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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol.
+XIV. (of XXI.), by Thomas Carlyle
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XIV. (of XXI.)
+       Frederick The Great--The Surrounding European War Does Not
+       End--August, 1742-July, 1744
+
+Author: Thomas Carlyle
+
+Posting Date: June 13, 2008 [EBook #2114]
+Release Date: March 2000
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D.R. Thompson
+
+
+
+
+
+HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II OF PRUSSIA,  Volume 14
+
+by Thomas Carlyle
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XIV.--THE SURROUNDING EUROPEAN WAR DOES NOT END.--August,
+1742-July, 1744.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I.--FRIEDRICH RESUMES HIS PEACEABLE PURSUITS.
+
+Friedrich's own Peace being made on such terms, his wish and hope was,
+that it might soon be followed by a general European one; that, the
+live-coal, which had kindled this War, being quenched, the War itself
+might go out. Silesia is his; farther interest in the Controversy,
+except that it would end itself in some fair manner, he has none.
+"Silesia being settled," think many, thinks Friedrich for one, "what
+else of real and solid is there to settle?"
+
+The European Public, or benevolent individuals of it everywhere,
+indulged also in this hope. "How glorious is my King, the youngest
+of the Kings and the grandest!" exclaims Voltaire (in his Letters
+to Friedrich, at this time), and re-exclaims, till Friedrich has to
+interfere, and politely stop it: "A King who carries in the one hand an
+all-conquering sword, but in the other a blessed olive-branch, and
+is the Arbiter of Europe for Peace or War!" "Friedrich the THIRD [so
+Voltaire calls him, counting ill, or misled by ignorance of German
+nomenclature], Friedrich the Third, I mean Friedrich the Great (FREDERIC
+LE GRAND)," will do this, and do that;--probably the first emergence of
+that epithet in human speech, as yet in a quite private hypothetic way.
+[Letters of Voltaire, in _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxii. 100, &c.: this
+last Letter is of date "July, 1742"--almost contemporary with the "Jauer
+Transparency" noticed above.] Opinions about Friedrich's conduct, about
+his talents, his moralities, there were many (all wide of the mark): but
+this seemed clear, That the weight of such a sword as his, thrown into
+either scale, would be decisive; and that he evidently now wished peace.
+An unquestionable fact, that latter! Wished it, yes, right heartily; and
+also strove to hope,--though with less confidence than the benevolent
+outside Public, as knowing the interior of the elements better.
+
+These hopes, how fond they were, we now all know. True, my friends,
+the live-coal which kindled this incendiary whirlpool (ONE of the
+live-coals, first of them that spread actual flame in these European
+parts, and first of them all except Jenkins's Ear) is out, fairly
+withdrawn; but the fire, you perceive, rages not the less. The fire will
+not quench itself, I doubt, till the bitumen, sulphur and other angry
+fuel have run much lower! Austria has fighting men in abundance, England
+behind it has guineas; Austria has got injuries, then successes:--there
+is in Austria withal a dumb pride, quite equal in pretensions to the
+vocal vanity of France, and far more stubborn of humor. The First Nation
+of the Universe, rashly hurling its fine-throated hunting-pack, or
+Army of the Oriflamme, into Austria,--see what a sort of badgers, and
+gloomily indignant bears, it has awakened there! Friedrich had to take
+arms again; and an unwelcome task it was to him, and a sore and costly.
+We shall be obliged (what is our grand difficulty in this History) to
+note, in their order, the series of European occurrences; and, tedious
+as the matter now is, keep readers acquainted with the current of that
+big War; in which, except Friedrich broad awake, and the Ear of Jenkins
+in somnambulancy, there is now next to nothing to interest a human
+creature.
+
+It is an error still prevalent in England, though long since exploded
+everywhere else, that Friedrich wanted new wars, "new successful
+robberies," as our Gazetteers called them; and did wilfully plunge
+into this War again, in the hope of again doing a stroke in that kind.
+English readers, on consulting the facts a little, will not hesitate to
+sweep that notion altogether away. Shadow of basis, except in their own
+angry uninformed imaginations, they will find it never had; and that
+precisely the reverse is manifest in Friedrich's History. A perfectly
+clear-sighted Friedrich; able to discriminate shine from substance;
+and gravitating always towards the solid, the actual. That of "GLOIRE,"
+which he owns to at starting, we saw how soon it died out, choked in
+the dire realities. That of Conquering Hero, in the Macedonia's-madman
+style, was at all times far from him, if the reader knew it,--perhaps
+never farther from any King who had such allurements to it, such
+opportunities for it. This his First Expedition to Silesia--a rushing
+out to seize your own stolen horse, while the occasion answered--was a
+voluntary one; produced, we may say, by Friedrich's own thought and the
+Invisible Powers. But the rest were all purely compulsory,--to defend
+the horse he had seized. Clear necessities, and Powers very Visible,
+were the origin of all his other Expeditions and Warlike Struggles,
+which lasted to the end of his life.
+
+That recent "Moravian Foray;" the joint-stock principle in War matters;
+and the terrible pass a man might reduce himself to, at that
+enormous gaming-table of the gods, if he lingered there: think what
+considerations these had been for him! So that "his look became
+FAROUCHE," in the sight of Valori; and the spectre of Ruin kept him
+company, and such hell-dogs were in chase of him;--till Czaslau, when
+the dice fell kind again! All this had been didactic on a young docile
+man. He was but thirty gone. And if readers mark such docility at those
+years, they will find considerable meaning in it. Here are prudence,
+moderation, clear discernment; very unusual VERACITY of intellect, as we
+define it,--which quality, indeed, is the summary and victorious outcome
+of all manner of good qualities, and faithful performances, in a man.
+"Given up to strong delusions," in the tragical way many are, Friedrich
+was not; and, in practical matters, very seldom indeed "believed a lie."
+
+Certain it is, he now resumes his old Reinsberg Program of Life;
+probably with double relish, after such experiences the other way; and
+prosecutes it with the old ardor; hoping much that his History will be
+of halcyon pacific nature, after all. Would the mad War-whirlpool but
+quench itself; dangerous for singeing a near neighbor, who is only just
+got out of it! Fain would he be arbiter, and help to quench it; but it
+will not quench. For a space of Two Years or more (till August, 1744,
+Twenty-six Months in all), Friedrich, busy on his own affairs, with
+carefully neutral aspect towards this War, yet with sword ready for
+drawing in case of need, looks on with intense vigilance; using his
+wisest interference, not too often either, in that sense and in that
+only, "Be at Peace; oh, come to Peace!"--and finds that the benevolent
+Public and he have been mistaken in their hopes. For the next Two Years,
+we say:--for the first Year (or till about August, 1743), with hope
+not much abated, and little actual interference needed; for the latter
+Twelvemonth, with hope ever more abating; interference, warning, almost
+threatening ever more needed, and yet of no avail, as if they had been
+idle talking and gesticulation on his part:--till, in August, 1744, he
+had to--But the reader shall gradually see it, if by any method we can
+show it him, in something of its real sequence; and shall judge of it by
+his own light.
+
+Friedrich's Domestic History was not of noisy nature, during this
+interval:--and indeed in the bewildered Records given of it, there is
+nothing visible, at first, but one wide vortex of simmering inanities;
+leading to the desperate conclusion that Friedrich had no domestic
+history at all. Which latter is by no means the fact! Your poor Prussian
+Dryasdust (without even an Index to help you) being at least authentic,
+if you look a long time intensely and on many sides, features do at last
+dawn out of those sad vortexes; and you find the old Reinsberg Program
+risen to activity again; and all manner of peaceable projects going on.
+Friedrich visits the Baths of Aachen (what we call Aix-la-Chapelle);
+has the usual Inspections, business activities, recreations, visits
+of friends. He opens his Opera-House, this first winter. He enters
+on Law-reform, strikes decisively into that grand problem; hoping to
+perfect it. What is still more significant, he in private begins writing
+his MEMOIRS. And furthermore, gradually determines on having a little
+Country House, place of escape from his big Potsdam Palace; and gets
+plans drawn for it,--place which became very famous, by the name of
+SANS-SOUCI, in times coming. His thoughts are wholly pacific; of Life to
+Minerva and the Arts, not to Bellona and the Battles:--and yet he knows
+well, this latter too is an inexorable element. About his Army, he is
+quietly busy; augmenting, improving it; the staff of life to Prussia and
+him.
+
+Silesian Fortress-building, under ugly Walrave, goes on at a
+steadily swift rate. Much Silesian settlement goes on; fixing of the
+Prussian-Austrian Boundaries without; of the Catholic-Protestant limits
+within: rapid, not too rough, remodelling of the Province from Austrian
+into Prussian, in the Financial, Administrative and every other
+respect:--in all which important operations the success was noiseless,
+but is considered to have been perfect, or nearly so. Cannot we, from
+these enormous Paper-masses, carefully riddled, afford the reader a
+glimpse or two, to quicken his imagination of these things?
+
+
+
+
+SETTLES THE SILESIAN BOUNDARIES, THE SILESIAN ARRANGEMENTS; WITH
+MANIFEST PROFIT TO SILESIA AND HIMSELF.
+
+In regard to the Marches, Herr Nussler, as natural, was again the person
+employed. Nussler, shifty soul, wide-awake at all times, has already
+seen this Country; "noticed the Pass into Glatz with its block-house,
+and perceived that his Majesty would want it." From September 22d to
+December 12th, 1742, the actual Operation went on; ratified, completely
+set at rest, 16th January following. [Busching, _Beitrage,_? Nussler:
+and Busching's _Magazin,_ b. x. (Halle, 1776); where, pp. 475-538, is a
+"GESCHICHTE DER &c. SHLESISCHEN GRANZSCHEIDUNG IM JAHR 1742," in great
+amplitude and authenticity.] Nussler serves on three thalers (nine
+shillings) a day. The Austrian Head-Commissioner has 5 pounds (thirty
+thalers) a day; but he is an elderly fat gentleman, pursy, scant of
+breath; cannot stand the rapid galloping about, and thousand-fold
+inspecting and detailing; leaves it all to Nussler; who goes like the
+wind. Thus, for example, Nussler dictates, at evening from his saddle,
+the mutual Protocol of the day's doings; Old Pursy sitting by, impatient
+for supper, and making no criticisms. Then at night, Nussler privately
+mounts again; privately, by moonlight, gallops over the ground they are
+to deal with next day, and takes notice of everything. No wonder the
+boundary-pillars, set up in such manner, which stand to this day, bear
+marks that Prussia here and there has had fair play!--Poor Nussler has
+no fixed appointment yet, except one of about 100 pounds a year: in all
+my travels I have seen no man of equal faculty at lower wages. Nor did
+he ever get any signal promotion, or the least exuberance of wages, this
+poor Nussler;--unless it be that he got trained to perfect veracity of
+workmanship, and to be a man without dry-rot in the soul of him; which
+indeed is incalculable wages. Income of 100 pounds a year, and no
+dry-rot in the soul of you anywhere; income of 100,000 pounds a year,
+and nothing but dry and wet rot in the soul of you (ugly appetites
+unveracities, blusterous conceits,--and probably, as symbol of all
+things, a pot-belly to your poor body itself): Oh, my friends!
+
+In settling the Spiritual or internal Catholic-Protestant limits of
+Silesia, Friedrich did also a workmanlike thing. Perfect fairness
+between Protestant and Catholic; to that he is bound, and never needed
+binding. But it is withal his intention to be King in Catholic Silesia;
+and that no Holy Father, or other extraneous individual, shall intrude
+with inconvenient pretensions there. He accordingly nominates the
+now Bishop of Neisse and natural Primate of Silesia,--Cardinal von
+Sinzendorf, who has made submission for any late Austrian peccadilloes,
+and thoroughly reconciled himself,--nominates Sinzendorf "Vicar-General"
+of the Country; who is to relieve the Pope of Silesian trouble, and be
+himself Quasi-Supreme of the Catholic Church there. "No offence, Holy
+Papa of Christian Mankind! Your holy religion is, and shall be, intact
+in these parts; but the palliums, bulls and other holy wares and
+interferences are not needed here. On that footing, be pleased to rest
+content."
+
+The Holy Father shrieked his loudest (which is now a quite calculable
+loudness, nothing like so loud as it once was); declared he would
+"himself join the Army of Martyrs sooner;" and summoned Sinzendorf to
+Rome: "What kind of HINGE are you, CARDINALIS of the Gates of"--Husht!
+Shrieked his loudest, we say; but, as nobody minded it, and as
+Sinzendorf would not come, had to let the matter take its course.
+[Adelung, iii. A. 197-200.] And, gradually noticing what correct
+observance of essentials there was, he even came quite round, into a
+high state of satisfaction with this Heretic King, in the course of
+a few years. Friedrich and the Pope were very polite to each other
+thenceforth; always ready to do little mutual favors. And it is to be
+remarked, Friedrich's management of his Clergy, Protestant and Catholic,
+was always excellent; true, in a considerable degree, to the real law of
+things; gentle, but strict, and without shadow of hypocrisy,--in which
+last fine particular he is singularly unique among Modern Sovereigns.
+
+He recognizes honestly the uses of Religion, though he himself has
+little; takes a good deal of pains with his Preaching Clergy, from
+the Army-Chaplain upwards,--will suggest texts to them, with scheme
+of sermon, on occasion;--is always anxious to have, as Clerical
+Functionary, the right man in the important place; and for the rest,
+expects to be obeyed by them, as by his Sergeants and Corporals. Indeed,
+the reverend men feel themselves to be a body of Spiritual Sergeants,
+Corporals and Captains; to whom obedience is the rule, and discontent a
+thing not to be indulged in by any means. And it is worth noticing, how
+well they seem to thrive in this completely submissive posture; how much
+real Christian worth is traceable in their labors and them; and what a
+fund of piety and religious faith, in rugged effectual form, exists in
+the Armies and Populations of such a King. ["In 1780, at Berlin, the
+population being 140,000, there are of ECCLESIASTIC kind only 140;
+that is 1 to the 1,000;--at Munchen there are thirty times as many
+in proportion" (Mirabeau, _Monarchie Prussienne,_ viii. 342; quoting
+NICOLAI).]...
+
+By degrees the Munchows and Official Persons intrusted with Silesia got
+it wrought in all respects, financial, administrative, judicial, secular
+and spiritual, into the Prussian model: a long tough job; but one that
+proved well worth doing. [In Preuss (i. 197-200), the various steps
+(from 1740 to 1806).] In this state, counts one authority, it was worth
+to Prussia "about six times what it had been to Austria;"--from some
+other forgotten source, I have seen the computation "eight times." In
+money revenue, at the end of Friedrich's reign, it is a little more
+than twice; the "eight times" and the "six times," which are but loose
+multiples, refer, I suppose, to population, trade, increase of
+national wealth, of new regiments yielded by new cantons, and the like.
+[Westphalen, in _Feldzuge des Herzogs Ferdinand_ (printed, Berlin, 1859,
+written 100 years before by that well-informed person), i. 65, says in
+the rough "six times:" Preuss, iv. 292, gives, very indistinctly, the
+ciphers of Revenue, in 1740 and SOME later Year: according to Friedrich
+himself (_Oeuvres_, ii. 102), the Silesian Revenue at first was
+"3,600,000 thalers" (540,000 pounds, little more than Half a Million);
+Population, a Million-and-Half.]
+
+Six or eight times as useful to Prussia: and to the Inhabitants what
+multiple of usefulness shall we give? To be governed on principles fair
+and rational, that is to say, conformable to Nature's appointment in
+that respect; and to be governed on principles which contradict the very
+rules of Cocker, and with impious disbelief of the very Multiplication
+Table: the one is a perpetual Gospel of Cosmos and Heaven to every unit
+of the Population; the other a Gospel of Chaos and Beelzebub to every
+unit of them: there is no multiple to be found in Arithmetic which will
+express that!--Certain of these advantages, in the new Government, are
+seen at once; others, the still more valuable, do not appear, except
+gradually and after many days and years. With the one and the other,
+Schlesien appears to have been tolerably content. From that Year 1742
+to this, Schlesien has expressed by word and symptom nothing but
+thankfulness for the Transfer it underwent; and there is, for the
+last Hundred Years, no part of the Prussian Dominion more loyal to the
+Hohenzollerns (who are the Authors of Prussia, without whom Prussia had
+never been), than this their latest acquisition, when once it too got
+moulded into their own image. [Preuss, i. 193, and ib. 200 (Note from
+Klein, a Silesian Jurist): "Favor not merit formerly;" "Magistracies
+a regular branch of TRADE;"--"highway robbers on a strangely familiar
+footing with the old Breslau magistrates;" &c. &c.]
+
+
+
+
+OPENING OF THE OPERA-HOUSE AT BERLIN.
+
+... December 7th, this Winter, Carnival being come or just coming,
+Friedrich opens his New Opera-House, for behoof of the cultivated Berlin
+classes; a fine Edifice, which had been diligently built by Knobelsdorf,
+while those Silesian battlings went on. "One of the largest and finest
+Opera-houses in the whole world; like a sumptuous Palace rather.
+Stands free on all sides, space for 1,000 Coaches round it; Five great
+Entrances, five persons can walk abreast through each; and inside--you
+should see, you should hear! Boxes more like rooms or boudoirs, free
+view and perfect hearing of the stage from every point: air pure and
+free everywhere; water aloft, not only for theatrical cascades, but
+to drown out any fire or risk of fire." [Seyfarth, i. 234; Nicolai,
+_Beschreibung von Berlin,_ i. 169.] This is Seyfarth's account, still
+capable of confirmation by travelling readers of a musical turn. I
+have seen Operas with much more brilliancy of gas and gilding; but none
+nearly so convenient to the human mind and sense; or where the audience
+(not now a gratis one) attended to the music in so meritorious a way.
+
+"Perhaps it will attract moneyed strangers to frequent our
+Capital?"--some guess, that was Friedrich's thought. "At all events, it
+is a handsome piece of equipage, for a musical King and People; not
+to be neglected in the circumstances. Thalia, in general,--let us not
+neglect Thalia, in such a dearth of worshipable objects." Nor did he
+neglect Thalia. The trouble Friedrich took with his Opera, with his
+Dancing-Apparatus, French Comedy, and the rest of that affair, was very
+great. Much greater, surely, than this Editor would have thought of
+taking; though, on reflection, he does not presume to blame. The world
+is dreadfully scant of worshipable objects: and if your Theatre is your
+own, to sweep away intrusive nonsense continually from the gates of it?
+Friedrich's Opera costs him heavy sums (surely I once knew approximately
+what, but the sibylline leaf is gone again upon the winds!)--and he
+admits gratis a select public, and that only. [Preuss, i. 277; and
+Preuss, _Buch fur Jedermann,_ i. 100.] "This Winter, 1742-43, was
+unusually magnificent at Court: balls, WIRTHSCHAFTEN [kind of MIMIC
+FAIRS], sledge-parties, masquerades, and theatricals of all sorts;--and
+once even, December 2d, the new Golden Table-Service [cost of it 200,000
+pounds] was in action, when the two Queens [Queen Regnant and Queen
+Mother] dined with his Majesty."
+
+
+
+
+FRIEDRICH TAKES THE WATERS AT AACHEN, WHERE VOLTAIRE COMES TO SEE HIM.
+
+Months before that of the Opera-House or those Silesian settlements,
+Friedrich, in the end of August, what is the first thing visible in
+his Domestic History, makes a visit, for health's sake, to Aachen
+(Aix-la-Chapelle so called), with a view to the waters there. Intends to
+try for a little improvement in health, as the basis of ulterior things.
+Health has naturally suffered a little in these War-hardships; and the
+Doctors recommend Aix. After Wesel, and the Westphalian Inspections,
+Friedrich, accordingly, proceeds to Aix; and for about a fortnight (23th
+August-9th September) drinks the waters in that old resting-place of
+Charlemagne;--particulars not given in the Books; except that "he lodged
+with Baege" (if any mortal now knew Baege), and did an Audience or so to
+select persons now unknown. He is not entirely incognito, but is without
+royal state; the "guard of twenty men, the escort of 160 men," being no
+men of his, but presumably mere Town-guard of Aix coming in an honorary
+way. Aix is proud to see him; he himself is intent on the waters here at
+old Aix:--
+
+
+          Aquisgranum, urbs regalis,
+          Sedes Regni principalis:--
+
+
+My friend, this was Charlemagne's high place; and his dust lies here,
+these thousand years last past. And there used to soar "a very large
+Gilt Eagle," ten feet wide or so, aloft on the Cathedral-steeple there;
+Eagle turned southward when the Kaiser was in Frankenland, eastward when
+he was in Teutsch or Teuton-land; in fact, pointing out the Kaiser's
+whereabouts to loyal mankind. [Kohler, _Reichs-Historie._] Eagle
+which shines on me as a human fact; luminously gilt, through the dark
+Dryasdustic Ages, gone all spectral under Dryasdust's sad handling.
+Friedrich knows farther, that for many centuries after, the "Reich's
+INSIGNIA (REICHS-KLEINODIEN)" used to be here,--though Maria Theresa
+has them now, and will not give them up. The whole of which points are
+indifferent to him. The practical, not the sentimental, is Friedrich's
+interest;--not to say that WERTER and the sentimental were not yet born
+into our afflicted Earth. A King thoroughly practical;--yet an exquisite
+player on the flute withal, as we often notice; whose adagio could draw
+tears from you. For in himself, too, there were floods of tears (as
+when his Mother died); and he has been heard saying, not bragging but
+lamenting, what was truly the fact, that "he had more feeling than other
+men." But it was honest human feeling always; and was repressed, where
+not irrepressible;--as it behooved to be.
+
+Friedrich's suite was not considerable, says the French spy at Aix on
+this occasion; pomp of Entrance,--a thing to be mute upon! "Came
+driving in with the common post-horses of the country; and such a set
+of carriages as your Lordship, intent on the sublime, has no idea of."
+[Spy-Letter, in _Campagnes des Trois Marechaux,_ i. 222.] Rumor was, His
+Britannic Majesty was coming (also on pretext of the waters) to confer
+with him; other rumor is, If King George came in at one gate, King
+Friedrich would go out at the other. A dubious Friedrich, to the French
+spy, at this moment; nothing like so admirable as he once was!--
+
+The French emotions (of which we say little), on Friedrich's making
+Peace for himself, had naturally been great. To the French Public it was
+unexpected, somewhat SUDDEN even to the Court; and, sure enough, it was
+of perilous importance in the circumstances. Few days ago, Broglio (by
+order given him) "could not spare a man," for the Common Cause;--and now
+the Common Cause has become entirely the Broglio one, and Broglio will
+have the full use of all his men! "Defection [plainly treasonous to your
+Liege Lord and Nation]! horrible to think of!" cried the French Public;
+the Court outwardly taking a lofty tragic-elegiac tone, with some air
+of hope that his Prussian Majesty would perhaps come round again, to
+the side of his afflicted France! Of which, except in the way of helping
+France and the other afflicted parties to a just Peace if he could, his
+Prussian Majesty had small thought at this time.
+
+More affecting to Friedrich were the natural terrors of the poor Kaiser
+on this event. The Kaiser has already had his Messenger at Berlin,
+in consequence of it; with urgent inquiries, entreaties;--an expert
+Messenger, who knows Berlin well. So other than our old friend, the
+Ordnance-Master Seckendorf, now titular Feldmarschall,--whom one is
+more surprised than delighted to meet again! Being out with Austria
+(clamoring for great sums of "arrears," which they will not pay), he
+has been hanging about this new Kaiser, ever since Election-time; and
+is again getting into employment, Diplomatic, Strategic, for some
+years,--though we hope mostly to ignore him and it. Friedrich's own
+feeling at sight of him,--ask not about it, more than if there had been
+none! Friedrich gave him "a distinguished reception;" Friedrich's answer
+sent by him to the Kaiser was all kindness; emphatic assurance, "That,
+not 'hostility' by any means, that loyalty, friendship, and aid wherever
+possible within the limits, should always be his rule towards the
+now Kaiser, lawful Head of the Reich, in difficult circumstances."
+["Audience, 30th July" (Adelung, iii. A, 217).] Which was some
+consolation to the poor man,--stript of his old revenues, old Bavarian
+Dominions, and unprovided with new; this sublime Headship of the Reich
+bring moneyless; and one's new "Kingdom of Bohemia" hanging in so
+uncertain a state, with nothing but a Pharsalia-Sahay to show for
+itself!--
+
+Among Friedrich's "inconsiderable suite," at Aachen, was Prince Henri
+(his youngest Brother, age now sixteen, a small, sensitive, shivering
+creature, but of uncommon parts); and another young man, Prince
+Ferdinand of Brunswick, his Wife's youngest Brother; a soldier, as all
+the Brothers are; soldier in Friedrich's Army, this one; in whose
+fine inarticulate eupeptic character are excellent dispositions and
+capacities discernible. Ferdinand goes generally with the King; much
+about him in these years. All the Brothers follow soldiering; it is
+the one trade of German Princes. When at home, Friedrich is still
+occasionally with his Queen; who lives at Schonhausen, in the environs
+of Berlin, but goes with him to Charlottenburg, to old Reinsberg; and
+has her share of galas in his company, with the Queen Mother and cognate
+Highnesses.
+
+Another small fact, still more memorable at present, is, That Voltaire
+now made him a Third Visit,--privately on Fleury's instance, as is
+evident this time. Of which Voltaire Visit readers shall know duly, by
+and by, what little is knowable. But, alas, there is first an immense
+arrear of War-matters to bring up; to which, still more than to
+Voltaire, the afflicted reader must address himself, if he would
+understand at all what Friedrich's Environment, or circumambient
+Life-element now was, and how Friedrich, well or ill, comported himself
+in the same. Brevity, this Editor knows, is extremely desirable,
+and that the scissors should be merciless on those sad Paper-Heaps,
+intolerable to the modern mind; but, unless the modern mind chance to
+prefer ease and darkness, what can an Editor do!
+
+
+
+
+Chapter II.--AUSTRIAN AFFAIRS ARE ON THE MOUNTING HAND.
+
+Austrian affairs are not now in their nadir-point; a long while now
+since they passed that. Austria, to all appearance dead, started up, and
+began to strike for herself, with some success, the instant Walpole's
+SOUP-ROYAL (that first 200,000 pounds, followed since by abundance more)
+got to her lips. Touched her poor pale lips; and went tingling through
+her, like life and fiery elasticity, out of death by inanition! Cardinal
+moment, which History knows, but can never date, except vaguely, some
+time in 1741; among the last acts of judicious Walpole.
+
+Austria, thanks to its own Khevenhullers and its English guineas, was
+already rising in various quarters: and now when the Prussian Affair
+is settled, Austria springs up everywhere like an elastic body with the
+pressure taken from it; mounts steadily, month after month, in practical
+success, and in height of humor in a still higher ratio. And in
+the course of the next Two Years rises to a great height indeed.
+Here--snatched, who knows with what difficulty, from that shoreless
+bottomless slough of an Austrian-Succession War, deservedly forgotten,
+and avoided by extant mankind--are some of the more essential phenomena,
+which Friedrich had to witness in those months. To witness, to scan
+with such intense interest,--rightly, at his peril;--and to interpret as
+actual "Omens" for him, as monitions of a most indisputable nature! No
+Haruspex, I suppose, with or without "white beard, and long staff for
+cutting the Heavenly Vault into compartments from the zenith downwards,"
+could, in Etruria or elsewhere, "watch the flight of birds, now into
+this compartment, now into that," with stricter scrutiny than, on the
+new terms, did this young King from his Potsdam Observatory.
+
+
+
+
+WAR-PHENOMENA IN THE WESTERN PARTS: KING GEORGE TRIES, A SECOND TIME, TO
+DRAW HIS SWORD; TUGS AT IT VIOLENTLY, FOR SEVEN MONTHS (February-
+October, 1742).
+
+"The first phenomenon, cheering to Austria, is that of the Britannic
+Majesty again clutching sword, with evident intent to draw it on her
+behalf. [Tindal, xx. 552; Old Newspapers; &c. &c.] Besides his potent
+soup-royal of Half-Millions annually, the Britannic Majesty has a
+considerable sword, say 40,000, of British and of subsidized;--sword
+which costs him a great deal of money to keep by his side; and a great
+deal of clamor and insolent gibing from the Gazetteer species, because
+he is forced to keep it strictly in the scabbard hitherto. This Year,
+we observe, he has determined again to draw it, in the Cause of Human
+Liberty, whatever follow. From early Spring there were symptoms: Camps
+on Lexden and other Heaths, much reviewing in Hyde-Park and elsewhere;
+from all corners a universal marching towards the Kent Coast; the
+aspects being favorable. 'We can besiege Dunkirk at any rate, cannot
+we, your High Mightinesses? Dunkirk, which, by all the Treaties in
+existence, ought to need no besieging; but which, in spite of treatyings
+innumerable, always does?' The High Mightinesses answer nothing
+articulate, languidly grumble something in OPTATIVE tone;--'meaning
+assent,' thinks the sanguine mind. 'Dutch hoistable, after all!' thinks
+he; 'Dutch will co-operate, if they saw example set!' And, in England,
+the work of embarking actually begins.
+
+"Britannic Majesty's purpose, and even fixed resolve to this effect, had
+preceded the Prussian-Austrian Settlement. May 20th, ["9th" by the Old
+Newspapers; but we always TRANSLATE their o.s.] 'Two regiments of
+Foot,' first poor instalment of British Troops, had actually landed
+at Ostend;--news of the Battle of Chotusitz, much more, of the
+Austrian-Prussian Settlement, or Peace of Breslau, would meet them
+THERE. But after that latter auspicious event, things start into quick
+and double-quick time; and the Gazetteers get vocal, almost lyrical:
+About Howard's regiment, Ponsonby's regiment, all manner of regiments,
+off to Flanders, for a stroke of work; how 'Ligonier's Dragoons [a set
+of wild swearing fellows, whom Guildford is happy to be quit of] rode
+through Bromley with their kettle-drums going, and are this day at
+Gravesend to take ship;'"--or to give one other, more specific example:
+
+"Yesterday [3d July, 1742] General Campbell's Regiment of Scotch Greys
+arrived in the Borough of Southwark, on their march to Dover, where they
+are to embark for Flanders. They are fine hardy fellows, that want
+no seasoning; and make an appearance agreeable to all but the
+innkeepers,"--who have such billeting to do, of late. [_Daily Post,_
+June 23d (o.s.), 1742.] "Grey Dragoons," or Royal Scots-Greys, is the
+title of this fine Regiment; and their Colonel is Lieutenant-General
+John Campbell, afterwards Duke of Argyle (fourth Duke), Cousin of the
+great second Duke of Argyle that now is. [Douglas, _Scotch Peerage_
+(Edinburgh, 1764), p. 44.] Visibly billeting there, in Southwark, with
+such intentions:--and, by accident, this Editor knows Twenty of these
+fine fellows! Twenty or so, who had gone in one batch as Greys; sons of
+good Annandale yeomen, otherwise without a career open: some Two of whom
+did get back, and lived to be old men; the rumor of whom, and of their
+unheard-of adventures, was still lingering in the air, when this Editor
+began existence. Pardon, O reader!--
+
+"But, all through those hot days, it is a universal drumming,
+kettle-drumming, coast-ward; preparation of transports at Gravesend, at
+the top of one's velocity. 'All the coopers in London are in requisition
+for water-casks, so that our very brewers have to pause astonished for
+want of tubs.' There is pumping in of water day and night, Sunday not
+excepted, then throwing of it out again [owing to new circumstances]:
+250 saddle-horses, and 100 sumpter ditto, for his Majesty's own
+use,--these need a deal of water, never to speak of Ligonier and the
+Greys. 'For the honor of our Country, his Majesty will make a grander
+appearance this Campaign than any of his Predecessors ever did; and
+as to the magnificence of his equipage,'--besides the 350 quadrupeds,
+'there are above 100 rich portmanteaus getting ready with all
+expedition.' [_Daily Post,_ September 13th (I.E. 26th).] The Fat Boy
+too [Royal Highness Duke of Cumberland, one should say] is to go; a most
+brave-hearted, flaxen-florid, plump young creature; hopeful Son of Mars,
+could he once get experience, which, alas, he never could, though trying
+it for five-and-twenty years to come, under huge expense to this Nation!
+There are to be 16,000 troops, perhaps more; '1,000 sandbags' (empty as
+yet); demolition of Dunkirk the thing aimed at." If only the Dutch prove
+hoistable!--
+
+"And so, from May on to September, it noisily proceeds, at multiplex
+rates? and often with more haste than speed: and in such five months
+(seven, strictly counted) of clangorous movement and dead-lift
+exertion, there were veritably got across, of Horse and Foot with their
+equipments, the surprising number of '16,334 men.' [Adelung, iii. A,
+201.] May 20th it began,--that is, the embarking began; the noise and
+babble about it, which have been incessant ever since, had begun in
+February before;--and on September 26th, Ostend, now almost weary of
+huzzaing over British glory by instalment, had the joy of seeing our
+final portions of Artillery arrive: Such a Park of Siege-and-Field
+Artillery," exults the Gazetteer, "as"--as these poor creatures never
+dreamt of before.
+
+"Magnanimous Lord Stair, already Plenipotentiary to the Dutch, is to be
+King's General-in-Chief of this fine Enterprise; Carteret, another Lord
+of some real brilliancy, and perhaps of still weightier metal, is head
+of the Cabinet; hearty, both of them, for these Anti-French intentions:
+and the Public cannot but think, Surely something will come of it this
+time? More especially now that Maillebois, about the middle of August,
+by a strange turn of fortune, is swept out of the way. Maillebois, lying
+over in Westphalia with his 30 or 40,000, on 'Check to your King' this
+year past, had, on sight of these Anti-Dunkirk movements, been ordered
+to look Dunkirk way, and at length to move thitherward, for protection
+of Dunkirk. So that Stair, before his Dunkirk business, will have to
+fight Maillebois; which Stair doubts not may be satisfactorily done.
+But behold, in August and earlier, come marvellous news from the Prag
+quarter, tragical to France; and Maillebois is off, at his best speed,
+in the reverse direction; on a far other errand!"--Of which readers
+shall soon hear enough.
+
+"Dunkirk, therefore, is now open. With 16,000 British troops,
+Hanoverians to the like number, and Hessians 6,000, together near
+40,000, not to speak of Dutch at all, surely one might manage Dunkirk,
+if not something still better? It is AFTER Maillebois's departure that
+these dreadful exertions, coopering of water-casks, pumping all
+Sunday, go on at Gravesend: 'Swift, oh, be swift, while time is!' And
+Generalissimo-Plenipotentiary Stair, who has run over beforehand,
+is ardent enough upon the Dutch; his eloquence fiery and incessant:
+'Magnanimous High Mightinesses, was there, will there again be, such a
+chance? The Cause of Human Liberty may be secured forever! Dunkirk--or
+what is Dunkirk even? Between us and Paris, there is nothing, now that
+Maillebois is off on such an errand! Why should not we play Marlborongh
+again, and teach them a little what Invasion means? It is ourselves
+alone that can hinder it! Now, I say, or never!'
+
+"Stair was a pupil of Marlborough's; is otherwise a shining kind of man;
+and has immense things in his eye, at this time. They say, what is not
+unlikely, he proposed an Interview with Friedrich now at Aachen; would
+come privately, to 'take the waters' for a day or two,--while Maillebois
+was on his new errand, and such a crisis had risen. But Friedrich,
+anxious to be neutral and give no offence, politely waived such honor.
+Lord Stair was thought to be something of a General, in fact as well as
+in costume;--and perhaps he was so. And had there been a proper COUNTESS
+of Stair, or new Sarah Jennings,--to cover gently, by art-magic, the
+Britannic Majesty and Fat Boy under a tub; and to put Britain,
+and British Parliament and resources, into Stair's hand for a few
+years,--who knows what Stair too might have done! A Marlborough in the
+War Arts,--perhaps still less in the Peace ones, if we knew the great
+Marlborough,--he could not have been. But there is in him a recognizable
+flash of magnanimity, of heroic enterprise and purpose; which is highly
+peculiar in that sordid element. And it can be said of him, as of
+lightning striking ineffectual on the Bog of Allen or the Stygian Fens,
+that his strength was never tried."--For the upshot of him we will wait;
+not very long.
+
+These are fine prospects, if only the Dutch prove hoistable. But these
+are as nothing to what is passing, and has passed, in the Eastern Parts,
+in the Bohemian-Bavarian quarter, since we were there. Poor Kaiser Karl,
+what an outlook for him! His own real Bavaria, much more his imaginary
+"Upper Austria" and "Conquests on the Donau," after that Segur
+Adventure, are plunging headlong. As to his once "Kingdom of Bohemia,"
+it has already plunged; nay, the Army of the Oriflamme is itself near
+plunging, in spite of that Pharsalia of a Sahay! Bavaria itself, we say,
+is mostly gone to Khevenhuller; Segur with his French on march homeward,
+and nothing but Bavarians left. The Belleisle-Broglio grand Budweis
+Expedition is gone totally heels over head; Belleisle and Broglio
+are getting, step by step, shut up in Prag and besieged there: while
+Maillebois--Let us try whether, by snatching out here a fragment and
+there a fragment, with chronological and other appliances, it be not
+possible to give readers some conceivable notion of what Friedrich was
+now looking at with such interest!--
+
+
+
+
+HOW DUC D'HARCOURT, ADVANCING TO REINFORCE THE ORIFLAMME, HAD TO SPLIT
+HIMSELF IN TWO; AND BECOME AN "ARMY OF BAVARIA," TO LITTLE EFFECT.
+
+The poor Kaiser, who at one time counted "30,000 Bavarians of his own,"
+has all along been ill served by them and the bad Generals they had: two
+Generals; both of whom, Minuzzi, and old Feldmarschall Thorring (Prime
+Minister withal), came to a bad reputation in this War. Beaten nearly
+always; Thorring quite always,--"like a DRUM, that Thorring; never
+heard of except when beaten," said the wits! Of such let us not speak.
+Understand only, FIRST, that the French, reasonably soon after that Linz
+explosion, did, in such crisis, get reinforcements on the road; a Duc
+d'Harcourt with some 25,000 faring forward, in an intermittent manner,
+ever since "March 4th." And SECONDLY, that Khevenhuller has fast hold of
+Passau, the Austrian-Bavarian Key-City; is master of nearly all Bavaria
+(of Munchen, and all that lies south of the Donau); and is now across
+on the north shore, wrenching and tugging upon Kelheim and the
+Ingolstadt-Donauworth regions, with nothing but Thorring people and
+small French Garrisons to hinder him;--where it will be fatal if he
+quite prosper; Ingolstadt being our Place-of-Arms, and House on the
+Highway, both for Bavaria and Bohemia!
+
+"For months past, there had been a gleam of hope for Kaiser Karl, and
+his new 'Kingdom of Bohemia,' and old Electorate of Bavaria, from the
+rumor of 'D'Harcourt's reinforcement,'--a 20 or 30,000 new Frenchmen
+marching into those parts, in a very detached intermittent manner;
+great in the Gazettes. But it proved a gleam only, and came to nothing
+effectual. Poor D'Harcourt, owing to cross orders [Groglio clamorously
+demanding that the new force should come to Prag; Karl Albert the
+Kaiser, nominally General-in-Chief, demanding that it should go down the
+Donau and sweep his Bavaria clear], was in difficulty. To do either of
+these cross orders might have brought some result; but to half-do both
+of them, as he was enjoined to attempt, was not wise! Some half of
+his force he did detach towards Broglio; which got to actual junction,
+partly before, partly after, that Pharsalia-Sahay Affair, and raised
+Broglio to a strength of 24,000,--still inadequate against Prince Karl.
+Which done, D'Harcourt himself went down the Donau, on his original
+scheme, with the remainder of his forces,--now likewise become
+inadequate. He is to join with Feldmarschall Thorring in the"--And does
+it, as we shall see presently!...
