Page images
PDF
EPUB

perceived among the spectators the late Reverend Ole Lund, of Weyerlöse, who, being an old, grey-headed man, had a venerable aspect, she bent low out of the chaise to salute him, thinking most likely that he was the patriarch of the country. She liked her quarters in Nykjöbing Castle well enough, for she remained five days, and the goodwives of the place had to take their turns in going up to the castle to cook for her. She was very well pleased, too, with all their cookery, and with the rare wines and such like that were rummaged together for her entertainment. Then she proceeded to Copenhagen, to her consort."

In 1717, the elder Seidelin took his son to Copenhagen, and placed him as apprentice with the court apothecary, Herr Becker. One of the first events that struck him there was the bicentenary festival of the Reformation, which was celebrated for three days together with an enthusiasm of velvet coats and embroidered breeches on the part of kings, knights, and nobles, such as the Reformation seems little likely ever to evoke again. Lutheranism drove to court in those days in a gorgeous equipage, with six horses, and six lackeys, all in fine new liveries, covered with lace, besides outriders and runners; was escorted by the guards in their gala uniform; was thundered at with military honours by all the troops that could be crowded together; was speechified to by Rector Magnificus and the other learning of the kingdom; attended divine service under a perfect flutter of gold lace, and plumes, and ermine; and banqueted royally to the clatter of silver and blaze of gold.

"Anno 1718, the health of the late King Frederick IV.'s queen Louisa began to be very delicate, so much so that she had to keep her bed, and a new doctor, called Gaulcke, was sent for from Germany. He was immediately appointed her physician, and abode continually beside her in her palace, where he caused a little laboratory to be fitted up, in which he himself prepared sundry medicines for the queen's use. Now, coming frequently to my

[ocr errors]

master's, he conceived so great a favour for me that he begged my master to let me attend upon him at the palace to help him in these preparations. Sometimes he took me with him in his carriage along with the necessary drugs, vases, and instruments; on which occasions I had the honour to make up his prescriptions-powder, or whatever else it might be in the queen's ante-room, in presence of all the ladies and gentlemen; and, as soon as it was ready, he took a dose of it and went in with it to the queen But Dr. Gaulcke could not succeed in bringing back the queen's health, for it pleased God, anno 1719, to call her away. Whereupon, King Frederick caused a magnificent castrum doloris to be laid out for her remains in the palace church, and had the funeral conducted to Roeskilde with all possible royal pomp, the Crown Prince, with Prince Charles, and other members of the royal family, accompanying it; but the king went not himself, though the state mourning coach paraded in its proper place with all usual signs of sorrow as if the king had been sitting in it. On the other hand, on the day following, whilst the funeral train was yet in Roeskilde, His Majesty did cause his former mistress, Countess Anna Sophia Reventlow, who had already for some years been called Duchess of Schleswig, to hold her progress publicly in an equipage hung with black from her own mansion to the palace, where, that same evening, he was married to her, in presence of a few of her friends, by the German chaplain, Herr Clausen. So that the royal children, on their return from Roeskilde, found that they had got a new mother and the king a new consort. A fortnight later, a great solemnity was ordered at Fredericksberg, to which the king invited both his own and the foreign ministers, the higher clergy, the magistrates, and professors, &c. and caused the queen's crown, on a red velvet cushion, embroidered with gold, to be borne into the audience chamber by the wife of the grand chancellor and the Countess Lansvig. He then himself took the crown, and

placed it on the head of his consort, and those two ladies, her sisters, had to fasten it, as that it might not fall; whereupon he publicly declared her Queen of Denmark and Norway, and conducted her to the royal table, where she dined with the crown on her head. Again, a fortnight later, she held her public entry into Copenhagen as queen, with great splendour and all wonted ceremony; at night, there were illuminations and all the tokens of joy which, in the short time, could be got in readiness."

This was the second marriage of Frederick IV. to Countess Anna Sophia Reventlow. After carrying her off from her family, notwithstanding the strongest opposition from her mother, he formally married her in 1712, during the life-time of his first queen, so that, for nine years, he had two wives. After his death, his son banished Anna Sophia to Jutland, where she spent the rest of her days, but not till she had been forced to give up several estates and a good deal of jewellery, given or left to her by the late king.

