Part 25 (2/2)
”Heaven be praised, Wolf,” said the duke, ”the must has once more fermented, and sprung a few of the hoops of dignity?”
”Yes,” answered Goethe, who suddenly a.s.sumed a grave, serious mien, ”the must has fermented, and I trust a fine wine will clear itself from it.”
”Can you not set off, Wolf?” asked the duke, springing up. ”Have you had sufficient of the Berliners?”
”I have done with them,” replied Goethe, ”not only with the Berliners, but it may be with all the rest of humanity. I feel, my duke, that the bloom of confidence, candor, and self-sacrificing love fades daily; only for you, and the friend whom I love, is there still attraction and flagrancy. Oh! you dear ones, be charitable, and do not consent that they fade for you. Let the goodness which I read in your eyes, my dear Carl, and the sunny rays of friends.h.i.+p strengthen the poor little blossom, that it does not entirely fade and wither away!” With pa.s.sionate earnestness he threw his arms around the duke, pressing him to his bosom.
”Oh! Wolf, my dear Wolf, you have a child's heart and a poet's soul. Are you faint-hearted and dispirited? Do you not know that you are the sun which brings forth the flowers for us, and s.h.i.+nes for us all? Let no clouds overshadow you, Wolf! Let your fresh, youthful vigor, and divine brilliancy, penetrate them. In the thick, sandy atmosphere of Berlin I confess the sun itself loses its force and brightness! Come! let us be off. Our steeds stamp with impatience.” The duke drew his friend from the room and joyfully they sprang down the stairs to the carriage, the great dog following, howling and barking after them. ”Forward, then, forward! Blow, postilion, blow! A gay little air! Let it peal through the streets, a farewell song! Blow, postilion, blow! and I will moisten your throat at the gates with the thin, white stuff, which you have the boldness to call beer.” The postilion laughed for joy, and the German song resounded in quivering tones--”Three riders rode out of the gate.”
He blew so long and loudly, that the dog set up a mournful howl, and amid the peals of the postilion, and the distressed cry of Wolfshund, they drove through the long, hot streets of Berlin, through the Leipsic Gate, and the suburbs with their small, low houses. The wagon-wheels sank to the spokes in the loose, yellow sand of the hill they soon mounted, and, arriving at the top of which, the postilion stopped to let his horses take breath, and turned to remind his aristocratic pa.s.sengers that this was their last view of the city.
”And will be seen no more,” repeated the duke. ”Come, let us take a farewell look at Berlin, Wolf!” and away they sprang without waiting for the footman to descend, and waded through the sand to a rising in the fallow fields. There they stood, arm in arm, and viewed the town with its towers and chimneys, houses, barracks, and palaces stretched at their feet. A thick, gray, cloud of vapor and smoke hovered over it, and veiled the horizon in dust and fog. ”Farewell, Berlin, you city of arrogance and conceit!” cried the duke, joyfully. ”I shake your dust from my feet, and strew the sand of your fields over every souvenir of you in memory,” and suiting the action to his words, he tossed a handful of it in the air.
”Farewell, Muses and Graces of sand and dust!” cried Goethe, as his fiery eye flashed far out over the fog-enveloped roofs. ”Farewell, Berlin, void of nature and without verdure! the abode of poetic art, but not of poesy. You Babylon of wisdom and philosophy, I have seen you with your painted cheeks and coquettish smile, your voluptuous form and seductive charms. You shall never ensnare me with your deceitful beauty, and suck the marrow from my bones, or the consciousness of pure humanity from my soul. Beautiful may you be to enslaved intellects, but to the free, they turn their backs to you and thrice strew ashes on your head.
Farewell, Berlin, may I never see you again!” [Goethe, in fact, never visited Berlin again, though he was often invited there, particularly when the new theatre was opened, with a poetic prologue written by himself. They inaugurated the festivity with Goethe's ”Iphigenia,” the first representation, and Prince Radzwill urgently invited the poet, through Count Bruhl, to visit Berlin at this time, and reside in his palace. But Goethe refused; he was seventy-two years old (1826), and excused himself on account of his age.] Goethe stooped and threw a handful of sand in the air.
The postilion, tired of standing in the burning sun, blew loudly the air of the soldier's song: ”Now, adieu, Louisa, wipe your face, every ball does not hit.” Mournfully the melody sounded in the stillness, like accusing spirits who wept the insult of the prince and the poet.
”Now, on to our dear Weimar, Wolf!” The carriage rolled down the sandy hill, and Berlin disappeared to the travellers, lost in dreamy thought.