+
+MUNCHEN, 5th MAY. "Rumor of D'Harcourt had somewhat cleared Bavaria
+of Austrians; but the reality of him, in a divided state, by no means
+corresponds. Thus Munchen City, in the last days of April,--D'Harcourt
+advancing, terrible as a rumor,--rejoiced exceedingly to see the
+Austrians march out, at their best pace. And the exultant populace even
+massacred a loitering Tolpatch or two; who well deserve it, think the
+populace, judging by their experience for the last three months, since
+Barenklau and Mentzel became King here.--'Rumor of D'Harcourt?' answers
+Khevenhuller from the Kelheim-Passau side of things: 'Let us wait for
+sight of him, at least!' And orders Munchen to be reoccupied. So that,
+alas, 'within a week,' on the 5th of May, Barenklau is back upon the
+poor City; exacts severe vengeance for the Tolpatch business; and will
+give them seven months more of his company, in spite of D'Harcourt, and
+'the Army of Bavaria' as he now called himself:"--new "Army of Bavaria,"
+when once arrived in those Countries, and joined with poor Thorring and
+the Kaiser's people there. Such an "Army of Bavaria," first and last,
+as--as Khevenhuller could have wished it! Under D'Harcourt, joined with
+old Feldmarschall Thorring (him whom men liken to a DRUM, "never heard
+of except when beaten"), this is literally the sum of what fighting it
+did:
+
+"HILGARTSBERG (Deggendorf Donau-Country), MAY 28th. D'Harcourt and
+Thorring, after junction at Donauworth several weeks ago, and a good
+deal of futile marching up and down in those Donau Countries,--on the
+left bank, for most part; Khevenhuller holding stiffly, as usual, by the
+Inn, the Iser, and the rivers and countries on the right,--did at last,
+being now almost within sight of Passau and that important valley of the
+Inn across yonder, seriously decide to have a stroke at Passau, and
+to dislodge Khevenhuller, who is weak in force, though obstinate. They
+perceive that there is, on this left bank, a post in the woods, Castle
+of Hilgartsberg, none of the strongest Castles, rather a big Country
+Mansion than a Castle, which it will be necessary first to take. They go
+accordingly to take it (May 28th, having well laid their heads together
+the day before); march through intricate wet forest country, peat above
+all abundant; see the Castle of Hilgartsberg towering aloft, picturesque
+object in the Donau Valley, left bank;--are met by cannon-shot,
+case-shot, shot of every kind; likewise by Croats apparently
+innumerable, by cavalry sabrings and levelled bayonets; do not behave
+too well, being excessively astonished; and are glad to get off again,
+leaving one of their guns lodged in the mud, and about a hundred
+unfortunate men. [_Guerre de Boheme,_ ii. 146-148, 136, &c.] This
+quite disgusted D'Harcourt with the Passau speculation and these grim
+Khevenhuller outposts. He straightway took to collecting Magazines;
+lodging himself in the attainable Towns thereabouts, Deggendorf the
+chief strength for him; and gave up fighting till perhaps better
+times might arrive." We will wish him good success in the victualling
+department, hope to hear no more of him in this History;--and shall
+say only that Comte de Saxe, before long, relieves him of this Bavarian
+Army;--and will be seen at the head of it, on a most important business
+that rises.
+
+Kaiser Karl begins to have real thoughts of recalling this Thorring, who
+is grown so very AUDIBLE, altogether home; and of appointing Seckendorf
+instead. A course which Belleisle has been strongly recommending for
+some time. Seckendorf is at present "gathering meal in the Ober-Pfalz"
+(Upper Palatinate, road from Ingolstadt to Eger, to Bohmen generally),
+that is, forming Magazines, on the Kaiser's behalf there: "Surely a
+likelier man than your Thorring!" urges Belleisle always. With whom the
+Kaiser does finally comply; nominates Seckendorf commander,--recalls the
+invaluable Thorring! "to his services in our Cabinet Council, which more
+befit his great age." In which safe post poor Thorring, like a Drum NOT
+beaten upon, has thenceforth a silent life of it; Seckendorf fighting in
+his stead,--as we shall have to witness, more or less.
+
+Khevenhuller's is a changed posture, since he stood in Vienna, eight or
+nine months ago; grimly resolute, drilling his "6,000 of garrison," with
+the wheelbarrows all busy!--But her Hungarian Majesty's chief success,
+which is now opening into outlooks of a quite triumphant nature,
+has been that over the New Oriflamme itself, the Belleisle-Broglio
+Army,--most sweet to her Majesty to triumph over! Shortly after
+Chotusitz, shortly after that Pharsalia of a Sahay, readers remember
+Belleisle's fine Project, "Conjoined attack on Budweis, and sweeping of
+Bohemia clear;"--readers saw Belleisle, in the Schloss of Maleschau,
+5th June last, rushing out (with violence to his own wig, says
+rumor); hurrying off to Dresden for co-operation; equally in vain.
+"Co-operation, M. le Marechal; attack on Budweis?"--Here is another
+Fragment:--
+
+
+
+
+HOW BELLEISLE, RETURNING FROM DRESDEN WITHOUT CO-OPERATION FOUND THE
+ATTACK HAD BEEN DONE,--IN A FATALLY REVERSE WAY. PRAG EXPECTING SIEGE.
+COLLOQUY WITH BROGLIO ON THAT INTERESTING POINT. PRAG BESIEGED.
+
+BUDWEIS, JUNE 4th,-PRAG, JUNE 13th. "Broglio, ever since that Sahay
+[which had been fought so gloriously on Frauenberg's account], lay in
+the Castle of Frauenberg, in and around,--hither side of the Moldau
+river, with his Pisek thirty miles to rear, and judicious outposts
+all about. There lay Broglio, meditating the attack on Budweis [were
+co-operation once here],--when, contrariwise, altogether on the sudden,
+Budweis made attack on Broglio; tumbled him quite topsy-turvy, and sent
+him home to Prag, uncertain which end uppermost; rolling like a heap of
+mown stubble in the wind, rather than marching like an army!"... Take
+one glance at him:--
+
+"JUNE 4th, 1742 [day BEFORE that of Belleisle's "Wig" at Maleschau, had
+Belleisle known it!]--Prince Karl, being now free of the Prussians, and
+ready for new work, issued suddenly from Budweis; suddenly stept across
+the Moldau,--by the Bridge of Moldau-Tein, sweeping away the French that
+lay there. Prince Karl swept away this first French Post, by the mere
+sight and sound of him; swept away, in like fashion, the second and all
+following posts; swept Broglio himself, almost without shot fired, and
+in huge flurry, home to Prag, double-quick, night and day,--with much
+loss of baggage, artillery, prisoners, and total loss of one's presence
+of mind. 'Poor man, he was born for surprises' [said Friedrich's
+Doggerel long ago]! Manoeuvred consummately [he asserts] at different
+points, behind rivers and the like; but nowhere could he call halt, and
+resolutely stand still. Which undoubtedly he could and should have done,
+say Valori and all judges;--nothing quite immediate being upon him,
+except the waste-howling tagraggery of Croats, whom it had been good to
+quench a little, before going farther. On the third night, June 7th, he
+arrived at Pisek; marched again before daybreak, leaving a garrison of
+1,200,--who surrendered to Prince Karl next day, without shot fired.
+Broglio tumbling on ahead, double-quick, with the tagraggery of Croats
+continually worrying at his heels, baggage-wagons sticking fast, country
+people massacring all stragglers, panted home to Prag on the 13th;
+with 'the Gross of the Army saved, don't you observe!' And thinks it an
+excellent retreat, he if no one-else. [_Guerre de Boheme,_ ii. 122, &c.;
+_ Campagnes,_ v. 167 (his own Despatch).]
+
+"At Pisek, Prince Karl has ceased chasing with his regulars, the pace
+being so uncommonly swift. From Pisek, Prince Karl struck off towards
+Pilsen, there to intercept a residue of Harcourt reinforcements who were
+coming that way: from Broglio, who knew of it, but in such flurry
+could not mind it, he had no hindrance; and it was by good luck, not
+management of Broglio's, that these poor reinforcements did in part
+get through to him, and in part seek refuge in Eger again. Broglio has
+encamped under the walls of Prag; in a ruinous though still blusterous
+condition; his positions all gone; except Prag and Eger, nothing in
+Bohemia now his."
+
+PRAG, 17th JUNE-17th AUGUST. "It is in this condition that Belleisle,
+returning from the Kuttenberg-Dresden mission (June 15th), finds his
+Broglio. Most disastrous, Belleisle thinks it; and nothing but a
+Siege in Prag lying ahead; though Broglio is of different opinion, or,
+blustering about his late miraculous retreat, and other high merits too
+little recognized, forms no opinion at all on such extraneous points....
+From Versailles, they had answered Belleisle: 'Nothing to be made of
+Dresden either, say you? Then go you and take the command at Prag; send
+Broglio to command the Bavarian Army. See, you, what can be done by
+fighting.' On this errand Belleisle is come, the heavy-laden man, and
+Valori with him,--if, in this black crisis, Valori could do anything.
+Valori at least reports the colloquy the Two Marshals had [one bit of
+colloquy, for they had more than one, though as few as possible; Broglio
+being altogether blusterous, sulphurous, difficult to speak with on
+polite terms]. [Valori, i. 162-166; _Campagnes, _ v. 170, 124, &c. &c.]
+'Army of Bavaria?' answers Broglio; 'I will have those Ten Battalions of
+the D'Harcourt reinforcement, then. I tell you, Yes! Prag? Prag may
+go to the--What have I to do with Prag? The oldest Marechal of France,
+superseded, after such merits, and on the very heel of such a retreat!
+Nay, but where is YOUR commission to command in Prag, M. le Marechal?'
+Belleisle, in the haste there was, has no Commission rightly drawn
+out by the War-office; only an Order from Court. '_I_ have a regular
+commission, Monseigneur: I want a Sign-manual before laying it down!'
+The unreasonable Broglio.
+
+"Belleisle, tormented with rheumatic nerves, and of violent temper at
+any rate, compresses the immense waste rage that is in him. His answers
+to Broglio are calm and low-voiced; admirable to Valori. One thing he
+wished to ascertain definitely: What M. de Broglio's intentions were;
+and whether he would, or would not, go to Bavaria and take charge there?
+If so, he shall have all the Cavalry for escort; Cavalry, unless it be
+dragoons, will only eat victual in case of siege.--No, Broglio will not
+go with Cavalry; must have those Ten Battalions, must have Sign-manual;
+won't, in short!"--Will stay, then, thinks Belleisle; and one must try
+to drive him, as men do pigs, covertly and by the rule of contraries,
+while Prag falls under Siege.
+
+What an outlook for his Most Christian Majesty's service,--fatal
+altogether, had not Belleisle been a high man, and willing to undertake
+pig-driving!... "Discouragement in the Army is total, were it not
+for Belleisle; anger against Broglio very great. The Officers declare
+openly, 'We will quit, if Broglio continue General! Our commissions were
+made out in the name of Marechal de Belleisle [in the spring of last
+Year, when he had such levees, more crowded than the King's!]--we
+are not bound to serve another General!'--'You recognize ME for your
+General?' asks Belleisle. 'Yes!'--'Then, I bid you obey M. de Broglio,
+so long as he is here.' [Valori, i. 166.]...
+
+"JUNE 27th. The Grand-Duke, Maria Theresa's Husband, come from Vienna
+to take command-in-chief, joins the Austrian main Army and his Brother
+Karl, this day: at Konigsaal, one march to the south of Prag. Friedrich
+being now off their hands, why should not they besiege Prag,
+capture Prag! Under Khevenhuller, with Barenklau, and the Mentzels,
+Trencks,--poor D'Harcourt merely storing victual,--Bavaria lies safe
+enough. And the Oriflamme caged in Prag:--Have at the Oriflamme!
+
+"Prag is begirdled, straitened more and more, from this day. Formal
+Siege to begin, so soon [as the artillery can come up' which is not for
+seven weeks yet]. And so, in fine, 'AUGUST 17th, all at once,' furious
+bombardment bursts out, from 36 mortars and above 100 big guns, disposed
+in batteries around. [_Guerre de Boheme,_ ii. 149, 170.] To which
+the French, Belleisle's high soul animating everything, as furiously
+responded; making continual sallies of a hot desperate nature;
+especially, on the fifth day of the siege, one sally [to be mentioned by
+and by] which was very famous at Prag and at Paris."...
+
+
+
+
+CONCERNING THE ITALIAN WAR WHICH SIMULTANEOUSLY WENT ON, ALL ALONG.
+
+War in Italy--the Spanish Termagant very high in her Anti-Pragmatic
+notions--there had been, for eight months past; and it went on, fiercely
+enough, doggedly enough, on both sides for Six Years more, till 1748,
+when the general Finis came. War of which we propose to say almost
+nothing; but must request the reader to imagine it, all along, as
+influential on our specific affairs.
+
+The Spanish Termagant wished ardently to have the Milanese and
+pertinents, as an Apanage for her second Infant, Don Philip; a young
+gentleman who now needs to be provided for, as Don Carlos had once done.
+"Cannot get to be Pope this one, it appears," said the fond Mother
+(who at one time looked that way for her Infant,): "Well, here is the
+Milanese fallen loose!" Readers know her for a lady of many claims,
+of illimitable aspirations; and she went very high on the Pragmatic
+Question. "Headship of the Golden Fleece, Madam; YOU head of it? I
+say all Austria, German and Italian, is mine!"--though she has now
+magnanimously given up the German part to Kaiser Karl VII.; and will be
+content with the Italian, as an Apanage for Don Philip. And so there is
+War in Italy, and will be. To be imagined by us henceforth.
+
+A War in which these Three Elements are noticeable as the chief. FIRST,
+the Sardinian Majesty, [Charles Emanuel, Victor Amadeus's Son (Hubner,
+t. 293): born 27th April, 1701; lived and reigned till 19th February,
+1773 (OErtel, t. 77).] who is very anxious himself for Milanese parings
+and additaments; but, except by skilfully playing off-and-on between the
+French side and the Austrian, has no chance of getting any. For Spain
+he is able to fight; and also (on good British Subsidies) against Spain.
+Element SECOND is the British Navy, cruising always between Spain
+and the Seat of War; rendering supplies by sea impossible,--almost
+impossible. THIRD, the Passes of Savoy; wild Alpine chasms,
+stone-labyrinths; inexpugnable, with a Sardinian Majesty defending;
+which are the one remaining road, for Armies and Supplies, out of Spain
+or France.
+
+The Savoy Passes are, in fact, the gist of the War; the insoluble
+problem for Don Philip and the French. By detours, by circuitous effort
+and happy accident, your troops may occasionally squeeze through: but
+without one secure road open behind them for supplies and recruitments,
+what good is it? Battles there are, behind the Alps, on what we may
+call the STAGE itself of this Italian War-theatre; but the grand steady
+battle is that of France and Don Philip, struggling spasmodically, year
+after year, to get a road through the COULISSES or side-scenes,--namely,
+those Savoy Passes. They try it by this Pass and by that; Pass of
+Demont, Pass of Villa-Franca or Montalban (glorious for France, but
+futile), Pass of Exilles or Col d'Assiette (again glorious, again futile
+and fatal); sometimes by the way of Nice itself, and rocky mule-tracks
+overhanging the sea-edge (British Naval-cannon playing on them);--and
+can by no way do it.
+
+There were fine fightings, in the interior too, under Generals of mark;
+General Browne doing feats, excellent old General Feldmarschall Traun,
+of whom we shall hear; Maillebois, Belleisle the Younger, of whom we
+have heard. There was Battle of Campo-Santo, new battle there
+(Traun's); there was Battle of Rottofreddo; of Piacenza (doleful to
+Maillebois),--followed by Invasion of Provence, by Revolt of Genoa and
+other things: which all readers have now forgotten. [Two elaborate works
+on the subject are said to be instructive to military readers: Buonamici
+(who was in it, for a while). _De Bello Italico Commentarii_ (in Works
+of Buonamici, Lyon, 1750); and Pezay, _Campagnes de Maillebois_ (our
+Westphalian friend again) _en Italie,_ 1745-1746 (Paris, 1775).] Readers
+are to imagine this Italian War, all along, as a fact very loud and real
+at that time, and continually pulsing over into our German Events (like
+half-audible thunder below the horizon, into raging thunder above),
+little as we can afford to say of it here. One small Scene from this
+Italian War;--one, or with difficulty two;--and if possible be silent
+about all the rest:
+
+
+
+
+SCENE, ROADS OF CADIZ, October, 1741: BY WHAT ASTONISHING ARTIFICE THIS
+ITALIAN WAR DID, AT LENGTH, GET BEGUN.
+
+... "The Spanish Court, that is, Termagant Elizabeth, who rules
+everybody there, being in this humor, was passionate to begin; and
+stood ready a good while, indignantly champing the bit, before the sad
+preliminary obstacles could be got over. At Barcelona she had, in the
+course of last summer, doubly busy ever since Mollwitz time, got
+into equipment some 15,000 men; but could not by any method get them
+across,--owing to the British Fleets, which hung blockading this place
+and that; blockading Cadiz especially, where lay her Transport-ships
+and War-ships, at this interesting juncture. Fleury's cunctations were
+disgusting to the ardent mind; and here now, still more insuperable, are
+the British Fleets; here--and a pest to him!--is your Admiral Haddock,
+blockading Cadiz, with his Seventy-fours!
+
+"But again, on the other or Pragmatic side, there were cunctations. The
+Sardinian Majesty, Charles Emanuel of Savoy, holding the door of
+the Alps, was difficult to bargain with, in spite of British
+Subsidies;--stood out for higher door-fees, a larger slice of the
+Milanese than could be granted him; had always one ear open for France,
+too; in short, was tedious and capricious, and there seemed no bringing
+him to the point of drawing sword for her Hungarian Majesty. In the end,
+he was brought to it, by a stroke of British Art,--such to the admiring
+Gazetteer and Diplomatic mind it seemed;--equal to anything we have
+since heard of, on the part of perfidious Albion.
+
+"One day, 'middle of October last,' the Seventy-fours of Haddock and
+perfidious Albion,--Spanish official persons, looking out from Cadiz
+Light-house, ask themselves, 'Where are they? Vanished from these
+waters; not a Seventy-four of them to be seen!'--Have got foul in the
+underworks, or otherwise some blunder has happened; and the blockading
+Fleet of perfidious Albion has had to quit its post, and run to
+Gibraltar to refit. That, I guess, was the Machiavellian stroke of Art
+they had done; without investigating Haddock and Company [as indignant
+Honorable Members did], I will wager, That and nothing more!
+
+"In any case, the Termagant, finding no Seventy-fours there, and the
+wind good, despatches swiftly her Transports and War-ships to Barcelona;
+swiftly embarks there her 15,000, France cautiously assisting; and lands
+them complete, 'by the middle of December,' Haddock feebly opposing, on
+the Genoa coast: 'Have at the Milanese, my men!' Which obliges Charles
+Emanuel to end his cunctations, and rank at once in defence of that
+Country, [Adelung, ii. 535, 538 (who believes in the "stroke of art"):
+what kind of "art" it was, learn sufficiently in _Gentleman's Magazine,_
+&c. of those months.] lest he get no share of it whatever. And so the
+game began. Europe admired, with a shudder, the refined stroke of art;
+for in cunning they equal Beelzebub, those perfidious Islanders;--and
+are always at it; hence their greatness in the world. Imitate them, ye
+Peoples, if you also would grow great. That is our Gazetteer Evangel, in
+this late epoch of Man's History."...
+
+
+
+
+OTHER SCENE, BAY OF NAPLES, 19th-20th August, 1742: KING OF TWO SICILIES
+(BABY CARLOS THAT WAS), HAVING BEEN ASSISTING MAMMA, IS OBLIGED TO
+BECOME NEUTRAL IN THE ITALIAN WAR.
+
+Readers will transport themselves to the Bay of Naples, and beautiful
+Vesuvian scenery seen from sea. The English-Spanish War, it would
+appear, is not quite dead, nor carried on by Jenkins and the Wapping
+people alone. Here in this Bay it blazes out into something of
+memorability; and gives lively sign of its existence, among the other
+troubles of the world.
+
+"SUNDAY, AUGUST 19th, Commodore Martin, who had arrived overnight,
+appears in the Bay, with due modicum of seventy-fours, 'dursley
+galleys,' bomb-vessels, on an errand from his Admiral [one Matthews]
+and the Britannic Majesty, much to the astonishment of Naples. Commodore
+Martin hovers about, all morning, and at 4 P.M. drops anchor,--within
+shot of the place, fearfully near;--and therefrom sends ashore a
+Message: 'That his Sicilian Majesty [Baby Carlos, our notable old
+friend, who is said to be a sovereign of merit otherwise], has not been
+neutral, in this Italian War, as his engagements bore; but has joined
+his force to that of the Spaniards, declared enemies of his Britannic
+Majesty; which rash step his Britannic Majesty hereby requires him to
+retract, if painful consequences are not at once to ensue!' That is
+Martin's message; to which he stands doggedly, without variation, in the
+extreme flutter and multifarious reasoning of the poor Court of Naples:
+'Recall your 20,000 men, and keep them recalled,' persists Martin; and
+furthermore at last, as the reasoning threatens to get lengthy:
+'Your answer is required within one hour,'--and lays his watch on the
+Cabin-table.
+
+"The Court, thrown into transcendent tremor, with no resource but either
+to be burnt or comply, answers within the hour: 'Yes: in all points.'
+Some eight hours or so of reasoning: deep in the night of Sunday, it is
+all over; everything preparing to get signed and sealed; ships making
+ready to sail again;--and on Tuesday at sunrise, there is no Martin
+there. Martin, to the last top-gallant, has vanished clean over the
+horizon; never to be seen again, though long remembered. [Tindal's
+_Rapin,_ xx. 572 (MISdates, and is altogether indistinct); _Gentleman's
+Magazine,_ xii. 494:--CAME, "Sunday morning, 19th August, n.s.;"
+"anchored about 4 p.m.;" "2 a.m. of 20th" all agreed; King Carlos's
+LETTER is GOT, ships prepared for sailing;--sail that night, and
+to-morrow, 21st, are out of sight.] One wonders, Were Pipes and Hatchway
+perhaps there, in Martin's squadron? In what station Commodore Trunnion
+did then serve in the British Navy? Vanished ghosts of grim mute
+sea-kings, there is no record of them but what is itself a kind of
+ghost! Ghost, or symbolical phantasm, from the brain of that Tobias
+Smollett; an assistant Surgeon, who served in the body along with them,
+his singular value altogether unknown."--King Carlos's Neutrality,
+obtained in this manner, lasted for a year-and-half; a sensible
+alleviation to her Hungarian Majesty for the time. We here quit the
+Italian War; leaving it to the reader's fancy, on the above terms.
+.......
+
+
+
+
+THE SIEGE OF PRAG CONTIMES. A GRAND SALLY THERE.
+
+"PRAG, 22d AUGUST. In the same hours, while Martin lay coercing
+Naples, the Army of the Oriflamme in Prag City was engaged in 'furious
+sallies;'"--readers may divine what that means for Prag and the
+Oriflamme!
+
+"Prag is begirdled, bombarded from all the Wischerads, Ziscabergs and
+Hill environments; every avenue blocked, 'above 60,000 Austrians round
+it, near 40,000 of them regulars:' a place difficult to defend; but with
+excellent arrangements for defence on Belleisle's part, and the garrison
+with its blood up. Garrison makes continual furious sallies,--which are
+eminently successful, say the French Newspapers; but which end, as
+all sallies do, in returning home again, without conquest, except of
+honor;--and on this Wednesday, 22d August, comes out with the greatest
+sally of all. [_Campagnes,_ vi. 5; _Guerre de Boheme,_ ii. 173.] While
+Commodore Martin, many a Pipes and Hatchway standing grimly on the watch
+unknown to us, is steering towards Matthews and the Toulon waters again.
+The equal sun looking down on all.
+
+"It was about twelve o'clock, when this Prag sally, now all in order,
+broke out, several thousand strong, and all at the white heat, now a
+constant temperature. Sally almost equal to that Pharsalia of a Sahay,
+it would seem;--concerning which we can spend no word in this brief
+summary. Fierce fighting, fiery irresistible onslaught; but it went too
+far, lost all its captured cannon again; and returned only with laurels
+and a heavy account of killed and wounded,--the leader of it being
+himself carried home in a very bleeding state. 'Oh, the incomparable
+troops!' cried Paris;--cried Voltaire withal (as I gather), and in very
+high company, in that Visit at Aachen. A sally glorious, but useless.
+
+"The Imperial Generals were just sitting down to dinner, when it broke
+out; had intended a Council of War, over their wine, in the Grand-Duke's
+tent: 'What, won't they let us have our dinner!' cried Prince Karl, in
+petulant humor, struggling to be mirthful. He rather likes his dinner,
+this Prince Karl, I am told, and does not object to his wine: otherwise
+a hearty, talky, free-and-easy Prince,--'black shallow-set eyes, face
+red, and much marked with small-pox.' Clapping on his hat, faculties
+sharpened by hunger and impatience, let him do his best, for several
+hours to come, till the sally abate and go its ways again. Leaving
+its cannon, and trophies. No sally could hope to rout 60,000 men; this
+furious sally, almost equal to Sahay, had to return home again, on the
+above terms. Upon which Prince Karl and the others got some snatch of
+dinner; and the inexorable pressure of Siege, tightening itself closer
+and closer, went on as before.
+
+"The eyes of all Europe are turned towards Prag; a big crisis clearly
+preparing itself there.... France, or aid in France, is some 500 miles
+away. In D'Harcourt, merely gathering magazines, with his Khevenhuller
+near, is no help; help, not the question there! The garrison of Eger,
+100 miles to west of us, across the Mountains, barely mans its own
+works. Other strong post, or support of any kind in these countries,
+we have now none. We are 24,000; and of available resource have the
+Magazines in Prag, and our own right hands.
+
+"The flower of the young Nobility had marched in that Oriflamme;--now
+standing at bay, they and it, in Prag yonder: French honor itself seems
+shut up there! The thought of it agitates bitterly the days and nights
+of old Fleury, who is towards ninety now, and always disliked war. The
+French public too,--we can fancy what a public! The young Nobility
+in Prag has its spokes-men, and spokes-women, at Versailles, whose
+complaint waxes louder, shriller; the whole world, excited by rumor of
+those furious sallies, is getting shrill and loud. What can old
+Fleury do but order Maillebois: 'Leave Dunkirk to its own luck; march
+immediately for relief of Prag!' And Maillebois is already on march; his
+various divisions (August 9th-20th) crossing the Rhine, in Dusseldorf
+Country;"--of whom we shall hear.
+
+... "Some time before the actual Bombardment, Fleury, seeing it
+inevitable, had ordered Belleisle to treat. Belleisle accordingly had
+an interview, almost two interviews, with Konigseck. [_Guerre de Boheme_,
+ii. 156 ("2d July" the actual interview); ib. 161 (the corollary to it,
+confirmatory of it, which passed by letters).] 'Liberty to march home,
+and equitable Peace-Negotiations in the rear?' proposed Belleisle.
+'Absolute surrender; Prisoners of War!' answered Konigseck; 'such is her
+Hungarian Majesty's positive order and ultimatum.' The high Belleisle
+responded nothing unpolite; merely some, 'ALORS, MONSIEUR--!' And rode
+back to Prag, with a spirit all in white heat;--gradually heating all
+the 24,000 white, and keeping them so.
+
+"In fact, Belleisle, a high-flown lion reduced to silence and now
+standing at bay, much distinguishes himself in this Siege; which, for
+his sake, is still worth a moment's memory from mankind. He gathers
+himself into iron stoicism, into concentration of endeavor; suffers all
+things, Broglio's domineering in the first place; as if his own thin
+skin were that of a rhinoceros; and is prepared to dare all things. Like
+an excellent soldier, like an excellent citizen. He contrives, arranges;
+leads, covertly drives the domineering Broglio, by rule of contraries or
+otherwise, according to the nature of the beast; animates all men by
+his laconic words; by his silences, which are still more emphatic....
+Sechelles, provident of the future, has laid in immense supplies of
+indifferent biscuit; beef was not attainable: Belleisle dismounts his
+4,000 cavalry, all but 400 dragoons; slaughters 160 horses per day, and
+boils the same by way of butcher's-meat, to keep the soldier in heart.
+It is his own fare, and Broglio's, to serve as example. At Broglio's
+quarter, there is a kind of ordinary of horse-flesh: Officers come in,
+silent speed looking through their eyes; cut a morsel of the boiled
+provender, break a bad biscuit, pour one glass of indifferent wine;
+and eat, hardly sitting the while, in such haste to be at the ramparts
+again. The 80,000 Townsfolk, except some Jews, are against them to
+a man. Belleisle cares for everything: there is strict charge on his
+soldiers to observe discipline, observe civility to the Townsfolk; there
+is occasional 'hanging of a Prag Butcher' or so, convicted of spyship,
+but the minimum of that, we will hope."
+
+
+
+
+MAILLEBOIS MARCHES, WITH AN "ARMY OF REDEMPTION" OR "OF MATHURINS"
+(WITTILY SO CALLED), TO RELIEVE PRAG; REACHES THE BOHEMIAN FRONTIER,
+JOINED BY THE COMTE DE SAXE; ABOVE 50,000 STRONG (August 9th-September
+19th).
+
+Maillebois has some 40,000 men: ahead of him 600 miles of difficult
+way; rainy season come, days shortening; uncertain staff of bread
+("Seckendorf's meal," and what other commissariat there may be): a
+difficult march, to Amberg Country and the top of the Ober-Pfalz. After
+which are Mountain-passes; Bohemian Forest: and the Event--? "Cannot be
+dubious!" thinks France, whatever Maillebois think. Witty Paris,
+loving its timely joke, calls him Army of Redemption, "L'ARMEE DES
+MATHURINS,"--a kind of Priests, whose business is commonly in Barbary,
+about Christian bondage:--how sprightly! And yet the enthusiasm was
+great: young Princes of the Blood longing to be off as volunteers,
+needing strict prohibition by the King;--upon which, Prince de Conti,
+gallant young fellow, leaving his wife, his mistress, and miraculously
+borrowing 2,500 pounds for equipments, rushed off furtively by post; and
+did join, and do his best. Was reprimanded, clapt in arrest for three
+days; but afterwards promoted; and came to some distinction in these
+Wars. [Barbier, ii. 326 (that of Conti, ib. 331); Adelung, &c.]
+
+The March goes continually southeast; by Frankfurt, thence towards
+Nurnberg Country ("be at Furth, September 6th"), and the skirts of the
+Pine-Mountains (FICHTEL-GEBIRGE),--Anspach and Baireuth well to your
+left;--end, lastly, in the OBER-PFALZ (Upper Palatinate), Town of Amberg
+there. Before trying the Bohemian Passes, you shall have reinforcement.
+Best part of the "Bavarian Army," now under Comte de Saxe, not under
+D'Harcourt farther, is to cease collecting victual in the Donau-Iser
+Countries (Deggendorf, north bank of Donau, its head-quarter); and to
+get on march,--circling very wide, not northward, but by the Donan, and
+even by the SOUTH, bank of it mainly (to avoid the hungry Mountains and
+their Tolpatcheries),--and, at Amberg, is to join Maillebois. This is a
+wide-lying game.
+
+The great Marlborough used to play such, and win; making the wide
+elements, the times and the spaces, hit with exactitude: but a
+Maillebois?"He is called by the Parisians, 'VIEUX PETIT-MAITRE (dandy
+of sixty,' so to speak); has a poor upturned nose, with baboon-face
+to match, which he even helps by paint."... Here is one Scene; at
+Frankfurt-on-Mayn; fact certain, day not given.
+
+FRANKFURT, "LATTER END OF AUGUST," 1742. "At Frankfurt, his Army having
+got into the neighborhood,"--not into Frankfurt itself, which, as a
+REICHS-STADT, is sacred from Armies and their marchings,--"Marechal
+de Maillebois, as in duty bound, waited on the Kaiser to pay his
+compliments there: on which occasion, we regret to say, Marechal de
+Maillebois was not so reverent to the Imperial Majesty as he should have
+been. Angry belike at the Adventure now forced on him, and harassed with
+many things; seeing in the Imperial Majesty little but an unfortunate
+Play-actor Majesty, who lives in furnished lodgings paid for by France,
+and gives France and Maillebois an infinite deal of trouble to little
+purpose. Certain it is, he addressed the Imperial Majesty in the most
+free-and-easy manner; very much the reverse of being dashed by the
+sacred Presence: and his Officers in the ante-chamber, crowding about,
+all day, for presentation to the Imperial Majesty, made a noise, and
+kept up a babble of talk and laughter, as if it had been a mess-room,
+instead of the Forecourt of Imperial Majesty. So that Imperial Majesty,
+barely master of its temper and able to finish without explosion,
+signified to Maillebois on the morrow, That henceforth it would
+dispense with such visits, Poor Imperial Majesty; a human creature
+doing Play-actorisms of too high a flight. He had the finest Palace in
+Germany; a wonder to the Great Gustavus long ago: and now he has it not;
+mere Meutzels and horrent shaggy creatures rule in Munchen and it: and
+the Imperial quasi-furnished lodgings are respected in this manner!"
+[Van Loon, _Kleine Schriften,_ ii. 271 (cited in Buchholz, ii. 71).
+CAMPAGNES is silent; usually suppressing scenes of that kind.]--The wits
+say of him, "He would be Kaiser or Nothing: see you, he is Kaiser and
+Nothing!" [_"Aut nihil aut Caesar, Bavarus Dux esse volebat; Et nihil et
+Caesar factus utrumque simul."_ (Barbier, ii. 322.)]...
+
+AUGUST 19th-SEPTEMBER 14th. "Comte de Saxe is on march, from Deggendorf;
+north bank of the Donau, by narrow mountain roads; then crosses the
+Donau to south bank, and a plain country;--making large circuit, keeping
+the River on his right,--to meet Maillebois at Amberg; his force,
+some 10 or 12,000 men. Seckendorf, now Bavarian Commander-in-chief,
+accompanies Saxe; with considerable Bavarian force, guess 20,000,
+'marching always on the left.' Accompanies; but only to Regensburg,
+to Stadt-am-Hof, a Suburb of Regensburg, where they cross the Donau
+again."--SUBURB of Regensburg, mark that; Regensburg itself being a
+Reichs-Stadt, very particularly sacred from War;--the very Reichs-DIET
+commonly sitting here; though it has gone to Frankfurt lately, to be
+with its Kaiser, and out of these continual trumpetings and tumults
+close by. [Went 10th May, 1742,--after three months' arguing and
+protesting on the Austrian part (Adelung, iii. A, 102, 138).]--"At
+Regensburg, once across, Seckendorf with his Bavarians calls halt;
+plants himself down in Kelheim, Ingolstadt, and the safe Garrisons
+thereabouts,--calculates that, if Khevenhuller should be called away
+Prag-ward, there may be a stroke do-able in these parts. Saxe marches
+on; straight northward now, up the Valley of the Naab; obliged to be
+a good deal on his guard. Mischievous Tolpatcheries and Trencks, ever
+since he crossed the Donau again, have escorted him, to right, as close
+as they durst; dashing out sometimes on the magazines." One of the
+exploits they had done, take only one:--in their road TOWARDS Saxe, a
+few days ago:--
+
+... "SEPTEMBER 7th, Trenck with his Tolpatcheries had appeared at
+Cham,--a fine trading Town on the hither or neutral side of the
+mountains [not in Bohmen, but in Ober-Pfalz, old Kur-Pfalz's country,
+whom the Austrians hate];--and summoning and assaulting Cham, over the
+throat of all law, had by fire and by massacre annihilated the same.
+[Adelung, iii A, 258; _Guerre de Boheme;_ &c.] Fact horrible, nearly
+incredible; but true. The noise of which is now loud everywhere. Less
+lovely individual than this Trenck [Pandour Trenck, Cousin of the
+Prussian one,] there was not, since the days of Attila and Genghis,
+in any War. Blusters abominably, too; has written [save the mark!]
+an 'AUTOBIOGRAPHY,'--having happily afterwards, in Prison and even in
+Bedlam, time for such a Work;--which is stuffed with sanguinary lies and
+exaggerations: unbeautifulest of human souls. Has a face the color
+of indigo, too;--got it, plundering in an Apothecary's [in this same
+country, if I recollect]: 'ACH GOTT, your Grace, nothing of money here!'
+said the poor Apothecary, accompanying Colonel Trenck with a lighted
+candle over house and shop. Trenck, noticing one likely thing, snatched
+the candle, held it nearer:--likely thing proved gunpowder; and Trenck,
+till Doomsday, continues deep blue. [_Guerre de Boheme._] Soul more
+worthy of damnation I have seldom known."
+
+"SEPTEMBER 19th (five days after dropping Seckendorf), Saxe actually
+gets joined with Maillebois;--not quite at Amberg, but at Vohenstrauss,
+in that same Sulzbach Country, a forty miles to eastward, or Prag-ward,
+of Amberg. Maillebois and he conjoined are between 50 and 60,000. They
+are got now to the Bohemian Boundary, edge of the Bohemian Forest (big
+BOHMISCHE WALD, Mountainous woody Country, 70 miles long); they are
+within 60 miles of Pilsen, within 100 of Prag itself,--if they can cross
+the Forest. Which may be difficult."
+
+
+
+
+PRINCE KARL AND THE GRAND-DUKE, HEARING OF MAILLEBOIS, GO TO MEET HIM
+(September 14th); AND THE SIEGE OF PRAG IS RAISED.
+
+"SEPTEMBER llth, the Besieged at Prag notice that the Austrian fire
+slackens; that the Enemy seems to be taking away his guns. Villages
+and Farmsteads, far and wide all round, are going up in fire. A joyful
+symptom:--since August 13th, Belleisle has known of Maillebois's advent;
+guesses that the Austrians now know it.--SEPTEMBER 14th, their Firing
+has quite ceased. Grand-Duke and Prince Karl are off to meet this
+Maillebois, amid the intricate defiles, 'Better meet him there than
+here:'--and on this fourth morning, Belleisle, looking out, perceives
+that the Siege is raised. [Espagnac, i. 145; _Campagnes,_ v. 348.]
+
+"A blessed change indeed. No enemy here,--perhaps some Festititz, with
+his canaille of Tolpatches, still lingering about,--no enemy worth
+mention. Parties go out freely to investigate:--but as to forage? Alas,
+a Country burnt, Villages black and silent for ten miles round;--you
+pick up here and there a lean steer, welcome amid boiled horse-flesh;
+you bundle a load or two of neglected grass together, for what cavalry
+remains. The genius of Sechelles, and help from the Saxon side, will be
+much useful!
+
+"Perhaps the undeniablest advantage of any is this, That Broglio,
+not now so proud of the situation Prag is in, or led by the rule of
+contraries, willingly quits Prag: Belleisle will not have to do
+his function by the medium of pig-driving, but in the direct manner
+henceforth. 'Give me 6 or 8,000 foot, and what of the cavalry have
+horses still uneaten,' proposes Broglio; 'I will push obliquely towards
+Eger,--which is towards Saxony withal, and opens our food-communications
+there:--I will stretch out a hand to Maillebois, across the Mountain
+Passes; and thus bring a victorious issue!' [Espagnac, i. 170.]
+Belleisle consents: 'Well, since my Broglio will have it so!'--glad to
+part with my Broglio at any rate,--'Adieu, then, M. le Marechal (and,'
+SOTTO VOCE, 'may it be long before we meet again in partnership)!'
+Broglio marches accordingly ('hand' beautifully held out to Maillebois,
+but NOT within grasping distance); gets northwestward some 60 miles, as
+far as Toplitz [sadly oblique for Eger],--never farther on that errand."
+
+
+
+
+THE MAILLEBOIS ARMY OF REDEMPTION CANNOT REDEEM AT ALL;--HAS TO STAGGER
+SOUTHWARD AGAIN; AND BECOMES AN "ARMY OF BAVARIA," UNDER BROGLIO.
+
+"SEPTEMBER 19th-OCTOBER 10th,,'--Scene is, the Eger-VohenStrauss
+Country, in and about that Bohemian Forest of seventy miles.--"For three
+weeks, Maillebois and the Comte de Saxe, trying their utmost, cannot,
+or cannot to purpose, get through that Bohemian Wood. Only Three
+practicable Passes in it; difficult each, and each conducting you
+towards more new difficulties, on the farther side;--not surmountable
+except by the determined mind. A gloomy business: a gloomy difficult
+region, solitary, hungry; nothing in it but shaggy chasms (and perhaps
+Tolpatchery lurking), wastes, mountain woodlands, dumb trees, damp brown
+leaves. Maillebois and Saxe, after survey, shoot leftwards to Eger; draw
+food and reinforcement from the Garrison there. They do get through the
+Forest, at one Pass, the Pass nearest Eger;--but find Prince Karl and
+the Grand-Duke ranked to receive them on the other side. 'Plunge home
+upon Prince Karl and the Grand-Duke; beat them, with your Broglio to
+help in the rear?' That possibly was Friedrich's thought as he watched
+[now home at Berlin again] the contemporaneous Theatre of War.
