History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 11 [62]
this death-
room, on account of her condition, so important to the world;
but his Majesty, turning towards that side where her apartment
was, raised his right hand, and commanded her Husband, and the
Archduchess her younger Sister, to tell his Theresa, That he
blessed her herewith, notwithstanding her absence." Poor Kaiser,
poor Theresa! "Most distressing of all was the scene with the
Kaiserin. The night before, on getting knowledge of the sad
certainty, she had fainted utterly away (STARKE OHNMACHT), and had
to be carried into the Grand Duchess's [Maria Theresa's] room.
Being summoned now with her Children, for the last blessing, she
cried as in despair, 'Do not leave me, Your Dilection, do not (ACH
EUER LIEBDEN VERLASSEN MICH DOCH NICHT)!'" Poor good souls!
"Her Imperial Majesty would not quit the room again, but remained
to the last.
"Wednesday, 19th, all day, anxiety, mournful suspense;" poor
weeping Kaiserin and all the world waiting; the Inevitable visibly
struggling on. "And in the night of that day [night of 19th-20th
Oct., 1740], between one and two in the morning, Death snatched
away this most invaluable Monarch (DEN PREISWURDIGSTEN MONARCHEN)
in the 66th year of his life;" and Kaiser Karl VI., and the House
of Hapsburg and its Five tough Centuries of good and evil in this
world had ended. The poor Kaiserin "closed the eyes" that could
now no more behold her; "kissed his hands, and was carried out
more dead than alive." [Anonymous, UT SUPRA, pp. 220-227.--
Adelung, Pragmatische Staatsgeschichte
(Gotha, 1762-1767), ii. 120. JOHANN CHRISTOPH Adelung; the same
who did the DICTIONARY aud many other deserving Books; here is the
precise Title: "Pragmatische Staatsgeschichte Europens,"
that is, "Documentary History of Europe, from Kaiser
Karl's Death, 1740, till Peace of Paris, 1763." A solid, laborious
and meritorious Work, of its kind; extremely extensive (9 vols.
4to, some of which are double and even treble), mostly in the
undigested, sometimes in the quite uncooked or raw condition;
perhaps about a fifth part of it consists of "Documents" proper,
which are shippable. It cannot help being dull, waste, dreary, but
is everywhere intelligible (excellent Indexes too),--and offers an
unhappy reader by far the best resource attainable for survey of
that sad Period.]
A good affectionate Kaiserin, I do believe; honorable, truthful,
though unwitty of speech, and converted by Grandpapa in a peculiar
manner, For her Kaiser too, after all, I have a kind of love.
Of brilliant articulate intellect there is nothing; nor of
inarticulate (as in Friedrich Wilhelm's case) anything
considerable: in fact his Shadow-Hunting, and Duelling with the
Termagant, seemed the reverse of wise. But there was something of
a high proud heart in it, too, if we examine; and even the
Pragmatic Sanction, though in practice not worth one regiment of
iron ramrods, indicates a profoundly fixed determination, partly
of loyal nature, such as the gods more or less reward. "He had
been a great builder," say the Histories; "was a great musician,
fit to lead orchestras, and had composed an Opera,"--poor Kaiser.
There came out large traits of him, in Maria Theresa again, under
an improved form, which were much admired by the world. He looks,
in his Portraits, intensely serious; a handsome man, stoically
grave; much the gentleman, much the Kaiser or Supreme Gentleman.
As, in life and fact, he was; "something solemn in him, even when
he laughs," the people used to say. A man honestly doing his very
best with his poor Kaisership, and dying of chagrin by it.
"On opening the body, the liver-region proved to be entirely
deranged; in the place where the gall-bladder should have been, a
stone of the size of a pigeon's egg was found grown into the
liver, and no gall-bladder now there."
That same morning, with earliest daylight, "Thursday, 20th, six
A.M.," Maria Theresa is proclaimed by her Heralds over Vienna:
"According to Pragmatic Sanction, Inheritress of
room, on account of her condition, so important to the world;
but his Majesty, turning towards that side where her apartment
was, raised his right hand, and commanded her Husband, and the
Archduchess her younger Sister, to tell his Theresa, That he
blessed her herewith, notwithstanding her absence." Poor Kaiser,
poor Theresa! "Most distressing of all was the scene with the
Kaiserin. The night before, on getting knowledge of the sad
certainty, she had fainted utterly away (STARKE OHNMACHT), and had
to be carried into the Grand Duchess's [Maria Theresa's] room.
Being summoned now with her Children, for the last blessing, she
cried as in despair, 'Do not leave me, Your Dilection, do not (ACH
EUER LIEBDEN VERLASSEN MICH DOCH NICHT)!'" Poor good souls!
"Her Imperial Majesty would not quit the room again, but remained
to the last.
"Wednesday, 19th, all day, anxiety, mournful suspense;" poor
weeping Kaiserin and all the world waiting; the Inevitable visibly
struggling on. "And in the night of that day [night of 19th-20th
Oct., 1740], between one and two in the morning, Death snatched
away this most invaluable Monarch (DEN PREISWURDIGSTEN MONARCHEN)
in the 66th year of his life;" and Kaiser Karl VI., and the House
of Hapsburg and its Five tough Centuries of good and evil in this
world had ended. The poor Kaiserin "closed the eyes" that could
now no more behold her; "kissed his hands, and was carried out
more dead than alive." [Anonymous, UT SUPRA, pp. 220-227.--
Adelung,
(Gotha, 1762-1767), ii. 120. JOHANN CHRISTOPH Adelung; the same
who did the DICTIONARY aud many other deserving Books; here is the
precise Title:
Karl's Death, 1740, till Peace of Paris, 1763." A solid, laborious
and meritorious Work, of its kind; extremely extensive (9 vols.
4to, some of which are double and even treble), mostly in the
undigested, sometimes in the quite uncooked or raw condition;
perhaps about a fifth part of it consists of "Documents" proper,
which are shippable. It cannot help being dull, waste, dreary, but
is everywhere intelligible (excellent Indexes too),--and offers an
unhappy reader by far the best resource attainable for survey of
that sad Period.]
A good affectionate Kaiserin, I do believe; honorable, truthful,
though unwitty of speech, and converted by Grandpapa in a peculiar
manner, For her Kaiser too, after all, I have a kind of love.
Of brilliant articulate intellect there is nothing; nor of
inarticulate (as in Friedrich Wilhelm's case) anything
considerable: in fact his Shadow-Hunting, and Duelling with the
Termagant, seemed the reverse of wise. But there was something of
a high proud heart in it, too, if we examine; and even the
Pragmatic Sanction, though in practice not worth one regiment of
iron ramrods, indicates a profoundly fixed determination, partly
of loyal nature, such as the gods more or less reward. "He had
been a great builder," say the Histories; "was a great musician,
fit to lead orchestras, and had composed an Opera,"--poor Kaiser.
There came out large traits of him, in Maria Theresa again, under
an improved form, which were much admired by the world. He looks,
in his Portraits, intensely serious; a handsome man, stoically
grave; much the gentleman, much the Kaiser or Supreme Gentleman.
As, in life and fact, he was; "something solemn in him, even when
he laughs," the people used to say. A man honestly doing his very
best with his poor Kaisership, and dying of chagrin by it.
"On opening the body, the liver-region proved to be entirely
deranged; in the place where the gall-bladder should have been, a
stone of the size of a pigeon's egg was found grown into the
liver, and no gall-bladder now there."
That same morning, with earliest daylight, "Thursday, 20th, six
A.M.," Maria Theresa is proclaimed by her Heralds over Vienna:
"According to Pragmatic Sanction, Inheritress of