The memoirs of the Baroness Cecile de Courtot, lady-in-waiting to the Princess de Lamballe, princess of Savoy-Carignan

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Preface

In an attic of my father's house in the neighbourhood of Halberstadt there stood, among other out-of-date and disused furniture, an ancient carved oak chest. It had belonged to my mother's grandmother, and on its lid was carved the name:

Sophie Hedwig von Alvenslehen,

That was the mother of my great-grandfather; the oak chest might therefore well command our veneration as a family heirloom.

On the rare occasions when we children were permitted a peep into this chest, there was no end to our wonder and delight; for the spirit of a strange and by-gone world seemed to breathe from it and the marvellous things that lay therein. It was a very reliquary in our childish eyes.

Then very carefully with those dear slender hands of hers our mother would lift the things out one by one — curiously fashioned gowns trimmed with real old point, dainty little ivory fans, potpourri boxes and reticules, embroidered Pompadour bags with their varied store of tiny scissors, tabatieres iv PREFACE.

for Spanish snuff and the like. Besides all this there were ladies' poetry albums, illuminated prayer-books, costumes and fashion plates — in short, the chest was a treasure-house of bewildering delights, each of its fair owners, as it was handed down from one generation to the other, having stored away in it what seemed of special value in her eyes.

On the death of my beloved mother, this treasure passed into my hands. It was a frequent and never-failing delight to me to turn over its contents, and one day, quite at the bottom, under a quantity of old documents, I chanced upon a thick packet of letters tied together with a blue ribbon and having on the outside wrapper the inscription :

Cecile's letters. 1801 and 1802.

There were seventeen in all, some of them many pages long, written in French on stout — according to our present ideas coarse — paper, dropping to decay, torn in parts, and the writing half obliterated with age.

I began to decipher them and discovered that they were letters from the Baroness Cecile de Courtot, one time dame d'atour to the Princess de Lamballe, to my great-grandmother, Frau Anna Gottliebe Luise Wilhelmine von Alvensleben, nee Freiin von Loe of Overdiek.

But this was not my only treasure trove. Besides many other letters dating from the beginning of the century, I found a red velvet book bearing on its cover the inscription " My Album." In this book, my great-grandmother, following the fashion of her day, had made a varied collection of things that had struck her fancy. Here I found somewhat overladen effusions of the poets of the time, her impressions on this or

PREFACE. V

the other subject, and accounts of the various important days of her Hfe. By degrees the contents of the book assumed the character of a " diary," as we should call it now-a days, though in reality it is more than that, for it includes conversations and descriptions of persons interesting to her, records important events that happened to them, and a multitude of other attractive matter not connected with herself.

What makes the book of special value in my eyes, however, is that it supplements the above-mentioned letters and helps one to thoroughly understand many of the occurrences of those days. Added to which, its pages reveal the deep feeling and noble character of my great-grandmother, a woman who for culture, charm, and lovable disposition ranked high in the opinion of her contemporaries and whose memory is still green in the family at the present day.

This diary is also written in French, which may be explained by the fact of my great-grandmother having been brought up in a French convent in Holland; besides that, in those days, it was the language of social intercourse in the upper classes.

Thus, from the following translation of the diary and the letters, I have endeavoured to construct a faithful picture of those times and the persons mentioned.

The Baroness Cecile de Courtot lived for eight years in the house of my great-grandparents at Kalbe on the Milde. She had been an eye-witness of the French Revolution, a sorely tried victim in the days of the Terror, and her position and rank brought her in contact with the Emperor Napoleon I. and many famous personages of that period.

