1766. Friedrich Wilhelm III." (a much-enduring, excellent, though inarticulate man), as well as various other Princes and Princesses, in spite of interruptions from the Lichtenau Sisterhood. High-souled Elizabeth was relegated to Stettin; her amount of Pension is not mentioned; her Family, after the unhappy proofs communicated to them, had given their consent and sanction;—and she stayed there, idle, or her own mistress of work, for the next seventy-one years.-Enough of her Lyon Dress, surely, and of the Excise-system altogether!— The Neue Palais, in Sans-Souci Neighbourhood, is founded and finished (1763-1770). If D'Alembert's Visit was the germ of the Excisesystem, it will be curious to note,-and indeed whether or not, it will be chronologically serviceable to us here, and worth noting, that there went on a small synchronous affair, still visible to everybody: namely, That in the very hours while Friedrich and D'Alembert were saluting mutually at Geldern (11th June 1763), there was laid the foundation of what they call the Neue Palais; New Palace of Sans-Souci :28 a sumptuous Edifice, in the curious Louis-Quinze or what is called "Rococo" style of the time; Palace never much inhabited by Friedrich or his successors, which still stands in those ornamental Potsdam regions. Why built, especially in the then down-pressed financial circumstances, some have had their difficulties to imagine. It appears, this New Palace had been determined on, before the War broke out; and Friedrich said to himself: "We will build it now, to help the mechanical classes in Berlin,-perhaps also, in part" (think some, and why should not they, a 28 Rödenbeck, ii. 219. 1766. little?) "to show mankind that we have still ready money; and are nothing like so ruined as they fancy." This Neue Palais,' says one recent Tourist, 'is a 'pleasant quaint object, nowadays, to the stranger. It has the air dégagé, pococurante; pleasantly fine in aspect ' and in posture;-spacious expanses round it, not in a waste, but still less in a strict condition; and (in its "deserted state) has a silence, especially a total absence ' of needless flunkeys and of gaping fellow-loungers, 'which is charming. Stands mute there, in its solitude, ' in its stately silence and negligence, like some Tadmor ' of the Wilderness in small. The big square of Stables, 'Coach-houses, near by, was locked up,-probably one sleeping groom in it. The very Custos of the grand 'Edifice (such the rarity of fees to him) I could not ' awaken without difficulty. In the gray autumn zephyrs, 'no sound whatever about this New Palace of King 'Friedrich's, except the rustle of the crisp brown leaves, เ and of any faded or fading memories you may have. 'I should say,' continues he, 'it somehow reminds you of the City of Bath. It has the cut of a battered 'Beau of old date; Beau still extant, though in strangely • other circumstances; something in him of pathetic dig nity in that kind. It shows excellent sound masonries; 'which have an over-tendency to jerk themselves into 'pinnacles, curvatures and graciosities; many statues atop,-three there are, in a kind of grouped, or partnership attitude; "These," said diligent scandal, "note them; these mean Maria Theresa, Pompadour and Ca'tin du Nord" (mere Muses, I believe, or of the Nymph or Hamadryad kind, nothing of harm in them). In 'short, you may call it the stone Apotheosis of an old 'French Beau. Considerably weatherbeaten (the brown ' of lichens spreading visibly here and there, the firm-set 1766. 'ashlar telling you, "I have stood a hundred years");— 'Beau old and weatherbeaten, with his cocked-hat not ' in the fresh condition, all his gold-laces tarnished; and 'generally looking strange, and in a sort tragical, to 'find himself, fleeting creature, become a denizen of the • Architectural Fixities and earnest Eternities!' From Potsdam Palace to the New Palace of SansSouci may be a mile distance; flat ground, parallel to the foot of Hills; all through arbours, parterres, waterworks, and ornamental gardenings and cottagings or villa-ings,-Cottage-Villa for Lord Marischal is one of them. This mile of distance, taking the Cottage Royal of Sans-Souci on its hill-top as vertex, will be the base of an isosceles or nearly isosceles triangle, flatter than equilateral. To the Cottage Royal of Sans-Souci may be about three-quarters of a mile north-east from this New Palace, and from Potsdam Palace to it rather less. And the whole square-mile or so of space is continuously a Garden, not in the English sense, though it has its own beauties of the more artificial kind; and, at any rate, has memories for you, and footsteps of persons still unforgotten by mankind.