Transcriber's Note: The original publication has been replicated faithfully except as listed [here]. Footnotes are located [here].
There is an [index].

THE
MEMOIRS
OF
CHARLES-LEWIS,
Baron de Pollnitz.

BEING
The OBSERVATIONS He made in his
late Travels from Prussia thro'
POLAND,
GERMANY,
ITALY,
FRANCE,
SPAIN,
FLANDERS,
HOLLAND,
ENGLAND, &c.
Discovering not only the PRESENT STATE
of the Chief Cities and Towns;
BUT
The CHARACTERS of the Principal Persons at the Several COURTS.
VOL. III.
LONDON:

Printed for Daniel Browne, at the Black Swan, without Temple-Bar; and John Brindley, at the King's-Arms, in New Bond-street.
M.dcc.xxxviii.

THE
PREFACE,
By the Translator.

The Baron de Pollnitz's Account of his Travels, and of the Observations he made wherever he came, both of Persons and Things, has had such a Run in Foreign Parts, that the Bookseller at Amsterdam, who first printed it in three Volumes in 12^mo, soon after published a second Edition of it in four Volumes, and has now printed a third Edition in five Volumes.

The three first Volumes, which are those that are translated in our first and second, he calls Letters; and to the fourth and fifth he has given the Title of Memoirs, which is that we have chose for our Translation of the Whole.

It happens that these two New Volumes were written by our Author before the first

and second that were translated and publish'd last Year; but why they were not also printed before the others, is thus accounted for by M. Changuion the Bookseller at Amsterdam, in his Preface to the Original of these Memoirs, viz.

'The Author, when at Paris, sold the Copy to a Person, who sold it again to a Bookseller in Holland; and the latter was actually going to print it when he heard that I was just ready to publish the Letters of the Baron de Pollnitz, (the same that are the Subject of our two first Volumes). The Title-Pages of the one and the other had such a Resemblance, that the Bookseller in Holland, who purchas'd the Copy, of which these two additional Volumes are a Translation imagin'd it to be the same with the other, and laid the MS. by. But not long after this, he took it into his head to review it, and by comparing it with the former Volumes, he found this a quite different Treatise. He saw, that it not only contain'd a History of the Author's Life and Family, but an Account of several Courts and Courtiers of Europe, very circumstantial, and altogether new; and that here was a Relation of several Travels of our Author, that to Spain in particular, of which there's not a Word in the former Volumes; in short, that this Copy of his was the Account of the Baron's first Travels, antecedent to those already publish'd.'

Upon his communicating this Discovery to M. Changuion, the latter bargain'd with him for it, and has just published it in Holland, as a Sequel to the former Volumes, tho' if he had had the MS. sooner, he would undoubtedly have given it the Preference.

At the End of the last Volume there is a Translation of a remarkable Piece from the Italian Original, which is the Confession of Faith made by the Baron de Pollnitz, and his Motives for changing his Religion.

The said Bookseller thinks, that the Author (tho' he has since abjur'd the Romish for the Protestant Religion, as may be seen in our Preface to the first Volume) will not be angry with him for publishing that Piece, because it has such a tendency to confute the malicious Insinuations which he complains of in his Memoirs, and proves, that if he did not then embrace the True Religion, he took the Pains however to examine it.

On the other hand, the Publication of this ample Confession will demonstrate to all Catholics, that whatsoever Arguments they employ against Christians of the Protestant Communions, the latter are not afraid to let them see the Light.

To conclude; tho' some Places are here and there mention'd in these Volumes, which are also to be found in the Two First, and with that Conformity indeed betwixt them, which the Truth unavoidably demanded; yet 'tis

proper to observe, that the Descriptions are sometimes more copious, the Reflections almost every where different; and that in both there is an agreeable Variety and Vivacity which we flatter our selves will not fail to recommend These to the same good Acceptance from the Public, with which it has favor'd the former Volumes.

MEMOIRS
OF THE
Baron de Pollnitz.
Vol. III.

To Madame de ——

The Family I am descended from was originally of Thuringia. My Grandfather, after having turn'd Protestant, came and settled in the Electorate of Brandenburg, where he was kindly receiv'd, and advanc'd to the chief Employments by the Elector Frederic-William, who made him Master of the Horse, Minister of State, Chamberlain, Major-General, Colonel of his Guards, and Commandant at Berlin. His Brother who came along with him had also a share of his Favor; for he was made Colonel of a Regiment of Horse, Lieutenant-General, and Governor of Lipstadt. They both married, but the only one that left Male Issue was my Grandfather, who by Eleonora of Nassau, Daughter to Prince Maurice of Orange, had two Sons, and two Daughters. This however

prov'd a very unsuitable Match; for my Grandmother was imperious, frugal, and jealous, whereas her Husband was extravagant, and an Admirer of the Fair Sex: which Tempers so opposite to each other created a Misunderstanding between them, that amounted almost to a staunch Hatred. Yet my Grandfather, some time before he died, settled all his Estate upon her, repented of the Vexation he had given her, and he thought this Generosity of his would have made her easy, but it only render'd her the more impatient to be a Widow, insomuch that she had not the Complaisance to conceal it from him; and the very last Words he liv'd to hear her pronounce, were neither comforting nor Christian.

Soon after the Death of my Grandfather my Uncle died, who was my Father's own Brother. The only Issue he left was a Daughter, who was chief Maid of Honour to the Queen Sophia Charlotte, whose Bounties to her render'd her a Person of no small Note in Germany.

My Father married the Daughter of Baron D—— by whom he had my Brother in 1690. I was born thirteen Months after him, viz. the 25th of February 1692, at Issouin, a Village in the Electorate of Cologn, where my Father then lay with his Regiment in Winter-Quarters. The Electoress was my God-mother, and I was christen'd Charles-Lewis. Before I was full two years of Age I had the misfortune to lose my Father, who died at Maestricht, and left my Mother a Widow with three Children, and a very little Estate to maintain us. My Grandmother, who, as I had said before, had all my Grandfather's Estate, was so extremely penurious, that she had not the heart to part with any of it to my Mother, whose Situation would have been

very melancholy had it not been for the Generosity of the King (at that time only Elector). This Prince sent for her back to Berlin, and gave her a Pension; and in a little time after, my Relations help'd her to another Husband, viz. M. de M—— Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who tho' he died at the end of ten Months left her so warm a Widow, that me might very well pass for one of the best Fortunes at Court; and then she threw up her Pension, rather than keep it to the prejudice of other Persons that stood more in need of it, which she thought was an Abuse of the Elector's Bounty.

My Mother's Fondness for me would not suffer her to part with me, so that I was brought up under her Wing, and at a Court which was at that time the most splendid in Germany.

Frederic-William, when he died, left five Princes, viz. the Elector, whom he had by Louisa-Henrietta of Nassau Princess of Orange; and the Margraves Charles, Philip, Albert, and Christian, by Dorothy Princess of Holstein, Dowager of the Duke of Zell. These Princes, at an Age more proper for Pleasure than Business, studied how to be most agreeable. Being frank and generous they adorn'd the Court, even more by their personal Qualities than by their Magnificence; and the Elector himself contributed to the splendor of it, by giving frequent Feasts, tho' he was reproach'd with being too much addicted to them, too scrupulous in the Ceremonies he requir'd to be observ'd at them, and more expensive in them than elegant. Nevertheless, this is what strikes Foreigners more than any thing; and 'tis Entertainments of this kind that give a Court its fullest Lustre. The true Ornament of ours was

the Electoress, Daughter of Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover, and Sister to George I. King of England. Our Elector, after burying his first Wife the Princess of Hesse, marry'd his second on the 28th of September 1684, when he was only the Electoral Prince. The latter Princess, from what Lineage soever Heaven had sent her, had Qualities that would have procur'd her respect: Her Beauty was regular, and tho' she was but little in stature, her Air was majestic. She spoke all the Languages of Europe that are in present use, with ease, and was so good as to converse with all Foreigners in their own Tongue. She understood History, Natural Philosophy, and Divinity; but with Knowledge so extensive, she was extremely careful to avoid the reputation of being Learned. As fond as she was of Reading, she was not an enemy to Pleasures. She lov'd Music, Dancing, and Plays; and by her command, Comedies were often represented, in which sometimes she did not disdain to be an Actress. Her regard for all who excell'd in any Art drew them to her Court, in which Politeness bore sway, as much as in any other Court of Europe. Of all things in the world she had nothing near so much at heart as the Education of her Son the Electoral Prince, whom she lov'd tenderly, and omitted nothing to inspire him with all the Ideas that might hereafter render him as exalted in Sentiments as he was to be in Power: And the young Prince on his part seem'd to make a suitable return for the Princess's care of him.

While the Court was thus addicted to Pleasures and Feastings, they gave themselves little or no trouble about the Affairs of Government; so that Dankelman the Prime Minister bore the

weight of all. He had then the Elector's intire Confidence, and so absolute an ascendant over his mind, that he was suppos'd to be perfectly secure against the disgraces to which Favorites are commonly expos'd. The Favor he stood in, was owing to the most important Service that 'tis possible for a Subject to render to his Sovereign: For one day when this Prince (as yet only the Prince Electoral) was drinking Coffee with his Mother-in-law the Electoress, he was taken so ill on a sudden that he was oblig'd to retire to his Apartment, where he was seiz'd with Convulsions which threaten'd his Life. It happen'd that Dankelman then the Secretary of his Dispatches was the only Person at hand, to relieve him: He open'd a Box in which there were certain Antidotes, and having given him several Doses, for want of a Surgeon and a Lancet he open'd a Vein with a Penknife; and his management was attended with such good success, that the Prince, after having had a hearty Vomit, found himself quite out of danger.

An Event of this nature could not but make a great Noise: The Vulgar especially, who are fond of nothing so much as what is extraordinary, thought that the Prince's Indisposition did not proceed from a natural Cause, but imagin'd that the Electoress's tenderness for the Margraves her Sons was reason good enough to suspect that she wanted to get rid of the Prince her Son-in-law, which was to be sure the shortest way to let them into the Succession. The Electoral Prince's retreat to the Court of the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel seemed to give a Sanction also to a Suspicion of that sort. But be this as it will, the Prince stay'd there several years, during which he married the Landgrave's Sister, by whom he had

only one Daughter, who marry'd in 1700, to the Hereditary Prince of Hesse, now King of Sweden.

Dankelman was artful enough to make his advantage of this happy Incident of having sav'd his Master's Life: He stuck closer to him than ever; and that grateful Prince, as soon he came to the Electoral Dignity, made him his prime Minister, and confer'd all the marks of Friendship on him, that 'tis possible for any Subject to aspire to; insomuch that Dankelman giving the Elector to understand one day, that he fear'd his Favour would be of no long duration, this Prince was so good-natur'd, or so weak, as to fortify him as far as was in the power of the most solemn Oaths[1]. Dankelman was so credulous as to trust to those Protestations; and forgetting that the most solid Friendship of Princes cannot be proof against their Inconstancy or Caprice, he thought himself above the reach of Fate, and behav'd like a Man that had nothing to fear. But the little care he took to gain People's Love, and the ever-odious Titles of Minister and Favourite, made him soon hated by the whole Court. The Elector himself began by degrees to be out of conceit with him; for their Tempers were incompatible; the Minister being Covetous, and the Prince a Man of Pomp and Expence; and he was so perpetually teaz'd with the Remonstrances of Dankelman, that he hated him in his heart long before he durst make it appear. The Minister too much elated with his Favour, and not so careful to please his Master as to censure his Actions,

thought himself able to preserve the same ascendant over him, or at least, did not think the Elector would ever offer to ruin him; which Confidence of his hinder'd him from parrying the Thrusts that were made at him in secret; so that he was arrested at midnight in his own House, and carry'd to Spandaw in one of the Elector's Coaches, under a Guard of twenty Men.

His being so suddenly disgrac'd was matter of surprize to every body, but of concern to few. 'Twas observ'd that on the very day wherein Dankelman was arrested, the Elector spoke to him so kindly in presence of the whole Court, that those of the nicest penetration little thought his Fall to be so near. Indeed, every body had long before endeavour'd, or wish'd for an opportunity to trip up his heels; and the natural Inconstancy of the Elector to his Favorites, and this Minister's want of complaisance to the Elector, made it very probable that he would quickly be tumbled from that Summit of Favor, on which he thought himself so sure of keeping his Hold; there wanted only a more specious pretext to remove a Man from Court, who had all along seem'd to aim at nothing but the welfare of the Government; and such a one naturally presented itself in the affair of the Duchy of Limbourg.

This Duchy had been mortgag'd by Spain, as Security for considerable Sums which were owing by that Crown to the Elector, who in consequence put his Troops to quarter there for the Winter. The Dutch, to whom Spain was a Debtor in like manner, would gladly also have had that Duchy made over to them, as Security for their Debt; which not being to be done without the evacuation of our Troops, the matter was propos'd to

Dankelman, who, whether he was surpriz'd, or brib'd, gave his consent to it. This was imputed to him as a Crime of State the more heinous, because Spain being at that time ready to conclude a Peace with France, in pursuance of the Treaty of Ryswic, was very indifferent as to complying with the Demands of the Elector. To this the Minister fell a Sacrifice, but by good luck for him he had remitted several Sums to Foreign Countries, so that his disgrace was the lighter; which moreover had this singularity in it, that neither of his three Brothers nor any of his Creatures had a share in it, but were all continued in their Employments; and all the alteration that happen'd, was, that the Count de Barfous, then a Veldt-Marshal, performed for some time the Functions of the Prime Minister.

In the mean time another Idol of Fortune rose upon the ruin of Dankelman. This was John Casimir de Kolbe, a Gentleman originally of the Palatinate: His first appearance at Court was in the time of Frederic-William the Great, in the retinue of the Princess-Palatine de Simmeren, Sister of the first Electoress, who having desir'd the Elector to give Kolbe some Employment; he made him a Privy-Counsellor, but gave him liberty to attend the Princess as much as ever, who was so good to him that she was reproach'd with caring for no body else. He went with her into the Palatinate, where that Princess died soon after, and then Kolbe return'd to Court, where he was a meer Stranger, without Relations, Acquaintance or Protection; and 'twas a long time before any the least notice was taken of him. But after the death of Frederic-William, he made his Court to Frederic his Son who succeeded him, and to Dankelman his Minister. Being always humble,

and a Flatterer into the bargain, he quickly gain'd their Friendship by his Assiduity, and by his study'd Affectation not to meddle or make in any Affairs. Dankelman, as crafty a Man as he was, did not perceive the Snare, but contributed most of all to his Favor, thinking all the while that he was promoting a Creature from whom he had nothing to fear. But Kolbe no sooner perceiv'd the Elector's Coldness to his Minister than he resolv'd to make his Advantage of it. He did not alter his Measures immediately, but seeming to have as little Concern in Affairs as ever, his only Aim was to feed and propagate the ill Humors which the Elector was often in with his Favorite. This Prince was inconstant, suspicious and choleric; and when those three Passions were stirr'd up and managed, he was to be persuaded to any thing. Kolbe who for a long time had made his Temper his only Study, plainly perceiv'd his Foible, artfully wrought upon it, and in the sequel made it subservient to the Accomplishment of his Designs. He soon attain'd to the highest Degree of Favor; the Elector made him his Great Chamberlain and First Minister; all the Court was oblig'd to truckle to him; and as it always happens in the Changes of Government, the Minister in Disgrace was regretted. Indeed Kolbe did not want for personal Qualities enough to make him belov'd; but the worst on't was, they were eclips'd by an astonishing Fondness for his Wife, to whom he was so blindly complaisant, that all the good People at Court despis'd and hated him.

This Lady has play'd so extraordinary a Part in the World, that I can't avoid giving you some Account of her Origin and Character. Her Father,

one Rickers, was a Bargeman at Emmerick, a Town in the Duchy of Cleves, where for better Subsistance he kept a sort of Tavern. He had two Daughters, who pass'd for fine Women, that brought a good deal of Company to his House, and in a Journey which the Elector made to Cleves, Bidekan his Valet de Chambre fell in love with the eldest, the Lady I am speaking of, marry'd her and took her with him to Berlin, where she fell so passionately in love with Kolbe, that after having been his Mistress in her Husband's Life-time, he was hardly cold in his Grave but she became his Wife. The Wedding was kept at the House of one Commesser, another of the Elector's Valets de Chambre, where that Prince was present, with seven or eight Persons in his Company; and from that very Juncture he began to shew such great Marks of Complaisance to the Lady, that several People thought she ow'd them to something more than to the Friendship he had for his Favorite. Nevertheless I am very well persuaded they were mistaken; and I remember, that when I was Gentleman of the Bed-chamber to the Elector, he said to me in one of his ill Humors with his Favorite and his Wife (and in these sort of Pets he was not capable of dissembling) I know the Notion that prevails of my being under certain Tyes to Kolbe's Lady, but there is nothing in it; and the Wrong is greater to me than to her. For really was it not enough for a Woman of such mean Extraction, Parts and Beauty too, to be the Wife of a Minister, but she must also be ambitious to be the Mistress of a Sovereign? Yet it must be confess'd, that whether it was meer Humor, or a weak Attachment to the Favorite, the Elector heap'd Wealth and Honors upon this Lady, insomuch that nothing would serve him but she must be admitted

to the Electoress's Circle, who at that time indeed obstinately refus'd it; for who is there would not have been disgusted to have seen the Daughter of Rickers the Bargeman mixing with Ladies of Quality that had a Right to be in the Circle? However, some time after, the Electoress was oblig'd to wave all the Pleas of Decorum, for the sake of the Need she stood in of the Great Chamberlain; and his Wife had the Honor of the Circle.

The same Year that Kolbe was declared Prime Minister, the Emperor made him a Count of the Empire. He then chang'd his Name for that of Count de Wartemberg, which was the Name of a ruinous Castle that he had in the Palatinate. His Lady, when she became a Countess, had a mind that her Children by her first Marriage should be promoted to the Dignity of Barons; and they were accordingly call'd Barons of Asbach. But these new Titles of the Count and Barons compleatly turn'd the Head of Madame de Wartemberg, and she was every day guilty of Extravagancies which were disgusting and ridiculous.

Such, Madame, was the State of our Court in my early years. It began to shew its Superiority over almost all the Courts of Germany, by the Influence it had upon the Affairs of Europe: But that which added new Lustre to it, was the erecting the Duchy of Prussia into a Kingdom. The first Hint of this was given by France to Frederic-William; but that Elector, whether it was owing to some Obstacles that he foresaw, or to the little Advantage he thought to reap from it, was not willing to put the Project in execution. His Son too perhaps would have miscarried in it, had it not been for the Situation of Affairs in Europe, on account of the Spanish Succession. Kolbe, whom I shall hereafter call the Count of

Wartemberg, had all the Honour of this Event, because it happen'd in his Ministry. I had some Particulars, Madame, from his own Mouth, which I think important enough to have a place in these Memoirs. The Affair is moreover so weighty of it self that I shall trace it from its very beginning.