Chapter I. The Home Of My Great-grandparents

PACK

History of the Family of von Alvensleben. Werner IV. von Alvensleben. First War of the CoaUtion against France. Overdiek Castle. Werner makes the acquaintance of Anna Gottliebe von Loe and loves her. He is wounded before Verdun. Is nursed at Overdiek. Werner leaves the army and marries Annaliebe von Loe. Their home at Kalbe. ... I

Chapter II. The Early Married Life Of The Von Alvenslebens

Annaliebe' s Diary. Frau von Bismarck- Schonhausen. Old Herr von Briest. The Poet Gleim. The Pastors and their families. The War. Arrival of a letter from Major von Rauchhaupt in Roermonde in which he begs the young couple to receive an emigree, the Baroness de Courtot. They decide to do so 7

Chapter III. Cecile's Arrival

Journey of the Alvenslebens to Magdeburg and Cecile's reception in Kalbe. Remarks in Annaliebe' s Diary on the appearance and character of the Baroness. Her severe illness. Annaliebe' s devotion to her and her gradual recovery 19

Chapter IV. Cecile

Extracts from Annaliebe' s Diary concerning Cecile's state of mind. Birth of a daughter to the Alvenslebens. The young mother nursed in her turn by Cecile. The christening. Gleim' s visit to Kalbe. Annaliebe

vii

Vlii CONTENTS.

?AGB

expatiates on the joys of motherhood. Cecile msists on paying board. She wishes to sell her jewels. The War. Letter from Colonel von Rauchhaupt announcing his approaching visit. His arrival. He proposes to Cecile, but is rejected. Cecile's renewed melancholy 26

Chapter V

cecile's story.

Her home and her parents. Her playfellow, Hector de Trellissac. Her appointment as Lady-in-waiting to the Princess de Lamballe. Previous history of Princess. Philippe of Orleans. The Castle of Gen6vais. Original letter from Marie Antoinette to the Princess begging her to return to the Court, Arrival of the Princess and Cecile in Paris. The Queen. The Court. Letter written by the Arch- Duchess Marie Antoinette to the Dauphin on their betrothal. The Queen's fondness for fashion. Her friends. The Revolution. Riotous scenes in Versaillas. Heroic conduct of the Queen. The Court transferred to Paris. Cecile meets the Vicomte Hector de Trellissac again as a Lieutenant in the Queen's Dragoons at the Tuileries. Their dawning love. Their betrothal 43

Chapter VI. Cecile's Story

Further advance of the Revolution. The Princess de Lamballe, accompanied by Cecile, goes to London on behalf of the Queen to beg for help from the Government. Fruitless efforts. Letter from Marie Antoinette to the Princess. Forged command to return. The journey back and arrival in Paris. Cecile manages to save her valuables. Description of the horrors in Paris. Death of Cecile's mother. The Princess and Cecile take refuge in the Temple where the Royal Family are imprisoned. Surprise of the Queen at their return. The Princess is transferred to the prison of La Force, and Cecile to the Abbaye St. Germain. The decapitated head of the Princess de Lamballe is carried past the Queen's windows in Cecile's presence. Account of the Princess' trial, her acquittal, and subsequent murder. , . , 62

CHAPTER Vn.

cecile's story.

Account of her imprisonment in the Temple. Her illness. She is brought before the tribunal and condemned to death. On the way to the guillotine she is liberated through a bold device of her lover. Hector

CONTENTS. ix

FACE

is killed, but Cecile is conveyed to a place of safety by the Chevalier Tancred d'Aubignac. Her flight from Paris and arrival in Roermonde. Conclusion of Cecile's narrative 75

Chapter VIII

Werner's first Letter from Berlin. Account of the journey. Life in Berlin. The Court of Frederick William II. Sale of Cecile's jewels to the Court jeweller. The Countess Lichtenau. The Marquise de Navaillac. Werner's second letter. Life at Court. Laxity of morals. The Coimtess Donhoff. Countess Lichtenau' s power. The Crown-Princess Luise. Description of an assembly at the Queen's. Details concerning various persons mentioned in the letters. Celebration of Annaliebe's birthday. The Lamballe screen , 90

Chapter IX

cecile's account of the scandal of the queen's necklace.

