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
As accordingly he did. Next Summer, going on a visit northward,
specially to Berlin, [There for some three weeks, "till 9th June, 1731,
with a suite of above fifty persons" (Fassmann, pp. 421, 422).] he left
order that the Gravenitz was to be got out of his sight, safe stowed
away, before his return. Which by the proper officers, military certain
of them, was accomplished,--by fixed bayonets at last, and not without
futile demur on the part of the Gravenitz. Poor Eberhard Ludwig, "he
published in the pulpits, That he was now minded to lead a better
life,"--had time now been left him. Same year, 1731, November being
come, gloomy Eberhard Ludwig lost, not unexpectedly, his one Son,--the
one Grandson was gone long since. The serene steadfast Duchess now had
her Duke again, what was left of him: but he was fallen into the sere
and yellow leaf; in two years more, he died childless; [31st October,
1733: Michaelis, iii. 441.] and his Cousin, Karl Alexander, an Austrian
Feldmarschall of repute, succeeded in Wurtemberg. With whom we may
transiently meet, in time coming; with whom, and perhaps less pleasantly
with certain of his children; for they continue to this day,--with the
old abstruse element still too traceable in them.
Old Karl Philip, Kurfurst of the Pfalz, towards whom Friedrich Wilhelm
is now driving, with intent to be there to-morrow evening, is not quite
a stranger to readers here; and to Friedrich Wilhelm he is much the
reverse, perhaps too much. This is he who ran away with poor Prince
Sobieski's Bride from Berlin, at starting in life; who fell upon his own
poor Protestant Heidelbergers and their Church of the Holy Ghost (being
himself Papist, ever since that slap on the face to his ancestor); and
who has been in many quarrels with Friedrich Wilhelm and others. A
high expensive sovereign gentleman, this old Karl Philip; not, I should
suppose, the pleasantest of men to lodge with. One apprehends, he
cannot be peculiarly well disposed to Friedrich Wilhelm, after that sad
Heidelberg passage of fence, twelve or eleven years ago. Not to
mention the inextricable Julich-and-Berg business, which is a standing
controversy between them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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