissons, 28th October" 1728.
"I thank you, my dear Sir, for complying so much with
"my inclinations as to let me stay some time at Soissons: but
"as you have not fixed how long, I wait for farther orders.
"One of my chief reasons for disliking LuneVille was the
"multitude of English there; who, most of them, were such
"worthless fellows that they were a dishonour to the name
"and Nation. With these I was obliged to dine and sup, and
"pass a great part of my time. You may be sure I avoided it
"as much as possible; but malgri moi I suffered a great deal.
"To prevent any comfort from other people, they had made a
"law among themselves, not to admit any foreigner into their
"company: so that there was nothing but English talked
"from June to January. -- On the contrary, my countrymen
"at Soissons are men of virtue and good sense; they mix per-
petually with the French, and converse for the most part in
"that language. I will trouble you no more upon this sub-
"ject: but give me leave to say that, however capricious I
"may have been on other subjects, my sentiments in this
"particular are the strongest proofs I ever gave you of my
"strong and hereditary aversion to vice and folly.
"Mr. Stanhope,'' our Minister, the Colonel or Brigadier-
General, "is always at Fontainebleau. I went with Mr.
"Poyntz," Poyntz not yet a dim figure, but a brilliant, who
hints about employing me, "to Paris for four days, when the
"Colonel himself was there, to meet him; he received me
"with great civility and kindness. We have done expecting
Oct. 1728.
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? CHAP. v. J CONGRESS OP SOISSONS. 151
Dec. 1728.
"Mr. Walpole," fixed he in the Court regions; "who is
"obliged to keep strict guard over the Cardinal," sly old
Fleury, "for fear the German Ministers should take him from
"us. They pull and haul the poor old gentleman so many
"ways, that he does not know where to turn, or into whose
"arms to throw himself. " Never fear him! --
"Ripperda's escape to England," -- grand Diplomatic
bulldog that was, who took refuge in Colonel Stanhope's at
Madrid to no purpose, and kindled the sputtering at Gibral-
tar, is now got across to England, and will go to Morocco and
farther, to no purpose, -- "will very much embroil affairs;
"which did not seem to want another obstacle to hinder them
"from coming to an accommodation. If the Devil is not very
"much wanting to his own interests in this Business, it is im-
possible that the good work of Peace should go on much
"longer. After all, most young fellows are of his party; and
"wish he may bring matters to a War: for they make but ill
"Ministers at a Congress, but would make good Soldiers in
"a Campaign.
"No news from Madam" Blank "and her beloved Hus-
"band. Their unreasonable fondness for each other can never
"last: they will soon grow as cold to one another as theTown
"to The Beggars' Opera. " And cannot warm again, you
think? "Pray Heaven I may prove a false prophet: butmar-
"ried Love and English Music are too domestic to continue
"long in favour. " * *
November 20th, Soissons still. "This is one of theagree-
'' ablest Towns in France. The people are infinitely obliging
"to strangers: we are of all their parties, and perpetually
"share with them in their pleasures. I have learnt more
'' French since I came hither, than I should have picked up in
"a twelvemonth in Lorraine. " * *
"A fool with a majority on his side is the greatest tyrant in
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? 152 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
1729.
