History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 07Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 07
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
Reichenbach "has said nothing of this to his Prussian Majesty,
Reichenbach has not; too dangerous in own present down-pressed
state:--though amazingly exact always in news, and attached to his
Prussian Majesty as mortal seldom was. Need he fear their new Hotham,
then? Does not fear Hotham, not he him, being a man so careful of truth
in his news. Dare not, however, now send any intelligence about the
Royal Family here; Prussian Majesty having ordered him not to write
gossip like a spiteful woman: What is he to do? Instruct him, O my
Amiable.
"Know for the rest, and be aware of it, O Amiable, that Queen Caroline
here is of opinion, The Amiable Grumkow should be conciliated; and that
Queen Sophie and Hotham are understood to have been trying it. Do not
abandon me, O Amiable; nay I know you will not, you and Seckendorf,
never, though I am a poor man.
"Have found out a curious story, HISTOIRE FORT CRIEUSE,--about one of
Prince Fred's amourettes." Story which this Editor, in the name of the
whole human species, will totally suppress, and sweep into the cesspool,
to herald Reichenbach thither. Except only that this corollary by the
Duchess of Kendal may be appended to the thing:--
"Duchess of Kendal [Hop-pole EMERITA, now gone to devotion, whom we
know, piously turns up her eyes at such doings], thinks the Princess
Wilhelmina will have a bad life of it with Fred, and that she 'will need
the wisdom of Solomon to get on here.' Not a good bargain, this Prince
Fred and his Sister. A dissolute fellow he, not liked by the Public" (I
should hope). 'Then as to Princess Amelia, she, who was always haughty,
begins to give herself airs upon the Prince-Royal of Prussia; she is
as ill-tempered as her Father, and still more given to backbiting (PLUS
RAILLEUSE), and will greatly displease the Potsdam Majesty.'
These are cheering thoughts. "But what is to become of Nosti? Faithful
to his Grumkow, to his Seckendorf--to his pair of sheep-stealers, poor
dog. But if trouble rise;--oh, at least do not hang me, ye incomparable
pair!"--
THE HOTHAM DESPATCHES.
Slave Nosti's terrors, could he see behind the scenes, are without
foundation! the tremendous Hotham Negotiation, all ablaze at that
Charlottenburg Dinner, is sunk low enough into the smoking state,
threatening to go out altogether. Smoke there may still be, perceptible
vestiges of smoke; which indeed, for a long time, fitfully continued:
but, at the time while Nosti, quaking in every joint of him, writes
these terrors, Hotham perceives that his errand is vain; that
properly there has as good as extinction supervened. April 3d was the
flame-point; which lasted in its brightness only for a few days or
hours. April is not gone, or half gone, when flaming has quite ceased,
and the use of bellows, never so judicious, is becoming desperate: and
long before the end of May, no red is to be seen in the affair at all,
and the very bellows are laid down.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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