No More Learning

Let us pity a man of genius, mounted on so ungovern-
able a Hobby; leaping the barriers, in spite of his best
resolutions. Perhaps the poetic temperament is more
liable to such morbid biases, influxes of imaginative
crotchet, and mere folly that cannot be cured? Fried-
rich Wilhelm never would or could dismount from his
Hobby; but he rode him under much sorrow hence-
forth; Tinder showers of anger and ridicule; -- contu-
melious words and procedures, as it were saxa et faeces,
battering round him, to a heavy extent; the rider a
victim of Tragedy and Farce both at once.
Queen Sophie's Troubles: Grumkow with the Old Dessauer,
and Grumkow without him.
Queen Sophie had, by delicate management, got-
over those first rubs, and arrived-at a Treaty of Hano-
ver, and clear ground again; far worse rubs lay ahead;
but smooth travelling, towards such a goal, was not
possible for this Queen. Poor Lady, her Court, as we
discern from Wilhelmina and the Books, is a sad welter
of intrigues, suspicions; of treacherous chambermaids,
head-valets, pick-thank scouts of official gentlemen and
others striving to supplant one another. Satan's Invi-
sible World very busy against Queen Sophie! Under
any terms, much more under those of the Double-Mar-
riage, her place in a kindly but suspicious Husband's
Cnrlyle, Frederic the Great. III. 2
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? 18 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PKOJECT STAHTED. [BOOK v.
1723-1726.
favour was difficult to maintain. Restless aspirants,
climbing this way or that, by ladder-steps discoverable
in this abstruse element, are never wanting, and have
the due eavesdropping satellites, now here, now there.
Queen Sophie and her party have to walk warily, as
if among precipices and pitfalls. Of all which wide
welter of extinct contemptibilities, then and there so
important, here and now become minus quantities, we
again notice the existence, but can undertake no study
or specification whatever. Two Incidents, the latter
of them dating near the point where we now are, will
sufficiently instruct the reader what a welter this was,
in which Queen Sophie and her bright little Son, the
new Major of the Potsdam giants, had to pass their
existence.
Incident First fell-out some six years ago or more,
in 1719, year of the Heidelberg Protestants, of
Clement the Forger, when his Majesty "slept for weeks
with a pistol under his pillow," and had other troubles.
His Majesty, on one of his journeys, which were always
many, was taken suddenly ill at Brandenburg, that
year: so violently ill, that thinking himself about to
die, he sent for his good Queen; and made a Will ap-
pointing her Regent in case of his decease. His Ma-
jesty quite recovered before long. But Grumkow and
the Old Dessauer, main aspirants, getting wind of
this Will, and hunting-out the truth of it, -- what a
puddling of the waters these two made in consequence;
stirring-up mire and dirt round the good Queen, finding
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? CHAP. v. ] CROWN-PRINCE IN THE POTSDAM GUARDS. 19
1723-1726.
she had been preferred to them! * Nay Wilhelmina, in
her wild way, believes they had, not long after, planned
to "fire a Theatre" about the King, one afternoon, in
Berlin City, and take his life, thereby securing for
themselves such benefit in prospect as there might be!
Not a doubt of it, thinks Wilhelmina: "The young Mar-
graf,** our precious Cousin, of Schwedt, is not he
Sister's-son of that Old Dessauer? Grandson of the
Great Elector, even as Papa is. Papa once killed
(and our poor Crown-Prince also made away with), --
that Young Margraf, and his blue Fox-tiger of an Uncle
over him, is King in Prussia! Obviously they meant to
burn that Theatre, and kill Papa! " This is Wilhel-
mina's distracted belief; as, doubtless, it was her
Mother's on the day in question: a jealous, much-suf-
fering, transcendently exasperated Mother, as we see.
