*j/ \*/ v'/ v'/ \?/ »!/ \!/ *'/ NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Bequest of Charles G. Dawes js -»? ^ -y& § § •»> ~>& & -»> $ -»> A -»> $ 'r^^^'rv'rv'r Frederick the Great Etching by Schoff Xlbe <3entleman's Xtbrarp Frederick the Great and His Court BY MISS MUHLBACH Embellished with Etchings and Photogravures New York MERRILL AND BAKER Publishers V The edition of this volume is limited to 450 numbered and 26 special lettered copies, this one being number f > MERRILL AND BAKER. CONTENTS. CHAPTER L Queen Sophia Dorothea, . CHAPTER H. Frederick Wilhelm I., CHAPTER HL The Tobacco Club, . CHAPTER IV. Castles in Spain, c CHAPTER V. Father and Son, , CHAPTER VI. The White Hall, CHAPTER VII. The Matd-of-Honor and the Gardener, CHAPTER VHL Diplomatist Manteuffel, CHAPTER IX Crown Prince Frederick, 4 CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. PAGE The Crown Prince and the Jew, 56 CHAPTER XL Crown Princess Elizabeth Christine, 63 CHAPTER XII. The Poem 66 CHAPTER XIII. The Banquet, 71 CHAPTER XIV. Le Roi est Mort, Vive le Roi, 79 CHAPTER XV. We, the King, 84 CHAPTER XVL The Day of Judgment and Mercy, ....... 90 CHAPTER XVII. In the Garden at Montbijou, 96 CHAPTER XVIII. The Queen's Maid of Honor, 104 CHAPTER XIX. Prince Augustus William 107 CHAPTER XX. The King and the Son, Ill CHAPTER XXI. Ths Queen's Court Tailor, 120 CONTENTS. 5 CHAPTER XXH. PAGE The Illustrious Ancestors of a Tailor, .... 125 CHAPTER XXIH. Toffri e Yaci, 130 CHAPTER XXIV. Coronation Day, 136 CHAPTER XXV. Doris Ritter, 143 CHAPTER XXVI. Old and New Sorrow 149 CHAPTER XXVII. The Proposal of Marriage, 155 CHAPTER XXVIIL The Queen as Wooer 159 CHAPTER XXIX. The Proposal of Marriage, 166 CHAPTER XXX. The Misunderstanding 171 CHAPTER XXXI. A Soiree at the Queen Dowager's, 178 CHAPTER XXXH. Under the Lindens, 190 CHAPTER XXXIII. The Berlin Politician and the French Tailor, 196 6 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXIV. The Double Rendezvous PAGE . 201 CHAPTER XXXV. The Intriguing Courtiers, 207 CHAPTER XXXVI. The King and the Minister of Finance, . . . .211 CHAPTER XXXVII. The Disappointed Courtiers, 218 CHAPTER XXXVHI. The Betrothed, 222 CHAPTER XXXIX. |te Tailor Families, or the Montagues and Capulets of Berlin, 227 CHAPTER XL. In Riieinsberg, 234 CHAPTER XLI. The King and his Friend, 240 CHAPTER XLII. Farewell Audience of the Austrian Ambassador, Marquis Botta, 243 CHAPTER XLIII. The Masquerade 248 CHAPTER XLIV. The Fancy Ball, . 254 CONTENTS. T CHAPTER XLV. PAGE Reward and Punishment, 260 CHAPTER XLVI. Tee Return, 266 CHAPTER XLVII. The Death op the Old Time 272 CHAPTER XLVIII. The Discovery, . 276 CHAPTER XLIX. Revelations, 284 CHAPTER L. Surprises 291 CHAPTER LI. Dismissal of Baron von Pollnitz, 297 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Page Frederick the Great—Etching by Schoff Frontispiece Frederick the Great . . . . 31 Potsdam ...... 61 Dessau ....... 80 Catherine II. of Russia—Etching by Mercierfrom a painting by Beaulieu gj Frederick the Great . . . . 113 Maria Theresa—Etching by Mercier . . 131 Frederick the Great . . . . ip 1 Louis XV. ...... 201 Frederick the Great and his Generals . 243 Voltaire ....... 26g San Souci ...... 2gp FREDERICK THE GREAT AND HIS COURT. CHAPTER I. QUEEN SOPHIA DOROTHEA. The halls glowed in the light of a myriad candles ; the foot¬ men were running hither and thither, giving a last touch to chairs and tables ; the court gardener cast a last critical glance at the groups of plants he had been arranging in the saloons ; and, in the picture gallery, the major-domo was decorating the tables destined to-day to furnish especially rich enjoy¬ ment to the queen's guests. Everything presented a more brilliant, luxurious, costly aspect than was usual in the Royal Palace in Berlin. All the faces were happier, less constrained than was their habit; even the footmen smiled and felt cheerful, for they knew that this once they might safely look forward to an evening without kicks and blows, without harsh scoldings and trem¬ bling anxiety, since the king could not be present at the ban¬ quet which he had charged his consort to prepare for the court and nobility. The king was ill. The podagra chained him to his roller- chair and his rooms, and in the course of sleepless nights a dull suspicion had awakened in the ruler of Prussia that the reign of Frederick William First might soon be coming to an end, that the portals of the royal tomb might soon open to receive a new royal corpse, and that a new king might soon ascend the throne of Prussia. This last thought filled the king's heart with bitterness and wrath. Frederick William wished not to die, to keep his son Frederick from becoming king ; to keep this weak, vacillating youth who sowed flowers and cultivated fruits among poets and musicians at Rheinsberg from occupying the place which Frederick William First had so long filled with fortune and success. 10 FREDERICK THE GREAT AND III8 COURT. What could Prussia do with this sensitive boy Frederick, a hero of fashion-dressing like a Parisian boulevardier ; with this weakling who preferred the sybarite life in his romantic castle to held and march; who found the tones of his flute more inspiring than the trumpet-blast; who asserted that there are kings not by the grace of God only, but by the grace of mind, and that Voltaire was as much a king, and per¬ haps more of one, than all the kings the pope has blesssed— what could Prussia do with such a king ? No, Frederick William wished not to die, in order to keep Frederick from becoming King of Prussia, to keep him from destroying what his father had built up, to save Prussia from perishing under the feeble hands of the dreamy poet. Therefore, let no one imagine that Frederick William was ill. No one should believe that any other pains plagued him than those of podagra and gout. Those are harmless, innocent pains. A man can live to be eighty with podagra ; and gout is like a faithful wife that lives and grows old with one, with whom one can celebrate a silver wedding. So the king confessed that the gout was pressing him once more in its tender embrace; but the people and the crown prince should not hope that this malady was shortening the king's days. So the queen was commanded to give a ban¬ quet ; the court and nobility should see that the queen and her daughters could smile and be cheerful, and that no danger therefore threatened the king. Indeed, the queen really did feel cheerful to-day, for she felt free. It seemed to her that the chain which fastened her had fallen from her for a moment, as though the bur¬ den she bore, which bent her neck, had been cast from her. Yes, for once she could raise her head, proud and free, like a queen ; she could adorn herself as is right for a queen. Away then, for one day, with dusky robes and an undecorated coiffure. The gout binds the king fast to his arm-chair, and the queen may venture to make a brilliant, truly regal toilet. With a smile of proud contentment, she drew on a silk robe woven with silver threads which she had secretly ordered from her native city, Hanover, for this evening, and her eyes flashed with joy as she opened a silver-bolted casket to free for a few hours the diamonds that for many a decade had not beheld the light of day. With a joyous smile her gaze rested upon the sparkling stones that flamed like stars fallen from heaven and made her heart beat with delight; for a queen is but a woman QUEEN SOPUIA DOROTHEA. 