Having served the period of his apprenticeship and a year to boot, it was time for Seidelin to think about his Wanderjahre. He left his native land at Easter, 1722, and, after marvelling sufficiently at the wonders of Lübeck and Hamburgh, accepted, "in the name of God," the offer of a situation at Nordhausen in Thuringia, where, however, his employer starved him so painfully on mashed turnips and "salad leaves, with a little soup poured over them, made of smoked bacon, chopped up with an egg and sour vinegar"-never giving him "a decent roast of meat all the time" and, what was worse, crept about the house at night on felt slippers to make sure that the shop-boys were stealing nothing, that Seidelin was not slow in seeking other quarters. These he found in Berlin, again in the house of a court apothecary, and entered upon his functions on New Year's Day, 1723.

"There was always a large garrison in Berlin, and at Michaelmas of every year the king reviewed an army of

fifteen or sixteen regiments, horse and foot, whose fine accurate drill it was a pleasure to behold. When the review was over the troops would march in perfect order, the one regiment behind the other, into Berlin by one gate, past the palace, and out by another gate to the camp again. All which, being extremely remarkable, I neglected not, on fitting occasion, to observe and consider. . . . . The princes of the royal house, with their consorts and families, such as the Markgraves Albert and Louis, item, the Dowager Markgravine Philip with her family, resided constantly in Berlin; but the king and queen, with their numerous family, resided for the most part at Potsdam, where the king had built a fine palace, with offices, and laid out a garden. Nay, he had caused his generals, ministers, and other high office-bearers, to build a town there, as each of them required a mansion to reside in while attending court. He had also erected three or four splendid churches; and it was at Potsdam, moreover, that for his own especial diversion he kept his big grenadiers, a corps of 2,000 men or upwards, all of them uncommonly tall, strong fellows, whom he had been collecting for a great many years at trouble and expense. Nevertheless the king was wont to come to Berlin once a week by the space of two or three days, and then he came for the most part on horseback, attended by two pages, but never resided in the principal part of the palace. On the contrary he had caused to be fitted up for himself two rooms on the ground floor, with a bed in one of them; and this lodging, which was close to the street, was surrounded by an ordinary railing, but strongly guarded by a number of sentries at ten paces from each other. For in one of these rooms was the stair which led down to his treasure-chamber-a place consisting of several massive vaults with iron doors, full of all kinds of gold and silver coins in neat strong sacks and bags, regularly arranged on shelves from floor to ceiling, and with a label on each sack telling what sort of coin it con

much

tained, and how much. There was not another potentate in Europe that had such a treasure-chamber.

"When the king came thus to Berlin he gave no audiences either to his own ministers, or the foreign ambassadors, or the generals, or anybody else, except on parade, and, when the parade was over, he would say to one or two of the nobles present, whether they were his own or foreign: To-day I will dine with you, and to-morrow with you;' for he held no kitchen in Berlin either for himself or anybody else. He was a singular prince; uncommonly thrifty and saving; all royal splendour was abolished at his court. He kept but two pages and as many lackeys [other authorities say six or eight]; his table at Potsdam was supplied with no more than six dishes, amongst which were oftentimes kale, peas, bacon, &c.; and in the evening with three dishes; confects there were none, saving a plate of biscuits for the queen and princesses; neither would he eat out of silver. Toward evening he always had his Tabacks-Collegium, at which there appeared sometimes generals and sometimes lieutenants, but neither he nor they got anything but a pipe of tobacco, a glass of beer, and a slice of bread and butter ready cut. If the queen happened to have a dish at supper which she knew the king liked, she sent him word, whereupon he went to her apartment, ate some, and then returned to his Tabacks-Compagnie. His dress was always the uniform of the big grenadiers.

"For the rest he lived very lovingly with his queen, and they had many children; he attended regularly the house of God, and made his soldiers do the same.