Cardinal Rohan. The adventuress Lamotte-Valois. The intrigue with the necklace in the Park of Versailles. The courtesan Oliva personates Marie Antoinette. The trial. Two letters from the Queen to her sister the Princess Marie Christine of Sachsen-Teschen on the subject of the necklace. Conclusion of the account. Letter to Cecile from the Duchess Edm^e de Brancas in Paris 105

Chapter X

Annaliebe and Cecile go to Helgoland accompanied by Herr von Briest. Return to Kalbe. Second letter from the Duchess. The state of affairs in Paris. The i8th Fructidor. Barras. General Bonaparte. Festival at the Luxembourg in Bonaparte's Honour. Madame de Beauharnais. Anecdotes of Bonaparte in Brienne. Bonaparte's order of the day to the Army of Italy. Modes 121

Chapter XI

events of the years 1798 AND 180O.

The Alvenslebens take the Baroness to Berlin. Adjutant- General von Kockeritz. The King's birthday. Twenty Alvenslebens present. Account in Annaliebe's Diary of the doings in Berlin. Birthday audience at Court. Cecile and Annaliebe presented. Addressed by Queen Luise. Cercle,

K CONTENTS.

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Seven Mesdames von Alvensleben. Princess Radzivill. Baron d'Orville. Small soiree in the Palace. The sweet and charming Queen. Wilhelra von Humboldt. Count Arnim. Philipp Alvensleben gives an Alvensleben dinner. Letter from the Duchess Edmee describing Talleyrand. Cecile remarks upon the resemblance between the French and Prussian Royalties. Phillinchen's tutor Vultejus. Letter from Cecile' s cousin in Brussels. Cecile' s letter to the Duchess begging her for advice as to the best means of obtaining the restitution of her family estates 12S

CHAPTER XIL

THE YEAR 180O AND BEGINNING OF 180I.

Some account of affairs in France. Bonaparte's return from Egypt. His arrival in Paris. The l8th Brumaire. The new Directorate, Bonaparte named First Consul. The 3d Vendgmiaire. Decrees of the Consul. Victories over Austria. Marengo. Third letter from the Duchess to Cecile. Bonaparte. His Court. His endeavours to attract the old nobility. Barras in Pierrefitte. Edmee' s proposal that Cecile should come to Paris. Annaliebe's giief at the thought of losing Cecile. Cecile's resolve to return to Paris. Her departure from Kalbe 138

CHAPTER XHL

cecile's first letter to annaliebe.

Her journey to Cassel by Halberstadt. Frau von Spiegel. Frau von Brankoni, Arrival in Cassel. Description of the festivities attendant on the marriage of the Princess of Hesse. Annaliebe's Diary. Her grief at Cecile's absence. The Temple of Friendship 149

CHAPTER XIV.

cecile's second letter.

Journey to Strasburg. Short stay in Mainz. Arrival in Strasburg. Description of the town. The Minster. The telegraph to Paris. New Year according to the new regulations 158

CHAPTER XV.

cecile's third letter.

The journey continued. Zabern, the Castle of the Rohan-Guemenees. Table-d'hote at Chalons. Conversation between the French Lieutenants about Bonaparte. Observations on Napoleon's family 163

CONTENTS. xi

CHAPTER XVI.

cecile's fourth letter.

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Arrival in Paris. The Duchess is away from home. Cecile takes rooms in the Hotel Grange- Bateillere. Account of the prices and of life in general in Paris. Visit to the Theatre Feydeau 172

CHAPTER XVII.

cecile's fifth letter.

Cecile returns to the Palais Brancas. Her rooms here. Napoleon's portrait by Greuze. The Duchess Edmee's joy at meeting her friend once more. They drive about Paris. The Place de la Concorde, Place Royale, etc. Robespierre's body placed in the coffin of Louis XVI. Cecile's visits to her old nurse. Pere la Chaise cemetery. The grave of Cecile's Mother. Warrant for the execution of Robespierre 177

CHAPTER XVIII.

cecile's sixth letter.

Visit to the prisons of La Force and the Temple. The spot where Cecile's rescue took place. The Bastille. She meets other returned emigrees and old friends. Annaliebe's Diary : Christmas Eve at Kalbe. Sophie von Liideritz 186

CHAPTER XIX.

cecile's seventh letter.