11 after all, and Sophia Dorothea had suffered so much and so often the pains and sorrows of the woman, that she longed once more to experience the proud happiness of the queen. So she put on her whole array of diamonds, fastened a glowing diadem on her brow, bound necklace and bracelets around her throat and arms, and hung long pendants whose colossal splendor made her ears glow and burn. Then listening with smiling contentment to the astonished exclamations of her ladies, she walked to the great Venetian mirror and examined her toilet. Yes, Sophia Dorothea might well be content to-day. Millions of thalers were there, that spend their days in quiet, bearing no interest, gazing silent and scornful at the sweat-bathed human beings who toil and wear themselves out for the sake of a poor anxious exist¬ ence. Sophia Dorothea was not thinking of that; she gazed medi¬ tatively in the mirror and thought of by-gone days, of buried hopes, and vanished dreams. These diamonds her illustri¬ ous father had given her when she was betrothed with Fred¬ erick William. This diadem had adorned her brow when she wedded him. The necklace a brother had sent her when her first child was born, the bracelet her consort had placed upon her arm when, after long waiting and wishing and praying, Crown Prince Frederick was born. Each separate adornment of the collection was a proud reminder of her past, a star out of her youth. Ah ! the diamonds had kept their lustre and shimmer; they were stars still, and flashed as clear as then, but all else was vanished and dead—her youth, her dreams, her hopes, her love ! Sophia Dorothea had too often trem¬ bled before her husband to be able to love him yet. Love had not driven fear out of her heart. On the contrary, love had been driven out by fear, and she could not love the hus¬ band who, for her and her children, had been only a tyrant, who had always thwarted her will, disappointed her hopes, mortally wounded in her not the queen and the woman alone, but the mother. As she looked at the glowing bracelet, as old as her favorite child, her son Frederick, she thought how little his life resembled the glory of these stones, how dark and gloomy his youth, how colorless and filled with tears. She kissed the bracelet and sped greetings to the son, as the door suddenly opened and the Princesses Ulrica and Amalie entered to join her. The queen turned to them, and the sad expression rapidly disappeared from her features as her eyes rested upon the 12 FREDERICK THE GREAT AND IIIS COURT. beautiful and loveable faces of her daughters presenting themselves in charmingly tasteful ball costumes. " Ah ! how splendid you are, most gracious mamma !" cried the seven teen-years-old Amalie, hopping about the queen's tall and noble figure, and enjoying with childish keenness the glow of the diamonds. " Heaven with all its stars has de¬ scended upon you, and your face shines out among them like the most beautiful sun." " Flatterer ! " said the queen, smiling ; " if thy father heard thee, he would be angry, for what willst thou call him, if thou callst me the sun ? " " Well, he may be Phoebus, who guides the sun and marks her paths with his horses that scatter golden rays." "Thou art right," sighed the queen ; "he marks her paths and what he wills that she must do, poor sun, poor queen, who has not even the right to cast her rays whither she will." "But who takes the right, most gracious mamma," cried Amalie, laughing, as she pointed to the diadem of diamonds ; "for I suspect very much that our gracious king and father did not command that your Majesty appear in such brilliant state." " Whether he commanded it?" cried the queen, trembling. "He would be in a wild rage if he could see me, for you know well how greatly he despises vain display." " He would reflect at once, that at least one whole military road might be built from this diadem, or that, at least, ten giants for the Royal Guard could be bought for this neck¬ lace," said Amalie ; and turning to her sister, who had silently withdrawn to the window niche, she continued : "And thou. Ulrica, thou sayest not a word. Has the brilliancy of her Majesty made thee blind or robbed thee of speech, or art thou thinking whom thou wilt invite to dance ? " " No," said the Princess Ulrica, earnestly ; "I was thinking that when I am a queen I shall make it a condition that my choice of toilets shall be wholly free, and that it shall never be forbidden me to wear diamonds, for when I am queen I shall wear diamonds every day. They are truly royal orna¬ ments, and never was our most gracious mamma more queen than to-day." " Do hear this proud princess—how sure of victory she is— talking of being queen as a matter of course, of which there can be no doubt," cried Amalie, laughing. " Dost thou know, then, whether the king, our father, hath decided thus ? He may have hunted out some little margrave or unknown apanaged prince, as he did for our poor sister of Baireuth." QUEEN SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 13 "I would not give my hand to such an one," answered Princess Ulrica, passionately. " Thou wouldst do so should thy father command it," said the queen, gravely. " No, I would die rather than let myself be forced to such a marriage! " " Die !" said the queen, sighing. " Men often sigh for death, but he does not come. Our sighs have not the power to bring him hither, and our hand is too feeble to press him to our heart. Thou wouldst yield to thy father, as we have all yielded to him, as even thy brother, the crown prince, has had to do." " Poor brother ! " sighed Amalie ; " chained to a wife whom he does not love. What a misfortune that must be ! " Princess Ulrica shrugged her shoulders. " Is not that the fate of all princes and princesses ? " she asked. " Are we not all there, to be dealt in like any ware, and handed over to him who offers most ? I, for my part, mean to be sold as dearly as possible, and since I cannot be a happy shepherdess, wiil be at least a mighty queen." " And I," cried Amalie, enthusiastically, " would marry the poorest, lowliest man, if I loved him, rather than the richest king's son who is indifferent in my eyes." " Foolish children, both ; it is well that your father does not hear you," said the queen, smiling. " His anger would crush you, and he would find a king to-day for thee, Amalie ; and for thee, Ulrica, a little apanaged margrave. But, ladies, I hear the voice of our master of ceremonies, coming to tell us that the guests have assembled. Assume a cheerful expression ; the king desires us to laugh and be merry. Be, therefore, merry, but remember that his majesty has his spies every¬ where ; and when you speak with Pollnitz, never forget that he reports every word to the king. Therefore, be friendly with him, and, most of all, if he leads conversation to the crown prince, speak of him with unconstrained indifference ; show as little interest and love as possible for him ; rather jest at his romantic life in Bheinsberg ; that is the best means to make yourself and him beloved by the king. And now, my daughters, come let us go to the company." At this point Master of Ceremonies von Pollnitz opened the door to communicate to her majesty that the company had assembled, and the maids of honor to the queen and prin¬ cesses entered from the adjoining room. Sophia Dorothea signified to her two daughters to place themselves one at each side of her, and the master of cere- 14 FREDERICK THE ORE AT AND HIS COURT. monies and the marshal going in advance, she made the tour of the halls