+
+"But that was not the Maillebois-Broglio method;--nay, it is said
+Maillebois was privately forbidden 'to run risks.' Broglio, with his
+stretched-out hand (12,000 some count him, and indeed it is no matter),
+sits quiet at Toplitz, far too oblique: 'Come then, come, O Maillebois!'
+Maillebois,--manoeuvring Prince Karl aside, or Hunger doing it for
+him,--did once push forward Prag-ward, by the Pass of Caaden; which is
+very oblique to Toplitz. By the Pass of Caaden,--down the Eger River,
+through those Mountains of the Circle of Saatz, past a Castle of
+Ellenbogen, key of the same;--and 'Could have done it [he said always
+after], had it not been for Comte de Saxe!' Undeniable it is, Saxe, as
+vanguard, took that Castle of Ellenbogen; and, time being so precious,
+gave the Tolpatchery dismissal on parole. Undeniable, too, the
+Tolpatchery, careless of parole, beset Caaden Village thereupon, 4,000
+strong; cut off our foreposts, at Caaden Village; and--In short, we had
+to retire from those parts; and prove an Army of Redemption that could
+not redeem at all!
+
+"Maillebois and Saxe wend sulkily down the Naab Valley (having lost, say
+15,000, not by fighting, but by mud and hardship); and the rapt European
+Public (shilling-gallery especially) says, with a sneer on its face,
+'Pooh; ended, then!' Sulkily wending, Maillebois and Saxe (October
+30th-November 7th) get across the Donau, safe on the southern bank
+again; march for the Iser Country and the D'Harcourt Magazines,--and
+become 'Grand Bavarian Army,' usual refuge of the unlucky."...
+
+OF SECKENDORF IN THE INTERIM. "For Belleisle and relief of Prag,
+Maillebois in person had proved futile; but to Seckendorf, waiting with
+his Bavarians, the shadow and rumor of Maillebois had brought famous
+results,--famous for a few weeks. Khevenhuller being called north to
+help in those Anti-Maillebois operations, and only Barenklau with about
+10,000 Austrians now remaining in Baiern, Seckendorf, clearly superior
+(not to speak of that remnant of D'Harcourt people, with their
+magazines), promptly bestirred himself, in the Kelheim-Ingolstadt
+Country; got on march; and drove the Austrians mostly out of Baiern.
+Out mostly, and without stroke of sword, merely by marching; out for
+the time. Munchen was evacuated, on rumor of Seckendorf (October 4th):
+a glad City to see Barenklau march off. Much was evacuated,--the Iser
+Valley, down partly to the Inn Valley,--much was cleared, by Seckendorf
+in these happy circumstances. Who sees himself victorious, for once;
+and has his fame in the Gazettes, if it would last. Pretty much without
+stroke of sword, we say, and merely by marching: in one place, having
+marched too close, the retreating Barenklau people turned on him, 'took
+100 prisoners' before going; [Espagnac, i. 166.]--other fighting, in
+this line 'Reconquest of Bavaria,' I do not recollect. Winter come,
+he makes for Maillebois and the Iser Countries; cantons himself on
+the Upper Inn itself, well in advance of the French [Braunau his chief
+strong-place, if readers care to look on the Map]; and strives to expect
+a combined seizure of Passau, and considerable things, were Spring
+come."...
+
+AND OF BROGLIO IN THE INTERIM. "As for Broglio, left alone at Toplitz,
+gazing after a futile Maillebois, he sends the better half of his
+Force back to Prag; other half he establishes at Leitmeritz: good
+halfway-house to Dresden. 'Will forward Saxon provender to you, M. de
+Belleisle!' (never did, and were all taken prisoners some weeks hence).
+Which settled, Broglio proceeded to the Saxon Court; who answered him:
+'Provender? Alas, Monseigneur! We are (to confess it to you!) at Peace
+with Austria: [Treatying ever since "July 17th;" Treaty actually done,
+"11th September") (Adelung, iii. A, 201, 268).] not an ounce of provender
+possible; how dare we?'--but were otherwise politeness itself to the
+great Broglio. Great Broglio, after sumptuous entertainments there,
+takes the road for Baiern; circling grandly ('through Nurnberg with
+escort of 500 Horse') to Maillebois's new quarters;--takes command of
+the 'Bavarian Army' (may it be lucky for him!); and sends Maillebois
+home, in deep dudgeon, to the merciless criticisms of men. 'Could have
+done it,' persists the VIEUX PETIT-MAITRE always, 'had not'--one knows
+what, but cares not, at this date!--
+
+"Broglio's quarters in the Iser Country, I am told, are fatally too
+crowded, men perishing at a frightful rate per day. [Espagnac, i. 182.]
+'Things all awry here,--thanks to that Maillebois and others!' And
+Broglio's troubles and procedures, as is everywhere usual to Broglio,
+run to a great height in this Bavarian Command. And poor Seckendorf,
+in neighborhood of such a Broglio, has his adoes; eyes sparkling; face
+blushing slate-color; at times nearly driven out of his wits;--but
+strives to consume his own smoke, and to have hopes on Passau
+notwithstanding."--And of Belleisle in Prag, and his meditations on the
+Oriflamme?--Patience, reader.
+
+Meantime, what a relief to Kaiser Karl, in such wreck of Bohemian
+Kingdoms and Castles in Spain, to have got his own Munchen and Country
+in hand again; with the prospect of quitting furnished-lodgings, and
+seeing the color of real money! April next, he actually goes to Munchen,
+where we catch a glimpse of him. ["17th April, 1743," Montijos &c.
+accompanying (Adelung, iii. B, 119, 120).] This same October, the Reich,
+after endless debatings on the question, "Help our Kaiser, or not help?"
+[Ib. iii A, 289.] has voted him fifty ROMER-MONATE ("Romish-months,"
+still so termed, though there is NOT now any marching of the Kaiser to
+Rome on business); meaning fifty of the known QUOTAS, due from all and
+sundry in such case,--which would amount to about 300,000 pounds (could
+it, or the half of it, be collected from so wide a Parish), and would
+prove a sensible relief to the poor man.
+
+
+
+
+VOLTAIRE HAS BEEN ON VISIT AT AACHEN, IN THE INTERIM,--HIS THIRD VISIT
+TO KING FRIEDRICH.
+
+King Friedrich had come to the Baths of Aachen, August 25th; the
+Maillebois Army of Redemption being then, to the last man of it, five
+days across the Rhine on its high errand, which has since proved futile.
+Friedrich left Aachen, taking leave of his Voltaire, who had been
+lodging with him for a week by special invitation, September 9th; and
+witnessed the later struggles and final inability of Maillebois to
+redeem, not at Aix, but at Berlin, amid the ordinary course of his
+employments there. We promised something of Voltaire's new visit, his
+Third to Friedrich. Here is what little we have,--if the lively reader
+will exert his fancy on it.
+
+Voltaire and his Du Chatelet had been to Cirey, and thence been at Paris
+through this Spring and Summer, 1742;--engaged in what to Voltaire and
+Paris was a great thing, though a pacific one: The getting of MAHOMET
+brought upon the boards. August 9th, precisely while the first vanguard
+of the Army of Redemption got across the Rhine at Dusseldorf, Voltaire's
+Tragedy of MAHOMET came on the stage.
+
+August 9th, llth, 13th, Paris City was in transports of various kinds;
+never were such crowds of Audience, lifting a man to the immortal
+gods,--though a part too, majority by count of heads, were dragging him
+to Tartarus again. "Exquisite, unparalleled!" exclaimed good judges (as
+Fleury himself had anticipated, on examining the Piece):--"Infamous,
+irreligious, accursed!" vociferously exclaimed the bad judges; Reverend
+Desfontaines (of Sodom, so Voltaire persists to define him), Reverend
+Desfontaines and others giving cue; hugely vociferous, these latter,
+hugely in majority by count of heads. And there was such a bellowing
+and such a shrieking, judicious Fleury, or Maurepas under him, had
+to suggest, "Let an actor fall sick; let M. de Voltaire volunteer to
+withdraw his Piece; otherwise--!" And so it had to be: Actor fell sick
+on the 14th (Playbills sorry to retract their MAHOMET on the 14th);
+and--in fact, it was not for nine years coming, and after Dedication to
+the Pope, and other exquisite manoeuvres and unexpected turns of fate,
+that MAHOMET could be acted a fourth time in Paris, and thereafter AD
+LIBITUM down to this day. [_OEuvres de Voltaire,_ ii. 137 n.; &c. &c.]
+
+Such tempest in a teapot is not unexampled, nay rather is very frequent,
+in that Anarchic Republic called of Letters. Confess, reader, that you
+too would have needed some patience in M. de Voltaire's place; with
+such a Heaven's own Inspiration of a MAHOMET in your hands, and such a
+terrestrial Doggery at your heels. Suppose the bitterest of your barking
+curs were a Reverend Desfontaines of Sodom, whom you yourself had
+saved from the gibbet once, and again and again from starving? It is
+positively a great Anarchy, and Fountain of Anarchies, all that, if you
+will consider; and it will have results under the sun. You cannot help
+it, say you; there is no shutting up of a Reverend Desfontaines, which
+would be so salutary to himself and to us all? No:--and when human
+reverence (daily going, in such ways) is quite gone from the world;
+and your lowest blockhead and scoundrel (usually one entity) shall have
+perfect freedom to spit in the face of your highest sage and hero,--what
+a remarkably Free World shall we be!
+
+Voltaire, keeping good silence as to all this, and minded for Brussels
+again, receives the King of Prussia's invitation; lays it at his
+Eminency Fleury's feet; will not accept, unless his Eminency and my own
+King of France (possibly to their advantage, if one might hint such a
+thing!) will permit it. [Ib. lxxii. 555 (Letter to Fleury, "Paris, Aug.
+22d").] "By all means; go, and"--The rest is in dumb-show; meaning, "Try
+to pump him for us!" Under such omens, Voltaire and his divine Emilie
+return to their Honsbruck Lawsuit: "Silent Brussels, how preferable
+to Paris and its mad cries!" Voltaire, leaving the divine Emilie at
+Brussels, September 2d, sets out for Aix,--Aix attainable within the
+day. He is back at Brussels late in the evening, September 9th:--how
+he had fared, and what extent of pumping there was, learn from the
+following Excerpts, which are all dated the morrow after his return:--
+
+
+
+
+THREE LETTERS OF VOLTAIRE, DATED BRUSSELS, 10th SEPT. 1742.
+
+1. TO CIDEVILLE (the Rouen Advocate, who has sometimes troubled us)....
+"I have been to see the King of Prussia since I began this Letter
+[beginning of it dates September 1st]. I have courageously resisted
+his fine proposals. He offers me a beautiful House in Berlin, a pretty
+Estate; but I prefer my second-floor in Madame du Chatelet's here. He
+assures me of his favor, of the perfect freedom I should have;--and I am
+running to Paris [did not just yet run] to my slavery and persecution.
+I could fancy myself a small Athenian, refusing the bounties of the King
+of Persia. With this difference, however, one had liberty [not slavery]
+at Athens; and I am sure there were many Cidevilles there, instead of
+one,"--HELAS, my Cideville!
+
+2. TO MARQUIS D'ARGENSON (worthy official Gentleman, not War-Minister
+now or afterwards; War-Minister's senior brother,--Voltaire's old
+school-fellows, both these brothers, in the College of Louis le
+Grand).... "I have just been to see the King of Prussia in these late
+days [in fact, quitted him only yesterday; both of us, after a week
+together, leaving Aix yesterday]: I have seen him as one seldom sees
+Kings,--much at my ease, in my own room, in the chimney-nook, whither
+the same man who has gained two Battles would come and talk familiarly,
+as Scipio did with Terence. You will tell me, I am not Terence; true,
+but neither is he altogether Scipio.
+
+"I learned some extraordinary things,"--things not from Friedrich at
+all: mere dinner-table rumors; about the 16,000 English landing here
+("18,000" he calls them, and farther on, "20,000") with the other 16,000
+PLUS 6,000 of Hanoverian-Hessian sort, expecting 20,000 Dutch to join
+them,--who perhaps will not? "M. de Neipperg [Governor of Luxemburg now]
+is come hither to Brussels; but brings no Dutch troops with him, as
+he had hoped,"--Dutch perhaps won't rise, after all this flogging and
+hoisting?" Perhaps we may soon get a useful and glorious Peace, in
+spite of my Lord Stair, and of M. van Haren, the Tyrtaeus of the
+States-General [famed Van Haren, eyes in a fine Dutch frenzy rolling,
+whose Cause-of-Liberty verses let no man inquire after]: Stair prints
+Memoirs, Van Haren makes Odes; and with so much prose and so much verse,
+perhaps their High and Slow Mightinesses [Excellency Fenelon sleeplessly
+busy persuading them, and native Gravitation SLEEPILY ditto] will sit
+quiet. God grant it!
+
+"The English want to attack us on our own soil [actually Stair's plan];
+and we cannot pay them in that kind. The match is too unfair! If we kill
+the whole 20,000 of them, we merely send 20,000 Heretics to--What shall
+I say?--A L'ENFER, and gain nothing; if they kill us, they even feed
+at our expense in doing it. Better have no quarrels except on Locke and
+Newton! The quarrel I have on MAHOMET is happily only ridiculous."...
+Adieu, M. le Marquis.
+
+3. TO THE CARDINAL DE FLEURY. "Monseigneur,... to give your Eminency, as
+I am bound, some account of my journey to Aix-la-Chapelle." Friedrich's
+guest there; let us hear, let us look.
+
+"I could not get away from Brussels till the 2d of this month. On the
+road, I met a courier from the King of Prussia, coming to reiterate his
+Master's orders on me. The King had me lodged near his own Apartment;
+and he passed, for two consecutive days, four hours at a time in my
+room, with all that goodness and familiarity which forms, as you know,
+part of his character, and which does not lower the King's dignity,
+because one is duly careful not to abuse it [be careful!]. I had
+abundant time to speak, with a great deal of freedom, on what your
+Eminency had prescribed to me; and the King spoke to me with an equal
+frankness.
+
+"First, he asked me, If it was true that the French Nation was
+so angered against him; if the King was, and if you were? I
+answered,"--mildly reprobatory, yet conciliative, "Hm, no, nothing
+permanent, nothing to speak of." "He then deigned to speak to me, at
+large, of the reasons which had induced him to be so hasty with the
+Peace." "Extremely remarkable reasons;" "dare not trust them to this
+Paper" (Broglio-Belleisle discrepancies, we guess, distracted
+Broglio procedures);--they have no concern with that Pallandt-Letter
+Story,--"they do not turn on the pretended Secret Negotiations at the
+Court of Vienna [which are not pretended at all, as I among others
+well know], in regard to which your Eminency has condescended to
+clear yourself [by denying the truth, poor Eminency; there was no help
+otherwise]. All I dare state is, that it seems to me easy to lead back
+the mind of this Sovereign, whom the situation of his Territories, his
+interest, and his taste would appear to mark as the natural ally of
+France."
+
+"He said farther [what may be relied on as true by his Eminency Fleury,
+and my readers here], That he passionately wished to see Bohemia in
+the Emperor's hands [small chance for it, as things now go!]; that he
+renounced, with the best faith in the world, all claim whatever on Berg
+and Julich; and that, in spite of the advantageous proposals which Lord
+Stair was making him, he thought only of keeping Silesia. That he knew
+well enough the House of Austria would, one day, wish to recover that
+fine Province, but that he trusted he could keep his conquest; that he
+had at this time 130,000 soldiers always ready; that he would make of
+Neisse, Glogau, Brieg, fortresses as strong as Wesel [which he is now
+diligently doing, and will soon have done]; that besides he was well
+informed the Queen of Hungary already owed 80,000,000 German crowns,
+which is about 300 millions of our money [about 12 millions sterling];
+that her Provinces, exhausted, and lying wide apart, would not be able
+to make long efforts; and that the Austrians, for a good while to come,
+could not of themselves be formidable." Of themselves, no: but with
+Britannic soup-royal in quantity?--
+
+"My Lord Hyndford had spoken to him" as if France were entirely
+discouraged and done for: How false, Monseigneur! "And Lord Stair in his
+letters represented France, a month ago, as ready to give in. Lord Stair
+has not ceased to press his Majesty during this Aix Excursion even:"
+and, in spite of what your Eminency hears from the Hague, "there was,
+on the 30th of August, an Englishman at Aix on the part of Milord Stair;
+and he had speech with the King of Prussia [CROYEZ MOI!] in a little
+Village called Boschet [Burtscheid, where are hot wells], a quarter of
+a league from Aix. I have been assured, moreover, that the Englishman
+returned in much discontent. On the other hand, General Schmettau, who
+was with the King [elder Schmettau, Graf SAMUEL, who does a great deal
+of envoying for his Majesty], sent, at that very time, to Brussels,
+for Maps of the Moselle and of the Three Bishoprics, and purchased five
+copies,"--means to examine Milord Stair's proposed Seat of War, at any
+rate. (Here is a pleasant friend to have on visit to you, in the next
+apartment, with such an eye and such a nose!)...
+
+"Monseigneur," finely insinuates Voltaire in conclusion, "is not there"
+a certain Frenchman, true to his Country, to his King, and to your
+Eminency, with perhaps peculiar facilities for being of use, in such
+delicate case?--"JE SUIS," much your Eminency's. [_OEuvres,_ lxxii. p.
+568 (to Cideville), p. 579 (D'Argenson), p. 574 (Fleury).]
+
+Friedrich, on the day while Voltaire at Brussels sat so busy writing of
+him, was at Salzdahl, visiting his Brunswick kindred there, on the
+road home to his usual affairs. Old Fleury, age ninety gone, died
+29th January, 1743,--five months and nineteen days after this Letter.
+War-Minister Breteuil had died January 1st. Here is room for new
+Ministers and Ministries; for the two D'Argensons,--if it could avail
+their old School-fellow, or France, or us; which it cannot much.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter III.--CARNIVAL PHENOMENA IN WAR-TIME.
+
+Readers were anticipating it, readers have no sympathy; but the sad fact
+is, Britannic Majesty has NOT got out his sword; this second paroxysm of
+his proves vain as the first did! Those laggard Dutch, dead to the Cause
+of Liberty, it is they again. Just as the hour was striking, they--plump
+down, in spite of magnanimous Stair, into their mud again; cannot be
+hoisted by engineering. And, after all that filling and emptying of
+water-casks, and pumping and puffing, and straining of every fibre for a
+twelvemonth past, Britannic Majesty had to sit down again, panting in an
+Olympian manner, with that expensive long sword of his still sticking in
+the scabbard.
+
+Tongue cannot tell what his poor little Majesty has suffered from those
+Dutch,--checking one's noble rage, into mere zero, always; making of
+one's own glorious Army a mere expensive Phantasm! Hanoverian, Hessian,
+British: 40,000 fighters standing in harness, year after year, at
+such cost; and not the killing of a French turkey to be had of them in
+return. Patience, Olympian patience, withal! He cantons his troops in
+the Netherlands Towns; many of the British about Ghent (who consider the
+provisions, and customs, none of the best); [Letters of Officers,
+from Ghent (_Westminster Journal,_ Oct. 23d, &c.).] his Hanoverians,
+Hessians, farther northward, Hanover way;--and, greatly daring,
+determines to try again, next Spring. Carteret himself shall go and
+flagitate the Dutch. Patience; whip and hoist!--What a conclusion,
+snorts the indignant British Public through its Gazetteers.
+
+"Next year, yes, exclaims one indignant Editor: 'if talking will do
+business, we shall no doubt perform wonders; for we have had as much
+talking and puffing since February last, as during any ten years of the
+late Administration' [_The Daily Post,_ December 31st (o.s.), 1742.]
+[under poor Walpole, whom you could not enough condemn]! The Dutch?
+exclaims another: 'If WE were a Free People [F-- P-- he puts it, joining
+caution with his rage], QUOERE, Whether Holland would not, at this
+juncture, come cap in hand, to sue for our protection and alliance;
+instead of making us dance attendance at the Hague?' Yes, indeed;--and
+then the CASE OF THE HANOVER FORCES (fear not, reader; I understand your
+terror of locked-jaw, and will never mention said CASE again); but it is
+singular to the Gazetteer mind, That these Hanover Forces are to be paid
+by England, as appears; Hanover, as if without interest in the matter,
+paying nothing! Upon which, in covert form of symbolic adumbration, of
+witty parable, what stinging commentaries, not the first, nor by many
+thousands the last (very sad reading in our day) on this paltry Hanover
+Connection altogether: What immensities it has cost poor England, and is
+like to cost, 'the Lord of the Manor' (great George our King) being the
+gentleman he is; and how England, or, as it is adumbratively called,
+'the Manor of St. James's,' is become a mere 'fee-farm to Mumland.'
+Unendurable to think of. 'Bob Monopoly, the late Tallyman [adumbrative
+for Walpole, late Prime Minister], was much blamed on this account; and
+John the Carter [John Lord Carteret], Clerk of the Vestry and present
+favorite of his Lordship, is not behind Robin in his care for the Manor
+of MUMLAND' [In _Westminster Journal_ (Feb. 12th, n.s., 1743), a long
+Apologue in this strain.] (that contemptible Country, where their very
+beer is called MUM),--and no remedy within view?"
+
+
+
+
+RETREAT FROM PRAG; ARMY OF THE ORIFLAMME, BOHEMIAN SECTION BOHEMIAN
+SECTION OF IT, MAKES EXIT.
+
+"And Belleisle in Prag, left solitary there, with his heroic
+remnant,--gone now to 17,000, the fourth man of them in hospital, with
+Festititz Tolpatchery hovering round, and Winter and Hunger drawing
+nigh,--what is to become of Belleisle? Prince Karl and the Grand-Duke
+had attended Maillebois to Bavaria; steadily to left of Maillebois
+between Austria and him; and are now busy in the Passau Country, bent
+on exploding those Seckendorf-Broglio operations and intentions, as the
+chief thing now. Meanwhile they have detached Prince Lobkowitz to girdle
+in Belleisle again; for which Lobkowitz (say, 20,000, with the Festititz
+Tolpatchery included) will be easily able. On the march thither he
+easily picked up (18th-25th November) that new French Post of Leitmeritz
+(Broglio's fine 'Half-way House to Saxony and Provender'), with its
+garrison of 2,000: the other posts and outposts, one and all, had to
+hurry home, in fear of a like fate. Beyond the circuit of Prag, isolated
+in ten miles of burnt country, Belleisle has no resource except what his
+own head may furnish. The black landscape is getting powdered with snow;
+one of the grimmest Winters, almost like that of 1740; Belleisle must
+see what he will do.
+
+"Belleisle knows secretly what he will do. Belleisle has orders to come
+away from Prag; bring his Army off, and the chivalry of France home to
+their afflicted friends. [_Campagnes,_ vi. 244-251; Espagnac, i. 168.] A
+thing that would have been so feasible two months ago, while Maillebois
+was still wriggling in the Pass of Caaden; but which now borders on
+impossibility, if not reaches into it. As a primary measure, Belleisle
+keeps those orders of his rigorously secret. Within the Garrison, or
+on the part of Lobkowitz, there is a far other theory of Belleisle's
+intentions. Lobkowitz, unable to exist in the black circuit, has retired
+beyond it, and taken the eastern side of the Moldau, as the least
+ruined; leaving the Tolpatchery, under one Festititz, to caracole round
+the black horizon on the west. Farther, as the Moldau is rolling ice,
+and Lobkowitz is afraid of his pontoons, he drags them out high and
+dry: 'Can be replaced in a day, when wanted.' In a day; yes, thinks
+Belleisle, but not in less than a day;--and proceeds now to the
+consummation. Detailed accounts exist, Belleisle's own Account (rapid,
+exact, loftily modest); here, compressing to the utmost, let us snatch
+hastily the main features.
+
+"On the 15th December, 1742, Prag Gates are all shut: Enter if you like;
+but no outgate. Monseigneur le Marechal intends to have a grand foraging
+to-morrow, on the southwestern side of Prag. Lobkowitz heard of it, in
+spite of the shut gates; for all Prag is against Belleisle, and does
+spy-work for Lobkowitz. 'Let him forage,' thought Lobkowitz; 'he will
+not grow rich by what he gathers;' and sat still, leaving his
+pontoons high and dry. So that Belleisle, on the afternoon of December
+16th,--between 12 and 14,000 men, near 4,000 of them cavalry, with
+cannon, with provision-wagons, baggage-wagons, goods and chattels in
+mass,--has issued through the two Southwestern Gates; and finds himself
+fairly out of Prag. On the Pilsen road; about nightfall of the
+short winter day: earth all snow and 'VERGLAS,' iron glazed; huge
+olive-colored curtains of the Dusk going down upon the Mountains
+ahead of him; shutting in a scene wholly grim for Belleisle. Brigadier
+Chevert, a distinguished and determined man, with some 4,000 sick,
+convalescent and half able, is left in Prag to man the works; the
+Marechal has taken hostages, twenty Notabilities of Prag; and neglected
+no precaution. He means towards Eger; has, at least, got one march
+ahead; and will do what is in him, he and every soul of those 14,000.
+The officers have given their horses for the baggage-wagons, made every
+sacrifice; the word Homewards kindles a strange fire in all hearts; and
+the troops, say my French authorities, are unsurpassable. The Marechal
+himself, victim of rheumatisms, cannot ride at all; but has his
+light sledge always harnessed; and, at a moment's notice, is present
+everywhere. Sleep, during these ten days and nights, he has little.
+
+"Eger is 100 miles off, by the shortest Highway: there are two bad
+Highways, one by Pilsen southerly, one by Karlsbad northerly,--with
+their bridges all broken, infested by Hussars:--we strike into a middle
+combination of country roads, intricate parish lanes; and march zigzag
+across these frozen wildernesses: we must dodge these Festititz Hussar
+swarms; and cross the rivers near their springs. Forward! Perhaps some
+readers, for the high Belleisle's sake, will look out these localities
+subjoined in the Note, and reduced to spelling. [Tachlowitz, Lischon
+(near Rakonitz); Jechnitz (as if you were for the Pilsen road; then turn
+as if for the Karlsbad one); Steben (not discoverable, but a DESPATCH
+from it,--_Campagnes,_ v. 280), Chisch, Luditz, Theysing (hereabouts you
+break off into smaller columns, separate parties and patches, cavalry
+all ahead, among the Hills): Schonthal AND Landeck (Belleisle passes
+Christmas-day at Landeck,--_ Campagnes,_ vii. 10); Einsiedel (AND
+by Petschau), Lauterbach, Konigswart, AND likewise by Topl, Sandau,
+Treunitz (that is, into Eger from two sides).] Resting-places in this
+grim wilderness of his: poor snow-clad Hamlets,--with their little hood
+of human smoke rising through the snow; silent all of them, except for
+the sound of here and there a flail, or crowing cock;--but have been
+awakened from their torpor by this transit of Belleisle. Happily the
+bogs themselves are iron; deepest bog will bear.
+
+"Festititz tries us twice,--very anxious to get Belleisle's Army-chest,
+or money; we give him torrents of sharp shot instead. Festititz, these
+two chief times, we pepper rapidly into the Hills again; he is reduced
+to hang prancing on our flanks and rear. Men bivouac over fires of turf,
+amid snow, amid frost; tear down, how greedily, any wood-work for fire.
+Leave a trumpet to beg quarter for the frozen and speechless;--which is
+little respected: they are lugged in carts, stript by the savageries,
+and cruelly used. There were first extensive plains, then boggy passes,
+intricate mountains; bog and rock; snow and VERGLAS.--On the 26th, after
+indescribable endeavors, we got into Eger;--some 1,300 (about one in
+ten) left frozen in the wilderness; and half the Army falling ill at
+Eger, of swollen limbs, sore-throats, and other fataler diseases, fatal
+then, or soon after. Chevert, at Prag, refused summons from Prince
+Lobkowitz: 'No, MON PRINCE; not by any means! We will die, every man
+of us, first; and we will burn Prag withal!'--So that Lobkowitz had to
+consent to everything; and escort Chevert to Eger, with bag and baggage,
+Lobkowitz furnishing the wagons.
+
+"Comparable to the Retreat of Xenophon! cry many. Every Retreat is
+compared to that. A valiant feat, after all exaggerations. A thing well
+done, say military men;--'nothing to object, except that the troops were
+so ruined;'--and the most unmilitary may see, it is the work of a high
+and gallant kind of man. One of the coldest expeditions ever known.
+There have been three expeditions or retreats of this kind which were
+very cold: that of those Swedes in the Great Elector's time (not to
+mention that of Karl XII.'s Army out of Norway, after poor Karl XII.
+got shot); that of Napoleon from Moscow; this of Belleisle, which is the
+only one brilliantly conducted, and not ending in rout and annihilation.
+
+"The troops rest in Eger for a week or two; then homeward through the
+Ober-Pfalz:--'go all across the Rhine at Speyer' (5th February next);
+the Bohemian Section of the Oriflamme making exit in this manner. Not
+quite the eighth man of them left; five-eighths are dead: and there are
+about 12,000 prisoners, gone to Hungary,--who ran mostly to the Turks,
+such treatment had they, and were not heard of again." [_Guerre de
+Boheme,_ ii. 221 (for this last fact). IB. 204, and Espagnac, i. 176
+(for particulars of the Retreat); and still better, Belleisle's own
+Despatch and Private Letter (Eger, 2d January and 5th January, 1743), in
+_Campagnes,_ vii. 1-21.]--Ah, Belleisle, Belleisle!
+
+The Army of the Oriflamme gets home in this sad manner; Germany not
+cut in Four at all. "Implacable Austrian badgers," as we call them,
+"gloomily indignant bears," how have they served this fine French
+hunting-pack; and from hunted are become hunters, very dangerous to
+contemplate! At Frankfurt, Belleisle, for his own part, pauses; cannot,
+in this entirely down-broken state of body, serve his Majesty farther in
+the military business; will do some needful diplomatics with the Kaiser,
+and retire home to government of Metz, till his worn-out health recover
+itself a little.
+
+
+
+
+A GLANCE AT VIENNA, AND THEN AT BERLIN.
+
+Prince Karl had been busy upon Braunau (the BAVARIAN Braunau, not the
+BOHEMIAN or another, Seckendorf's chief post on the Inn); had furiously
+bombarded Braunau, with red-hot balls, for some days; [2d-10th December
+(Espagnac, i. 171).] intent to explode the Seckendorf-Broglio projects
+before winter quite came. Seckendorf, in a fine frenzy, calls to
+Broglio, "Help!" and again calls; both Kaiser and he, CRESCENDO to a
+high pitch, before Broglio will come. "Relieve Braunau? Well;--but no
+fighting farther, mark you!" answers Broglio. To the disgust of Kaiser
+and Seckendorf; who were eager for a combined movement, and hearty
+attack on Prince Karl, with perhaps capture of Passau itself. At sight
+of Broglio and Seckendorf combined, Prince Karl did at once withdraw
+from Braunau; but as to attacking him,--"NON; MILLE FOIS, NON!" answered
+Broglio disdainfully bellowing. First grand quarrel of Broglio
+and Seckendorf; by no means their last. Prince Karl put his men in
+winter-quarters, in those Passau regions; postponing the explosion of
+the Broglio-Seckendorf projects, till Spring; and returned to Vienna for
+the Winter gayeties and businesses there. How the high Maria Theresa
+is contented, I do not hear;--readers may take this Note, which is
+authentic, though vague, and straggling over wide spaces of time still
+future.
+
+"Does her Majesty still think of 'taking the command of her Armies
+on herself,' high Amazon that she is!" Has not yet thought of that, I
+should guess. "At one time she did seriously think of it, says a good
+witness; which is noteworthy. [Podewils, _Der Wiener Hof _ (Court of
+Vienna, in the years 1746, 1747 and 1748; a curious set of REPORTS for
+Friedrich's information, by Podewils, his Minister there); printed under
+that Title, "by the Imperial Academy of Sciences" (Wien, 1850);--may be
+worth alluding to again, if chance offer.] Her Husband has been with the
+Armies, once, twice; but never to much purpose (Brother Karl doing the
+work, if work were done);--and this is about the last time, or the last
+but one, this in Winter 1742. She loves her Husband thoroughly, all
+along; but gives him no share in business, finding he understands
+nothing except Banking. It is certain she chiefly was the reformer of
+her Army," in years coming; "she, athwart many impediments. An ardent
+rider, often on horseback, at paces furiously swift; her beautiful face
+tanned by the weather. Very devout too; honest to the bone, athwart all
+her prejudices. Since our own Elizabeth! no Woman, and hardly above one
+Man, is worth being named beside her as a Sovereign Ruler;--she is 'a
+living contradiction of the Salic Law,' say her admirers. Depends on
+England for money, All hearts and right hands in Austria are hers.
+The loss of Schlesien, pure highway robbery, thrice-doleful loss and
+disgrace, rankles incurable in the noble heart, pious to its Fathers
+withal, and to their Heritages in the world,--we shall see with what
+issues, for the next twenty years, to that 'BOSE MANN,' unpardonably
+'wicked man' of Brandenburg. And indeed, to the end of her life, she
+never could get over it. To the last, they say, if a Stranger, getting
+audience, were graciously asked, 'From what Country, then?' and
+should answer, 'Schlesien, your Majesty!' she would burst into
+tears.--'Patience, high Madam!' urges the Britannic Majesty: 'Patience;
+may not there be compensation, if we hunt well?'" Austrian bears,
+implacable badgers, with Britannic mastiffs helping, now that the
+Belleisle Pack is down!--
+
+At Berlin it was gay Carnival, while those tragedies went on: Friedrich
+was opening his Opera-House, enjoying the first ballets, while Belleisle
+filed out of Prag that gloomy evening. Our poor Kaiser will not "retain
+Bohemia," then; how far from it! The thing is not comfortable to
+Friedrich; but what help?
+
+This is the gayest Carnival yet seen in Berlin, this immediately
+following the Peace; everybody saying to himself and others, "GAUDEAMUS,
+What a Season!" Not that, in the present hurry of affairs, I can dwell
+on operas, assemblies, balls, sledge-parties; or indeed have the least
+word to say on such matters, beyond suggesting them to the imagination
+of readers. The operas, the carnival gayeties, the intricate
+considerations and diplomacies of this Winter, at Berlin and elsewhere,
+may be figured: but here is one little speck, also from the Archives,
+which is worth saving. Princess Ulrique is in her twenty-third year,
+Princess Amelia in her twentieth; beautiful clever creatures, both;
+Ulrique the more staid of the two. "Never saw so gay a Carnival," said
+everybody; and in the height of it, with all manner of gayeties going
+on,--think where the dainty little shoes have been pinching!
+
+
+PRINCESSES ULRIQUE AND AMELIA TO THE KING.
+
+BERLIN, "1st March, 1743. "MY DEAREST BROTHER,--I know not if it is
+not too bold to trouble your Majesty on private affairs: but the
+great confidence which my Sister [Amelia] and I have in your kindness
+encourages us to lay before you a sincere avowal as to the state of our
+bits of finances (NOS PETITES FINANCES), which are a good deal deranged
+just now; the revenues having, for two years and a half past, been
+rather small; amounting to only 400 crowns (60 pounds) a year; which
+could not be made to cover all the little expenses required in the
+adjustments of ladies. This circumstance, added to our card-playing,
+though small, which we could not dispense with, has led us into debts.
+Mine amount to 225 pounds (1,500 crowns); my Sister's to 270 pounds
+(1,800 crowns).
+
+"We have not spoken of it to the Queen-Mother, though we are well sure
+she would have tried to assist us; but as that could not have been done
+without some inconvenience to her, and she would have retrenched in some
+of her own little entertainments, I thought we should do better to apply
+direct to Your Majesty; being persuaded you would have taken it amiss,
+had we deprived the Queen of her smallest pleasure;--and especially, as
+we consider you, my dear Brother, the Father of the Family, and hope you
+will be so gracious as help us. We shall never forget the kind acts of
+Your Majesty; and we beg you to be persuaded of the perfect and tender
+attachment with which we are proud to be all our lives,--Your Majesty's
+most humble and most obedient Sisters and Servants,
+
+"LOUISE-ULRIQUE; ANNE-AMELIE [which latter adds anxiously as Postscript,
+Ulrique having written hitherto],
+
+"P.S. I most humbly beg Your Majesty not to speak of this to the
+Queen-Mother, as perhaps she would not approve of the step we are now
+taking." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxvii. i. 387.]
+
+Poor little souls; bankruptcy just imminent! I have no doubt Friedrich
+came handsomely forward on this grave occasion, though Dryasdust has not
+the grace to give me the least information.--"Frederic Baron Trenck,"
+loud-sounding Phantasm once famous in the world, now gone to the
+Nurseries as mythical, was of this Carnival 1742-43; and of the next,
+and NOT of the next again! A tall actuality in that time; swaggering
+about in sumptuous Life-guard uniform, in his mess-rooms and
+assembly-rooms; much in love with himself, the fool. And I rather think,
+in spite of his dog insinuations, neither Princess had heard of him till
+twenty years hence, in a very different phasis of his life! The empty,
+noisy, quasi-tragic fellow;--sounds throughout quasi-tragically, like an
+empty barrel; well-built, longing to be FILLED. And it is scandalously
+false, what loud Trenck insinuates, what stupid Thiebault (always
+stupid, incorrect, and the prey of stupidities) confirms, as to this
+matter,--fit only for the Nurseries, till it cease altogether.
+
+
+
+
+VOLTAIRE, AT PARIS, IS MADE IMMORTAL BY A KISS.
+
+Voltaire and the divine Emilie are home to Cirey again; that of
+Brussels, with the Royal Aachen Excursion, has been only an interlude.
+They returned, by slow stages, visit after visit, in October last,--some
+slake occurring, I suppose, in that interminable Honsbruck Lawsuit; and
+much business, not to speak of ennui, urging them back. They are now
+latterly in Paris itself, safe in their own "little palace (PETIT
+PALAIS) at the point of the Isle;" little jewel of a house on the Isle
+St. Louis, which they are warming again, after long absence in Brussels
+and the barbarous countries. They have returned hither, on sufferance,
+on good behavior; multitudes of small interests, small to us, great to
+them,--death of old Fleury, hopeful changes of Ministry, not to speak of
+theatricals and the like,--giving opportunity and invitation. Madame,
+we observe, is marrying her Daughter: the happy man a Duke of Montenero,
+ill-built Neapolitan, complexion rhubarb, and face consisting much of
+nose. [Letter of Voltaire, in _ OEuvres,_ lxxiii 24.] Madame never wants
+for business; business enough, were it only in the way of shopping,
+visiting, consulting lawyers, doing the Pure Sciences.
+
+As to Voltaire, he has, as usual, Plays to get acted,--if he can.
+MAHOMET, no; MORT DE CESAR, yes OR no; for the Authorities are shy,
+in spite of the Public. One Play Voltaire did get acted, with a
+success,--think of it, reader! The exquisite Tragedy MEROPE, perhaps now
+hardly known to you; of which you shall hear anon.
+
+But Plays are not all. Old Pleury being dead, there is again a Vacancy
+in the Academy; place among the sacred Forty,--vacant for Voltaire,
+if he can get it. Voltaire attaches endless importance to this place;
+beautiful as a feather in one's cap; useful also to the solitary
+Ishmael of Literature, who will now in a certain sense have Thirty-nine
+Comrades, and at least one fixed House-of-Call in this world. In fine,
+nothing can be more ardent than the wish of M. de Voltaire for these
+supreme felicities. To be of the Forty, to get his Plays acted,--oh,
+then were the Saturnian Kingdoms come; and a man might sing IO TRIUMPHE,
+and take his ease in the Creation, more or less! Stealthily, as if
+on shoes of felt,--as if on paws of velvet, with eyes luminous, tail
+bushy,--he walks warily, all energies compressively summoned, towards
+that high goal. Hush, steady! May you soon catch that bit of savory
+red-herring, then; worthiest of the human feline tribe!--As to the Play
+MEROPE, here is the notable passage:
+
+"PARIS, WEDNESDAY, 20th FEBRUARY, 1743. First night of MEROPE; which
+raised the Paris Public into transports, so that they knew not what to
+do, to express their feelings. 'Author! M. de Voltaire! Author!' shouted
+they; summoning the Author, what is now so common, but was then
+an unheard-of originality. 'Author! Author!' Author, poor blushing
+creature, lay squatted somewhere, and durst not come; was ferreted out;
+produced in the Lady Villars's Box,--Dowager MARECHALE DE VILLARS,
+and her Son's Wife DUCHESSE DE VILLARS, being there; known friends
+of Voltaire's. Between these Two he stands ducking some kind of bow;
+uncertain, embarrassed what to do; with a Theatre all in rapturous
+delirium round him,--uncertain it too, but not embarrassed. 'Kiss him!