Incident Second shows us those two rough Gen-
tlemen fallen out of partnership, into open quarrel and
even duel. "Duel at the Copenick Gate," much noised-
of in the dull old Prussian Books, -- though always in
a reserved manner; not even the date, as if that were
dangerous, being clearly given! It came in the wake
of that Hanover Treaty, as is now guessed; the two
having taken opposite sides on that measure, and got
provoked into ripping-up old sores in general. Dessau
was against King George and the Treaty, it appears;
having his reasons, family-reasons of old standing:
Gromkow, a bribeable gentleman, was for, -- having
also perhaps his reasons. Enough, it came to alterca-
* Wilhelmina, i. 26, 29. ** Born, 1700 (snpra, p. 482).
2*
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? 20 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED, [book V.
1J23-1726.
tions, objurgations between the two; which rose ever
higher, -- rose at length to wager-of-battle. Indignant
challenge on the part of the Old Dessauer; which,
however, Grumkow, not regarded as a Baresark in the
fighting way, regrets that his Christian principles do
not, forsooth, allow him to accept. The King is
appealed-to; the King, being himself, though an or-
thodox Christian, yet a still more orthodox Soldier,
decides That, on the whole, General Grumkow cannot
but accept this challenge from the Fieldmarshal Prince
of Dessau.
Dessau is on the field, at the Copenick Gate, ac-
cordingly, -- late-autumn afternoon (I calculate) of the
year 1725; -- waits patiently till Grumkow make his
appearance. Grumkow, with a chosen second, does at
last appear; advances pensively with slow steps. Gun-
powder Dessau, black as a silent thundercloud, draws
his sword: and Grumkow -- does not draw his; pre-
sents it undrawn, with unconditional submission and
apology: "Slay me, if you like, old Friend, whom I
have injured! " Whereat Dessau, uttering no word,
uttering only some contemptuous snort, turns his back
on the phenomenon; mounts his horse and rides home. *
A divided man from this Grumkow henceforth. The
Prince waited on her Majesty; signified his sorrow for
past estrangements; his great wish now to help her, but
his total inability, being ousted by Grumkow: We are
for Halle, Madam, where our Regiment is; there let us
serve his Majesty, since we cannot here! ** -- And in
* PSIInitz, II. 212, 214. <<* Willielmina, i. 90, 93.
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? CHAP, v. ] CEOWN PBINCB IN THE POTSDAM GUARDS. 2 I
1725.
fact the Old Dessauer lives mostly there in time coming;
sunk inarticulate in tactics of a truly deep nature, not
stranding on politics of a shallow; -- a man still me-
morable in the mythic traditions of that place. Better
to drill men to perfection, and invent iron ramrods,
against the day they shall be needed, than go jostling,
on such terms, with cattle of the Grumkow kind! And
thus, we perceive, Grumkow is in, and the Old Des-
sauer out; and there has been "a change of Ministry,"
change of "Majesty's-Advisers," brought about;-- may
the Advice going be wiser now!
What the young Crown-Prince did, said, thought,
in such environment, of backstairs diplomacies, female
sighs and aspirations, Grumkow duels, drillings in the
Giant Regiment, is not specified for us in the smallest
particular, in the extensive rubbish-books that have
been written about him. Ours is, to indicate that such
environment was: how a lively soul, acted-on by it, did
not fail to react, chameleon-like taking colour from it,
and contrariwise taking colour against it, must be left
to the reader's imagination. One thing we have
gathered and will not forget, That the Old Dessauer
is out, and Grumkow in, -- that the rugged Son of
Gunpowder, drilling men henceforth at Halle, and in
a dumb way meditating tactics as few ever did, has no
share in the foul enchantments that now supervene at
Court
.
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? 22 DOUBLE MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [>>OOK V.
1726.
CHAPTER VI.
ORDNANCE-MASTER SECKENDORF CROSSES THE PALACE-
ESPLANADE.
The Kaiser's terror and embarrassment at the con-
clusion of the Hanover Treaty, as we saw, were ex-
treme. War possible or likely; and nothing but the
termagant caprices of Elizabeth Famese to depend on;
no cash from the Sea-Powers; only cannon-shot, inva-
sion and hostility, from their cash and them: What is
to be done? To "caress the pride of Spain;" to keep
alive the hopes, in that quarter, of marrying their Don
Carlos, the supplementary Infant, to our eldest Arch-
duchess; which indeed has set the Sea-Powers dread-
fully on fire, but which does leave Parma and Piacenza
quiet for the present, and makes the Pragmatic Sanction
too an affair of Spain's own: this is one resource, though
a poor one, and a dangerous. Another is, to make al-
liance with Russia, by well flattering the poor little
brown Czarina there: but is not that a still poorer?
