Elizabeth Christine, wife of Frederick the Great

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

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?JHE reign of Frederick the Great was one of the most Important in the history of Europe. His great power over surrounding nations placed him at the head of the mlHtary commanders of his times, and laid the foundation of the present extent and grandeur of the Prussian monarchy. PIIs object was to build up his little kingdom into a leading European nation, and he succeeded in this great undertaking.

Frederick the Great, the son of Frederick William and Sophia Dorothea, was born in the royal palace of Berlin on January 24, 1 712. The event was celebrated throughout the kingdom with every manifestation of popular joy. The public and private buildings in the cities and towns, and even villages, were brilliantly illuminated, while bonfires were built in thousands of public squares all over the land. The baptismal service was celebrated on January 31, with all the display commonly shown in monarchical countries to heirs to the throne. The Emperor of Germany, Charles VI., was present at the ceremony, and the State, the army, and the Church vied with each other in the splendor which each gave to the occasion. The name given the child was Charles Frederick, but the former was afterward dropped, and Frederick became the only name by which he was ever known, either during his brilliant career or on the page of history.

The mother of young Frederick, Sophia Dorothea, was the daughter of the Elector of Hanover, and sister of George II. of England.

Little " Fritz," as he was fondly called, was a very delicate child, but, at the same time, sprightly and attractive. He was placed early under the charge of a governess, Madame de Roucoulles, who devoted her entire time in caring for him. She was from Normandy, in France, and of noble origin, and was among the number of French refugees who fled from their country on the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. She had, therefore, proved her Protestant faith, and had won the confidence of all who became acquainted with her in the Prussian capital, and her Christian influence at that time made a very beneficial impression on young Fritz.

He began to develop his military taste at a very early age. The atmosphere about him was that of the army and warfare, and he was accustomed to look through the palace windows and admire the parades and reviews of the soldiers in their bright uniforms, with their banners flying and the bands playing.

On the wall of the Charlottenburg Castle there is a picture of him when only three or four years of age, playing soldier and beating his drum. His sister, Wilhelmina, is at his side, and takes great pleasure in her little brother's enthusiasm. She is gayly dressed and decorated with ribbons and flowers, while little Fritz wears a blue velvet dress and sash crossed over his shoulder, with a star or rosette on his left breast. His cap is ornamented with a beautiful raven's feather. The king came in unexpectedly as they were playing, and was so overjoyed at seeing the two children in this brilliant array and military mood, that he ordered the court painter, Pesne, to be sent for, and to paint them exactly as he found them when he entered the room. This picture is unique, and has been copied many times. We frequently, down to the present time, meet with it in the German book and print shops. When little Fritz grew to manhood he bestowed great favor upon Pesne, the artist.

Fritz and his Sister.

The king exerted himself in every way possible to cultivate the growing military spirit in Fritz. He organized a miniature soldiers' company for him, and placed him in command of it. This consisted at first of one hundred boys, but afterward numbered three hundred, and bore the name of the '' Crown Prince's Cadets." The king was very fond of these youthful heroes, and lavished much money on their equipment. Indeed, he seemed to take more pleasure in them than in his whole standing army.

When Fritz was seven years of age he was considered old enough to be taken from the charge of Madame de Roucoulles and placed under the guidance of tutors, who had been selected with the utmost care. There were three of them, and each was assigned a special class of duties — Monsieur Duhan was a French gentleman, of noble birth and great accomplishments ; Count von Finkenstein was a veteran general, sixty years of age ; and

Colonel Kalkenstein, a thorough soldier. They very soon won the esteem and love of their pupil, and to their wise care over him must be attributed much of that inflexibility of character which afterward distinguished his entire career.