+MADAME LA DUCHESSE DE VILLARS, EMBRASSEZ VOLTAIRE!' Yes, kiss him, fair
+Duchess, in the name of France! shout all mortals;--and the younger
+Lady has to do it; does it with a charming grace; urged by Madame la
+Marechale her mother-in-law. [Duvernet (T. J. D. V.), _Vie de Voltaire,
+_ p. 128; Voltaire himself, _OEuvres,_ ii. 142; Barbier, ii. 358.] Ah,
+and Madame la Marechale was herself an old love of Voltaire's; who had
+been entirely unkind to him!
+
+"Thus are you made immortal by a Kiss;--and have not your choice of the
+Kiss, Fate having chosen for you. The younger Lady was a Daughter of
+Marechal de Noailles [our fine old Marechal, gone to the Wars
+against his Britannic Majesty in those very weeks]: infinitely clever
+(INFINIMENT D'ESPRIT); beautiful too, I understand, though towards
+forty;--hangs to the human memory, slightly but indissolubly, ever since
+that Wednesday Night of 1743."
+
+Old Marechal de Noailles is to the Wars, we said;--it is in a world
+all twinkling with watch-fires, and raked coals of War, that these fine
+Carnival things go on. Noailles is 70,000 strong; posted in the Rhine
+Countries, middle and upper Rhine; vigilantly patrolling about, to
+support those staggering Bavarian Affairs; especially to give account
+of his Britannic Majesty. Brittanic Majesty is thought to have got the
+Dutch hoisted, after all; to have his sword OUT;--and ere long does
+actually get on march; up the Rhine hitherward, as is too evident, to
+Noailles, to the Kaiser and everybody!
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IV.--AUSTRIAN AFFAIRS MOUNT TO A DANGEROUS HEIGHT.
+
+Led by fond hopes,--and driven also by that sad fear, of a Visit from
+his Britannic Majesty,--the poor Kaiser, in the rear of those late
+Seckendorf successes, quitted Frankfurt, April 17th; and the second day
+after, got to Munchen. Saw himself in Munchen again, after a space of
+more than two years; "all ranks of people crowding out to welcome him;"
+the joy of all people, for themselves and for him, being very great.
+Next day he drove out to Nymphenburg; saw the Pandour devastations
+there,--might have seen the window where the rugged old Unertl set up
+his ladder, "For God's sake, your Serenity, have nothing to do with
+those French!"--and did not want for sorrowful comparisons of past and
+present.
+
+It was remarked, he quitted Munchen in a day or two; preferring Country
+Palaces still unruined,--for example, Wolnzach, a Schloss he has, some
+fifty miles off, down the Iser Valley, not far from the little Town of
+Mosburg; which, at any rate, is among the Broglio-Seckendorf posts, and
+convenient for business. Broglio and Seckendorf lie dotted all about,
+from Braunau up to Ingolstadt and farther; chiefly in the Iser and Inn
+Valleys, but on the north side of the Donau too; over an area, say of
+2,000 square miles; Seckendorf preaching incessantly to Broglio, what
+is sun-clear to all eyes but Broglio's, "Let us concentrate, M. le
+Marechal; let us march and attack! If Prince Karl come upon us in this
+scattered posture, what are we to do?" Broglio continuing deaf; Broglio
+answering--in a way to drive one frantic.
+
+The Kaiser himself takes Broglio in hand; has a scene with Broglio;
+which, to readers that study it, may be symbolical of much that is gone
+and that is coming. It fell "about the middle of May" (prior to May
+17th, as readers will guess before long); and here, according to report,
+was the somewhat explosive finale it had. Prince Conti, the same who ran
+to join Maillebois, and has proved a gallant fellow and got command of a
+Division, attends Broglio in this important interview at Wolnzach:--
+
+SCHLOSS OF WOLNZACH, MAY, 1743.... "The Kaiser pressed, in the most
+emphatic manner, That the Two Armies [French and Bavarian] should
+collect and unite for immediate action. To which Broglio declared he
+could by no means assent, not having any order from Paris of that
+tenor. The Kaiser thereupon: 'I give you my order for it; I, by the Most
+Christian King's appointment, am Commander-in-Chief of your Army, as of
+my own; and I now order you!'--taking out his Patent, and spreading it
+before Broglio with the sign-manual visible, Broglio knew the Patent
+very well; but answered, 'That he could not, for all that, follow the
+wish of his Imperial Majesty; that he, Broglio, had later orders, and
+must obey them!' Upon which the Imperial Majesty, nature irrepressibly
+asserting itself, towered into Olympian height; flung his Patent on the
+table, telling Conti and Broglio, 'You can send that back, then; Patents
+like that are of no service to me!' and quitted them in a blaze."
+[Adelung, iii. B, 150; cites ETTAT POLITIQUE (Annual Register of
+those times), xiii. 16. Nothing of this scene in _Campagnes,_ which is
+officially careful to suppress the like of this.]
+
+The indisputable fact is, Prince Karl is at the door; nay he has beaten
+in the door in a frightful manner; and has Braunau, key of the Inn,
+again under siege. Not we getting Passau; it is he getting Braunau! A
+week ago (9th May) his vanguard, on the sudden, cut to pieces our poor
+Bavarian 8,000, and their poor Minuzzi, who were covering Braunau, and
+has ended him and them;--Minuzzi himself prisoner, not to be heard of or
+beaten more;--and is battering Braunau ever since. That is the sad fact,
+whatever the theory may have been. Prince Karl is rolling in from
+the east; Lobkowitz (Prag now ended) is advancing from the northward,
+Khevenhuller from the Salzburg southern quarter: Is it in a sprinkle of
+disconnected fractions that you will wait Prince Karl? The question of
+uniting, and advancing, ought to be a simple one for Broglio. Take
+this other symbolic passage, of nearly the same date;--posterior, as we
+guessed, to that Interview at Wolnzach.
+
+"DINGELFINGEN, 17th MAY, 1743. At Dingelfingen on the Iser, a strongish
+central post of the French, about fifty miles farther down than that
+Schloss of Wolnzach, there is a second argument,--much corroborative
+of the Kaiser's reasoning. About sunrise of the 17th, the Austrians, in
+sufficient force, chiefly of Pandours, appeared on the heights to the
+south: they had been foreseen the night before; but the French covering
+General, luckier than Minuzzi, did not wait for them; only warned
+Dingelfingen, and withdrew across the River, to wait there on the safe
+left bank. Leader of the Austrians was one Leopold Graf von Daun, active
+man of thirty-five, already of good rank, who will be much heard of
+afterwards; Commandant in Dingelfingen is a Brigadier du Chatelet,
+Marquis du Chatelet-Lamont; whom--after search (in the interest of some
+idle readers)--I discover to be no other than the Husband of a certain
+Algebraic Lady! Identity made out, mark what a pass he is at. Count
+Daun comes on in a tempest of furious fire; 'very heavy,' they say,
+from great guns and small; till close upon the place, when he summons
+Du Chatelet: 'No;' and thereupon attempts scalade. Cannot scalade, Du
+Chatelet and his people being mettlesome; takes then to flinging
+shells, to burning the suburbs; Town itself catches fire,--Town plainly
+indefensible. 'Truce for one hour' proposes Du Chatelet (wishful to
+consult the covering General across the River): 'No,' answers Daun. So
+that Du Chatelet has to jumble and wriggle himself out of the place;
+courageous to the last; but not in a very Parthian fashion,--great
+difficulty to get his bridge ruined (very partially ruined), behind
+him;--and joins the covering General, in a flustery singed condition!
+Were not pursued farther by Daun:--and Prince Conti, Head General in
+those parts, called it a fine defence, on examining." [_Campagnes,_
+viii. 239; Espagnac, i. 187; Hormayr, iv. 82, 85.] Espagnac continues:--
+
+"On the 19th," after one rest-day, "Graf von Daun set out for Landau
+[still on the Iser, farther down; Baiern has ITS "Landau" too, and
+its "Landshut," both on this River], to seize Landau; which is another
+French place of strength. The Garrison defended themselves for some
+time; after which they retired over the River [left bank, or wrong side
+of the Iser, they too]; and set fire to the Bridge behind them. The fire
+of the Bridge caught the Town; Pandours helping it, as our people said;
+and Landau also was reduced to ashes."--Poor Landau, poor Dingelfingen,
+they cannot have the benefit of Louis XV.'s talent for governing
+Germany, quite gratis, it would appear!
+
+But where are the divine Emilie and Voltaire, that morning, while the
+Brigadier is in such taking? Sitting safe in "that dainty little palace
+of Madame's (PETIT PALAIS) at the point of the Isle de St. Louis,"
+intent on quite other adventures; disgusted with the slavish Forty and
+their methods of Election (of which by and by); and little thinking of
+M. le Brigadier and the dangers of war.--Prince de Conti praised the
+Brigadier's defence: but very soon, alas,--
+
+DEGGENDORF, 27th MAY. "Prince de Conti, at Deggendorf [other or north
+bank of the Donau, Head-quarters of Conti, which was thought to be well
+secured by batteries and defences on the steep heights to landward], was
+himself suddenly attacked, the tenth day hence, 'May 27th, at daybreak,'
+in a still more furious manner; and was tumbled out of Deggendorf amid
+whirlwinds of fire, in very flamy condition indeed. The Austrians,
+playing on us from the uplands with their heavy artillery, made a breach
+in our outmost battery: 'Not tenable!' exclaimed the Captain there:
+'This way, my men!'--and withdrew, like a shot, he and party; sliding
+down the steep face of the mountain [feet foremost, I hope], home to
+Deggendorf in this peculiar manner; leaving the AUSTRIANS to manage his
+guns. Our two lower batteries, ruled by this upper one, had now to be
+abandoned; and Conti ran, Bridge of the Town-ditch breaking under
+him; baggages, even to his own portmanteaus, all lost; and had a
+neck-and-neck race of it in getting to his Donau-Bridge, and across to
+the safe side. With loss of everything, we say,--personal baggage all
+included; which latter item, Prince Karl politely returned him next
+day." [Espagnac, p. 188.]
+
+Broglio, with Prince Karl in his bowels going at such a rate, may judge
+now whether it was wise to lie in that loose posture, scattered over two
+thousand square miles, and snort on his judicious Seckendorf's advices
+and urgencies as he did! Readers anticipate the issue; and shall not
+be wearied farther with detail. There are, as we said, Three Austrian
+Armies pressing on this luckless Bavaria and its French Protectors:
+Khevenhuller, from Salzburg and the southern quarter, pushing in his
+Dauns; Lobkowitz, hanging over us from the Ober-Pfalz (Naab-River
+Country) on the north; and Prince Karl, on one or sometimes on both
+sides of the Donau, pricking sharply into the rear of us; saying, by
+bayonets, burnt bridges, bomb-shells, "Off; swift; it will be better for
+you!" And Broglio has lost head, a mere whirlwind of flaming gases;
+and your ablest Comte de Saxe in such position, what can he do? Broglio
+writes to Versailles, That there will be no continuing in Bavaria; that
+he recommends an order to march homewards;--much to the surprise of
+Versailles.
+
+"The Court of Versailles was much astonished at the message it got from
+Broglio; Court of Versailles had always calculated that Broglio could
+keep Bavaria; and had gone into extensive measures for maintaining
+him there. Experienced old Marechal de Noailles has a new French Army,
+70,000 or more, assembled in the Upper Rhine for that and the cognate
+objects [of whom, more specially, anon]: Noailles, by order from Court,
+has detached 12,000, who are now marching their best, to reinforce
+Broglio;--and indeed the Court 'had already appointed the Generals and
+Staff-Officers for Broglio's Bavarian Army,' and gratified many men by
+promotions, which now went to smoke! [Espagnac, i. 190.]
+
+"Versailles, however, has to expedite the order: 'Come home, then.'
+Order or no order, Broglio's posts are all crackling off again, bursting
+aloft like a chain of powder-mines; Broglio is plunging head foremost,
+towards Donauworth, towards Ingolstadt, his place of arms; Seckendorf
+now welcome to join him, but unable to do anything when joined.
+Blustering Broglio has no steadfastness of mind; explodes like an
+inflammable body, in this crackling off of the posts, and becomes a
+mere whirlwind of flaming gases. Old snuffling Seckendorf, born to ill
+success in his old days, strong only in caution, how is he to quench or
+stay this crackling of the posts? Broglio blusters, reproaches, bullies;
+Seckendorf quarrels with him outright, as he may well do: 'JARNI-BLEU,
+such a delirious whirlwind of a Marechal; mere bickering flames and
+soot!'--and looks out chiefly to keep his own skin and that of his poor
+Bavarians whole.
+
+"The unhappy Kaiser has run from Munchen again, to Augsburg for some
+brief shelter; cannot stay there either, in the circumstances. Will
+he have to hurry back to Frankfurt, to bankruptcy and furnished
+lodgings,--nay to the Britannic Majesty's tender mercies, whose Army
+is now actually there? Those indignant prophesyings to Broglio, at the
+Schloss of Wolnzach, have so soon come true! And Broglio and the French
+are--what a staff to lean upon! Enough, the poor Kaiser, after doleful
+'Council of War held at Augsburg, June 25th,' does on the morrow make
+off for Frankfurt again:--whither else? Britannic Majesty's intentions,
+friends tell him, friend Wilhelm of Hessen tells him, are magnanimous;
+eager for Peace to Teutschland; hostile only to the French. Poor Karl
+took the road, June 26th;--and will find news on his arrival, or before
+it.
+
+"On which same day, 26th of June, as it chances, Broglio too has made
+his packages; left a garrison in Ingolstadt, garrison in Eger; and is
+ferrying across at Donauworth,--will see the Marlborough Schellenberg as
+he passes,--in full speed for the Rhine Countries, and the finis of
+this bad Business. [Adelung, iii. B. 152.] On the road, I believe at
+Donauworth itself, Noailles's 12,000, little foreseeing these retrograde
+events, met Broglio: 'Right about, you too!' orders Broglio; and speeds
+Rhineward not the less. And the same day of that ferrying at Donauworth,
+and of the Kaiser's setting out for Frankfurt, Seckendorf,--at
+Nieder-Schonfeld [an old Monastery near the Town of Rain, in those
+parts], the Kaiser being now safe away,--is making terms for himself
+with Khevenhuller and Prince Karl: 'Will lie quiet as mere REICHS-Army,
+almost as Troops of the Swabian Circle, over at Wembdingen there, in
+said circle, and be strictly neutral, if we can but get lived at all!'
+[Ib. iii. B, 153.] Seckendorf concludes on the morrow, 27th June;--which
+is elsewhere a memorable Day of Battle, as will be seen.
+
+"Broglio marched in Five Divisions [Du Chatelet in the Second Division,
+poor soul, which was led by Comte de Saxe]: [Espagnac, i. 198.] always
+in Five Divisions, swiftly, half a march apart; through the Wurtemberg
+Country;--lost much baggage, many stragglers; Tolpatcheries in multitude
+continually pricking at the skirts of him; Prince Karl following
+steadily, Rhine-wards also, a few marches behind. Here are omens to
+return with! 'But have you seen a retreat better managed?' thinks
+Broglio to himself:" that is one consoling circumstance.
+
+In this manner, then, has the Problem of Bavaria solved itself.
+Hungarian Majesty, in these weeks, was getting crowned in Prag; "Queen
+of Bohemia, I, not you; in the sight of Heaven and of Earth!" [Crowned
+12th May, 1743 (Adelung, iii. B, 128); "news of Prince Karl's having
+taken Braunau [incipiency of all these successes] had reached her that
+very morning."]--and was purifying her Bohemia: with some rigor (it is
+said), from foreign defacements, treasonous compliances and the like,
+which there had been. To see your Bavarian Kaiser, false King of
+Bohemia, your Broglio with his French, and the Bohemian-Bavarian
+Question in whole, all rolling Rhine-wards at their swiftest, with
+Prince Karl sticking in the skirts of them:--what a satisfaction to that
+high Lady!
+
+
+
+
+BRITANNIC MAJESTY, WITH SWORD ACTUALLY DRAWN, HAS MARCHED MEANWHILE
+TO THE FRANKFURT COUNTRIES, AS "PRAGMATIC ARMY;" READY FOR BATTLE AND
+TREATY ALIKE.
+
+Add to which fine set of results, simultaneously with them: His
+Britannic Majesty, third effort successful, has got his sword drawn,
+fairly out at last; and in the air is making horrid circles with
+it, ever since March last; nay does, he flatters himself, a very
+considerable slash with it, in this current month of June. Of which,
+though loath, we must now take some notice.
+
+The fact is, though Stair could not hoist the Dutch, and our
+double-quick Britannic heroism had to drop dead in consequence, Carteret
+has done it: Carteret himself rushed over in that crisis, a fiery
+emphatic man and chief minister, [Arrived at the Hague "5th October,
+1742" (Adelung, iii. A, 294).]--"eager to please his Master's humor!"
+said enemies. Yes, doubtless; but acting on his own turbid belief withal
+(says fact); and revolving big thoughts in his head, about bringing
+Friedrich over to the Cause of Liberty, giving French Ambition a
+lesson for once, and the like. Carteret strongly pulleying, "All hands,
+heave-oh!"--and, no doubt, those Maillebois-Broglio events from Prag
+assisting him,--did bring the High Mightinesses to their legs; still in
+a staggering splay-footed posture, but trying to steady themselves. That
+is to say, the High Mightinesses did agree to go with us in the Cause of
+Liberty; will now pay actual Subsidies to her Hungarian Majesty (at the
+rate of two for our three); and will add, so soon as humanly possible,
+20,000 men to those wind-bound 40,000 of ours;--which latter shall now
+therefore, at once, as "Pragmatic Army" (that is the term fixed on),
+get on march, Frankfurt way; and strike home upon the French and other
+enemies of Pragmatic Sanction. This is what Noailles has been looking
+for, this good while, and diligently adjusting himself, in those
+Middle-Rhine Countries, to give account of.
+
+Pragmatic Army lifted itself accordingly,--Stair, and the most of
+his English, from Ghent, where the wearisome Head-quarters had been;
+Hanoverians, Hessians, from we will forget where;--and in various
+streaks and streams, certain Austrians from Luxemburg (with our old
+friend Neipperg in company) having joined them, are flowing Rhine-ward
+ever since March 1st. ["February 18th," o.s. (Old Newspapers).] They
+cross the Rhine at three suitable points; whence, by the north bank,
+home upon Frankfurt Country, and the Noailles-Broglio operations in
+those parts. The English crossed "at Neuwied, in the end of April" (if
+anybody is curious); "Lord Stair in person superintending them." Lord
+Stair has been much about, and a most busy person; General-in-Chief of
+the Pragmatic Army till his Britannic Majesty arrive. Generalissimo Lord
+Stair; and there is General Clayton, General Ligonier, "General Heywood
+left with the Reserve at Brussels:"--and, from the ashes of the
+Old Newspapers, the main stages and particulars of this surprising
+Expedition (England marching as Pragmatic Army into distant parts)
+can be riddled out; though they require mostly to be flung in again.
+Shocking weather on the march, mere Boreas and icy tempests; snow in
+some places two feet deep; Rhine much swollen, when we come to it.
+
+The Austrian Chief General--who lies about Wiesbaden, and consults with
+Stair, while the English are crossing--is Duke d'Ahremberg (Father of
+the Prince de Ligne, or "Prince of Coxcombs" as some call him): little
+or nothing of military skill in D'Ahremberg; but Neipperg is thought
+to have given much counsel, such as it was. With the Hessians there was
+some difficulty; hesitation on Landgraf Wilhelm's part; who pities the
+poor Kaiser, and would fain see him back at Frankfurt, and awaken the
+Britannic magnanimities for him. "To Frankfurt, say you? We cannot fight
+against the Kaiser!"--and they had to be left behind, for some time; but
+at length did come on, though late for business, as it chanced. General
+of these Hessians is Prince George of Hessen, worthy stout gentleman,
+whom Wilhelmina met at the Frankfurt Gayeties lately. George's elder
+Brother Wilhelm is Manager or Vice-Landgraf, this long while back;
+and in seven or eight years hence became, as had been expected, actual
+Landgraf (old King of Sweden dying childless);--of which Wilhelm we
+shall have to hear, at Hanau (a Town of his in those parts), and perhaps
+slightly elsewhere, in the course of this business. A fat, just man, he
+too; probably somewhat iracund; not without troubles in his House.
+His eldest Son, Heir-Apparent of Hessen, let me remind readers, has an
+English Princess to Wife; Princess Mary, King George's Daughter, wedded
+two years ago. That, added to the Subsidies, is surely a point of
+union;--though again there may such discrepancies rise! A good while
+after this, the eldest Son becoming Catholic (foolish wretch), to the
+horror of Papa,--there rose still other noises in the world, about
+Hessen and its Landgraves. Of good Prince George, who doubtless attended
+in War Councils, but probably said little, we hope to hear nothing more
+whatever.
+
+From Neuwied to Frankfurt is but a few days' march for the Pragmatic
+Army; in a direct line, not sixty miles. Frankfurt itself, which is a
+REICHS-STADT (Imperial City), they must not enter: "Fear not, City or
+Country!" writes Stair to it: "We come as saviors, pacificators, hostile
+to your enemies and disturbers only; we understand discipline and the
+Laws of the Reich, and will pay for everything." [Letter itself, of
+brief magnanimous strain, in _Campagnes de Noailles,_ i. 127; date
+"Neuwied, 26th April, 1743" (Adelung, iii. B, 114).] For the rest, they
+are in no hurry. They linger in that Frankfurt-Mainz region, all through
+the month of May; not unobservant of Noailles and his movements, if he
+made any; but occupied chiefly with gathering provisions; forming, with
+difficulty, a Magazine in Hanau. "What they intended: or intend, by
+coming hither?" asks the Public everywhere: "To go into the Donau
+Countries, and enclose Broglio between two fires?" That had been,
+and was still, Stair's fine idea; but D'Ahremberg had disapproved the
+methods. D'Ahremberg, it seems, is rather given to opposing Stair;--and
+there rise uncertainties, in this Pragmatic Army: certain only hitherto
+the Magazine in Hanau. And in secret, it afterwards appeared, the
+immediate real errand of this Pragmatic Army had lain--in the Chapter of
+Mainz Cathedral, and an Election that was going on there.
+
+The old Kur-Mainz, namely, had just died; and there was a new "Chief
+Spiritual Kurfurst" to be elected by the Canons there. Kur-Mainz is
+Chairman of the Reich, an important personage, analogous to Speaker of
+the House of Commons; and ought to be,--by no means the Kaiser's young
+Brother, as the French and Kaiser are proposing; but a man with Austrian
+leanings;--say, Graf von Ostein, titular DOM-CUSTOS (Cathedral Keeper)
+here; lately Ambassador in London, and known in select society for what
+he is. Not much of an Archbishop, of a Spiritual or Chief Spiritual Herr
+hitherto; but capable of being made one,--were the Pragmatic Army at his
+elbow! It was on this errand that the Pragmatic Army had come hither,
+or come so early, and with their plans still unripe. And truly they
+succeeded; got their Ostein chosen to their mind: ["21st March, 1743,"
+Mainz vacant; "22d April," Ostein elected (Adelung, iii. B, 113, 121).]
+a new Kur-Mainz,--whose leanings and procedures were very manifest in
+the sequel, and some of them important before long. This was always
+reckoned one result of his Britannic Majesty's Pragmatic Campaign;--and
+truly some think it was, in strict arithmetic, the only one, though that
+is far from his Majesty's own opinion.
+
+
+
+
+FRIEDRICH HAS OBJECTIONS TO THE PRAGMATIC ARMY; BUT IN VAIN. OF
+FRIEDRICH'S MANY ENDEAVORS TO QUENCH THIS WAR, BY "UNION OF INDEPENDENT
+GERMAN PRINCES," BY "MEDIATION OF THE REICH," AND OTHERWISE; ALL IN
+VAIN.
+
+Friedrich, at an early stage, had inquired of his Britannic Majesty,
+politely but with emphasis, "What in the world he meant, then, by
+invading the German Reich; leading foreign Armies into the Reich: in
+this unauthorized manner?" To which the Britannic Majesty had answered,
+with what vague argument of words we will not ask, but with a look
+that we can fancy,--look that would split a pitcher, as the Irish say!
+Friedrich persisted to call it an Invasion of the German Reich; and
+spoke, at first, of flatly opposing it by a Reich's Army (30,000, or
+even 50,000, for Brandenburg's contingent, in such case); but as the
+poor Reich took no notice, and the Britannic Majesty was positive,
+Friedrich had to content himself with protest for the present.
+[Friedrich's Remonstrance and George's Response are in _Adelung,_ iii.
+B, 132 (date, "March, 1743"); date of Friedrich's first stirring in the
+matter is "January, 1743," and earlier (ib. p. 37, p. 8, &c.).]
+
+The exertions of Friedrich to bring about a Peace, or at least to
+diminish, not increase, the disturbance, are forgotten now; wearisome
+to think of, as they did not produce the smallest result; but they have
+been incessant and zealous, as those of a man to quench the fire which
+is still raging in his street, and from which he himself is just saved.
+"Cannot the Reich be roused for settlement of this Bavarian-Austrian
+quarrel?" thought Friedrich always. And spent a great deal of earnest
+endeavor in that direction; wished a Reich's ARMY OF MEDIATION; "to
+which I will myself furnish 30,000; 50,000, if needed." Reich, alas! The
+Reich is a horse fallen down to die,--no use spurring at the Reich; it
+cannot, for many months, on Friedrich's Proposal (though the question
+was far from new, and "had been two years on hand"), come to the
+decision, "Well then, yes; the Reich WILL try to moderate and mediate:"
+and as for a Reich's Mediation-ARMY, or any practical step at all [The
+question had been started, "in August, 1741," by the Kaiser himself;
+"11th March, 1743," again urged by him, after Friedrich's offer; "10th
+May, 1743," "Yes, then, we will try; but--" and the result continued
+zero.]--!
+
+"Is not Germany, are not all the German Princes, interested to have
+Peace?" thinks Friedrich. "A union of the independent German Princes to
+recommend Peace, and even with hand on sword-hilt to command it; that
+would be the method of producing Treaty of Peace!" thinks he always. And
+is greatly set on that method; which, we find, has been, and continues
+to be, the soul of his many efforts in this matter. A fact to be
+noted. Long poring in those mournful imbroglios of Dryasdust, where the
+fraction of living and important welters overwhelmed by wildernesses of
+the dead and nugatory, one at length disengages this fact; and readers
+may take it along with them, for it proves illuminative of Friedrich's
+procedures now and afterwards. A fixed notion of Friedrich's, this of
+German Princes "uniting," when the common dangers become flagrant; a
+very lively notion with him at present. He will himself cheerfully take
+the lead in such Union, but he must not venture alone. [See Adelung,
+iii. A and B, passim; Valori, i. 178; &c. &c.]
+
+The Reich, when appealed to, with such degree of emphasis, in this
+matter,--we see how the Reich has responded! Later on, Friedrich tried
+"the Swabian Circle" (chief scene of these Austrian-Bavarian tusslings);
+which has, like the other Circles, a kind of parliament, and pretends
+to be a political unity of some sort. "Cannot the Swabian Circle,
+or Swabian and Frankish joined (to which one might declare oneself
+PROTECTOR, in such case), order their own Captains, with military force
+of their own, say 20,000 men, to rank on the Frontier; and to inform
+peremptorily all belligerents and tumultuous persons, French, Bavarian,
+English, Austrian: 'No thoroughfare; we tell you, No admittance here!'"
+Friedrich, disappointed of the Reich, had taken up that smaller notion:
+and he spent a good deal of endeavor on that too,--of which we may
+see some glimpse, as we proceed. But it proves all futile. The Swabian
+Circle too is a moribund horse; all these horses dead or moribund.
+
+Friedrich, of course, has thought much what kind of Peace could be
+offered by a mediating party. The Kaiser has lost his Bavaria: yet he is
+the Kaiser, and must have a living granted him as such. Compensations,
+aspirations, claims of territory; these will be manifold! These are a
+world of floating vapor, of greed, of anger, idle pretension: but within
+all these there are the real necessities; what the case does require,
+if it is ever to be settled! Friedrich discerns this Austrian-Bavarian
+necessity of compensation; of new land to cut upon. And where is that to
+come from!
+
+In January last, Friedrich, intensely meditating this business, had
+in private a bright-enough idea: That of secularizing those so-called
+Sovereign Bishoprics, Austrian-Bavarian by locality and nature, Passau,
+Salzburg, Regensburg, idle opulent territories, with functions absurd
+not useful;--and of therefrom cutting compensation to right and to left.
+This notion he, by obscure channels, put into the head of Baron von
+Haslang, Bavarian Ambassador at London; where it germinated rapidly,
+and came to fruit;--was officially submitted to Lord Carteret in his
+own house, in two highly artistic forms, one evening;--and sets
+the Diplomatic Heads all wagging upon it. [Adelung, iii. B, 84, 90,
+"January-March, 1743."] With great hope, at one time; till rumor of it
+got abroad into the Orthodox imagination, into the Gazetteer world; and
+raised such a clamor, in those months, as seldom was. "Secularize, Hah!
+One sees the devilish heathen spirit of you; and what kind of Kaiser, on
+the religious side, we now have the happiness of having!" So that
+Kaiser Karl had to deny utterly, "Never heard of such a thing!" Carteret
+himself had, in politeness, to deny; much more, and for dire cause, had
+Haslang himself, over the belly of facts, "Never in my dreams, I tell
+you!"--and to get ambiguous certificate from Carteret, which the simple
+could interpret to that effect. [Carteret's Letter (ibid. iii, B, 190).]
+
+It was only in whispers that the name of Friedrich was connected with
+this fine scheme; and all parties were glad to get it soon buried again.
+A bright idea; but had come a century too soon. Of another Carteret
+Negotiation with Kaiser Karl, famed as "Conferences of Hanau," which had
+almost come to be a Treaty, but did not; and then, failing that, of
+a famous Carteret "Treaty of Worms," which did come to perfection, in
+these same localities shortly afterwards; and which were infinitely
+interesting to our Friedrich, both the Treaty and the Failure of the
+Treaty,--we propose to speak elsewhere, in due time.
+
+As to Friedrich's own endeavors and industries, at Regensburg and
+elsewhere, for effective mediation of Peace; for the Reich to mediate,
+and have "Army of Mediation;" for a "Union of Swabian Circles" to do it;
+for this and then for that to do it;--as to Friedrich's own efforts and
+strugglings that way, in all likely and in some unlikely quarters,--they
+were, and continued to be, earnest, incessant; but without result. Like
+the spurring of horses really DEAD some time ago! Of which no reader
+wishes the details, though the fact has to be remembered. And so, with
+slight indication for Friedrich's sake,--being intent on the stage of
+events,--we must leave that shadowy hypothetic region, as a wood in
+the background; the much foliage and many twigs and boughs of which do
+authentically TAKE the trouble to be there, though we have to paint it
+in this summary manner.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter V.--BRITANNIC MAJESTY FIGHTS HIS BATTLE OF DETTINGEN; AND
+BECOMES SUPREME JOVE OF GERMANY, IN A MANNER.
+
+Brittanic Majesty with his Yarmouth, and martial Prince of Cumberland,
+arrived at Hanover May 15th; soon followed by Carteret from the Hague:
+[_Biographia Britannica_ (Kippin's,? Carteret), iii. 277.] a Majesty
+prepared now for battle and for treaty alike; kind of earthly Jove,
+Arbiter of Nations, or victorious Hercules of the Pragmatic, the sublime
+little man. At Herrenhausen he has a fine time; grandly fugling about;
+negotiating with Wilhelm of Hessen and others; commanding his Pragmatic
+Army from the distance: and then at last, dashing off rather in haste,
+he--It is well known what enigmatic Exploit he did, at least the Name of
+it is well known! Here, from the Imbroglios, is a rough Account; parts
+of which are introducible for the sake of English readers.
+
+
+
+
+BATTLE OF DETTINGEN.
+
+"After some five leisurely weeks in Herrenhausen, George II. (now an old
+gentleman of sixty), with his martial Fat Boy the Duke of Cumberland,
+and Lord Carteret his Diplomatist-in-Chief, quitted that pleasant
+sojourn, rather on a sudden, for the actual Seat of War. By speedy
+journeys they got to Frankfurt Country; to Hanau, June 19th;
+whence, still up the Mayn, twenty or thirty miles farther up, to
+Aschaffenburg,--where the Pragmatic Army, after some dangerous
+manoeuvring on the opposite or south bank of the River, has lain
+encamped some days, and is in questionable posture. Whither his Majesty
+in person has hastened up. And truly, if his Majesty's head contain any
+good counsel, there is great need of it here just now.
+
+"Captains and men were impatient of that long loitering, hanging idle
+about Frankfurt all through May; and they have at length started real
+business,--with more valor than discretion, it is feared. They are some
+40 or 44,000 strong: English 16,000; Hanoverians the like number; and of
+Austrians [by theory 20,000], say, in effect, 12,000 or even 8,000: all
+paid by England. They have Hanau for Magazine; they have rearguard of
+12,000 [the 6,000 Hessians, and 6,000 new Hanoverians], who at last
+are actually on march thither, near arriving there: 'Forward!' said the
+Captaincy [said Stair, chiefly, it was thought]: 'Shall the whole summer
+waste itself to no purpose?'--and are up the River thus far, not on the
+most considerate terms.
+
+"What this Pragmatic Army means to do? That is, and has been, a great
+question for all the world; especially for Noailles and the French,--not
+to say, for the Pragmatic itself! 'Get into Lorraine?' think the French:
+'Get into Alsace, and wrest it from us, for behoof of her Hungarian
+Majesty,'--plundered goods, which indeed belong to the Reich and her,
+in a sense! ELS-SASS (Alsace, OUTER-seat), with its ROAD-Fortress
+(STRASburg) plundered from the Holy Romish Reich by Louis XIV., in a way
+no one can forget; actually plundered, as if by highway robbery, or
+by highway robbery and attorneyism combined, on the part of that
+great Sovereign. 'To Strasburg? To Lorraine perhaps? Or to the Three
+Bishoprics'" (Metz, Toul, Verdun:--readers recollect that Siege of
+Metz, which broke the great heart of Karl V.? Who raged and fired as man
+seldom did, with 50,000 men, against Guise and the intrusive French, for
+six weeks; sound of his cannon heard at Strasburg on winter nights, 300
+years ago: to no purpose; for his Captains of the Siege, after trial and
+second trial, solemnly shook their heads; and the great Kaiser, breaking
+into tears, had to raise the Siege of Metz; and went his way, never to
+smile more in this world: and Metz, and Toul, and Verdun, remain with
+the French ever since):--"To the Three Bishoprics, possibly enough!"
+
+"'Or they may purpose for the Donau Countries, where Broglio is
+crackling off like trains of gunpowder; and lend hand to Prince Karl,
+thereby enclosing Broglio fires?' This, according to present aspects, is
+between two the likeliest. And perhaps, had provenders and arrangements
+been made beforehand for such a march, this had been the feasiblest:
+and, to my own notion, it was some wild hope of doing this without
+provenders or prearrangements that had brought the Pragmatic into its
+present quarters at Aschaffenburg, which are for the military mind a
+mystery to this day.
+
+"Early in the Spring, the French Government had equipped Noailles
+with 70,000 men, to keep watch, and patrol about, in the Rhine-Mayn
+Countries, and look into those points. Which he has been vigilantly
+doing,--posted of late on the south or left bank of the Mayn;--and is
+especially vigilant, since June 14th, when the Pragmatic Army got on
+march, across the Mayn at Hochst; and took to offering him battle,
+on his own south side of the River. Noailles--though his Force [still
+58,000, after that Broglio Detachment of 12,000] was greatly the
+stronger--would not fight; preferred cutting off the Enemy's supplies,
+capturing his river-boats, provision-convoys from Hanau, and settling
+him by hunger, as the cheaper method. Impetuous Stair was thwarted, by
+flat protest of his German colleagues, especially by D'Ahremberg, in
+FORCING battle on those rash terms: 'We Austrians absolutely will not!'
+said D'Ahremberg at last, and withdrew, or was withdrawing, he for his
+part, across the River again. So that Stair also was obliged to recross
+the River, in indignant humor; and now lies at Aschaffenburg, suffering
+the sad alternative, short diet namely, which will end in famine soon,
+if these counsels prevail.
+
+"Stair and D'Ahremberg do not well accord in their opinions; nor, it
+seems, is anybody in particular absolute Chief; there are likewise heats
+and jealousies between the Hanoverian and the English troops ('Are not
+we come for all your goods?' 'Yes, damn you, and for all our chattels
+too!')--and withal it is frightfully uncertain whether a high degree of
+intellect presides over these 44,000 fighting men, which may lead them
+to something, or a low degree, which can only lead them to nothing!--The
+blame is all laid on Stair; 'too rash,' they say. Possibly enough, too
+rash. And possibly enough withal, even to a sound military judgment, in
+such unutterable puddle of jarring imbecilities, 'rashness,' headlong
+courage, offered the one chance there was of success? Who knows, had all
+the 44,000 been as rash as Stair and his English, but luck, and sheer
+hard fighting, might have favored him, as skill could not, in those
+sad circumstances! Stair's plan was, 'Beat Noailles, and you have done
+everything: provisions, opulent new regions, and all else shall be added
+to you!' Stair's plan might have answered,--had Stair been the master to
+execute it; which he was not. D'Ahremberg's also, who protested, 'Wait
+till your 12,000 join, and you have your provisions,' was the orthodox
+plan, and might have much to say for itself. But the two plans
+collapsing into one,--that was the clearly fatal method! Magnanimous
+Stair never made the least explanation, to an undiscerning Public or
+Parliament; wrapt himself in strict silence, and accepted in a grand way
+what had come to him. [His Papers, to voluminous extent, are still in
+the Family Archives;--not inaccessible, I think, were the right student
+of them (who would be a rare article among us!) to turn up.] Clear it
+is, the Pragmatic Army had come across again, at Aschaffenburg,
+Sunday, June 16th; and was found there by his Majesty on the Wednesday
+following, with its two internecine plans fallen into mutual death; a
+Pragmatic Army in truly dangerous circumstances.
+
+"The English who were in and round Aschaffenburg itself, Hanoverians
+and Austrians encamping farther down, had put a battery on the Bridge of
+Aschaffenburg; hoping to be able to forage thereby on the other side of
+the Mayn. Whereupon Noailles had instantly clapt a redoubt, under
+due cover of a Wood, at his end of the Bridge, 'No passage this way,
+gentlemen, except into the cannon's throat!'--so that Marshal Stair,
+reconnoitring that way, 'had his hat shot off,' and rapidly drew back
+again. Nay, before long, Noailles, at the Village of Seligenstadt, some
+eight miles farther down, throws two wooden or pontoon bridges
+over; [Sketch of Plan at p. 257.] can bring his whole Army across at
+Seligenstadt; prohibits all manner of supply to us from Hanau or our
+Magazines by his arrangement there:"--(Notable little Seligenstadt,
+"City of the Blessed;" where Eginhart and Emma, ever since Charlemagne's
+time, lie waiting the Resurrection; that is the place of these Noailles
+contrivances!)--"Furthermore, we learn, Noailles has seized a post
+twenty miles farther up the river (Miltenberg the name of it); and will
+prevent supplies from coming down to us out of Branken or the Neckar
+Country. We had forgotten, or our COLLAPSE of plans had done it, that
+'an army moves on its stomach' (as the King of Prussia says), and that
+we have nothing to live upon in these parts!
