1775.

'all fatigued: the King maintained that he was. "Sit down, good "Father (Mein lieber alter Papa Ziethen, setze Er sich doch)!" 'continued his Majesty: "I will have it so; otherwise I must

instantly leave the room; for I cannot allow you to be incom"moded under my own roof." The old General obeyed, and 'Friedrich the Great remained standing before him, in the midst ' of a brilliant circle that had thronged round them. After asking him many questions respecting his hearing, his memory, ' and the general state of his health, he at length took leave of 'him in these words: "Adieu, my dear Ziethen" (it was his last adieu!)" take care not to catch cold; nurse yourself well, and "live as long as you can, that I may often have the pleasure "of seeing you." After having said this, the King, instead of speaking to the other Generals, and walking through the saloons, as usual, retired abruptly, and shut himself up in his closet.'59

Following in date these small Conway Phenomena, if these, so extraneous and insignificant, can have any glimmer of memorability to readers, are two other occurrences, especially one other, which come in at this part of the series, and greatly more require to be disengaged from the dust-heaps, and presented for remembrance.

In 1775, the King had a fit of illness; which long occupied certain Gazetteers and others. That is the first occurrence of the two, and far the more important. He himself says of it, in his History, all that is essential to us here:

'Towards the end of 1775, the King was attacked by several strong consecutive fits of gout. Van Swieten, a famous Doctor's Son, and Minister of the Imperial Court at Berlin, took it into

♫ Blumenthal, ii. 341; Militair-Lexikon, iv. 318. Chodowiecki has made an Engraving of this Scene; useful to look at for its military Portraits, if of little esteem otherwise. Strangely enough, both in Blumenthal and in Chodowiecki's Engraving, the year is given as 1785 (plainly impossible); Militair-Lexikon misprints the month; and, one way or other, only Rödenbeck (iii. 316) is right in both day and year.

6

1775.

'his head that this gout was a declared dropsy; and, glad to 'announce to his Court the approaching death of an enemy that had been dangerous to it, boldly informed his Kaiser that the King was drawing to his end, and would not last out the year. 'At this news the soul of Joseph flames into enthusiasm; all the 'Austrian troops are got on march, their Rendezvous marked in Bohemia; and the Kaiser waits, full of impatience, at Vienna, 'till the expected event arrive; ready then to penetrate at once into Saxony, and thence to the Frontiers of Brandenburg, and 'there propose to the King's Successor the alternative of either 'surrendering Silesia straightway to the House of Austria, or 'seeing himself overwhelmed by Austrian troops before he could get his own assembled. All these things, which were openly 'done, got noised abroad everywhere; and did not, as is easy 'to believe, cement the friendship of the Two Courts. To the Public, this scene appeared the more ridiculous, as the King of ‹ Prussia, having only had a common gout in larger dose than 'common, was already well of it again, before the Austrian Army had got to their Rendezvous. The Kaiser made all these 'troops return to their old quarters; and the Court of Vienna ' had nothing but mockery for its imprudent conduct.'60

The first of these gout-attacks seems to have come in the end of September, and to have lasted about a month; after which the illness abated, and everybody thought it was gone. The Kaiser-Joseph evolution must have been in October, and have got its mockery in the next months. Friedrich, writing to Voltaire, October 22d, has these words: * “A pair of "charming Letters from Ferney; to which, had they been from "the great Demiurgus himself, I could not have dictated An"swer. Gout held me tied and garrotted for four weeks;-gout "in both feet and in both hands; and, such its extreme liberality, "in both elbows too: at present the pains and the fever have "abated, and I feel only a very great exhaustion."61 Four consecutive attacks; hope they are now all over:' but we read, within the Spring following, that there have been in all twelve of them; and in May 1776, the Newspapers count eighteen quasiconsecutive. So that in reality the King's strength was sadly 61 Ibid. xxv. 44.

60 Euvres de Frédéric, vi. 124.

1776.

reduced; and his health, which did not recover its old average till about 1780, continued, for several years after this bad fit, to be a constant theme of curiosity to the Gazetteer species, and a matter of solicitude to his friends and to his enemies.