"the world:" -- how can I go back to loiter in Lorraine,
honoured Father, where fools are in such majority? "Then
"the extraordinary civilities I receive from Mr. Poyntz: He
"has in a manner taken me into his family;" will evidently
make an Apprentice of me. "The first Packet that comes
"from Fontainebleau, I expect to be employed. Which is
"no small pleasure to me; and will I hope be of service. " * *
December 20th. "A sudden order to Mr. Poyntz has broken
"all my measures. He goes tomorrow to Paris, to stay there
"in the room of Messrs. Stanhope and Walpole, who are on
"their return for England. " Congress falling into complete
languor, if we knew it! But ought not I to accompany this
friendly and distinguished Mr. Poyntz, "who has already
"given me Papers to copy;" -- in fact I am settingoff with
him, honoured Father! * * *
"Prince Frederick's journey," -- first arrival in England
of dissolute Fred from Hanover, who had not been to Berlin to
get married last summer, -- "was very secret: Mr. Poyntz
"did not hear of it till Friday last; at least he had no public
"notice of it. " Why should he? "There will be fine strug-
"gling for places" in this Prince's new Household. "I hope
"my Brother will come-in for one. "* --
But here we pull the string of the curtain upon Lyttel-
ton, and upon his Congress falling into complete languor;
Congress destined, after dining for about a year more, to
explode, in the Treaty of Seville, and to leave the Kaiser
sitting horrorstruck, solitary amid the wreck of Political
Nature, -- which latter, however, pieces itself together
again for him and others. Beneficent Treaty of Vienna
was at last achieved; Treaty and Treaties there, which
<< Ayscongh's Lytlelton, iii. 200-231.
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? CHAP. v. ] CONGRESS OP SOISSONS. 153
Feb. 1729.
brought matters to their old bearing again, -- Austria
united with the Sea-Powers, Pragmatic Sanction ac-
cepted by them, subsidies again to be expected from
them; Baby Carlos fitted with his Apanages, in some
tolerable manner; and the Problem, with which Crea-
tion had groaned for some twenty years past, finally
accomplished better or worse.
Lyttelton himself will get a place in Prince Frede-
rick's Household, and then lose it; place in Majesty's
Ministry at last, but not for a long while yet . He will
be one of Prince Frederick's men, of the Carterets,
Chesterfields, Pitts, who "patronise Literature," and
are in opposition to dark Walpole; one of the "West-
Wickham set;"-- and will be of the Opposition party,
and have his adventures in the world. Meanwhile let
him go to Paris with Mr.
? CHAP. Iv. ] DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT NOT DEAD. 137
Feb. -March 1729.
Crown-Prince reads, we say, with a voice of melodious
clearness, in French more or less instructive. "At other
"times there went on discourse, about public matters,
"foreign news, things in general; discourse of a cheer-
"ful or of a serious nature," always with some sub-
stance of sense in it, -- "and not the least smut per-
mitted, as is too much the case in certain higher
"circles! " says adoring Fassmann; who privately knows
of "Courts" (perhaps the Glorwurdigste, Gloryworthiest,
August the Great's Court, for one? ) "with their hired
Tom-Fools," not yet an extinct species, attempting to
ground wit on that bad basis. Prussian Majesty could
not endure any "Zoten:" profanity and indecency, both
avaunt. "He had to hold out in this way, awake till
"ten o'clock, for the chance of night's sleep. " Earlier
in the afternoon, we said, he perhaps does a little in
oil-painting, having learnt something of that art in
young times; -- there is a poor Artist in attendance,
to mix the colours, and do the first sketch of the thing.
Specimens of such Pictures still exist, Portraits gene-
rally; all with this epigraph, Fredericus Wilhelmus in
tormentis pinxit (Painted by Friedrich Wilhelm in his
torments); and are worthy the attention of the curious. *
Is not this a sublime patient?
Fassmann admits, "there might be spurts of im-
"patience now and then; but how richly did Majesty
"make it good again after reflection! He was also
"subject to whims even about people whom he other-
"wise esteemed. One meritorious gentleman, who shall
* Fassmann, p. 392; see FSrstor, &c.
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? 138 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [BOOKVI.
Fcb. -March 1729.
"be nameless, much thought of by the King, his Ma-
jesty's nerves could not endure, though his mind well
"did: "Makes my gout worse to see him drilling in
"the esplanade there; let another do it! "--and vouch-
safed an apologetic assurance "to the meritorious gen-
tleman afflicted in consequence. " -- O my dim old
Friend, these surely are sublimities of the sick bed?
"So it lasted for some five weeks long," well on to-
wards the summer of this bad Year 1729. Wilhel-
mina says, in briefer business language, and look-
ing only at the wrong-side of the tapestry, "It was
"a Hell-on-Earth to us, Les peines du Purgatoire ne
"pouvaient e'galer celles que nous endurions;"* and sup-
ports the statement by abundant examples, during those
flamy weeks.
