History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 06 — John Shaqi
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 06Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 06
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
These sorrows, the death of George I., with anxieties as to George II.
and the course he might take; all this, it was thought, preyed upon his
Majesty's spirits;--Wilhelmina says it was "the frequent carousals with
Seckendorf," and an affair chiefly of the royal digestive-apparatus.
Like enough;--or both might combine. It is certain his Majesty fell into
one of his hypochondrias at this time; talked of "abdicating" and other
gloomy things, and was very black indeed. So that Seckendorf and Grumkow
began to be alarmed. It is several months ago he had Franke the Halle
Methodist giving ghostly counsel; his Majesty ceased to have the
Newspapers read at dinner; and listened to lugubrious Franke's
exhortations instead. Did English readers ever hear of Franke? Let them
make a momentary acquaintance with this famous German Saint. August
Hermann Franke, a Lubeck man, born 1663; Professor of Theology, of
Hebrew, Lecturer on the Bible; a wandering, persecuted, pious man.
Founder of the "Pietists," a kind of German Methodists, who are still
a famed Sect in that country; and of the WAISENHAUS, at Halle, grand
Orphan-house, built by charitable beggings of Franke, which also still
subsists. A reverend gentleman, very mournful of visage, now sixty-four;
and for the present, at Berlin, discoursing of things eternal, in what
Wilhelmina thinks a very lugubrious manner. Well; but surely in a
very serious manner! The shadows of death were already round this poor
Franke; and in a few weeks more, he had himself departed. [Died 8th
June, 1727.] But hear Wilhelmina, what account she gives of her own
and the young Grenadier-Major's behavior on these mournful occasions.
Seckendorf's dinners she considers to be the cause; all spiritual,
sorrows only an adjunct not worth mentioning. It is certain enough.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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