His

What he liked best was money and soldiers, and of both he gathered together a great quantity, yet did he not in his lifetime conquer other lands by means of them than the province of Stettin in Pomerania. son, the present king, who at that time was a prince of eleven or twelve years, has acquired still more money and soldiers, and with them has taken many lands, such as Silesia, Polish Prussia,

East Friesland, &c. yet without oppressing his subjects by extraordinary exactions. Once, as I was standing in the shop door, the king came galloping from Potsdam, with his two pages after him, and, on getting off his horse at the entrance to his chambers, I saw with surprise how he threw the bridle over the railing, and, having perceived that one of the horse's hind shoes was loose, caused a page to hold up the foot, while he himself looked about for a stone and knocked the nails tight again. Another day I saw the king going along a street in Berlin, when all at once he espied a paper of pins in the mire; he at once stopped and raked the paper out with his stick, and called to a girl who was passing that she should pick it up.

After making a short tour at Easter, 1724, he goes on again,— "As soon as I had returned from Leipzig and Wittenberg, the royal Collegium Medico-Chirurgicum in Berlin was inaugurated; whereupon I set myself with extreme diligence to profit thereby, and neglected the lecture of no professor, although I lodged a full mile (English) from the anatomical theatre, viz. in the house of my former employer, and must needs travel that distance twice a day, thither and back, even in winter: yet did I not regret it, God granting me health. With more especial diligence I attended on the chemical lessons of Professor Neumann, which were held in the house of the court apothecary, inasmuch as he was wont to demonstrate by experiments in the laboratory whatever he had treated of in his lecture. There was always an immense concourse of auditores-even of clever physicians and surgeons-who sat and wrote down upon their knee everything he said, as if each word had been worth a ducat. The most learned chymicus Dr. Pott also delivered his physico-chymical lectures in the same place, but had no such concourse; for, although what he stated was extremely learned and profound, yet was it not so readily to be understood or so profitable, especially for beginners, as Herr Neumann's. Such

other vacant hours as I had, I employed in taking lessons in the French tongue from a firstrate French teacher, and in learning from a music-master to play on the flaute-douce; later in the evening I occasionally frequented the dancingschool. This I continued one whole year as I had proposed: the professors were, particularly at first, very painstaking, and the chamber of anatomy was that winter well supplied with a very great number of cadavera of both sexes, old and young, even of lying-in women, so that there was enough to practise on in all branches of anatomy; and, when anything particular occurred at the hospital of the Charité, we were permitted to be present.

[ocr errors]

On

"Among the extraordinary and remarkable things that took place in Berlin during my stay there, may be reckoned the following: "King George I. of Great Britain, who likewise was Elector of Hanover, having come to Germany that year, formed the resolution that he would come likewise to Berlin, to visit his son-in-law and daughter, the King and Queen of Prussia. hearing that, these latter set about with all their might making such preparations as were necessary to receive with becoming respect this their august father and guest in their royal palace in Berlin. All economy was wholly put aside. The king hired twenty-four pages and forty lackeys, who were all clad in velvet and fine cloth of a dark blue colour, with red breeches most richly embroidered with gold lace. Also, the splendid royal equipages which were still standing from the time of the king's father, the late magnificent Fredericus Primus, had to be brought out for a day and inspected; and, in truth, they were so rich and costly that I never afterwards saw their like, even in France. The royal gensd'armes had to be rigged out in new uniforms. A pretty considerable army was drawn together round Berlin to divert the King of England by their manœuvres. All the great nobles and their ladies were summoned to appear in handsome equipages. Some opera people, men as well as women, were

written for, and others were set to work on decorations for the court festivities: all which was got ready before King George's arrival; so that the Prussian Court really looked very magnificent, and no longer like itself. And, indeed, it was very pleasant to see those two kings drive through Berlin in such a fine coach, and afterwards dine together along with the whole royal Prussian house. The King of Prussia conducted his father-in-law in like manner to the royal treasure-chamber. And there was, moreover, talk of a double marriage between the two kings, viz. between the Crown Prince of Prussia, his present Majesty, and the eldest princess of the Prince of Wales, as also between the eldest prince of this Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal of Prussia. But this august visit and all the grandeur lasted but a few days; for, as soon as the King of England was gone, the King of Prussia caused all the new liveries to be packed up in boxes, to be kept till they were again wanted, dismissed the new lackeys, and resumed his former economy. . . . . It was a strange and remarkable thing that the king had in his head at this time, viz. to people a piece of waste land in the province of Prussia. To this end he invited a number of the reformed from the Pfalz,1 who were suffering oppression from the Catholics in that country. They wil lingly accepted the offered conditions, and came to Brandenburg to be transported further. But, this not being sufficient, the king caused young country lads and girls of his own subjects to cast lots, that every tenth one should be sent to Prussia; and of these, too, there came, about the same time, between five and six hundred on their journey. When they arrived, the king