Visit to the Marquise de Montesson. The other guests. The Ambassador Luchesini. The Prince de Poix. The Legitimists and their position towards the First Consul. The Prince de Poix's anecdotes of the First Consul. Madame Tallien. Madame de Talleyrand. Madame de Stael. The Italian Opera. La Molinera. Attempt on the life of the First Consul. Fashion. Skit on the Incroyables. Remarks by the editor on several foregoing personages 190

CHAPTER XX.

cecile's eighth letter.

Bonaparte holds a parade in front of the Tuileries. Corso at Longchamps. Fashions. Gentlemen' s hats , 199 xii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXI.

cecile's ninth letter.

pAGa

Visit to Talleyrand. Description of the Minister. Caricatures of him. Talleyrand mentions the name of Trellissac. Cecile's surprise. Talleyrand's remarks on Napoleon and Josephine. Madame Grant 203

CHAPTER XXn.

cecile's tenth letter.

Her audience with Josephine has to be put off on account of an accident to the latter lady. Cecile's costume for the audience. Napoleon's portrait by David. The Carnival. Germans in Paris. French literature. Garherius and his balloon 213

CHAPTER XXni.

cecile's eleventh letter.

Audience at Malmaison. Description of the Park and the Castle. Meeting with a cavalcade consisting of Hortense Beauharnais, Caroline Bonaparte, Murat, the Prince de Poix. The Marquis de Coulaincourt. Madame de Campan, Madame Hamelin, Madame Junot, Madame Tallien, Adele Talhuet. Cecile's reception by Madame Josephine. Her beauty and charm. Madame Hamelin relates an anecdote of Napoleon in Italy. Adele Talhuet tells Cecile her story. Remarks on Malmaison 221

CHAPTER XXIV.

cecile's twelfth letter.

Dejeuner at Madame Josephine's. Hortense Beauharnais, Caroline Murat, General Murat. Observations on Hortense' s marriage with Louis Bonaparte. Murat' s affectations, his dress, etc. Josephine's walk with Cecile in the Park at Malmaison. Napoleon's bells. His fatalism. Lucian Bonaparte. Private theatricals in which Eugene Beauharnais and Hortense take part. Madame Josephine promises to recommend Cecile's petition to Napoleon. Napoleon' s brothers and sisters 235

CHAPTER XXV.

cecile's thirteenth letter.

Her change of view regarding the First Consul. The Concordat. Balls in Paris. Dancing. The Prince de Poix. The Theatre Royal

CONTENTS. Xiii

PAGE

Iphigenia in Tauris. Talma as Orestes, Cecile's nervousness about the audience. Frascati' s. ' ' Delphine ' ' by Madame de Stael. Luxury in dress displayed by the ladies of Paris 245

CHAPTER XXVI.

cecile's fourteenth letter.

Cecile receives the command to the audience. The Tuileries. The Antechamber. The Ministers Talleyrand, Berthier, Regnier. Monsieur Dejean, Marcel. Adjutant-General Duroc. The audience. Description of Napoleon. Cecile offers her petition. She recognises in Bonaparte a schoolboy at Brienne who once saved her life. Cecile relates two stories to the Consul. Napoleon recognises Cecile. Familiar conversation between them on Napoleon's past and his belief in his star. Cecile's return to her friend. Their conversation on the strange events of the day. The fortunes told to Josephine and Napoleon. Napoleon's belief in Kismet. .'. 252

CHAPTER XXVII.

cecile's fifteenth letter.

Her change of fortune. Invitations to many receptions. The theatre. The dancer Gardel and the ballet, "La chasse du jeune Henri." The Pantheon. Tombs of Voltaire and Rousseau. The English in Paris. Exhibition of natural products in the Louvre. Mademoiselle Duchenois as Phedre at the Theatre Fran5ais. Fouche. The Prince de Poix's highly spiced stories. Fashions in gentlemen's hats. Excessive rouging of the ladies 266

CHAPTER XXVIII.

cecile's sixteenth letter.