Of the Kaiser's immense ambition there can be no question. He is stretching himself out on every side; 'seriously wishing,' thinks Friedrich, 'that he could "revivify the German Reich," -new Barbarossa in improved fixed form; how noble! Certainly, to King Friedrich's sad conviction, 'the Austrian Court is 6 aiming to swallow all manner of dominions that may fall within its grasp.' Wants Bosnia and Servia in the East; longs to seize certain Venetian Territories, which would unite Trieste and the Milanese to the Tyrol. Is throwing out hooks on Modena, on the Ferrarese, on this and on that. Looking with eager eyes on Bavaria,-the situation of which is peculiar; the present Kur-Baiern being elderly, childless; and his Heir the like, who withal is already Kur-Pfalz, and will unite the Two Electorates under one head; a thing which Austria regards with marked dislike.62 These are anxious considerations to a King in Friedrich's sick state. In his private circle, too, there are sorrows: death of Fouquet, death of Quintus Icilius, of Seidlitz, Quantz (good old Quantz, with his fine Flutings these fifty years, and the still finer memories he awoke !63),-latterly an unusual number of deaths. The ruggedly intelligent Quintus, a daily companion, and guest at the supper-table, died few months before this fit of gout; and must have been greatly missed by Friedrich. Fouquet, at Brandenburg, died last year: his benefactor in the early Cüstrin distresses, his "Bayard," and chosen friend ever since; how conspicuously dear to Friedrich to the last is still evident. A Friedrich getting lonely enough, and the lights of his life going out around him;-has but one sure consolation, which comes to him as compulsion withal, and is not neglected, that of standing stedfast to his work, whatever the mood and posture be.

The Event of 1776 is Czarowitch Paul's arrival in Berlin, and betrothal to a second Wife there; his first

62 Euvres de Frédéric, vi. 123.

63 Friedrich's Teacher of the

Flute; procured for him by his Mother (Suprà, ii. 108).

21st July 1776.

having died in childbirth lately. The first had been of Friedrich's choosing, but had behaved ill,-seduced by Spanish-French Diplomacies, by this and that, poor young creature:-the second also was of Friedrich's choosing, and a still nearer connexion: figure what a triumphant event! Event now fallen dead to every one of us; and hardly admitting the smallest Note,-except for chronology's sake, which it is always satisfactory to keep clear:

'Czarowitch Paul's first Wife, the Hessen-Darmstadt Prin'cess of Three, died of her first child, April 26th, 1776: everybody whispered, "It is none of Paul's!"—who, nevertheless, 'was inconsolable, the wild heart of him like to break on the occurrence. By good luck, Prince Henri had set out, by invi'tation, on a second visit to Petersburg; and arrived there, also ' on April 26th,4-the very day of the fatality. Prince Henri 'soothed, consoled the poor Czarowitch; gradually brought him 'round; agreed with his Czarina Mother, that he must have a 'new Wife; and dextrously fixed her choice on a "Niece of 'the King's and Henri's." Eldest Daughter of Eugen of Wür❝temberg, of whom, as an excellent General, though also as a surly 'Husband, readers have some memory; now living withdrawn at 'Mümpelgard, the Würtemberg Apanage' (Montbeillard, as the French call it), 'in these piping times of Peace:—she is the Princess. To King Friedrich's great surprise and joy. The Mümpelgard Principalities, and fortunate Princess, are summoned to Berlin. Czarowitch Paul, under Henri's escort, 'and under gala and festivities from the Frontier onward, 'arrived in Berlin, 21st July 1776; was betrothed to his Würtemberg Princess straightway; and after about a fortnight of 'festivities still more transcendent, went home with her to Pe6 tersburg; and was there wedded, 18th October following;'Czar and Czarina, she and he, twenty years after, and their 'posterity reigning ever since.'65

6

'At Vienna,' says the King, 'everybody was persuaded the Czarowitch would never come to Berlin. 'Prince Kaunitz had been,'-been at his old tricks again, Rödenbeck, iii. 139-146. es Œuvres de Frédéric, vi. 120-122.

April-Oct. 1777. playing his sharpest, in the Court of Petersburg again: what tricks (about Poland and otherwise), let us not report, for it is now interesting to nobody. Of the Czarowitch Visit itself, I will remark only,-what seems to be its one chance of dating itself in any of our memories,—that it fell out shortly after the Sherlock dinner with Voltaire (in 1776, April 27th the one event, July 21st the other);—and that here is, by pure accident, the exuberant erratic Sherlock, once more, and once only, emerging on us for a few moments!

Exuberant Sherlock and Eleven other English are presented to Friedrich, on a Court Occasion (8th October 1777); and Two of them get spoken to, and speak each a Word. Excellency Hugh Elliot is their Introducer.

Harris, afterwards Earl of Malmesbury, succeeded Mitchell at Berlin: "Polish troubles" (heartily indifferent to England), "Dantzic squabbles" (miraculously important there),-nothing worth the least mention now. Excellency Harris quitted Berlin in Autumn 1776; gave place to an Excellency Hugh Elliot (one of the Minto Elliots, Brother of the first Earl of Minto, and himself considerably noted in the world), of whom we have a few words to say.

Elliot has been here since April 1777; stays some five years in this post;—with not much Diplomatic employment, I should think, but with a style of general bearing and social physiognomy, which, with some procedures partly incidental as well, are still remembered in Berlin. Something of spying, too, doubtless there was; bribing of menials, opening of Letters: I believe a great deal of that went on; impossible to prevent under the