Slowly they advanced, in spite of relays and fresh horses at every station. Night spread out her starry mantle over the world, and the sleepers who rested from the burdens and cares of the day. Goethe alone was wakeful and vigilant. With his beautiful eyes, as brilliant as fallen stars, uplifted to heaven, to G.o.d, his manly bosom heaving with n.o.ble thoughts and glorious aspirations, he reviewed the past, and recalled with joy that he had accomplished much and well. He peered into the future, and promised himself to do more and better. ”Yes, I will,”
whispered he softly, pointing to the stars; ”so high as possible shall the pyramid of my being rise. To that I will constantly bend my thoughts, never forgetting it, for I dare not tarry; with the years already on my head, fate may arrest my steps, and the tower of Babylon remain unfinished. At least they must acknowledge the edifice was boldly designed, and if I live, G.o.d willing, it shall rise.”
BOOK III. STORM AND PRESSURE
CHAPTER XIX
THE KING AND THE AUSTRIAN DIPLOMAT.
Frederick commenced the campaign against the house of Hapsburg with all the energy and bold courage of former days. The diplomats had once more been permitted to seek the arts of negotiation, and, these having failed, the king advanced rapidly, and entered Bohemia with his advance-guard. The imperial army, informed of the approach of the enemy, retired hurriedly to their intrenchments at Koeniggratz, beyond the Elbe, without a decisive battle. In the skirmishes at the outposts the Prussians had been victorious. On the opposite sh.o.r.e of the Elbe, at Welsdorf, the king took up his headquarters. Why did he not pursue his bold run of victory? Why did he not surprise the imperial army, which he knew was scattered, and not in a position to resist the strength of the Prussian forces? Moreover, the second column of the Prussian army, under the command of Prince Henry, had also entered Bohemia, and fortified a camp near Rimburg, having united with the Saxon allies, which caused the imperialists under Field-Marshal Loudon to seek protection beyond the Iser, near Muenchengratz and Yung-bunzlau. Why did the king then stop in the midst of his victorious career? He had advanced to the field with his fresh, youthful fire, a s.h.i.+ning example to all. He was always mounted, shunning no danger, but taking part in the hards.h.i.+ps and fatigue incident to the changing life of war; even showing himself personally active at the discovery of foraging-parties. Why did he suddenly hesitate and lie inactive in camp? Why did he not summon his generals and staff-officers to his quarters, instead of his Minister von Herzberg? Every one asked himself the question, and every one answered it differently.--Some said, ”Because the Empress of Russia had raised objections to this war of German brothers;” others, that ”the King of the French had offered to settle the quarrel as intermediator.” A third said, the ”empress-queen, Maria Theresa, was terrified at the rapid advance of the Prussians, and had immediately commenced negotiations for peace.”
While the wise politicians of Germany and all Europe read and pondered, Frederick tarried quietly in his peasant-house, in which he had taken up his quarters, and which had been arranged very comfortably with carpets, camp-stools, and curtains. He sat in his cabinet upon the high, leather-covered arm-chair, which had been brought for him from the neighboring parsonage. Alkmene lay upon his knee, and Diana at his feet.
His countenance was pale, and betrayed fatigue, but his eye beamed with undimmed brilliancy, and around his mouth played an ironical smile.
”Well, so matters stand; therefore, I have summoned you to Welsdorf,”
said Frederick to his minister, Von Herzberg. ”The empress-queen is, above all things, a most tender mother. She is fearfully anxious, now that the dear young Emperor Joseph has left for the army, and will be exposed to the dangers of war. My good friends in Vienna inform me that my entrance into Bohemia created a sensation at the brilliant capital, and had so much alarmed the empress-queen, that she was seriously thinking of negotiating for peace. As I learned this from a reliable source, I halted and encamped, that the empress should know where to find me, and sent to summon you immediately. I had not been here three days, when the empress's amba.s.sador, Baron von Thugut, appeared to make offers, and consult about an armistice of two weeks. I made known my conditions, and promised the empress, through her negotiator, that I would so calculate my movements that her majesty would have nothing to fear for her blood and her cherished emperor. [Footnote: The king's words.--See ”Prussia, Frederick the Great,” vol. iv., p. 102.] Voila, mon cher ministre, you know all now. If the Austrian diplomat comes a second time, you can negotiate with him.”
”Is your majesty also inclined to peace?” asked Herzberg.
The king shrugged his shoulders. ”When it can be arranged with honor, yes,” said he. ”I will acknowledge, Herzberg, to you, the campaign is hard for me. The old fellow of sixty-eight feels the burden of life, and would gladly rest quietly, and enjoy the last few years as philosopher and writer instead of soldier.”
”Your majesty has yet many years to live, G.o.d willing,” cried Herzberg.
”It would be a great misfortune to Prussia if she could not yet owe to her great king a long and happy reign.”
<script>