+
+"Such has the unfortunate fact turned out to be, when Britannic Majesty
+arrives; and it can now be discovered clearly, by any eyes, however flat
+to the head. And a terrible fact it is. Discordant Generals accuse one
+another; hungry soldiers cannot be kept from plundering: for the horses
+there is unripe rye in quantity; but what is there for the men? My poor
+traditionary friends, of the Grey Dragoons, were wont (I have heard)
+to be heart-rending on this point, in after years! Famine being urgent,
+discipline is not possible, nor existence itself. For a week longer,
+George, rather in obstinate hope than with any reasonable plan or
+exertion, still tries it; finds, after repeated Councils of War, that
+he will have to give it up, and go back to Hanau where his living
+is. Wednesday night, 26th June, 1743, that is the final resolution,
+inevitably come upon, without argument: and about one on Thursday
+morning, the Army (in two columns, Austrians to vanward well away from
+the River, English as rear-guard close on it) gets in motion to execute
+said resolution,--if the Army can.
+
+"If the Army can: but that is like to be a formidably difficult
+business; with a Noailles watching every step of you, to-day and for
+ten days back, in these sad circumstances. Eyes in him like a lynx, they
+say; and great skill in war, only too cautious. Hardly is the Army gone
+from Aschaffenburg, when Noailles, pushing across by the Bridge, seizes
+that post,--no retreat now for us thitherward. His Majesty, who marches
+in the rear division, has happily some artillery with him; repels the
+assaults from behind, which might have been more serious otherwise. As
+it is, there play cannon across the River upon him:--Why not bend to
+right, and get out of range, asks the reader? The Spessart Hills rise,
+high and woody, on the right; and there is in many places no marching
+except within range. Noailles has Five effective Batteries, at the
+various good points, on his side of the River:--and that is nothing to
+what he has got ready for us, were we once at Dettingen, within wind
+of his Two Bridges a little beyond! Noailles has us in a perfect
+mouse-trap, SOURICIERE as he felinely calls it; and calculates on having
+annihilation ready for us at Dettingen.
+
+"Dettingen, short way above those Pontoons at Seligenstadt, is near
+eight miles westward [NORTHwestward, but let us use the briefer term]
+from Aschaffenburg: Dettingen is a poor peasant Village, of some size,
+close on the Mayn, and on our side of it. A Brook, coming down from the
+Spessart Mountains, falls into the Mayn there; having formed for itself,
+there and upwards, a considerable dell or hollow way; chiefly on the
+western or right bank of which stands the Village with its barnyards and
+piggeries: on both sides of the great High-road, which here crosses
+the Brook, and will lead you to Hanau twenty miles off,--or back to
+Aschaffenburg, and even to Nurnberg and the Donau Countries, if you
+persevere. Except that of the high-road, Dettingen Brook has no bridge.
+Above the Village, after coming from the Mountains, the banks of it are
+boggy; especially the western bank, which spreads out into a scrubby
+waste of moor, for some good space. In which scrubby moor, as elsewhere
+in this dell or hollow way itself, where the Village hangs, with its
+hedges, piggeries, colegarths,--there is like to be bad enough marching
+for a column of men! Noailles, as we said, has Two Bridges thrown across
+the Mayn, just below; and the last of his Five Batteries, from the other
+side, will command Dettingen. His plan of operation is this:--
+
+"By these Bridges he has passed 24,000 horse and foot across the River,
+under his Nephew the chivalrous Duke of Grammont: these, with due
+artillery and equipment, are to occupy the Village; and to rank
+themselves in battle-order to leftward of it, on the moor just
+mentioned,--well behind that hollow way, with its brook and bogs;--and,
+one thing they must note well, Not to stir from that position, till
+the English columns have got fairly into said hollow way and brook
+of Dettingen, and are plunging more or less distractedly across the
+entanglements there. With cannon on their left flank, and such a gullet
+to pass through, one may hope they will be in rather an attackable
+condition. Across that gullet it is our intention they shall never get.
+How can they, if Grammont do his duty?
+
+"This is Noailles's plan; one of the prettiest imaginable, say
+military men,--had the execution but corresponded. Noailles had seized
+Aschaffenburg, so soon as the English were out of it; Noailles, from his
+batteries beyond the River, salutes the English march with continuous
+shot and thunder, which is very discomposing: he sees confidently
+a really fair likelihood of capturing the Britannic Majesty and his
+Pragmatic Army, unless they prefer to die on the ground. Seldom, since
+that of the Caudine Forks, did any Army, by ill-luck and ill-guidance,
+get into such a pinfold,--death or flat surrender seemingly their one
+alternative.
+
+"Thus march these English, that dewy morning, Thursday, June 27th, 1743,
+with cannon playing on their left flank; and such a fate ahead of them,
+had they known it;--very short of breakfast, too, for most part. But
+they have one fine quality, and Britannic George, like all his Welf race
+from Henry the Lion down to these days, has it in an eminent degree:
+they are not easily put into flurry, into fear. In all Welf Sovereigns,
+and generally in Teuton Populations, on that side of the Channel or
+on this, there is the requisite unconscious substratum of taciturn
+inexpugnability, with depths of potential rage almost unquenchable, to
+be found when you apply for it. Which quality will much stead them on
+the present occasion: and, indeed, it is perhaps strengthened by their
+'stupidity' itself, what neighbors call their 'stupidity;'--want of idle
+imagining, idle flurrying, nay want even of knowing, is not one of the
+worst qualities just now! They tramp on, paying a minimum of attention
+to the cannon; ignorant of what is ahead; hoping only it may be
+breakfast, in some form, before the day quite terminate. The day
+is still young, hardly 8 o'clock, when their advanced parties find
+Dettingen beset; find a whole French Army drawn up, on the scrubby moor
+there; and come galloping back with this interesting bit of news! Pause
+hereupon; much consulting; in fact, endless hithering and thithering,
+the affair being knotty: 'Fight, YES, now at last! But how?' Impetuous
+Stair was not wanting to himself; Neipperg too, they say, was useful
+with advice; D'Ahremberg, I should imagine, good for little.
+
+"Some six hours followed of thrice-intricate deploying, planting of
+field-pieces, counter-batteries; ranking, re-ranking, shuffling hither
+and then thither of horse and foot; Noailles's cannonade proceeding all
+the while; the English, still considerably exposed to it, and standing
+it like stones; chivalrous Grammont, and with better reason the English,
+much wishing these preliminaries were done. A difficult business, that
+of deploying here. The Pragmatic had no room, jammed so against the
+Spessart Hills, and obliged to lean FROM the River and Noailles's
+cannon; had to rank itself in six, some say in eight lines; horse behind
+foot, as well as on flank; unsatisfactory to the military mind: and I
+think had not done shuffling and re-shuffling at 2 P.M.,--when the
+Enemy came bursting on, with a peremptory finish to it, 'Enough of
+that, MESSIEUR'S LES ANGLAIS!' 'Too much of it, a great deal!' thought
+Messieurs grimly, in response. And there ensued a really furious
+clash of host against host; French chivalry (MAISON DU ROI, Black
+Mousquetaires, the Flower of their Horse regiments) dashing, in right
+Gallic frenzy, on their natural enemies,--on the English, that is; who,
+I find, were mainly on the left wing there, horse and foot; and had
+mainly (the Austrians and they, very mainly) the work to do;--and did,
+with an effort, and luck helping, manage to do it.
+
+"'Grammont breaks orders! Thrice-blamable Grammont!' exclaim Noailles
+and others, sorrowfully wringing their hands. Even so! Grammont had
+waited seven mortal hours; one's courage burning all the while, courage
+perhaps rather burning down,--and not the least use coming of if.
+Grammont had, in natural impatience, gradually edged forward; and, in
+the end, was being cannonaded and pricked into by the Enemy;--and did at
+last, with his MAISON-DU-ROI, dash across that essential Hollow Way, and
+plunge in upon them on their own side of it. And 'the, English foot gave
+their volley too soon;' ad Grammont did, in effect, partly repulse and
+disorder the front ranks of them; and, blazing up uncontrollable, at
+sight of those first ranks in disorder, did press home upon them more
+and more; get wholly into the affair, bringing on his Infantry as well:
+'Let us finish it wholly, now that our hand is in!'--and took one cannon
+from the Enemy; and did other feats.
+
+"So furious was that first charge of his; 'MAISON-DU-ROI covering itself
+with glory,'--for a short while. MAISON-DU-ROI broke three lines of the
+Enemy [three, not "Five"]; did in some places actually break through; in
+others 'could not, but galloped along the front.' Three of their lines:
+but the fourth line would not break; much the contrary, it advanced
+(Austrians and English) with steady fire, hotter and hotter: upon this
+fourth line MAISON-DU-ROI had, itself, to break, pretty much altogether,
+and rush home again, in ruinous condition. 'Our front lines made lanes
+for them; terribly maltreating them with musketry on right and left, as
+they galloped through.' And this was the end of Grammont's successes,
+this charge of horse; for his infantry had no luck anywhere; and the
+essential crisis of the Battle had been here. It continued still a good
+while; plenty of cannonading, fusillading, but in sporadic detached
+form; a confused series of small shocks and knocks; which were mostly,
+or all, unfortunate for Grammont; and which at length knocked him quite
+off the field. 'He was now interlaced with the English,' moans Noailles;
+'so that my cannon, not to shoot Grammont as well as the English, had to
+cease firing!' Well, yes, that is true, M. le Marechal; but that is not
+so important as you would have it. The English had stood nine hours in
+this fire of yours; by degrees, leaning well away from it; answering
+it with counter-batteries;--and were not yet ruined by it, when the
+Grammont crisis came! Noailles should have dashed fresh troops across
+his Bridges, and tried to handle them well. Noailles did not do that; or
+do anything but wring his hands.
+
+"The Fight lasted four hours; ever hotter on the English part, ever less
+hot on the French [fire of anthracite-coal VERSUS flame of dry wood,
+which latter at last sinks ASHY!]--and ended in total defeat of the
+French. The French Infantry by no means behaved as their Cavalry had
+done. The GARDES FRANCAISES [fire burning ashy, after seven hours of
+flaming], when Grammont ordered them up to take the English in flank,
+would hardly come on at all, or stand one push. They threw away their
+arms, and plunged into the River, like a drove of swimmers; getting
+drowned in great numbers. So that their comrades nicknamed them 'CANARDS
+DU MEIN (Ducks of the Mayn):' and in English mess-rooms, there went
+afterwards a saying: 'The French had, in reality, Three Bridges; one of
+them NOT wooden, and carpeted with blue cloth!' Such the wit of military
+mankind.
+
+"... The English, it appears, did something by mere shouting. Partial
+huzzas and counter-huzzas between the Infantries were going on at one
+time, when Stair happened to gallop up: 'Stop that,' said Stair; 'let
+us do it right. Silence; then, One and all, when I give you signal!'
+And Stair, at the right moment, lifting his hat, there burst out such
+a thunder-growl, edged with melodious ire in alt, as quite seemed
+to strike a damp into the French, says my authority, 'and they never
+shouted more.... Our ground in many parts was under rye,' hedgeless
+fields of rye, chief grain-crop of that sandy country. 'We had already
+wasted above 120,000 acres of it,' still in the unripe state, so hungry
+were we, man and horse, 'since crossing to Aschaffenburg;'--fighting for
+your Cause of Liberty, ye benighted ones!
+
+"King Friedrich's private accounts, deformed by ridicule, are, That the
+Britannic Majesty, his respectable old Uncle, finding the French there
+barring his way to breakfast, understood simply that there must and
+should be fighting, of the toughest; but had no plan or counsel farther:
+that he did at first ride up, to see what was what with his own eyes;
+but that his horse ran away with him, frightened at the cannon; upon
+which he hastily got down; drew sword; put himself at the head of his
+Hanoverian Infantry [on the right wing], and stood,--left foot
+drawn back, sword pushed out, in the form of a fencing-master doing
+lunge,--steadily in that defensive attitude, inexpugnable like the
+rocks, till all was over, and victory gained. This is defaced by the
+spirit of ridicule, and not quite correct. Britannic Majesty's horse
+[one of those 500 fine animals] did, it is certain, at last dangerously
+run away with him; upon which he took to his feet and his Hanoverians.
+But he had been repeatedly on horseback, in the earlier stages;
+galloping about, to look with his own eyes, could they have availed him;
+and was heard encouraging his people, and speaking even in the English
+language, 'Steady, my boys; fire, my brave boys, give them fire; they
+will soon run!' [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ (iii. 14): compare Anonymous,
+_Life of the Duke of Cumberland_ (p. 64 n.); Henderson's LIFE of ditto;
+&c.] Latterly, there can be no doubt, he stands [and to our imagination,
+he may fitly stand throughout] in the above attitude of lunge; no fear
+in him, and no plan; 'SANS PEUR ET SANS AVIS,' as me might term it. Like
+a real Hanoverian Sovereign of England; like England itself, and its
+ways in those German Wars. A typical epitome of long sections of English
+History, that attitude of lunge!--
+
+"The English Officers also, it is evident, behaved in their usual
+way:--without knowledge of war, without fear of death, or regard to
+utmost peril or difficulty; cheering their men, and keeping them steady
+upon the throats of the French, so far as might be. And always, after
+that first stumble with the French Horse was mended, they kept gaining
+ground, thrusting back the Enemy, not over the Dettingen Brook and
+Moor-ground only, but, knock after knock, out of his woody or other
+coverts, back and ever back, towards Welzheim, Kahl, and those Two
+Bridges of his. The flamy French [ligneous fire burning lower and lower,
+VERSUS anthracitic glowing brighter and brighter] found that they had
+a bad time of it;--found, in fact, that they could not stand it; and
+tumbled finally, in great torrents, across their Bridges on the Mayn,
+many leaping into the River, the English sitting dreadfully on the
+skirts of them. So that had the English had their Cavalry in readiness
+to pursue, Noailles's Army, in the humor it had sunk to, was ruined, and
+the Victory would have been conspicuously great. But they had, as too
+common, nothing ready. Impetuous Stair strove to get ready; "pushed out
+the Grey Dragoons" for one item. But the Authorities refused Stair's
+counsel, as rash again; and made no effectual pursuit at all;--too glad
+that they had brushed their Battle-field triumphantly clear, and got out
+of that fatal pinfold in an honorable manner.
+
+MAP: BOOK XIV, Chap V, page 257 GOES HERE--------------------------
+
+"They stayed on the ground till 10 at night; settling, or trying to
+settle, many things. The Surgeons were busy as bees, but able for
+Officers only;--'Dress HIM first!' said the glorious Duke of Cumberland,
+pointing to a young Frenchman [Excellency Fenelon's Son, grand-nephew
+of TELEMAQUE] who was worse wounded than his Highness. Quite in the
+Philip-Sydney fashion; which was much taken notice of. 'All this while,
+we had next to nothing to eat' (says one informant).--Ten P.M.: after
+which, leaving a polite Letter to Noailles, 'That he would take care of
+our Wounded, and bury our Slain as well as his own,' we march [through a
+pour of rain] to Hanau, where our victuals are, and 12,000 new Hessians
+and Hanoverians by this time.
+
+"Noailles politely bandaged the Wounded, buried the Dead. Noailles,
+gathering his scattered battalions, found that he had lost 2,659 men;
+no ruinous loss to him,--the Enemy's being at least equal, and all his
+Wounded fallen Prisoners of War. No ruinous loss to Noailles, had it not
+been the loss of Victory,--which was a sore blow to French feeling; and,
+adding itself to those Broglio disgraces, a new discouragement to Most
+Christian Majesty. Victory indisputably lost:--but is it not Grammont's
+blame altogether? Grammont bears it, as we saw; and it is heavily laid
+on him. But my own conjecture is, forty thousand enraged people, of
+English and other Platt-Teutsch type, would have been very difficult to
+pin up, into captivity or death instead of breakfast, in that manner:
+and it is possible if poor Grammont had not mistaken, some other would
+have done so, and the hungry Baresarks (their blood fairly up, as
+is evident) would have ended in getting through." [Espagnac, i. 193;
+_Guerre de Boheme,_ i. 231.]--_Gentleman's Magazine,_ vol. xiii. (for
+1743), pp. 328-481;--containing Carteret's Despatch from the field;
+followed by many other Letters and indistinct Narrations from Officers
+present (p. 434, "Plan of the Battle," blotchy, indecipherable in
+parts, but essentially rather true),--is worth examining. See likewise
+Anonymous, _Memoirs of the late Duke of Cumberland_ (Lond. 1767; the
+Author an ignorant, much-adoring military-man, who has made some study,
+and is not so stupid as he looks), pp. 56-78; and Henderson (ignorant he
+too, much-adoring, and not military), _Life of the Duke of Cumberland_
+(Lond. 1766), pp. 32-48. Noailles's Official Account (ingenuously at a
+loss what to say), in _ Campagnes,_ ii. B, 242-253, 306-310. _OEuvres de
+Frederic,_ iii. 11-14 (incorrect in many of the DETAILS).
+
+This was all the Fighting that King George got of his Pragmatic Army;
+the gain from conquest made by it was, That it victoriously struggled
+back to its bread-cupboard. Stair, about two months hence, in the
+mere loitering and higgling that there was, quitted the Pragmatic;
+magnanimously silent on his many wrongs and disgusts, desirous only
+of "returning to the plough," as he expressed himself. The lofty man;
+wanted several requisites for being a Marlborough; wanted a Sarah
+Jennings, as the preliminary of all!--We will not attend the lazy
+movements and procedures of the Pragmatic Army farther; which were of
+altogether futile character, even in the temporary Gazetteer estimate;
+and are to be valued at zero, and left charitably in oblivion by a pious
+posterity. Stair, the one brightish-looking man in it, being gone, there
+remain Majesty with his D'Ahrembergs, Neippergs, and the Martial Boy;
+Generals Cope, Hawley, Wade, and many of leaden character, remain:--let
+the leaden be wrapped in lead.
+
+It was not a successful Army, this Pragmatic. Dettingen itself, in
+spite of the rumoring of Gazetteers and temporary persons, had no
+result,--except the extremely bad one, That it inflated to an alarming
+height the pride and belligerent humor of his Britannic, especially of
+her Hungarian Majesty; and made Peace more difficult than ever. That of
+getting Ostein, with his Austrian leanings, chosen Kur-Mainz,--that too
+turned out ill: and perhaps, in the course of the next few months, we
+shall judge that, had Ostein leant AGAINST Austria, it had been better
+for Austria and Ostein. Of the Pragmatic Army, silence henceforth,
+rather than speech!--
+
+One thing we have to mark, his Britannic Majesty, commander of such an
+Army,--and of such a Purse, which is still more stupendous,--has risen,
+in the Gazetteer estimate and his own, to a high pitch of importance. To
+be Supreme Jove of Teutschland, in a manner; and acts, for the present
+Summer, in that sublime capacity. Two Diplomatic feats of his,--one
+a Treaty done and tumbled down again, the other a Treaty done and
+let stand ("Treaty of Worms," and "Conferences," or NON-Treaty "of
+Hanau"),--are of moment in this History and that of the then World.
+Of these two Transactions, due both of them to such an Army and such
+a Purse, we shall have to take some notice by and by; the rest shall
+belong to Night and her leaden sceptre--much good may they do her!
+
+Some ten days after Dettingen, Broglio (who was crackling off from
+Donauwurth, in view of the Lines of Schellenberg, that very 27th of
+June) ended his retreat to the Rhine Countries; "glorious," though
+rather swift, and eaten into by the Tolpatcheries of Prince Karl. "July
+8th, at Wimpfen" (in the Neckar Region, some way South of Dettingen),
+Broglio delivers his troops to Marechal de Noailles's care; and, next
+morning, rushes off towards Strasburg, and quiet Official life, as
+Governor there.
+
+"The day after his arrival," says Friedrich, "he gave a grand ball in
+Strasburg:" [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ iii. 10.] "Behold your conquering
+hero safe again, my friends!" An ungrateful Court judged otherwise of
+the hero. Took his Strasburg Government from him, gave it to Marechal de
+Coigny; ordered the hero to his Estates in the Country, Normandy, if I
+remember;--where he soon died of apoplexy, poor man; and will trouble
+none of us again. "A man born for surprises," said Friedrich long since,
+in the Strasburg Doggerel. Lost his indispensable garnitures, at
+the Ford of Secchia once; and now, in these last twelve months, is
+considered to have done a series of blustery explosions, derogatory to
+the glory of France, and ruinous to that sublime Belleisle Enterprise
+for oue thing.
+
+A ruined Enterprise that, at any rate; seldom was Enterprise better
+ruined. Here, under Broglio, amid the titterings of mankind, has the
+tail of the Oriflamme gone the same bad road as its head did;--into zero
+and outer darkness; leaving the expenses to pay. Like a mad tavern-brawl
+of one's own raising, the biggest that ever was. Has cost already, I
+should guess, some 80,000 French drilled Men, paid down, on the nail, to
+the inexorable Fates: and of coined Millions,--how many? In subsidies,
+in equipments, in waste, in loss and wreck: Dryasdust could not have
+told me, had he tried. And then the breakages, damages still chargeable;
+the probable afterclap? For you cannot quite gratuitously tweak people
+by the nose, in your wanton humor, over your wine!--One willing man, or
+Most Christian Majesty, can at any time begin a quarrel; but there need
+always two or more to end it again.
+
+Most Christian Majesty is not so sensible of this fact as he afterwards
+became; but what with Broglio and the extinct Oriflamme, what with
+Dettingen and the incipient Pragmatic, he is heartily disgusted and
+discouraged; and wishes he had not thought of cutting Germany in Four.
+July 26th, Most Christian Majesty applies to the German Diet; signifying
+"That he did indeed undertake to help the Kaiser, according to treaties;
+but was the farthest in the world from meaning to invade Germany, on
+his own score. That he had and has no quarrel, except with Austria as
+Kaiser's enemy; and is ready to be friends even with Austria. And now
+indeed intends to withdraw his troops wholly from the German territory.
+And can therefore hope that all unpleasantness will cease, between the
+German Nation and him; and that perhaps the Kaiser will be able to
+make peace with her Majesty of Hungary on softer terms than at one
+time seemed likely. If only the animosities of sovereign persons would
+assuage themselves, and each of us would look without passion at the
+issue really desirable for him!" [Espagnac, i. 200. Adelung, iii. B, 199
+(26th July); Ib. 201 (the Answer to it, 16th August).]
+
+That is now, 26th July, 1743, King Louis's story for himself to the Diet
+of the Holy Roman Empire, Teutsch by Nation, sitting at Frankfurt in
+rather disconsolate circumstances. The Diet naturally answered, "JA
+WOHL, JA WOHL," in intricate official language,--nobody need know what
+the Diet answered. But what the Hungarian Majesty answered, strong and
+high in such Britannic backing,--this was of such unexpected tone, that
+it fixed everybody's attention; and will very specially require to be
+noted by us, in the course of a week or two.
+
+We said, her Hungarian Majesty was getting crowned in Bohemia, getting
+personally homaged in Upper Austria, about to get vice-homaged in
+Bavaria itself,--nothing but glorious pomp, but loyalty loudly vocal, in
+Prag, in Linz and the once-afflicted Countries; at her return to Vienna,
+she has met the news of Dettingen; and is ready to strike the stars with
+her sublime head. "My little Paladin become Supreme Jove, too: aha!"
+
+
+
+
+BRITANNIC MAJESTY HOLDS HIS CONFERENCES OF HANAU.
+
+Britannic Majesty stayed two whole months in Hanau, brushing himself
+up again after that fierce bout; and considering, with much dubitation,
+What is the next thing?"Go in upon Noailles [who is still hanging about
+here, with Broglio coming on in the exploded state]; wreck Broglio and
+him! Go in upon the French!" so urges Stair always: rash Stair, urgent
+to the edge of importunity; English Officers and Martial Boy urgently
+backing Stair; while the Hanoverian Officers and Martial Parent are
+steady to the other view. So that, in respect of War, the next thing,
+for two months coming, was absolutely nothing, and to the end of
+the Campaign was nothing worth a moment's notice from us. But on the
+Diplomatic side, there were two somethings, CONFERENCES AT HANAU
+with poor Kaiser Karl, and TREATY AT WORMS with the King of Sardinia;
+which--as minus quantities, or things less than nothing--turned out to
+be highly considerable for his Britannic Majesty and us.
+
+HANAU, 7th July-1st AUGUST, 1743. "Poor Kaiser Karl had left Augsburg
+June 26th,--while his Broglio was ferrying at Donauworth, and his
+Seckendorf treatying for Armistice at Nieder-Schonfeld,--the very day
+before Dettingen. What a piece of news to him, that Dettingen, on his
+return to Frankfurt!
+
+"A few days after Dettingen, July 3d, Noailles, who is still within
+call, came across to see this poor stepson of Fortune; gives piteous
+account of him, if any one were now curious on that head: How he
+bitterly complains of Broglio, of the no-subsidies sent, and is driven
+nearly desperate;--not a penny in his pocket, beyond all. Upon which
+latter clause Noailles munificently advanced him a $6,000. 'Draught
+of 40,000 crowns, in my own name; which doubtless the King, in his
+compassion, will see good to sanction.' [_Campagnes de Noailles_
+(Amsterdam, 1760: this is a Sequel, or rather VICE VERSA, to that which
+we have called DES TROIS MARECHAUX, being of the same Collection), i.
+316-328.] His feelings on the loss of Dettingen may be pictured. But he
+had laid his account with such things;--prepared for the worst, since
+that Interview with Broglio and Conti; one plan now left, 'Peace, cost
+what it will!'
+
+"The poor Kaiser had already, as we saw, got into hopes of bargaining
+with his Britannic Majesty; and now he instantly sets about it, while
+Hanau is victorious head-quarters. Britannic Majesty is not himself very
+forward; but Carteret, I rather judge, had taken up the notion; and
+on his Majesty's and Carteret's part, there is actually the wish and
+attempt to pacificate the Reich; to do something tolerable for the poor
+Kaiser, as well as satisfactory to the Hungarian Majesty,--satisfactory,
+or capable of being (by the Purse-holder) insisted on as such.
+
+"And so the Landgraf of Hessen, excellent Wilhelm, King George's friend
+and gossip, is come over to that little Town of Hanau, which is his
+own, in the Schloss of which King George is lodged: and there, between
+Carteret and our Landgraf,--the King of Prussia's Ambassador (Herr
+Klinggraf), and one or two selectly zealous Official persons, assisting
+or watching,--we have 'Conferences of Hanau' going on; in a zealous
+fashion; all parties eager for Peace to Kaiser and Reich, and in good
+hope of bringing it about. The wish, ardent to a degree, had been the
+Kaiser's first of all. The scheme, I guess, was chiefly of Carteret's
+devising; who, in his magnificent mind, regardless of expense, thinks
+it may be possible, and discerns well what a stroke it will be for the
+Cause of Liberty, and how glorious for a Britannic Majesty's Adviser in
+such circumstances. July 7th, the Conferences began; and, so frank and
+loyal were the parties, in a week's time matters were advanced almost
+to completion, the fundamental outlines of a bargain settled, and almost
+ready for signing.
+
+"'Give me my Bavaria again!' the Kaiser had always said: 'I am Head of
+the Reich, and have nothing to live upon!' On one preliminary, Carteret
+had always been inexorable: 'Have done with your French auxiliaries;
+send every soul of them home; the German soil once cleared of them, much
+will be possible; till then nothing.' KAISER: 'Well, give me back my
+Bavaria; my Bavaria, and something suitable to live upon, as Head of
+the Reich: some decent Annual Pension, till Bavaria come into paying
+condition,--cannot you, who are so wealthy? And Bavaria might be made
+a Kingdom, if you wished to do the handsome thing. I will renounce my
+Austrian Pretensions, quit utterly my French Alliances; consent to have
+her Hungarian Majesty's august Consort made King of the Romans [which
+means Kaiser after me], and in fact be very safe to the House of Austria
+and the Cause of Liberty.' To all this the thrice-unfortunate gentleman,
+titular Emperor of the World, and unable now to pay his milk-scores, is
+eager to consent. To continue crossing the Abysses on bridges of French
+rainbow? Nothing but French subsidies to subsist on; and these how
+paid,--Noailles's private pocket knows how! 'I consent,' said the
+Kaiser; 'will forgive and forget, and bygones shall be bygones all
+round!' 'Fair on his Imperial Majesty's part,' admits Carteret; 'we will
+try to be persuasive at Vienna. Difficult, but we will try.' In a meek
+matters had come to this point; and the morrow, July 15th, was appointed
+for signing. Most important of Protocols, foundation-stone of Peace to
+Teutschland; King Friedrich and the impartial Powers approving, with
+Britannic George and drawn sword presiding.
+
+"King Friedrich approves heartily; and hopes it will do. Landgraf
+Wilhelm is proud to have saved his Kaiser,--who so glad as the Landgraf
+and his Kaiser? Carteret, too, is very glad; exulting, as he well
+may, to have composed these world-deliriums, or concentrated them upon
+peccant France, he with his single head, and to have got a value out of
+that absurd Pragmatic Army, after all. A man of magnificent ideas; who
+hopes 'to bring Friedrich over to his mind;' to unite poor Teutschland
+against such Oriflamme Invasions and intolerable interferences, and to
+settle the account of France for a long while. He is the only English
+Minister who speaks German, knows German situations, interests, ways; or
+has the least real understanding of this huge German Imbroglio in which
+England is voluntarily weltering. And truly, had Carteret been King
+of England, which he was not,--nay, had King Friedrich ever got to
+understand, instead of misunderstand, what Carteret WAS,--here might
+have been a considerable affair!
+
+"But it now, at the eleventh hour, came upon magnificent Carteret, now
+seemingly for the first time in its full force, That he Carteret was
+not the master; that there was a bewildered Parliament at home, a poor
+peddling Duke of Newcastle leader of the same, with his Lords of the
+Regency, who could fatally put a negative on all this, unless they
+were first gained over. On the morrow, July 15th, Carteret, instead
+of signing, as expected, has to--purpose a fortnight's delay till he
+consult in England! Absolutely would not and could not sign, till
+a Courier to England went and returned. To Landgraf Wilhelm's, to
+Klinggraf's and the Kaiser's very great surprise, disappointment and
+suspicion. But Carteret was inflexible: 'will only take a fortnight,'
+said he; 'and I can hope all will yet be well!'
+
+"The Courier came back punctually in a fortnight. His Message was
+presented at Hanau, August 1st,--and ran conclusively to the effect:
+'No! We, Noodle of Newcastle, and my other Lords of Regency, do
+not consent; much less, will undertake to carry the thing through
+Parliament: By no manner of means!' So that Carteret's lately towering
+Affair had to collapse ignominiously, in that manner; poor Carteret
+protesting his sorrow, his unalterable individual wishes and future
+endeavors, not to speak of his Britannic Majesty's,--and politely
+pressing on the poor Kaiser a gift of 15,000 pounds (first weekly
+instalment of the 'Annual Pension' that HAD, in theory, been set apart
+for him); which the Kaiser, though indigent, declined. [Adelung, iii.
+B, 206, 209-212; see Coxe, _Memoirs of Pelham_ (London, 1829), i. 75,
+469.]'
+
+"The disgust of Landgraf Wilhelm was infinite; who, honest man, saw in
+all this merely an artifice of Carteret's, To undo the Kaiser with his
+French Allies, to quirk him out of his poor help from the French, and
+have him at their mercy. 'Shame on it!' cried Landgraf Wilhelm aloud,
+and many others less aloud, Klinggraf and King Friedrich among them:
+'What a Carteret!' The Landgraf turned away with indignation from
+perfidious England; and began forming quite opposite connections. 'You
+shall not even have my hired 6,000, you perfidious! Thing done with such
+dexterity of art, too!' thought the Landgraf,--and continued to think,
+till evidence turned up, after many months. [CARTERET PAPERS (in British
+Museum), Additional MSS. No. 22,529 (May, 1743-January, 1745); in No.
+22,527 (January-September, 1742) are other Landgraf-Wilhelm pieces
+of Correspondence.] This was Friedrich's opinion too,--permanently, I
+believe;--and that of nearly all the world, till the thing and the Doer
+of the thing were contemptuously forgotten. A piece of Machiavelism on
+the part of Carteret and perfidious Albion,--equal in refined cunning to
+that of the Ships with foul bottom, which vanished from Cadiz two years
+ago, and were admired with a shudder by Continental mankind who could
+see into millstones!
+
+"This is the second stroke of Machiavellian Art by those Islanders, in
+their truly vulpine method. Stroke of Art important for this History;
+and worth the attention of English readers,--being almost of pathetic
+nature, when one comes to understand it! Carteret, for this Hanau
+business, had clangor enough to undergo, poor man, from Germans and from
+English; which was wholly unjust. 'His trade,' say the English--(or used
+to say, till they forgot their considerable Carteret altogether)--'was
+that of rising in the world by feeding the mad German humors of little
+George; a miserable trade.' Yes, my friends;--but it was not quite
+Carteret's, if you will please to examine! And none say, Carteret did
+not do his trade, whatever it was, with a certain greatness,--at least
+till habits of drinking rather took him, Poor man: impatient, probably,
+of such fortune long continued! For he was thrown out, next Session of
+Parliament, by Noodle of Newcastle, on those strange terms; and never
+could get in again, and is now forgotten; and there succeeded him still
+more mournful phenomena,--said Noodle or the poor Pelhams, namely,--of
+whom, as of strange minus quantities set to manage our affairs, there is
+still some dreary remembrance in England. Well!"--
+
+Carteret, though there had been no Duke of Newcastle to run athwart this
+fine scheme, would have had his difficulties in making her Hungarian
+Majesty comply. Her Majesty's great heart, incurably grieved about
+Silesia, is bent on having, if not restoration one day, which is a hope
+she never quits, at any rate some ample (cannot be too ample) equivalent
+elsewhere. On the Hanau scheme, united Teutschland, with England for
+soul to it, would have fallen vigorously on the throat of France, and
+made France disgorge: Lorraine, Elsass, the Three Bishoprics,--not to
+think of Burgundy, and earlier plunders from the Reich,--here would have
+been "cut and come again" for her Hungarian Majesty and everybody!--But
+Diana, in the shape of his Grace of Newcastle, intervenes; and all this
+has become chimerical and worse.
+
+It was while Carteret's courier was gone to England and not come
+back, that King Louis made the above-mentioned mild, almost penitent,
+Declaration to the Reich, "Good people, let us have Peace; and all be as
+we were! I, for my share, wish to be out of it; I am for home!" And, in
+effect, was already home; every Frenchman in arms being, by this time,
+on his own side of the Rhine, as we shall presently observe.
+
+For, the same day, July 26th, while that was going on at Frankfurt, and
+Carteret's return-courier was due in five days, his Britannic Majesty at
+Hanau had a splendid visit,--tending not towards Peace with France, but
+quite the opposite way. Visit from Prince Karl, with Khevenhuller and
+other dignitaries; doing us that honor "till the evening of the 28th."
+Quitting their Army,--which is now in these neighborhoods (Broglio well
+gone to air ahead of it; Noailles too, at the first sure sniff of it,
+having rushed double-quick across the Rhine),--these high Gentlemen have
+run over to us, for a couple of days, to "congratulate on Dettingen;"
+or, better still, to consult, face to face, about ulterior movements.
+"Follow Noailles; transfer the seat of war to France itself? These are
+my orders, your Majesty. Combined Invasion of Elsass: what a slash may
+be made into France [right handselling of your Carteret Scheme] this
+very year!" "Proper, in every case!" answers the Britannic Majesty; and
+engages to co-operate. Upon which Prince Karl--after the due reviewing,
+dinnering, ceremonial blaring, which was splendid to witness [Anonymous,
+_Duke of Cumberland,_ pp. 65, 86.]--hastens back to his Army (now lying
+about Baden Durlach, 70,000 strong); and ought to be swift, while the
+chance lasts.
+
+
+
+
+HUNGARIAN MAJESTY ANSWERS, IN THE DIET, THAT FRENCH DECLARATION, "MAKE
+PEACE, GOOD PEOPLE; I WISH TO BE OUT OF IT!"--IN AN OMINOUS MANNER.
+
+These are fine prospects, in the French quarter, of an equivalent for
+Schlesien;--very fine, unless Diana intervene! Diana or not, French
+prospects or not, her Hungarian Majesty fastens on Bavaria with uncommon
+tightness of fist, now that Bavaria is swept clear; well resolved to
+keep Bavaria for equivalent, till better come. Exacts, by her deputy,
+Homage from the Population there; strict Oath of Fealty to HER; poor
+Kaiser protesting his uttermost, to no purpose; Kaiser's poor Printer
+(at Regensburg, which is in Bavaria) getting "tried and hanged" for
+printing such Protest! "She draughts forcibly the Bavarian militias
+into her Italian Army;" is high and merciless on all hands;--in a word,
+throttles poor Bavaria, as if to the choking of it outright. So that
+the very Gazetteers in foreign places gave voice, though Bavaria itself,
+such a grasp on the throat of it, was voiceless. Seckendorf's poor
+Bargain for neutrality as a Bavarian Reich-Army, her Hungarian Majesty
+disdains to confirm; to confirm, or even to reject; treats Seckendorf
+and his Bavarian Army little otherwise than as a stray dog which she
+has not yet shot. And truly the old Feldmarschall lies at Wembdingen,
+in most disconsolate moulting condition; little or nothing to live
+upon;--the English, generous creatures, had at one time flung him
+something, fancying the Armistice might be useful; but now it must be
+the French that do it, if anybody! [Adelung, iii. B, 204 ("22d August"),
+206, &c.]
+
+Hanau Conferences having failed, these things do not fail. Kaiser Karl
+is become tragical to think of. A spectacle of pity to Landgraf Wilhelm,
+to King Friedrich, and serious on-lookers;--and perhaps not of pity
+only, but of "pity and fear" to some of them!--sullen Austria taking
+its sweet revenges, in this fashion. Readers who will look through these
+small chinks, may guess what a world-welter this was; and how Friedrich,
+gazing into phase on phase of it, as into Oracles of Fate, which to him
+they were, had a History, in these months, that will now never be known.
+
+August 16th came out her Hungarian Majesty's Response to that mild
+quasi-penitent Declaration of King Louis to the Reich; and much
+astonished King Louis and others, and the very Reich itself. "Out of
+it?" says her Hungarian Majesty (whom we with regret, for brevity's
+sake, translate from Official into vulgate): "His Most Christian Majesty
+wishes to be out of it:--Does not he, the (what shall I call him)
+Crowned Housebreaker taken in the fact? You shall get out of it, please
+Heaven, when you have made compensation for the damage done; and till
+then not, if it please Heaven!" And in this strain (lengthily Official,
+though indignant to a degree) enumerates the wanton unspeakable
+mischiefs and outrages which Austria, a kind of sacred entity guaranteed
+by Law of Nature and Eleven Signatures of Potentates, has suffered from
+the Most Christian Majesty,--and will have compensation for, Heaven now
+pointing the way! [IN EXTENSO in Adelung, iii. B, 201 et seqq.]
+
+A most portentous Document; full of sombre emphasis, in sonorous
+snuffling tone of voice; enunciating, with inflexible purpose, a number
+of unexpected things: very portentous to his Prussian Majesty among
+others. Forms a turning-point or crisis both in the French War, and in
+his Prussian Majesty's History; and ought to be particularly noted and
+dated by the careful reader. It is here that we first publicly hear
+tell of Compensation, the necessity Austria will have of
+Compensation,--Austria does not say expressly for Silesia, but she says
+and means for loss of territory, and for all other losses whatsoever:
+"Compensation for the past, and security for the future; that is my
+full intention," snuffles she, in that slow metallic tone of hers,
+irrevocable except by the gods.