Great Events commonly have their Source in Trifles. This was owing to nothing more than the Refusal of the Prince of Orange, who was King of England, to give an Arm-Chair to the Elector in a Conference betwixt those two Princes at the Hague in 1695. The Elector cou'd not bear that the Prince of Orange, who had always been his Inferior, shou'd carry it to him in such a lofty manner, after Fortune had rais'd him to the Throne of England; and from that time he resolved to be a King too.

Dankelman the then Prime Minister, who cou'd not foresee the Situation that Europe was in some Years after, would fain have diverted the Elector from a Project which he thought a perfect Chimæra; he put him in mind of the Difficulties Frederic-William met with in it, and of the Reasons he had to refuse the Offers which France made to him on that head; he shew'd him that the same Reasons were still subsisting, and reinforc'd by yet greater Difficulties; and that it was Madness to attempt a Thing, the Success whereof was neither certain nor advantageous, his Rank being so near a-kin to Royalty, that he would be never the better for the Title. But the Elector had the refusal of the Arm-chair too much at heart to hearken to any Reasons that could be brought against his Design, and sent Dankelman, his Minister's Brother, to Vienna,

to impart to the Emperor the Scheme which he had form'd to erect Prussia into a Kingdom.

Prussia, which is a Province detach'd from Poland, formerly belong'd to the Lithuanians, from whom it was conquer'd by the Teutonic Order. Albert Margrave of Brandenburg, the Grand Master of the said Order, who had marry'd Dorothy, Daughter of Frederic I. King of Denmark, took it from those Knights in 1511, and made himself Master of it. This engag'd him in a War with Sigismond I. King of Poland, his Uncle by the Mother's side, who had Pretensions upon the said Province; which War continu'd five Years, till it was concluded by a Treaty, whereby it was stipulated, That the Eastern Prussia shou'd remain hereditary with the Title of a Duchy to Albert, who, together with his Descendants shou'd perform Allegiance and Homage for it to the King and Republic of Poland, to which it was to revert on the failure of Issue Male in the Family of Albert.

The Emperor Charles V. oppos'd this Transaction, by pretending that Prussia was a Fief of the Empire; and that therefore Sigismond had no Right to dispose of it. The Imperial Decree which was pass'd upon this Occasion, had however no Effect, by reason of the Wars which the Emperor was at that time engag'd in, and Albert remain'd in peaceable Possession of Prussia. He was succeeded by his only Son Albert-Frederic, who receiv'd the Investiture of it from the King of Poland, for himself and his Cousin-Germans in 1569. This Prince dying without Issue, John Sigismond Elector of Brandenburg succeeded him, and again receiv'd the Investiture of it from the King of Poland, for himself and his three Brothers. Since that time the Duchy

of Prussia has always been in the Brandenburg Family from Father to Son; but the Elector Frederic-William the Great, having made War upon Charles-Gustavus King of Sweden, in favour of the Crown and Republic of Poland, the Sovereignty of Prussia was, in Acknowledgment thereof, yielded to him, for himself and all his Male Descendants, by the Treaty of Bydgost in 1659.

By virtue of this Treaty, the Elector claim'd that Prussia depended on no other Power; and that he held it immediately by Divine Right; and upon this Plea he thought himself authoriz'd to be declar'd King. But before he took this Step, it was necessary to secure the Consent of a Part, at least, of the Princes of the Empire. As the Emperor's Consent was not only the most important, but the most difficult to obtain, the whole stress of the Negociation lay almost at the Court of Vienna.

When Dankelman arriv'd there, he did not find the Court in a Temper to grant it. The august Title of a King conferr'd upon an Elector, was at first thought to be prejudicial to the Imperial Authority, and it was look'd upon as exposing of that Dignity, to acquiesce in the Elector's Demand before they had at least felt the Pulses of the Generality of the Princes of Europe, and especially those of the Empire. 'Twas but reasonable to imagine the Pope would oppose it strenuously upon the score of the Protestant Religion, which by the Elector's Advancement might gather fresh Strength. All Kings in general were interested not to suffer an Instance which had a seeming Tendency to authorize every Prince to take the same Step, on the single Pretence of being possess'd of a Bit of Land, and

holding it of no Power but God. But the Persons from whom the greatest Objections were expected, were the Electors; and indeed they had reason to fear, 1. That when the Elector of Brandenburg came to be a King, he wou'd no longer look upon them as his Equals, but wou'd claim certain Distinctions from them in the Empire and in the Dyets. 2. That he would withdraw the Dominions of his Electorate from the Obedience of the Empire, and from the Laws to which all the other Electors were subject. This Article was of the utmost consequence to them, especially with regard to the Contingent they are oblig'd to furnish towards Wars which concern the Empire, and which are the more burthensome, the fewer Heads they fall upon.

These being then the Notions of the Court of Vienna, Dankelman had no great Hopes of succeeding in his Negociation. Nevertheless the Court always took care to keep fair with the Elector, whom they look'd upon as an Ally that was well worth preserving; and perhaps they flatter'd themselves they should get more by Promises and Expectations than by granting him his Demand.

The Death of John Sobieski King of Poland, which happen'd on the 17th of June 1696, was another Inducement to the Emperor to pursue the same Politics. The Elector of Brandenburg by having Prussia in his Neighbourhood, might be of great Weight in the Election of a new King of Poland; and the Emperor who had a Design to advance the Margrave Lewis of Baden to the Throne, pretended to enter into the Views of the Elector, that this Prince might afterwards fall in with his at the Dyet of Election. For this end the Emperor's Ministers gave Dankelman to

understand, that the first thing to be done was to clear the Difficulties which the several Powers of Europe might raise against the Elector's Project; and that the Congress of Ryswic, at which all the Ministers were to be present, was the most favourable Opportunity.

Hereupon Dankelman was recall'd from the Court of Vienna, and sent to Ryswic as Plenipotentiary from the Elector, jointly with M. de Schmettau. The Elector for his part set out for Konigsberg, the Capital of Prussia, that he might be nearer at hand to favor the Election of the Margrave Lewis of Baden. Mean time he was strenuously sollicited in favor of Alexander and Constantine Princes of Poland, who for that reason came themselves to Berlin; but the Elector was far from breaking the secret Engagements which he had made with the Emperor: Therefore he answer'd the Solicitations of those two Princes in a very ambiguous manner, by engaging himself to nothing, and only telling them that he was going into Prussia that he might be the better inform'd of every thing that pass'd at the Dyet of Election.

The Necessity which the Elector stood in of Poland to succeed in his Views, laid him under an indispensible Obligation to concern himself in that Election. He fully expected that the Right which the said Republic claim'd to Prussia wou'd induce it to oppose his Designs with Vigor; and besides, under the Pretext of interesting himself in the Election of a King, he might form a Party that hereafter would be capable to serve him; therefore, as soon as he arriv'd at Konigsberg, he dispatch'd a Messenger to the Cardinal Radziowsky Primate of Poland, to acquaint him of his Arrival, and sent M. Dorerbeck

Great Cup-bearer of Prussia as his Ambassador to the Dyet of Election, with Orders to support the Interests of the Margrave Lewis of Baden, but in the mean time to do nothing that might disoblige the Poles.

The Margrave Lewis of Baden was soon out of the Question; for the two strongest Parties oblig'd him to retire, as well as the other Competitors for the Crown. These two Parties were the one for Frederic-Augustus Elector of Saxony, and the other for the Prince of Conti. The Cardinal Primate favor'd the latter, and France seem'd to have his Election very much at heart; yet Frederic-Augustus's Party carried it, and he was proclaim'd King.

The Cardinal Primate was still obstinate for the Prince of Conti, and actually sent one of his near Relations to the Elector to sollicit him in his Favor; but the Elector, who thought the Elector of Saxony's Party the most substantial and the most powerful, did not scruple to own him for King, and return'd for Answer to the Cardinal, That he advis'd him, as the Chief Pastor of Poland, to maintain Peace in his Flock, and to submit to the Elector of Saxony. Nevertheless the Primate stood out stiffly, and form'd a Party in Poland, considerable enough to give the new King Uneasiness. The Elector still persevering in his Views to make himself necessary to Poland, return'd next year to Konigsberg, in hopes of appeasing the Disturbances rais'd there by the two different Parties. Kolbe, who was not yet Count of Wartemberg, but only Great Chamberlain, made a Journey to Warsaw for this purpose, on the part of the Elector, and complimented the King on his Accession to the Crown. The King in his Turn sent the Count de Bilinsky Great Chamberlain

of the Crown to the Elector, to compliment him on his Arrival at Konigsberg, and there to negociate an Interview betwixt them. The Elector wish'd for it too heartily to refuse it, and Fredericshoss, one of his Pleasure-houses, was chose for the place of Meeting. There every thing pass'd, as is common upon those Occasions; a great deal of Business was talk'd of, and referred to the Ministers for Conclusion. The two Princes made each other magnificent Presents, and exchang'd all the Tokens of the sincerest Friendship. This Union seem'd still increasing by the Sale which the King of Poland made this year to the Elector of the Fee for protecting the Abbey-Town of Quedlimbourg, which no Elector of Saxony would ever part with before, whatsoever Instances were made to them by the Family of Brandenburg. The Elector had less Reason than any of his Predecessors to hope for Success in this Affair. Poland, besides the Pleas of Interest, had others of Resentment; and this Prince's Conduct in the affair of Elbing bid fair to set the King and the Elector at variance. The Dispute was about a Demand of 400,000 Crowns which the Elector made upon Poland, for the Expences of the War, which his Father, Frederic-William the Great, had carry'd on in favor of the Republic against Charles XI. King of Sweden. The King of Poland in the Interview at Fredericshoff had promis'd to persuade the Republic to pay that Sum. The Elector whose Patience was worn out in Expectation of the Performance, notwithstanding the many Reasons he had to keep fair with Poland, caused the City of Elbing, which had been mortgag'd to him for that Sum, to be invested. And M. de Brantz, my Uncle, who was Lieutenant-General,

was sent upon this Expedition, at the Head of a Body of 12000 Men.

The Poles no sooner heard of it but they made a very great Clamor, and the King complain'd loudly of the Elector's Proceeding, who being, said he, his Cousin, his Friend, and Ally, ought to have had more Regard for him. 'Twas at least after this manner that he express'd himself in the Circular Letters, which he wrote to assemble the Nobility of Poland. But the Elector went on still his own way, and the City of Elbing was taken before the Poles had so much as a Thought of defending it. As soon as the King of Poland was told of it, he ordered the Elector's Resident to depart the City of Thorn in 24 Hours, and the Kingdom without Delay. M. de Reitwitz, Envoy of Poland to the Elector, fearing the same Treatment, was absent from Court for a Fortnight; but return'd then, causing his Appearance to be notify'd to the Ministers, not as Envoy from the King of Poland, but as Envoy from the Elector of Saxony. By this piece of Management 'tis plain that the King of Poland did not take the Affair of Elbing so much to heart as he seem'd to do; and some time after the Matter was accommodated; the Elector consenting to lose one fourth of the Debt, and the Poles promising to pay the rest at the Expiration of three Months, and depositing their King's Crown for Security. The Elector on his part restor'd Elbing on condition nevertheless, that he should have it again at the three Month's end, if the 300,000 Crowns were not then paid. This Affair has ever since remain'd in statu quo: The Poles are still Debtors for that Sum, and the Elector contents himself with detaining the Crown, which is still at Berlin, in the Gallery

over the great Stables, where 'tis kept in a Case, seal'd with the Seal of the Kingdom of Poland.

Mean time the Peace of Ryswic was just sign'd, and sooner than expected, by reason France receded from several Pretensions; which every body knows she was induc'd to do from the View she had at that time to the Spanish Succession, and to that end it was absolutely necessary for her to make a Peace with that Power and to disarm the Allies. Consequently Messieurs Dankelman and Schmettau had no time to push the Negociation of the Affair of Prussia any farther; nevertheless they acted with the Dutch to some purpose.

The Elector had sent Bartholdi to Vienna in the place of Dankelman, and M. Blaspiel to Dusseldorff to the Elector Palatine, whom he thought proper to treat with extraordinary Regard, as well upon his own Account, as with relation to the Empress his Sister who had a very great Ascendant over the Emperor.

Bartholdi when he arriv'd at Vienna found the Court in the very same Disposition as it was in the time of Dankelman. There was a great shew of Good-will, but no Advance made; for the Emperor's Ministers were never at a loss for a Reason to defer coming to the Point. The Republic of Poland furnish'd very cogent ones too, by the Protestations it made against every Step taken towards erecting Prussia into a Kingdom, on pretence that it formerly belong'd to the Republic, and that the Poles only suffer'd it to fall to the House of Brandenburg, on condition of its reverting to them on the Failure of Issue Male in that Family. The Emperor said he could not help having Regard to those Protestations, the Alliance which he had been in for a long time

with the Republic being become much firmer since the raising the Siege of Vienna, when John Sobiesky at the Head of the Poles so effectually reliev'd it. Bartholdi being dishearten'd with all these Delays, began to despair of the Success of the Negociation. He flatter'd himself for a while that the languishing State of Charles II. King of Spain, which presag'd his approaching Death, and the cruel War between the Houses of Austria and Bourbon, on account of the Spanish Succession, would promote the Success of his Master's Designs; and that the State Policy which at that Juncture oblig'd the Emperor to strengthen himself with Allies, would make him chuse to retain in his Party a Prince so powerful and so necessary to his Interests as the Elector. But Bartholdi was deceiv'd; and whether the Court of Vienna flatter'd itself that the Elector wou'd never venture to take the part of France, or whether they thought it more nearly concern'd them to humor the Powers that oppos'd the Elector's Views, they had always some fresh Pretence or other to trump up.

Bartholdi cou'd not avoid giving an Account to the Elector his Master of what he thought of these continual Delays, and he told him there was no manner of Reason to hope that the Emperor would recognize him for King before he was sure of the Consent of the Pope, and of all the Princes of the Empire; that it was easy to see this was only a civil Excuse that the Emperor made use of for his Refusal, rather than to make him his Enemy; and that the Case was really so desperate, that he knew of but one Stratagem to make use of before he retir'd; and that was that he shou'd write with his own Hand to the Prince of ——, who, said Bartholdi, was the

only Person in the World to induce the Emperor to be more favorable. His Dispatch was written in a Cypher, and the Secretary who decypher'd it, thought he met with the Name of the Emperor's Confessor, instead of that of the Prince of ----. The Elector approv'd of his Minister's Hint, and wrote immediately to the Confessor, who happen'd to be a Jesuit. This Reverend Father was overjoy'd to find himself courted by one of the greatest Protestant Princes, and promising himself that he should reap considerable Advantages for his Society, from the Success of a Negociation which the Elector had so much at heart, and in which two of his most able Ministers had already miscarried, he made no scruple to undertake it.

As soon as he began to meddle with it, it assum'd a new Face; the Court of Rome made but a faint Opposition to it: That of Vienna being alarmed at the News they received from the Count de Harrach their Ambassador at Madrid, of the bad State of the King of Spain's Health, and of the Spaniards Byass for the Duke of Anjou, became more tractable; and the very Reasons that Bartholdi urg'd in vain, began to be relish'd when they were represented by the Confessor. This Jesuit convinc'd the Emperor, that as he was resolv'd to dispute the Succession to the Crown of Spain with France, such an Ally as the Elector would give great Weight to either of the two Parties that he fell in with. The Confessor's Arguments were applauded by some, and faintly rejected by others; so that the Father, by craftily taking advantage of the Good-Will of the latter, and of the Lethargy of the former, brought the Affair of Prussia in less than two

Month's Time to the Point of a happy Conclusion.

While such effectual Endeavors were us'd for the Elector at the Court of Vienna, his Interest was as successfully manag'd with the King of England. The Electoress, together with her Mother the Electoress of Hanover, went to pay him a Visit at Aix la Chapelle; and in that Interview, these two Princesses prevail'd on King William of England to recognize the Elector of Brandenburg for King of Prussia, and to call the House of Hanover to the Succession of the Crown of England.

One particular Circumstance in this Journey that prov'd of such Service to the Elector's Designs, and which many People look'd upon as a politic Action, is, that it would not have been undertaken, had it not been for the extreme Fondness of Madame de Wartemberg to be admitted in the Electoress's Circle. This Princess upon the Intelligence she receiv'd that her Mother the Electoress of Hanover was going to Aix la Chapelle, was very desirous to go with her, but she cou'd not hope to obtain the Elector's Consent to it, nor to have Money enough with her to bear her Expences, if the Count de Wartemberg oppos'd it; and therefore she charg'd Madamoiselle de Pollnitz my Cousin to speak to him about it. The Count de Wartemberg promis'd not only to obtain the Elector's Consent, but also to give the Electoress an Order at large to take up any Sums of Money that she should want, provided that Princess would on her part only acknowledge the Favor, by granting his Wife the Honor of Admittance to her Circle. The Electoress had this Journey so much at heart, because she knew it wou'd give her the Pleasure

of seeing a Mother whom she tenderly lov'd, as well as a Freedom, for some time at least, from the Constraint she was oblig'd to live in at Berlin, that she consented to the Count's Demand. Madame de Wartemberg was admitted to the Circle, and all the Mortification the Electoress gave her, was always to talk to her in French, which being a Language she did not understand, plainly shew'd the Obscurity of the Countess's Birth; for at that Time all Persons of any Rank or Figure convers'd in that Language commonly at our Court. The Electoress's Condescension upon this Occasion is the only thing for which she was to blame; for 'twas a Precedent which gave others Authority to desire the same Favor; and to this may be said to be owing the unequal Matches which several of the Nobility made afterwards.

The Count de Wartemberg, in order to obtain the Elector's Consent, gave him to understand that the Princess his Consort cou'd do more than any body to prevail with the King of England to recognize him for King. This was touching him in the most sensible part; and therefore he made no Scruple to let the Electoress go, who went and met her Mother at Aix la Chapelle, and from thence they set out afterwards for Brussels. There they stay'd a few days, in order to disguise the Motives of their Journey, and from thence they went to Loo, where the King of England was. They each obtain'd of the Prince what they went to ask him; the House of Hanover was soon after call'd to the Succession of the Crown of England, and the King gave his Promise, that as soon as the Emperor had own'd the Elector King of Prussia, he wou'd be one of the first to follow his Example.

As soon as the News reach'd Vienna that the King of England had promis'd to recognize the Elector of Brandenburg King of Prussia, the remaining Difficulties were soon got over; the Protestations of the Republic of Poland were superseded, and the Emperor declar'd at length that he own'd Prussia for a Kingdom, and the Elector of Brandenburg for King; on condition however,

1. That the Elector should never withdraw from the Empire the Provinces of his Dominions thereon depending.

2. That in the Emperor's Presence he should require no other Distinctions than those which he actually enjoy'd now.

3. That his Imperial Majesty when he wrote to him should only give him the Title of your Royal Dilection.

4. That nevertheless his Ministers at Vienna should be treated on a Par with those of Crown'd Heads.

5. That the Elector should maintain six thousand Men in Italy at his own expence, in case the Emperor should be oblig'd to go to War for the Spanish Succession.