For, in the interim, withal, the English negotiation
is as good as gone out; nay there are waterspouts brew-
ing aloft yonder, enough to wash negotiation from the
world. Of which terrible weather-phenomena we shall
have to speak by and by: but must first, by way of
commentary, give a glance at Soissons and the Ter-
restrial Libra, so far as necessary for human objects,
-- not far by any means.
* i. 157.
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? CHAP, v. ] CONGRESS OF SOISSONS.
Juno 1728-Nov. 1729.
CHAPTER V.
CONGRESS OF SOISSONS, SIXTH CRISIS IN THE SPECTRE-HUNT.
The so-called Spanish-War, and dangerous futile
Siege of Gibraltar, had not ended at the death of
George I. ; though measures had already been agreed
upon, by the Kaiser and parties interested, to end
it, -- only the King of Spain (or King's Wife, we
should say) made difficulties. Difficulties, she; and
kept firing, without effect, at the Fortress for about
a year more; after which her humour or her powder
being out, Spanish Majesty signed like the others.
Peace again for all and sundry of us: "Preliminaries"
of Peace signed at Paris, 31st May 1727, three
weeks before George's death, "Peace" itself finally
at the Pardo or at Madrid, the Termagant having
spent her powder, 6th March 1728;* and a "Con-
gress" (bless the mark! ) to settle on what terms in
every point.
Congress, say at Aix-la-Chapelle; say at Cambrai
again, -- for there are difficulties about the place.
Or say finally at Soissons; where Fleury wished it
to be, that he might get the reins of it better in hand;
and where it finally was, -- and where the ghost or
name of it yet is, an empty enigma in the memories
of some men. Congress of Soissons did meet, 14th
* Schtm, ii. 212, 213.
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? 140 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
Junc-1728-Nov. 1729.
June 1728; opened itself, as a Corporeal Entity in this
world; sat for above a year; -- and did nothing;
Fleury quite declining the Pragmatic Sanction, though
the anxious Kaiser was ready to make astonishing
sacrifices, give up his Ostend Company (Paper Shadow
of a Company), or what you will of that kind, -- if
men would have conformed.
These Diplomatic gentlemen, -- say, are they aught?
They seem to understand me, by each at once his
choppy finger laying on his skinny lips! Princes of
the Powers of the Air, shall we define them? It is
certain the solid Earth or her facts, except being held
in perpetual terror by such workings of the Shadow-
world, reaped no effect from those Twenty Years of
Congressing; Seckendorf himself might as well have
lain in bed, as ridden those 25,000 miles, and done
such quantities of double-distillations. No effect at all:
only some futile gunpowder spent on Gibraltar, and
splinters of shot and shells (saleable as old iron) found
about the rocks there; which is not much of an effect,
for Twenty Years of such industry.
The sublime Congress of Soissons met, as we say,
at the above date (just while the Polish Majesty was
closing his Berlin Visit); but found itself no abler for
work than that of Cambrai had been. The Deputies
from France I do not mention; nor from Spain, nor
from Austria. The Deputies from England were Co-
lonel or now properly Brigadier-General Stanhope, after-
wards Lord Harrington; Horace Walpole (who is Ro-
bert's Brother, and whose Secretary is Sir Thomas
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? CHAP. V. ] CONGRESS OP SOISSONS. 141
June 1728-Nov. 1729.
Robinson, "Quoi done, Crusoe? " -whom we shall hear
of farther); and Stephen Poyntz, a once bright gentle-
man, now dim and obsolete, whom the readers of
Coxe's Walpole have some nominal acquaintance with.
Here, for Chronology's sake, is a clipping from the
old English Newspapers to accompany them: "There
"is rumour that Polly Peachum is gone to attend
"the Congress at Soissons; where, it is thought, she
"will make as good a figure, and do her country
"as much service, as several others that shall be
"nameless. "*
Their task seemed easy to the sanguine mind.