The king, however, kept a close watch over these men. He carefully observed their methods, and noted minutely the progress which his boy made from day to day. He drew up for Fritz a special code of instruction, which is expressed in a most ludicrous and confused manner. We give the most interesting part of it, as translated by Carlyle, with now and then a dash of his own comments :

" My son must be impressed with a proper love and fear of God, as the foundation and sole pillar of our temporal and eternal welfare. No false religions, or sects of Atheists, Arian, Socinian, or whatever name the poisonous things have which can so easily corrupt a young mind, are to be even named in his hearing ; on the other hand, .a proper abhorrence of Papistry, and insight into its baselessness and nonsensicahty, is to be communicated to him. Papistry, which is false enough, like the others, but impossible to be ignored like them ; mention that, and give him due abhorrence for it. For we are Protestant to the bone in this country, and cannot stand absurdities, least of all hypocritically religious ditto. But the grand thing will be to impress on him the true religion, which consists essentially in this, that Christ died for all men, and generally that the Almighty's justice is eternal and omnipresent, which consideration is the only means of keeping a sovereign person, or one freed from human penalties, in the right way.

'* He is to learn no Latin ; observe that, however it may surprise you. What has a living German man and king of the eighteenth Christian century to do with dead old heathen

Latins, Romans, and the lingo they spoke their fraction of sense and nonsense in ? Frightful how the young years of the European generations have been wasted for ten centuries back ; and the thinkers of the world have become mere walking sacks of marine stores. Learned, as they call themselves, and gone lost to the world, in that manner, as a set of confiscated pedants — babbling about said heathens and their extinct lingo and fraction of sense and nonsense for the thousand years last past ! Heathen Latins, Romans, who perhaps were no great things of heathen after all, if well seen into ? I have heard judges say they were inferior, in real worth and grist, to German home-growths we have had, if the confiscated pedants could have discerned it. At any rate, they are dead, buried deep, these two thousand years ; well out of our way ; and nonsense enough of our own left to keep sweeping into corners. Silence about their lingo and them to this new crown prince. Let the prince learn French and German, so as to write and speak with brevity and propriety in these two languages, which may be useful to him in life. That will suffice for languages, provided he have any thing effectually rational to say of them. For the rest,

'^ Let him learn arithmetic, mathematics, artillery, economy to the very bottom. And, in short, useful knowledge generally ; useless ditto not at all. History in particular ; ancient history only slightly, but the history of the last hundred and fifty years to the exactest pitch. . . . With increasing years you will more and more, to a most especial degree, go upon fortifications, mark you ! the formation of a camp and the other war-sciences, that the prince may, from youth upward, be trained to act as officer and general, and to seek all his glory in the soldier profession. Impress on him that as there is nothing in the world

which can bring a prince renown and honor like the sword, so he would be a despised creature before all men if he did not love it, and seek his sole glory therein.

'' On Sunday he is to rise at seven, and as soon as he has got his slippers on, shall kneel down at his bed-side and pray to God so all in the room may hear it (that there be no deception or short measure palmed upon us) in these words : ' Lord God, blessed Father, I thank thee from vc.y heart that thou hast so graciously preserved me through this night. Fit me for what thy holy will is ; and grant that I do nothing this day, nor all the days of my life, which can divide me from thee. For the Lord Jesus, my Redeemer's sake. Amen.' After which the Lord's Prayer. Then rapidly and vigorously wash him.self clean, dress and powder and comb himself. We forgot to say that while they are combing and queueing him he breakfasts with brevity on tea. Prayer, with washing, breakfast and the rest to be done pointedly within fifteen minutes, that is.

at a quarter past seven. This finished, and all his domestics and Monsieur Duhan shall come in and do family worship : prayer on their knees, Duhan to read a chapter in the Bible and sing some proper psalm or hymn as practiced in well-regulated families. It will then be a quarter to eight. The domestics then withdraw, and Duhan reads with my son the gospel of the Sunday, expounds it a little, adducing the main points of Christianity ; questioning from Noltenius' Catechism, (which Fritz knows perfectly,) it will then be nine o'clock.