+
+"Compensation for the past, Security for the future:" Compensation? what
+does her Hungarian Majesty mean? asked all the world; asked Friedrich,
+the now Proprietor of Silesia, with peculiar curiosity! It is the
+first time her Hungarian Majesty steps articulately forward with
+such extraordinary Claim of Damages, as if she alone had suffered
+damage;--but it is a fixed point at Vienna, and is an agitating topic
+to mankind in the coming months and years. Lorraine and the Three
+Bishoprics; there would be a fine compensation. Then again, what say you
+to Bavaria, in lieu of the Silesia lost? You have Bavaria by the throat;
+keep Bavaria, you. Give "Kur-Baiern, Kaiser as they call him,"
+something in the Netherlands to live upon? Will be better out of Germany
+altogether, with his French leanings. Or, give him the Kingdom of
+Naples,--if once we had conquered it again? These were actual schemes,
+successive, simultaneous, much occupying Carteret and the high Heads at
+Vienna now and afterwards; which came all to nothing; but should were it
+not impossible, be held in some remembrance by readers.
+
+Another still more unexpected point comes out here, in this singular
+Document, publicly for the first time: Austria's feelings in regard to
+the Imperial Election itself. Namely, That Austria, considers, and has
+all along considered, the said Election to be fatally vitiated by that
+Exclusion of the Bohemian Vote; to be in fact nullified thereby; and
+that, to her clear view, the present so-called Kaiser is an imaginary
+quantity, and a mere Kaiser of French shreds and patches! "DER
+SEYN-SOLLENDE KAISER," snuffles Austria in one passage, "Your Kaiser as
+you call him;" and in another passage, instead of "Kaiser," puts flatly
+"Kur-Baiern." This is a most extraordinary doctrine to an Electoral
+Romish Reich! Is the Holy Romish Reich to DECLARE itself an "Enchanted
+Wiggery," then, and do suicide, for behoof of Austria?--
+
+"August 16th, this extraordinary Document was delivered to the Chancery
+of Mainz; and September 23d, it was, contrary to expectation, brought
+to DICTATUR by said Chancery,"--of which latter phrase, and phenomenon,
+here is the explanation to English readers.
+
+Had the late Kur-Mainz (general Arch-Chairman, Speaker of the Diet)
+been still in office and existence, certainly so shocking a Document had
+never been allowed "to come to DICTATUR,"--to be dictated to the Reich's
+Clerks; to have a first reading, as we should call it; or even to lie on
+the table, with a theoretic chance that way. But Austria, thanks to our
+little George and his Pragmatic Armament, had got a new Kur-Mainz;--by
+whom, in open contempt of impartiality, and in open leaning for Austria
+with all his weight, it was duly forwarded to Dictature; brought before
+an astonished Diet (REICHSTAG), and endlessly argued of in Reichstag
+and Reich,--with small benefit to Austria, or the new Kur-Mainz. Wise
+kindness to Austria had been suppression of this Piece, not bringing
+of it to Dictature at all: but the new Kur-Mainz, called upon, and
+conscious of face sufficient, had not scrupled. "Shame on you, partial
+Arch-Chancellor!" exclaims all the world.--"Revoke such shamefully
+partial Dictature?" this was the next question brought before the
+Reich. In which, Kur-Hanover (Britannic George) was the one Elector
+that opined, No. Majority conclusive; though, as usual, no settlement
+attainable. This is the famous "DICTATUR-SACHE (Dictature Question),"
+which rages on us, for about eleven months to come, in those distracted
+old Books; and seems as if it would never end. Nor is there any saying
+when it would have ended;--had not, in August, 1744, something else
+ended, the King of Prussia's patience, namely; which enabled it to end,
+on the Kaiser's then order! [Adelung, iii. B, 201, iv. 198, &c.]
+
+It must be owned, in general, the conduct of Maria Theresa to the Reich,
+ever since the Reich had ventured to reject her Husband as Kaiser, and
+prefer another, was all along of a high nature; till now it has grown
+into absolute contumacy, and a treating of the Reich's elected Kaiser
+as a merely chimerical personage. No law of the Reich had been violated
+against her Hungarian Majesty or Husband: "What law?" asked all judges.
+Vicarius Kur-Sachsen sat, in committee, hatching for many months that
+Question of the Kur-Bohmen Vote; and by the prescribed methods, brought
+it out in the negative,--every formality and regularity observed, and
+nobody but your Austrian Deputy protesting upon it, when requested to
+go home. But, the high Maria had a notion that the Reich belonged to her
+august Family and her; and that all Elections to the contrary were an
+inconclusive thing, fundamentally void every one of them.
+
+Thus too, long before this, in regard to the REICHS-ARCHIV Question.
+The Archives and indispensablest Official Records and Papers of the
+Reich,--these had lain so long at Vienna, the high Maria could not think
+of giving them up. "So difficult to extricate what Papers are Austrian
+specially, from what are Austrian-Imperial;--must have time!" answered
+she always. And neither the Kaiser's more and more pressing demands, nor
+those of the late Kur-Mainz, backed by the Reich, and reiterated month
+after month and year after year, could avail in the matter. Mere angry
+correspondences, growing ever angrier;--the Archives of the Reich lay
+irrecoverable at Vienna, detained on this pretext and on that: nor were
+they ever given up; but lay there till the Reich itself had ended, much
+more the Kaiser Karl VII.! These are high procedures.
+
+As if the Reich had been one's own chattel; as if a Non-Austrian Kaiser
+mere impossible, and the Reich and its laws had, even Officially, become
+phantasmal! That, in fact, was Maria Theresa's inarticulate inborn
+notion; and gradually, as her successes on the field rose higher, it
+became ever more articulate: till this of "the SEYN-SOLLENDE Kaiser" put
+a crown on it. Justifiable, if the Reich with its Laws were a chattel,
+or rebellious vassal, of Austria; not justifiable otherwise. "Hear ye?"
+answered almost all the Reich (eight Kurfursts, with the one exception
+of Kur-Hanover: as we observed): "Our solemnly elected Kaiser, Karl
+VII., is a thing of quirks and quiddities, of French shreds and patches;
+at present, it seems, the Reich has no Kaiser at all; and will go ever
+deeper into anarchies and unnamabilities, till it proceed anew to get
+one,--of the right Austrian type!"--The Reich is a talking entity: King
+Friedrich is bound rather to silence, so long as possible. His thoughts
+on these matters are not given; but sure enough they were continual,
+too intense they could hardly be. "Compensation;" "The Reich as good
+as mine:" Whither is all this tending? Walrave and those Silesian
+Fortifyings,--let Walrave mind his work, and get it perfected!
+
+
+
+
+BRITANNIC MAJESTY GOES HOME.
+
+The "Combined Invasion of Elsass"--let us say briefly, overstepping
+the order of date, and still for a moment leaving Friedrich--came to
+nothing, this year. Prince Karl was 70,000; Britannic George (when
+once those Dutch, crawling on all summer, had actually come up) was
+66,000,--nay 70,000; Karl having lent him that beautiful cannibal
+gentleman, "Colonel Mentzel and 4,000 Tolpatches," by way of
+edge-trimming. Karl was to cross in Upper Elsass, in the Strasburg
+parts; Karl once across, Britannic Majesty was to cross about Mainz, and
+co-operate from Lower Elsass. And they should have been swift about
+it; and were not! All the world expected a severe slash to France; and
+France itself had the due apprehension of it: but France and all the
+world were mistaken, this time.
+
+Prince Karl was slow with his preparations; Noailles and Coigny
+(Broglio's successor) were not slow; "raising batteries everywhere,"
+raising lines, "10,000 Elsass Peasants," and what not;--so that, by the
+time Prince Karl was ready (middle of August), they lay intrenched
+and minatory at all passable points; and Karl could nowhere, in that
+Upper-Rhine Country, by any method, get across. Nothing got across;
+except once or twice for perhaps a day, Butcher Trenck and his loose
+kennel of Pandours; who went about, plundering and rioting, with loud
+rodomontade, to the admiration of the Gazetteers, if of no one else.
+
+Nor was George's seconding of important nature; most dubitative, wholly
+passive, you would rather say, though the River, in his quarter, lay
+undefended. He did, at last, cross the Rhine about Mainz; went languidly
+to Worms,--did an ever-memorable TREATY OF WORMS there, if no fighting
+there or elsewhere. Went to Speyer, where the Dutch joined him (sadly
+short of numbers stipulated, had it been the least matter);--was at
+Germersheim, at what other places I forget; manoeuvring about in a
+languid and as if in an aimless manner, at least it was in a perfectly
+ineffectual one. Mentzel rode gloriously to Trarbach, into Lorraine;
+stuck up Proclamation, "Hungarian Majesty come, by God's help, for her
+own again," and the like;--of which Document, now fallen rare, we give
+textually the last line: "And if any of you DON'T [don't sit quiet at
+least], I will," to be brief, "first cut off your ears and noses, and
+then hang you out of hand." The singular Champion of Christendom, famous
+to the then Gazetteers! [In Adelung (iii. B, 193) the Proclamation
+at large. I have, or once had, a _Life of Mentzel_ (Dublin, I think,
+1744), "price twopence,"--dear at the money.] Nothing farther could
+George, with his Dutch now adjoined, do in those parts, but wriggle
+slightly to and fro without aim; or stand absolutely still, and eat
+provision (great uncertainty and discrepancy among the Generals, and
+Stair gone in a huff [Went, "August 27th, by Worms" (Henderson,
+_Life of Cumberlund,_ p. 48), just while his Majesty was beginning to
+cross.]),--till at length the "Combined Pragmatic Troops" returned to
+Mainz (October 11th); and thence, dreadfully in ill-humor with each
+other, separated into their winter-quarters in the Netherlands and
+adjacent regions.
+
+Prince Karl tried hard in several places; hardest at, Alt-Breisach, far
+up the River, with Swabian Freiburg for his place of arms;--an
+Austrian Country all that, "Hither Austria," Swabian Austria. There,
+at Alt-Breisach, lay Prince Karl (24th August-3d September), his left
+leaning on that venerable sugar-loaf Hill, with the towers and ramparts
+on the top of it; looking wistfully into Alsace, if there were no way
+of getting at it. He did get once half-way across the River, lodging
+himself in an Island called Rheinmark; but could get no farther, owing
+to the Noailles-Coigny preparations for him. Called a Council of War;
+decided that he had not Magazines, that it was too late in the season;
+and marched home again (October 12th) through the Schwabenland; leaving,
+besides the strong Garrison of Freiburg, only Trenck with 12,000
+Pandours to keep the Country open for us, against next year. Britannic
+Majesty, as we observed, did then, almost simultaneously, in like manner
+march home; [Adelung, iii. B, 192, 215; Anonymous, _Cumberland,_ p.
+121.]--one goal is always clear when the day sinks: Make for your
+quarters, for your bed.
+
+Prince Karl was gloriously wedded, this Winter, to her Hungarian
+Majesty's young Sister;--glorious meed of War; and, they say, a union
+of hearts withal;--Wife and he to have Brussels for residence, and be
+"Joint-Governors of the Netherlands" henceforth. Stout Khevenhuller,
+almost during the rejoicings, took fever, and suddenly died; to the
+great sorrow of her Majesty, for loss of such a soldier and man.
+[_Maria Theresiens Leben,_ pp. 94, 45.] Britannic Majesty has not been
+successful with his Pragmatic Army. He did get his new Kur-Mainz,
+who has brought the Austrian Exorbitancy to a first reading, and into
+general view. He did get out of the Dettingen mouse-trap; and, to the
+admiration of the Gazetteer mind, and (we hope) envy of Most Christian
+Majesty, he has, regardless of expense, played Supreme Jove on the
+German boards for above three months running. But as to Settlement of
+the German Quarrel, he has done nothing at all, and even a good deal
+less! Let me commend to readers this little scrap of Note; headed,
+"METHODS OF PACIFICATING GERMANY:-- 1. There is one ready method of
+pacificating Germany: That his Britannic Majesty should firmly button
+his breeches-pocket, 'Not one sixpence more, Madam!'--and go home to his
+bed, if he find no business waiting him at home. Has not he always the
+EAR-OF-JENKINS Question, and the Cause of Liberty in that succinct form.
+But, in Germany, sinews of war being cut, law of gravitation would at
+once act; and exorbitant Hungarian Majesty, tired France, and all else,
+would in a brief space of time lapse into equilibrium, probably of the
+more stable kind.  2. Or, if you want to save the Cause of Liberty on
+ there are those HANAU CONFERENCES,--Carteret's magnificent scheme:
+A united Teutschland (England inspiring it), to rush on the throat of
+France, for 'Compensation,' for universal salving of sores. This second
+method, Diana having intervened, is gone to water, and even to poisoned
+water. So that,  3". There was nothing left for poor Carteret but a TR
+ WORMS (concerning which, something more explicit by and by): A
+Teutschland (the English, doubly and trebly inspiring it, as surely they
+will now need!) to rush as aforesaid, in the DISunited and indeed nearly
+internecine state. Which third method--unless Carteret can conquer
+Naples for the Kaiser, stuff the Kaiser into some satisfactory
+'Netherlands' or the like, and miraculously do the unfeasible (Fortune
+perhaps favoring the brave)--may be called the unlikely one! As poor
+Carteret probably guesses, or dreads;--had he now any choice left. But
+it was love's last shift! And, by aid of Diana and otherwise, that is
+the posture in which, at Mainz, 11th October, 1743, we leave the German
+Question."
+
+"Compensation," from France in particular, is not to be had gratis, it
+appears. Somewhere or other it must be had! Complaining once, as she
+very often does, to her Supreme Jove, Hungarian Majesty had written:
+"Why, oh, why did you force me to give up Silesia!"--Supreme Jove
+answers (at what date I never knew, though Friedrich knows it, and "has
+copy of the Letter"): "Madam, what was good to give is good to take back
+(CC QUI EST BON A PRENDRE EST BON A RENDRE)!" [_OEuvres de Frederic,_
+iii. 27.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VI.--VOLTAIRE VISITS FRIEDRICH FOR THE FOURTH TIME.
+
+In the last days of August, there appears at Berlin M. de Voltaire,
+on his Fourth Visit:--thrice and four times welcome; though this time,
+privately, in a somewhat unexpected capacity. Come to try his hand
+in the diplomatic line; to sound Friedrich a little, on behalf of the
+distressed French Ministry. That, very privately indeed, is Voltaire's
+errand at present; and great hopes hang by it for Voltaire, if he prove
+adroit enough.
+
+Poor man, it had turned out he could not get his Academy Diploma, after
+all,--owing again to intricacies and heterodoxies. King Louis was
+at first willing, indifferent; nay the Chateauroux was willing: but
+orthodox parties persuaded his Majesty; wicked Maurepas (the same who
+lasted till the Revolution time) set his face against it; Maurepas, and
+ANC. de Mirepoix (whom they wittily call "ANE" or Ass of Mirepoix, that
+sour opaque creature, lately monk), were industrious exceedingly; and
+put veto on Voltaire. A stupid Bishop was preferred to him for filling
+up the Forty. Two Bishops magnanimously refused; but one was found with
+ambitious stupidity enough: Voltaire, for the third time, failed in this
+small matter, to him great. Nay, in spite of that kiss in MEROPE, he
+could not get his MORT DE CESAR acted; cabals rising; ANCIEN de Mirepoix
+rising; Orthodoxy, sour Opacity prevailing again. To Madame and him
+(though finely caressed in the Parisian circles) these were provoking
+months;--enough to make a man forswear Literature, and try some other
+Jacob's-Ladder in this world. Which Voltaire had actual thoughts of, now
+and then. We may ask, Are these things of a nature to create love of the
+Hierarchy in M. de Voltaire? "Your Academy is going to be a Seminary
+of Priests," says Friedrich. The lynx-eyed animal,--anxiously asking
+itself, "Whitherward, then, out of such a mess?"--walks warily about,
+with its paws of velvet; but has, IN POSSE, claws under them, for
+certain individuals and fraternities.
+
+Nor, alas, is the Du Chatelet relation itself so celestial as it once
+was. Madame has discovered, think only with what feelings, that this
+great man does not love her as formerly! The great man denies, ready to
+deny on the Gospels, to her and to himself; and yet, at bottom, if we
+read with the microscope, there are symptoms, and it is not deniable.
+How should it? Leafy May, hot June, by degrees comes October, sere,
+yellow; and at last, a quite leafless condition,--not Favonius, but gray
+Northeast, with its hail-storms (jealousies, barren cankered gusts),
+your main wind blowing. "EMILIE FAIT DE L'ALGEBRE," sneers he once, in
+an inadvertent moment, to some Lady-friend: "Emilie doing? Emilie is
+doing Algebra; that is Emilie's employment,--which will be of great use
+to her in the affairs of Life, and of great charm in Society." [Letter
+of Voltaire "To Madame Chambonin," end of 1742 (_OEuvres,_ Edition in
+40 vols., Paris, 1818, xxxii. 148);--is MISSED in the later Edition (97
+vols., Paris, 1837), to which our habitual reference is.] Voltaire (if
+you read with the microscope) has, on this side also, thoughts of being
+off. "Off on this side?" Madame flies mad, becomes Megaera, at the
+mention or suspicion of it! A jealous, high-tempered Algebraic Lady.
+They have had to tell her of this secret Mission to Berlin; and she
+insists on being the conduit, all the papers to pass through her hands
+here at Paris, during the great man's absence. Fixed northeast; that is,
+to appearance, the domestic wind blowing! And I rather judge, the great
+man is glad to get away for a time.
+
+This Quasi-Diplomatic Speculation, one perceives, is much more serious,
+on the part both of Voltaire and of the Ministry, than any of the former
+had been. And, on Voltaire's part, there glitter prospects now and then
+of something positively Diplomatic, of a real career in that kind, lying
+ahead for him. Fond hopes these! But among the new Ministers, since
+Fleury's death, are Amelot, the D'Argensons, personal friends, old
+school-fellows of the poor hunted man, who are willing he should have
+shelter from such a pack; and all French Ministers, clutching at every
+floating spar, in this their general shipwreck in Germany, are aware of
+the uses there might be in him, in such crisis. "Knows Friedrich; might
+perhaps have some power in persuading him,--power in spying him at
+any rate. Unless Friedrich do step forward again, what is to become of
+us!"--The mutual hintings, negotiatings, express interviews, bargainings
+and secret-instructions, dimly traceable in Voltaire's LETTERS, had
+been going on perhaps since May last, time of those ACADEMY failures,
+of those Broglio Despatches from the Donau Countries, "No staying here,
+your Majesty!"--and I think it was, in fact, about the time when Broglio
+blew up like gunpowder and tumbled home on the winds, that Voltaire set
+out on his mission. "Visit to Friedrich," they call it;--"invitation"
+from Friedrich there is, or can, on the first hint, at any point of the
+Journey be.
+
+Voltaire has lingered long on the road; left Paris, middle of June; [His
+Letters (_OEuvres,_ lxxiii. 42, 48).] but has been exceedingly exerting
+himself, in the Hague, at Brussels, and wherever else present, in
+the way of forwarding his errand, Spying, contriving, persuading;
+corresponding to right and left,--corresponding, especially much, with
+the King of Prussia himself, and then with "M. Amelot, Secretary of
+State," to report progress to the best advantage. There are curious
+elucidative sparks, in those Voltaire Letters, chaotic as they are;
+small sparks, elucidative, confirmatory of your dull History Books, and
+adding traits, here and there, to the Image you have formed from them.
+Yielding you a poor momentary comfort; like reading some riddle of
+no use; like light got incidentally, by rubbing dark upon dark
+(say Voltaire flint upon Dryasdust gritstone), in those labyrinthic
+catacombs, if you are doomed to travel there. A mere weariness,
+otherwise, to the outside reader, hurrying forward,--to the light French
+Editor, who can pass comfortably on wings or balloons! [_OEuvres,_
+lxxiii. pp. 40-138. Clogenson, a Dane (whose Notes, signed "Clog.," are
+in all tolerable recent Editions), has, alone among the Commentators of
+Voltaire's LETTERS, made some real attempt towards explaining the many
+passages that are fallen unintelligible. "Clog.," travelling on
+foot, with his eyes open, is--especially on German-History
+points--incomparable and unique, among his French comrades going by
+balloon; and drops a rational or half-rational hint now and then, which
+is meritoriously helpful. Unhappily he is by no means well-read in that
+German matter, by no means always exact; nor indeed ever quite to be
+trusted without trial had.] Voltaire's assiduous finessings with the
+Hague Diplomatist People, or with their Secretaries if bribable;
+nay, with the Dutch Government itself ("through channels which I have
+opened,"--with infinitesimally small result); his spyings ("young
+Podewils," Minister here, Nephew of the Podewils we have known, "young
+Podewils in intrigue with a Dutch Lady of rank:" think of that, your
+Excellency); his preparatory subtle correspondings with Friedrich:
+his exquisite manoeuvrings, and really great industries in the small
+way:--all this, and much else, we will omit. Impatient of these
+preludings, which have been many! Thus, at one point, Voltaire "took
+a FLUXION" (catarrhal, from the nose only), when Friedrich was quite
+ready; then, again, when Voltaire was ready, and the fluxion off,
+Friedrich had gone upon his Silesian Reviews: in short, there had
+been such cross-purposes, tedious delays, as are distressing to think
+of;--and we will say only, that M. de Voltaire did actually, after
+the conceivable adventures, alight in the Berlin Schloss (last day of
+August, as I count); welcomed, like no other man, by the Royal Landlord
+there;--and that this is the Fourth Visit; and has (in strict privacy)
+weightier intentions than any of the foregoing, on M. de Voltaire's
+part.
+
+Voltaire had a glorious reception; apartment near the King's; King
+gliding in, at odd moments, in the beautifulest way; and for seven or
+eight days, there was, at Berlin and then at Potsdam, a fine awakening
+of the sphere-harmonies between them, with touches of practicality
+thrown in as suited. Of course it was not long till, on some touch of
+that latter kind, Friedrich discerned what the celestial messenger had
+come upon withal;--a dangerous moment for M. de Voltaire, "King visibly
+irritated," admits he, with the aquiline glance transfixing him!" Alas,
+your Majesty, mere excess of loyalty, submission, devotion, on my poor
+part! Deign to think, may not this too,--in the present state of my
+King, of my Two Kings, and of all Europe,--be itself a kind of spheral
+thing?" So that the aquiline lightning was but momentary; and abated to
+lambent twinklings, with something even of comic in them, as we
+shall gather. Voltaire had his difficulties with Valori, too; "What
+interloping fellow is this?" gloomed Valori, "A devoted secretary of
+your Excellency's; on his honor, nothing more!" answered Voltaire,
+bowing to the ground:--and strives to behave as such; giving Valori
+"these poor Reports of mine to put in cipher," and the like. Very
+slippery ice hereabouts for the adroit man! His reports to Amelot are
+of sanguine tone; but indicate, to the by-stander, small progress; ice
+slippery, and a twinkle of the comic. Many of them are lost (or lie
+hidden in the French Archives, and are not worth disinterring): but here
+is one, saved by Beaumarchais and published long afterwards, which will
+sufficiently bring home the old scene to us. In the Palace of Berlin or
+else of Potsdam (date must be, 6th-8th September, 1743), Voltaire from
+his Apartment hands in a "Memorial" to Friedrich; and gets it back with
+Marginalia,--as follows:
+
+"Would your Majesty be pleased to have the kind condescension (ASSEZ DE
+BONTE) to put on the margin your reflections and orders."
+
+MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE. "1. Your Majesty is to know that the Sieur
+Bassecour [signifies BACKYARD], chief Burghermaster of Amsterdam,
+has come lately to beg M. de la Ville, French Minister there, to make
+Proposals of Peace. La Ville answered, If the Dutch had offers to make,
+the King his master could hear them.
+
+MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH. "1. This Bassecour, or Backyard, seems to be
+the gentleman that has charge of fattening the capons and turkeys for
+their High Mightinesses?
+
+MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE. "2. Is it not clear that the Peace Party will
+infallibly carry it, in Holland,--since Bassecour, one of the most
+determined for War, begins to speak of Peace? Is it not clear that
+France shows vigor and wisdom?
+
+MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH. "2. I admire the wisdom of France; but God
+preserve me from ever imitating it!
+
+MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE. "3. In these circumstances, if your Majesty took
+the tone of a Master, gave example to the Princes of the Empire in
+assembling an Army of Neutrality,--would not you snatch the sceptre of
+Europe from the hands of the English, who now brave you, and speak in an
+insolent revolting manner of your Majesty, as do, in Holland also, the
+party of the Bentincks, the Fagels, the Opdams? I have myself heard
+them, and am reporting nothing but what is very true.
+
+MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH. "3. This would be finer in an ode than in
+actual reality. I disturb myself very little about what the Dutch
+and English say, the rather as I understand nothing of those dialects
+(PATOIS) of theirs.
+
+MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE. "4. Do not you cover yourself with an immortal
+glory in declaring yourself, with effect, the protector of the Empire?
+And is it not of most pressing interest to your Majesty, to hinder the
+English from making your Enemy the Grand-Duke [Maria Theresa's Husband]
+King of the Romans?
+
+MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH. "4. France has more interest than Prussia
+to hinder that. Besides, on this point, dear Voltaire, you are ill
+informed. For there can be no Election of a King of the Romans without
+the unanimous consent of the Empire;--so you perceive, that always
+depends on me.
+
+MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE. "5. Whoever has spoken but a quarter of an hour
+to the Duke d'Ahremberg [who spilt Lord Stair's fine enterprises lately,
+and reduced them to a DETTINGEN, or a getting into the mouse-trap and a
+getting out], to the Count Harrach [important Austrian Official], Lord
+Stair, or any of the partisans of Austria, even for a quarter of an hour
+[as I have often done], has beard them say, That they burn with desire
+to open the campaign in Silesia again. Have you in that case, Sire, any
+ally but France? And, however potent you are, is an ally useless to you?
+You know the resources of the House of Austria, and how many Princes
+are united to it. But will they resist your power, joined to that of the
+House of Bourbon?
+
+MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH. "5. _On les y recevra, Biribi, A la facon de
+Barbari, Mon ami._ We will receive them, Twiddledee, In the mode of
+Barbary, Don't you see? [Form of Song, very fashionable at Paris (see
+Barbier soepius) in those years: "BIRIBI," I believe, is a kind of
+lottery-game.]
+
+MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE. "6. If you were but to march a body of troops to
+Cleves, do not you awaken terror and respect, without apprehension that
+any one dare make war on you? Is it not, on the contrary, the one method
+of forcing the Dutch to concur, under your orders, in the pacification
+of the Empire, and re-establishment of the Emperor, who will thus a
+second time he indebted to you for his throne, and will aid in the
+splendor of yours?
+
+MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH. "6. _Vous voulez qu'en vrai dieu de la
+machine,_ "You will have me as theatre-god, then, _"J'arrive pour te
+denouement?_ "Swoop in, and produce the catastrophe? _"Qu'aux Anglais,
+aux Pandours, a ce peuple insolent, "J'aille donner la discipline?--_
+"Tame to sobriety those English, those Pandours, and obstreperous
+people? _"Mais examinez mieux ma mine;_ "Examine the look of me better;
+_"Je ne suis pas assez mechant!_ "I have not surliness euough.
+
+MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE. "7. Whatever resolution may be come to, will
+your Majesty deign to confide it to me, and impart the result,--to your
+servant, to him who desires to pass his life at your Court? May I have
+the honor to accompany your Majesty to Baireuth; and if your goodness go
+so far, would you please to declare it, that I may have time to prepare
+for the journey? One favorable word written to me in the Letter on that
+occasion [word favorable to France, ostensible to M. Amelot and the most
+Christian Majesty], one word would suffice to procure me the happiness
+I have, for six years, been aspiring to, of living beside you." Oh, send
+it!
+
+MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH. "7. If you like to come to Baireuth, I shall be
+glad to see you there, provided the journey don't derange your health.
+It will depend on yourself, then, to take what measures you please. [And
+about the ostensible WORD,--Nothing!]
+
+MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE. "8. During the short stay I am now to make, if
+I could be made the bearer of some news agreeable to my Court, I would
+supplicate your Majesty to honor me with such a commission. [This does
+not want for impudence, Monsieur! Friedrich answers, from aloft!]
+
+MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH. "8. I am not in any connection with France; I
+have nothing to fear nor to hope from France. If you would like, I will
+make a Panegyric on Louis XV. without a word of truth in it: but as to
+political business, there is, at present, none to bring us together; and
+neither is it I that am to speak first. When they put a question to me,
+it will be time to reply: but you, who are so much a man of sense, you
+see well what a ridiculous business it would be if, without ground given
+me, I set to prescribing projects of policy to France, and even put them
+on paper with my own hand!
+
+MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE. "9. Do whatsoever you may please, I shall always
+love your Majesty with my whole heart."
+
+MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH. "9. I love you with all my heart; I esteem you:
+I will do all to have you, except follies, and things which would make
+me forever ridiculous over Europe, and at bottom would be contrary to my
+interests and my glory. The only commission I can give you for France,
+is to advise them to behave with more wisdom than they have done
+hitherto. That Monarchy is a body with much strength, but without, soul
+or energy (NERF)."
+
+And so you may give it to Valori to put in cipher, my illustrious
+Messenger from the Spheres. [_OEuvres de Voltaire,_ lxxiii. 101-105 (see
+Ib. ii. 55); _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxii. 141-144.]
+
+Worth reading, this, rather well. Very kingly, and characteristic of
+the young Friedrich. Saved by Beaumarchais, who did not give it in his
+famous Kehl Edition of VOLTAIRE, but "had it in Autograph ever after,
+and printed it in his DECADE PHILOSOPHIQUE, 10 Messidor, An vii.
+[Summer, 1799]: Beaumarchais had several other Pieces of the same sort;"
+which, as bits of contemporary photographing, one would have liked to
+see.
+
+
+
+
+FRIEDRICH VISITS BAIREUTH: ON A PARTICULAR ERRAND;--VOLTAIRE ATTENDING,
+AND PRIVATELY REPORTING.
+
+This "BIRIBI" Document, I suppose to have been delivered perhaps on the
+7th; and that Friedrich HAD it, but had not yet answered it, when he
+wrote the following Letter:--
+
+"POTSDAM, 8th SEPTEMBER, 1743 [Friedrich to Voltaire].--I dare not speak
+to a son of Apollo about horses and carriages, relays and such things;
+these are details with which the gods do not concern themselves, and
+which we mortals take upon us. You will set out on Monday afternoon,
+if you like the journey, for Baireuth, and you will dine with me in
+passing, if you please [at Potsdam here].
+
+"The rest of my MEMOIRE [Paper before given?] is so blurred and in so
+bad a state, I cannot yet send it you.--I am getting Cantos 8 and 9 of
+LA PUCELLE copied; I at present have Cantos 1, 2, 4, 5, 8 and 9: I keep
+them under three keys, that the eye of mortal may not see them.
+
+"I hear you supped yesternight in good company [great gathering in some
+high house, gone all asunder now];
+
+"The finest wits of the Canton All collected in your name, People all
+who could not but be pleased with you, All devout believers in Voltaire,
+Unanimously took you For the god of their Paradise.
+
+"'Paradise,' that you may not be scandalized, is taken here in a general
+sense for a place of pleasure and joy. See the 'remark' on the last
+verse of the MONDAIN." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxii. 144; Voltaire,
+lxxiii. 100] (scandalously MISdated in Edition 1818, xxxix. 466). As to
+MONDAIN, and "remark" upon it,--the ghost of what was once a sparkle of
+successful coterie-speech and epistolary allusion,--take this: "In the
+MONDAIN Voltaire had written, 'LE PARADIS TERRESTRE EST OU JE SUIS;'
+and as the Priests made outcry, had with airs of orthodoxy explained the
+phrase away,"--as Friedrich now affects to do; obliquely quizzing, in
+the Friedrich manner.
+
+Voltaire is to go upon the Baireuth Journey, then, according to prayer.
+Whether Voltaire ever got that all-important "word which he could show,"
+I cannot say: though there is some appearance that Friedrich may have
+dashed off for him the Panegyric of Louis, in these very hours, to serve
+his turn, and have done with him. Under date 7th September, day before
+the Letter just read, here are snatches from another to the same
+address:--
+
+"POTSDAM, 7th SEPTEMBER, 1743 [Friedrich to Voltaire].--You tell me so
+much good of France and of its King, it were to be wished all Sovereigns
+had subjects like you, and all Commonwealths such citizens,--[you
+can show that, I suppose?] What a pity France and Sweden had not had
+Military Chiefs of your way of thinking! But it is very certain, say
+what you will, that the feebleness of their Generals, and the timidity
+of their counsels, have almost ruined in public repute two Nations
+which, not half a century ago, inspired terror over Europe."--...
+"Scandalous Peace, that of Fleury, in 1735; abandoning King Stanislaus,
+cheating Spain, cheating Sardinia, to get Lorraine! And now this manner
+of abandoning the Emperor [respectable Karl VII. of your making];
+sacrificing Bavaria; and reducing that worthy Prince to the lowest
+poverty,--poverty, I say not, of a Prince, but into the frightfulest
+state for a private man!" Ah, Monsieur.
+
+"And yet your France is the most charming of Nations; and if it is not
+feared, it deserves well to be loved. A King worthy to command it,
+who governs sagely, and acquires for himself the esteem of all
+Europe,--[there, won't that do!] may restore its ancient splendor,
+which the Broglios, and so many others even more inept, have a little
+eclipsed. That is assuredly a work worthy of a Prince endowed with
+such gifts! To reverse the sad posture of affairs, nobly repairing what
+others have spoiled; to defend his country against furious enemies,
+reducing them to beg Peace, instead of scornfully rejecting it when
+offered: never was more glory acquirable by any King! I shall admire
+whatsoever this great man [CE GRAND HOMME, Louis XV., not yet visibly
+tending to the dung-heap, let us hope better things!] may achieve in
+that way; and of all the Sovereigns of Europe none will be less jealous
+of his success than I:"--there, my spheral friend, show that! [_OEuvres
+de Frederic,_ xxii. 139: see, for what followed, _OEuvres de Voltaire,_
+lxxiii. 129 (report to Amelot, 27th October).]
+
+Which the spheral friend does. Nor was it "irony," as the new
+Commentators think; not at all; sincere enough, what you call
+sincere;--Voltaire himself had a nose for "irony"! This was what you
+call sincere Panegyric in liberal measure; why be stingy with your
+measure? It costs half an hour: it will end Voltaire's importunities;
+and so may, if anything, oil the business-wheels withal. For Friedrich
+foresees business enough with Louis and the French Ministries, though
+he will not enter on it with Voltaire. This Journey to Baireuth and
+Anspach, for example, this is not for a visit to his Sisters, as
+Friedrich labels it; but has extensive purposes hidden under that
+title,--meetings with Franconian Potentates, earnest survey, earnest
+consultation on a state of things altogether grave for Germany and
+Friedrich; though he understands whom to treat with about it, whom
+to answer with a "BIRIBIRI, MON AMI." That Austrian Exorbitancy of a
+message to the Diet has come out (August 16th, and is struggling
+to DICTATUR); the Austrian procedures in Baiern are in their full
+flagrancy: Friedrich intends trying once more, Whether, in such crisis,
+there be absolutely no "Union of German Princes" possible; nor even of
+any two or three of them, in the "Swabian and Franconian Circles," which
+he always thought the likeliest?
+
+The Journey took effect, Tuesday, 10th September [Rodenbeck, i. 93.]
+(not the day before, as Friedrich had been projecting); went by Halle,
+straight upon Baireuth; and ended there on Thursday. As usual, Prince
+August Wilhelm, and Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, were of it; Voltaire
+failed not to accompany. What the complexion of it was, especially what
+Friedrich had meant by it, and how ill he succeeded, will perhaps be
+most directly visible through the following compressed Excerpts from
+Voltaire's long LETTER to Secretary Amelot on the subject,--if readers
+will be diligent with them. Friedrich, after four days, ran across to
+Anspach on important business; came back with mere failure, and was
+provokingly quite silent on it; stayed at Baireuth some three days more;
+thence home by Gotha (still on "Union" business, still mere failure),
+by Leipzig, and arrived at Potsdam, September 25th;--leaving Voltaire
+in Wilhelmina's charmed circle (of which unhappily there is not a word
+said), for about a week more. Voltaire, directly on getting back to
+Berlin, "resumes the thread of his journal" to Secretary Amelot; that
+is, writes him another long Letter:--
+
+VOLTAIRE (from Berlin, 3d October, 1743) TO SECRETARY AMELOT.
+
+"... The King of Prussia told me at Baireuth, on the 13th or 14th of
+last month, He was glad our King had sent the Kaiser money;"--useful
+that, at any rate; Noailles's 6,000 pounds would not go far. "That he
+thought M. le Marechal de Noailles's explanation [of a certain small
+rumor, to the disadvantage of Noailles in reference to the Kaiser] was
+satisfactory: 'but,' added he, 'it results from all your secret motions
+that you are begging Peace from everybody, and there may have been
+something in this rumor, after all.'
+
+"He then told me he was going over to Anspach, to see what could be done
+for the Common Cause [Kaiser's and Ours]; that he expected to meet the
+Bishop of Wurzburg there; and would try to stir the Frankish and Swabian
+Circles into some kind of Union. And, at setting off [from Baireuth,
+September 16th, on this errand], he promised his Brother-in-law the
+Margraf, He would return with great schemes afoot, and even with great
+success;" which proved otherwise, to a disappointing degree.
+
+"... The Margraf of Anspach did say he would join a Union of Princes
+in favor of the Kaiser, if Prussia gave example. But that was all. The
+Bishop of Wurzburg," a feeble old creature, "never appeared at
+Anspach, nor even sent an apology; and Seckendorf, with the Imperial
+Army"--Seckendorf, caged up at Wembdingen (whom Friedrich drove off
+from Anspach, twenty miles, to see and consult), was in a disconsolate
+moulting condition, and could promise or advise nothing satisfactory,
+during the dinner one took with him. [September 19th, "under a shady
+tree, after muster of the troops" (Rodenbeck, p. 93).] Four days running
+about on those errands had yielded his Prussian Majesty nothing. "Whilst
+he (Prussian Majesty) was on this Anspach excursion, the Margraf of
+Baireuth, who is lately made Field-marshal of his Circle, spoke much to
+me of present affairs: a young Prince, full of worth and courage, who
+loves the French, hates the Austrians,"--and would fain make himself
+generally useful. "To whom I suggested this and that" (does your
+Lordship observe?), if it could ever come to anything.
+
+"The King of Prussia, on returning to Baireuth [guess, 20th September],
+did not speak the least word of business to the Margraf: which much
+surprised the latter! He surprised him still more by indicating some
+intention to retain forcibly at Berlin the young Duke of Wurtemberg,
+under pretext, 'that Madam his Mother intended to have him taken to
+Vienna,' for education. To anger this young Duke, and drive his Mother
+to despair, was not the method for acquiring credit in the Circle of
+Swabia, and getting the Princes brought to unite!
+
+"The Duchess of Wurtemberg, who was there at Baireuth, by appointment,
+to confer with the King of Prussia, sent to seek me. I found her all
+dissolved in tears. 'Ah!' said she,--[But why is our dear Wilhelmina
+left saying nothing; invisible, behind the curtains of envious Chance,
+and only a skirt of them lifted to show us this Improper Duchess once
+more!]--'Ah!' said she (the Improper Duchess, at sight of me), 'will the
+King of Prussia be a tyrant, then? To pay me for intrusting my Boys to
+him, and giving him two Regiments [for money down], will he force me to
+implore justice against him from the whole world? I must have my Child!
+He shall not go to Vienna; it is in his own Country that I will have him
+brought up beside me. To put my Son in Austrian hands? [unless, indeed,
+your Highness were driven into Financial or other straits?] You know if
+I love France;--if my design is not to pass the rest of my days there,
+so soon as my Son comes to majority!' Ohone, ohoo!
+
+"In fine, the quarrel was appeased. The King of Prussia told me he would
+be gentler with the Mother; would restore the Son if they absolutely
+wished it; but that he hoped the young Prince would of himself like
+better to stay where he was."...--"I trust your Lordship will allow me
+to draw for those 300 ducats, for a new carriage. I have spent all I
+had, running about these four months. I leave this for Brunswick and
+homewards, on the evening of the 12th." [Voltaire, lxxiii. 105-109.]...
+
+And so the curtain drops on the Baireuth Journey, on the Berlin Visit;
+and indeed, if that were anything, on Voltaire's Diplomatic career
+altogether. The insignificant Accidents, the dull Powers that be, say
+No. Curious to reflect, had they happened to say Yes:--"Go into the
+Diplomatic line, then, you sharp climbing creature, and become great by
+that method; WRITE no more, you; write only Despatches and Spy-Letters
+henceforth!"--how different a world for us, and for all mortals that
+read and that do not read, there had now been!