1 This emigration from the Palatinate, which Seidelin says he witnessed, must not be confounded with the later exodus from Salzburg, of which we have all read in Mr. Carlyle's book. Friedrich Wilhelm toiled for many years in getting inhabitants to that "piece of waste land.' There were emigrations to Prussia from many parts of Germany, but I have never read elsewhere of one from the Palatinate, though the Polish Elector there did quarrel with his subjects.

gave each of the girls permission to select her husband from among the young men ; and, as soon as any one was fixed on, he was married forthwith, the clergy having received orders to that effect, so that two hundred couples and upwards were married in the churches of Berlin in the course of two or three days. Some lads went to the altar pretty quietly, but others had wet eyes, and were as white as if they had been going to the scaffold; the women-folk looked all glad. But this kind of diversion had nearly gone too far; for there were two girls of Berlin who came to the king and offered to go to Prussia with the rest, on condition that they might have two young merchants whom they named; whereupon, to everybody's surprise, the king gave his consent, and forced these swains into this wedlock, probably with a promise of some special support. But at that all the respectable young men of Berlin got frightened, and I myself as much as any of them. At last, however, the whole party were sent forward to Prussia, and so the alarm was at an end.

"Before I left Berlin, I went out to Potsdam again, to see the big grenadiers on parade. Now just at the hour of parade the mail-coach happened to come in, and with it a travelling doctor from foreign parts, who, being as desirous as myself to see the big grenadiers, went straightway to the parade-ground. He was a decent-looking man, and wore a smart suit of blue clothes, with an elongated peruke, which, being in that place somewhat unusual, drew the king's eye, who at once came galloping down on the doctor, and asked him-'Who are you ?' - Please your Majesty,' said the doctor, 'I am a doctor medicinæ, and I live in such-and-such a place.'-'What are you doing here?' said the king. Please your Majesty,' quoth he, 'I have but this moment arrived with the mail, and desired to take advantage of the opportunity to do myself the pleasure of seeing your Majesty's famous grenadiers.'What!' cried the king, what business have you with my grenadiers? Look you after your books and your patients!' No. 61.-VOL. XI.

6

and with that His Majesty called a gend'arme and said, 'Take this fellow, and lead him straightway out of the town!'

Please your Majesty,' replied the doctor, I have done no harm, and mean to do none. I am departing in a few minutes with the mail, and beseech your Majesty but to grant me time to eat a morsel of food at the inn ere I go.' -'Hold your tongue!' cried the king, repeating his order; 'take him out of the town this instant, and bring me word when you have done it!'-Whereupon the soldier dragged the doctor away; but, when they had gone a bit, the doctor bribed the trooper to let him halt and get something to eat; after which he continued his journey with the coach. As I happened to be standing just behind him, I feared lest I should also fare like him; but the king rode away again; so I escaped,1 and had a good view of the parade, which I must confess was well worth the trouble of seeing, for the men were all like giants, their muskets were big in proportion, and the drill was splendid. After the parade I called on the biggest of the grenadiers, whose name was Jonas; he was a Norwegian, and, therefore, a countryman of my own; he showed me his gloves, which were so large that I could put my hand into every finger, and his shoes, which were more than half an ell (Danish) long. Even the bigger boys in Potsdam were fond of the diversion of running, at their full height, between Jonas's legs; but once, when he got tired of the sport, and a middling-sized boy was running between his legs in this fashion, Jonas suddenly struck his knees together, and hit the boy on the temples so that he fell down dead but Jonas was not punished. Notwithstanding his great height, his legs were crooked; on which account the king inquired of various physicians and surgeons whether they could not be broken and fastened together again so as to look straight. But whether

1 Seidelin was in no danger, for the king's wrath was doubtless excited solely by the wig. There are many stories of his attacks on wigs when they were larger than he approved of.

F

« PreviousContinue »