"At nine he brings my son down to me, who goes to church, and dines, along with me, (dinner at the stroke of noon ;) the rest of the day is then his own, (Fritz's and Duhan's.) At half past nine in the evening he shall come in and bid me good-night. Shall then go directly to his room, very rapidly get off his clothes, wash his hands, and as soon as that is done, Duhan makes a prayer on his knees and sings a hymn, all the servants being again there. Instantly after which my son shall get into bed ; must be in bed at half-past ten o'clock.

*' On Monday, as well as on all of the days of the week, he is to be called at six. You are to stand by him that he do not loiter or turn in bed, but briskly get up and say his prayers the same as on Sunday. From seven to nine Monsieur Duhan takes him on history. At nine comes Noltenius, (a sublime clerical gentleman from Berlin,) with the Christian religion. This lasts until quarter of eleven, when he comes to me and remains until two o'clock, perhaps promenading a little. From two to three his teacher must take him upon the maps and geography, giving account of all the European kingdoms, their strength, size, and weakness, and the richness and poverty of their towns. From three to four he must have a lesson on morality, and from four to five he shall write German letters so he shall learn a good style. At five Fritz shall wash his hands, come to me, ride out, divert himself in the air, and do what he likes if it is not against God. . . .

" Saturday forenoon till half-past ten come history, writing, and ciphering, especially a repetition of what he has done through the week. And in morality, he must be examined to see whether he has profited. General Count von Finkenstein, with Colonel von Kalkstein, shall be present during the Saturday rehearsal. If Fritz has profited, the afternoon shall be his own. If he has not profited, he shall, from two to six, repeat and learn rightly what he has forgotten on the past days.

'* Here, however, is one general rule, which cannot be too much impressed upon you, with which we conclude : In dressing and undressing you must accustom him to get out of and into his clothes as fast as is humanly possible. You will also look that he learn to put on and put off his clothes himself without help from others, and that he be clean and neat, and not so dirty. Not so dirty, that is my last word ; and here is my sign-manual.* FREDERICK WiLLIAM."

It was the habit of the king and his family to spend the autumn of every year at Wusterhausen, a hunting-lodge about thirty miles from Berlin. These were delightful days, for there was a freedom from the restraint of courtlife. Wilhelmina, Frederick's sister, describes in her ^' Memoirs " the happiness of the family in this retired spot, Fritz always being the center of her descriptions, as he was of her affections and admiration. She relates his juvenile military exploits and the delight with which he used to listen to Monsieur Duhan when playing the flute, the instrument v/hich Fritz himself became so fond of, and

*Cf. Carlyle, "History of Friedricla II. of Prussia, called Frederick the Great." Vol. ii, pp. 13, 14, 19-21.

YOUTH OF FREDERICK THE GREAT. 2 J

played with such great skill in subsequent years.

As Fritz developed Into manhood his parents began to arrange a matrimonial alliance for him, according to the usage of royal parents, who have a keener eye to State policy than affection or congeniality of temperament. The queen endeavored to contract a double alliance with the royal family of England. She wished Frederick to marry the Princess Amelia, of England, and the Prince of Wales to marry her daughter Wilhelmina. This would have been a marriage of cousins, the Guelphs with the HohenzoUerns. This was no ordinary undertaking, but the queen, with the full consent of the king„ used great adroitness for years to bring about her plan. She arranged visits for the English cousins, and made every effort possible to promote an attachment between them and her own children. She was in part successful. The young people became very fond of each other, but political affairs took an unfavorable turn to the alliance, and it was broken off.

Wilhelmina would not admit, at that time, that she was at all attached to her cousin, the Prince of Wales, but in her valuable '' Memoirs," which she wrote many years later, she confesses her love for him in those beautiful days which they spent together in their grandmother's house in Hanover, and describes her perfect delight when he made her little presents and called her his kleine frau — " little wife."

