The Confessions of the Celebrated Countess of Lichtenau, Late Mrs. Rietz: Now Confined in the Fortress of Gloglau as a State-prisonerHusen, Heinrich
History
The Confessions of the Celebrated Countess of Lichtenau, Late Mrs. Rietz: Now Confined in the Fortress of Gloglau as a State-prisoner
Husen, Heinrich
Lichtenau, Wilhelmine Enke, Gräfin Lichtenau, 1752-1820; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick William II, 1786-1797 -- Biography
The King has, a few days since, paid repeated visits to the
Dowager-Queen; and my spies tell me, that he is extremely smitten with
the beauty of Miss V----[2], who, in fact, has been the only cause
of all these visits. All our engines are at play to extinguish this
flame, and if I cannot bring that about, I am lost for ever! All this
is a court-cabal to get me _out_, and one of the nobility _in_. Some
people, by this means, hope to acquire greater influence in the affairs
of the State. Miss V----, I am told, has a pretty face, and, what is
still worse, she is said to be extremely virtuous; the King will,
therefore, be at some trouble to subdue her. The Dowager-Queen, a very
godly princess, keeps a sharp look out, and has, I am told, loudly
expostulated about it with the King.
My spies watch every motion, and I am instantaneously apprized of the
most minute occurrence. I don’t know how it is, but some time since the
King was extremely reserved with me, and I would lay my head that all
this is on account of Miss V----. But let me but once more lay hold of
him, and your powder shall do wonders, mother; he then shall leave me
no more, I warrant you. We have contrived matters so, that my F----c,
in the newspapers, is called the dear beloved; he gives full credit
to the appellation, and who knows but those that wrote this nonsense
believed it to be true full as well as he does?
* * * * *
Woe! woe! and three times woe! the great mischief has begun. Miss V----
has yielded, and is the King’s favorite. Could you think of any thing
so exquisitely foolish as this? She has given herself up to the King,
on condition of having a left-handed marriage! The first Court Chaplain
and Member of the Consistory, the Rev. H----, on Friday last, performed
the ceremony at the palace of Charlottenburg, for which he received a
hundred glittering Frederics-d’ors. She is now formally Queen, on the
left hand, and, in the most extensive meaning of the word, the ruling
queen, for she governs even the King. Would you believe it, mother, a
formal law has, by order of the King, been made concerning marriages
on the left hand, and this law has been inserted in the code of laws
with all the publicity, to give a sanction to this archicomical
mock-marriage! The public laugh at it, make remarks, and no one follows
this Don Quixotism. But, dear mother, what is to become of me? I must
have the K--g, should I tear him out of the arms of Proserpine herself,
should I be forced to fetch him out of the midst of heaven or of hell.
He shall be mine, mine alone! Think of means, dear sweet mother! No
matter what means, no matter how dangerous! Necessity has no law; I
must clear the road to the heart of my F----c; I will pull up by the
root every thing that opposes me; V---- must vanish away from among the
living. Ask A--lang, Werner, Bender, and all our people, how I must set
about it. I will have no denial; a third person is most fit for the
business.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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