The Kaiser has agreed with Spain in the Italian-
Apanage matter; with the Sea-Powers in regard to his
Ostend Company, which is abolished forever: what
then is to prevent a speedy progress, and glad con-
clusion? The Pragmatic Sanction. "Accept my Pragma-
tic Sanction," said the Kaiser; "let that be the pre-
liminary of all things. " -- "Not the preliminary,"
answered Fleury; "we will see to that as we go
on; not the preliminary, by any means! " There was
the rub. The sly old Cardinal had his private treaties
with Sardinia; views of his own in the Mediterranean,
in the Rhine quarter; and answered steadily, "Not
the preliminary, by any means! " The Kaiser was
equally inflexible. Whereupon immensities of proto-
colling, arguing, and the Congress "fell into complete
languor," say the Histories. ** Congress ate its dinner
* Mist's Weekly Journal, 29th June 1728.
** SehSU, U. 215.
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? 142 DOUBLE-MABMAGE PEOJECT GOING ADRIFT, [bOOKvI.
Juno 1728-Nov. 1729.
heartily, and wrote immensely, for the space of eighteen
months; but advanced no hairsbreadth anywhither; no
prospect before it, but that of dinner only, for un-
limited periods.
Kaiser will have his Pragmatic Sanction, or not
budge from the place; stands mulelike amid the rain of
cudgellings from the bystanders; can be beaten to death,
but stir he will not. Hints, glances of the eye,
pass between Elizabeth Farnese and the other by-
standers: suddenly, 9th November 1729, it is found
they have all made a "Treaty of Seville" with Eliza-
beth Farnese; France, England, Holland, Spain, have
all closed, -- Italian Apanages to be at once secured,
Ostend to be at once suppressed, with what else be-
hoves;-- and the Kaiser is left alone; standing upon his
Pragmatic Sanction there, nobody bidding him now
budge!
At which the Kaiser is naturally thrice and four
times wroth and alarmed: -- and Seckendorf in the
Tabaks-Collegium had need to be doubly busy. As
we shall find he is (though without effect), when the
time comes round: -- but we have not yet got to
November of this Year 1729; there are still six or
eight important months between us and that . Important
months; and a Prussian-English "Waterspout," as we
have named it, to be seen, with due wonder, in the
political sky! --
Congress of Soissons, now fallen mythical to man-
kind, and as inane as that of Cambrai, is perhaps still
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? CHAP, v. ] CONGRESS OF SOISSONS. 143
June 1728-Nov. 1729.
memorable in one or two slight points. First, it has
in it, as one of the Austrian Deputies, that Baron von
Bentenrieder, tallest of living Diplomatists, who was
pressed, at one time, for a Prussian soldier; -- readers
recollect it? Walking through the streets of Halber-
stadt, to stretch his long limbs till his carriage came
up, the Prussian sentries laid hold of him, "Excellent
Potsdam giant, this one! " -- and haled him off to
their guardhouse; till carriage and lackeys came; then,
"Thousand humblest pardons, your Excellenz! " who
forgave the fellows. Barely possible some lighter
readers might wish to see, for one moment, an Ex-
cellenz that has been seized by a Pressgang? Which
perhaps never happened to any other Excellenz; --
the like of which, I have been told, might merit him
a soiree from strong-minded women, in some remoter
parts of the world. Not to say that he is the tallest of
living Diplomatists; another unique circumstance! --
Bentenrieder soon died; and had his place at Soissons
filled up by an Excellenz of the ordinary height, who
had never been pressed. But nothing can rob the Con-
gress of this fact, that it once had Bentenrieder for
member; and, so far, is entitled to the pluperfect
distinction in one particular.