6. That those Troops should remain there as long as the War continu'd.

Thus, Madame, after tedious delays the Court of Vienna consented at last to the Success of this great Event, which after all ow'd its cause to the refusal of an Arm-chair, and its issue to the mistake of a Secretary. Nevertheless it did not fail to cost the Elector six Millions, of which the Jesuits of Vienna had 200,000 Crowns to their share.

This agreeable News was scarce arriv'd at Berlin when they heard of the Death of the King

of Spain, which happen'd the 1st of November, 1700. His Death was notify'd to the Elector by M. Desalleurs, Envoy of France to our Court, as was also the Will whereby the Duke of Anjou was call'd to the Succession of all the late King's Dominions. The Elector had entered into such Engagements with the Emperor, that he could not own him; for which reason the King of France recall'd M. Desalleurs, and likewise refus'd to acknowledge the Elector for King, who in his turn recall'd M. Spanheim, and sent him to England with the Title of Ambassador.

The Elector was so urgent to be crown'd, that he hasten'd to Konigsberg, the capital City of Prussia, without staying for the fine Season of the Year; having fix'd on the 17th of December for his Departure thither with the whole Court. My Mother would also have been one of the Company, but she was too far gone with Child. She was now marry'd to her third Husband, who was the Count de Wesen; and the Nuptials were perform'd at Konigsberg in 1698, when the Elector was there about the Election of the King of Poland. This was a Match, in the making of which, neither Love nor Interest had the least share: M. de Wesen, tho' come of a very good Family in the Duchy of Zell, was Heir but to a very small Estate, and that he was obliged to divide with a great many Brothers; and my Mother before he marry'd her had never so much as spoke to him, nor had she seen him but while he was in the Office of Chief Steward. The Elector himself made the Match at the solicitation of Madame de Wartemberg who had a very great kindness for M. Wesen formerly, and perhaps had so still, and by helping him to a rich Widow, she was willing to make him a recompence for the

Respect he had paid to her. There was no necessity of using powerful Arguments with the Elector, to engage him to bring this Match about. It was his Foible to make Matches, and were they good or bad, provided he saw the Weddings, 'twas all alike to him. Consequently, as soon as Madame de Wartemberg had proposed this Marriage to him, he promis'd to mention it himself to my Mother; nay, more than that, he came to her House and made the Proposal. My Mother desir'd to be excus'd, saying to his Highness, that she had been already married twice, that she had two Sons by her first Husband, and that she did not care to hazard their Interests and her own Peace by engaging herself in Matrimony a third time. The Elector made her answer, that he would have it so, and that her Children, so far from Losers, should be Gainers by it, because he would take care of them. He added that he would allow her twenty-four Hours time to consider of it, and then he left her, forbidding her to stir to the Door, and promising to come and see her again next day, in order to have her Answer. He then went into my Grandmother's Chamber, and said so many fine things to her, in favor of the Son-in-Law he had in his eye for her, that she was for it by all means.

My Mother continued very wavering till next day, when the Elector return'd as he had promis'd: And as 'tis not an easy matter to resist the Orders of one's Sovereign, my Mother, tho' still against a new Engagement in her heart, seemed however to consent to the Marriage, which in a few days after was celebrated, and honour'd with the presence of the Elector, who had the goodness to assure my Brother and me that it should not be the worse for us. Mean time all my

Relations exclaim'd against my Mother, and when she return'd to Berlin not a Soul of them went to see her. My Grandmother by my Father's side was loudest in her Complaint; for her great Age and the Honour she had of attending the late Electoress, Mother to the Elector, made her take the freedom to tell that Prince her mind. She was in a passion with him even to a degree of Childishness, telling him that it griev'd her to the heart that she was not strong enough to twist the neck of the Man that he had given to her Daughter-in-Law for a Husband. The Elector to pacify her, promis'd her that he would be such a friend to M. de Wesen, that this Marriage instead of being a prejudice should be an advantage to us. And as soon as he had left her, he declared him Marshal of his Court.

This Office obliging my Father-in-law to follow the Prince in his Travels, he left my Mother at Berlin, and carry'd me with him to Konigsberg, to shew me the Ceremony of the Elector's Coronation.

His Court was so numerous that upon the Road from Berlin to Konigsberg, which is reckon'd fourscore German Miles, there were no less than thirty thousand Hackney-Horses, besides those belonging to the Stables of the King and Princes. The King, who was excessively fond of Ceremony, omitted nothing that could be an addition to the splendor of his Coronation. This Ceremony cost him immense Sums of Money, and convinc'd Foreigners who came thither from a curiosity to see it, that our Court was inferior to few others for Magnificence.

Tho' one would think the preparations for such a solemn Festival must take up a tedious deal of time, yet the King's Impatience hurry'd

them so fast that every thing was ready by the eighteenth of January, about a Fortnight after the Arrival of the Court. The Proclamation for erecting Prussia into a Kingdom was made two Days before the King's Coronation, with the sound of the Cannon, and all the Bells of the City, by four Heralds at Arms in Mantles of blue Velvet with the Royal Arms thereon embroider'd, and riding upon Horses richly accouter'd, the Housings being of Silver-Brocade, sprinkled with Eagles and Coronets of Gold. They went with a very numerous Train to the chief Quarters of the City, and there made Proclamation in these terms:

Whereas it has pleased the Divine Providence to erect this Sovereign Duchy of Prussia into a Kingdom, and to set up for our King the most High and most Potent Prince Frederic I. our gracious Sovereign; we have thought fit to give notice thereof to the People of this Kingdom, that they may say as we do, "Long live Frederic, our most Merciful and most Gracious King! Long live Sophia-Charlotte, our most Gracious Queen."

The King to render the Ceremony of his Coronation still more august, instituted the Day before[2] the Order of the Black Eagle, the Badges of which are an Orange Ribband with a Cross hanging to it enamell'd with Blue, in form of the Cross of Malta: In a Star of Silver which is embroider'd upon the Coat, there is a black Eagle which gripes in one Claw a Crown, and in the other a Scepter; and round the 'Scutcheon are these words, SUUM CUIQUE, (i. e. to every

one his own.) The principal Statutes of this Order are, 1. That the Number of the Knights shall not exceed thirty, exclusive of the Princes of the Royal Family, and Sovereign Princes. 2. That the Knights shall prove their Nobility by sixteen Descents. 3. That they shall promise to be just, chaste, and to protect and support Widows and Orphans, according to their motto, Suum cuique.

Tho' it was contrary to custom, to install the Knights before the Coronation, the King was not so scrupulous as to conform to it, foreseeing that the Ceremony of his Coronation receiv'd a new Lustre from this Foundation. Nevertheless the Knights and Officers of the Order had then no other Badges but the Ribband and Star embroider'd on their Clothes; and 'twas not till two Years after that the King gave to the new Knights, for days of Ceremony, a Dress consisting of a Vest of Cloth of Gold, with another over it of Sky-blue Velvet, reaching down to the Mid-leg, with a Lining of Straw-color, and ty'd under the Cravat with yellow Ribbands, the Tassels of which hang down to the Knees. Their Sash is of Straw-color'd Velvet, embroider'd with Gold. Their Mantle is also of Straw-color'd Velvet, lin'd with Gold-Mohair, and over it is a Collar of Gold enamell'd with blue, forming these two Letters F. R. to signify Fredericus Rex: This is call'd the Grand Collar of the Order. The Knights wear black Velvet Caps on their Heads, with white Plumes of Feathers. The King's Habit differs not from that of the Knights; but the Habits of the Grand Master of the Ceremonies, the Secretary, and the Treasurer, differ in that they only wear over their common Clothes full Gowns of Straw-color'd Velvet, with an Orange-color'd Lining, and upon

them the Cross of the Order, fasten'd only by an Orange-color'd Ribband that hangs to their Neck.

The King at the first Promotion, or rather on the day that he instituted the Order, created the full number of Knights, prescribed by the Statutes. He also gave the Ribband of the Order to the Electoral Prince his Son, and to his two Brothers the Margraves Christian and Albert. The Margrave Philip staying behind at Berlin to govern in the King's Absence, the Ribband was sent to him by a Gentleman of the Bed-chamber.

On the Coronation-day, about nine in the Morning the King was dressed by the great Chamberlain, attended by all the Officers of the Bed-chamber. His Coat was Scarlet embroider'd with Gold, and brilliant Diamonds were his Buttons. Over that, he had a Royal Mantle of Crimson-Velvet, lin'd and turn'd up with Ermin, which was fasten'd to his Breast by a Clasp of three Diamonds. As soon as the King was dressed he went into a Hall in his Apartment, where a Throne had been erected, on each side of which, there lay on two Tables of Silver the Royal Ornaments that were to serve the King and Queen. The King being seated on his Throne, ordered they should be brought to him, and they were accordingly presented to him on the Knee. Having the Crown in his Hand, he put it himself on his Head, and then taking the Sceptre in his right Hand and the Royal Globe in his left, in that posture he receiv'd the first Homages of the Prince Royal and of the Margraves, who bent one Knee before him. After this the King arose and went to the Queen's Apartment, preceded by the Knights of the Order, the two Margraves, the Prince Royal, and the Noblemen that carried the Regalia design'd for the Queen.

Her Majesty was dress'd in a Purple Gown, and a Royal Mantle like the King's. She was dress'd in her own Nut-brown Hair without any Powder, which in conjunction with the Lustre of the Diamonds gave her an Air still more noble and majestic. As soon as she perceiv'd the King, who met her at the entrance of his Chamber, she fell on her knees, in which situation the King embrac'd her, and with his own Hands set the Crown upon her Head. She took the Scepter and Globe from the hands of the Lords who carried them, and the King raising her up she follow'd him into his Apartment, where she also receiv'd the Homage of the Prince Royal and the Margraves, in the same manner as they had perform'd them to the King.

Their Majesties went afterwards to Church with all the Pomp and Magnificence, (I dare to say it) of the ancient Kings of Asia. The King walk'd under a Canopy of Silver-Brocade embroider'd with Gold borne by ten Prussian Lords of the first Quality, and at some distance came the Queen under another Canopy like to that of the King. The Grand Chamberlain held up the Train of the King's Mantle, and the Queen's was born by the Duchess of Holstein, and the Ladies Stingland and Bulau, the one Lady of Honour to the Queen, and the other having the first Reversion of that Office. The Duke of Holstein officiated as Great Master of her Houshold; and the Princess of Holstein walk'd at the head of the Court-Ladies. Their Majesties were receiv'd by the two Bishops that were to perform the Ceremony of the Coronation, who were dress'd in purple Velvet, after the English mode, and had for their Assistants six Ministers, three of them Calvinists and three Lutherans.

They conducted the King and Queen to their Thrones which had been erected on the two sides of the Altar, the King's on the Right, and the Queen's on the Left. Tho' there is no Altar in the Calvinist Churches, the King had one, and had actually made a present of a magnificent Crucifix to be plac'd upon it, in order to shew how much he wish'd the Union of the two Protestant Churches.

The Prince Royal seated himself a little behind the King towards the Right on a Folding-chair, with his Governor the Count de Dobna behind him: The Margraves also sate in two Folding-chairs on both sides of the Queen. The Duke and Duchess of Holstein, and the Ladies Stingland and Bulau, sate upon Stools immediately behind the Queen. The Princess of Holstein was also placed upon a Stool, but a little farther off. On both sides of the Altar two Galleries were erected, the one for the Duchess of Courland the King's Sister, the young Duke her Son, and the three Princesses her Daughters-in-Law, the other for the Ambassadors and Foreign Ministers.

When the King was to receive the sacred Unction, he went and kneel'd at the foot of the Altar, gave the Globe and Sceptre to the Lords who had before carried them, took off his Crown with his own hands, which he plac'd on a Cushion like to that on which he kneel'd, and then receiv'd three Unctions, one on the Forehead, and the two others on his Wrists. The Great Chamberlain dried up the Oil with Cotton and Linnen, which one of the Ministers presented to him on a Plate of Gold. After this the King took his Crown again which no other hand had touch'd, and plac'd it himself on his head; and having also taken the Sceptre and Globe again, he went and

replac'd himself on his Throne. The same Ceremonies were observ'd at the Anointing of the Queen, with this difference only, that she all the while kept the Crown on her Head, and that Madame Stingland, her Lady of Honour, dried up the Oil.

This done, the two Bishops with the six Ministers pay'd the first Homage to both the King and Queen. The Bishop at Consecration said to the King, May Blessing and Prosperity attend Frederic King of Prussia! May the Lord, the God of our King say the same! May he continue his Presence with him as he has done hitherto, to the end that his Royal Throne may aggrandize his Power from day to day.

The same Bishop said to the Queen, May Blessing and Prosperity attend Sophia-Charlotta Queen of Prussia! May the Lord our God preserve her for a Token of his Blessing to her People, and may she from this time forward see Prosperity and Salvation spread ever her Royal Family, and over her Children, in the Peace of Israel!

While the Music as it were repeated these same words, the Prince Royal and the Margraves went and paid their Homage also to the King and Queen, kneeling on the last Step of their Throne and kissing their Hands. The Homage of the other Nobility only consisted in their making a profound Obeysance without stirring out of their places.

The Bishop who had perform'd the Consecration, turning about to the People, said with a loud Voice, Fear God and honour your King and your Queen, for their Power cometh from the Lord who hath created Heaven and Earth. May the same Lord vouchsafe to be their Guide and Guardian! May he cover them with his Shadow, that the Heat of the

Sun and the Rays of the Moon, may never hurt their Sight! May the Lord keep them from all Evil? save their Souls, and go in and out before them with Blessing, till Time Shall be no more. After some other Prayers, the King renew'd the Edicts against Duels, and swore to observe them upon the Holy Gospels. And therewith ended this long Ceremony.

The King had all the reason in the World to be pleased with it, by reason of the exactness with which every one perform'd his Function, which was a thing hardly to have been expected in a Ceremony that was quite new to the Performers; but they so well knew his delicacy in every matter of Ceremony, and the Emulation they had to please him in this Taste was such, that the most consummate Experience could not have acquitted itself better.

The Queen herself was the only Person that got a reprimand, and that was by her taking some Snuff. Her Throne being over-against the King's, she watch'd a long time for an opportunity, and when she thought his Majesty did not observe her she stole out her Snuff-Box. The King happening to turn his Eyes towards her the very same moment, she would fain have conceal'd it, but his Majesty's Countenance was so fix'd on her that she was convinc'd he perceiv'd it; and indeed this Prince who was upon this occasion not to be trifled with, immediately order'd one of his Gentlemen who was behind him to go and ask the Queen in his Name, Whether she remember'd the Place where she was, and the Rank she held there.

The King and Queen going out of the Church caus'd Gold and Silver Medals to the value of ten thousand Crowns to be scatter'd among the

People, which had on one side their Effigies with these words, FREDERICUS ET SOPHIA-CHARLOTTA, REX ET REGINA; and on the reverse a Crown with these words, PRIMA MEÆ GENTIS.

The Ceremonies at the Royal Feast which follow'd, were not much short of those at the Coronation. It was kept in the great Hall of the Palace, to which the King and Queen repair'd almost with the same Train, and in the same order as they had observ'd going to Church.

When they were seated at Table, their Majesties return'd their Sceptres and Globes into the hands of the Lords who had the Honour of carrying them before. These Lords then plac'd themselves at each side of the Table, and remain'd there during the whole Feast. The Prince Royal, the two Margraves and the Duchess of Courland the King's Sister, were the only Persons that had the honour of dining with their Majesties. Of all the Ceremonies that were observ'd there, the two following are what I have no where seen but in Germany. As soon as the King and Queen had taken their Seats at Table, the two Grand Marshals went out of the Hall into the Courtyard of the Palace, and from thence rode on horseback to the great Stables attended by Kettle-drums, Trumpets, and a great many Officers of the King's Kitchen. There they found a whole Ox roasting on a Spit and stuff'd with all sorts of Wild-fowl, of which they cut off a piece and carry'd it in a Gold Dish to their Majesties Table.

After this, the Great Cup-Bearer went with the like Train to the same Stables, where there were two Fountains of Wine running from the Beaks of two Eagles. Of this he fill'd a gold

Goblet, and went and presented it to the King. His Majesty having taken it and return'd it to him, he presented it afterwards to the Queen, who return'd it to him in like manner; and then he carry'd it to the great Beaufet, which was set up at the other end of the Room over-against the King's Table. As often as the King or Queen drank, nine Cannon were fired; six when the Prince Royal drank, and three whenever the Margraves and the Duchess of Courland drank.

This Repast held a very long time, yet none of the Courtiers sate down to Table till their Majesties were retir'd to their Apartments. About nine o'clock at Night all the Bells in the City were rung, and the Noise of the Cannon added to that of the Kettle-drums and Trumpets, serv'd as a signal for the Bonfires that were lighted in all the Cross-streets. The Burghers illuminated the Fronts of their Houses. Some of the most substantial had also erected Triumphal Arches before their Houses, with Emblems and Devices; others let Wine run for the Populace, and in short there was no Burgher but strove to signalize their Joy some way or other.

Their Majesties being desirous to honour the public Rejoicings with their presence, went into the Streets about ten o'clock in a magnificent Coach, accompanied by all their Courtiers on horseback. When they came before the Town-House they were harangu'd by the chief Burgo-Master, who presented them with a Collation in Panniers of Silver, after which they pass'd by the House of the Duke of Holstein Governour of Konigsberg. The Front of the House represented the Temple of Glory; the Duke's Gentlemen represented the Priests of the Temple, and threw Amber and Incense into the Coals which were upon

the Altar; the Duke's Children, who were eight in number, were dressed like Shepherds and Shepherdesses, and as the King and Queen pass'd by, the eldest presented them with a Basket of Flowers, and pronounc'd some Verses to them in the German Language, expressing the Vows which all the People made for the duration of their Prosperity. Their Majesties, after stopping some time before this House, return'd to the Palace.

Throughout all the King's Dominions there were the like Demonstrations of Joy, and the Coronation-day was celebrated every where like a Sunday. The King and Queen spent the whole Carnival at Konigsberg, where they receiv'd the Count de Tobianski the Great Cup-bearer of Poland, who came as Ambassador from the King his Master, to congratulate their Majesties on their Coronation. It must be observed in the mean time, that the Republic of Poland never recogniz'd the King of Prussia's Royalty, tho' two of its Kings, viz. the Elector of Saxony, and King Stanislaus four years after recogniz'd him by their Ambassadors.