with the princesses at her side, bestowing here and there a smile or a gracious word, her glances shedding blessings abroad, like the shower of gold of some god, among this bowing, admiring, murmuring Danae court company. Ah! that was proud pleasure which filled the heart of the queen as she entered the throne-room amid a burst of music from the tribune, as all the cavaliers in their decorations, the proud, gorgeously attired women bent before her, as she felt that her will was mightier than that of all these taken together, that a smile from her lips was worth more, and would be re¬ ceived with greater rejoicing, than the smile of the dearest betrothed, that her glance scattered joy like the sun, that while all bow before her, there is no one before whom she must bow her head, for the king, her husband, was not by her side. To-day the king did not mar her freedom with his presence and his harsh bearing. To-day she was no trem¬ bling, terrorized woman, but a proud queen, as Frederick William to-day was no king, but a poor, gout-plagued, curs¬ ing, praying, whining, human being, and nothing more ! CHAPTER H. FREDERICK WILLIAM I. Here, at this end of the castle, the flaming of candles, life, air; there, at that end, where the king's apartments lie, all silence and sullen stillness ; here the merry clang of the music, there the monotonous hammering of the death-worm alone breaks the silence. This hammering proceeded directly from the king's room, and Frederick William himself it was who held the hammer in his hand and caused the dull, re¬ sounding noise which usually arises when nails are driven into a hollow chest. The king when well delighted to swing his crutch, letting it fall with a sounding blow on somebody's back, whether that back belonged to a footman, a minister of state, or a woman ; the king, when ill, was forced to content himself with beating out his rage upon unfeeling wood, and to swing, instead of his crutch, a hammer and nippers. The gout made of this proud, despotic king a poor, humble cabinet- FREDERICK WILLIAM I. 15 maker, and when his swollen feet fastened him to his roller- chair, and the pains kept him from governing the machine of state and turning it at will, he contented himself with making chests and cases out of linden-wood. Often the passer-by at dead of night might hear the pounding and hammering which, as a sort of wordless bulletins, reported the state of his majesty's health. When the king worked at night at cabinet- making, it proved to the disturbed Berliners that he was suffering, could not sleep, and that it would therefore be dangerous to meet him the next day during his walk, because one's clothing, height, breadth, or a spoken word reaching the king's ear, might arouse his wrath, and then if not a half- dozen well-directed blows, at least a long sermon would be sure to follow. Why, it was but a short time since King Frederick William had had two respectable young ladies arrested and conveyed to Spandau because he overheard them pronounce the royal garden charmant, and this one French word had been enough to make suspects of the poor young things, and lead him to describe them as loose beau¬ ties to be sent to Spandau Fortress, thence to be released only after the long and earnest entreaty of their despairing families. Well-washed people and young lads had always cause for anxiety, because the king might seize them and fit them into some regiment or berate them for their idleness in lounging about the streets. Therefore, as soon as the king quit the palace of his ancestors and entered the street, every¬ one flew in high anxiety toward home or any house that promised shelter, or any secluded by-way, to avoid meeting his Majesty. But no one had anything to fear from the imprisoned king. The queen could wear her diamonds without anxiety, the Berliners, great and small, could wander through the streets free from all thought of danger, for the dreaded one was ill, chained to his roller-chair, hammering and planing his linden-wood boxes. Meanwhile this occupation had a certain medicinal, beneficent side, and the work not only diverted the king's attention from his pain—it sometimes actually cured him of it. The quick, unceasing movement of the hands and arms spread over the whole body a beneficial warmth and produced a slight perspiration which soothed the nerves and allayed the pains for hours together. So to-day the work of planing had exercised its healing influence upon the king; to-day, too, he could, during a few happy moments, imagine that his gout, that evil imp, had yielded to the magic of toil and abdicated his body. He 10 FREDERICK TEE GREAT AND HIS COURT. arose before his roller-chair and, with a cry of delight, stretched his arms, which had regained their muscular strength and vitality, far above his head, as if he would em¬ brace the universe. He called with a mighty voice the ser¬ vant awaiting him in the adjoining room and commanded him to assemble the gentlemen of the Tobacco Club at once and make preparations for a meeting. "But the gentlemen are all at the queen's ball,"answered the astonished body-servant. " Let them be called hither," commanded the king. " Luckily there are no dancers among them ; their limbs are stiff and slow, and the beautiful ladies would be terrified by the jumps of these cavaliers if the latter should try to dance. Go fetch them. Pollnitz shall come, and Eckert, the Baron von Gotter, and Der Hake, Duke of Holstein, and General Schwerin. Quick, quick ! In ten minutes they must all be here ; but no one must know why they are called. "YVhisp— into the ear of each one that he must seek my presence im¬ mediately without telling anyone whither he is going. I wu not have the queen's banquet disturbed. Now haste, and if all these gentlemen are not here in ten minutes my cane on your back shall arrange a feast to which you may howl the music yourself." That was a threat which lent rare wings to the body-ser¬ vant's feet and drove him like a whirlwind through the ante¬ rooms, where in his flight he fell upon the second body-ser¬ vant and coughed out the order to carry pipes, tobacco, and beer-mugs to the king's apartments, and then hastened farther to the other wing of the palace where, in the lighted banquet- rooms, the queen's festivities were going on. Fortune favored the breathless body-servant. In a few mo¬ ments he had the required gentlemen summoned, and in ten minutes the six were assembled in the king's anteroom asking, with pale faces and confused expression, what could be the ground of their extraordinary summons. The body-servant shrugged his shoulders in silence and de¬ parted speechless into the king's apartment. His majesty sat in full uniform of his beloved guards at a round table, on which pipes and jugs of foaming beer were in readiness. His majesty had deigned to fill the pipes with his own gracious hand and was in the act of lighting them at the one smoking, dripping, ill-smelling tallow-candle which lighted the room. "Sire," said the body-servant, "the gentlemen are in the anteroom." FREDERICK WILLIAM I. 17 " Do they know why I summoned them ? " asked the king, blowing a great cloud of smoke from his mouth. "Your Majesty forbade me to tell them." " Go to them and tell them that I have been so wrathful this day as you have seldom seen me. That I stood with my crutch at the door and commanded that but one at a time be admitted." The body-servant hastened out to the waiting cavaliers, and as he opened the door they saw the