Her journey into the Vendee, where her estates are situated. Account of the Chouans and their struggles. The castles of Mont Courtot and Retrazet. The unfaithful bailiff. Cecile visits the scenes of her youth. She returns to Paris. Second audience with the Consul. Received at St. Cloud by Madame Josephine. Marie Antoinette's furniture in the drawing-room. Napoleon speaks again of his former life. Cecile has to tell of her adventures and her rescue from death by Hector de Trellissac. The ceremony of the re-establishment of the Church at Notre-Dame. Cecile present by invitation as guest of the First Consul 270 xiv CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXIX,

cecile's seventeenth letter, the last of the collection.

PAGB

Return ol the troops from Egypt. Their reception by the First Consul. Assemblee at the Marquise de Noailles's. The "parlour game' of mystification. Cecile joins in the game. Unexpected appearance of a oneeyed officer in the uniform of the Chassntrs d'A/rique. She recognises her lover. Overwhelming joy of the pair. Trellissac relates his experiences after his well-nigh fatal wound and his subsequent fighting in Egypt. Cecile's plans for the future. Annaliebe's Diary: Reflections on her friend's amazing experiences. Birth of a son to the Alvenslebens. They are thus unable to be present at Cecile' s marriage with the Vicomte de Trellissac in Paris. On the 9th of June, 1803, Annaliebe receives the sad news 01 Cecile's death two days after giving birth to a daughter 279

BARONESS CECILE DE COURTOT.

Chapter I. The Home Of My Great-grandparents

The Castle of Kalbe on the Milde in Altmark is a very ancient possession of the von Alvensleben family. In 1324, the Margrave Ludwig of Brandenburg bought it of the von Kroechers and made it the ancestral seat of the so-called " black line " of the great Alvensleben clan, already possessed of extensive property in the Altmark and the Mark Brandenburg.

None of the family archives go further back than 1400; any records before then belong to legendary history. Thus tradition says that the first Count Alvensleben was a descendant of that Alvoni who in 779 embraced Christianity. The stronghold of " Alvonslowe " must have stood where the village of Alvensleben now lies, and thus the family of that name is one of ^e oldest in the district.

They had, from time immemorial, been great landed proprietors, and even the father of my great-grandfather — Werner III. — owned, besides the family seat of Kalbe, the domains of Klotze, Isenschnibbe, Dember, and several others.

2 THE HOME OF MY GREAT-GRANDPARENTS.

He divided his estates among his four sons, and the so-called " Grosses Vorwerk " — the Great Manor House — at Kalbe fell to the share of my great-grandfather, Werner IV., who was born in 1752 and served as an officer in Kracht's regiment of infantry.

On the outbreak of the French Revolution, Austria, alarmed for the safety of the royal house so closely related to her own, declared war on the lawless insurgents in Paris, 1792.

Prussia was at that time in high favour with France, and the memory of the Great Frederick, in spite of the defeat at Rosbach, — probably on account of the king's infatuation for everything French, — was greatly revered in Paris. Again, the French regarded Prussia as their natural ally in the maintenance of the balance of power in Europe; indeed negotiations for an alliance were actually entered upon between the leaders of the revolutionary party and the Prussian government, based no doubt upon the supposition that a constant rivalry must exist between the successors of Maria Theresa and those of Frederick the Great for the overlordship of Germany.

Nothing, however, was further from the intentions of Frederick William H. than to range himself on the side of the revolutionaries, seeing that he regarded even a constitutional government as a danger to the monarchy. Accordingly he rejected the French overtures with scorn, joined the Coalition and declared war against France on February 7, 1792.

Austria set about her war preparations in her usual dilatory manner, and it was June before some 50,000 Austrian troops were massed on the Middle Rhine, while a Prussian army corps marched upon Cologne and Coblenz in three columns.

MEETING OF ANNALIEBE AND WERNER. 3

To the first — the most northerly — of these three columns belonged Kracht's infantry regiment in which my great-grandfather, Lieutenant-Captain von Alvensleben, was serving. The route of this column lay through Westphalia and the Mark districts. Here, in the neighbourhood of Dortmund, lay Overdiek, the old estate of the family von Loe, where my great-grandfather was presently quartered and so made the acquaintance of Anna Gottliebe, the only child of the Freiherr Johann Moritz von Loe, and won her young affections.