Fritz, too, was greatly attached to his cousin, the Princess Amelia. But when told that the engagement was broken off, he had no redress, and was obliged to submit. The effect on his mind was very injurious. He became reckless and cared little for the society of moral and religious people. He sought a change of scene by visiting Dresden. This was, at that time, a very corrupt city. Fritz soon became infatuated with wild and disorderly companions. He gave much of his time to playing the flute. He was a pupil of Herr Quantz, a celebrated composer, but at the same time a man of very low origin and dissolute life. His residence in Dresden proved very detrimental to his moral character, and he never wholly lost the ill effects of it.

On his return to Berlin he continued his reckless way of living, seeking out companions who were not at all elevating. Lieutenant von Katte, a young man of bad principles, was one of his favorites. One day the king entered his son's room unexpectedly, and found von Katte and Frederick in the midst of their foolish games. They tried to conceal their articles of gay theatrical dress and other forbidden implements, but were unsuccessful. The king flew into a violent passion, seized Frederick's handsome scarlet dressing-gown and threw it into the fire. He then discharged Monsieur Quantz, the flute teacher, who had removed from Dresden to instruct Frederick.

Young Frederick was very indignant at the severity of his father, and resolved upon flight. He planned an escape to England, being attracted there by his cousin, the Princess Amelia. The king intercepted the flight, and Frederick was compelled to return home. He was pardoned for this offense, but shortly afterward he, in company with his friend Lieutenant von Katte, made another attempt to escape to England. They were arrested just as they were embarking on the Rhine, were tried by court martial, and condemned to death for the crime of desertion. Lieutenant von Katte suffered the full penalty of the law. The king gave orders that his scaffold should be erected directly in front of his son's prison window. Frederick was confined for some time, but afterward pardoned. The king's views of justice were so severely strict, that had it not been for the intercession of the chief generals of the army Frederick would have suffered the same fate as his friend von Katte.

After Frederick's release from prison he was removed to a small house in Ciistrin, where he was carefully guarded and subjected to the wise instruction of professors selected by his father. After signing the oath of allegiance his sword was again returned to him. A very decisive moment had now arrived in Frederick's life. The king, his father, and the Austrian embassador, Seckendorf, were negotiating for a marriage between him and the Brunswick princess, Elizabeth Christine.

II. ITouth of Elizabeth (^hi^isiino

Elizabeth Christine, who became the wife of Frederick the Great, was the daughter of Duke Ferdinand Albert, of Brunswick-Bevern, later the reigning Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbiittel. It was in the old castle at Wolfenblittel that Elizabeth Christine, on the 8th of November, 171 5, was born. Her father was a lineal descendant of Henry the Lion, the last of the house of Guelph who held the united duchies of Bavaria and Saxony, and who made Brunsv/ick his residence in the twelth century, fortifying and adorning it.

The Duchy of Brunswick embraces three detached portions of Country of moderate size, inclosed between the kingdom of Hanover and the Prussian domains, together with several

YO UTH OF ELIZA BE Til CHRIS TINE. 3 3

smaller portions of land. The inhabitants of this duchy are mostly descended from a branch of the ancient Saxons. Personal courage and open-heartedness are the leading characteristics of the Brunswickers. They have the reputation of being the best situated, in point of

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comfort, of all the German duchies, and the appearance of the whole country is indicative of good order and prosperity. This is, also, one of the best governed States In Europe.

Duke Ferdinand was a very heroic man. He had fought in the " Spanish War of Succession," under the Imperial banner, and received a wound from a cannon-ball at the siege of Landau. He took part in the war against the Turks under Prince Eugene, and there won great fame. He also fought with the Imperial troops against France, in the year 1734. His large and stately form indicated the hero and brave soldier. He was an Industrious man, and possessed great goodness and magnanimity. But, above all, he was a God-fearing man. The man who knew how to work dihgently also knew how to clasp his hands in prayer. After he became reigning Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbiittel he relinquished military service.