The departure of the Court for Berlin was fix'd for the eighth of March. As the King had not yet made his entry at Konigsberg, the Citizens entreated him to permit them to accompany him as far as the limits of their Territory, which was granted them. Then several triumphal Arches were erected, all the Streets were hung with Tapestry, and the King set out from Konigsberg attended by all the City Companies. His Majesty rode on horseback, supported by two Equerries on foot. His Clothes were of Crimson-Velvet lin'd with Ermin and embroider'd with Gold, and the Buttons were of Diamonds. He had on his Hat a Loop and a Hat-band

of Diamonds. His Horse was most richly accouter'd: The Bit, Stirrups, and all the Ornaments of the Bridle, were of massy Gold; the Housing of Crimson-Velvet, all cover'd with Gold Embroidery and Diamonds. The Queen's Coach was also of extraordinary Magnificence. Her Majesty sate in it accompanied only by the Duchess of Courland, who sate over-against her.

In short, they went out of Konigsberg with all the Pomp and Apparatus that us'd to attend Public Entrys. When their Majesties were got a quarter of a League out of the Town, they alighted and went into their Travelling-Coaches, and there they received the last Compliments which were paid by the Echevins bare-headed and kneeling. Then the King and Queen return'd into the City through another Gate, and staid in their Palace till next day that they set out for Berlin.

The Court was oblig'd to go by the way of Dantzic, because of the sudden Thaw of the Weissel, which render'd it impassable. The Magistrates of Dantzic immediately sent out Deputies to their Majesties, to intreat them to permit their City to make a public Entry for them; but the King thank'd them, and was not willing they should be at any expence. Nevertheless at the Entrance of the Territory of Dantzic two Burgo-Masters, four Counsellors, and the Syndic of the Town, at the head of the Youth on horseback, went and paid their Majesties a Compliment. He that spoke was the chief Burgo-Master, who pray'd their Majesties to suffer the City to defray their Expences, while they stay'd in their Territory. The King and Queen alighted at a House erected on purpose for their Reception, which

was of Wood, and represented the Temple of Glory. There their Majesties found a magnificent Collation and a very fine Concert of Music. In other Rooms several Tables were set up for the Gentlemen of his Retinue. The King and Queen having spent the Night there, pass'd thro' Dantzic next day, and went over the Weissel, which at that part of it was still frozen. Yet as there was cause to apprehend that it was not froze hard enough to be pass'd with safety, the Magistrates, to prevent any Accident, had cover'd the Ice with Straw, Beams and Planks; and twenty-four young Men and as many Lasses, dressed like Sailors in Jackets of Velvet and Sattin, assisted the King and Queen in their passage; during which, the Girls presented them with Fish, Fruit, Sweet-Meats and Flowers, and the young Sailors play'd to them on several Instruments of Music. When their Majesties had passed the River, they dismiss'd the Deputies of the City, and made them each a Present of a Gold Chain and Medal, on which were their Effigies. On the seventeenth of March the King arriv'd at Potzdam[3], and the Queen at Lutzelbourg. The King who had a Design to make a solemn Entry at Berlin, stay'd at Potzdam till the sixth of May, to give time for making the necessary Preparations to receive him, and for the finishing one of the Fronts of his Palace, which he wish'd might be compleated by that day.

Towards the latter end of April the King set out from Potzdam for Schonhausen, where the Queen met him some days after, and there their Majesties prepared to make their Entry into Berlin.

This Ceremony was perform'd with all the Pomp and Magnificence possible. The City had caus'd seven Triumphal Arches to be erected; the Description of one of those Arches may suffice to give an Idea of the Taste of our Court for Entertainments of this kind. This Arch, which was at the Bars entring the Suburb, seem'd to have been built by Gardeners. It was one entire Green-house with Pillars and Pilasters, adorn'd with Flowers. Pomona and Flora were seen to support the Pictures of the King and Queen. The Spring, attended by the Zephyrs, presented them with Fruits and Flowers, and a Row of Orange-Trees and Laurels in gilded Boxes lin'd the Way from that Arch to St. George's Gate, which has ever since that Day been call'd the Royal Gate, because their Majesties enter'd thro' it into the Town.

Next day after their Entry the Deputies of the Provinces presented the King with Free Gifts on his joyful Arrival, and the Margrave Philip Grand Master of the Artillery, caus'd a Fire-work to be play'd off, which represented the King's Return to Berlin, by that of Jason, after the Conquest of the Golden Fleece.

After some other Festivals of this nature, occasion'd by the public Joy, the Court separated, when the King set out for Oranjebourg[4], and the Queen to Lutzelbourg. The Prince Royal staid at Berlin to finish his Exercises. Care had been taken to form a numerous Court for him, of all young Gentlemen of his own Age, of whom this young Prince had form'd two Companies, of which himself commanded the first, and the Duke of Courland the second. I was of this second

Company, and we went sometimes to perform our Military Exercises at Lutzelbourg before the Queen, who lov'd to see the Prince her Son display the first Fruits of his Military Genius. We also acted some Comedies before her; for the Princess aim'd to inspire the Prince her Son with a delicate Taste, even in Pleasures.

'Twas at this time that a Storm arose at Court against the Count de Wartemberg Great Chamberlain, and lately declar'd Prime Minister, which threaten'd his Ruin; but it spent itself upon those only who had rais'd it. The principal Authors of the Cabal were the Count de Lottum, M. ——, and the Grand Marshal, who had been for a long time the Great Chamberlain's sworn Enemy. The Count de Wesen, my Father-in-law, was pitch'd upon by these Gentlemen to raise the first Prejudices in the King's Mind against this Minister. I have had the Honor to acquaint you, Madame, that the Countess de Wartemberg always wish'd well to M. de Wesen of which the advantagious Match she had procur'd for him was a very convincing Proof. One would have thought therefore after such great Service, that he ought in Gratitude to have devoted himself entirely to the Fortune of the Count her Husband. But my Father-in-law puff'd up by the Choice which the Count's Enemies had made of him, forgot his Duty and his Interest, and accepted a Commission for the undertaking of which he had in truth all the necessary Temerity, but not that Judgment nor that Favor, which was absolutely requisite for conducting so ticklish an Affair.

The King had a real Love for M. de Wartemberg, yet he sometimes made him feel his ill Humors. The Prince seem'd one day to be so angry with him, and spoke of him to my Father-in-law

with so much Resentment, that the latter thought he had now a fair Opportunity to ruin the Count. He said to the King, that the whole Court was surpriz'd at his extraordinary Kindness to a Minister who every day abus'd his Name in the Oppression of the People, and in the Commission of a thousand Acts of Injustice against his faithful Servants; that his Rapines were excessive; and that his Wife's Extravagance was so great, that he could shew by the Accounts of the Comptrollers of the Kitchen, that the Great Chamberlain's Table cost more than his Majesty's. I know very well, added M. de Wesen, that if the Prime Minister should hear of what I have now had the Honor to say to your Majesty, I am undone; but if I held my peace, I thought I should be wanting in my Duty; and what I have asserted I am ready to prove.

The King heard what he said very attentively, and my Father-in-law was so vain as to think he had made Impression enough upon him to strike M. de Wartemberg quite out of his Favor; but this shallow Statesman, my Father-in-law, did not consider that a Prince who complains of his Favorite is not always dispos'd to receive the ill Impressions that others are ready to give of him. Whether the King therefore thought after this manner, or whether he was shock'd at the Ingratitude of M. de Wesen, who ow'd his Fortune to M. de Wartemberg, he told the Minister the Conversation that had pass'd, but assur'd him that he did not give Credit to the Report; and that if he pleas'd he would take a Revenge on the Man that had made it.

The crafty Minister affected at that time an Air of Moderation, which cost him the less Pains because he was an excellent Comedian. He said

to the King that he thought himself sufficiently reveng'd, by the little Heed his Majesty gave to the scandalous Tales which his Enemies gave out against him, and he desir'd his Majesty to pardon those who had offer'd to abuse his Goodness, for the sake of oppressing him. Thus did he for a while conceal the keenest Resentment under the Mask of the most forgiving Temper; being resolv'd in his Heart to ruin those who had employ'd M. de Wesen, tho' they were protected by the Queen, but especially to make their Tool feel all the Weight of his Vengeance.

A Journey which the King took to Goltz, one of his Hunting-Seats, near the Fortress of Custrin, gave him a good Opportunity for it. Being alone with the King in the same Coach, he put him so much out of conceit with M. de Wesen, that when he arriv'd at Goltz, all that came to wait on him, as he alighted out of the Coach, perceiv'd he was in an ill Humor. Contrary to his usual custom, he spoke to no body, only he order'd my Father-in-law to give his Attendance. When he had sat down, he scarce touch'd the Bread, but he found fault with it, and complained of it to M. de Wesen, as the Person who had the Direction of what came to his Table. M. de Wesen said to the King, That 'twas true the Bread was not as it us'd to be, because the Carriage of the Pantry broke down by the way, and the Baker came too late to Town to provide more. The King not well pleas'd with this Answer, said, he was weary of being ill serv'd, and that he expected every one shou'd do their Duty. At the same time he threw his Napkin on the Ground. M. de Wesen fetch'd another, and offer'd it to the King, but he would not take it, and order'd him to be gone that Moment out of

his Presence. Two Hours after, M. de Wesen was arrested by an Exempt of the Life-Guards, who conducted him in his Coach under a Guard to Custrin, the Capital of the New Marquisate, situate upon the Oder. There my Father-in-law was kept as a State-Criminal, and the Minister sent Orders to the Aulic Counsellor to go to my Mother's House, and clap a Seal upon her Husband's Effects. She was at that time in the Country, and my Brother happen'd to be at Church with our Governor, so that I was alone in the House when those Gentlemen came to execute their Order. After they had shew'd it to me, they ask'd me which was my Father-in-law's Apartment, that they might not be oblig'd to put the Seal upon every thing. I made no scruple to shew it to them, and as they withdrew they left me a Writing which was an Order to my Mother not to come to Court, nor to sollicite her Husband's Liberty. I sent immediately For my Governor, that he might go with this disagreeable News to my Mother, whose Surprize was as great as her Sorrow; for as she had an entire Love for her Husband, so she knew nothing of his Intrigues against the Minister, to whom she thought he was all along devoted. As the King's Order tied up her Hands, and hinder'd her from coming to Court, I was charg'd to do what I could there, to obtain my Father-in-law's Liberty.

One day as the Queen made an Entertainment at Lutzelbourg for the King, I presented a Petition to him, in my Mother's Name, intreating him to remove the Seal from her Effects, and the Guard from her House; and that his Majesty would be pleas'd to appoint Commissioners to try her Husband; to the end, that if guilty, he

might be punish'd, or if innocent, that he might be set at liberty. My Youth, and the Tears which I shed at the Delivery of this Petition, melted the King's Heart, who told me, That he would do what my Mother desir'd, for her sake only; that he sympathiz'd in her Affliction; but that her Husband had so justly provok'd him, that he could not avoid making him sensible of his Indignation: That withal, he was very glad to see me so good-natur'd, as to sollicite in favor of a Man who he knew had not dealt well either by my Brother or me, notwithstanding the Injunction he laid upon him, when he match'd him to my Mother. I made him answer, that I had no reason to complain of my Father-in-law; and that tho' I had, my Mother's extreme Concern of Mind for what had happen'd, wou'd be a sufficient Motive for me to sollicite his Liberty. I commend you said the King, for these Principles. Go and tell your Mother that she shall be made easy, and be assur'd that I will take care of you. Those were the very Expressions of the King, who, when I stoop'd to embrace his Knees, encourag'd me also by clapping his Hand upon my Shoulder. As soon as he was gone, the Queen sent for me into her Closet, to give her an Account of this Conversation. I found her resting on a Couch, attended by none but Madamoiselle de Pollnitz my Cousin, who sat on the Ground at her Feet. When the Queen had enquir'd after my Mother's Health, she order'd me to assure her of her Esteem and Friendship; and when I had repeated to her what the King had said to me, she made Answer, That she was very glad the King was so well inclin'd to me. Cultivate his good Disposition, said she, make it your Study to merit his Favor. As for me, I will do

every thing in my power to preserve you in it; and you may always be sure of my Protection.

So gracious a Reception both from the King and Queen gave me great Hopes; and I return'd to Berlin, not doubting but the Promises he had made to me wou'd soon be perform'd; yet 'twas not without tedious Sollicitations from my Mother's Friends that she obtain'd her Husband's Liberty, after seven Months Confinement, besides paying a Fine for him of ten thousand Crowns. The Revenge which the Minister took upon those who had made my Father-in-law their Agent, was not so much talk'd of; for he contented himself with banishing them to their respective Estates or Governments, and disposing of their Offices among his most obsequious Creatures. One of these was the Count de Witgenstein, upon whom he confer'd the Office of the Grand Marshal. He was a Person of a good Family, but neither he nor his Ancestors had ever done any Service to the State; and all his Merit was an entire Devotion to the Prime Minister, to whom he was more a Slave than a Friend. As long as the Count de Wartemberg continu'd in Favor, he kept his ground at Court; but the Fall of that Minister was attended with his. The Disgrace of my Father-in-law did not fail likewise to create a great deal of Trouble in my Family. My Mother follow'd him to his Estate in the Duchy of Zell, and I was sent with my Brother under the Conduct of a Governor to Lunebourg, there to finish my Studies.

All Europe was at this time in motion, and had taken part in the Quarrel between the Houses of Austria and Bourbon, on account of the Succession to the Monarchy of Spain. Philip of Anjou was already in possession of it, by virtue

of Charles II's last Will and Testament; and in pursuance of the Right he had to it by his Grandmother Mary Theresa of Austria. The Emperor founded his Claim upon the Renunciation made by that Princess when she was married to Lewis XIV. The greatest part of Europe, which the exorbitant Power of France had begun to alarm, sided with the Emperor, who quitted his Rights in favor of the Archduke his Son. Besides the common Interest which it seem'd to be of all Europe to hinder two such Monarchies as France and Spain from being govern'd by one Prince, several Potentates had their particular Reasons, for laying hold of this opportunity, to make war with France.

The Court of England was alarm'd at the Proceeding of Lewis XIV. who had just recogniz'd the Son of James II. lately deceas'd at St. Germains, for King of England, by the Name of James III. in prejudice of King William, who had been recogniz'd by the Treaty of Ryswic.

The Dutch govern'd themselves by the Views of King William, who was all along their Stadtholder: And they could not forget the War in 1672, the Wounds of which were still bleeding.

The King of Prussia, besides his Interest in common with the other Electors, to hinder France from becoming too powerful, for fear lest hereafter the said Court should saddle them with whom it pleas'd for an Emperor, had Engagements subsisting with the Court of Vienna and the King of England. And in consequence of those Engagements he furnish'd the Emperor with 6000 Men, and gave Orders for a Levy in his Dominions of 20,000 Men, which King William had demanded of him, and which were

during the whole War in the Pay of the United Provinces.

France had no Allies but the Electors of Bavaria and Cologn, who suffer'd themselves to be prevail'd on by the Promises of France; the chief of which was, That she would not make an end of the War till she had caus'd the Elector of Bavaria to be declar'd King of Swabia.

The Duke of Savoy was proof against the Advantages offered him by France: And notwithstanding the Marriage of his two Daughters to the Duke of Burgundy and the Duke of Anjou, King of Spain, he was the most zealous Ally against those two Crowns. He foresaw too very plainly, that as long as those two Powers were united, such was the Situation of his Dominions, that they wou'd hem him in between them; and therefore when the Duchess his Mother, who was a thorow French Woman, ask'd him, What would become of his Daughters, if he dethron'd the King of Spain, and ruin'd France, he reply'd to her, And if I do not, what will become of my Son?

These, Madame, were in general the various Motions that affected Europe when King William of England died: Nor did this Accident occasion any Alteration; for the Princess Anne Stuart, who succeeded him by the Name of Queen Anne, pursued the same Views as her Predecessor, and the War of the Allies against France was carried on with the same Vigor.

By the Death of the King of England, who was the last Prince of the Orange Branch, our King was Heir to all his personal Estate; yet his Right was contested by the Prince of Nassau-Friesland, who, tho' not so nearly related as the King, had the Advantage of Kindred by the

Male Line, and had a Will of King William in his Favor, which intitled him to his Succession. As the States-General of the United Provinces were the Executors of this Will, the King immediately communicated his Pretensions to them, as he did also to Queen Anne, by M. de Spanheim his Ambassador at London. He founded his Right upon a Will of Frederic-Henry Prince of Orange, King William's Grandfather, who had a Son and three Daughters, the eldest of whom married to the Elector of Brandenburg the King's Father; the second to the Prince de Simmeren, a younger Prince of the present reigning Palatine Family, who dying without Issue, left his Right of Succession to the Electorate, to the Branch of Neuburg; and the third was married to the Prince of Anhalt-Dessau.

The Will of Frederic-Henry call'd the Male Descendants to his Succession; and on Failure of them the three Princesses his Daughters; by virtue of which, the King who descended from the eldest, claimed to be the lawful Heir, notwithstanding the Testament of King William, who could not dispose of an Estate which was intail'd. The King, for the better Manifestation of his Rights, set out for the Hague, accompanied by the Margrave Albert, his Brother, who left him at Wesel in order to join the Army at Keiserswaert[5].

At Wesel[6] the King receiv'd Messieurs de Lintelo, Slingenlandt, and Tour, Deputies from the States-General, to whom he paid the same Honors as to Sovereigns, and receiv'd them standing, with only an Arm-Chair behind him. They

gave him an Account of the last Will and Testament of King William, which they had caus'd to be open'd in the Presence of M. Schmettau his Ambassador, Mr. Stanhope the Envoy Extraordinary of England, the Envoys of the Princesses of Anhalt and Nassau-Friesland, the Envoy of the Prince of Nassau-Siegen, the Commissioners of the States appointed for that purpose, and the Counsellors of the Domains of the late King William. They added that they had found in this Will, that the Prince of Nassau, hereditary Governor of Friesland, was call'd to the Succession as universal Heir, and they exhorted the King to own him as such. But notwithstanding all this, he enter'd his solemn Protest against the Will, and then set out for the Hague.

The King at his arrival alighted at the Palace of the Old Court, which was part of the Inheritance of the King of England, and of which he had already taken Possession, as well as of Honslaerdyke, another Palace of the late King of England. The Dutch wou'd fain have secur'd the Succession to the Prince of Nassau-Friesland, but they could not easily do this, without embroiling themselves with the King. Therefore they chose to temporize, and came to no Conclusion while the King staid in Holland, during which they endeavor'd to amuse him by procuring him all the Pleasures that their Country afforded; but the Grand Affair of the Succession to the King of England engross'd all his Thoughts, and he went away very much dissatisfy'd with the Conduct of the States-General at this Juncture.

As soon as he return'd to Berlin, he sent for my Brother and me from Lunenburg, for fear lest my Mother, who was a Lutheran, should persuade us to embrace that Religion. Next year

he establish'd an Academy, into which he gave Orders for our Entrance. The View of this Establishment was to educate the young Nobility of the Court, in a manner suitable to their Extraction. The King had the Nomination of those that were to be admitted into this Academy, and Care had been taken to furnish it with the best Masters in all the Arts and Sciences. The Expence of the Students there were very moderate, the King having taken upon him to pay the Extraordinaries. This illustrious School, which was then call'd, The Academy of Princes, has lost very much of its former Splendor.

