origin of the prussian monarchy.—the duchies of brandenburg and prussia.—the elector crowned king frederick i.—frederick william.—his childhood, youth, and marriage.—birth of fritz.—death of frederick i.—eccentric character of frederick william.—his defective education.—his energy.—curious anecdotes.—hatred of the french.—education of fritz.—the father’s plan of instruction.
on the southern coasts of the baltic sea, between the latitudes of 52° and 54°, there lies a country which was first revealed to civilized eyes about three hundred years before the birth of christ. the trading adventurers from marseilles, who landed at various points upon the coast, found it a cold, savage region of lakes, forests, marshy jungles, and sandy wastes. a shaggy tribe peopled it, of semi-barbarians, almost as wild as the bears, wolves, and swine which roamed their forests. as the centuries rolled on, centuries of which, in these remote regions, history takes no note, but in which the gloomy generations came and went, shouting, fighting, weeping, dying, gradually the aspect of a rude civilization spread over those dreary solitudes. the savage inhabitants, somewhat tamed, increased in numbers, and there appeared a tall and manly race of fair complexion, light hair, stern aspect, great physical strength, and very formidable in battle.
still centuries elapsed, leaving little for history to record but war and woe. fierce tribes swept in all directions. battle was life’s great business. man, ignorant, degraded, brutal, could have had but few if any joys. perhaps, through his degradation, his woes were only such as beasts feel. by degrees, from this chaos, a certain kind of governmental order emerged. small tribes became united under powerful chieftains. kings arose. there were all varieties of political organizations, dukedoms, principalities,18 marquisates, and electorates. it is recorded that adalbert, bishop of prag, about the year 997, with two companions, as apostles of christianity, first penetrated these wilds. like christian heroes they went, with staff and scrip, regardless of danger. the bishop was fifty years of age, and his gray hairs floated in the breeze. as he landed a stout savage struck him with the flat of his oar, and sent him headlong to the ground.
the zealous bishop, perhaps not unwilling to secure the crown of martyrdom, pressed on, preaching the gospel, in face of prohibitions and menaces, until he entered one of the sacred inclosures which was a sanctuary of the idols of these heathen. the priests rushed upon him, endeavored to drive him out, and struck him with a dagger in the back of his neck. he uttered but one cry, “jesus, receive me!” and, stretching out his arms, fell with his face to the ground, and lay dead there “in the form of a crucifix.” the place is yet pointed out where adalbert fell. still the seeds of christianity were sown. other missionaries followed. idolatry disappeared, and the realm became nominally christian. revealed religion introduced increased enlightenment and culture, though there still remained much of the savagery of ancient days.
when the reformation in the sixteenth century was presented to europe, and was rejected by italy, france, austria, and spain, it was accepted, though not unanimously, yet very generally, by the inhabitants of this wild region. in the year 1700 there was, in the midst of the realm of which we are about to write, and which is now called prussia, a province then known as the marquisate of brandenburg. it embraced a little over fifteen thousand square miles, being about twice as large as the state of massachusetts. it was one of the electorates of germany, and the elector or marquis, frederick, belonged to the renowned family of hohenzollern. to the east of brandenburg there was a duchy called prussia. this duchy, in some of the political agitations of the times, had been transferred to the marquis of brandenburg. the elector of brandenburg, frederick, an ambitious man, rejoicing in the extent of his domain, which was large for a marquisate, though small for a monarchy, obtained from the emperor of germany its recognition as a kingdom, and assumed the title of frederick i. of prussia. many of19 the proud monarchies of europe did not conceal the contempt with which they regarded this petty kingdom. they received the elector into their society very much as haughty nobles, proud of a long line of illustrious ancestry, would receive a successful merchant who had purchased a title. frederick himself was greatly elated with the honor he had attained, and his subjects shared with him in his exultation.
frederick the great.
berlin was the capital of brandenburg. k?nigsberg, an important sea-port on the baltic, nearly five hundred miles east of berlin, was the capital of the prussian duchy. the ceremony20 of coronation took place at k?nigsberg. the road, for most of the distance, was through a very wild, uncultivated country. eighteen hundred carriages, with thirty thousand post-horses, were provided to convey the court to the scene of coronation. such a cavalcade was never beheld in those parts before. the carriages moved like an army, in three divisions of six hundred each. volumes have been written descriptive of the pageant. it is said that the diamond buttons on the king’s coat cost seven thousand five hundred dollars each. the streets were not only tapestried with the richest cloth of the most gorgeous colors, but many of them were softly carpeted for the feet of the high-born men and proud dames who contributed, by their picturesque costume, to the brilliance of the spectacle. frederick, with his own hands, placed the crown upon his brow. thus was the kingdom of prussia, ushered into being at the close of the year 1700.