king standing near it, his cane raised threateningly. "What is it?" "Why is the king in a rage?" "What commands do you bring us from his majesty ?" the gentle¬ men anxiously inquired. The body-servant assumed a horribly tragic aspect. " His majesty is most wrathful to-day—in a horrible temper. Woe to him upon whom the cloud of his anger is discharged. It is ready to burst at this moment. He commanded me to say that each one of you shall enter his apartment singly, not all together. Go, then. For heaven's sake, don't keep the king waiting." The six courtiers looked at one another, pale and undeceived. Each of them saw in his mind's eye the threatening picture of the king standing with raised cane at the door. None wished to be the first to pass under this yoke. " Your Excellency has precedence," said Master of Cere¬ monies von Pollnitz, bowing low before the Duke of Holstein. " Not at all," replied the latter. " You know very well his majesty cares nothing for etiquette and would take it very ill if we wished to insist upon it. Go you in first, my dear Poll¬ nitz." " Oh, not I, your Excellency. I should not dare to take pre¬ cedence of you all. If you decline this honor it falls to Gen¬ eral Schwerin. He must lead to battle." " But it is no question of a battle here," grumbled the gen¬ eral ; "but perhaps of a beating, and that Baron Pollnitz un¬ derstands much better than L" "Gentlemen," said the body-servant, " his majesty will be¬ come impatient, and then woe to us all! " " But, my God ! who of us will go, then ? " asked Count von Goltz, undecidedly. "I will go," replied Privy Councillor Eckert, stepping for¬ ward. " I owe all that I am to his majesty, and it is but natural to place my back, or, if he desire it, my life, at his disposal." And with a firm step he approached the door, which he opened with quick pressure. 18 FREDERICK THE GREAT AND HIS COURT. They saw the king raise his cane higher, his eye flash- ing, and they saw Eckert enter the room, his head bowed. Then the door closed and all was still. "Was it he whom the king's wrath threatened?" asked Pollnitz, timidly. " The king's wrath threatens everyone to-day," said the body-servant, with an ill-boding sigh. " Who will go next ? " the five courtiers began to ask one another again. And only after a long and hard struggle did Master of Ceremonies Pollnitz this time determine to make the dangerous journey. Again they all saw the door open, the king standing with raised cane, and again the door closed without their learning anything further. Four times the same scene was repeated, four times they saw the dread pict¬ ure of the king with his cane. But when General Schwerin, the last of the six courtiers, finally entered the royal apart¬ ment, the king no longer stood at the door, but lay in his roller-cliair and laughed until he cried, while Baron Pollnitz stood before him and described in his droll, humorous way, the scene of anxiety in the anteroom, imitating the voice of each of the gentlemen and their share in the conversation. " You believed in my wrath, then ? " asked the king, breath¬ less with laughter. " The joke succeeded perfectly, and your souls trembled with anxiety—even his, old Schwerin's! Now he, too, knows at last what fear is—he who on the battle¬ field and in the midst of bullet-hail never felt such a sensa¬ tion." " Yes, Sire ; a ball is a pitiful splinter in comparison with the lightning of wrath in your eyes. When the cannons thunder my heart jumps for joy, whereas before the thunder of your voice it would timidly creep away within my breast. Death I fear not, but I fear the wrath and displeasure of my king." " Ah! thou art a worthy fellow," said the king in a friendly tone, offering the general his hand. "And now, gentlemen, away with all constraint and etiquette! The king is over there at the ball, and your comrade, Frederick William, herewith opens the Tobacco Club." He took up his pipe and lighted it again at the candle; then he let himself slide down upon one of the chairs that were near the round table, the other gentlemen followed his example, and the Tobacco Club began its sitting. T11E TOBACCO CLUB. 19 CHAPTER HI. THE TOBACCO CLUB. At first there was a pause. Everyone was busy lighting his pipe. Soon great clouds of smoke began to ascend, veil¬ ing the whole room in their blue mist, and out of their midst the tallow-candle twinkled with a sickly yellow shine, not like fire, but only like dead gold. "Light some candles," commanded the king. "Our Tobacco Club shall this day offer a brilliant and glowing ex¬ ternal appearance, not too sharply contrasting with the ball festivities over yonder. Tell me, Pollnitz, how is it coming on over there ? Is there a goodly company ? Are they en¬ joying themselves? Is the queen cheerful, and do the prin¬ cesses spring about lustily ? " " Your Majesty, I have never seen more gorgeous festivities than these of to-day," said Pollnitz, " and never was her maj¬ esty more beautiful, more radiant, and more full of enjoy¬ ment, too, than to-day. She glowed and sparkled like a sun among all the ladies, beautifully dressed and richly be¬ jewelled as many of them were." " So ! She dressed in great state, then ? " asked the king, and a cloud passed over his face. " Sire, I did not know that her majesty possesses so truly princely a treasure of diamonds." "Ah! She wears her diamonds? They are making the most of my absence, as it seems. They are enjoying the evening greatly, while I writhe upon my bed of pain," shouted the king, who in his readily aroused ill-will quite forgot that he himself had commanded the festivities and had required of his consort that she should appear cheerful and care-free. "Sire, your Majesty is, happily, not ill and not upon a bed of pain," said the Duke of HolsteiD ; " the queen has, there¬ fore, good cause for being cheerful." The king did not reply. He drank a long draught from his beer-mug, then with an angry motion of the hand snapped the lid upon the mug. " I should not wonder if Fritz, too, had come over secretly for this ball," murmured the king. " They risk everything when they do not fear my surprising them." " But your Majesty understands managing surprises as no one else does," called Count Hake, taking pains to give the 20 FREDERICK THE GREAT ANT) TILS COURT. conversation a new direction. " I never felt my lieart beat aa it did to-day when I crossed this threshold." The king, quickly appeased, laughed aloud. "I never saw such pale faces in my life as yours. Verily, if my fingers were not quite so stiff and unwieldy, I should paint you a pict¬ ure of that scene that would make a superb companion- piece to my picture of the Tobacco Club ; and I would call it 'The Six Tailors' Apprentices Afraid of Blue Monday.' Ah ! see, we devote ourselves now to art and poetry, and soon our learned and fantastic son will have no advantage over us. If he plays the flute, we paint; if he writes poems full of feeling, we will write jibes in rhyme ; and while he sings to the sun and the moon, we are like unto the gods, seven Ju- piters wrapping us in clouds ; naturally not, in this case, for the imrpose of befooling Semele or any other female, for we have ever been true to our consort at all places and times, and are of opinion that in this respect the crown prince might well follow the example of his father." "In all respects, your Majesty," observed Count Goltz, blowing upward a great cloud of smoke. "Ah! he hopes to rule the State one of these days with his book knowledge