Another point is humanly interesting in this Con-
gress; but cannot fully be investigated for want of
dates. Always, we perceive, according to the news of
it that reach Berlin, -- of England going right for the
Kaiser or going wrong for him, -- his Prussian Ma-
jesty's treatment of his children varies. If England go
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? 144 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
June 1728-Nov. 1729.
right for the Kaiser, well, and his Majesty is in good-
humour with Queen, with Crown-Prince and Wilhel-
mina. If England go wrong for the Kaiser, dark
clouds gather on the royal brow, in the royal heart;
explode in thunderstorms; and at length crockery goes
flying through the rooms, blows descend on the poor
Prince's back; and her Majesty is in tears, mere Chaos
come again. For as a general rule, unless the English
Negotiation have some prospering fit, and produce ex-
ceptional phenomena, Friedrich Wilhelm, ever loyal
in heart, stands steadfast by his Kaiser; ever ready
"to strike out (los zu schlagen," as he calls it) with
his best strength in behalf of a cause which, good
soul, he thinks is essentially German; -- all the
readier if at any time it seem now exclusively Ger-
man, the French, Spanish, English, and other un-
lovely Foreign world being clean cut loose from it, or
even standing ranked against it. "When will it go off,
then {Warm, geht es los)? " asks Friedrich Wilhelm
often; diligently drilling his Sixty Thousand, and snort-
ing contempt on "TJngermanism (Undeutschheit) " be it
on the part of friends or of enemies. Good soul, and
whether he will ever get Jiilich and Berg out of it, is
distractingly problematical; and the Tobacco-Parliament
is busy with him.
Curious to see, so far as dates go, how Friedrich
Wilhelm changes his tune to Wife and Children, in
exact correspondence to the notes given out at Soissons
for a Kaiser and his Pragmatic Sanction. Poor Prus-
sian Household, poor back, and heart, of Crown-Prince;
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? CHAP, v. ] CONGRESS OF SOISSONS. 14B
June 1728-Nov. 1729.
what a concert it is in this world, Smoking Parliament
for souffleur! Let the big Diplomatist Bassoon of the
Universe go this way, there are caresses for a young
Soldier and his behaviour in the giant regiment; let the
same Bassoon sound that way, bangs and knocks descend
on him; the two keep time together, -- so busy is the
Smoking Parliament with his Majesty of Prussia. The
world has seen, with horror and wonder, Friedrich
Wilhelm's beating of his grown children: but the pair
of Meerkatzen, or enchanted Demon-Apes, disguised as
loyal Counsellors, riding along with him the length of
a Terrestrial Equator, have not been so familiar
to the world. Seckendorf, Grumkow: we had often
heard of Devil-Diplomatists; and shuddered over hor-
rible pictures of them in Novels, hoping it was all
fancy: but here actually is a pair of them, transcend-
ing all Novels; -- perhaps the highest cognisable fact
to be met with in Devil-Diplomacy. And it may be
a kind of comfort to readers, both to know it, and to
discern gradually what the just gods make of it withal.
Devil-Diplomatists do exist, at least have existed, never
doubt it farther; and their astonishingly dextrous men-
dacities and enchanted spiderwebs, -- can these go any
road but one in this Universe?
That the Congress of Cambrai was not a myth, we
convinced ourselves by a Letter of Voltaire's, who
actually saw it dining there in the Year 1722, as he
passed that way. Here, for Soissons, in like manner,
are two Letters, by a less celebrated but a still known
Carlule, Frederic the Great. III. 10
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? 146 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
July 1728.
English hand; which, as utterances in presence of the
fact itself, leave no doubt on the subject. These the
afflicted reader will perhaps consent to take a glance
of. If the Congress of Soissons, for the sake of memor-
able objects concerned there, is still to be remembered,
and believed in, for a little while, -- the question
arises, How to do it, then?
The writer of these Letters is a serious, rather long-
nosed young English gentleman, not without intel-
ligence, and of a wholesome and honest nature; who
became Lord Lyttleton, First of those Lords, called
also "the Good Lord," father of "the Bad:" a lineal
descendant of that Lyttleton upon whom Coke sits, or
seems to sit, till the end of things: author by and by
of a History of Henry the Second and other well-meant
things: a man of real worth, who attained to some note
in the world. He is now upon the Grand Tour, --
which ran, at that time, by Luneville and Lorraine, as
would appear; at which point we shall first take him
up. He writes to his Father, Sir Thomas, at Hagley
among the pleasant Hills of Worcestershire, -- date
shortly after the assembling of that Congress to rear of
him; -- and we strive to add a minimum of commen-
tary. The "piece of negligence," the "Mr. D. ," --
none of mortals now knows who or what they were:
To Sir Thomas Lyttelton, Bart. , at Hagley.