frederick i. had a son, frederick william, then twelve years of age. he accompanied his father upon this coronation tour. as heir to the throne he was called the crown prince. his mother was a hanoverian princess, a sister of the elector george of hanover, who subsequently became george i. of england. george i. did not succeed to the british crown until the death of anne, in 1714. when frederick william was but five years of age he had been taken by his mother to hanover, to visit her brother, then the elector. george had two children—a little girl, named sophie dorothee, a few months older than frederick william, and a son, who subsequently became george ii. of england. the two boys did not love each other. they often quarreled. though frederick william was the younger, it is said that on one occasion he severely beat his cousin, the future king of england, causing the blood to flow freely. he developed a very energetic but unamiable character. among other anecdotes illustrative of his determined spirit, it is recorded that at one time, during this visit, his governess ordered some task which he was unwilling to perform. the headstrong boy sprang out of the third story window of the castle, and, clinging to the sill with his hands, threatened to let himself drop. the terrified madame montbail was thus brought to terms.1
21 sophie dorothee was a very pretty child. the plan was probably already contemplated by the parents that the two should be married in due time. soon after this frederick william lost his mother, and with her all of a mother’s care and gentle influences. her place was taken by a step-mother, whose peevishness and irritability soon developed into maniacal insanity. when frederick william was eighteen years of age he was allowed to choose between three princesses for his wife. he took his pretty cousin, sophie dorothee. they were married with great pomp on the 28th of november, 1706.
a son was born and died. a daughter came, wilhelmina. but a daughter could not inherit the crown. another son was born and died. there was great anxiety at court, from fear that the direct line of succession might not be preserved. but on the 24th of january, 1712, when the monarchy was but twelve years old, the little prince was born who subsequently obtained such renown as frederick the great. the king, his grandfather, was aged and infirm. the excessive joy with which he greeted little fritz, as he fondly called the child, was cordially reciprocated throughout the prussian nation. the realm blazed with bonfires and illuminations, and resounded with every demonstration of public joy. the young prince was christened with great pomp, charles frederick. the emperor, charles vi., was present on the occasion, and in the solemnities there were blended the most imposing civil, military, and ecclesiastical rites. the baptism took place on the 31st of january, 1712, when the babe was a week old. the young prince subsequently dropped the name of charles, and frederick became his sole designation. wilhelmina, frederick’s sister, was about three years older than himself. we shall have frequent occasion to allude to her in the course of this history, as between her and her brother there sprang up a warm attachment, which was of life-long continuance. ten children were subsequently born to the royal pair, making fourteen in all, most of whom attained mature years.
frederick william, the crown prince, was at the time of the birth of his son frederick twenty-four years of age. he was a22 very peculiar man, sturdy and thick-set in figure, of strong mental powers, but quite uneducated. he was unpolished in manners, rude in his address, honest and sincere, a stern, persevering worker, despising all luxurious indulgence, and excessively devoted to the routine of military duties.
baptism of frederick.
the king, frederick i., had for some time been in a feeble state of health. the burden of life had proved heavier than he was able to bear. his wife was crazed, his home desolate, his health broken, and many mortifications and disappointments had so crushed his spirits that he had fallen into the deepest state of melancholy. as he was sitting alone and sad in a chill morning of february, 1713, gazing into the fire, absorbed in painful musings, suddenly there was a crash of the glass door of the apartment. his frenzied wife, half-clad, with disheveled hair,23 having escaped from her keepers, came bursting through the shattered panes. her arms were gashed with glass, and she was in the highest state of maniacal excitement. the shock proved a death-blow to the infirm old king. he was carried to his bed, which he never left, dying in a few days. his grandson frederick was then fourteen months old.
frederick william.