and his poems," said the king, smiling. " Instead of occupying himself with useful things, exercising recruits, drawing plans, and perfecting himself in the art of war, he wastes his time upon the useless trumpery of super¬ ficial learning that is of no use to anyone and only injures himself; for to be a good king a man must be no learned dreamer, and whosoever holds the fiddle-bow and leader's baton in place of the sceptre can never make a good general." " Yet at the last muster the crown prince's regiment was the most beautiful and best drilled," said the Duke of Holstein. The king bestowed a glance full of suspicion upon him which 110 one understood. He did not like to have the crown prince defended, and every such utterance filled him with suspicion of the speaker. "Your Majesty forgets that we are here in the Tobacco Club, and not in the Council of State," said Pollnitz, with flattering voice. " If your Majesty wished to be angry it would not be necessary to light our pipes and keep the beer- mugs filled, for your pipe goes out because you do not smoke it, and the beer loses its foam because you do not drink." " It is true," said the king, and while he lifted the mug, he continued, " I drink this glass to the welfare of him who first conquered his rabbit heart and ventured to come in to me. Who was it—I have forgotten ? " THE TOBACCO CLUB. 21 " It was Privy Councillor von Eckert, your Majesty," said Count Hake, with an ironical smile, as Eckert bowed, laugh¬ ing. "And he went into the room as though he were going to a battle," said Baron Pollnitz, smiling. "He took leave in his thoughts of all his fine breweries and his artistic, smokeless chimneys ; leave of the exchanges of the cities which he had not yet supplied with royal commissaries to free them from their burdensome wealth ; leave of his decoration and his money-bags, and exclaiming, with a tear, ' I have the king to thank for all that I am ; it is but natural to place my back, and if need be, my life, at his disposal,' he marched with the cour¬ age of death into the king's apartment." " Did he really do that ? did he say that ? " shouted the king. " That pleases me, Eckert, and I shall reward thee for that. True, I picked thee up out of the dirt, and made a distinguished man of my chimney-sweep ; but it rarely hap¬ pens that men are grateful and remember benefits received. Since thou dost this, thou hast a noble heart, and I know how to cherish that. The new house in the Jaegerstrasse which I shall have built, shall belong to thee, and I shall give thee no mere bare walls, but it shall be fitted out at my ex¬ pense with beautiful furnishings and all things necessary." " Your Majesty is the most gracious, most kind ruler," cried Eckert, hastening to the king and pressing his hand to his lips. " Yes, your Majesty is perfectly right in saying that you picked me up out of the dirt, but my heart at least was ever pure and spotless, and so shall I keep it. From the dregs of the people your Majesty rescued me. As the noble Romans gave their slaves freedom when the slaves had proved themselves worthy by noble deeds, so my king rescued me from the slavery of poverty and lowliness and gave me free¬ dom. But I, too, shall strive to make myself worthy by great and worthy deeds." " And to this end Berlin offers the best opportunity, for there are many smoky chimneys and bad breweries left there yet. Finance Minister von Eckert can accomplish many glorious deeds before he is gathered to his ancestors." All laughed, and even the king could not refrain from a slight smile. Eckert's face alone had become dark and pale, and as he bent his angry eyes upon Master of Ceremonies von Pollnitz he said, with a forced laugh, "Indeed, you are daz- zlingly witty to-night, and your jests charm me so that, if your wine-dealer should ever again decline to' supply you be¬ cause the old bill was not yet paid, I would gladly send a few 22 FREDERICK THE GREAT AND HIS COURT. bottles from my cellar that your Excellency may drink m-v health." "That I will," said Pollnitz, in a friendly tone. "Yes, to your lasting health will I drink, for the longer you live the more time your ancestors, like my own, have to increase and multiply, and it seems you are not destined to be the founder of coming generations ; you must at least take care to be the founder of your ancestry, the father of your fathers. You beget ancestors as others children, and, if I am not in error, you now have three. But that is very little for a rich and distinguished man, so here's to your health, and I suggest to your Majesty to confer upon him a new ancestor for every chimney freed from smoke." " Softly, softly, Pollnitz," called the king, laughing. " Leave thy malice and listen to me once seriously. I have given Eckert the new house, and having conferred upon him a title of nobility, it is fitting to give him a coat of arms for his door. Let us, therefore, consider, gentlemen, how Herr von Eckert's escutcheon shall be composed. Each of you shall speak his mind in turn. The duke begins. AYith serious and learned mien they now began to discuss Eckert's coat of arms, and each one, taking into consideration the favor which Eckert found in the king's eyes, endeavored to find the most beautiful and imposing escutcheon possible. But all the learned devices proposed failed utterly to please the king. It went against the grain to give the newly created baron a coat of arms that would have been fitting for a house of the old aristocracy. "AYhenlhave a house built," he said, shaking his head, " I like people to see that it is new, and I give it a good coat of fresh white paint, and not an antique gray stone color to set it posing as an ancient knightly castle. So Eckert, too, must have a fresh coat for his house, and a brand new 'scutcheon." " Your Majesty is wholly of my opinion," cried Pollnitz, solemnly ; " and as every noble race bears in its coat of arms a token and a reminder of the deeds and events through which it rose to greatness, the noble race of the Yon Eckerts must have a reminder in its 'scutcheon. I propose, therefore, that this shield be quartered. The first quarter shall show on a silver ground a black chimney, which will also give a hint of the Prussian colors ; the second field is blue with a golden vat referring to Eckert's brewer talents ; the third field is green with a golden pheasant in the centre, suggesting Eckert's earlier occupation as gamekeeper in Brunswick ; and the fourth field shows on a red ground a cock and knife. THE TOBACCO CLUB. 23 mementoes of that pleasant time when Privy Councillor von Eckert fed and tended fowls in Baireuth." A burst of laughter from the whole Tobacco Club rewarded Pollnitz for his proposition, which so pleased the king that he decided in all seriousness to adopt it and bestow upon the house in the Jaeger Street an escutcheon with the emblems proposed by Pollnitz. The merriment of the gentlemen of the Tobacco Club now assumed a more fiery, vigorous expression, and each endeav¬ ored to rouse the king's laughter anew by coarse jests. But merriest of all was Master of Ceremonies Pollnitz. Jests flowed from his lips as from a bottomless spring ; and if for a moment they threatened to run dry, a glance at Eckert's pale face twitching with suppressed rage sufficed to start him off again. When the king spoke with Eckert of the arrange¬ ments for the new house, Pollnitz leaned with a spiteful smile toward his neighbor. '• Confess, Sir Count, that I have made good my want of