And what third is there! --
There is a third worth both the others, could it be
got done: To detach Friedrich Wilhelm from those
dangerous Hanover Confederates, and bring him gently
over to ourselves. He has an army of 60,000, in per-
fect equipment, and money to maintain them so.
Against us or for us, -- 60,000 plus or 60,000 minus;
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? CHAP. vJ. ] ENTER ORDNANCE-MASTER SECKENDORF. 23
Utli May 1726.
-- that will mean 120,000 fighting men: a most weighty
item in any field there is like to be. If it lie in the
power of human art, let us gain this wild irritated King
of Prussia. Dare any henchman of ours venture to go,
with honey-cakes, with pattings and cajoleries, and slip
the imperial muzzle well round the snout of that rugged
ursine animal? An iracund bear, of dangerous propor-
tions, and justly irritated against us at present! Our
experienced Feldzeug-Meister, Ordnance-Master and Di-
plomatist, Graf von Seckendorf, a conscientious Pro-
testant, and the cunningest of men, able to lie to all
lengths, -- dare he try it? He has fought in all quar-
ters of the world; and lied in all, where needful; and
saved money in all: he will try it, and will succeed in
it too! *
The Second Act, therefore, of this foolish World-
Drama of the Double-Marriage opens, -- on the 11th
May 1726, towards sunset, in the Tabagie of the Berlin
Palace, as we gather from laborious comparison of
windy Pollnitz with other indistinct witnesses of a
dreary nature, -- in the following manner:
Prussian Majesty sits smoking at the window; nothing
particular going on. A square-built shortish steelgray
Gentleman, of military cut, past fifty, is strolling over
the Schlossplatz (spacious Square in front of the Palace),
conspicuous amid the sparse populations there; pen-
sively recreating himself, in the yellow sunlight and
long shadows, as after a day's hard labour or travel.
* Pollnitz. ii. 235; Stonzel. iil. 544: Fijrster, ii. 59, iii. 235 239.
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? 24 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [book v.
Jlth May 1720.
"Who is that? " inquires Friedrich Wilhelm, suspend-
ing his tobacco. Grumkow answers cautiously, after
survey: He thinks it must be Ordnance-Master Secken-
dorf; who was with him today; passing-on rapidly
towards Denmark, on business that will not wait. --
"Experienced Feldzeugmeister Graf von Seckendorf,
whom we stand in correspondence with, of late, and
were expecting about this time? Whom we have known
at the Siege of Stralsund, nay ever since the Marl-
borough times and the Siege of Menin, in war and
peace; and have always reckoned a solid reasonable
man and soldier: Why has he not come to us? " --
"Your Majesty," confesses Grumkow, "his business is
so pressing! Business in Denmark will not wait. Seckendorf owned he had come slightly round, in his
eagerness to see our grand Eeview at Tempelhof the
day after tomorrow: What soldier would omit the sight
(so he was pleased to intimate) of soldiering carried to
the non-plus-ultra? But he hoped to do it quite incog-
nito, among the general public; -- and then to be at
the gallop again: not able to have the honour of
paying his court at this time. " -- "Court? Narren-
Possen (Nonsense)! " answers Friedrich Wilhelm,-- and
opening the window, beckons Seckendorf up, with his
own royal head and hand. The conversation of a man
who had rational sense, and could tell him anything,
were it only news of foreign parts in a rational manner,
was always welcome to Friedrich Wilhelm.
And so Seckendorf, how can he help it, is installed
in the Tabagie; glides into pleasant conversation there.
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? CHAP. vI. ] ENTElt OKDNANCE-MASTEIi SECKENDORF. 25
1726.