frederick william was too stern a man to shed many tears over his father’s death. the old king was ostentatious in his tastes, fond of parade and splendor. the son had almost an insane contempt for all court etiquette and all the elegancies of24 life. as he stood by his father’s dying bed, his unamiable, rugged nature developed itself in the disgust, almost rage, with which he regarded the courtly pageantry with which the expiring monarch was surrounded. the remains of the king were allowed to be conveyed to the tomb with that pomp which had been dear to him while living.
but, immediately after these ceremonies were over, the new monarch, who assumed the crown with the title of frederick william, not with that of frederick ii., to the utter consternation of the court, dismissed nearly every honorary official of the palace, from the highest dignitary to the humblest page. his flashing eye and determined manner were so appalling that no one ventured to remonstrate. a clean sweep was made, so that the household was reduced to the lowest footing of economy consistent with the supply of indispensable wants. eight servants were retained at six shillings a week. his father had thirty pages; all were dismissed but three. there were one thousand saddle-horses in the royal stables; frederick william kept thirty. three fourths of the names were struck from the pension-list. thus rigidly the king went on through every department of administrative and household expenses, until they were reduced to below a fifth of what they had been under his father.
for twenty-seven years this strange man reigned. he was like no other monarch. great wisdom and shrewdness were blended with unutterable folly and almost maniacal madness. though a man of strong powers of mind, he was very illiterate. he certainly had some clear views of political economy. carlyle says of him, “his semi-articulate papers and rescripts on these subjects are still almost worth reading by a lover of genuine human talent in the dumb form. for spelling, grammar, penmanship, and composition they resemble nothing else extant—are as if done by the paw of a bear; indeed, the utterance generally sounds more like the growling of a bear than any thing that could be handily spelled or parsed. but there is a decisive human sense in the heart of it; and there is such a dire hatred of empty bladders, unrealities, and hypocritical forms and pretenses, which he calls wind and humbug, as is very strange indeed.”
his energy inspired the whole kingdom, and paved the way25 for the achievements of his son. the father created the machine with which the son attained such wonderful results. he commuted the old feudal service into a fixed money payment. he goaded the whole realm into industry, compelling even the apple-women to knit at the stalls. the crown lands were carefully farmed out. he drained bogs, planted colonies, established manufactures, and in every way encouraged the use of prussian products. he carried with him invariably a stout rattan cane. upon the slightest provocation, like a madman, he would thrash those who displeased him. he was thoroughly an arbitrary king, ruling at his sovereign will, and disposing of the liberty, the property, and the lives of his subjects at his pleasure. every year he was accumulating large masses of coin, which he deposited in barrels in the cellar of his palace. he had no powers of graceful speech, but spent his energetic, joyless life in grumbling and growling.
the prussian minister, baron p?llnitz, in a letter from berlin dated june 6, 1729, writes: “the king’s prime minister is the king himself, who is informed of every thing, and is desirous to know every thing. he gives great application to business, but does it with extraordinary ease; and nothing escapes his penetration nor his memory, which is a very happy one. no sovereign in the world is of more easy access, his subjects being actually permitted to write to him without any other formality than superscribing the letter to the king. by writing underneath, to be delivered into his majesty’s own hands, one may be sure that the king receives and reads it, and that the next post he will answer it, either with his own hands or by his secretary. these answers are short, but peremptory. there is no town in all the king of prussia’s dominions, except neufchatel, where he has not been; no province which he does not know full well; nor a court of justice but he is acquainted with its chief members.”
fully conscious that the respect which would be paid to him as a european sovereign greatly depended upon the number of men he could bring into the field of battle, frederick william devoted untiring energies to the creation of an army. by the most severe economy, watching with an eagle eye every expenditure, and bringing his cudgel down mercilessly upon the shoulders26 of every loiterer, he succeeded in raising and maintaining an army of one hundred thousand men; seventy-two thousand being field troops, and thirty thousand in garrison.2 he drilled these troops as troops were never drilled before.
regardless himself of comfort, insensible to fatigue, dead to affection, he created perhaps the most potent military machine earth has ever known. prussia was an armed camp. the king prized his soldiers as a miser prizes his gold coin, and was as unwilling to expose them to any danger as the miser is to hazard his treasures. war would thin his regiments, soil his uniforms, destroy his materiel. he hated war. but his army caused prussia to be respected. if needful, he could throw one hundred thousand of the best drilled and best furnished troops in europe, like a thunderbolt, upon any point. unprincipled monarchs would think twice before they would encroach upon a man thus armed.
