History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 11 [58]
that is Court Public; "but, all being in mourning, the Court was
not brilliant. The Queen Mother saw little company, and was sunk
in sorrow;--had not the least influence in affairs, so jealous was
the new King of his Authority,--to the Queen Mother's surprise,"
says Wilhelmina. For the rest, here is a King "becoming truly
unpopular [or, we fancy so, in our deflected state, and judging by
the rumor of cliques]; a general discontent reigning in the
Country, love of his subjects pretty much gone; people speaking of
him in no measured terms [in certain cliques]. Cares nothing about
those who helped him as Prince Royal, say some; others complain of
his avarice [meaning steady vigilance in outlay] as surpassing the
late King's; this one complained of his violences of temper
(EMPORTEMENS); that one of his suspicions, of his distrust, his
haughtinesses, his dissimulation" (meaning polite impenetrability
when he saw good). Several circumstances, known to Wilhelmina's
own experience, compel Wilhelmina's assent on those points.
"I would have spoken to him about them, if my Brother of Prussia
[young August Wilhelm, betrothed the other day] and the Queen
Regnant had not dissuaded me. Farther on I will give the
explanation of all this,"--never did it anywhere. "I beg those who
may one day read these MEMOIRS, to suspend their judgment on the
character of this great Prince till I have developed it."
[Wilhelmina, ii. 326.] O my Princess, you are true and bright, but
you are shrill; and I admire the effect of atmospheric
electricity, not to say, of any neighboring marine-store shop, or
miserable bit of broken pan, on one of the finest magnetic needles
ever made and set trembling!
Wilhelmina is incapable of deliberate falsehood; and this her
impression or reminiscence, with all its exaggeration, is entitled
to be heard in evidence so far. From this, and from other sources,
readers will assure themselves that discontents were not wanting;
that King Friedrich was not amiable to everybody at this time,--
which indeed he never grew to be at any other time. He had to be a
King; that was the trade he followed, not the quite different one
of being amiable all round. Amiability is good, my Princess;
but the question rises, "To whom?-for example, to the young
gentleman who shot himself in Lobegun?" There are young gentlemen
and old sometimes in considerable quantities, to whom, if you were
in your duty, as a King of men (or even as a "King of one man and
his affairs," if that is all your kingdom), you should have been
hateful instead of amiable! That is a stern truth; too much
forgotten by Wilhelmina and others. Again, what a deadening and
killing circumstance is it in the career of amiability, that you
are bound not to be communicative of your inner man, but
perpetually and strictly the reverse! It may be doubted if a good
King can be amiable; certainly he cannot in any but the noblest
ages, and then only to a select few. I should guess Friedrich was
at no time fairly loved, not by those nearest to him. He was
rapid, decisive; of wiry compact nature; had nothing of his
Father's amplitudes, simplicities; nothing to sport with and
fondle, far from it. Tremulous sensibilities, ardent affections;
these we clearly discover in him, in extraordinary vivacity; but
he wears them under his polished panoply, and is outwardly a
radiant but metallic object to mankind. Let us carry this along
with us in studying him; and thank Wilhelmina for giving us hint
of it in her oblique way.--Wilhelmima's love for her Brother rose
to quite heroic pitch in coming years, and was at its highest when
she died. That continuation of her MEMOIRS in which she is to
develop her Brother's character, was never written: it has been
sought for in modern times; and a few insignificant pages, with
evidence that there is not, and was not, any more, are all that
has turned up. [Pertz,
Markgrafin van Bayreuth