I found the Court of Berlin in the same State as when I left it. The Count de Wartemberg was still in the highest Favor; and the Count de Barfous, the only Man who had presum'd for some time to make head against the Minister, had at length been oblig'd to retire to his Estate; but what made his Banishment from Court the more tolerable to him, was a Pension which the King allow'd him of 20,000 Crowns. His Post of Velt-Marshal was given to M. de Wartensleben, Lieutenant-General of the Emperor's Troops, and General of those of the Duke of Saxe Gotha. This was also a Creature of the Prime Minister; yet he had Honor and Honesty enough to oppose him on Occasions, where he thought the Welfare of the State was concern'd. The Count de Lottum, who had been involv'd in the Disgrace of my Father-in-law, and whose Office of Grand Marshal had been conferr'd on the Count de Witgenstein, retain'd a certain Air of Favor in his Disgrace, as did also the Count de Barfous. The King had given him the Government of Wesel, to which he retir'd; and as he could not avoid doing justice to his Merit and Fidelity, he gave

him the Command of the Troops design'd for the Netherlands. He was charg'd with the Blockade of Rhinberg, a Place in the Electorate of Cologn, which the French then possess'd, under color of being that Elector's auxiliary Forces. The Town surrendring in a little time, he undertook the Blockade of Guelders, which made a part of the Spanish Netherlands, and was yielded to us by the Peace of Utrecht. The taking of these two important Places in the midst of Winter, and the Behaviour of the Count de Lottum, who notwithstanding the Severity of the Season, and the Treatment he had received from Court, took all the Care possible for the Preservation of the King's Troops, made him so much extoll'd at Court, as was mortifying to the Prime Minister.

France endeavor'd to repair the Loss of these two Places by seizing the Principality of Orange, which we were not near enough to defend, and he put the Prince of Conti in immediate Possession of it, who had some claim to it through the Chalons Family, of which he call'd himself Heir. But he soon after yielded the said Principality and his Pretensions, to Lewis XIV. who likewise caus'd an Edict to be publish'd there, by which it was put to the choice of all the Inhabitants to turn Catholics, or to sell their Effects and retire out of the Kingdom within the space of three Months. The Generality of those who were not willing to change their Religion, retir'd to our Court, and among others, the Members of the Parliament. The King reliev'd them as far as he could, and caus'd Collections to be made in all the Churches of his Dominions, the Money of which was distributed to those who had the most pressing Occasion for it.

Soon after the Loss of Orange, the Margrave Albert married the Princess of Courland. That Prince in 1696, had succeeded the late Margrave Charles, his Father, in the Grand Mastership[7] of the Order of St. John. This Order is the same as that of Maltha, and is only separated from it since Luther. The Commanderies, subject to the Elector of Brandenburg, which became Protestant, put themselves under the Elector's Protection, and chose a Grand Master, or rather the Elector chose one for them. The Choice has always fallen upon a younger Prince of the Family, who is not engag'd by it to any Vow, more than the Knights, who are only obliged to prove their Nobility, to which the Sovereign very often objects.

The Princess of Courland was the eldest of the three Daughters that the Duke of Courland had by his first Lady. He married to his second Wife the King's Sister, and some time after he died. The Duchess his Widow, who had been oblig'd to abandon Courland, which the Swedes, the Poles and the Muscovites equally harass'd, came to Konigsberg, to be present at the Coronation of the King her Brother, who gave her that Protection she expected. Here it was, that the Year before she had married the Margrave of Brandenburg Bareith, the King's Cousin; and when she went with her Husband into his Dominions, she left the eldest of her Daughters-in-law with the Queen, in hopes of her marrying the Margrave Albert: And the Queen, who was fond of this Princess, ordered it so, that she obtain'd the King's Consent to the Marriage, which was celebrated some time after at Lutzelbourg.

Much about this time we had a new Ceremony in our Climates. This[8] was the Erection of a Statue which the King caus'd to be set up in honor of his Father Frederic-William the Great. 'Tis perfectly like that of Lewis XIV. in the Square of Vendôme at Paris. The Pedestal and Base are of white Marble. This Statue was set up July 12, 1703; and the King in order to do the more Honor to the Elector his Father, caus'd the Ceremony to be perform'd with a magnificent Apparatus, in presence of the whole Court, and all the Benches of Justice.

The following Year 1704 was happy to the Allies, by their Victories at Donawert and Hochstet. The Troops that the King had sent into Franconia and Bavaria, to the Emperor and the City of Nuremberg[9], which call'd for Help against the Bavarians, contributed not a little to the obtaining of those Victories. The King received the News of it by an Express that was dispatch'd to him from the Prince of Anhalt, under whose Command those Succours acted. This Express was follow'd some Days after by a second, charg'd with a Letter from Prince Eugene of Savoy, who therein gave a sublime Encomium on the Valor of the Prussian Troops. I have been an Eye-witness, said he in his Letter, particularly with regard to the Infantry of the Right Wing, that all the Officers as well as the common Soldiers fought with the most intrepid Courage, and for several Hours check'd the Efforts of the Enemy, who at length not being able to resist their Bravery, and the continual Fire which they made, were put into such a Confusion, that

they were oblig'd to fly with Precipitation, and to abandon the Field of Battle to us. The Prince attributes this vigorous Action of the Prussian Soldiers to the most exemplary Courage and Valor of the Prince of Anhalt their Commander. 'Tis but Justice, continu'd Prince Eugene, to give the Prince of Anhalt the Praise he has so well deserved. He hazarded his Person upon all Occasions, and not intimidated by the Danger to which he expos'd it, I always saw him at the Head of his Troops, leading them on to Battle, and encouraging them by his own Example; so that it may be said to his Honor, that he contributed the greatest Share to that Victory. This was a Panegyric the more pleasing to the Subject of it, because it proceeded from the Mouth of a Prince, who was too great a Master of Courage to be mistaken.

After the Campaign was over, my Lord Marlborough came to Berlin, where he receiv'd all the Marks of Esteem from the King, which he could possibly have desired. Every Point that he negociated for the Operations of the Campaign was granted him, and he went away from Court highly satisfied. As soon as he was gone the Prince Royal set out for Hanover, from whence he went to Holland; and he intended to pass over to England, but an Event which happen'd to the Grief of him and the whole Court, oblig'd him to return to Berlin.

This was the unexpected Death of the Queen, on the 1st of February 1705, after a few days Illness. This Princess us'd for some time past to go to Hanover, to make a Visit to the Electoress her Mother, of whom, as I have already had the Honor to acquaint you, she was extremely fond. The Day that she was to set

out for this Journey she found herself indispos'd, but did not discover it, for fear lest the King should not permit her to go. Her Illness continu'd during the whole Journey, and When she came to Hanover, what with the fatigue of receiving Visits from the Ladies of the Court, and her dancing at a Ball the same day, she grew much worse. She came from the Ball with a Soreness in her Throat, which prov'd so violent that the Physicians and Surgeons soon despair'd of curing her. The Queen, tho' in the Flower of her Age, was not at all terrify'd when she saw Death approaching her. She wrote a very tender Letter to the King, in which she thanked him for the Love he had always manifested to her, and recommended her Domestics to him. Her Brother the Duke Ernest Augustus was so deeply concern'd to see her in such a condition, that she did what she could to comfort him: There is nothing so natural, said she to him, as Death; 'tis unavoidable, and tho' I am young enough to hope to live a few Years longer, yet I am not loth to die.

M. de la Bergerie the Minister of the French Church, who assisted her in her last Moments, was so surpriz'd at her courage and calmness, that he was more attentive to hear her than to exhort her. I have, said she, for twenty Years seriously study'd my Religion, and have read the Books that treat of it with too much application to be in any doubt as to my Principles. You cannot mention any thing to me but what I have read, and what you can say to me will certainly add nothing to my Opinion. Then turning towards my Cousin, who was on the other side of her Bed, Alas! said she, what a deal of needless Ceremony is now going to be us'd about this Body of mine! At

the same time almost, she stretch'd out her Hand to Duke Ernest her Brother, and said to him, Dear Brother, I am choak'd; and that Moment she expir'd.

A Courier was immediately dispatch'd to the Prince Royal, who was at the Hague, and M. de Bulau the Steward of the Queen's Houshold carried the News to the King, who was so surpriz'd at it, that he fainted away several times. When he came to himself he shew'd marks of the sincerest Affliction, and seem'd fully sensible what a loss he had sustain'd. Indeed this Princess truly deserv'd his Lamentation, as well as the Sorrow of the whole State; and I for my part with my whole Family lost a solid and sincere Protectress.

The King's Grief was such, that it had no Interval, but in his application to pay those Honours to the Queen, that were due to her Rank. He was willing to signalize it by the magnificence of a Funeral Pomp, and for this purpose he himself issued the necessary Orders. The Elector of Hanover (afterwards King of England) omitted nothing on his part to shew his Sorrow for the loss of so dear a Sister. Her Body was laid for several days upon a sumptuous Bed of State; her Ladies and the Officers of her Houshold who had waited on her to Hanover encompass'd it, and the Elector's Guards and Officers stay'd with the Queen's Corpse, and pay'd the same Attendance as if she had been living. When every thing was ready to carry the Corpse to Berlin, the Elector caus'd it to be convey'd by all his Guards even to the Frontiers of the Duchy of Zell, where it was receiv'd by M. de Bulau the Grand Marshal of the Court, who conducted it to the Territories of Brandenburg; and there it

was receiv'd by the Count de Witgenstein, who accompany'd it as far as Berlin, where I remember it arriv'd about ten o'clock at Night in a terrible Shower of Rain. The King accompany'd by the Prince Royal and the Margraves in long Mourning-Cloaks and by the Ladies of the Court in deep Mourning-Veils, receiv'd the Queen's Corpse at its being taken out of the Funeral-Chariot, and accompany'd it into the Old Chapel where a magnificent Cataphalque was erected for depositing it.

It represented a Temple of an Oval Form, whose Roof was supported by Pillars of the Corinthian Order, between each of which were plac'd Statues that represented the Queen's Vertues. In the middle of the Cataphalque just in the Upright there was a Glory, in which there was the Queen's Cypher form'd by Stars. All the Statues, that were silver'd, added to the Lustres, Branches and Chandeliers, made a noble Contrast with the Black that cover'd the Walls and the Roof. There the Queen's Corpse was repos'd till every thing was ready for her Interment. I will not here enter into the detail of that Ceremony, which was one of the most magnificent. What I observ'd extraordinary in it was, that 'twas the King's pleasure that the Parliament of Orange, of which the greatest part were Refugees at Court, should appear there in their Scarlet Robes.

The Queen's Death occasion'd no alteration in Affairs; for she meddled with the Government very little, and left all the care of it to the King and his Ministers: But in matters of Pleasure she was not so unconcern'd; and she understood them so well, that she was soon miss'd. The Courtiers sustain'd a Lose that was irreparable; for this Princess, who knew every body, was perfectly

acquainted with every one's Birth and Merit, and took a delight to distinguish them. Being lofty, but at the same time polite, she knew better than any body in the World what it was to keep a Court; and being virtuous without meanness, she could tell (which is no easy matter) how to prescribe just Bounds to that Air of Gallantry, which alone is capable of rendering a Court agreeable, and preserving Politeness in it.

The only Princess capable of supplying her place was the Margravine Philippa, who then held the first Rank at Court. She was the Daughter of the Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, and of the Princess of Orange. She was good-natur'd and merry, and fond of Pleasures, but understood the delicacy of them. She might sometimes have made us forget the loss of the Queen, if the austere and perhaps jealous Humor of her Husband the Margrave Philip had not inclin'd that Prince to prefer his Residence at his House at Schwedt to the Court.

Soon after the Queen, died the Emperor Leopold; which was an Event that affected us not so much as the other, but concern'd the rest of Europe more. It was presently imagin'd that the Views to the Succession of Spain would have suffer'd some alteration by this Prince's Death; for the Emperor Joseph who succeeded his Father having no Son, the Archduke his Brother who disputed the Crown of Spain with the Duke of Anjou was his only Heir, and might one day or other by his Death become Master of the Empire, and of the Dominions of the House of Austria. Therefore they who dreaded to see the two Crowns united upon one Head, had as much and more reason to fear the Archduke's making himself Master of Spain; the Duke of Anjou

who was already in possession of that Crown, being at that time very remote from that of France, by reason of the great number of Princes that had a prior Right to his. Nevertheless the Powers of Europe were not mov'd by these Reflections, and the War was continu'd on the side of the Allies with considerable Success.

The King of Sweden might, if he had pleased, have stopp'd the progress of it, and immortaliz'd his Name by rendring himself the Arbiter of a Quarrel, which divided Europe; for the Prosperity of his Arms had render'd him the Terror of all the Powers in the North. He had in the Year 1704 depriv'd the Elector of Saxony of the Crown of Poland, by causing King Stanislaus Leszinski the Palatine of Posen, to be proclaim'd King of Poland; and he was already in the middle of Saxony where he committed universal Ravage, and when he might have turn'd the Balance which way he pleas'd, the wrong Advice of his Favorite, corrupted by my Lord Marlborough, was the cause of the Misfortunes into which that Prince was afterwards precipitated.

Our Court has had a sufficient share in these different Events; but perhaps, Madame, 'tis so little known at your's as to deserve your Curiosity: but I will only tell you of what I think most important.

The Swedes and Poles had scarce laid down their Arms when the Differences between the King of Denmark and the Duke of Holstein gave them a fresh occasion to take them up again. In the Conferences that were begun at Pinneberg in 1696, there were hopes that those Princes would soon be reconcil'd; but they only patch'd up a Peace which could not last long, because of the Umbrage the King of Denmark took at the Duke

of Holstein's strict Alliance with Sweden; and they quarrel'd again about the limits of their Dominions. The Danes were the Aggressors, and they demanded a reinforcement of four thousand Men of the King of Poland. This Prince, who naturally took part with those that declar'd against Sweden, was pleas'd well enough with the Danes Demand, and as there was an absolute necessity of passing those Troops over the Lands of the King, (at that time Elector) he sent the Count de Flemming, now his Prime Minister, to our Court, in order to sollicite their passage. Of a great many Arguments that were alledg'd against it, the most specious were, 'That the Mediators being still actually employ'd in procuring a just and equitable Accommodation, it was the duty of a Mediator to hinder the Rupture, rather than contribute to it by favoring this passage: That the Court of Prussia was Guarantee for the King of Sweden and the Duke of Holstein, that neither of those two Princes should begin the War against the King of Denmark; and that consequently as War was not declar'd against that Prince, his Danish Majesty had no need of Foreign Assistance; and that finally by giving passage to those Troops the Duke of Holstein would have just reason to accuse the Mediation of Partiality.' Nevertheless, after all these fine reasons, the four thousand Men had their Passage, either from surprise or the connivance of the Court. The King of Poland on his part, in order to make a considerable Diversion in favor of the King of Denmark, brought Troops from Livonia and besieg'd Riga, which then belong'd to the Swedes. This Conduct of the King of Poland, was, Madame, as the fatal Signal and the Primum Mobile of that

tragical War, which tho' so glorious for the King of Sweden in the beginning, ended in the ruin not only of his Kingdom, but also of Poland and Saxony. And the greatest Gainer by it was the Czar.

The Danes while they waited for the Succours they had demanded from Poland, besieg'd the Fortress of Tonningen in the Duchy of Sleswic. The King of Sweden and the Duke of Holstein, before they oppos'd this Enterprize, preferr'd their Complaints to the Dyet of the Empire, and then prepar'd for driving the Danes out of the Country. The Elector of Hanover and the Duke of Zell join'd those two Princes, and the latter marching to the Relief of Tonningen had the Honor of obliging the Besiegers to abandon it, upon the report only of his Approach. This Prince therefore having nothing to do towards Tonningen, went with his Troops and rejoin'd the Elector of Hanover. They met the four thousand Men whom the King of Poland was sending to the Assistance of the Danes, but only took their Baggage and Arms, and then left them at liberty to return home.

The King of Sweden, on his part, push'd on the War against the Poles. That great Prince whom extraordinary Undertakings never startled, having already ravag'd a part of Poland, design'd a bold stroke, which was no less than dethroning the lawful King of that Country, and setting up another in his room. He had cast his eyes upon James of Poland, Son of King John Sobieski; but the King of Poland parry'd this blow, by causing the Prince James and his Brother Prince Constantine, to be carried away from an Estate of theirs near Breslau to Saxony, where they were strictly guarded like

Prisoners at the Castle of Leipsic. The Confinement of these Princes did indeed hinder either of them from being elected King; but the King of Sweden still persisted in his design of dethroning the King of Poland, on purpose to be reveng'd of that Prince for being so rash as to be the first that declar'd War against him. He caused the Election to fall upon Stanislaus Leczinski the Palatine of Posen. The Bishop of Posen officiated as Cardinal Primate in this Ceremony, and proclaim'd the new King. The King of Sweden wrote to all the Princes with whom he was at peace, to acquaint them of this new Election, and to exhort them to recognize it. The Letter he wrote to our King had no Influence over him; for he made answer, that he had recogniz'd one King of Poland already, and that as long as he liv'd he would acknowledge no other. He wrote at the same time to the King of Poland, to demand the Liberty of the two Princes. The Emperor, to whom the eldest had the Honour of being Brother-in-law, seconded the King's Demand; but the Solicitations of both had no consequence, and the Princes were not releas'd till a long time after.

The following Year the King undertook to procure a Peace between the Kings of Sweden and Poland; but as the view of such Reconciliation was to re-establish the Prince of Saxony upon the Throne of Poland, the King of Sweden would hearken to no Proposal of Peace, unless the dethron'd King would solemnly renounce the Crown. Mean time his Swedish Majesty, in order to mollify his Refusal of the King's Mediation, sent an Ambassador-Extraordinary to him to recognize him as King of Prussia. This Ambassador

was the first that ever made a public Entry at Berlin, and 'twas one of the most splendid that cou'd be, tho' all the Equipages were in Mourning by reason of the Death of the Queen.