A captivating talker; solid for religion, for the rights
of Germany against intrusive French and others: such
insight, orthodoxy, sense and ingenuity; pleasant to
hear; and all with the due quantity of oil, though he
"both snuffles and lisps;" and has privately, in case of
need, a capacity of lying, -- for he curiously distils
you any lie, in his religious alembics, till it become
tolerable to his conscience, or even palatable, as elixirs
are; -- capacity of double-distilled lying probably the
greatest of his day. -- Seckendorf assists at the grand
Review, 13th May 1726; witnesses with unfeigned ad-
miration the non-plus-ultra of manoeuvring, and, in fact,
the general management, military and other, of this
admirable King. * Seckendorf, no question of it, will
do his Denmark business swiftly, then, since your Ma-
jesty is pleased so to wish. Seckendorf, sure enough,
will return swiftly to such a King, whose familiar com-
pany, vouchsafed him in this noble manner, he likes,
-- O how he likes it!
In a week or two, Seckendorf is back to Berlin;
attends his Majesty on the annual Military Tour through
Preussen; attends him everywhere, becoming quite a
necessary of life to his Majesty; and does not go away
at all. Seckendorfs business, if his Majesty knew it,
will not lead him "away;" but lies here on this spot;
and is now going on; the magic-apparatus, Grumkow
the main-spring of it, getting all into gear! Grumkow
was once clear for King George and the Hanover
Treaty, having his reasons then; but now he has other
* PSUnitz, ii. 235; Fassmann, pp. 367, 368.
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? 2G DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED, [book v.
1720.
reasons, and is clear against those foreign connexions.
"Hm, hah -- Yes, my estimable, justly powerful Herr
von Grumkow, here is a little Pension of 1000 ducats
(only 500Z.
as yet), which the Imperial Majesty, think-
ing of the service you may do Prussia and Germany
and him, graciously commands me to present; -- only
500Z. by the year as yet; but there shall be no lack of
money if we prosper! "*
And so there are now two Black-Artists, of the first
quality, busy on the unconscious Friedrich Wilhelm;
and Seckendorf, for the next seven years, will stick to
Friedrich Wilhelm like his shadow; and fascinate his
whole existence and him, as few wizards could have
done. Friedrich Wilhelm, like St. Paul in Melita,
warming his innocent hands at the fire of dry branches
here kindled for him, -- what miracle of a venomous
serpent is this that has fixed itself upon his finger? To
Friedrich Wilhelm's enchanted sense it seems a bird-of-
paradise, trustfully perching there; but it is of the
whip-snake kind, or a worse; and will stick to him
tragically, if also comically, for years to come. The
world has seen the comedy of it, and has howled scorn-
ful laughter upon Friedrich Wilhelm for it: but there
is a tragic side, not so well seen-into, where tears are
due to the poor King; and to certain others horsewhips,
and almost gallows-ropes, are due! --Yes, had Secken-
dorf and Grumkow both been well hanged, at this
stage of the affair, whereby the affair might have soon
ended on fair terms, it had been welcome to mankind;
* Fiirster, iH. 232, 233; sec also iv. 172, 121, 157, Ac.
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? CHAP. VI. ] ENTER ORDNANCE-MASTER SECKENDORP. 27
1726.
welcome surely to the Editor, for one; such a saving
to him, of time wasted, of disgust endured! And in-
deed it is a solacement he has often longed for, in
these dreary operations of his. But the Fates ap-
pointed otherwise; we have all to accept our Fate! --
Grumkow is sworn to Imperial orthodoxy, then, --
probably the vulpine mind (so to term it) went always
rather that way, and only his interest the other; --
Grumkow is well bribed, supplied for bribing others
where needful; stands orthodox now, under peril of his
very head. All things have been got distilled into the
palatable state, spiritual and economic, for oneself and
one's grand Trajan-Horse of a Grumkow: and the ad-
venture proceeds apace. Seckendorf sits nightly in the
Tabagie (a kind of "Smoking Parliament," as we shall
see anon); attends on all promenades and journeys: one
of the wisest heads, and so pleasant in discourse, he is
grown indispensable, and a necessary of life to us.
