History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 21Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 21
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
That word of reminiscence about Pitt is worth more attention. Not spoken
lightly, but with meaning and sincerity; something almost pathetic
in it, after the sixteen years separation: "A man whom I much
esteemed,"--and had good reason to do so! Pitt's subsequent sad and
bright fortunes, from the end of the Seven-Years War and triumphant
summing up of the JENKINS'S-EAR QUESTION, are known to readers. His
Burton-Pynsent meed of honor (Estate of 3,000 pounds a year bequeathed
him by an aged Patriot, "Let THIS bit of England go a noble road!");
his lofty silences, in the World Political; his vehement attempts in it,
when again asked to attempt, all futile,--with great pain to him, and
great disdain from him:--his passionate impatiences on minor matters,
"laborers [ornamenting Burton-Pynsent Park, in Somersetshire] planting
trees by torchlight;" "kitchen people [at Hayes in North Kent, House
still to be seen] roasting a series of chickens, chicken after chicken
all day, that at any hour, within ten minutes, my Lord may dine!"--these
things dwell in the memory of every worthy reader. Here, saved from my
poor friend Smelfungus (nobody knows how much of him I suppress), is a
brief jotting, in the form of rough MEMORANDA, if it be permissible:--
"Pitt four years King; lost in quicksands after that; off to Bath,
from gout, from semi-insanity; 'India should pay, but how?' Lost in
General-Warrants, in Wilkes Controversies, American Revolts,--generally,
in shallow quicksands;--dies at his post, but his post had become a
delirious one.
"A delicate, proud, noble man; pure as refined gold. Something
sensitive, almost feminine in him; yet with an edge, a fire, a
steadiness; liker Friedrich, in some fine principal points, than any
of his Contemporaries. The one King England has had, this King of Four
Years, since the Constitutional system set in. Oliver Cromwell, yes
indeed,--but he died, and there was nothing for it but to hang his body
on the gallows. Dutch William, too, might have been considerable,--but
he was Dutch, and to us proved to be nothing. Then again, so long as
Sarah Jennings held the Queen's Majesty in bondage, some gleams
of Kinghood for us under Marlborough:--after whom Noodleism and
Somnambulism, zero on the back of zero, and all our Affairs, temporal,
spiritual and eternal, jumbling at random, which we call the Career of
Freedom, till Pitt stretched out his hand upon them. For four years;
never again, he; never again one resembling him,--nor indeed can ever
be.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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