"Luneville, 21st July" 1728.
"Dear Sir, -- I thank you for so kindly forgiving the piece
"of negligence I acquainted you of in my last. Young fellows
"are often guilty of voluntary forgetfulness in those affairs;
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? CHAP. v. J CONGRESS OF SOISSONS. 147
July 1728.
"but I assure you mine was quite accidental:" -- Never mind
it, my Son!
"Mr. D. tellsyou true that I am weary of losing money at
"Cards; but it is no less certain that without them I shall
"soon be weary of Lorraine. The spirit of quadrille" (ob-
solete game at cards) "has possessed the land from morning
"till midnight; there is nothing else in every house in Town.
"This Court is fond of strangers, but with a proviso that
"strangers love quadrille. Would you win the hearts of the
"Maids of Honour, you must lose your money at quadrille;
"would you be thought a well-bred man, you must play
"genteelly at quadrille; would you get a reputation of good
"sense, show judgment at quadrille. However, in summer
"one may pass a day without quadrille; because there are
"agreeable promenades, and little parties out-of-doors. But
"in winter you are reduced to play at it, or sleep, like a fly,
"till the return of spring.
"Indeed in the morning the Duke hunts," -- mark that
Duke, and two Sons he has. "But my malicious stars have
"so contrived it, that I am no more a sportsman than a
"gamester. There are no men of learning in the whole Coun-
"try; on the contrary, it is a character they despise. A man
"of quality caught me, the other day, reading a Latin
'' Author; and asked me, with an air of contempt, Whether I
"was designed for the Church? All this would be tolerable
"if I was not doomed to converse with a set of English, who
"are still more ignorant than the French; and from whom,
"with my utmost endeavours, I cannot be absent six hours in
"the day. Lord" Blank, --Baltimore, or Heaven-knows-
who, -- "is the only one among them who has common sense;
"and he is so scandalously debauched, in his principles as
"well as practice, that his conversation is equally shocking to
"my morals and my reason. " -- Could not one contrive to get
10*
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? 148 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [eOOKvI. .
July 1728.
away from them; to Soissons, for example, to see business
going on, and the Terrestrial Balance settling itself a little?
"My only improvement here is in the company of the
"Duke," who is a truly distinguished Duke to his bad
Country; "and in the exercise of the Academy," -- of Horse-
manship, or what? "I have been absent from the latter near
"three weeks, by reason of a sprain I got in the sinews of my
"leg. My duty to my dear Mother; I hope you and she con-
"tinue well. I am, Sir, your dutiful Son. -- G. L. " *
These poor Lorrainers are in a bad way; their
Country all trampled to pieces by France, in the Louis-
Fourteenth and still earlier times. Indeed ever since
the futile Siege of Metz, where we saw the great Kaiser,
Karl V. , silently weeping because he could not recap-
ture Metz,** the French have been busy with this poor
Country; -- new sections of it clipt away by them;
"military roads through it, ten miles broad," bargained
for; its Dukes oftenest in exile, especially the Father
of this present Duke:***-- and they are now waiting a
* The Works of Lord George Lyttelton, by Ayscough (London, 1786),
lii. 218.
** Antea, vol. i. p. 304. *** A famed Soldier in his day; nnder Kaiser Leopold, "the little Kaiser
in the red stockings," one of whose Daughters he had to wife. He was at
the Rescue of Vienna (Sobieski's), and in how many far fiercer services;
his life was but a battle and a march. Here is his famed Letter to the
Kaiser, when Death suddenly called, Halt!
"Wels near Linz on the Donau, 17th April 1690.