Seckendorfs Biographer computes, "he must have
ridden, in those seven years, continually attending his
Majesty, above 5,000 German miles,* -- that is,
25,000 English miles; or a trifle more than the length
of the Terrestrial Equator.
In a month or two, ** Seckendorf, -- since Majesty
vouchsafes to honour us by wishing it, -- contrives to
get nominated Kaiser's Minister at Berlin: unlimited
* Anonymous (Sockendorfs Grand-Nephew): Versuch einer Lebens-
beschreibung des Feldmarschalts Grafen von Seckendorf (Leipzig, 1792, 1794),
L 6.
** 13th August 1726 (Preuss, i. 87).
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? 28
DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [BOOK V.
ns6.
prospects of Tabagie, and good talk, now opening on
Majesty. And impartial Grumkow, in Tabagie or
wherever we are, cannot but admit, now and then,
That the Excellenz Herr Graf Ordnance-Master has a
deal of reason in what he says about Foreign Politics,
about intrusive French and other points. "Hm, Na,"
muses Friedrich Wilhelm to himself, "if the Kaiser had
not been so lofty on us in that Heidelberg-Protestant
affair, in the Ritter-Dienst business, in those damned
'recruiting' brabbles: always a very high-sniffing surly
Kaiser to us! " For in fact the Kaiser has, all along,
used Friedrich Wilhelm bitterly ill; and contemplates
no better usage of him, except in show. Usage? thinks
the Kaiser: A big Prussian piece of Cannon, whom we
wish to enchant over to us! Did Lazy Peg complain of
her "usage? " -- So that the Excellenz and Grumkow
have a heavy problem of it; were they not so diligent,
and the Cannon itself well-disposed. "Those Blitz
Franzosen (blasted French)! " growls Friedrich Wilhelm
sometimes, in the Tobacco-Parliament:* for he hates
the French, and would fain love his Kaiser; being Ger-
man to the bone, and of right loyal heart, though
counted only a piece of Cannon by some. For one
thing, his Prussian Majesty declines signing that Treaty
of Hanover a second time: now when the Dutch accede
to it, after almost a year's trouble with them, the Prus-
sian Ambassador, singular to observe, "has no orders
to sign;" leaves the English with their Hollanders and
* Forstcr ii. 12, &c.
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? CHAP. vI. ] ENTER ORDNANCE-MASTER SECEENDORP. 29
12th Oct. 1726.
Blitz Franzosen to sign by themselves, this time. * "We
will wait, we will wait! " thinks his Prussian Majesty:--
"Who knows? "
"But then Julich and Berg? " urges he always:
"Britannic Majesty and the Blitz Franzosen were to
secure me the reversion there. That was the essential
point 1" -- For this tooExcellenz has a remedy; works-
out gradually a remedy from head-quarters, the amiable
dextrous man: "Kaiser will do the like, your Majesty;
Kaiser himself will secure it you! " -- In brief, some
three months after Seckendorfs instalment as Kaiser's
Minister, not yet five months since his appearance in
the Schloss-Platz that May evening, -- it is now Hunting-
season, and we are at Wusterhausen; Majesty, his two
Black-Artists and the proper satellites on both sides all
there, -- a new and opposite Treaty, in extreme pri-
vacy, on the 12th of October 1726, is signed at that
sequestered Hunting-Schloss: "Treaty of Wusterhausen"
so-called; which was once very famous and mysterious,
and caused many wigs to wag. Wigs to wag, in those
days especially, when knowledge of it was first had;
the rather as only half-knowledge could be had of
it; -- or can, mourns Dryasdust, who has still diffi-
culties about some "secret articles" in the Document. **
Courage, my friend; they are now of no importance to
any creature.
The essential purport of this Treaty,*** legible to
* 9th August 1726. (Boyer: The Political State of Great Britain, a
monthly periodical, vol. xxxii. p. 77, which is the number for July 1726. )
** Buchholz, I. 94 n.
*** Given in exteneo (without the secret articles) in Fiirsler, iv. 159-IH6.
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? 30 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [bOOK v.