-Here is a Notice of Lord Marischal; which readers will not grudge; the chronology of the worthy man, in these his later epochs, being in so hazy a state: Lord Marischal, we know well and Pitt knows, was in England in 1761, ostensibly, on the Kintore Heritage; and in part perhaps, really on that errand. But he went and came, at dates now uncertain; was back in Spain after that, had difficult voyagings about ;29—and did not get to rest again, in his Government of Neufchâtel, till April 1762. There is a Letter of the King's, which at least fixes that point: "Breslau, 10th April 1762. My nose is the most impertinent 29 King's Letters to him, in Œuvres de Frédéric, xx. 282-285. 1766. 66 nose in the universe, mon cher Mylord" (Queen-Dowager snuff, Spaniol from the fountain-head, of Marischal's providing; quality exquisite, but difficult to get transmitted in the Storms of War); "I am ashamed of the trouble it costs you! I beg many pardons; ❝and should be quite abashed, did I not know how you com“passionate the weak points of your friends, and that, for a long "time past, you have a singular indulgence for my nose. I am very glad to know you happily returned to your Government,. "safe at Colombier (Dove-cote) in Neufchâtel again." This is 10th April 1762. There, as I gather, quiet in his Dove-cote, Marischal continued, though rather weary of the business, for about a year more; or till the King got home,-who delights in companionship, and is willing to let an old man demit for good. 66 It was in Summer 1762 (about three months after the above Letter from the King), that Rousseau made his celebrated exodus into Neufchâtel Country, and found the old Governor so good to him,-glad to be allowed to shelter the poor skinless creature. And, mark as curious, it must have been on two of those mornings, towards the end of the Siege of Schweidnitz, when things were getting so intolerable, and at times breaking out into electricity, into 'rebuke all round,' that Friedrich received that singular pair of Laconic Notes from Rousseau in Neufchâtel: forwarded, successively, by Lord Marischal; Note First, of date, 'Motier-Travers, Neufchâtel, September,' nobody can guess what day, 1762: "I have said much ill of you, ❝and don't repent it. Now everybody has banished me; and "it is on your threshold that I sit down. Kill me, if you "have a mind!" And then (after, not death, but the gift of 100 crowns), Note Second, October 1762: "Take * "out of my sight that sword, which dazzles and pains me; it "has only too well done its duty, while the sceptre is aban"doned:" Make Peace, can't you !30-What curious reading for a King in such posture, among the miscellaneous arrivals overnight! Above six weeks before either of these Notes, Friedrich, hearing of him from Lord Marischal, had answered: "An asylum? Yes, by all means: the unlucky cynic!" It is on 20 Œuvres complètes de Rousseau (à Genève, 1782-1789), xxxiii. 64, 65. 1766. September 1st, that he sends, by the same channel, 100 crowns for his use, with advice to "give them in naturâ, lest he refuse otherwise;" as Friedrich knows to be possible. In words, the Rousseau Notes got nothing of Answer. "A garçon singulier,” says Friedrich: odd fellow, yes indeed, your Majesty ;—and has such a pungency of flattery in him, too, presented in the way of snarl! His Majesty might take him, I suppose, with a kind of relish, like Queen-Dowager snuff. There was still another shift of place, shift which proved temporary, in old Marischal's life: Home to native Aberdeenshire. The two childless Brothers, Earls of Kintore, had died successively, the last of them, November 22d, 1761: title and heritage, not considerable the latter, fell duly, by what preparatives we know, to old Marischal; but his Keith kinsfolk, furthermore, would have him personally among them,―nay, after that, would have him to wed and produce new Keiths. At the age of 78; decidedly an inconvenient thing! Old Marischal left Potsdam, August 1763,'31-New-Palace scaffoldings and big stone-blocks conspicuous in those localities; pleasant D'Alembert now just about leaving in the other direction;-much to Friedrich's regret, the old Marischal especially, as is still finely evident. Friedrich to Lord Marischal (in Scotland for the last six months). "Sans-Souci, 16th February 1764. "I am not surprised that the Scotch fight to have you among "them; and wish to have progeny of yours, and to preserve your "bones. You have, in your lifetime, the lot of Homer after death: "Cities arguing which is your birthplace;—I myself would dis"pute it with Edinburgh to possess you. If I had ships, I would "make a descent on Scotland, to steal off my cher Mylord, and "bring him hither. Alas, our Elbe Boats can't do it. But you "give me hopes ;-which I seize with avidity! I was your late "Brother's friend, and had obligations to him; I am yours with "heart and soul. These are my titles, these are my rights :you shan't be forced in the matter of progeny here (faire l'étalon 66 31 Letter of his to the King ('Londres, 14 Août 1763'), in Œuvres de Frédéric, xx. 293. |