Elizabeth Christine's mother, the Duchess Antoinette Amelia, was a beautiful and Christian woman. She was the daughter of Duke Ludwig Rudolph, of Brunswick-Blankenburg. The picturesque old palace where she spent her youthful days is noted for its legendry. There is a picture in it, still to be seen, of the " White Lady," whom the superstitious not only believed to haunt this old feudal palace, but that of Berlin and other royal residences in Germany. For two years Louis XVIIL, of France, found refuge in it. He lived there under the name of Comte de Lille, in perpetual fear of assassination by the French republicans.

Elizabeth Christine's grandfather, Duke Rudolph, had a great love for the arts and sciences. He was the founder of the Brunswick

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Museum, which now contains many rare specimens of painting and sculpture. Paintings can be seen by such artists as Raphael, Rembrandt, Cranach, Holbein, and Teniers. Among the leading antiquities are a stone carving of " St. John Preaching in the Wilderness," by Albert Diirer ; Kosciusko's cup, carved in prison ; Luther's marriage ring, and a large number of other interesting curiosities. It was Duke Rudolph's custom to set apart one evening in each week for conversations on different scientific subjects. On these occasions there were always present the most "learned and celebrated of the professors and ecclesiastics of the capital and of the dukedom. He required his children as well as his grandchildren always to be present during these learned conversations. If these youthful grandchildren did become thoroughly weary, and occasionally fell asleep at the entertainments, the conversations certainly made a great impression, and awakened within them a desire, when older, to increase their knowledge on such subjects as they had heard discussed, but were too young to understand.

Lessing, the celebrated German author, spent the last ten years of his life at the court of Wolfenbiittel, as librarian to the Duke of Brunswick. Here Lessing published his " Nathan the Wise " and several theological treatises. The library, of which Lessing was the director, contained two hundred and twenty thousand volumes, besides the finest missals in Europe, manuscripts in various languages, and a large number of Bibles, among them Luther's Bible, with notes in his own handwriting. Lessing is buried in the small Magni Kirchof, and his grave is marked by a simple stone. In the Lessing's Platz is a fine statue of him by Rietschel.

When Elizabeth Christine became Queen of Prussia she remembered with the greatest pleasure those evenings spent in her grandfather's salons^ where she met the most distin-

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guished scholars of her country, and whose memory she had cherished with the greatest admiration. But one of the most delightful and sacred events of the youthful remem.- brances of Queen Elizabeth Christine was when her mother, at one time, lay dangerously ill, her father said to her and her sisters and brothers, " Children, your mother is very sick ; let us pray to God that he may strengthen and restore her to health." He then kneeled down and prayed with them. A few hours afterward he returned joyfully and told them that God had heard their prayer, and asked them now to thank him with all their hearts. The example of such a father, and the habitual exercise of family devotion which was carried on in that ducal palace, certainly had a great influence on the lives of those children.

Elizabeth Christine was the third child of a family of fourteen. She had eight brothers. The eldest of them was Duke Carl, who was

married to the Prussian Princess Philippine 3

Charlotte, a daughter of King Frederick William I., and sister of Frederick the Great. He had acquired a great reputation, even as a prince, by his services to his native land. The second brother, Anton Ulrich, married the Princess Anna, of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the presumptive heiress of the Russian imperial throne. But the glory which these marriages promised to the House of Brunswick soon changed to pain and sorrow. Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great, regained the throne of which she believed she had been unjustly despoiled, and, in consequence of this, Anton Ulrich and his wife were exiled to Siberia, at the command of the empress, where death put an end to their sorrow and banishment. Their children, at a later period, were brought to Denmark,, where they died disinherited.

The third brother, Ludwig Ernst, died as Imperial and Dutch General Fieldmarshal, in the year 1788. The three brothers, Ferdinand,

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Albert, and Frederick fought under the banner of Frederick the Great. The first, Duke Ferdinand, was commander-in-chief in West- ' phaHa, and acquired, by his victories at Crefeld and Minden, the reputation of being a brave and talented general. He died in the year 1792, at his chateau of Vechelde, and the poor lamented his loss as that of a father. He desired the following inscription to be placed over his tomb :

"■ Ferdinand, lord of the manor of Vechelde from 1746 to 1792, born at Masthofe, Brunswick, on the I2th of January, 1721, died July the 3d, 1792. A great sinner before God, but pardoned through the blood of Jesus Christ, his Saviour and Redeemer."