1728.
all eyes, is, "That Friedrich Wilhelm silently drops
"the Hanover Treaty and Blitz Franzosen; and expli-
"citly steps-over to the Kaiser's side; stipulates to assist
"the Kaiser with so many thousand, if attacked inGer-
"many hy any Blitz Franzose or intrusive Foreigner
"whatever. In return for which, the Kaiser, besides
"assisting Prussia in the like case with a like quotity
"of thousands, engages, in circuitous chancery language,
"To be helpful, and humanly speaking effectual, in
"that grand matter of Jiilich and Berg; -- somewhat
"in the following strain: 'To our Imperial mind it does
"appear the King of Prussia has manifest right to the
"succession in Jiilich and Berg; right grounded on ex-
"press Erbvergleich of 1624, not to speak of Deeds
"subsequent: the Imperial mind, as supreme judge of
"such matters in the Reich, will not fail to decide this
"Cause soon and justly, should it come to that. But
"we hope it may take a still better course: for the Im-
perial mind will straightway set about persuading Kur-
"Pfalz to comply peaceably; and even undertakes to
"have something done, that way, before six months
"pass. '" *
Humanly speaking, surely the Imperial mind will
be effectual in the Jiilich-and-Berg matter. But it was
very necessary to use circuitous chancery language, --
inasmuch as the Imperial mind, desirous also to secure
Kur-Pfalz's help in this sore crisis, had, about three
months ago,** expressly engaged to Kur-Pfalz, That
>> Art. v. in Fb'rster, ubi supra.
** Treaty with Kur-Pfalz, 16th August 1726 (Fbrstcr, ii. 71).
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? CHAP. vI. ] ENTER OKDNANCE-MASTER SECKENDORF. 31
1726.
Julicli and Berg should not go to Friedrich Wilhelm in
terms of the old Deed, but to Kur-Pfalz's Cousins of
Sulzbach, whom the old gentleman (in spite of Deeds)
was obstinate to prefer! There is no doubt about that
fact, about that self-devouring pair of facts. To such
straits is a Kaiser driven when he gets deep into spectre
hunting.
This is the once famous, now forgotten, "Treaty
of Wusterhausen, 12th October 1726;" which proved
so consolatory to the Kaiser in that dread crisis of his
Spectre-Hunt; and the effects of which are very visible
in this History, if nowhere else. It caught-up the
Prussian-English Double-Marriage; launched it into the
huge tide of Imperial Spectre-Politics, into the awful
swaggings and swayings of the Terrestrial Libra in
general; and nearly broke the heart of several Royal
persons; of a memorable Crown-Prince, among others.
Which last is now, pretty much, its sole claim to be
ever mentioned again by mankind. As there was no
performance, nor an intention of any, in that Jiilich-
Berg matter, Excellenz Seckendorf had the task hence-
forth of keeping, by art-magic or the preternatural
method, -- that is, by mere help of Grumkow and the
Devil, -- his Prussian Majesty steady to the Kaiser
nevertheless. Always well-divided from the English,
especially. Which the Excellency Seckendorf managed
to do. For six or seven years coming; or, in fact, till
these Spectre-chasings ended, or ran elsewhither for
consummation. Steady always, jealous of the English;
sometimes nearly mad, but always ready as a primed
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? 32 DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. tB0OK v<
1726.
cannon: so Friedrich Wilhelm was accordingly managed
to be kept; -- his own Household gone almost into
delirium; he himself looking out, with loyally fierce
survey, for any Anti-Kaiser War: "When do we go
off, then? " -- though none ever came. And indeed
nothing came; and except those torments to young
Friedrich and others, it was all Nothing. One of the
strangest pieces of Black-Art ever done.
Excellenz Seckendorf, whom Friedrich Wilhelm so
loves, is by no means a beautiful man; far the reverse.