tact," he said. " It was I who by thoughtless repetition of his words obtained for that hypocrite the gift of the house, but now I have helped him to a coat of arms, and I wager our privy councillor would give his house to get rid of his escutcheon." " What art thou looking so grave about, Pollnitz," the king asked at that minute across the table. " I venture thou art angry that I did not give thee the pretty house in the Jaeger Street." " By no means, your Majesty. I could not use that house, pretty as it may be." "Ah, yes, thou art right; for thee it is far too large," said Frederick William, laughing. "No, your Majesty, it were far too small for me, for when a courtier of my sort once decides to set up a house he must make it in keeping with his rank and birth, and that costs money, much more, alas ! than I ever possessed. True, I once had a fortune of nearly two hundred thousand thalers when my father died. But what is a nobleman to do with a baga¬ telle like that? It was too little to live upon decently, too much to go begging upon ; so I calculated how long I could live comparatively decently upon it, and when I found that with some economy it might last four years, I lived four years like a noble and generous courtier, and had the good luck to possess during those four years the tenderest friends and the most faithful sweethearts, who never deserted me until the last thaler of my fortune was gone and I forced to turn to and try my luck once more." 24 FREDERICK THE GREAT AND II1S COURT. " So, thou hast got rid of two hundred thousand thalers in four years ? " said the king. "Yes, your Majesty, and I assure you that I was obliged to live most economically and in some respects needily." Frederick William looked at him with an astonished, almost admiring, expression. There lay something in the nature of this master of ceremonies which impressed the king. The magnificent extravagance of the baron, which contrasted so greatly with the king's own frugality, exercised, precisely through this contrast, an extraordinary influence upon the king and led him to admire this frivolous, witty, clever courtier. " Are fifty thousand thalers' income not enough to live decently upon ? " asked the king. " Your Majesty, if one undertakes to meet in any degree the claims made upon a nobleman, one might almost starve upon it." "Come, explain that to us; tell us once how much thou needest to live as befits a nobleman." Pbllnitz was silent a moment, staring reflectively before him, and blowing thick clouds of smoke through his nose, let¬ ting them curl in spiral streams up over his brow. "Your Majesty, to live in comparative decency I should require annually four hundred thousand thalers," he said, after a pause. " Not true, not possible! " shouted the king. "So possible, my King, that I scarcely know how I shall get on with that." " Do ye believe that, gentlemen ? " " I, for my part, have not the fourth part of this sum," said the Duke of Holstein, laughing. "I not one-tenth," cried Count von der Goltz. " I not one-twentieth," shouted General Schwerin and Count Hake together. "And yet," said the king, "ye all live as respectable cour¬ tiers and honored gentlemen. Let us hear how Pbllnitz means to do it—to get rid of so much money. Quick, Jochen, quick, give us a sheet of paper and pencil here." The body-servant hastily reached the king pencil and paper. "Fill the mugs again, Jochen," commanded the king, " and then take thy place there at the foot of the table and listen well how Pbllnitz explains. It is always worth while to know how one can spend four hundred thousand thalers a year. Begin, Pbllnitz. I will be secretary, and thou shalt dictate; but woe to thee if thou fail to keep thy word and usest less. CASTLES IN SPAIN. For every thousand tlialers less shalt thou swallow ten mugs of beer and smoke a pipe of strong Havana that the Statthal- ter recently sent." " But what," asked Pollnitz, laughing, " shall I have for every thousand thalers extra that I use ? " " Ah, bah ! that is impossible, for a nobleman to use more, provided he does not throw it to the winds like a madman." " And if, nevertheless, for merely living decently and like a nobleman I yet need more, what shall I have, your Majesty, for every thousand ? " "Well, for every thousand I'll pay a hundred of your old¬ est debts," said the king. " But now begin. And ye, gen¬ tlemen, drink, smoke, and give good heed." CHAPTER IV. CASTLES IX SPAIX. " I will begin," said Pollnitz. " First, I need a respectable house for the reception of my guests, the exhibitions of my collections, the entertainment of my friends, the pursuance of my studies in silent retirement, and the arrangement of my wife's reception-rooms and parlors wholly apart from mine, for now and then I shall wish to smoke and have smoking friends with me, and separation will be a necessity." " Thy wife will let thee smoke in her parlor, I take it," said the king, laughing. " And if she let me, your Majesty, I would not accept it, for it is not fitting for a courtier to smoke in the apartment of a lady." The king blushed a trifle and put the mug to his lips to hide his embarrassment, for he remembered how often, dis¬ regarding her sighs, he had smoked in the queen's apart¬ ments. Pollnitz continued, quietly : " I must, therefore, have divers salons and reception-rooms. Moreover, as it will very fre¬ quently happen that my wife and I are at variance and there¬ fore shall not wish to meet, my house must have two stair- eases wholly disconnected, one from another, as well as two entrances, that my wife and I need never be in danger of meeting when we do not wish to do so." " Ah ! thou wilt live unhappily with thy wife, and ye will quarrel now and then ? " 26 FREDERICK THE GREAT AND HIS COURT. Not at all, your Majesty ; we shall never quarrel, for it were most unseemly for a courtier to quarrel and have a scene with his wife." The king blushed again, this time with rage. These ex¬ planations of the nature of the true courtier were beginning to offend him and appear an ill-natured satire upon himself, for unfortunately the whole world knew that he did but too often give the reins to his violent temper in his intercourse with wife and children, and had more than once terrified the queen herself by his thundering abuse and unseemly threats. " So your Majesty sees that my house must be very large," continued Pollnitz; "and being very large, it will involve heavy current expenses and a suitable number of servants. But that may come later. For the present let us stick to the houses, for it is a matter of course that I must have a country house in which to spend the summer months." " Yes, that is a just demand," said the king, marking a coun¬ try house upon the paper. " But one does not go down to his country house to live in the rooms as one does in a town house ; one wishes to enjoy nature and the summer. I must, therefore, have a garden and conservatories and a park, and for the care of them several skilful gardeners ; and as I cannot expect that my friends will come to me for the mere pleasure of smelling my flowers and eating my peaches and melons, which they could just as well buy of the market gardener, I must prepare for them other and rarer enjoyments. First of all, I must have a for¬ est for hunting and a lake for fishing " " Yes, that is all true and well founded," said the king, noting the forest and lake upon his paper. "Now we come to the most important point, the cuisine and wine-cellar. I must give especial care to both, for it were wholly unworthy of a courtier to place before his friends only such dishes as they can daily have at home. No, when I in¬ vite my friends, they must, first of all, be sure of getting things to eat that they find nowhere else and which appear to their palates like tasted miracles and fairy stories." " There I am wholly of thy opinion," cried the king, whose face glowed with pleasure at thought of all the splendors and dainties which the rich Pollnitz would place before his friends. " Listen ! Thou canst let me have such delicate ham pasties, now and then, as I once ate at Grumbkow's. That was in¬ deed, as thou sayest, a never-dreamed-of fairy tale for my pal¬ ate ; and my cook had to get the recipe at once from Grumbkow's. But, think of it, it called for three bottles of CASTLES IN SPAIN. 