ORIGINAL PAPERSOF THECOUNTESS LICHTENAU,COMMONLY CALLEDMINNA ENCKE.Shorter decorative line
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I am with child, mother, and big F—— is ready to die with joy about it. But he is fond of variety. About eight days since there came an Italian strumpet here from Leipsic; I think her name is Saporetti; that cursed pander, that Frenchman, Dufour, has introduced her to him. She has been repeatedly with the Prince at Potsdam, so Rietz has told me. But patience only; I’ll contrive to let the King know, and then all her fine plans will be defeated; out of the kingdom with her in a hurry! The King, I am informed, a few days ago, said, If my nephew cannot live without a w——e, I should prefer to see him keep a German to a foreigner; the latter are much more expensive, and may some time discover andreveal secrets of the State. Your powder, mother, does wonders; whenever F—— has taken a dose of it, he is quite amorous, and loads me with caresses and favours. Let him think what he pleases, say I to myself, provided I can retain my powers over him. Yesterday George brought me a fine watch, set with brilliants, bracelets, and ear-rings of the same, a stomacher, and a superb necklace, with a medallion containing the Prince’s portrait. Herewith I sent you thirty Frederics-d’ors for my brother; I have created him my equerry; he is to dispatch my letters to Potsdam, and must have a good poney, whose oats and furniture are my concern.
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The King has been pleased to send Madam Saporetti, well attended, out of the land, and given orders to look after Monsieur Dufour. He keeps himself concealed at Berlin, and, to elude all inquiry, has taken the name Chofieu. The Prince has not the least notion of all this being my doings, and is as tender and as loving as ever. Rietz himself is very glad to see that French puppy in the dumps, for who knows but he might some time have got him out of his master’s favour, for he is full of intrigue, and then all would be over with every one of us. Rietz is a good kind ofstupid fellow, all on my side, and seems to be pleased to see the Prince so constant in his love to me.
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The Prince absolutely insists upon my marriage with Rietz, because since the late discovery the King is angry with him. It is only intended to be a mere farce to outwit the old fox, who, as he is past all enjoyment, would have others insensible to every pleasure to keep him company.
I shall be obliged to swallow the bitter draught, and permit his Highness’s shoe-black to call me his wife. Krantz has inserted a most biting epigram against me in his weekly publication; it alludes to my former calling, when I used to sell lemons and oranges. Curse the fool! Send him four Frederics-d’ors, and he will hold his tongue, I warrant you; he is nothing but a hungry scribbler, that for money would convert angels into devils, and devils into angels of light.
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Since the last review in Silesia, the King is extremely suspicious and ill-tempered with the Prince, and all our party. He has him watched as closely as possible, and knows every one thatcomes and goes. My dear F——c can only visit me by night; he comes on horseback, changes his horses at Zehlendorf, and leaves me at three in the morning. At five he is back at Potsdam, and every morning appears on the parade to avoid suspicion. The King has sent Forçade for a soldier to a regiment at Brieg, because, as he pleases to term it, he assists his nephew in all his little frolics. The Prince is extremely chagrined at it, and has consoled poor Forçade with the prospect of better times. This may, probably, have induced him, in his fits of ill humour, to vent his rage on poor Rietz, whom, of late, he has several times treated to a royal caning. There are two Silesian Counts at Berlin, of the name of Wingersky; the Prince is very intimate with them. Who are those fellows? My brother must watch them, and let me know.
Werner, of Breslau, and Eckstein, of Schmieberg, have brought money. The rich convents of those places have granted a joint loan, which the Prince has promised to repay them on his accession to the throne. They are pretty good people. This Werner and this Eckstein have paid me a visit to-day, together with Rietz.
The old grumbler walks upon his last legs, and, by what Selle and Zimmermann have told the Prince, he cannot hold out above three weeks longer, and then who is to interrupt our career? O! the pretty casks full of gold which lie in the cellars underneath the old palace at Berlin! We will bring them to light. Then we command, do any thing I chuse, and I’ll turn him about till I find the right handle of him. Now we shall soon want a set of confidential persons to assist us with counsel and deed; for, alas! what do we know about government and politics? Werner and Bender are two men that will do for me; they know better than I what they are about.
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These last three weeks have been monstrous long; every hour we expected to receive the news of his death. But he is gone at last; between two and three this morning the old grumbler breathed his last, and my F——c is King. Only think, mother, F——c is King! Minna now will govern, and from this very instant a new prospect begins to open to us. I am going to buy a house Unter den Linden[1]. I mean to fill itwith entire new furniture, which shall not be a whit inferior to that of the Queen’s. Werner has been made minister, and Bender has obtained the commission of a major-general and adjutant. These are two of our creatures, do you see, who will work our good-naturedK—gnicely.
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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 onlycause 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 meout, and one of the nobilityin. 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 Iwould 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?
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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 asanction 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 theK—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.
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V—— is pregnant, and does not suffer the King to go from her side one minute. He is most vulgarly smitten with that little figure; he sees nothing but through her eyes; he does nought but by her directions. They say, in town, that she makes him do many a good action[3]; I know nothing of it.