Bodily, -- and the spirit corresponds, -- a stiff-backed,
petrified, stony, inscrutable-looking, and most unbeauti-
ful old Intriguer. Portraits of him, which are frequent,
tell all one story. The brow puckered together, in a
wide web of wrinkles from each temple, as if it meant
to hide the bad pair of eyes, which look suspicion, in-
quiry, apprehension, habit of double-distilled mendacity;
the indeterminate projecting chin, with its thick, chapped
under-lip, is shaken-out, or shoved-out, in mill-hopper
fashion, -- as if to swallow anything there may be,
spoken thing or other, and grind it to profitable meal
for itself. Spiritually he was an old Soldier let for
hire; an old Intriguer, Liar, Fighter, what you like.
What we may call a Human Soul standing like a
hackney-coach, this half-century past, with head, tongue,
heart, conscience, at the hest of a discerning public and
its shilling.
There is considerable faculty, a certain stiff-necked
strength in the old fellow; in fact, Nature had been
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? ChAP. vI. ] ENTER OKDNANCE-MASTER SECKENDORF. 33
1726.
rather kind to him; and certainly his Uncle and Guar-
dian, -- the distinguished Seckendorf who did the
Historia Lutheranismi, a Bitter, and man of good mark,
in Ernst the Pious of Saxe-Gotha's time, -- took pains
about his education. But Nature's gifts have not pro-
spered with him: how could they, in that hackney-coach
way of life? Considerable gifts, we say; shrunk into
a strange bankruptcy in the development of them. A
stiff-backed, close-fisted old gentleman, with mill-hopper
chin, -- with puckery much-inquiring eyes, which have
never discovered any noble path for him in this world.
He is a strictly orthodox Protestant; zealous about ex-
ternal points of moral conduct; yet scruples not, for the
Kaiser's shilling, to lie with energy to all lengths; and
fight, according to the Reichs-Hofrath code, for any
god or man. He is gone mostly to avarice, in these
mature years; all his various strengths turned into
strength of grasping. He is now fifty-four; a man
public in the world, especially since he became the
Kaiser's man: but he has served various masters, in
various capacities, and been in many wars; -- and for
the next thirty years we shall still occasionally meet
him, seldom to our advantage.
He comes from Anspach originally; and has kindred
Seckendorfs in office there, old Ritters in that Country.
He inherited a handsome castle and estate, Meuselwitz,
near Altenburg in the Thtuingen region, from that
Uncle, Ernst of Saxe-Gotha's man, whom we spoke of;
and has otherwise gained wealth; all which he holds
like a vice. Once, at Meuselwitz, they say, he and
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. III. 3
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? DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT STARTED. [flOOKV.
1726.
some young secretary, of a smartish turn, sat working
or conversing, in a large room with only one candle to
illuminate it: the secretary, snuffing the candle, snuffed
it out: "Pshaw," said Seckendorf impatiently, "where
did you learn to handle snuffers? " "Excellenz, in a
place where there were two lights kept! " replied the
other. *--For the rest, he has a good old Wife atMeusel-
witz, who is now old, and had never any children;
who loves him much, and is much loved by him, it
would appear: this is really the best fact I ever knew
of him, -- poor bankrupt creature; gone all to spiri-
tual rheumatism, to strict orthodoxy, with unlimited
mendacity; and avarice as the general outcome! Stiff-
backed, close-fisted strength, all grown wooden or
stony; yet some little well of human sympathy does lie
far in the interior: one wishes, after all (since he could
not be got hanged in time for us), good days to his
poor old Wife and him! He both lisps and snuffles,
as was mentioned; writes cunningly, acres of despatches to Prince Eugene; never swears, though a military
man, except on great occasions one oath, Jarni-bleu, --
which is perhaps some flash-note version of Chair-de-
Dieu, like Par-bleu, 'Zounds and the rest of them,
which the Devil cannot prosecute you for; whereby an
economic man has the pleasure of swearing on cheap
terms.
Herr Pollnitz's account of Seckendorf is unusually
emphatic; babbling Pollnitz rises into a strain of pul-
pit-eloquence, inspired by indignation, on this topic:
* Seckendorf's Leben (already cited), i. 4.
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? CHAP, n. ] ENTER ORDNANCE-MASTER SECKENDORF. 35
1720.