21 champagne, in which the ham was to lie three days, and three bottles of Burgundy to stew it in! So I had to abandon the intention of having such a pasty baked, and told Grumbkow when I desired to eat such a pasty again I should invite my¬ self to dine with him. Thou canst bake me such a pasty now and then." "I shall obey thy commands, your Majesty," said Pollnitz, seriously, bowing low. "Let us continue to arrange my house first, and we will have the ham pasties cared for later. As we were speaking of the chase, we must speak of horses, for I naturally cannot demand of my friends that they will hunt on foot, or walk to my lake to fish. I must, therefore, provide fine horses and comfortable wagons, and since the horses cannot take care of themselves and the conveyances, I shall need a fitting number of servants to attend to them." " That is all true," said the king, noting the heading, 'Horses and Wagons,' below 'Cuisine and Wine-Cellar;' " that is all true, but I think that thou spendest too much thought upon thy friends and not even a little upon thyself; all is meant for thy guests." " Your Majesty, hospitality is one of the noblest virtues of every cavalier. No one can exercise too much of it, but very easily to5 little." The king frowned and stared darkly before him, while the others gazed with growing astonishment at the master of ceremonies who was so bold as to hold up to the king in this unblushing manner all the royal faults and foibles. Pollnitz alone remained wholly unconstrained and gay. " Now, having taking sufficient care of my friends," continued he, "it is time to think a trifle of myself. I therefore beg your Majesty to determine how much I need annually for my wardrobe, how much pocket-money, and for gifts to my sweetheart." "Is not thy wife thy sweetheart? It seems as though thou wouldst be a tender husband in spite of the two stair¬ cases and two entrances." " Your Majesty, it were not fitting for a courtier to have wife and sweetheart in one and the same person. One's wife is there to represent one, a sweetheart to amuse one ; one gives one's wife name and rank, one's sweetheart, heart and love. A true courtier does not love his wife, but he de¬ mands that all the world shall revere in her the lady who bears his name." "Pollnitz! Pollnitz!" cried the king, threateningly raising his hand ; " take good care of thv courtier that I do not meet 38 FREDERICK TIIE GREAT AND IUS COURT. him and find in my house no one lite him. I will have no mercy upon him, but crush him with my royal scorn." Pollnitz shuddered slightly and shrouded himself in a cloud of smoke to conceal the perplexity which had spread over his features. " Go on ! " said Frederick William, after a pause. " I have set apart an especial salary for every sentence ; so go on. But, in truth, I hope thou hast come to the end and that the de¬ mon that dwells in thee and tortures thee will let no further bubbles float upward in thy madly luxurious fancy." '• Yes, your Majesty, I am ready, and beg your Majesty, therefore, to count up the sum total of these divers expendi¬ tures." The king counted, his companions smoked and drank in deep silence, Pollnitz listened attentively toward the windows that led to the court, whence he had heard voices and the sound of horses' feet. Suddenly the king uttered an oath and struck the paper lying before him with his fist. " As God helps me, Pollnitz is right," said the king. " Four hundred thousand thalers a year are not enough for a cour¬ tier of his fertile imagination. The sum here is six hundred thousand thalers." 1 " And your Majesty admits that I have demanded nothing extravagant or superfluous ? " " That I admit." " Accordingly, your Majesty will have to count me out five thousand thalers." " The devil! Where shall I get them ? " " Your Majesty forgets having promised me for every thousand in excess of four hundred thousand,, one hundred for myself." "Did I say that, gentlemen?" asked the king, and when all those present confirmed the statement, Frederick continued, with a loud laugh: "I see now that none of you know Poll¬ nitz. I did not say I would give Pollnitz the money, but that for every thousand I would pay one hundred of his old¬ est debts, and those are two very different things. If I gave him the money, you may be certain that his creditors would never see a pfennig of it. But what I have promised I will fulfil. To-morrow thou mayst bring me a list of thy oldest debts, and I will pay five thousand of them." " But, your Majesty, my account is not finished. I have only the most urgent and necessary things there, and many things I have forgotten. I have no foresters to keep the FATHER AND SON. 20 poachers from my game, no watchman to scare the burglar from my town house, no men to care for the fish in my stream and silence the frogs who destroy my sleep and that of my friends." " Go away with thy castles in Spain, fool that thou art!" cried the king, half angry, half amused. " Find thyself another king rich enough to meet thy follies." " Your Majesty, permit me nowhere to seek anything else," said Pollnitz, "bowing low. " I have found so gracious and noble a monarch that I am perfectly content. I did but wish to prove to your Majesty and these gentlemen, who hold me a spendthrift, that even without great dissipation and excess one can use up a very considerable fortune. Now, you will appreciate that I have proved myself a model of economy in living four years upon the trilling sum of two hundred thou¬ sand thalers, instead of spending it in one-half year." The king laughed and raised the beer-mug above his head, calling upon the company to join him in a health to the " miser " Pollnitz. The beer-mugs were clanging merrily amid jests and laughter, when suddenly a lightning-flash seemed to have struck all save the king. The raised arms of the six court¬ iers sank to place the beer-mugs on the table, while the gentlemen hastily rose from their seats to bow in deep humility. CHAPTER V. FATHER AND SOX. The king had sunk into his chair in speechless astonish¬ ment. He did not understand what spell had seized these gentlemen, forcing them to rise out of their seats in viola¬ tion of the rules of the Tobacco Club. He did not see that the door had opened at his back, that in the midst of the smoke and steam that filled the room with floating, tremulous clouds a young man had appeared, whose entrance caused the sudden overwhelming impression upon the courtiers. And there was, indeed, something exalted and impressive in this youth—a wonderful brilliancy of beauty, nobility of soul, youth, royalty, and melancholy spread over a face whose sharp, clearly marked lines spoke of deep