Thus did this crafty King, by amusing those he had a mind to keep fair with, always push at his own ends. He continu'd to ravage Poland, and drove the King from thence into his Electorate of Saxony. There the Swedish Soldiers took up their Winter-Quarters, and committed such Outrages as one would not have expected from a Nation so fruitful in Heroes. The Swedish Prince signaliz'd his Entrance into Saxony by a glorious Action, which was procuring the Liberty of the two Polish Princes, who had for two Years been detain'd Prisoners with very great Severity and as little Reason. He afterwards march'd through all Saxony with the haughtiness of a Conqueror who comes to prescribe Laws to those whom he has reduc'd to his Obedience. As for King Stanislaus whom he had caus'd to be crown'd King of Poland at Warsaw, he led him about, with him as it were in Triumph. As this new King advanc'd towards the Territories of the Electorate of Brandenburg, to meet the Queen his Wife who was coming from Stetin, our Court caus'd all the Honours to be paid to him that were due to the Royal Dignity, without recognizing him all the while for King. This Complaisance of our Court won the King of Sweden's Heart. Mean time the Neighbourhood of this great Monarch, who, where-ever he march'd, carried Fire and Sword with him, gave vast uneasiness, and the Joy was as great when he manifested a Design to turn his Arms against the Muscovites, which he was put upon to do by the English. They

had for some time past suspected him to be supported under-hand by France, and they thought the best way to embroil him with that Crown was to engage him in a War with the Czar. The Person commission'd to negociate this Affair was my Lord Marlborough, who went to the King of Sweden, and soon put his Negociation in a hopeful way to succeed. He found about the King a Minister so sordid, that he was not proof against an Offer of three hundred thousand Crowns, to betray his Master into a War which could not but be fatal to him; whereas, if he had pleas'd, he might have acquir'd immortal Glory in the midst of Saxony, by rendring himself the Umpire of two of the most potent Families in Europe, then contending for the Crown of Spain. This Minister knowing his Master's ambitious Temper, propos'd no less to him than dethroning the Czar. The young Monarch full of Zeal and Courage did not imagine how impossible it was to dethrone a Prince who was retir'd behind Provinces quite deserted, and where the Snow lay so deep that 'twas difficult to distinguish whether they walk'd upon Land or Rivers. He march'd out of the Electorate of Saxony at the Head of his Troops about the end of the Year 1707. Never had People juster Reasons for giving public Marks of their Joy, than the Saxons had to see the Swedish Monarch turn his Back to them. His Troops had committed excessive Outrages in the Electorate; all the flat Country of Saxony was intirely ruin'd, and, except some great Towns such as Leipsic, where they generously enough spent part of the Money they had extorted from the poor Saxon Peasant, there was not a Hamlet but was laid waste to such a degree, that there were no hopes

of its being restor'd to its original Condition one while.

Yet if the Misfortunes of an Enemy can in any measure compensate the Losses he has occasion'd, the Saxons had all the reason in the World to be pleas'd in the Sequel. The Swedish Troops gave way every where to the Muscovites, who flush'd with former Victories, beat them to nothing.

The greatest Loss the King of Sweden sustain'd was near Pultowa. This Prince, who was more ambitious than prudent, being got too far into Muscovy, did not perceive his error till it was too late to retrieve it. The Czar had the Precaution, as he retir'd a little before into his own Dominions, to burn above forty Leagues of Country thro' which the King of Sweden was to pass to him; so that this Prince soon found himself in a very sad situation, not being able to stay in a place where there was no manner of Provision, and forc'd to engage with an Army well intrench'd and far superior to his own. But there was no avoiding it, and a Battle was fought the 8th of July 1709, when the Swedes were all either cut in pieces or taken Prisoners by the Muscovites. The King who was oblig'd by a Wound in his Heel to be carry'd in a Litter had like to have been kill'd, for one Cannon-Ball kill'd one of his Horses, and a second demolish'd his Litter. The whole Army was in pain for the King's Life; but the Officers who were near his Person snatch'd him out of danger, and advis'd him to provide for his safety. This Prince was very loth to comply with such a resolution, but finding himself oblig'd to yield to Force, retir'd to Bender, a little Town at the entrance of Moldavia, which belongs to the Turkish Empire. The King of Sweden was no sooner safe,

but the Remains of his Army with their Generals at their head submitted to the Conqueror. This, Madame, was the Success of the Battle of Pultowa; a Battle glorious to the Muscovites, but so fatal to the King of Sweden that he could never recover it: For after this Defeat this young Hero was always expos'd to the most cruel Reverses of that very Fortune, which in his early Years seem'd to delight in heaping Favors on him.

Mean time the two Families in competition for the Crown of Spain had not yet sheath'd their Swords. The King of Sweden was even yet in the Electorate of Saxony when the French lost the famous Battle of Ramellies, which procur'd the Allies the greatest part of the Spanish Netherlands. The Troops in Italy also distinguish'd themselves, and particularly the Prussians, who had so great a share in the raising of the Siege of Turin, that the Duke of Savoy wrote a Letter to the King, in which he extolled the Valor of the Prussian Generals and Soldiers. "Yesterday, said he, the Enemy's Army was intirely put to the rout in their own Lines before this place (Turin), in which your Majesty's Troops had the greatest share, and I can never enough commend their Bravery, nor the notable Valour of the Prince of Anhalt, who led them on, &c." This Letter was dated the 8th of September, 1706.

The Prince of Anhalt too sent an Express with the same News to the King, and gave a great Character of the Troops under his Command. "As your Majesty's Troops, said he, in his Letter, were the first that enter'd the Enemy's Trenches, so they have suffer'd very much, and especially the Grenadiers. I may

say that your Majesty's Forces have behav'd so well, that they are intitled to universal Praise and Admiration, &c." Then he enter'd into the Detail of the Losses sustain'd by the French, which were indeed very considerable. 'Twas upon this occasion that the Marshal de Marsin was wounded and taken Prisoner, and besides forty-five Pieces of heavy Cannon and one hundred and forty lesser that were taken from them, they lost a great Convoy of two thousand Mules and one thousand Horses, which was guarded by the Regiment of Dragoons of Chatillon.

The raising of this Siege, and the Reputation the Prussian Troops thereby acquired was very acceptable News to the King, and while the Court was rejoicing for this, there arriv'd other Advices which gave them no less pleasure; and that was the raising of the Siege of Barcelona. This City had been besieg'd for some time by the Marshal de Tesse; but King Charles who defended it made so stout a Resistance and such destructive Sallies upon the French Army, that the latter was oblig'd to retire. The King was inform'd of it by an Express from King Charles.

So many Successes one after another rais'd the hopes of the Allies prodigiously. The Terror the French Arms had for a long time impress'd upon their Minds soon wore off, and nothing was heard every where but shouts of Joy, to see so haughty a Nation at last humbled. Our Court was more rejoic'd than any other at this great News, and every one envy'd the Fortune of the Prussian Soldiers, when they saw that the Duke of Savoy and the Prince of Anhalt themselves, gave them the highest Encomia.

At this happy Juncture was celebrated the Marriage of the Prince Royal, which had been concluded at Hanover, a Journey the King made thither with the Prince his Son. This young Prince had for a long time such a veneration for the Princess the Elector's Daughter, as 'twas possible for the most accomplish'd Merit to inspire him with, and of all the Princesses in the World she was like to be the most acceptable to her Subjects; she represented to us the Idea of the late Queen, and as she was her Niece and design'd to succeed to her Dominions, she seem'd also to have inherited all the great Qualities that made the former ador'd at our Court. The Electoral Prince of Hanover married her at Hanover by Proxy, in presence of the Count de Finck the King's Ambassador. The Princess set out from thence some days after with a Train becoming her present and her future Dignity. The Elector her Father had given her the most magnificent Suits of Apparel and Jewels that could be got for Money, and they were purchas'd at Paris by a Man sent on purpose. The Duchess of Orleans was desirous to chuse and give Directions for the Clothes, and she afterwards shewed them to Lewis XIV. who thought them so rich that he said it were to be wish'd for the sake of the Mercers of Paris, that there were more Princesses that could afford to make such Purchases.

'Twas Novemb. 27, 1706, that this Princess made her public Entry at Berlin. The King met her about half a League out of Town. As soon as her Royal Highness perceiv'd the King's Coach she alighted, as the King did also from his and went to meet her. After having embraced the Princess he presented the

Prince Royal to her, together with his Brothers and the two Princesses. Then the King took Coach again, where the Princess plac'd herself on the King's left hand; and the two Margraves sate over-against them; the Prince-Royal and the King's three Brothers being mounted on Horseback. The Entry was one of the most magnificent that was ever seen. All the Troops then at Berlin were under Arms, as well as all the City-Militia, and drawn up in a Line from the Out-parts of the Town quite to the Palace. The next day after the Princess's Arrival, there was a sumptuous Feast, at which the Prince Royal and the Princess had Arm-Chairs, but for that day only; for the next day their Royal Hignesses sate in upright Chairs at the two ends of the Table.

Our Court was then as splendid as in the time of the late Queen. There was a continual Round of Pleasures, and every day was remarkable for Feasts, Balls, Comedies, &c. These Rejoicings had lasted a good while, when all on a sudden we had a most terrible Alarm. The King fell dangerously ill, and his Physicians began to despair of his Recovery. But God, who always considers the Wants of his People, did us the favor to restore him to us for a while longer. Upon his Recovery he receiv'd the Compliments of the whole Court, and the Congratulations of the Princes his Allies, who acknowledg'd as well as his Subjects how necessary his Preservation was to the Common Cause.

Not long after the King's Recovery, I saw the young Count de Metternich arrive at Berlin, who came to bring the King Advice, That the Swissers had at length recogniz'd his Majesty for Sovereign Prince of Neufchâtel, preferably to the

other Princes his Competitors. The Count de Metternich, who was the King's Ambassador in Swisserland, had the good Fortune to carry this Point, notwithstanding the Menaces of France, who asserted the Interests of several of her Subjects, at the Head of whom was the Prince of Conti. Madame de Nemours, the Sovereign of Neufchâtel, was no sooner dead, but each of the Claimants put in their Plea of Right to this Sovereignty. As soon as the News of her Death was confirm'd, the King sent Orders to M. de Metternich, his Ambassador-Extraordinary and his Plenipotentiary in Swisserland, to repair to Neufchâtel and take care of his Interests. He went thither accordingly on the 30th of June, and caus'd a Memorial to be distributed at his Arrival, containing the King's Right to the said Principality. The French Competitors on their part distributed another, to establish their own Rights, and invalidate the Pretensions of the King. There happen'd to be Disputes between the Prince of Conti and the Prussian Ambassador about Precedency. M. de Puisieux the Ambassador of France, as it was his Duty to do, maintain'd the Interests of the Prince of Conti, and presented to the Council of Neufchâtel a Memorial so haughty and menacing, as if it had come from victorious France in the Time when she was flush'd with Conquests. He said in this Memorial, "That the King his Master cannot look with Indifference upon the Conduct at Neufchâtel, in presuming to be so disrespectful to the Princes of his Family; that it wou'd be the wisest way for the Gentlemen of the Council speedily to take Measures to prevent this Pretension of the Prussian Minister from being carried any further, a Pretension, said

he, which has no Foundation, but in Malice or Ignorance; because even tho' the new Title, which the Elector of Brandenburg has assum'd for some years, were universally recogniz'd, yet this very Pretension of his Ambassador's would be always chimerical." Here M. de Puisieux gave them Warning, "That if they did not soon alter their Conduct, the King of France wou'd take Measures very opposite to the pacific and kind Sentiments which he had entertain'd since the Affair of Neufchâtel was first in agitation." Such, Madame, was the Strain in which the French Minister talk'd. This Memorial was follow'd by several others, which went to the very bottom of the Affair; and M. de Puisieux, in order to engage the Council of Neufchâtel to favour the French Claimants, still continued to talk in such a high Stile, as prejudiced every body against the Side that he espous'd. You may judge of this Ambassador's manner of Negociation, by the last Memorial which he presented towards the close of October 1707. After having establish'd the Right of the French Competitors with continual Invectives, he concluded thus; If it happens contrary to my Expectation, that your Answer is not conformable to what I demand,—I have fresh Orders from his Majesty to assure you, that nothing will be capable to hinder the Effects of his Indignation, or to screen you from that just Vengeance which he proposes to take. Then, as if he affected to speak in a softer Strain, he said to them with an Air of Protection, "That he hop'd while he staid at Neufchâtel, to find favourable Inclinations for the entire Performance of what he wish'd for." 'Tis the only thing you can do (these are the last Words of his Memorial) to merit the Continuance

of his Majesty's Good-will. I wish for my own part, that you wou'd furnish me with Opportunities to help maintain you in it. But all these Menaces of the French Ambassador came to nothing, and only procur'd him sharp Answers from the Ambassadors of Prussia, England, and Holland; for things went on in the same Course in the Council of Neufchâtel, and the whole Affair was determined to the Satisfaction of the King, who was proclaim'd Sovereign thereof on the 3d of November 1707.

As soon as the King had been recogniz'd in that Sovereignty, the Count de Metternich sent his Son to his Majesty with the Sentence of the three Estates, declaring the King lawful Heir of the said Principality, by Louisa of Nassau his Mother, the eldest Daughter of Prince Frederic-Henry, Son of William of Nassau call'd the Belgic, to whom there had been a Transfer of the Rights of the House of Chalons, to which the Sovereignty and Domaine of Neufchâtel originally belong'd.

The News of the Acquisition of this Sovereignty cou'd not but be very acceptable to the King, who gave the young Count a most favorable Reception, made him noble Presents, and amongst others, gave him the Key of Chamberlain.

Not many days after, viz. Nov. 23, 1707, the Court had a fresh Subject of Joy, by the Princess Royal's safe Delivery of a Prince, whom the King immediately declared Prince of Orange, and made him at the same time a Knight of the Grand Order. His Majesty after this dispatch'd Couriers to his Ambassadors at the Courts of the Princes his Allies to acquaint them of the Birth of his Grandson. M. de Spanheim the Ambassador in England received Orders to desire the

Queen to be God-mother to the young Prince;, and M. de Schmettau Ambassador in Holland, and M. de Metternich Ambassador in Swisserland, were charged to invite the States with whom they resided to be God-fathers. Besides these Powers, the King and the Elector of Hanover were God-fathers, and the Electoress of Hanover was God-mother. The Baptism was performed with great Magnificence on the 3d of December in the Church of the Dome. The Joy at Court for the Birth of this Prince was of no long Duration; for in a few Months after, he died: but the Sorrow for the Loss of him was alleviated, by the Hopes that the Prince Royal had Youth and Health enough to give us soon more Heirs. The Incident that was most alarming, was the weakly Condition of the King, who recover'd but slowly from his Grand Ailment; so that his Physicians advis'd him to make use of the Waters ofCarlsbadt in Bohemia; and at the beginning of the fine Season, his Majesty went thither accordingly.

The King's Departure being resolv'd on, I begg'd his Majesty's leave, to make the Campaign in Flanders in quality of a Voluntier. I set out from Berlin with the Gens d'Arms, in which my Brother was a Cornet, and we join'd the Army near Louvain. The Count de Lottum receiv'd me as a Voluntier; and I had the Pleasure to be near him all the Campaign. Not many days after I had reached the Army, the Electoral Prince of Hanover, (now George II. King of England) arrived in the Camp of my Lord Marlborough, and did that General the Honor to serve with him as a Voluntier. The young Prince distinguish'd himself very much in this Campaign, and gave the

English sufficient Proof that he was worthy hereafter of wearing their Crown. 'Twas in this Campaign that the famous Battel of Audenarde was fought, in which the French were again obliged to yield to the Efforts of the Allies. It must be said however, in their favor, that they were forc'd to fight without Artillery; for they had but four Pieces of Cannon, the rest of their Ordnance and Baggage not being yet arriv'd. The Action was very hot on both sides; they fought for several Hours with exceeding Obstinacy, and always with a considerable Loss on the part of the Enemy; whose Infantry was not only put to the rout, but a great many Squadrons of the French King's Houshold Troops; which advanc'd to support the Foot; were cut in pieces; whereupon the Confusion was so great, and the fire so furious in several places at once, that 'twas almost impossible to distinguish the Allies from the Enemy; therefore Orders were given to fire no more till next Morning, but to let the Enemy escape, rather than run the risque of putting our own Army in confusion.

The Night being come, the French scarce made any more Resistance but retir'd by the way that goes from Audenarde to Ghent, thro' the Village of Heusden. This very Evening as I was standing with some Officers of the Guards, at a small distance from the Prussian Guards, I perceiv'd a Trooper riding full speed towards us, who, when he arriv'd said, Gentlemen, the Duke de Vendosme orders you to retire towards Ghent. I cannot express to you how much he was surpriz'd when we told him for Answer, That he was a Prisoner. Kill me, said he, upon the spot, I don't desire to out-live what has happened to me. We comforted him as well as we cou'd, and carried

him to the Count de Lottum's Quarters, to whom he made himself known for M. Duplanti, Aid de Camp to the Duke de Vendosme. What led him into the mistake was the Habit of the Prussian Guards, which is not very different from that of the French.

The Battle of Audenarde was the more glorious for the Allies, because it was a Victory gain'd over the Duke of Burgundy who commanded the Army of France, and had with him the Duke of Berry his Brother, and the Chevalier de St. George; but they say this Battle was quite against the Opinion of the Duke de Vendosme, whose Advice was not hearken'd to, and the Cabals which the Duke of Burgundy gave into, hinder'd the Designs of that famous General from being follow'd, and were the Cause of the Loss of the Battle.

Next day about ten o'clock at Night the Count de Lottum was detach'd from the Grand Army with forty Squadrons and thirty Battalions, and without any Resistance took possession, of the Lines towards Ypres, which were immediately demolish'd. The 19th of that Month was celebrated by the Army as a Day of Thanksgiving for the Victory they had gain'd; upon which all the Cannon were fir'd, and there was a triple Salvo of all the small Arms.

On the 26th, my Lord Marlborough, who only waited for a Convoy of the heavy Artillery to begin the Siege of Lisle, sent a Detachment to Brussels, where there was a considerable Train, which came partly from Sas van Ghent and Maestricht. This March was cover'd by 22,000 Men of Prince Eugene's Army, which he himself commanded in Person. This great Convoy arriving

safe before Lisle, the Town was invested the 13th of August. As it was one of the most considerable Sieges that had been undertaken for a long time; and as 'twas natural to expect a vigorous Resistance, on the part of the Marshal de Boufflers who commanded in the Place, there came Voluntiers from all Quarters to the Camp of the Besiegers. Two great Princes, both able Generals, thought fit to be present at this Siege, viz. the King of Poland and the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, who were at the opening of the Trenches, which was on the 22d at Night.

Some Days after, the Enemy approach'd so near to us, that it was believed they had an Inclination to engage. Our Generals were therefore at the head of the Army as soon as the Day broke. Prince Eugene join'd my Lord Marlborough with twenty-six Battalions and seventy-six Squadrons of his Army which form'd the Siege; and the Army being drawn up in three Lines, of which the two foremost consisted of the Cavalry; they remain'd in this Posture till about ten o' clock in the Forenoon, when 'twas visible that the Enemy had no mind to come to a Battle, and that they only meant to disturb us; for which Reason the Generals caus'd Entrenchments to be cast up, which were finish'd next Day, and the Detachment which Prince Eugene brought, was sent back again, excepting some Squadrons that staid.