+
+Voltaire fancies he has done his Diplomacy well, not without fruit;
+and, at Brunswick,--cheered by the grand welcome he found there,--has
+delightful outlooks (might I dare to suggest them, Monseigneur?) of
+touring about in the German Courts, with some Circular HORTATORIUM, or
+sublime Begging-Letter from the Kaiser, in his hand; and, by witchery
+of tongue, urging Wurtemberg, Brunswick, Baireuth, Anspach, Berlin,
+to compliance with the Imperial Majesty and France. [Ib. lxxiii. 133.]
+Would not that be sublime! But that, like the rest, in spite of one's
+talent, came to nothing. Talent? Success? Madame de Chateauroux had,
+in the interim, taken a dislike to M. Amelot; "could not bear
+his stammering," the fastidious Improper Female; flung Amelot
+overboard,--Amelot, and his luggage after him, Voltaire's diplomatic
+hopes included; and there was an end.
+
+How ravishing the thing had been while it lasted, judge by these
+other stray symptoms; hastily picked up, partly at Berlin, partly at
+Brunswick; which show us the bright meridian, and also the blaze, almost
+still more radiant, which proved to be sunset. Readers have heard of
+Voltaire's Madrigals to certain Princesses; and must read these Three
+again,--which are really incomparable in their kind; not equalled in
+graceful felicity even by Goethe, and by him alone of Poets approached
+in that respect. At Berlin, Autumn 1743, Three consummate Madrigals:--
+
+            1. TO PRINCESS ULRIQUE.
+
+            "Souvent un peu de verite
+            Se mele au plus grossier mensonge:
+            Cette nuit, dans l'erreur d'un songe,
+            Au rang des rois j'etais monte.
+     Je vous aimais, Princesse, et j'osais vous le dire!
+                  Les dieux a mon reveil ne m'ont pas tout ote,
+                  Je n'ai perdu que mon empire."
+
+       2. TO PRINCESSES ULRIQUE AND AMELIA.
+
+           "Si Paris venait sur la terre
+           Pour juger entre vos beaux yeux,
+           Il couperait la pomme en deux,
+           Et ne produirait pas de guerre."
+
+     3. TO PRINCESSES ULRIQUE, AMELIA AND WILHELMINA.
+
+     "Pardon, charmante Ulrique; pardon, belle Amelie;
+     J'ai cru n'aimer que vous la reste de ma vie,
+             Et ne servir que sous vos lois;
+             Mais enfin j'entends et je vois
+     Cette adorable Soeur dont l'Amour suit les traces:
+             Ah, ce n'est pas outrager les Trois Graces
+             Que de les aimer toutes trois!"
+
+[1. "A grain of truth is often mingled with the stupidest delusion.
+Yesternight, in the error of a dream, I had risen to the rank of king;
+I loved you, Princess, and had the audacity to say so! The gods, at my
+awakening, did not strip me wholly; my kingdom was all they took from
+me." 2. "If Paris [of Troy] came back to decide on the charms of you
+Two, he would halve the Apple, and produce no War." 3. "Pardon, charming
+Ulrique; beautiful Amelia, pardon: I thought I should love only you for
+the rest of my life, and serve under your laws only: but at last I hear
+and see this adorable Sister, whom Love follows as Page:--Ah, it is not
+offending the Three Graces to love them all three!" --In _Oeuvres de
+Voltaire,_ xviii.: No. 1 is, p. 292 (in _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xiv.
+90-92, the ANSWERS to it); No. 2 is, p. 320; No. 3, p. 321.]
+
+
+BRUNSWICK, 16th October (blazing sunset, as it proved, but brighter
+almost than meridian), a LETTER FROM VOLTAIRE TO MAUPERTUIS (still in
+France since that horrible Mollwitz-Pandour Business).
+
+"In my wanderings I received the Letter where my dear Flattener of this
+Globe deigns to remember me with so much friendship. Is it possible
+that--... I made your compliments to all your friends at Berlin; that
+is, to all the Court." "Saw Dr. Eller decomposing water into elastic
+air [or thinking he did so, 1743]; saw the Opera of TITUS, which is a
+masterpiece of music [by Friedrich himself, with the important aid of
+Graun]: it was, without vanity, a treat the King gave me, or rather gave
+himself; he wished I should see him in his glory.
+
+"His Opera-House is the finest in Europe. Charlottenburg is a delicious
+abode: Friedrich does the honors there, the King knowing nothing of
+it.... One lives at Potsdam as in the Chateau of a French Seigneur who
+had culture and genius,--in spite of that big Battalion of Guards, which
+seems to me the terriblest Battalion in this world.
+
+"Jordan is still the same,--BON GARCON ET DISCRET; has his oddities, his
+1,600 crowns (240 pounds) of pension. D'Argens is Chamberlain, with a
+gold key at his breast-pocket, and 100 louis inside, payable monthly.
+Chasot [whom readers made acquaintance with at Philipsburg long since],
+instead of cursing his destiny, must have taken to bless it: he is Major
+of Horse, with income enough. And he has well earned it, having saved
+the King's Baggage at the last Battle of Chotusitz,"--what we did not
+notice, in the horse-charges and grand tumults of that scene.
+
+"I passed some days [a fortnight in all] at Baireuth. Her Royal
+Highness, of course, spoke to me of you. Baireuth is a delightful
+retreat, where one enjoys whatever there is agreeable in a Court,
+without the bother of grandeur. Brunswick, where I am, has another
+species of charm. 'Tis a celestial Voyage this of mine, where I pass
+from Planet to Planet,"--to tumultuous Paris; and, I do hope, to
+my unique Maupertuis awaiting me there at last. [Voltaire, lxxiii.
+122-125.]'
+
+We have only to remark farther, that Friedrich had again pressed
+Voltaire to come and live with him, and choose his own terms; and that
+Voltaire (as a second string to his bow, should this fine Diplomatic
+one fail) had provisionally accepted. Provisionally; and with one most
+remarkable clause: that of leaving out Madame,--"imagining it would be
+less agreeable to you if I came with others (AVEC D'AUTRES); and I own,
+that belonging to your Majesty alone, I should have my mind more at
+ease:" [_OEuvres de Voltaire, _ lxxiii. 112,116 (Proposal and Response,
+both of them "7th October," five days before leaving Berlin).]--whew!
+And then to add a third thing: That Madame, driven half delirious, by
+these delays, and gyratings from Planet to Planet, especially by that
+last Fortnight at Baireuth, had rushed off from Paris, to seek her
+vagabond, and see into him with her own eyes: "Could n't help it, my
+angels!" writes she to the D'Argentals (excellent guardian angels,
+Monsieur and Madame; and, I am sure, PATIENT both of them, as only
+MONSIEUR Job was, in the old case): "A whole fortnight [perhaps with
+madrigals to Princesses], and only four lines to me!"--and is now in
+bed, or lately was, at Lille, ill of slow fever (PETITE FIEVRE); panting
+to be upon the road again. [_Lettres inedites de Madame du Chastelet a
+M. le Comte d'Argental_ (Paris, 1806) p. 253. A curiously elucidative
+Letter this ("Brussels, 15th October, 1743"); a curious little Book
+altogether.]
+
+Fancy what a greeting for M. de Voltaire, from those eyes HAGARDES ET
+LOUCHES; and whether he mentioned that pretty little clause of going to
+Berlin "WITHOUT others," or durst for the life of him whisper of going
+at all! After pause in the Brussels region, they came back to Paris
+"in December;" resigned, I hope, to inexorable Fate,--though with such
+Diplomatic and other fine prospects flung to the fishes, and little but
+GREDINS and confusions waiting you, as formerly.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VII.--FRIEDRICH MAKES TREATY WITH FRANCE; AND SILENTLY GETS
+READY.
+
+Though Friedrich went upon the bantering tone with Voltaire, his private
+thoughts in regard to the surrounding scene of things were extremely
+serious; and already it had begun to be apparent, from those
+Britannic-Austrian procedures, that some new alliance with France might
+well lie ahead for him. During Voltaire's visit, that extraordinary
+Paper from Vienna, that the Kaiser was no Kaiser, and that there must be
+"compensation" and satisfactory "assurance," had come into full glare of
+first-reading; and the DICTATUR-SACHE, and denunciation of an evidently
+partial Kur-Mainz, was awakening everywhere. Voltaire had not gone,
+when,--through Podewils Junior (probably with help of the improper
+Dutch female of rank),--Friedrich got to wit of another thing, not less
+momentous to him; and throwing fearful light on that of "compensation"
+and "assurance." This was the Treaty of Worms,--done by Carteret and
+George, September 13th, during those languid Rhine operations; Treaty
+itself not languid, but a very lively thing, to Friedrich and to all the
+world! Concerning which a few words now.
+
+We have said, according to promise, and will say, next to nothing of
+Maria Theresa's Italian War; but hope always the reader keeps it in
+mind. Big war-clouds waltzing hither and thither, occasionally
+clashing into bloody conflict; Sardinian Majesty and Infant Philip both
+personally in the field, fierce men both: Traun, Browne, Lobkowitz,
+Lichtenstein, Austrians of mark, successively distinguishing themselves;
+Spain, too, and France very diligent;--Conti off thither, then in their
+turns Maillebois, Noailles:--high military figures, but remote; shadowy,
+thundering INaudibly on this side and that; whom we must not mention
+farther.
+
+"The notable figure to us," says one of my Notes, "is Charles Emanuel,
+second King of Sardinia; who is at the old trade of his Family, and
+shifts from side to side, making the war-balance vibrate at a great
+rate, now this scale now that kicking the beam. For he holds the door of
+the Alps, Bully Bourbon on one side of it, Bully Hapsburg on the other;
+and inquires sharply, "You, what will you give me? And you?" To Maria
+Theresa's affairs he has been superlatively useful, for these Two Years
+past; and truly she is not too punctual in the returns covenanted for.
+It appears to Charles Emanuel that the Queen of Hungary, elated in her
+high thought, under-rates his services, of late; that she practically
+means to give him very little of those promised slices from the Lombard
+parts; and that, in the mean while, much too big a share of the War has
+fallen upon his poor hands, who should be doorholder only.
+
+"Accordingly he grumbles, threatens: he has been listening to France,
+'Bourbon, how much will you give me, then?' and the answer is such
+that he informs the Queen of Hungary and the Britannic Majesty, of
+his intention to close with Bourbon, since they on their side will
+do nothing considerable. George and his Carteret, not to mention the
+Hungarian Majesty at all, are thunder-struck at such a prospect; bend
+all their energies towards this essential point of retaining Charles
+Emanuel, which is more urgent even than getting Elsass. 'Madam,' they
+say to her Majesty, (we cannot save Italy for you on other terms:
+Vigevanesco, Finale [which is Genoa's], part of Piacenza [when once
+got]: there must be some slice of the Lombard parts to this Charles
+Emanuel justly angry!) Whereat the high Queen storms, and in her
+high manner scolds little George, as if he were the blamable
+party,--pretending friendship, and yet abetting mere highway robbery
+or little better. And his cash paid Madam, and his Dettingen mouse-trap
+fought? 'Well, he has plenty of cash:--is it my Cause, then, or his
+Majesty's and Liberty's?' Posterity, in modern England, vainly endeavors
+to conceive this phenomenon; yet sees it to be undeniable.
+
+"And so there is a Treaty of Worms got concocted, after infinite effort
+on the part of Carteret, Robinson too laboring and steaming in Vienna
+with boilers like to burst; and George gets it signed 13th September
+[already signed while Friedrich was looking into Seckendorf and
+Wembdingen, if Friedrich had known it]: to this effect, That Charles
+Emanuel should have annually, down on the nail, a handsome increase of
+Subsidy (200,000 pounds instead of 150,000 pounds) from England, and
+ultimately beyond doubt some thinnish specified slices from the Lombard
+parts; and shall proceed fighting for, not against; English Fleet
+co-operating, English Purse ditto, regardless of expense; with other
+fit particulars, as formerly. [Scholl, ii. 330-335; Adelung, iii. B,
+222-226; Coxe, iii. 296.] Maria Theresa, very angry, looks upon herself
+as a martyr, nobly complying to suffer for the whim of England; and
+Robinson has had such labors and endurances, a steam-engine on the point
+of bursting is but an emblem of him. It was a necessary Treaty for the
+Cause of Liberty, as George and Carteret, and all English Ministries
+and Ministers (Diana of Newcastle very specially, in spite of Pitt and
+a junior Opposition Party) viewed Liberty. It was Love's last
+shift,--Diana having intervened upon those magnificent 'Conferences
+of Hanau' lately! Nevertheless Carteret was thrown out, next year, on
+account of it. And Posterity is unable to conceive it; and asks always
+of little George, What, in the name of wonder, had he to do there,
+fighting for or against, and hiring everybody he met to fight against
+everybody? A King with eyes somewhat A FLEUR-DE-TETE: yes; and let us
+say, his Nation, too,--which has sat down quietly, for almost a century
+back, under mountains of nonsense, inwardly nothing but dim Scepticism
+[except in the stomachic regions], and outwardly such a Trinacria of
+Hypocrisy [unconscious, for most part] as never lay on an honest giant
+Nation before, was itself grown much of a fool, and could expect no
+other kind of Kings.
+
+"But the point intensely interesting to Friedrich in this Treaty of
+Worms was, That, in enumerating punctually the other Treaties, old and
+recent, which it is to guarantee, and stand upon the basis of, there
+is nowhere the least mention of Friedrich's BRESLAU-AND-BERLIN TREATY;
+thrice-important Treaty with her Hungarian Majesty on the Silesian
+matter! In settling all manner of adjoining and preceding matters, there
+is nothing said of Silesia at all. Singular indeed. Treaties enough,
+from that of Utrecht downward, are wearisomely mentioned here; but of
+the Berlin Treaty, Breslau Treaty, or any Treaty settling Silesia,--much
+less, of any Westminster Treaty, guaranteeing it to the King of
+Prussia,--there is not the faintest mention! Silesia, then, is not
+considered settled, by the high contracting parties? Little George
+himself, who guaranteed it, in the hour of need, little more than a year
+ago, considers it fallen loose again in the new whirl of contingencies?
+'Patience, Madam: what was good to give is good to take!' On what
+precise day or month Friedrich got notice of this expressive silence in
+the Treaty of Worms, we do not know; but from that day--!"
+
+Friedrich recollects another thing, one of many others: that of those
+"ulterior mountains," which Austria had bargained for as Boundary to
+Schlesien. Wild bare mountains; good for what? For invading Schlesien
+from the Austrian side; if for nothing else conceivable! The small
+riddle reads itself to him so, with a painful flash of light. [_OEuvres
+de Frederic,_ iii. 34.] Looking intensely into this matter, and putting
+things together, Friedrich gets more and more the alarming assurance of
+the fate intended him; and that he will verily have to draw sword again,
+and fight for Silesia, and as if for life. From about the end of 1743
+(as I strive to compute), there was in Friedrich himself no doubt
+left of it; though his Ministers, when he consulted them a good while
+afterwards, were quite incredulous, and spent all their strength in
+dissuading a new War; now when the only question was, How to do said
+War? "How to do it, to make ready for doing it? We must silently select
+the ways, the methods: silent, wary,--then at last swift; and the more
+like a lion-spring, like a bolt from the blue, it will be the better!"
+That is Friedrich's fixed thought.
+
+The Problem was complicated, almost beyond example. The Reich, with
+a Kaiser reduced to such a pass, has its potentialities of help or of
+hindrance,--its thousand-fold formulas, inane mostly, yet not inane
+wholly, which interlace this matter everywhere, as with real threads,
+and with gossamer or apparent threads,--which it is essential to attend
+to. Wise head, that could discriminate the dead Formulas of such an
+imbroglio, from the not-dead; and plant himself upon the Living Facts
+that do lie in the centre there! "We cannot have a Reichs Mediation-Army,
+then? Nor a Swabian-Franconian Army, to defend their own frontier?"
+No; it is evident, none. "And there is no Union of Princes possible; no
+Party, anywhere, that will rise to support the Kaiser whom all Germany
+elected; whom Austria and foreign England have insulted, ruined and
+officially designated as non-extant?" Well, not quite No, none; YES
+perhaps, in some small degree,--if Prussia will step out, with drawn
+sword, and give signal. The Reich has its potentialities, its formulas
+not quite dead; but is a sad imbroglio.
+
+Definite facts again are mainly twofold, and of a much more central
+nature. Fact FIRST: A France which sees itself lamentably trodden into
+the mud by such disappointments and disgraces; which, on proposing
+peace, has met insult and invasion;--France will be under the necessity
+of getting to its feet, and striking for itself; and indeed is visibly
+rising into something of determination to do it:--there, if Prussia and
+the Kaiser are to be helped at all, there lies the one real help. Fact
+SECOND: Friedrich's feelings for the poor Kaiser and the poor insulted
+Reich, of which Friedrich is a member. Feelings, these, which are not
+"feigned" (as the English say), but real, and even indignant; and
+about these he can speak and plead freely. For himself and his Silesia,
+THROUGH the Kaiser, Friedrich's feelings are pungently real;--and they
+are withal completely adjunct to the other set of feelings, and go
+wholly to intensifying of them; the evident truth being, That neither he
+nor his Silesia would be in danger, were the Kaiser safe.
+
+Friedrich's abstruse diplomacies, and delicate motions and handlings
+with the Reich, that is to say, with the Kaiser and the Kaiser's few
+friends in the Reich, and then again with the French,--which lasted for
+eight or nine months before closure (October, 1743 to June, 1744),--are
+considered to have been a fine piece of steering in difficult waters;
+but would only weary the reader, who is impatient for results and
+arrivals. Ingenious Herr Professor Ranke,--whose HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH
+consists mainly of such matter excellently done, and offers mankind a
+wondrously distilled "ASTRAL SPIRIT," or ghost-like fac-simile (elegant
+gray ghost, with stars dim-twinkling through), of Friedrich's and other
+people's Diplomatizings in this World,--will satisfy the strongest
+diplomatic appetite; and to him we refer such as are given that way.
+[Ranke, _Neun Bucher Preussischer Geschichte,_ iii. 74-137.]' "France
+and oneself, as SUBSTANCE of help; but, for many reasons, give it
+carefully a legal German FORM or coat:" that is Friedrich's method as
+to finding help. And he diligently prosecutes it;--and, what is still
+luckier, strives to be himself at all points ready, and capable of doing
+with a minimum of help from others.
+
+Before the Year 1743 was out, Friedrich had got into serious Diplomatic
+Colloquy with France; suggesting, urging, proposing, hypothetically
+promising. "February 21st, 1744," he secretly despatched Rothenburg to
+Paris; who, in a shining manner, consults not only with the Amelots,
+Belleisles, but with the Chateauroux herself (who always liked
+Friedrich), and with Louis XV. in person: and triumphantly brings
+matters to a bearing. Ready here, on the French side; so soon as your
+Reich Interests are made the most of; so soon as your Patriotic "Union
+of Reich's Princes" is ready! In March, 1744, the Reich side of the
+Affair was likewise getting well forward ("we keep it mostly secret from
+the poor Kaiser, who is apt to blab"):--and on May 22d, 1744, Friedrich,
+with the Kaiser and Two other well-affected Parties (only two as yet,
+but we hope for more, and invite all and sundry), sign solemnly
+their "UNION OF FRANKFURT;" famous little Fourfold outcome of so much
+diplomatizing. [Ranke, ubi supra (Treaty is in Adelung, iv. 103-105).]
+For the well-affected Parties, besides Friedrich, and the Kaiser
+himself, were as yet Two only: Landgraf Wilhelm of Hessen-Cassel,
+disgusted with the late Carteret astucities at Hanau, he is one (and
+hires, by and by, his poor 6,000 Hessians to the French and Kaiser,
+instead of to the English; which is all the help HE can give); Landgraf
+Wilhelm, and for sole second to him the new Kur-Pfalz, who also has men
+to hire. New Kur-Pfalz: our poor OLD friend is dead; but here is a
+new one, Karl Philip Theodor by name, of whom we shall hear again long
+afterwards; who was wedded (in the Frankfurt-Coronation time, as readers
+might have noted) to a Grand-daughter of the old, and who is, like the
+old, a Hereditary Cousin of the Kaiser's, and already helps him all he
+can.
+
+Only these Two as yet, though the whole Reich is invited to join; these,
+along with Friedrich and the Kaiser himself, do now, in their general
+Patriotic "Union," which as yet consists only of Four, covenant, in Six
+Articles, To,--in brief, to support Teutschland's oppressed Kaiser in
+his just rights and dignities; and to do, with the House of Austria,
+"all imaginable good offices" (not the least whisper of fighting)
+towards inducing said high House to restore to the Kaiser his
+Reichs-Archives, his Hereditary Countries, his necessary Imperial
+Furnishings, called for by every law human and divine:--in which
+endeavor, or innocently otherwise, if any of the contracting parties
+be attacked, the others will guarantee him, and strenuously help. "All
+imaginable good offices;" nothing about fighting anywhere,--still less
+is there the least mention of France; total silence on that head, by
+Friedrich's express desire. But in a Secret Article (to which France,
+you may be sure, will accede), it is intimated, "That the way of good
+offices having some unlikelihoods, it MAY become necessary to take arms.
+In which tragic case, they will, besides Hereditary Baiern (which is
+INalienable, fixed as the rocks, by Reichs-Law), endeavor to conquer,
+to reconquer for the Kaiser, his Kingdom of Bohmen withal, as a proper
+Outfit for Teutschland's Chief: and that, if so, his Prussian Majesty
+(who will have to do said conquest) shall, in addition to his Schlesien,
+have from it the Circles of Konigsgratz, Bunzlau and Leitmeritz for his
+trouble." This is the Treaty of Union, Secret-Article and all; done at
+Frankfurt-on-Mayn, 22d May, 1744.
+
+Done then and there; but no part of it made public, till August
+following, ["22d August 1744, by the Kaiser" (Adelung, iv. 154.)] (when
+the upshot had come); and the Secret Bohemian Article NOT then made
+public, nor ever afterwards,--much the contrary; though it was true
+enough, but inconvenient to confess, especially as it came to nothing.
+"A hypothetical thing, that," says Friedrich carelessly; "wages moderate
+enough, and proper to be settled beforehand, though the work was never
+done." To reach down quite over the Mountains, and have the Elbe for
+Silesian Frontier: this, as an occasional vague thought, or day-dream
+in high moments, was probably not new to Friedrich; and would have been
+very welcome to him,--had it proved realizable, which it did not. That
+this was "Friedrich's real end in going to War again," was at one time
+the opinion loudly current in England and other uninformed quarters;
+"but it is not now credible to anybody," says Herr Ranke; nor indeed
+worth talking of, except as a memento of the angry eclipses, and
+temporary dust-clouds, which rise between Nations, in an irritated
+uninformed condition.
+
+Rapidly progressive in the rear of all this, which was its legalizing
+German COAT, the French Treaty, which was the interior SUBSTANCE, or
+muscular tissue, perfected itself under Rothenburg; and was signed June
+5th, 1774 (anniversary, by accident, of that First Treaty of all,
+"June 5th, 1741");--sanctioning, by France, that Bohemian Adventure, if
+needful; minutely setting forth How, and under what contingencies, what
+efforts made and what successes arrived at, on the part of France, his
+Prussian Majesty shall take the field; and try Austria, not "with all
+imaginable good offices" longer, but with harder medicine. Of which
+Treaty we shall only say farther, commiserating our poor readers, That
+Friedrich considerably MORE than kept his side of it; and France very
+considerably LESS than hers. So that, had not there been punctual
+preparation at all points, and good self-help in Friedrich, Friedrich
+had come out of this new Adventure worse than he did!
+
+Long months ago, the French--as preliminary and rigorous SINE QUA NON to
+these Friedrich Negotiations--had actually started work, by "declaring
+War on Austria, and declaring War on England:"--Not yet at War, then,
+after so much killing? Oh no, reader; mere "Allies" of Belligerents,
+hitherto. These "Declarations" the French had made; [War on England,
+15th March, 1744; on Austria, 27th April (Adelung, iv. 78, 90).] and the
+French were really pushing forward, in an attitude of indignant
+energy, to execute the same. As shall be noticed by and by. And
+through Rothenburg, through Schmettau, by many channels, Friedrich is
+assiduously in communication with them; encouraging, advising, urging;
+their affairs being in a sort his, ever since the signing of those
+mutual Engagements, May 22d, June 5th. And now enough of that hypothetic
+Diplomatic stuff.
+
+War lies ahead, inevitable to Friedrich. He has gradually increased his
+Army by 18,000; inspection more minute and diligent than ever, has been
+quietly customary of late; Walrave's fortification works, impregnable or
+nearly so, the work at Neisse most of all, Friedrich had resolved to SEE
+completed,--before that French Treaty were signed. A cautious young man,
+though a rapid; vividly awake on all sides. And so the French-Austrian,
+French-English game shall go on; the big bowls bounding and rolling
+(with velocities, on courses, partly computable to a quick eye);--and at
+the right instant, and juncture of hits, not till that nor after that, a
+quick hand shall bowl in; with effect, as he ventures to hope. He
+knows well, it is a terrible game. But it is a necessary one, not to
+be despaired of; it is to be waited for with closed lips, and played to
+one's utmost!--
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII.--PERFECT PEACE AT BERLIN, WAR ALL ROUND.
+
+Friedrich, with the Spectre of inevitable War daily advancing on him, to
+him privately evident and certain if as yet to him only, neglects in no
+sort the Arts and business of Peace, but is present, always with vivid
+activity, in the common movement, serious or gay and festive, as the day
+brings it. During these Winter months of 1743, and still more through
+Summer 1744, there are important War-movements going on,--the French
+vehemently active again, the Austrians nothing behindhand,--which will
+require some slight notice from us soon. But in Berlin, alongside of
+all this, it is mere common business, diligent as ever, alternating with
+Carnival gayeties, with marryings, givings in marriage; in Berlin there
+goes on, under halcyon weather, the peaceable tide of things, sometimes
+in a high fashion, as if Berlin and its King had no concern with the
+foreign War.
+
+The Plauen Canal, an important navigation-work, canal of some thirty
+miles, joining Havel to Elbe in a convenient manner, or even joining
+Oder to Elbe, is at its busiest:--"it was begun June 1st, 1743 [all
+hands diligently digging there, June 27th, while some others of us were
+employed at Dettingen,--think of it!], and was finished June 5th, 1745."
+[Busching, _Erdbeschreibung,_ vi. 2192.] This is one of several such
+works now afoot. Take another miscellaneous item or two.
+
+January, 1744, Friedrich appoints, and briefly informs all his People of
+it, That any Prussian subject who thinks himself aggrieved, may come and
+tell his story to the King's own self: ["January, 1744" (Rodenbeck, i.
+98).]--better have his story in firm succinct state, I should imagine,
+and such that it will hold water, in telling it to the King! But the
+King is ready to hear him; heartily eager to get justice done him. A
+suitable boon, such Permission, till Law-Reform take effect. And after
+Law-Reform had finished, it was a thing found suitable; and continued to
+the end,--curious to a British reader to consider!
+
+Again: on Friedrich's birthday, 24th January, 1744, the new Academy
+of Sciences had, in the Schloss of Berlin, its first Session. But of
+this,--in the absence of Maupertuis, Flattener of the Earth, who is
+still in France, since that Mollwitz adventure; by and for behoof of
+whom, when he did return, and become "Perpetual First President," many
+changes were made,--I will not speak at present. Nor indeed afterwards,
+except on good chance rising;--the new Academy, with its Perpetual First
+President, being nothing like so sublime an object now, to readers and
+me, as it then was to itself and Perpetual President and Royal Patron!
+Vapid Formey is Perpetual Secretary; more power to him, as the Irish
+say. Poor Goldstick Pollnitz is an Honorary Member;--absent at this time
+in Baireuth, where those giggling Marwitzes of Wilhelmina's have been
+contriving a marriage for the old fool. Of which another word soon: if
+we have time. Time cannot be spent on those dim small objects: but there
+are two Marriages of a high order, of purport somewhat Historical; there
+is Barberina the Dancer, throwing a flash through the Operatic and some
+other provinces: let us restrict ourselves to these, and the like of
+these, and be brief upon them.
+
+
+
+THE SUCCESSION IN RUSSIA, AND ALSO IN SWEDEN, SHALL NOT BE HOSTILE TO
+US: TWO ROYAL MARRIAGES, A RUSSIAN AND A SWEDISH, ARE ACCOMPLISHED AT
+BERLIN, WITH SUCH VIEW.
+
+Marriage First, of an eminently Historical nature, is altogether
+Russian, or German become Russian, though Friedrich is much concerned in
+it. We heard of the mad Swedish-Russian War; and how Czarina Elizabeth
+was kind enough to choose a Successor to the old childless Swedish
+King,--Landgraf of Hessen-Cassel by nature; who has had a sorry time in
+Sweden, but kept merry and did not mind it much, poor old soul. Czarina
+Elizabeth's one care was, That the Prince of Denmark should not be
+chosen to succeed, as there was talk of his being: Sweden, Denmark,
+Norway, all grasped in one firm hand (as in the old "Union-of-Calmar"
+times, only with better management), might be dangerous to Russia.
+"Don't choose him of Denmark!" said Elizabeth, the victorious Czarina;
+and made it a condition of granting Peace, and mostly restoring Finland,
+to the infatuated Swedes. The person they did choose,--satisfactory
+to the Czarina, and who ultimately did become King of Sweden,--was
+one Adolf Friedrich; a Holstein-Gottorp Prince, come of Royal kin, and
+cousinry to Karl XII.: he is "Bishop of Lubeck" or of Eutin, so styled;
+now in his thirty-third year; and at least drawing the revenues of that
+See, though I think, not ecclesiastically given, but living oftener in
+Hamburg, the then fashionable resort of those Northern Grandees. On the
+whole, a likely young gentleman; accepted by parties concerned;--and
+surely good enough for the Office as it now is. Of whom, for a reason
+coming, let readers take note, in this place.
+
+Above a year before this time, Czarina Elizabeth, a provident female,
+and determined not to wed, had pitched upon her own Successor: [7th
+November, 1742 (Michaelis, ii. 627).] one Karl Peter Ulrich; who was
+also of the same Holstein-Gottorp set, though with Russian blood in him.
+His Grandfather was full cousin, and chosen comrade, to Karl XII.; got
+killed in Karl's Russian Wars; and left a poor Son dependent on Russian
+Peter the Great,--who gave him one of his Daughters; whence this Karl
+Peter Ulrich, an orphan, dear to his Aunt the Czarina. A Karl Peter
+Ulrich, who became tragically famous as Czar Peter Federowitz, or Czar
+Peter III., in the course of twenty years! His Father and Mother
+are both dead; loving Aunt has snatched the poor boy out of
+Holstein-Gottorp, which is a narrow sphere, into Russia, which is wide
+enough; she has had him converted to the Greek Church, named him Peter
+Federowitz, Heir and Successor;--and now, wishing to see him married,
+has earnestly consulted Friedrich upon it.
+
+Friedrich is decidedly interested; would grudge much to see an
+Anti-Prussian Princess, for instance a Saxon Princess (one of whom is
+said to Be trying), put into this important station! After a little
+thought, he fixes,--does the reader know upon whom? Readers perhaps,
+here and there, have some recollection of a Prussian General, who
+is Titular Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst on his own score; and is actual
+Commandant of Stettin in Friedrich's service, and has done a great deal
+of good fortification there and other good work. Instead of Titular,
+he has now lately, by decease of an Elder Brother, become Actual or
+Semi-Actual (a Brother joined with him in the poor Heirship); lives
+occasionally in the Schloss of Zerbst; but is glad to retain Stettin as
+a solid supplement. His Wife, let the reader note farther, is Sister
+to the above-mentioned Adolf Friedrich, "Bishop of Lubeck," now
+Heir-Apparent to Sweden,--in whom, as will soon appear, we are otherwise
+interested. Wife seems to me an airy flighty kind of lady, high-paced,
+not too sure-paced,--weak evidently in French grammar, and perhaps in
+human sense withal:--but they have a Daughter, Sophie-Frederike, now
+near fifteen, and very forward for her age; comely to look upon, wise to
+listen to: "Is not she the suitable one?" thinks Friedrich, in regard to
+this matter. "Her kindred is of the oldest, old as Albert the Bear;
+she has been frugally brought up, Spartan-like, though as a Princess
+by birth: let her cease skipping ropes on the ramparts yonder, with
+her young Stettin playmates; and prepare for being a Czarina of the
+Russias," thinks he. And communicates his mind to the Czarina; who
+answers, "Excellent! How did I never think of that myself?"
+
+And so, on or about New-year's day, 1744, while the Commandant of
+Stettin and his airy Spouse are doing Christmas at their old Schloss
+of Zerbst, there suddenly come Estafettes; Expresses from Petersburg,
+heralded by Express from Friedrich:--with the astonishing proposal,
+"Czarina wishing the honor of a visit from Madam and Daughter; no doubt,
+with such and such intentions in the rear." [Friedrich's Letters to
+Madam of Zerbst (date of the first of them, 30th December, 1743), in
+_OEuvres,_ xxv. 579-589.] Madam, nor Daughter, is nothing loath;--the
+old Commandant grumbles in his beard, not positively forbidding: and
+in this manner, after a Letter or two in imperfect grammar, Madam and
+Daughter appear in Carnival society at Berlin, charming objects
+both; but do not stay long; in fact, stay only till their moneys and
+arrangements are furnished them. Upon which, in all silence, they make
+for Petersburg, for Moscow; travel rapidly, arrive successfully, in
+spite of the grim season. ["At Moscow, 7th (18th) February, 1744."]
+Conversion to the Greek Religion, change of name from Sophie-Frederike
+to Catherine-Alexiewna ("Let it be Catherine," said Elizabeth, "my dear
+mother's name!"--little brown Czarina's, whom we have seen):--all this
+was completed by the 12th of July following. And, in fine, next
+year (September 1st, 1745), Peter Federowitz and this same
+Catherine-Alexiewna, second-cousins by blood, were vouchsafed the
+Nuptial Benediction, and, with invocation of the Russian Heaven
+and Russian Earth, were declared to be one flesh, [Ranke, iii. 129;
+_Memoires de Catherine II._ (Catherine's own very curious bit
+of Autobiography;--published by Mr. Herzen, London, 1859), pp.
+7-46.]--though at last they turned out to be TWO FLESHES, as my reader
+well knows! Some eighteen or nineteen years hence, we may look in upon
+them again, if there be a moment to spare. This is Marriage first; a
+purely Russian one; built together and launched on its course, so to
+say, by Friedrich at Berlin, who had his own interest in it.
+
+Marriage Second, done at Berlin in the same months, was of still more
+interesting sort to Friedrich and us: that of Princess Ulrique to the
+above-named Adolf Friedrich, future King of Sweden. Marriage which went
+on preparing itself by the side of the other; and was of twin importance
+with it in regard to the Russian Question. The Swedish Marriage was not
+heard of, except in important whispers, during the Carnival time; but a
+Swedish Minister had already come to Berlin on it, and was busy first in
+a silent and examining, then in a speaking and proposing way. It seems,
+the Czarina herself had suggested the thing, as a counter-politeness
+to Friedrich; so content with him at this time. A thing welcome to
+Friedrich. And, in due course ("June, 1744"), there comes express
+Swedish Embassy, some Rodenskjold or Tessin, with a very shining train
+of Swedes, "To demand Princess Ulrique in marriage for our Future King."
+
+To which there is assent, by no means denial, in the proper quarter.
+Whereupon, after the wide-spread necessary fuglings and preliminaries,
+there occurs (all by Procuration, Brother August Wilhelm doing the
+Bridegroom's part), "July 17th, 1744," the Marriage itself: all done,
+this last act, and the foregoing ones and the following, with a grandeur
+and a splendor--unspeakable, we may say, in short. [_Helden-Geschichte,_
+ii. 1045-1051.] Fantastic Bielfeld taxes his poor rouged Muse to the
+utmost, on this occasion; and becomes positively wearisome, chanting
+the upholsteries of life;--foolish fellow, spoiling his bits of facts
+withal, by misrecollections, and even by express fictions thrown in as
+garnish. So that, beyond the general impression, given in a high-rouged
+state, there is nothing to be depended on. One Scene out of his many,
+which represents to us on those terms the finale, or actual Departure
+of Princess Ulrique, we shall offer,--with corrections (a few, not
+ALL);--having nothing better or other on the subject:--
+
+"But, in fine, the day of departure did arrive,"--eve of it did: 25th
+July, 1744; hour of starting to be 2 A.M. to-morrow. "The King had
+nominated Grand-Marshal Graf van Gotter [same Gotter whom we saw at
+Vienna once: King had appointed Gotter and two others; not to say
+that two of the Princess's Brothers, with her Sister the Margravine of
+Schwedt, were to accompany as far as Schwedt: six in all; though one's
+poor memory fails one on some occasions!]--to escort the Princess to
+Stralsund, where two Swedish Senators and different high Lords and
+Ladies awaited her. Her Majesty the Queen-Mother, judging by the
+movements of her own heart that the moment of separation would produce
+a scene difficult to bear, had ordered an Opera to divert our
+chagrin; and, instead of supper, a superb collation EN AMBIGU [kind
+of supper-breakfast, I suppose], in the great Hall of the Palace. Her
+Majesty's plan was, The Princess, on coming from the Opera, should,
+almost on flight, taste a morsel; take her travelling equipment, embrace
+her kinsfolk, dash into her carriage, and go off like lightning.
+Herr Graf von Gotter was charged with executing this design, and with
+hurrying the departure.
+
+"But all these precautions were vain. The incomparable Ulrique was
+too dear to her Family and to her Country, to be parted with forever,
+without her meed of tears from them in those cruel instants. On entering
+the Opera-Hall, I noticed everywhere prevalent an air of sorrow, of
+sombre melancholy. The Princess appeared in Amazon-dress [riding-habit,
+say], of rose-color trimmed with silver; the little vest, turned up with
+green-blue (CELADON), and collar of the same; a little bonnet, English
+fashion, of black velvet, with a white plume to it; her hair floating,
+and tied with a rose-colored ribbon. She was beautiful as Love: but this
+dress, so elegant, and so well setting off her charms, only the more
+sensibly awakened our regrets to lose her; and announced that the hour
+was come, in which all this appeared among us for the last time. At the
+second act, young Prince Ferdinand [Youngest Brother, Father of the JENA
+Ferdinand] entered the Royal Box; and flinging himself on the Princess's
+neck with a burst of tears, said, 'Ah, my dear Ulrique, it is over,
+then; and I shall never see you more!' These words were a signal given
+to the grief which was shut in all hearts, to burst forth with the
+greatest vehemence. The Princess replied only with sobs; holding her
+Brother in her arms. The Two Queens could not restrain their tears; the
+Princes and Princesses followed the example: grief is epidemical; it
+gained directly all the Boxes of the first rank, where the Court and
+Nobility were. Each had his own causes of regret, and each melted into
+tears. Nobody paid the least attention farther to the Opera; and for my
+own share, I was glad to see it end.
+
+"An involuntary movement took me towards the Palace. I entered the
+King's Apartments, and found the Royal Family and part of the Court
+assembled. Grief had reached its height; everybody had his handkerchief
+out; and I witnessed emotions quite otherwise affecting than those that
+Theatric Art can produce. The King had composed an Ode on the Princess's
+departure; bidding her his last adieus in the most tender and touching
+manner. It begins with these words:--
+
+     'Partez, ma Soeur, partez;
+     La Suede vous attend, la Suede
+         vous desire,'
+     'Go, my Sister, go;
+
+     Sweden waits you, Sweden
+         wishes you.
+     [Does not now exist (see OEuvres de Frederic,
+     xiv. 88, and ib. PREFACE p. xv).]
