17th Aug. 1786. Friedrich was not buried at Sans-Souci, in the Tomb which he had built for himself; why not, nobody clearly says. By his own express will, there was no embalming. Two Regiment-surgeons washed the Corpse, decently prepared it for interment: 'at 8 that same even ing, Friedrich's Body, dressed in the uniform of the 'First Battalion of Guards, and laid in its coffin, was 'borne to Potsdam, in a hearse of eight horses, twelve "Non-commissioned Officers of the Guard escorting. All 'Potsdam was in the streets; the soldiers, of their own accord, formed rank, and followed the hearse; many a rugged face unable to restrain tears: for the rest, ⚫ universal silence as of midnight, nothing audible among 'the people but here and there a sob, and the murmur, "Ach, der gute König!" 6 6 'All next day, the Body lay in state in the Palace; 'thousands crowding, from Berlin and the other environs, to see that face for the last time. Wasted, worn; • but beautiful in death, with the thin gray hair parted ' into locks, and slightly powdered. And at 8 in the evening' (Friday 18th), 'he was borne to the Garnison'Kirche of Potsdam; and laid beside his Father, in the ' vault behind the Pulpit there,'17-where the two Coffins are still to be seen. I define him to myself as hitherto the Last of the Kings; when the Next will be, is a very long question! But it seems to me as if Nations, probably all Nations, by and by, in their despair,-blinded, swallowed like Jonah, in such a whale's-belly of things brutish, waste, abominable (for is not Anarchy, or the Rule of what is Baser over what is Nobler, the one life's-misery 17 Rödenbeck, iii. 365 (Public Funeral was not till September 9th). 17th Aug. 1786. worth complaining of, and, in fact, the abomination of abominations, springing from and producing all others whatsoever?)--as if the Nations universally, and England too if it hold on, may more and more bethink themselves of such a Man and his Function and Performance, with feelings far other than are possible at present. Meanwhile, all I had to say of him is finished: that too, it seems, was a bit of work appointed to be done. Adieu, good readers; bad also, adieu. |