"Sacred Majesty, -- According to your Orders, I set out from Inns-
"pruck to come to Vienna; but I am stopped here by a Greater Master.
"I go to render account to Him of a life which I had wholly consecrated to
'yon. Remember that I leave a Wife with whom you are concerned" (qui
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? CHAP, v. ] CONGRESS OP SOISSONS. 149
July 1728.
good opportunity to swallow it whole, while the people
are so busy with quadrille-parties. The present Duke,
returning from exile, found his Land in desolation,
much of it "running fast to wild forest again;" and he
has signalised himself by unwearied efforts in every
direction to put new life into it, which have been rather
successful. Lyttelton, we perceive, finds improvement
in his company. The name of this brave Duke is
Leopold; age now forty-nine; life and reign not far
from done: a man about whom even Voltaire gets into
enthusiasm. *
The Court and Country of Lorraine, under Duke
Leopold, will prove to deserve this brief glance from
Lyttelton and us. Two sons Duke Leopold has: the
elder, Franz, now about twenty, is at Vienna, with
the highest outlooks there: Kaiser Karl is his Father's
uncle; and Kaiser Karl's young Daughter, high beauti-
ful Maria Theresa, -- the sublimest maiden now ex-
tant, -- yes, this lucky Franz is to have her: what a
prize, even without Pragmatic Sanction! With the
younger son, Karl of Lorraine, Lyttelton may have
made acquaintance, if he cared: a lad of sixteen; by
and by an Austrian General, as his father had been;
General much noised of, -- whom we shall often see
vous louche, -- who Is your lawful Daughter); "children to whom I can be-
"queath nothing but my sword; and Subjects who are under Oppression. --
"ChArles of LorrAine.
(Ildnault, Abregi Chronologiqut, Paris, 1775, p. 850). -- Charles 'V. ' the
French uniformly call this one; Charles 'IV. ' the Germans, who, Icon-
clude, know better.
* Slecle de Louis XIV ((Emitcs, xxvi. 95-97); HHbner, t. Ml.
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? "1
150 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT. [bOOKTI. beaten, in this world, at the head of men. -- But let
us now get to Soissons itself, skipping an intermediate
Letter or two:
To Sir Thomas Lyttelton, Bart. , atHagley.
"Soissons, 28th October" 1728.
"I thank you, my dear Sir, for complying so much with
"my inclinations as to let me stay some time at Soissons: but
"as you have not fixed how long, I wait for farther orders.
"One of my chief reasons for disliking LuneVille was the
"multitude of English there; who, most of them, were such
"worthless fellows that they were a dishonour to the name
"and Nation. With these I was obliged to dine and sup, and
"pass a great part of my time. You may be sure I avoided it
"as much as possible; but malgri moi I suffered a great deal.
"To prevent any comfort from other people, they had made a
"law among themselves, not to admit any foreigner into their
"company: so that there was nothing but English talked
"from June to January. -- On the contrary, my countrymen
"at Soissons are men of virtue and good sense; they mix per-
petually with the French, and converse for the most part in
"that language. I will trouble you no more upon this sub-
"ject: but give me leave to say that, however capricious I
"may have been on other subjects, my sentiments in this
"particular are the strongest proofs I ever gave you of my
"strong and hereditary aversion to vice and folly.
"Mr. Stanhope,'' our Minister, the Colonel or Brigadier-
General, "is always at Fontainebleau. I went with Mr.
"Poyntz," Poyntz not yet a dim figure, but a brilliant, who
hints about employing me, "to Paris for four days, when the
"Colonel himself was there, to meet him; he received me
"with great civility and kindness. We have done expecting
Oct. 1728.
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? CHAP. v. J CONGRESS OP SOISSONS. 151
Dec. 1728.