What do they call good? Is it, perhaps, that now he meddles with the concerns of the land, and reads every scrap himself? Pray what has a King ministers for, and why does he pay them? Let those work, and let him be merry and amuse himself! State-affairs are much too tedious to interfere with them. As soon as I have him again, I will soon make him sensible that my philosophy is the best of all, and alone suits a monarch. He shall be no secretary; not he, indeed; he shall not daily stain his fingers with ink, and sign nonsense. Rietz and M—— may do that. A-propos, let me soon know the pleasing intelligence, of which you gave me a hint not long since. Aqua toffana won’t do, dear mother, for we are not yet intimate enough with V—— to approach her thus. It ought to be a subtile and expeditious remedy, such a one as will rid us of that fool without creating any suspicion.
This moment Rietz comes to inform me, that the King has raised Miss V—— to a Countess I——heim. He has sent her to-day, by Rietz, the Imperial diploma, together with a brilliant hair pin, of great value. For God’s sake, speak with S—— about the matter, lest you will have me lose my senses.
Minna! Minna! only don’t be so violent. S—— has been busy for us all. In the afternoon he will send you the box with the powder, you know, and which has arrived from Venice only last night. F—— went thither post, day and night, and stopt but one day at Vienna to take a little rest. It costs 2000 zechins, but its effect is worth more than 2000 millions. But hush and be close! and, for God’s sake, no more confidents!
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She is safely gone to eternal rest, mother, and we may again be tranquil. During the first fortnight the King has been inconsolable, and would suffer nobody in his presence, for he was actually in love with the silly creature. But he will come round again, I hope. To-morrow I give afêteat Charlottenburg, and there I will muster up what charms I have to rivet the rambler for ever. Your powder, dear mother, must again do the business. I have now good hopes all goes on to my wishes.
FOOTNOTES:[1]A street in Berlin, so called from the plantation of lime-trees laid out there.[2]Mademoiselle Voss has a kind of natural wit, some information, is rather more wilful than firm, and is very obviously aukward, which she endeavours to disguise by assuming an air of simplicity. She is ugly, and that even to a degree; and her only excellence is the goodness of her complexion, which I think rather wan than white, and a fine neck; over which she threw a double handkerchief the other day, as she was leaving Prince Henry’s comedy, to cross the apartments, saying to the Princess Frederica, “I must take good care of them, for it is after these they run.” It is this mixture of eccentric licentiousness (which she accompanies with airs of ignorant innocence) and vestal severity, which the world says has seduced the King. Mademoiselle Voss, who holds it ridiculous to be German, and who is tolerably well acquainted with the English language, affects the Anglomania to excess, and thinks it a proof of politeness not to love the French. Her vanity, which has found itself under restraint, when in company with some amiable people of that nation, hates those it cannot imitate, more especially because her sarcasms are returned with interest. Thus, for instance, the other day I could not keep silence when I heard an exclamation, “Oh, heavens! when shall I see, when shall we have an English play! I really should expire with rapture!” For my part, Madam, said I drily, “I rather wish you may not, sooner than you imagine, stand in need of French plays.” All those who began to be offended by her high airs, smiled; and Prince Henry, who pretended not to hear her, laughed aloud. Her face was suffused with blushes, and she did not answer a word, but it is easy to punish, difficult to correct.She has hitherto declared open war against the mystics, and detests the daughters of the chief favourite, who are maids of honour to the Queen. But as amidst her weaknesses she is transported by devotion even to superstition, nothing may be depended on for futurity.—Mirabeau’s Secret History of the Court of Berlin.[3]Literally true. Had this good and liberal soul lived longer, the sweat of the brows of the subjects would not have been squandered away in so wanton a manner.
[1]A street in Berlin, so called from the plantation of lime-trees laid out there.
[2]Mademoiselle Voss has a kind of natural wit, some information, is rather more wilful than firm, and is very obviously aukward, which she endeavours to disguise by assuming an air of simplicity. She is ugly, and that even to a degree; and her only excellence is the goodness of her complexion, which I think rather wan than white, and a fine neck; over which she threw a double handkerchief the other day, as she was leaving Prince Henry’s comedy, to cross the apartments, saying to the Princess Frederica, “I must take good care of them, for it is after these they run.” It is this mixture of eccentric licentiousness (which she accompanies with airs of ignorant innocence) and vestal severity, which the world says has seduced the King. Mademoiselle Voss, who holds it ridiculous to be German, and who is tolerably well acquainted with the English language, affects the Anglomania to excess, and thinks it a proof of politeness not to love the French. Her vanity, which has found itself under restraint, when in company with some amiable people of that nation, hates those it cannot imitate, more especially because her sarcasms are returned with interest. Thus, for instance, the other day I could not keep silence when I heard an exclamation, “Oh, heavens! when shall I see, when shall we have an English play! I really should expire with rapture!” For my part, Madam, said I drily, “I rather wish you may not, sooner than you imagine, stand in need of French plays.” All those who began to be offended by her high airs, smiled; and Prince Henry, who pretended not to hear her, laughed aloud. Her face was suffused with blushes, and she did not answer a word, but it is easy to punish, difficult to correct.
She has hitherto declared open war against the mystics, and detests the daughters of the chief favourite, who are maids of honour to the Queen. But as amidst her weaknesses she is transported by devotion even to superstition, nothing may be depended on for futurity.—Mirabeau’s Secret History of the Court of Berlin.
[3]Literally true. Had this good and liberal soul lived longer, the sweat of the brows of the subjects would not have been squandered away in so wanton a manner.