The girl, then in her twenty-first year and the last of this line of the great house of Loe, was a Roman Catholic and had been brought up and educated, after the fashion of her day, in a French convent in Holland. On the death of her mother she returned to Overdiek, and had scarcely been outside her native place since then. She was the idol of her old father, whose only regret was that she was not a boy and the estate must therefore go at his death to the Rhenish line of the Loes.

And now young Anna Gottliebe — or Annaliebe, as she was generally called — gave her heart to Werner despite his twenty years of seniority, and the lovers hoped in time to obtain the old father's consent to their union notwithstanding their difference of faith. When the regiment resumed its march, they parted with mutual assurances of undying love and vows that nothing in this world should finally separate them.

And yet it very nearly came to that, for Werner von Alvensleben received a severe bullet-wound in the chest during a skirmish of the advance guard at the siege of Verdun. He was brought with a sick-transport to Cologne, whence, at his daughter's urgent entreaty, old Baron Loe had him transferred to Overdiek.

Annaliebe's nursing did wonders, and the invalid soon re-

4 THE HOME OF MY GREAT-GRANDPARENTS.

covered sufficiently — not for military service, but to be able to enter into possession of the estate at Kalbe, the death of his father having occurred meanwhile. The old Baron must have had opportunities during these days of Werner's illness to convince himself of his worth as well as of the sincere attachment between the two lovers, for he gave them his blessing and promised them a speedy union.

Meanwhile, the inglorious campaign against France came to an end ; the Prussian troops returned home without effecting any of the objects for which they had been called out, and were put once more on a peace footing; and Werner von Alvensleben obtained his discharge with the rank of Captain.

A heavy cloud seemed to weigh upon Prussia in those days. The military renown of the Great Frederick's army was utterly annihilated by the dilatory, vacillating generalship of the Duke of Brunswick. With his undisciplined rabble General Dumouriez had defeated the veterans of the great king — reckoned hitherto invincible — and had driven them back upon the Rhine through the passes of Grandpre. " See," whispered many a man then to his neighbour, "the Marseillaise has beaten Prussian strategy; it would seem that the republic is, after all, the best form of government." Murmurs such as these might have been heard even in Berlin, and a great wave came surging across the Rhine only to break at last against the old Prussian provinces — Brandenburg, Altmark, Pommern — that stood by the Monarchy firm as a rochcr de hronse.

All through that winter Werner von Alvensleben devoted himself energetically to the duties of his estate. He soon recovered completely from his wound and was very busy adorning the nest for his Annaliebe, whom he looked forward to bringing home in the early sprmg.

THE HOME AT KALBE. 5

Suddenly, in January 1793, came the news of Baron Loe's serious illness. Werner instantly set out for Overdiek, but arrived only just in time to close the old father's eyes, whose last loving glances had been for his two children.

The Overdiek estate passed to the Rhenish cousins, while Annaliebe received the not inconsiderable unentailed property. Accompanied by an old aunt, a Fraulein von Liining, she then left her home and went to Kloster Roda. Here she was instructed in the doctrine of the Protestant Church, was received into that communion, and on June 24th laid her hand, for better for worse, in that of her beloved Werner.

From my grandmother's descriptions and even my mother's, who had seen it as a child, the Great Manor House in Kalbe was a rambling and spacious abode of one storey only, built high and dry over the cellars, and in parts still thatched with straw. But there was all the more room in it, and the pleasant attic guest-chambers under its high-pitched roof were in great request among the numerous relatives of the family.

High thinking and gentle manners had ever been the rule in the dear old house, but the style of living was of the plainest. The long wars under Frederick the Great had drained the pecuniary resources of the country, and life on one of these baronial estates differed, in those days, in hardly any respect from that of the plain burgher households.

There was no question of a great retinue of servants ; an old coachman, Johann, who had been twenty-five years in the family, and a few maids formed the entire establishment, and the scale of living was proportionately simple.

And yet how charming and homelike the old house must have been with its wide hall, the ceiling hung with harvest

6 THE HOME OF MY GREAT-GRANDPARENTS.

garlands, and the walls with portraits of the ancestors — some of them in knightly armour with great plumes on their steel helmets, and the ladies with white veils on their almost invariable golden locks !