+
+His Majesty gave it her at the moment when she was about to take leave
+of the Two Queens. [No, Monsieur, not then; it came to her hand the
+second evening hence, at Schwedt; [Her own Letter to Friedrich (_OEuvres
+de Frederic,_ xxvii. 372; "Schwedt, 28th July, 1744").] most likely not
+yet written at the time you fabulously give;--you foolish fantast, and
+"artist" of the SHAM-kind!]--The Princess threw her eyes on it, and fell
+into a faint [No, you Sham, not for IT]: the King had almost done the
+like. His tears flowed abundantly. The Princes and Princesses were
+overcome with sorrow. At last, Gotter judged it time to put an end to
+this tragic scene. He entered the Hall, almost like Boreas in the
+Ballet of THE ROSE; that is to say, with a crash. He made one or two
+whirlwinds; clove the press, and snatched away the Princess from the
+arms of the Queen-Mother, took her in his own, and whisked her out of
+the Hall. All the world followed; the carriages were waiting in the
+court; and the Princess in a moment found herself in hers. I was in such
+a state, I know not how we got down stairs; I remember only that it was
+in a concert of lamentable sobbings. Madam the Margrafin von Schwedt,
+who had been named to attend the Princess to Stralsund [read Schwedt] on
+the Swedish frontier, this high Lady and the two Dames d'Atours who were
+for Sweden itself, having sprung into the same carriage, the door of
+it was shut with a slam; the postillions cracked, the carriage shot
+away,--and hid the adorable Ulrique from the eyes of King and Court,
+who remained motionless for some minutes, overcome by their feelings."
+[Bielfeld, ii. 107-110.]
+
+We said this Marriage was like the other, important for Public Affairs.
+In fact, security on the Russian and Swedish side is always an object
+with Friedrich when undertaking war. "That the French bring about, help
+me to bring about, a Triple Alliance of Prussia, Russia, Sweden:" this
+was a thing Friedrich had bargained to see done, before joining in the
+War ahead: but by these Two Espousals Friedrich hopes he has himself as
+good as done it. Of poor Princess Ulrique and her glorious reception
+in Sweden (after near miss of shipwreck, in the Swedish Frigate from
+Stralsund), we shall say nothing more at present: except that her
+glories, all along, were much dashed by chagrins, and dangerous
+imminencies of shipwreck,--which latter did not quite overtake HER,
+but did her sons and grandsons, being inevitable or nearly so, in that
+element, in the course of time.
+
+Sister Amelia, whom some thought disappointed, as perhaps, in her
+foolish thought, she might a little be, was made Abbess of Quedlinburg,
+which opulent benefice had fallen vacant; and, there or at Berlin, lived
+a respectable Spinster-life, doubtless on easier terms than Ulrique's.
+Always much loved by her Brother, and loving him (and "taking care of
+his shirts," in the final times); noted in society, for her sharp tongue
+and ways. Concerning whom Thiebault and his Trenck romances are worth
+no notice,--if it be not with horsewhips on opportunity. SCANDALUM
+MAGNATUM, where your Magnates are NOT fallen quite counterfeit, was and
+is always (though few now reflect on it) a most punishable crime.
+
+
+
+
+GLANCE AT THE BELLIGERENT POWERS; BRITANNIC MAJESTY NARROWLY MISSES AN
+INVASION THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN DANGEROUS
+
+Princess Ulrique was hardly yet home in Sweden, when her Brother had
+actually gone forth upon the Wars again! So different is outside from
+interior, now and then. "While the dancing and the marriage-festivities
+went on at Court, we, in private, were busily completing the
+preparations for a Campaign," dreamed of by no mortal, "which was on the
+point of being opened." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ iii. 41.] July 2d, three
+weeks before Princess Ulrique left, a certain Adventure of Prince
+Karl's in the Rhine Countries had accomplished itself (of which in the
+following Book); and Friedrich could discern clearly that the moment
+drew rapidly nigh.
+
+On the French side of the War, there has been visible--since those high
+attempts of Britannic George and the Hungarian Majesty, contumeliously
+spurning the Peace offered them, and grasping evidently at one's
+Lorraines, Alsaces, and Three Bishoprics--a marked change; comfortable
+to look at from Friedrich's side. Most Christian Majesty, from the
+sad bent attitude of insulted repentance, has started up into the
+perpendicular one of indignation: "Come on, then!"--and really makes
+efforts, this Year, quite beyond expectation. "Oriflamme enterprises,
+private intentions of cutting Germany in Four; well, have not I smarted
+for them; as good as owned they were rather mad? But to have my apology
+spit upon; but to be myself publicly cut in pieces for them?"
+
+March 15th, 1744, Most Christian Majesty did, as we saw, duly declare War
+against England; against Austria, April 26th: "England," he says, "broke
+its Convention of Neutrality (signed 27th September, 1741); broke said
+Convention [as was very natural, no term being set] directly after
+Maillebois was gone; England, by its Mediterranean Admirals and the
+like, has, to a degree beyond enduring, insulted the French coasts,
+harbors and royal Navy: We declare War on England." And then, six weeks
+hence, in regard to Austria: "Austria, refusing to make Peace with
+a virtuous Kaiser, whom we, for the sake of peace, had magnanimously
+helped, and then magnanimously ceased to help;--Austria refuses peace
+with him or us; on the contrary, Austria attempts, and has attempted,
+to invade France itself: We therefore, on and from this 26th of April,
+1744, let the world note it, are at War with Austria." [In _Adelung,_
+iv. 78, 90, the two Manifestoes given.] Both these promises to Friedrich
+are punctually performed.
+
+Nor, what is far more important, have the necessary preparations
+been neglected; but are on a quite unheard-of scale. Such taxing and
+financiering there has been, last Winter:--tax on your street-lamp, on
+your fire-wood, increased excise on meat and eatables of all kinds: Be
+patient, ye poor; consider GLOIRE, and an ORIFLAMME so trampled on by
+the Austrian Heathen! Eatables, street-lamps, do I say? There is 36,000
+pounds, raised by a tax on--well, on GARDEROBES (not translated)!
+A small help, but a help: NON OLET, NON OLEAT. To what depths has
+Oriflamme come down!--The result is, this Spring of 1744, indignant
+France does, by land, and even by sea, make an appearance calculated
+to astonish Gazetteers and men. Land-forces 160,000 actually on foot:
+80,000 (grows at last into 100,000, for a little while) as "Army of the
+Netherlands,"--to prick into Austria, and astonish England and the Dutch
+Barrier, in that quarter. Of the rest, 20,000 under Conti are for
+Italy; 60,000 (by degrees 40,000) under Coigny for defence of the Rhine
+Countries, should Prince Karl, as is surmisable, make new attempts
+there. [Adelung, iv. 78; Espagnac, ii. 3.]
+
+And besides all this, there are Two strong Fleets, got actually
+launched, not yet into the deep sea, but ready for it: one in Toulon
+Harbor, to avenge those Mediterranean insults; and burst out, in concert
+with an impatient Spanish Fleet (which has lain blockaded here for a
+year past), on the insolent blockading English: which was in some sort
+done. ["19th February, 1744," French and Spanish Fleets run out; 22d
+Feb. are attacked by Matthews and Lestock; are rather beaten, not beaten
+nearly enough (Matthews and Lestock blaming one another, Spaniards and
+French ditto, ditto: Adelung, iv. 32-35); with the endless janglings,
+correspondings, court-martialings that ensue (Beatson, _Naval and
+Military Memoirs,_ i. 197 et seqq.; _Gentleman's Magazine,_ and Old
+Newspapers, for 1744; &c. &c.).] The other strong Fleet, twenty sail of
+the line, under Admiral Roquefeuille, is in Brest Harbor,--intended for
+a still more delicate operation; of which anon. Surely King Friedrich
+ought to admit that these are fine symptoms? King Friedrich has freely
+done so, all along; intending to strike in at the right moment. Let us
+see, a little, how things have gone; and how the right moment has been
+advancing in late months.
+
+JANUARY 17th, 1744, There landed at Antibes on French soil a young
+gentleman, by name "Conte di Spinelli," direct from Genoa, from Rome;
+young gentleman seemingly of small importance, but intrinsically
+of considerable; who hastened off for Paris, and there disappeared.
+Disappeared into subterranean consultations with the highest Official
+people; intending reappearance with emphasis at Dunkirk, a few weeks
+hence, in much more emphatic posture. And all through February there
+is observable a brisk diligence of War-preparation, at Dunkirk:
+transport-ships in quantity, finally four war-ships; 15,000 chosen
+troops, gradually marching in; nearly all on board, with their
+equipments, by the end of the month.
+
+Clearly an Invading Army intended somewhither, England judges too well
+whither. Anti-English Armament; to be led by, whom thinks the reader?
+That same "Conte di Spinelli," who is Charles Edward the Young
+Pretender,--Comte de Saxe commanding under him! This is no fable; it is
+a fact, somewhat formidable; brought about, they say, by one Cardinal
+Tencin, an Official Person of celebrity in the then Versailles world;
+who owes his red hat (whatever such debt really be) to old Jacobite
+influence, exerted for him at Rome; and takes this method of paying
+his debt and his court at once. Gets, namely, his proposal, of a
+Charles-Edward Invasion of England, to dovetail in with the other wide
+artilleries now bent on little George in the way we see. Had not little
+George better have stayed at home out of these Pragmatic Wars? Fifteen
+thousand, aided by the native Jacobite hosts, under command of Saxe,--a
+Saxe against a Wade is fearful odds,--may make some figure in England!
+We hope always they will not be able to land. Imagination may conceive
+the flurry, if not of Britannic mankind, at least of Britannic Majesty
+and his Official People, and what a stir and din they made:--of which
+this is the compressed upshot.
+
+"SATURDAY, 1st MARCH, 1744. For nearly a week past, there has been seen
+hanging about in the Channel, and dangerously hovering to and fro [had
+entered by the Land's-End, was first noticed on Sunday last "nigh the
+Eddistone"] a considerable French Fleet, sixteen great ships; with four
+or five more, probably belonging to it, which now lie off Dunkirk: the
+intention of which is too well known in high quarters. This is the grand
+Brest Fleet, Admiral Roquefeuille's; which believes it can command the
+Channel, in present circumstances, the English Channel-Fleets being in
+a disjoined condition,--till Comte de Saxe, with his Charles-Edward
+and 15,000, do ship themselves across! Great alarm in consequence; our
+War-forces, 40,000 of them, all in Germany; not the least preparation
+to receive an Invasive Armament. Comte de Saxe is veritably at Dunkirk,
+since Saturday, March 1st: busy shipping his 15,000; equipments
+mostly shipped, and about 10,000 of the men: all is activity there;
+Roquefeuille hanging about Dungeness, with four of his twenty great
+ships detached for more immediate protection of Saxe and those Dunkirk
+industries. To meet which, old Admiral Norris, off and on towards the
+Nore and the Forelands, has been doing his best to rally force about
+him; hopes he will now be match for Roquefeuille:--but if he should not?
+
+"THURSDAY, 6th MARCH. Afternoon of March 5th, old Admiral Norris, hoping
+he was at length in something like equality, 'tided it round the
+South Foreland;' saw Roquefeuille hanging, in full tale, within few
+miles;--and at once plunged into him? No, reader; not at once, nor
+indeed at all. A great sea-fight was expected; but our old Norris
+thought it late in the day;--and, in effect, no fight proved needful.
+Daylight was not yet sunk, when there rose from the north-eastward a
+heavy gale; blew all night, and by six next morning was a raging storm;
+had blown Roquefeuille quite away out of those waters (fractions of
+him upon the rocks of Guernsey); had tumbled Comte de Saxe's Transports
+bottom uppermost (so to speak), in Dunkirk Roads;--and, in fact,
+had blown the Enterprise over the horizon, and relieved the Official
+Britannic mind in the usual miraculous manner.
+
+"M. le Comte de Saxe--who had, by superhuman activity, saved nearly
+all his men, in that hideous topsy-turvy of the Transports and
+munitions--returned straightway, and much more M. le Comte de Spinelli
+with him, to Paris. Comte de Saxe was directly thereupon made Marechal
+de France; appointed to be Colleague of Noailles in the ensuing
+Netherlands Campaign. 'Comte de Spinelli went to lodge with his
+Uncle, the Cardinal Grand-Almoner Fitz-James' [a zealous gentleman,
+of influence with the Holy Father], and there in privacy to wait other
+chances that might rise. 'The 1,500 silver medals, that had been struck
+for distribution in Great Britain,' fell, for this time, into the
+melting-pot again. [Tindal, xxi. 22 (mostly a puddle of inaccuracies,
+as usual); Espagnac, i. 213; _ Gentleman's Magazine,_ xiv. 106, &c.;
+Barbier, ii. 382, 385, 388.]
+
+"Great stir, in British Parliament and Public, there had latterly been
+on this matter: Arrestment of suspected persons, banishment of all
+Catholics ten miles from London; likewise registering of horses (to
+gallop with cannon whither wanted); likewise improvising of cavalry
+regiments by persons of condition, 'Set our plush people on our
+coach-horses; there!' [Yes, THERE will be a Cavalry,--inferior to
+General Ziethen's!]; and were actually drilling them in several places,
+when that fortunate blast of storm (March 6th) blew everything to
+quiet again. Field-marshal Earl of Stair, in regard to the Scottish
+populations, had shown a noble magnanimity; which was recognized: and a
+General Sir John Cope rode off, post-haste, to take the chief command
+in that Country;--where, in about eighteen months hence, he made a
+very shining thing of it!"--Take this other Cutting from the Old
+Newspapers:--
+
+"FRIDAY, 31st (20th) MARCH, 1744, A general press began for recruiting
+his Majesty's regiments, and manning the Fleet; when upwards of 1,000
+men were secured in the jails of London and Westminster; being allowed
+sixpence a head per diem, by the Commissioners of the Land-tax, who
+examine them, and send those away that are found fit for his Majesty's
+service. The same method was taken in each County." Press ceases;
+enough being got,--press no more till farther order: 5th (16th) June.
+[_Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1744, pp. 226, 333.]
+
+Britannic Majesty shaken by such omens, does not in person visit Germany
+at all this Year; nor, by his Deputies, at all shine on the fields of
+War as lately. He, his English and he, did indeed come down with their
+cash in a prompt and manful manner, but showed little other activity
+this year. Their troops were already in the Netherlands, since Winter
+last; led now by a Field-marshal Wade, of whom one has heard; to whom
+joined themselves certain Austrians, under Duc d'Ahremberg, and certain
+Dutch, under some other man in cocked-hat: the whole of whom, under
+Marshal Wade's chief guidance, did as good as nothing whatever.
+"Inferior in force!" cried Marshal Wade; an indolent incompetent old
+gentleman, frightful to see in command of troops: "inferior in force!"
+cried he, which was not at first quite the case. And when, by additions
+to himself, and deductions (of a most unexpected nature) from his Enemy,
+he had become nearly double in force, it was all the same: Marshal Wade
+(against whom indeed was Marechal de Saxe, now in sole command, as we
+shall see) took shelter in safe places, witnessing therefrom the swift
+destruction of the Netherlands, and would attempt nothing. Which indeed
+was perhaps prudent on the Marshal's part. Much money was spent, and men
+enough did puddle themselves to death on the clay roads, or bivouacking
+in the safe swamps; but not the least stroke of battle was got out of
+them under this old Marshal. Had perhaps "a divided command, though
+nominal Chief," poor old gentleman;--yes, and a head that understood
+nothing of his business withal. One of those same astonishing "Generals"
+of the English, now becoming known in Natural History; the like of whom,
+till within these hundred and fifty years, were not heard of among sane
+Nations. Saxe VERSUS Wade is fearful odds. To judge by the way Saxe
+has of handling Wade, may not we thank Heaven that it was not HERE
+in England the trial came on! Lift up both your hands, and bless--not
+General Wade, quite yet.
+
+
+
+
+THE YOUNG DUKE OF WURTEMBERG GETS A VALEDICTORY ADVICE; AND POLLNITZ A
+DITTO TESTIMONIAL (February 6th; April 1st, 1744).
+
+February 7th, 1744, Karl Eugen, the young Duke of Wurtemberg,--Friedrich
+having got, from the Kaiser, due Dispensation (VENIA AETATIS) for
+the young gentleman, and had him declared Duke Regnant, though only
+sixteen,--quitted Berlin with great pomp, for his own Country, on that
+errand. Friedrich had hoped hereby to settle the Wurtemberg matters on
+a good footing, and be sure of a friend in Wurtemberg to the Kaiser and
+himself. Which hope, like everybody's hopes about this young gentleman,
+was entirely disappointed; said young gentleman having got into
+perverse, haughty, sulky, ill-conditioned ways, and made a bad Life and
+Reign of it,--better to lie mostly hidden from us henceforth, at least
+for many years to come. The excellent Parting Letter which Friedrich
+gave him got abroad into the world; was christened the MIRROR OF
+PRINCES, and greatly admired by mankind. It is indeed an almost
+faultless Piece of its kind; comprising, in a flowing yet precise way,
+with admirable frankness, sincerity, sagacity, succinctness, a Whole
+Duty of Regnant Man; [In _OEuvres de Frederic,_ ix. 4-7.]--but I fear it
+would only weary the reader; perfect ADVICE having become so plentiful
+in our Epoch, with little but "pavement" to a certain Locality the
+consequence!--There is, of the same months, a TESTIMONIAL TO POLLNITZ,
+which also got abroad and had its celebrity: this, as specimen of
+Friedrich on the comic side, will perhaps be less afflicting; and it
+will rid us of Pollnitz, poor soul, on handsome terms.
+
+Goldstick Pollnitz is at Baireuth in these months; fallen quite
+disconsolate since we last heard of him. His fine marriage went
+awry,--rich lady, very wisely, drawing back;--and the foolish old
+creature has decided on REchanging his religion; which he has changed
+already thrice or so, in his vagabond straits; for the purpose of
+"retiring to a convent" this time. Friedrich, in candid brief manner,
+rough but wise, and not without some kindness for an old dog one is
+used to, has answered, "Nonsense; that will never do!" But Pollnitz
+persisting; formally demanding leave to demit, and lay down the
+goldstick, with that view,--Friedrich does at length send him
+Certificate of Leave; "which is drawn out with all the forms, and was
+despatched through Eichel to the proper Board;" but which bears
+date APRIL FIRST, and though officially valid, is of quizzical
+nature:---perhaps already known to some readers; having got into the
+Newspapers, and widely abroad, at a subsequent time. As authentic sample
+of Friedrich in that kind, here it accurately is, with only one or two
+slight abridgments, which are indicated:--
+
+"Whereas the Baron de Pollnitz, born at Berlin [at Koln, if it made any
+matter], of honest parents so far as We know,--after having served
+Our Grandfather as Gentleman of the Chamber, Madam d'Orleans [wicked
+Regent's Mother, a famed German Lady] in the same rank, the King of
+Spain in quality of Colonel, the deceased Kaiser in that of Captain of
+Horse, the Pope as Chamberlain, the Duke of Brunswick as Chamberlain,
+Duke of Weimar as Ensign, our Father as Chamberlain, and, in fine, Us as
+Grand Master of the Ceremonies,"--has, in spite of such accumulation
+of honors, become disgusted with the world; and requests a Parting
+Testimony, to support his good reputation,--
+
+"We, remembering his important services to the House, in diverting for
+nine years long the late King our Father, and doing the honors of our
+Court during the now Reign, cannot refuse such request; but do hereby
+certify, That the said Baron has never assassinated, robbed on the
+highway, poisoned, forcibly cut purses, or done other atrocity or legal
+crime at our Court; but has always maintained gentlemanly behavior,
+making not more than honest use of the industry and talents he has
+been endowed with at birth; imitating the object of the Drama, that
+is, correcting mankind by gentle quizzing; following, in the matter
+of sobriety, Boerhaave's counsels; pushing Christian charity so far as
+often to make the rich understand that it is more blessed to give than
+to receive;--possessing perfectly the anecdotes of our various Mansions,
+especially of our worn-out Furnitures; rendering himself, by his merits,
+necessary to those who know him; and, with a very bad head, having a
+very good heart.
+
+"Our anger the said Baron never kindled but once,"--in atrociously
+violating the grave of an Ancestress (or Step Ancestress) of ours.
+[Step-Ancestress was Dorothea, the Great Elector's second Wife; of whom
+Pollnitz, in his _Memoirs and Letters,_ repeats the rumor that once she,
+perhaps, tried to poison her Stepson Friedrich, First King. (See supra,
+vol. v. p. 47).] "But as the loveliest countries have their barren
+spots, the beautifulest forms their imperfections, pictures by the
+greatest masters their faults, We are willing to cover with the veil of
+oblivion those of the said Baron; do hereby grant him, with regret, the
+Congee he requires;--and abolish his Office altogether, to blot it
+from men's memory, not judging that anybody after the said Baron can be
+worthy to fill it." "Done at Potsdam, this 1st of April, 1744. FREDERIC."
+[_OEuvres,_ xv. 193.]
+
+The Office of Grand Master of the Ceremonies was, accordingly, abolished
+altogether. But Pollnitz, left loose in this manner, did not gallop
+direct, or go at all, into monkhood, as he had expected; but, in fact,
+by degrees, crept home to Berlin again; took the subaltern post of
+Chamberlain; and there, in the old fashion (straitened in finance,
+making loans, retailing anecdotes, not witty but the cause of wit), wore
+out life's gray evening; till, about thirty years hence, he died; "died
+as he had lived, swindling the very night before his decease,"
+writes Friedrich; [Letter to Voltaire, 13th August, 1775 (_OEuvres de
+Frederic,_ xxiii. 344). See Preuss, v. 241 (URKUNDENBUCH), the Letters
+of Friedrich to Pollnitz.] who was always rather kind to the poor old
+dog, though bantering him a good deal.
+
+
+
+
+TWO CONQUESTS FOR PRUSSIA, A GASEOUS AND A SOLID: CONQUEST FIRST,
+BARBERINA THE DANCER.
+
+Early in May, the Berlin public first saw its Barberina dance, and
+wrote ecstatic Latin Epigrams about that miracle of nature and art;
+[Rodenbeck, pp. 111, 190.]--miracle, alas, not entirely omissible by us.
+Here is her Story, as the Books give it; slightly mythical, I judge, in
+some of its non-essential parts; but good enough for the subject:--
+
+Barberina the Dancer had cost Friedrich some trouble; the pains he took
+with her elegant pirouettings and poussettings, and the heavy salary he
+gave her, are an unexpected item in his history. He wished to favor the
+Arts, yes; but did he reckon Opera-dancing a chief one among them? He
+had indeed built an Opera-House, and gave free admissions, supporting
+the cost himself; and among his other governings, governed the dancer
+and singer troops of that establishment. Took no little trouble about
+his Opera:--yet perhaps he privately knew its place, after all. "Wished
+to encourage strangers of opulent condition to visit his Capital," say
+the cunning ones. It may be so; and, at any rate, he probably wished to
+act the King in such matters, and not grudge a little money. He really
+loved music, even opera music, and knew that his people loved it; to
+the rough natural man, all rhythm, even of a Barberina's feet, may be
+didactic, beneficial: do not higgle, let us do what is to be done in a
+liberal style. His agent at Venice--for he has agents everywhere on
+the outlook for him--reports that here is a Female Dancer of the first
+quality, who has shone in London, Paris and the Capital Cities, and
+might answer well, but whose terms will probably be dear. "Engage her,"
+answers Friedrich. And she is engaged on pretty terms; she will be
+free in a month or two, and then start. [Zimmermann, _Fragmente uber
+Friedrich den Grossen_ (Leipzig, 1790), i. 88-92; Collini, ubi infra;
+Denina; &c.: compare Rodenbeck, p. 191.]
+
+Well;--but Barberina had, as is usual, subsidiary trades to her dancing:
+in particular, a young English Gentleman had followed her up and down,
+says Zimmermann, and was still here in Venice passionately attached to
+her. Which fact, especially which young English gentleman, should have
+been extremely indifferent to me, but for a circumstance soon to be
+mentioned. The young English gentleman, clear against Barberina's
+Prussian scheme, passionately opposes the same, passionately renews his
+own offers;--induces Barberina to inform the Prussian agent that she
+renounces her engagement in that quarter. Prussian agent answers that it
+is not renounceable; that he has legal writing on it, and that it must
+be kept. Barberina rises into contumacy, will laugh at all writing and
+compulsion. Prussian agent applies to Doge and Senate on the subject,
+in his King's name; who answer politely, but do nothing: "How happy
+to oblige so great a King; but--" And so it lasts for certain months;
+Barberina and the young English gentleman contumacious in Venice, and
+Doge and Senate merely wishing we may get her.
+
+Meanwhile a Venetian Ambassador happens to be passing through Berlin,
+in his way to or from some Hyperborean State; arrives at some hotel,
+in Berlin;--finds, on the morrow, that his luggage is arrested by Royal
+Order; that he, or at least IT, cannot get farther, neither advance
+nor return, till Barberina do come. "Impossible, Signor: a bargain is
+a bargain; and States ought to have law-courts that enforce contracts
+entered into in their territories." The Venetian Doge and Senate do now
+lay hold of Barberina; pack her into post-chaises, off towards Berlin,
+under the charge of armed men, with the proper transit-papers,--as
+it were under the address, "For his Majesty of Prussia, this side
+uppermost,"--and thus she actually is conveyed, date or month uncertain,
+by Innspruck or the Splugen, I cannot say which, over mountain, over
+valley, from country to country, and from stage to stage, till she
+arrives at Berlin; Ambassador with baggage having been let go, so soon
+as the affair was seen to be safe.
+
+As for the young English gentleman passionately attached, he followed,
+it is understood; faithful, constant as shadow to the sun, always a
+stage behind; arrived in Berlin two hours after his Barberina, still
+passionately attached; and now, as the rumor goes, was threatening
+even to marry her, and so save the matter. Supremely indifferent to
+my readers and me. But here now is the circumstance that makes it
+mentionable. The young English is properly a young Scotch gentleman;
+James Mackenzie the name of him,--a grandson of the celebrated Advocate,
+Sir George Mackenzie; and younger Brother of a personage who, as Earl of
+Bute, became extremely conspicuous in this Kingdom in after years. That
+makes it mentionable,--if only in the shape of MYTH. For Friedrich,
+according to rumor, being still like to lose his Dancer in that manner,
+warned the young gentleman's friends; and had him peremptorily summoned
+home, and the light fantastic toe left free in that respect. Which
+procedure the indignant young gentleman (thinks my Author) never
+forgave; continuing a hater of Friedrich all his days; and instilling
+the same sentiment into the Earl of Bute at a period which was very
+critical, as we shall see. This is my Author's, the often fallacious
+though not mendacious Dr. Zimmermann's, rather deliberate account; a
+man not given to mendacity, though filled with much vague wind, which
+renders him fallacious in historical points.
+
+Readers of Walpole's _George the Third_ know enough of this Mackenzie,
+"Earl's Brother, MACKINSY," and the sorrowful difficulties about his
+Scotch law-office or benefice; in which matter "Mackinsy" behaves
+always in a high way, and only the Ministerial Outs and Inns higgle
+pedler-like, vigilant of the Liberties of England, as they call them. In
+the end, Mackinsy kept his law-office or got it restored to him;
+3,000 pounds a year without excess of work; a man much the gentleman,
+according to the rule then current: in contemplative rare moments, the
+man, looking back through the dim posterns of the mind, might see afar
+off a certain pirouetting Figure, once far from indifferent, and not yet
+quite melted into cheerless gray smoke, as so much of the rest is--to
+Mr. Mackinsy and us. I have made, in the Scotch Mackenzie circles, what
+inquiry was due; find no evidence, but various likelihoods, that this of
+the Barberina and him is fact, and a piece of his biography. As to the
+inference deduced from it, in regard to Friedrich and the Earl of Bute,
+on a critical occasion,--that rests entirely with Zimmermann; and
+the candid mind inclines to admit that, probably, it is but rumor and
+conjecture; street-dust sticking to the Doctor's shoes, and demanding
+merely to be well swept out again. Heigho!--
+
+Barberina, though a dancer, did not want for more essential graces.
+Very sprightly, very pretty and intelligent; not without piquancy and
+pungency: the King himself has been known to take tea with her in mixed
+society, though nothing more; and with passionate young gentlemen she
+was very successful. Not long after her coming to Berlin, she made
+conquest of Cocceji, the celebrated Chancellor's Son; who finding no
+other resource, at length privately married her. Voltaire's Collini,
+when he came to Berlin, in 1750, recommended by a Signora Sister of the
+Barberina's, found the Barberina and her Mother dining daily with this
+Cocceji as their guest: [Collini, _Mon Sejour aupres de Voltaire_ (a
+Paris, 1807), pp. 13-19.] Signora Barberina privately informed Collini
+how the matter was; Signorina still dancing all the same,--though
+she had money in the English funds withal; and Friedrich had been so
+generous as give her the fixing of her own salary, when she came to
+him, this-side-uppermost, in the way we described. She had fixed, too
+modestly thinks Collini, on 5,000 thalers (about 750 pounds) a year;
+having heart and head as well as heels, poor little soul. Perhaps her
+notablest feat in History, after all, was her leading this Collini, as
+she now did, into the service of Voltaire, to be Voltaire's Secretary.
+As will be seen. Whereby we have obtained a loyal little Book, more
+credible than most others, about that notable man.
+
+At a subsequent period, Barberina decided on declaring her marriage with
+Cocceji; she drew her money from the English funds, purchased a fine
+mansion, and went to live with the said Cocceji there, giving up the
+Opera and public pirouettes. But this did not answer either. Cocceji's
+Mother scorned irreconcilably the Opera alliance; Friedrich, who did not
+himself like it in his Chancellor's Son, promoted the young man to
+some higher post in the distant Silesian region. But there, alas, they
+themselves quarrelled; divorced one another; and rumor again was busy.
+"You, Cocceji yourself, are but a schoolmaster's grandson [Barberina,
+one easily supposes, might have a temper withal]; and it is I, if you
+will recollect, that drew money from the English funds!" Barberina
+married again; and to a nobleman of sixteen quarters this time, and
+with whom at least there was no divorce. Successful with passionate
+gentlemen; having money from the English funds. Her last name was
+Grafinn--I really know not what. Her descendants probably still
+live, with sixteen quarters, in those parts. It was thus she did her
+life-journey, waltzing and walking; successfully holding her own against
+the world. History declares itself ashamed of spending so many words on
+such a subject. But the Dancer of Friedrich, and the authoress, prime
+or proximate, of _Collini's Voltaire,_ claims a passing remembrance. Let
+us, if we can easily help it, never speak of her more.
+
+
+
+
+CONQUEST SECOND IS OST-FRIESLAND, OF A SOLID NATURE.
+
+May 25th, 1744, just while Barberina began her pirouettings at Berlin,
+poor Karl Edzard, Prince of East Friesland, long a weak malingering
+creature, died, rather suddenly; childless, and the last of his House,
+which had endured there about 300 years. Our clever Wilhelmina at
+Baireuth, though readers have forgotten the small circumstance, had
+married a superfluous Sister-in-law of hers to this Karl Edward;
+and, they say, it was some fond hope of progeny, suddenly dashed into
+nothingness, that finished the poor man, that night of May 25th. In
+any case, his Territory falls to Prussia, by Reich's Settlement of long
+standing (1683-1694); which had been confirmed anew to the late King,
+Friedrich Wilhelm:--we remember how he returned with it, honest man,
+from that KLADRUP JOURNEY in 1732, and was sniffed at for bringing
+nothing better. And in the interim, his royal Hanover Cousins, coveting
+East Friesland, had clapt up an ERBVERBRUDERUNG with the poor Prince
+there (Father, I think, of the one just dead): "A thing ULTRA VIRES,"
+argued Lawyers; "private, quasi-clandestine; and posterior (in a sense)
+to Reich's CONCLUSUM, 1694."
+
+On which ground, however, George II. now sued Fricdrich at Reich's
+Law,--Friedrich, we need not say, having instantly taken possession of
+Ost-Friesland. And there ensued arguing enough between them, for years
+coming; very great expenditure of parchment, and of mutual barking
+at the moon (done always by proxy, and easy to do); which doubtless
+increased the mutual ill-feeling, but had no other effect. Friedrich,
+who had been well awake to Ost-Friesland for some time back, and had
+given his Official people (Cocceji his Minister of Justice, Chancellor
+by and by, and one or two subordinates) their precise Instructions, laid
+hold of it, with a maximum of promptitude; thereby quashing a great deal
+of much more dangerous litigation than Uncle George's.
+
+"In all Germany, not excepting even Mecklenburg, there had been no more
+anarchic spot than Ost-Friesland for the last sixty or seventy years. A
+Country with parliamentary-life in extraordinary vivacity (rising indeed
+to the suicidal or internecine pitch, in two or three directions), and
+next to no regent-life at all. A Country that had loved Freedom, not
+wisely but too well! Ritter Party, Prince's Party, Towns' Party;--always
+two or more internecine Parties: 'False Parliament you: traitors!' 'We?
+False YOU, traitors!'--The Parish Constable, by general consent,
+kept walking; but for Government there was this of the Parliamentary
+Eloquences (three at once), and Freedom's battle, fancy it, bequeathed
+from sire to son! 'The late Karl Edzard never once was in Embden, his
+chief Town, though he lived within a dozen miles of it.'--And then,
+still more questionable, all these energetic little Parties had
+applied to the Neighboring Governments, and had each its small
+Foreign Battalion, 'To protect US and our just franchises!'
+Imperial Reich's-Safeguard Battalion, Dutch Battalion, Danish
+Battalion,--Prussian, it first of all was (year 1683, Town of Embden
+inviting the Great Elector), but it is not so now. The Prussians had
+needed to be quietly swift, on that 25th day of May, 1744.
+
+"And truly they were so; Cocceji having all things ready; leading
+party-men already secured to him, troops within call, and the like.
+The Prussians--Embden Town-Councils inviting their astonished Dutch
+Battalion not to be at home--marched quietly into Embden 'next day,' and
+took possession of the guns. Marched to Aurich (official metropolis),
+Danes and Imperial Safeguard saying nothing; and, in short, within
+a week had, in their usual exact fashion, got firm hold of chaotic
+Ost-Friesland. And proceeded to manage it, in like sort,--with effects
+soon sensible, and steadily continuing. Their Parliamentary-life
+Friedrich left in its full vigor: 'Tax yourselves; what revenue you
+like; and see to the outlay of it yourselves. Allow me, as LANDES-HERR,
+some trifle of overplus: how much, then? Furthermore a few recruits,--or
+recruit-money in lieu, if you like better!' And it was astonishing how
+the Parliamentary vitality, not shortened of its least franchise, or
+coerced in any particular, but merely stroked the right way of the
+hair, by a gently formidable hand, with good head guiding, sank almost
+straightway into dove-life, and never gave Friedrich any trouble,
+whatever else it might do. The management was good; the opportunity
+also was good. 'In one sitting, the Prussian Agent, arbitrating between
+Embden and the Ritters, settled their controversy, which had lasted
+fifty years.' The poor Country felt grateful, which it might well do;
+as if for the laying of goblins, for the ending of long-continued local
+typhoon! Friedrich's first Visit, in 1751, was welcomed with universal
+jubilation; and poor Ost-Friesland thanked him in still more solid ways,
+when occasion rose. [Ranke, iii. 370-382.]
+
+"It is not an important Country:--only about the size of Cheshire; wet
+like it, and much inferior to it in cheese, in resources for leather
+and live-stock, though it perhaps excels, again, in clover-seeds,
+rape-seeds, Flanders horses, and the flax products. The 'clear overplus'
+it yielded to Friedrich, as Sovereign Administrator and Defender, was
+only 3,200 pounds; for recruit-MONEY, 6,000 pounds (no recruits in
+CORPORE); in all, little more than 9,000 pounds a year. But it had its
+uses too. Embden, bigger than Chester, and with a better harbor, was
+a place of good trade; and brought Friedrich into contact with
+sea-matters; in which, as we shall find, he did make some creditable
+incipiencies, raising expectations in the world; and might have
+carried it farther, had not new Wars, far worse than this now at hand,
+interrupted him."
+
+Friedrich was at Pyrmont, taking the waters, while this of Friesland
+fell out; he had gone thither May 20th; was just arrived there,
+four days before the death of Karl Edzard. [Rodenbeck, p. 102.] His
+Officials, well pre-instructed, managed the Ost-Friesland Question
+mainly themselves. Friedrich was taking the waters; ostensibly nothing
+more. But he was withal, and still more earnestly, consulting with a
+French Excellency (who also had felt a need of the waters), about the
+French Campaign for this Season: Whether Coigny was strong enough in the
+Middle-Rhine Countries; how their Grand Army of the Netherlands shaped
+to prosper; and other the like interesting points. [Ranke, iii. 165,
+166.] Frankfurt Union is just signed (May 22d). Most Christian Majesty
+is himself under way to the Netherlands, himself going to command there,
+as we shall see. "Good!" answers Friedrich: "But don't weaken Coigny,
+think of Prince Karl on that side; don't detach from Coigny, and reduce
+his 60,000 to 40,000!"
+
+Plenty of mutual consulting, as they walk in the woods there. And how
+profoundly obscure, to certain Official parties much concerned, judge
+from the following small Document, preserved by accident:--
+
+LYTTELTON (our old Soissons Friend, now an Official in Prince Fred's
+Household, friend of Pitt, and much else) TO HIS FATHER AT HAGLEY.
+
+ARGYLE STREET, LONDON, "May 5th [16th], 1744. "DEAR SIR,--Mr. West
+[Gilbert West, of whom there is still some memory] comes with us to
+Hagley; and, if you give me leave, I will bring our friend Thomson
+too"--oh Jamie Thamson, Jamie Thamson, oh! "His SEASONS will be
+published in about a week's time, and a most noble work they will be.
+
+"I have no public news to tell you, which you have not had in the
+Gazettes, except what is said in Private Letters from Germany, of the
+King of Prussia's having drunk himself into direct madness, and being
+confined on that account; which, if true, may have a great effect upon
+the fate of Europe at this critical time." Yes indeed, if true. "Those
+Letters say, that, at a review, he caused two men to be taken out of the
+line, and shot, without any cause assigned for it, and ordered a
+third to be murdered in the same manner; but the Major of the regiment
+venturing to intercede for him, his Majesty drew his sword, and would
+have killed the Officer too, if he, perceiving his madness, had not
+taken the liberty to save himself, by disarming the King; who was
+immediately shut up; and the Queen, his Mother, has taken the Regency
+upon herself till his recovery." PAPAE! I do not give you this news for
+certain; but it is generally believed in town. Lord Chesterfield says,
+'He is only thought to be MAD in Germany, because he has MORE WIT than
+other Germans.'
+
+"The King of Sardinia's Retreat from his lines at Villa Franca, and the
+loss of that Town [20th April, one of those furious tussles, French and
+Spaniard VERSUS Sardinian Majesty, in the COULISSES or side-scenes of
+the Italian War-Theatre, neither stage nor side-scenes of which shall
+concern us in this place], certainly bear a very ill aspect; but it is
+not considered as"--anything to speak of; nor was it. "We expect with
+impatience to know what will be the effect of the Dutch Ambassador
+to Paris,--[to Valenciennes, as it turns out, King Louis, on his high
+errand to the Netherlands, being got so far; and the "effect" was no
+effect at all, except good words on his part, and persistence in the
+battering down of Menin and the Dutch Barrier, of which we shall hear
+ere long].
+
+"I pray God the Summer may be happy to us, by being more easy than usual
+to you,"--dear Father, much suffering by incurable ailments. "It is the
+only thing wanting to make Hagley Park a Paradise.
+
+"Poor Pope is, I am afraid, going to resign all that can die of him to
+death;"--did actually die, 30th May (10th June): a world-tragedy
+that too, though in small compass, and acting itself next door,
+at Twickenham, without noise; a star of the firmament going
+out;--twin-star, Swift (Carteret's old friend), likewise going out,
+sunk in the socket, "a driveller and a show."... "I am, with the truest
+respect and affection, dear Sir, your most dutiful Son,--
+
+"GEORGE LYTTELTON." [Ayscough, _Lord Lyttelton's Miscellaneous Works,_
+(Lond., 1776), iii. 318.]
+
+Friedrich returned from Pyrmont, 11th June; saw, with a grief of his
+own, with many thoughts well hidden, his Sister Ulrique whirled away
+from him, 26th July, in the gray of the summer dawn. In Berlin, in
+Prussia, nobody but one is aware of worse just coming. And now the
+War-drums suddenly awaken again; and poor readers--not to speak of poor
+Prussia and its King!--must return to that uncomfortable sphere, till
+things mend.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Friedrich II. of Prussia,
+Vol. XIV. (of XXI.), by Thomas Carlyle
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