"Mr. Walpole," fixed he in the Court regions; "who is
"obliged to keep strict guard over the Cardinal," sly old
Fleury, "for fear the German Ministers should take him from
"us. They pull and haul the poor old gentleman so many
"ways, that he does not know where to turn, or into whose
"arms to throw himself. " Never fear him! --
"Ripperda's escape to England," -- grand Diplomatic
bulldog that was, who took refuge in Colonel Stanhope's at
Madrid to no purpose, and kindled the sputtering at Gibral-
tar, is now got across to England, and will go to Morocco and
farther, to no purpose, -- "will very much embroil affairs;
"which did not seem to want another obstacle to hinder them
"from coming to an accommodation. If the Devil is not very
"much wanting to his own interests in this Business, it is im-
possible that the good work of Peace should go on much
"longer. After all, most young fellows are of his party; and
"wish he may bring matters to a War: for they make but ill
"Ministers at a Congress, but would make good Soldiers in
"a Campaign.
"No news from Madam" Blank "and her beloved Hus-
"band. Their unreasonable fondness for each other can never
"last: they will soon grow as cold to one another as theTown
"to The Beggars' Opera. " And cannot warm again, you
think? "Pray Heaven I may prove a false prophet: butmar-
"ried Love and English Music are too domestic to continue
"long in favour. " * *
November 20th, Soissons still. "This is one of theagree-
'' ablest Towns in France. The people are infinitely obliging
"to strangers: we are of all their parties, and perpetually
"share with them in their pleasures. I have learnt more
'' French since I came hither, than I should have picked up in
"a twelvemonth in Lorraine. " * *
"A fool with a majority on his side is the greatest tyrant in
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? 152 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT GOING ADRIFT, [book vI.
1729.
"the world:" -- how can I go back to loiter in Lorraine,
honoured Father, where fools are in such majority? "Then
"the extraordinary civilities I receive from Mr. Poyntz: He
"has in a manner taken me into his family;" will evidently
make an Apprentice of me. "The first Packet that comes
"from Fontainebleau, I expect to be employed. Which is
"no small pleasure to me; and will I hope be of service. " * *
December 20th. "A sudden order to Mr. Poyntz has broken
"all my measures. He goes tomorrow to Paris, to stay there
"in the room of Messrs. Stanhope and Walpole, who are on
"their return for England. " Congress falling into complete
languor, if we knew it! But ought not I to accompany this
friendly and distinguished Mr. Poyntz, "who has already
"given me Papers to copy;" -- in fact I am settingoff with
him, honoured Father! * * *
"Prince Frederick's journey," -- first arrival in England
of dissolute Fred from Hanover, who had not been to Berlin to
get married last summer, -- "was very secret: Mr. Poyntz
"did not hear of it till Friday last; at least he had no public
"notice of it. " Why should he? "There will be fine strug-
"gling for places" in this Prince's new Household. "I hope
"my Brother will come-in for one. "* --
But here we pull the string of the curtain upon Lyttel-
ton, and upon his Congress falling into complete languor;
Congress destined, after dining for about a year more, to
explode, in the Treaty of Seville, and to leave the Kaiser
sitting horrorstruck, solitary amid the wreck of Political
Nature, -- which latter, however, pieces itself together
again for him and others. Beneficent Treaty of Vienna
was at last achieved; Treaty and Treaties there, which
<< Ayscongh's Lytlelton, iii. 200-231.
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? CHAP. v. ] CONGRESS OP SOISSONS. 153
Feb. 1729.
brought matters to their old bearing again, -- Austria
united with the Sea-Powers, Pragmatic Sanction ac-
cepted by them, subsidies again to be expected from
them; Baby Carlos fitted with his Apanages, in some
tolerable manner; and the Problem, with which Crea-
tion had groaned for some twenty years past, finally
accomplished better or worse.
Lyttelton himself will get a place in Prince Frede-
rick's Household, and then lose it; place in Majesty's
Ministry at last, but not for a long while yet . He will
be one of Prince Frederick's men, of the Carterets,
Chesterfields, Pitts, who "patronise Literature," and
are in opposition to dark Walpole; one of the "West-
Wickham set;"-- and will be of the Opposition party,
and have his adventures in the world. Meanwhile let
him go to Paris with Mr.