These ladies, as appeared from their coats of arms on the pictures, all belonged to Altmark and Brandenburg families, and the same names, Liideritz, Arnim, Kroecher, Schulenburg, and so forth, occurred over and over again, so that the whole countryside might in truth be said to form one great family.

Chapter II. The Early Married Life Of The Von Alvenslebens

On the 3d of July the young couple made their entry into the festively garlanded house, and on the evening of this day my great-grandmother makes the first mention of her newly wedded life in her diary. Her words convey very happily the childlike piety of her temperament and her ardent affection for her husband. She writes, as I have said, in French.

O dear and beautiful house, from henceforth to be my cherished home! My whole heart goes out to thee in greeting! I cannot let this first evening pass without setting down in these pages how great my happiness is. My heart is quite, quite full, for God has given me the best, the noblest man in all the world for my husband. How I love thee, dear old house, with all thy countless nooks and crannies out of which I seem to see the little kindly brownies peep who have worked so blithely for the long Hne of my dear Werner's forefathers. Oh, receive me too, the stranger, as a familiar friend! I will be a good housewife to you and strive to follow worthily in the footsteps of those who have gone before me.

But to Thee, my great and heavenly Father, I pray — take not my Werner from me. Never would another moment's happiness be mine were I to lose him. Let Thy blessing be upon me, O my God, that I may live to repay my Werner for all his love to me.

Anna Gottliebe.

And thus my great-grandparents began their married life so full of tender affection and unity of soul. The first few weeks they lived to each other alone and the dear delights of their new companionship, but presently they were obliged to bethink them of their social obligations to the immense circle of relatives. First upon the list stood old Uncle von Briest and the Liideritz family, then the Borstels, the Kroechers, the Bismarcks, and a host of others, and it was weeks before the newly wedded couple finished their round of visits. The diary contains the whole list, and such a tour can have been no slight strain upon the young wife, for under the last name — that of old Aunt von Kroecher — she writes: "Thank Heaven, it is over ! " Truly —

" Go East, go West, At home is best."

This light-hearted and yet so practical great-grandmother of mine must have been a very bewitching Httle lady. The pastel portrait we possess gives but an inadequate idea of her. At any rate, my dear mother always declared that the picture in no way did justice to her beauty. Her eyes, in particular, which were intensely blue though they could, at times, look almost black, must have been wonderfully beautiful with her red-gold hair. The poet Gleim, who was an intimate friend of the house, frequently came over from Halberstadt and stayed

ANNALIEBE'S DIARY. 9

for days at a time, and was an enthusiastic admirer of the fair chatelaine.

The turmoil and bustle of the return visits once over, the enormous circle of acquaintances narrowed down to a comparatively small number of families in the immediate neighbourhood, on whom Annaliebe bestowed her more intimate friendship.

Those were still the " good " old days — the days of blithe and simple home life, of the cultivation of an exaggerated sentimentality and perfervid romance, such as is hardly conceivable in the present day.

At that time there were two persons — ^besides her Werner — for whom my great-grandmother had formed an enthusiastic attachment, namely, dear old Uncle Briest, who lived near by at Schmetzdorf and was a frequent visitor at the Manor House, and secondly, Frau von Bismarck-Schonhausen, nee von Miltitz. This great-aunt of the mighty Chancellor was already an old lady in those days, but that she could, nevertheless, inspire Annaliebe's young heart with fervent admiration is amply proved by the following entry in the diary :

Oh, what exquisite delight has been mine to-day! Frau von Bismarck was here! Would that I could oftener enjoy the company of this high-souled, generous-hearted woman! I was in the seventh heaven. How marvellous is her unassailable tranquillity of spirit I I listened in wonder and emotion to the heart-stirring words that fell from her lips. It is my dearest wish to follow in her steps and become like her. Shall I tell her some day how ardently I admire and love her? I think I shall venture. Alas, that her home is so far from heie and so difficult of access ! I wish I could see her every day.