The tomb of this renowned and pious hero may yet be seen at Brunswick in the crypt of the cathedral, in the ducal family vault, bearing the above inscription. Duke Albert fell at the battle of Sorr in 1744, and Duke Frederick Franz in 1758, at Hochkirch, fighting for the honor of Prussia. The youngest brothers of EHzabeth Christine, the Princes August and Frederick William, died in childhood.

Of her five sisters, the eldest, Louisa Amelia, was married to Prince August William, of Prussia, and became the mother of King Frederick William II. The second, Sophie Antoinette, married Duke Ernst Frederick, of Saxe Coburg. The third, Christine Charlotte Louisa, died unmarried. The fourth, Therese Natalie, became abbess of Gandersheim, in Brunswick — a town lying northward of Got tingen ; and Juliane Marie, the fifth sister, became queen of Denmark by her marriage with Frederick V.

In the quiet life of her parental mansion, surrounded by her joyful sisters and brothers, Elizabeth Christine grew to womanhood. Unfortunately very little information can be given of her early education and development. She was confirmed in the Lutheran faith, and partook for the first time of the holy communyO UTH OF ELIZA BE TH CHRISTINE. 4 1

ion in the spring of 1730. Two years later King Frederick William I., of Prussia, selected this princess, whose quiet virtues he admired, and whose father he greatly esteemed, to be the wife of his son Frederick.

III

HE imperial house of Austria had selected Count von Seckendorf to use his influence in directing the attention of King Frederick toward a union between the Princess Elizabeth Christine, of Brunswick- Bevern, who was a niece of the Empress of Austria, and his son Frederick, hoping in this way to unite the royal families of Prussia and Austria.

The projected double marriage between the children of King George II. of England and his own children did not at first displease the king, provided they were consummated under certain conditions. But the indifference of the King of England offended the King of Prussia, and he finally refused to submit to the conditions imposed by the former. Consequently, at this time, the king was easily influenced. While he was favorable to, and accepted, the proposition of Count von Seckendorf, Queen Sophia was firmly opposed to it, and allowed no opportunity to pass without trying to prejudice her son against the person who had been selected for his wife. She was aided in her opposition to the marriage by her daughter Charlotte, and they urged Frederick to speak decidedly and firmly to his father.

The crown prince was still at Ciistrin, where he had been sent after his attempt at flight to England. By permission of the king he was allowed to be present at the marriage of his sister Wilhelmina to the crown prince of Baireuth, which occurred in November, 1731, and on this occasion became reconciled with his father. After the marriage festivities were over he was again conveyed to Ciistrin, where he soon afterward received the following letter from the king, which exhibits a tender sympathy for the wayward boy :

"My dear son Fritz: — It pleases me much to know that you need no more medicine. You must yet guard yourself for a fewdays from the severe cold, for I and all men are fearfully incommoded by rheumatism ; therefore have a care of yourself. You know, my dear son, that if my children are obedient, I love them very much ; and that when you were in Berlin I forgave you from my heart. Although from that time I have not seen you, I have not thought of any thing but of your welfare, and to establish you both in the army and with an orderly daughter-in-law.

" I wish to try and marry you well during my lifetime. You may well be persuaded that I have had all the princesses in the land examined, one after another, as far as possible, with reference to their conduct and education, and have chosen the eldest princess of Bevern, who is well educated, modest, and intelligent, as wives should be. You must write your sentiments to me immediately. I have purchased the house of von Katsch for the field-marshal.

who will occupy it as governor, and I will have the government-house rebuilt, and furnished properly for you ; and I will give you sufficient to enable you to establish a household of your own, and will commend you to the army in April.