There was then so little Apprehension of an Attack, that most of the Generals quitted the Grand Army to assist in the storming of the Counterscarp, which happen'd on the 5th of September at Night. Our Men earned it, tho' with very great Loss on our side, and made Lodgments on it. When this Attack was over,

we set out to return to the Grand Army; but to our misfortune the Guide that had conducted us, was run away; and as it was not then more than one or two o'clock in the Morning, we were in a very great Perplexity, and fell exactly into the Road that led to the Centre of the Enemy's Camp. I was on horseback, perhaps a hundred Yards from the Count de Lottum who was in his Coach, when all on a sudden I heard some body call out, Who goes there? I confess to you, Madame that I was somewhat surpriz'd, but I comforted my self with the Thought, that it was perhaps a Centinel of some Walloon Regiment of the Spanish Troops, so that I answer'd, Officers. We were got in the midst of Hedges and Trees, which hinder'd me of the Benefit of a little Moonlight, by which I might perhaps have discover'd with whom we had to do; and therefore I still went on: but I was no sooner out of the Thicket, than I found my self near enough to a Body of Horse, to discern that 'twas impossible it shou'd belong to us, because it was too near the Place, and because it fronted us. I presently saw our Danger; I turn'd back as gently as I cou'd possibly to the Count de Lottum, and told him what I had observ'd. M. de K—— his first Adjutant call'd me a Simpleton. Kraut the second Adjutant treated me in much the same Stile; and in short I had like to have been dismissed for a Fool; only the Count de Lottum thought it was Wisdom to run no hazard, and therefore he order'd his Coachman to turn about, and the Officer of the Ordnance was detach'd to see whether I was mistaken. The Truth of the Fact being by him confirm'd, the Adjutants were almost frighten'd out of their Wits, made a thousand Apologies, and promis'd to make me any sort of

amends, if we were but so fortunate as to escape the Danger which threaten'd us. At last we were delivered out of it, I don't well know how; for had the Enemy advanc'd ever so little, we were sure of being left dead on the Spot.

Thus, Madame, have I given you what pass'd most remarkable since the Storm of the Counterscarp. On the 11th, some Motion was made on the part of the Enemy, who even advanc'd almost up to our Trenches; but we were in a Posture to receive them. Their Army lay all Night under Arms, and next Morning at Daybreak drew up in Order of Battle, but contrary to our Expectation nothing came of it; for the Princes of France, the Chevalier de St. George, the Duke de Vendosme, and several General Officers contented themselves with taking a View of our Camp; but as they advanc'd somewhat too near to our Intrenchments, we were oblig'd to be a little rude to such great Princes, and to let fly some Cannon-Ball among them, whereupon they thought fit to retire.

My Lord Duke heard the same Day, that M. de Chamillard, Secretary at War, was arriv'd from Versailles in the Army of France, to be present at a Council which was to be held there. It was therein resolv'd, That we should not be attack'd, and that their only Business should be to cut off our Convoys from Brussels. To execute this Project they posted themselves behind the Scheld, from whence they indeed did very much incommode us. We had no Passage left now but from Ostend, by which General Webb brought us a considerable Convoy. M. de la Motte, a Lieutenant-General of the French Army endeavor'd to hinder its Passage; he had also the Advantage of the Ground. Nevertheless he was defeated near

Wynendale. To this Convoy may be ascrib'd the Conquest of Lisle, which was at length oblig'd to surrender on the 28th of October, and the Marshal de Boufflers retir'd into the Citadel; yet as brave as the Garison was that march'd into it with him, he could not hold it out long. Thus the Allies gain'd some considerable Advantage or other every day. Never did they make a more glorious Campaign; for besides the taking of Lisle and its Citadel, they had also the Glory in this same Campaign of raising the Siege which the Elector of Bavaria had laid to Brussels, and of reducing Ghent and Bruges.

I forgot to tell you, that during the Siege of Lisle, we had like to have lost Prince Eugene. This Prince receiv'd a Packet one day by the Post, and having broke it open, he saw a greasy Paper, which gave him a mistrust; but he only threw it upon the Ground, and a Person that gathered it up being taken ill, it induc'd them to make an Experiment upon a Dog, which when they had rubb'd it about his Nose, died that Instant. Thus was God pleas'd to preserve this Hero from the basest of Treasons.

I wish'd I could have been at the taking of Lisle, but was oblig'd to quit the Army some time before, M. Dankelman my Tutor having receiv'd the King's Orders to send me to Berlin, where his Majesty design'd to give me a Place at Court; and as he had Thoughts of marrying again, he propos'd to prefer me to an Employment under the new Queen.

The King's Marriage was talk'd of at the Waters of Carelsbadt. I have had the honor to acquaint you, Madame, that the Physicians not knowing what Remedy to prescribe, for curing him of the Faintness, which was the Relic of his

great illness in 1707, had at all adventures order'd the Waters of Carelsbadt, and the King was perfectly recover'd by them. The Recovery of his Health reviv'd the Pleasures of the Court. The voluptuous Courtier, who had not yet forgot what the Presence of an amiable Queen is capable of doing, began to form Vows, that the King might make a Choice as good as the first: nay, the matter was carried farther; it was mention'd to his Majesty, who was told withal, that nothing was more necessary, than to think immediately of a second Marriage; and that the Prince Royal having no Children, there was Danger of his Majesty's leaving no Issue. In short, every body voted so heartily for a Marriage, that the King, who also was desirous of it, declar'd he wou'd marry again. The only difficulty was to know, who should be the Princess that was to be advanc'd to the Throne; and then arose several Parties, who had each very different Views.

The Great Chamberlain was for the Princess of Nassau-Friesland, a Marriage with whom, he imagin'd, would put an end to all the Disputes about King William's Succession. The King approv'd of the Proposal, and sent the Baron de Schalifer to negociate the Treaty. You would not believe perhaps, Madame, that the very Mother of this Princess caus'd it to miscarry, from a Jealousy of her Daughter's Grandeur. Her Pretext was, that she had before vainly flatter'd herself with the Hopes of marrying her Daughter to the Prince Royal; that she had been bubbled then; and that it would be the same thing now. The Assurances that the Baron gave her to the contrary, and the Advantages he shew'd her would accrue to her Family from this Match, were all to no

purpose; she remain'd inflexible; and told him in plain Terms, that she could not bear to think of seeing her Daughter so much above her. The Baron having made some other Attempts, this jealous Mother prevail'd on her Daughter to refuse the greatest Offer she could ever hope for. A great many of the Courtiers were not sorry to see this Match broke off. They had been jealous for a long time of the great Credit of the Prince of Anhalt, who being Uncle to the Princess in question, 'twas natural to presume, that she would grow more powerful than before, besides the being more united than ever to the Great Chamberlain, to whom the Prince would be oblig'd for this Marriage.

Then the Princess of Hesse was propos'd, and the Princess of Culmbach. The former had the Negative put upon her the very Moment that she was mention'd, and that by the King himself. The latter was known to the King, who had seen her at Hall, as he return'd from Carelsbadt. His Majesty thought very well of her, and had even seem'd inclinable to determine in her favor, when, opposite Cabals were set at work, which quite frustrated the Proposal.

The Duchess of Zeitz, the King's Sister, who married a Duke of Meckelbourg to her first Husband, proposed the Princess of Meckelbourg to the King. His Majesty, who had still perhaps the Princess of Culmbach in his Thoughts, did not seem at first to relish this Proposal; nevertheless upon the Instances made to him by the Duchess his Sister, he promised her to see the Princess of Meckelbourg before he determin'd in favor of any other Person. This he did accordingly, some time after he return'd to Berlin, when he went to Schwerin, the Capital City of Meckelbourg,

on pretence of endeavoring to accommodate the Differences between the Duke and the Nobility. There it was that the King saw the Princess; she pleas'd him, and besides he had heard so much in her Praise, that at length he determin'd to have her; and as soon as he return'd to Oranienbourg, he declared his Marriage.

This News did not create so much Joy at our Court as I imagin'd it wou'd; and the Courtiers began to reflect seriously, upon what they had seem'd to wish for with Impatience. They call'd to mind the Time of the late Queen. Moreover, the Age and Health of the Prince and Princess Royal gave them ground enough to hope, that the Brandenburg Family would not want Heirs. In fine, the Character of Mother-in-law, ever hated, gave Apprehension that there wou'd soon be a Division in the Royal Family. For my own part, I verily believe, Madame, that what most of all disgusted the Courtiers, in the Choice which the King had now made, was, that the Queen was a devout Lady, a Quality not very likely to make that Air of Gallantry prevail at Court, which captivates the Heart of the Courtier.

The King had no sooner declar'd his Intention to marry again, but there was a Multitude of Sollicitors to be of the Queen's Houshold. One Bassompierre put himself upon the List, and he desir'd the King wou'd make him the Queen's Chamberlain. The King made him answer, that he would put no Officers about the Queen, except such as should be agreeable to her; but that he would favor him so far, as to put him in the number of those that shou'd be propos'd to the Queen as soon as she arriv'd. Bassompierre

thought that by making previous Application to the Queen, he should not fail of being admitted, and therefore he set out Post to meet her. He told her Majesty that the King had sent him to be her Chamberlain. The Queen believ'd him, admitted him in that quality, and also gave him a Letter to carry to the King, with which he return'd to Berlin. He told the King, that the Queen had appointed him her Chamberlain. His Majesty easily imagin'd that the Queen had been surpriz'd; and being justly angry with Bassompierre, forbad him the Court. This Bassompierre had a Brother who came to Berlin the same time as he did: These two Gentlemen said they were of that honest Family of Bassompierre, of which there are some still in Lorrain: And by that Name they went, Anno 1707, in the Army in Flanders. The eldest said he had been a Colonel in France, and that his Brother was a Captain in the same Regiment. They pretended that they left their Country, the eldest for having fought a Duel, and the youngest for being his Second. The King had receiv'd them kindly, and given them Pensions, with a Promise to prefer them to the Army the first Opportunity that should offer. These two Brothers were at Court in a very agreeable Situation, and wou'd, no doubt, have long enjoy'd it, when the eldest attempted to be the Queen's Chamberlain; in which perhaps too he would have succeeded, if his Eagerness for it had not made him take that Step, by which he incurr'd his Majesty's Indignation. He was very much astonish'd at the Order which was signify'd to him, not to be seen any more at Court; and at length fearing he shou'd be found out to be what he really was, he retir'd, and went with his Brother to Saxony, where they were both admitted

into the King of Poland's Horse-Guards; but they did not enjoy that Shelter long: for the Electoress of Hanover having heard of their Intrigue at Berlin, wrote to a great Lady in France, and desir'd her to inform her who those Bassompierres were. The Lady, who knew nothing at all of 'em, naturally mistrusted that they were Fortune-Hunters; but for better Information she enquir'd of M. d'Argenson, Lieutenant of the Police, who upon the Description given him of those Gentlemen, discover'd they were a couple of Sparks, whose Duel of Honor wou'd have been rewarded with the Brand of the Flower de Lis and the Galleys, if they could have been apprehended in France. Upon this Discovery Messieurs de Bassompierre were banish'd out of Poland, and what became of them afterwards I cannot tell.

Mean time all the necessary Preparations were making at Berlin for the Reception of the Queen, who was preparing on her part for her public Entry. The Duke of Meckelbourg married the Princess his Sister by Proxy from the King. Next day the new Queen set out from Schwerin, in company with the Duchess her Mother, the Duke her Brother, and the Duchess of Meckelbourg her Sister-in law. This Train went with her to the very Frontier of Meckelbourg, which borders upon the Electorate of Brandenburg, and there the Queen found M. d'Erlach, Marshal of the Court, who receiv'd her in the King's Name, and offer'd her his House. This Princess, after having taken leave of her Family, took Coach and arriv'd at Oranienburg the 24th of November. The King went and met her about half a League from that House. As soon as she perceiv'd his Majesty, she alighted out of

her Coach and fell on her Knees. The King took her up and embrac'd her, and after presenting the whole Royal Family to her they went to the Castle. The King conducted the Queen to her Apartment, where she always eat alone, to the very Day of the Celebration of the Marriage. The 27th she made her Entry at Berlin, where she was receiv'd with all possible Magnificence, and next Day their Majesties were married in the Church of the Dome. The 29th, the King and Queen receiv'd the Compliments of all the Deputies, Courts of Justice and Foreign Ministers; and on the same day there was a great Entertainment which their Majesties honor'd with their Presence. I was not willing, Madame, to tire you with a tedious Detail of all the Ceremonies: I have already had the Honor to acquaint you, that the King spar'd for nothing that might contribute to the Magnificence of the Feast, which lasted several days, and was more sumptuous every day than other. What I thought remarkable, was a Battle of wild Beasts, at which their Majesties were present on the 17th of December, when the Queen kill'd a Bear from her Gallery, with a shot from a Hand-Gun.

The Arrival of the new Queen created no great Change at Court, and except the first Rank which she had of the Ladies every thing continued in the same state. The Princess-Royal kept her Court at her own Lodgings twice a Week, that is to say, on those Days when there was no Circle at the Queen's; for upon the Drawing-Room Days she went to her Majesty's Apartment, as did most of the Princesses, and they stay'd there to sup. Her Majesty likewise granted the same Honor to several other Ladies,

to whom she gave an Invitation by a Gentleman when they were in the Circle.

'Twas at the time of the King's Marriage that I lost my Father-in-law: I was very much concern'd for his Death, especially on account of the Trouble it gave my Mother, who could never get over it as long as she liv'd. The very day that the News of it was brought to me, the King declar'd me a Gentleman of his Bed-chamber. I have had the Honor to tell you, Madame, that I was taken out of the Army in hopes of being plac'd near the Queen, but when I came to Court I found all her Houshold settled, and my Name not in the List. I spoke of this to the Grand Marshal, who bid me not be vexed, for that he would shortly get me a Post about the King, and that was the Office of Gentleman of the Bed-chamber, to which I was nominated some time after, i. e. about the latter end of the Year 1708.

You know, Madame, and one can hardly forget the prodigious cold Weather we had the Winter following. It began on the Feast of Epiphany, 1709, and was universal all over Europe. The Corn and Vines suffer'd so much by it that there was a scarcity which lasted long enough to starve a number of poor People, who cou'd not get Bread, it was so excessive dear. Never was there a more melancholy Year; and there was such a poor melancholy Court all the while, that it seem'd as if the severe cold Weather had chill'd our Spirits. But when the fine Weather return'd they began to revive, and every one prepar'd to set out for the Army. The Prince Royal went to make the Campaign in Flanders as a Voluntier, and M. d'Arnheim departed to rejoin the Troops of which he had the

Command in Piedmont. This Campaign was very glorious to the Allies, but 'twas a very bloody one. The famous Battle of Malplaquet was one of those Victories which procured us Laurels cover'd with Funeral Scutcheons, and two more such Victories would have ruin'd the Infantry of the Allies. The Prince Royal was Witness of the Bravery of our Troops, which distinguish'd themselves in this Campaign, wherein they had been great Sufferers. The Enemy on their part besides the Battle lost also Mons and Tournay.

I could have wish'd to have made this Campaign, but when I ask'd the King's Leave to go, his Majesty refus'd me, saying, that he design'd me for some other Business than that of Arms. This Answer pleas'd me to the Life, and as I was young and by consequence apt enough to be vain, I was so simple as to believe my self for a while in the highest Favor. But I was soon convinc'd of my mistake. What serv'd to open my Eyes was this. The Post of Gentleman of the Bed-chamber, with which the King had honor'd me, made it my duty to attend the King's Coach on horseback as often as his Majesty went abroad; but being one day so much out of order that 'twas impossible for me to ride a Horse, as ill luck would have it, the King happen'd to go that very day from[10]Charlottenbourg to Berlin, and perceiv'd that I was not upon Duty. This incens'd him so much against me, that when I attended to receive his Hat and Cane upon his Return, he said the harshest things that cou'd be to me, the least of which was, that if I ever fail'd in my Duty again, he would deprive me of the Honor of serving him. Guess,

Madame, how much I was mortify'd at such a Reprimand given in presence of eight or ten Persons that were in the King's Chamber. Indeed I had much ado to brook it, and at first dash I really had a Thought of resigning my Post. I spoke of it to the Count de Witgenstein, who pacify'd me a little by giving me to understand, that if I did not abate of my Fire I had nothing to do but to renounce all Advancement in the Service of my King, a Service always preferable to any Fortunes that can be made at the Court of any Foreign Prince. He promis'd to set me right in the King's Opinion, and he kept his Word; for two or three Days afterwards as the King return'd to Charlottenbourg, when I happen'd to be all alone in his Chamber with the Chamberlain in waiting, his Majesty did me the Honor to ask me, If I was still in a Pet? I return'd no other Answer but a profound Obeisance. The King said to me a second time, I ask you if you are out of humor because I chid you t'other day? I made Answer with all the Respect possible, That indeed I was vex'd to my heart that I had given his Majesty any Cause to be out of Temper with me; that no body was more ambitious than I was of serving him faithfully; and that tho' I had the Misfortune lately to be wanting in my Duty, it was owing to a very sad Indisposition. But, said the King, you should have let me know it then, and I should not have reprimanded you. After all, I did so only to try you, for in the main I was not so angry as I seem'd to be. Jackel the King's Jester, who was present at this Conversation, took up the Discourse and said to the King, But, good Sir, the Indisposition he talks of, is of his own making; for the true Cause is, he has no Saddle-Horses, and the reason of this, is

because he has not wherewithal to feed them. Why then, said the King, I will give him wherewithal: The Great Chamberlain, said he to me, shall dispatch you a Warrant for that purpose; go to him. I then advanc'd to kiss the King's Robe, but he drew back, and as I was stooping he laid his Hand upon my Head, and said to me, You are young, be good, and I will take care of you. In a few days after, I had my Warrant dispatch'd to send for Forage to Michlenhoff, where the like was distributed to other Courtiers who had obtain'd the same Favor.

At the same time the Duke of Meckelbourg the Queen's Brother came to Berlin, where he had a magnificent Reception, yet he was not very well pleas'd with his Journey; for this Prince expected, as he was a Sovereign, to have Precedency of the Margraves the King's Brothers, which was deny'd him. He eat in private with the King, but the Margraves were not present, and he stay'd at Court but three or four days, during which he was lodg'd at the Palace and serv'd by the King's Officers.