pain and bitter experiences, while on the narrow purple-red lips there played SO FREDERICK THE GREAT AND 1118 COURT. a smile so fresh and gentle that the beholder saw at once the heart that sent that smile must be still very youthful, confid¬ ing, and impressible. But in wonderful contrast to this friendly, youthful mouth were the eyes—which, like great, mysterious, impenetrable orbs, shone from the frame of the narrow, delicately flushed face—now flaming and sparkling like diamonds, now gleaming with youthful superciliousness, now assuming the firm, penetrating gaze of an observant sage. The somewhat retreating forehead and the straight and finely pointed nose formed a profile indicating elevation of character. It was the eye, the head, of a hero ; and had they belonged to a figure that corresponded with the giant power of that gaze, he would have been a Titan, and might have crushed the world like a toy in his hands ; but his slender, evenly built, graceful figure was delicate rather than power¬ ful, maidenly rather than heroic ; yet one could not but feel that the head would lend giant forces to this figure, and that if he could not, like a Titan, conquer with the physical power of his arm, he would none the less rule with the command¬ ing power of his brain. This was the unexpected apparition that suddenly terrified the gentlemen of the Tobacco Club and sped them from their seats, this the youth before whose blazing, smoke-penetrating eye the gaze of the courtiers sank timidly to earth. The king still sat, speechless with astonishment, in his chair as the young man stood close behind him. " I venture to wish your Majesty good evening," said a full, resonant voice. The king shuddered, a glowing red spread over his face. " Fritz !" he murmered, softly. " Fritz ! " he repeated, more loudly, and already the distant thunder of the coming storm reverberated through his voice. " I come from Buppin, where I have been reviewing my regiment," said the crown prince in a quiet, friendly voice, bespeaking pardon, as it seemed, for his unexpected arrival. The king did not heed it. His mistrust was already flam¬ ing up in fiery wrath. He thought of the queen's supposing him ill and suffering, imprisoned in his bed. Not for a mo¬ ment did he doubt that she had suggested the crown prince's coming, and that the latter was now present to ascertain whether the king's life was in danger and whether the throne of Prussia would not soon be empty to receive his successor. Such dark suspicions it was which aroused the king's rage and filled his heart with bitter distrust. With a violent motion he pushed away the crown prince's Frederick the Great FATHER AND SON. 3* proffered hand and rose from his seat. His wrathful eye took in at a glance the whole circle of his companions, who still surrounded the table in reverent silence. " Why did ye arise from your chairs ? " shrieked the king, in a trembling voice. " How dared ye act against my com¬ mands in violation of my royal behest ? Know ye the laws of the Tobacco Club ? Know ye that these laws expressly for¬ bid you to leave your seats, to greet anyone standing ? Ye are all silent! Miserable cowards are ye all, that dare not even defend yourselves, that hang your cloaks to the wind and dissimulate with each new-comer and try to flatter him. Answer me, Pollnitz, knewest thou the law of the Tobacco Club that forbids thee to stand up ? " " I knew it, sire ; but I thought I might make an excep¬ tion in greeting the crown prince." " So thought we all," said General Schwerin, in a firm voice. The king pounded the table with his clenched fist till the mugs and bottles jingled. "You thought so," he shrieked, "and yet you knew that you dared make no exception for me, the king. But then, that is more important than the king. The crown prince is the king in the future, the sun of the coming day. YVliat the king could not grant, the crown prince will one day bestow ; from the king there is nothing more to be hoped, nothing more to be feared. So turn to the crown prince ; scorn the laws of the father to flatter the son. The son is such a fine French courtier, who likes adornment and courtly beauty, for whom the noble question of etiquette is an important matter ; so let us rise when the crown prince enters the room, though we know that here in this room no one is more or signifies more than another, and though it has often enough been here forgotten that I am king. Yes, the king can be forgotten, if only no one forgets the crown prince, who may perhaps soon be king." "God grant your Majesty a long and happy life," said the crown prince, who had stood behind the king's chair silent and motionless during the king's passionate speech. " YYho speaks to him ? who tells him to speak without my asking him?" shrieked the king, whose whole figure trembled with rage. " He who has etiquette at his fingers' ends should know that to the king 110 man speaks who has not first been bidden. But then he thinks, too, that the king understands nothing of all that ; for the king is an old- fashioned man who does not even know how the true courtier 32 FREDERICK THE GREAT AND HIS COURT. must live and comfort himself. Ah ! Pollnitz, there hast thou a courtier according to thy sketch, a true pattern of a courtier. Ah ! thou thouglitest, perhaps, I had not observed what face was behind this picture. Thou toldest me I had not recognized the courtier whom thou hast sketched in such alluring colors to prove to me that four hundred thousand tlialers yearly are not enough to keep out of debt. Patience, patience ! My eyes are still open and I still see. Woe to you all when I see that ye dare to defy the king to please the crown prince. I will prove to you that I still live and that I alone am ruler. Herewith I close the Tobacco Club, and you may all go to the devil." " Your Majesty will doubtless permit me to go, instead, to Rheinsberg, and to take my leave at once," said the crown prince, bowing reverently before the king. Frederick William did not honor him with a glance. He turned his head away and said but the one word, " Go ! " Tbe crown prince bowed again with the same reverence and formality, then turned to the courtiers, and nodding lightly to them, said : "Good evening, gentlemen. I sincerely regret to have aroused the king's displeasure against you ; yet this displeas¬ ure is wholly justified, for against a law decreed by the king no man may offend, not even as you did, out of goodness of heart and generosity." And the crown prince, who with these words had removed himself wholly from the reach of the king's anger and at the same time done justice to all-—to the king in granting the righteousness of his wrath, to the courtiers in praising their loyalty—thus made himself master of the situation, from which he emerged, not as a scolded and browbeaten son, but as tri¬ umphant victor. With light, firm tread, with head proudly raised, he went to the door, while the king, in spite of his wrath, experienced a sort of shame and could not conceal from himself that he had once more dealt wrongly with the crown prince. But this very consciousness made him more violent and stirred his wrath the more. He uttered a wild oath and glared threateningly at the pale, silent, trembling courtiers. " Hypocrites and eye-servants, all! " he hissed between his teeth, striding slowly in front of them. " Hake, give me thy arm and lead me into the other room. I will not longer see these persons." Count Hake hastened to him, and leaning on his