ANECDOTES OF GERMAN COURTS. 119
C
“On the second day of my arrival I waited upon the Grand Chamberlain, in order to make le premier pas towards an introduction at court. Letters of nobility proving three descents at least, were indispensable to procure the honour of an entree. ' I am a Baron born, ' said I, in reply to the chamberlain, but the revolution a change tout cela. ' I had, however, brought with me some old musty parchments, though not without the apprehensions of compromising myself with my own government by figuring away under my old title. These I handed to him. Never shall I forget the satisfaction he displayed; he capered about the room, singing the old romance ' Aux bons temps de la chevalerie, '
and darted off to lay them before his Highness in person.
“On the following Sunday I was invited to the grand couvert du prince. On being ushered into the banqueting hall, I was rather surprised to observe that all the lacqueys wore enorinous mustaches. It was, “said the Baron, “a decoration de lacquai which I had never before seen, and I accordingly testified my astonishment to the Prince de Bi, who sat next to me. “If you look more attentively at them, “said the Prince, smiling at my observation, “you will perceive que ces droles la are the grenadiers of the guard, who on these occasions throw off the uniform of the soldiers to assume the livery of the footman. To be serious, this little state plays the part of an Italian buffoon, and affords food for merriment from morning to night. To begin with the Prince himself. He is one of the most worthy men of his estate, dominions, I should say, but a perfect imbecile on the subject of his nobility, which he pretends has descended to him in a direct line from Charlemagne. The court genealogist goes farther, and pretends that without difficulty it might be proved that the blood of Arminius
-tout pur ainsi que sa noblesse, Est descendu jusqu'a lui de Lucrece en Lucrece. ““With respect to the Princess, “continued the Prince, “she goes many lengths beyond her lord. She fancies herself another Marie Therese, in fact the tone of the court is aristocratic on n'y pent plus. Two parties at present divide the state, an Austrian and a Prussian, who hate each other as much as the Guelphs and the Ghebellines of the middle ages. The court inclines to the Austrian faction, for you must know that the Prussian government has seized a village which lay conveniently on their boundary line which produced a revenue to the Prince of about 807. annually. The consequence of this serious defalcation in the revenue has been an appeal to the German diet, which however is too prudent to shew its impotency by ordering Prussia to make the amende honorable.
“Observe, “said the Prince, “that man bedizened like an English General. On gala days he officiates as commander-in-chief; on others, ' il fait les fonctions, '-of architect to the court, director of bridges and highways, and intendant of police. The other on his right is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in his own opinion-a second Alberoni. His sagacity has already led him to discover that you are charged with an important diplomatic mission from a foreign power. You may amuse yourself at his expense. And now mark more particularly that old cavalier in earnest conversation with the Countess Von Sg, it is the Baron Von H-g; he has gambled away an immense fortune, and now lives by his wits; he generally contrives to lay under contributions every stranger who arrives at court. You he has already booked for a vingtaine de Louis at least. Beware of him, for he is an able tactician, with the effrontery of Beelzebub himself, as the following anecdote will show. He was playing a few days ago at Boston with the Countess Von S., and my cousin the Chevalier B. The Baron lost three thalers and the Chevalier one, who threw down half a Frederick d'or to discharge his debt. This the Baron immediately pocketed, saying to the Countess, this makes my debt to you, Madam, seven thalens; three that I lost, and four that I now borrow of you; so that the Countess, independently of her winnings, lost four thalers, for he has never paid her, and never will! “In truth, “said my friend the Baron, “I observed the old fellow hovering on my flanks during the whole of the evening; but he was forestalled by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who, drawing me aside, dilated profoundly on the then political state of Europe. War he deemed inevitable, and he took an opportunity of adroitly alluding to the subject of the village, on which would pend the policy of the state > Indeed, Sir, said he, we are on the eve of great events. And so we were, much nearer than his Excellency had any idea of; for while he was so eloquently discoursing on the state of Europe, four of the “Hussars of the Guard “were com mitting some outrage on the adjoining Prussian territory.
“Now, it happened that the commandant of the district was Blucher, at that time a colonel. And, “added the Baron, with military frankness, “he was a ' matin ' not to be trifled with. He accordingly ordered a corporal and four file to invade the territory of the Prince, and seize the delinquents. He might have sent, it is true, a larger force, but then the difficulty of subsisting them! The corporal set out, and executing a march a-la Seidlitz, he surprised the hussars in their cantonments, and carried them prisoners to Blucher's head-quarters. The sensation produced by the invasion on the court and the minds of the people, was astonishing. The Prince carried his hand to his sword, but the rage of the Princess and the ladies of her train was sublime; it was the wrath of Juno!
Fiectcre si nec non superos Acheronta movebo.
The only cafe in the little capital was crowded with politicians. A general war was deemed inevitable; an alliance with Austria, and above all, a subsidy from England was the obvious policy of the state. Every horse in the Prince's stables was impressed into the service of the estafette. At the expiration of a week, murmurs of discon-