As for our new Queen she became so devout in a little time after her Marriage, that every body was surpriz'd, and the Courtiers very much disgusted. Nothing was talk'd of in her presence but Religion, and in the Morning her Anti-chamber was frequented by Ministers, by Dr. Francke whom she had sent for on purpose from Hall, and by Borst her Confessor. It look'd as if one was in the Anti-chamber of some Governess of a Convent, rather than in the Palace of a great Queen. Under pretence of Prayers for Deliverance from the Plague which infected some of our Provinces, there was nothing to be heard in her Apartments but Litanies. The King

did not like all this Cant; for tho' he had a great deal of Religion, he did not love Bigotry. He made the Queen sensible that her manner of living was not suitable to one that sate upon a Throne, and got her content to the Removal of those Persons from about her who had exhorted her to embrace the Party of the Pietists. Francke was sent back to Hall to the great College which the Queen had newly founded for Orphans, and whereof that Doctor had the Direction. Then there was only Borst her Majesty's Confessor left at Court, and he was advis'd not to give himself so much Trouble about the Queen's Salvation. This Princess was so zealous for her Religion, that she did not believe those who profess'd a contrary one could be saved. I remember that one day as she was talking about Religion to the King, she told him that she was very much grieved to find him a Calvinist, and by that means out of the Road to Salvation. The King who seem'd in an amaze at the Compliment, said to her, What, do you think then that I shall be damn'd? And what will you say then when you speak of me after Death? For you could not say der SEELIGE Konig, (an Expression us'd in the German Tongue, speaking of a Person deceas'd, and which signifies, the King is sav'd.) The Queen was a little puzzled how to reply, but after a few Moments Reflection she said, I will say, der liebe verstorbene Konig, which signifies the Dear King deceas'd. This Answer made the King uneasy, who return'd soon after to his Apartment. I was that day in Waiting, and by consequence in his Majesty's Apartment with some of the Court-Nobility, when the King told us with a deal of Concern upon his Mind of the Conversation he had with the Queen, which affected

him the more, because at that time he thought very seriously of the Union of the Protestant Churches.

Mean time the Pestilence, which had discover'd it self in some of our Provinces, frighten'd us very much. The King upon this occasion acted like a true Father of his People, by sending Money and Provisions to those that were afflicted with it, and by causing a Day of solemn Fasting and Prayers to be celebrated in all the Churches of his Dominions to beg of God that he wou'd please to avert this Scourge from our Country. Moreover he caused Lazarets or Pest-Houses to be erected at the Gates of all the Towns where those who came from any suspected Place were to perform Quarantain. As the whole time was now spent in Sermons and Prayers for removing the Pestilence, the detail of which would not be very pleasing, I think it will not be amiss here to tell you how the Service was perform'd before the King and Queen. I will begin by giving you some Account of[11]Berlin, and of his Majesty's[12]Palace.

The City of Berlin[13] wou'd not have been what it is at this day, had it not been for the French Protestants. They had been kindly receiv'd by the Elector Frederic-William: And the King, every whit as generous as his Father, prolong'd and even augmented the Franchises granted to the French, and in order to convince those Exiles that he was dispos'd to be a Father

to them, he had a mind that they should be no longer distinguish'd from his natural-born Subjects; but caus'd Churches to be built for them of which he maintain'd the Ministers, gave them a very fine College for the Education of their Children, and also chose a Company of Musketeers out of them in which none but French were admitted.

These Refugees were so sensible of the King's Goodness to them, that they had an Emulation to shew their Gratitude to him by making Trade to flourish. They were equally zealous for the embellishing and aggrandizing of the City, and caus'd a great many Houses to be built there which were both neat and commodious. They added to the City all that Quarter call'd the New Town, which is certainly the most beautiful part of Berlin. Of the Streets which run in a strait Line, the principal is adorn'd with six Rows of Lime-Trees that form as many Walks, the middlemost of which is lin'd with a Balustrade to keep off Coaches and Carriages. These Walks terminate in a Wood, thro' which there's an Avenue of a League, which leads to Charlottenbourg, a Royal Palace.

At the Entrance of the New Town there's the Arsenal[14], a Structure which may pass for one of the finest in Europe: 'Tis a Quadrangle with a large Square in the middle. The four outward Fronts are almost exactly alike. The principal is divided into three Buildings, of which that in the middle projects a little forwards. The Grand Floor consists of Arches charged with Rustics, which support Pilasters of the Ionic Order. The part which projects from the middle

is adorn'd with four Columns, and has a large Pediment at the end of it. The grand or principal Gate is in the middle. On the two sides there are four great fine Statues representing the Cardinal Virtues on Pedestals. These seem to look towards the King's Picture, which is represented in a great Medal of Brass gilt in the coping of the Gate. Over this Picture, there's his Majesty's Cypher in the middle of a Cartridge crown'd, supported by Fame and Victory. The Cartridge is fill'd up with an Entablature upon which there's a Latin Inscription in Letters of Gold, to the Honor of the King. Finally, over this Entablature there's a great Pediment in Basso-Relievo perfectly beautiful, representing a Mars which seems to rest upon a Trophy, and to look upon a couple of Slaves chain'd at his Feet. The whole is compleated by a Balustrade which rests upon the Pedestals that support the Trophies. This stately Edifice is encompass'd with Spurs of Iron in the form of Cannon, upon which there's the King's Cypher gilt; and these Spurs serve for a Support to the Iron Chains which are hung in Festoons from one to the other.

The Inside of this Structure is as magnificent as the Outside. Two Rows of Pillars support the lowermost Arch-Roof and form three Walks, of which the middlemost is the narrowest, but the only one that serves for the Passage; those on the sides being full of noble Brass-Guns. The King had a Design to have a Cannon of a hundred Pounder plac'd at each Corner; but there is only one finish'd which is call'd Asia, a terrible Machine fitter to adorn an Arsenal than for any other use. The Ascent to it is by a Step, because they were oblig'd to build the Carriage in proportion to the piece that it bears. This

Cannon is adorn'd all over with Eagles and Crowns; and the King's-Arms are represented on it under a Royal Pavilion, as are also those of the Margrave Philip the King's Brother, as Grand Master of the Artillery. This is all that is remarkable on the side of the New Town.

The King's Palace is also very magnificent; and the whole is so majestic, that it appears at the first sight to be the Residence of some great Monarch. Yet there's one fault in it, which is, that Uniformity has not been nicely observ'd in it, because it has been carry'd on by Fits and Girds, and every Architect has followed his particular Plan.

This Palace consists of four large Buildings, which forms in the middle a Court that is not so broad as 'tis long. The first Thing in the main Front is a great high Portico with two Gates Arch-wise on the two sides. The Proportions of the Columns and the Height of the Portico were copy'd from Constantine's Triumphal Arch at Rome. On the two sides of the Portico there are twelve great Transom Windows encompass'd with Ornaments. The Fronts that are on the side of the Court are much more magnificent than the outer ones, but then they are more irregular. The Inside of the Palace is not executed much better. Two Grand Stair-Cases lead to the Guard-Room, the one on the Right and the other on the Left of the Entry. The Stair-Case on the Left-hand is of a particular Contrivance, being in form of a Glacis without any Step, so that a Coach may go up to it. The Guard-Room is long but narrow, and has no Light but what comes from the Windows on the Cupola over the Stair-Case. The Entry is in the middle. There is a Turning on the Left to enter into the

King's Apartment, which shews at first sight three Chambers in a Row. The third of these Rooms separates the least Apartment from the greatest, of which the former is on the Right and the latter on the Left. I will only speak to you of the last, which is the most magnificent. In turning therefore to the Left one perceives a long Suite of Apartments, which form a magnificent Point of View. The Furniture is surprizingly rich; nor is any thing to be seen, look which way you will, but Gold, Silver, Marble, Brass, Painting, Glass, China, &c. in a word, every thing that can be wish'd for, that is rich and elegant. At the end of this Suite of Apartments there is a long Gallery, the Cieling of which, like that of Versailles, represents the principal Actions of the King, and the sides are adorn'd with Pictures done by the most famous Hands, the Frames of which are of Brass gilt.

At the end of this Gallery there was formerly a great Amber-Cabinet, with divers Compartiments in Basso-Relievo, which perhaps had not its Fellow in the World; but the King being desirous to make the Czar a Present worthy of his Acceptance, gave him this Cabinet and a Yatcht that cost eighty thousand Crowns.

Were I to enter into the detail of the Beauties and Magnificence one meets with at every step in this Palace, I should never have done; I believe it may be sufficient to say that the King, as far as possible, imitated the Inside of the Palace of Versailles. This great Prince took Lewis XIV. for a Model, and after his Example was intent on building magnificent Structures and establishing different Manufactures, whereby the Poor might earn their Living, and get for a reasonable Price those Commodities which heretofore they

used to import from Foreign Countries, at a very great Expence. Thus, Madame, have I given you an account of almost all the greatest Remarkables at Berlin. I shall now let you know after what manner their Majesties are every day attended.[15]

I begin with the King's Levee. His Majesty commonly rose between five and six o'clock in the Morning, (I mean at the time that I have the Honour to speak to you of;) tho' formerly he rose at three or four o'clock. As soon as the King awak'd, the Page of the Back-Stairs who had watch'd with him went and gave notice of it to the Valets de Chambre and the Yeomen of the Wardrobe, who presently came in, undrew the Bed-Curtains, and open'd the Window-Shutters, after which they went out and declar'd that the King was stirring. Then the Chamberlain in waiting, the Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber, and the Officers upon Guard came in and made a very low Bow. The next that enter'd were the Physicians, to whom his Majesty gave an account how he had rested. Then the Pages of the Back-Stairs brought a great Silver Table with Coffee upon it, which was presented to the King by the first Valet de Chambre in waiting upon a Gold Salver, and the Page presented it about to all the Persons of Quality that were at the Levee. Every body was oblig'd to drink two Cups, or else they run the risk of being reprimanded. After drinking of the Coffee the Table was carry'd away, and the King convers'd half an hour or more with those that were present: Then he veil'd his Bonnet and all the Company retir'd. The Valets de Chambre and the Grooms of the

Wardrobe stay'd to dress the King, which when they had done, his Majesty retir'd into his Closet, where was a Desk for Prayer, and there he commonly stay'd an Hour, while they made his Bed. After this he return'd into his Chamber, and then the Prime Minister came in to give him an account of his Dispatches, which lasted till ten o'clock or thereabouts. After this the King went to Council, where he stay'd a little above an Hour. This Council consisted of the Prince Royal, the Margrave Philip Brother to the King, and the Ministers. When the Council broke up the King went into his Closet, and there gave out his Orders. Then two Kettle-Drummers plac'd in opposite Balconies that look'd into the lesser Court, gave notice by the Sound of their Kettle-Drums to the Officers of the Kitchen and Buttery to get everything ready for the King's Service. As soon as the Cloth was laid, the Kettle-Drums were sounded a second time. During this, the King accompany'd by the Prince Royal and the Margraves his Brothers, pass'd thro' the Guard-Room into the Queen's Apartment, where were all the Princesses. A few moments after, the Kettle-Drums and twenty-four Trumpets divided into two Bodies, gave notice for serving up Dinner. At the same time, two of the Life-Guards and six of the Guard of Hundred Swissers took possession of the Room where the King was to eat. The two Life-Guard Men posted themselves behind the Arm-Chair of the King and Queen, and the six Swissers encompass'd the Table three on each side with their Halberds in their hands. When Dinner was serv'd up, the Great Chamberlain with his Staff in hand went and acquainted the King of it, who immediately enter'd the Hall, follow'd by the Queen, who was led by

the Prince Royal; as were the Princess Royal and the Margravines by the Margraves. At their entrance into the Hall, the King gave his Hat and Cane, and the Queen her Gloves and Fan, to the Chamberlains in waiting. Then two Gentlemen of the Bed-Chamber held out a great Silver gilt Bason for them to wash in, and when they had wash'd, the two Chamberlains gave them the Napkins. The two Gentlemen of the Bed-Chamber always offer'd the Bason in like manner to the Princes and Princesses to wash in, but they wou'd not accept it.

When their Majesties had wash'd, the Grand Marshal who stood about the middle of the Table opposite to the King gave a Rap with his Staff; at the same time making a profound Obeisance; then a Page that stood by him did the like, and after saying a short Grace their Majesties seated themselves in their Arm-Chairs, and their Royal Highnesses in other Chairs, with only Backs. Then the Carver approaching the Table tasted the Provision, and therewith serv'd their Majesties, and the Princes according to their Rank. When their Majesties call'd for Liquor the Chamberlain gave the hint to a Page, and he did the same to a Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber upon Duty, who then went to the Side-board and fetch'd Wine and Water in two Bottles upon a Salver of Gold. The Chamberlain tasted both, and then presented both to their Majesties. The King always drank the Queen's Health, and the Queen in like manner drank the King's. This done, their Majesties dismiss'd the Court by making a Salute to the Grand Marshal. Then the Court retir'd, and none stay'd but the Waiters. Before their Majesties rose from Table the Prime Minister as well as the Master of the Horse approach'd,

with the Grand Master of the Wardrobe and the Captain of the Guards, to receive the King's Orders, in case his Majesty was willing to ride out. When the Dessart was ready to be serv'd, notice was brought to the Grand Marshal or to him that bore the Staff in his absence, who then return'd to the King's Table. When his Majesty rose from Table the Chamberlain brought him Water to wash his Mouth, and the Queen's Chamberlain and their Royal Highnesses Gentlemen attended the Queen and Princesses with the same. After this the King led the Queen into her own Apartment, where he stay'd a little time, then return'd to his own, and rested himself for an hour in his Closet.

When the King was awaked, the Chamberlain and the Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber enter'd his Majesty's Closet, where sometimes the Queen paid him a Visit, and at other times the Prime Minister came and talk'd with him about Business. In the Summer-time the King went abroad for the Air, or the Pleasure of Fishing or Hunting, especially the Heron, in which he took great delight. About six o'clock in the Evening his Majesty went to the Queen's Apartment, and stay'd there about an Hour, after which he return'd to his own, to that call'd la Tabagie or the Tobacco-Room, because there he smoak'd his Pipe, and several of the Nobility had the Honour of smoaking there with him. The King never supp'd unless it was in extraordinary cases, but amus'd himself with a Game at Chess. When he had done playing he conversed very familiarly with the Chamberlain, the Gentlemen of the Bed-Chamber, and some privileg'd Courtiers; and when he had a mind to put an end to the Conversation, he gave his Orders to the Grand

Master of the Wardrobe what Clothes to equip him with next day, and then every body retir'd, and the Valets de Chambre and the Grooms of the Wardrobe went and put his Majesty to bed. This, Madame, was the manner how the Service was perform'd at our Court. Never was there any Interruption in the Hours prescrib'd for his Majesty's Exercises, unless he labor'd under some Ailment. I thought that this Detail, tho' perhaps a little tedious, wou'd not be quite so unpleasant as the Recital of all the Litanies and other Prayers, in which the Queen was constant for the remainder of the Year.

In the beginning of the Year following, that is to say the 19th of January 1710, the Count de Lottum presented the King with eleven Pieces of Cannon, and several Colors and Standards that fell to his Majesty's share in the distribution that was made of those that were taken from the French, during the Campaign.

At the same time we lost the Duke of Courland for ever. This young Prince was the King's Nephew by his Mother, who was his Majesty's Sister by the same Father, but not by the same Mother. He was but an Infant when he lost his Father the Duke of Courland, whose death was to him the greatest of all Misfortunes, because of the Misunderstanding which the Guardianship of this young Prince created between those who aspir'd to it. The Duchess his Mother asserted that she was the rightful Guardian of the Prince, her Son. His Uncle also pretended 'twas his Right. In short, the Nobility of Courland disputed it with them both. During these Domestic Troubles, the several Parties, not watchful of their Neighbours Motions, quickly found they had powerful Enemies to cope with. The Saxons

being the nearest, were the most forward to take possession of their Country. The Muscovites were soon at their heels, and in concert with the Saxons rush'd upon what they thought most convenient. But they were both soon oblig'd to abandon that Duchy to the King of Sweden, who came at the head of his Troops, and without much difficulty sent them going. But after all, Fortune being weary of seconding the Arms of the Swedish Monarch, he was oblig'd not long after his Entrance into Courland, to yield the said Duchy to the Muscovites, who remain'd the sole Possessors of it.

All these Troubles had oblig'd the Duchess, with the Prince her Son, to retire. She came to Berlin where she was present at the King's Coronation, and afterwards, as I have already had the Honor to tell you, she marry'd the Margrave of Brandenburg Bareith. This Princess followed the Margrave her Husband into his Dominions, and took the Duke of Courland her Son along with her. There did this young Prince stay with the Margrave his Father-in-law, till after the King of Sweden's Defeat at Pultowa by the Muscovite Army. When the latter were become Masters of Courland, the Duke flatter'd himself that he should be able to prevail on the Czar to restore him to his Dominions: nor was he deceiv'd in his Expectation; for the Czar was very ready to consent to it, on condition nevertheless that he should marry his Niece, the Daughter of the late Czar, his Brother. The Match was truly illustrious, for the Princess was both the Daughter and Niece of a potent Monarch; but her Education had been very different from that of the young Prince, and there was all the Reason in the World to think, that they would

not like one another long. The Duke for his part could have wish'd to be restor'd to his Duchy upon other Terms; but at length, thinking he could not do better than to accept of those, and to put himself again at the head of his Subjects, who had for several Years wish'd for his Presence; he set out for the Czar's Court, and there married the Princess. This Marriage, which was concluded with some Reluctance on the part of the young Duke, seem'd to portend him none but unhappy Days; and in short, he was scarce married, but he fell dangerously sick, and in a few days after died, which Illness they said was owing to his having been forc'd to drink to excess on his Wedding-Day. This occasion'd a general Desolation throughout the Duchy of Courland, the poor People having entertain'd some Hopes that the Presence of their lawful Sovereign would make them forget the Evils they had suffer'd by several years continual Wars.

Towards the Conclusion of this Year, the famous Count de Wartemberg, Prime Minister and Great Chamberlain was disgrac'd; which, tho' it had been long wish'd for, was surprizing to all Mankind, who thought the Credit of that Minister too well establish'd, the chief Places of the Kingdom being in the hands of his Creatures, from whose Gratitude there was nothing that he might not promise himself; besides, they did not think any Person would be so daring, as to cast the first Stone; the then recent Instance of the Count de Wesen being a sufficient Warning to deter any Persons from entring into so dangerous a Combination. Nevertheless there were two Persons at Court who were not terrify'd by the Peril, to which an Enterprize of this nature expos'd them. The Name of both these Courtiers

was Kamcke, and being Cousins into the bargain, they were only distinguish'd by the Appellations of Great and Little.

The Great Kamcke had been successively Page to the King, Page of the Bed-chamber, afterwards a declar'd Favorite, and at last Great Master of the Wardrobe, which Post he held at the time of the Prime Minister's Disgrace. The Favor with which the King honor'd him, was what made him esteem'd more than any thing else; for setting that aside, he was not remarkable for either the Virtues or the Vices which contribute almost in the same measure to the forming of Great Men. He was reckoned a Man of fine Parts, because he was fortunate enough to gain, and to preserve the King's Favor; and he had the Reputation of being good-natur'd, because having a place in which he might have done a great deal of Mischief, he did none at all. 'Tis true too on the other hand, that he did no body any Service; the Lethargy of his Temperament not permitting him to put himself upon those Motions, which are equally necessary to serve a Friend, and to ruin an Enemy.