there was but one short war in which frederick william engaged during his reign of twenty-seven years. that was with charles xii. of sweden. it lasted but a few months, and from it the prussian king returned victorious. the demands of frederick william were not unreasonable. as he commenced the brief campaign, which began and ended with the siege of stralsund, he said: “why will the very king whom i most respect compel me to be his enemy?” in his characteristic farewell order to his ministers, he wrote: “my wife shall be told of all things, and counsel asked of her. and as i am a man, and may be shot dead, i command you and all to take care of fritz, as god shall reward you. and i give you all, wife to begin with, my curse that god may punish you in time and eternity if you do not, after my death, bury me in the vault of the palace church at berlin. and you shall make no grand to-do on the occasion. on your body and life no festivals and ceremonials, except that the regiments, one after the other, fire a volley over me. i am assured that you will manage every thing with all the exactness in the world, for which i shall ever, zealously, as long as i live, be your friend.”
the king was scrupulously clean, washing five times a day. he would allow no drapery, no stuffed furniture, no carpets in27 his apartments. they caught dust. he sat upon a plain wooden chair. he ate roughly, like a farmer, of roast beef, despising all delicacies. his almost invariable dress was a close military blue coat, with red cuffs and collar, buff waistcoat and breeches, and white linen gaiters to the knee. a sword was belted around his loins, and, as we have said, a stout rattan or bamboo cane ever in his hand. a well-worn, battered, triangular hat covered his head. he walked rapidly through the streets which surrounded his palaces at potsdam and berlin. if he met any one who attracted his attention, male or female, he would abruptly, menacingly inquire, “who are you?” a street-lounger he has been known to hit over the head with his cane, exclaiming, “home, you rascal, and go to work.” if any one prevaricated or hesitated, he would sternly demand, “look me in the face.” if there were still hesitancy, or the king were dissatisfied with the answers, the one interrogated was lucky if he escaped without a caning.3
the boorish king hated the refinement and polish of the french. if he met a lady in rich attire, she was pretty sure to be rudely assailed; and a young man fashionably dressed could hardly escape the cudgel if he came within reach of the king’s arm. the king, stalking through the streets, was as marked an object as an elephant would have been. every one instantly recognized him, and many fled at his approach. one day he met a pale, threadbare young man, who was quietly passing him, when the king stopped, in his jerking gait, and demanded, in his coarse, rapid utterance, “who are you?” “i am a theological student,” the young man quietly replied. “where from?” added the king. “from berlin,” was the response. “from berlin?” the king rejoined; “the berliners are all a good-for-nothing set.” “yes, your majesty, that is true of many of them,” the young man added; “but i know of two exceptions.” “of two?” responded the king; “which are they?” “your majesty and myself,” the young man replied. the king burst into a good-humored laugh, and,28 after having the young man carefully examined, assigned him to a chaplaincy.
the french minister at the court of berlin, count rothenburg, was a prussian by birth. he was a man of much diplomatic ability, and a very accomplished gentleman. having spent much of his life in paris, he had acquired the polished manners of the french court, and wore the costume appropriate to the tuileries and versailles. he and his associates in the embassy attracted much attention as they appeared in their cocked hats, flowing wigs, laced coats, and other gorgeous trimmings. the king, in his homespun garb, was apprehensive that the example so obnoxious to him might spread.
there was to be a grand review on the parade-ground just out from berlin, at which the french embassy was to be present. the king caused a party equal in number, composed of the lowest of the people, to be dressed in an enormous exaggeration of the french costume. their cocked hats were nearly a yard in diameter. immense wigs reached to their heels; and all other parts of the french court costume were caricatured in the most grotesque manner possible. as soon as the french embassy appeared, there was a great sound of trumpets and martial bands from another part of the field, and these harlequins were brought forward to the gaze of every eye, and conspicuously to the view of count rothenburg and his companions. military discipline prevented any outburst of derisive laughter. perfect silence reigned. the king sat upon his horse as stolid and grim as fate. count rothenburg yielded to this gross discourtesy of the king, and ever after, while he remained in berlin, wore a plain german costume.
frederick william was very anxious that little fritz should be trained to warlike tastes and habits; that, like himself, he should scorn all effeminacy; that, wearing homespun clothes, eating frugal food, despising all pursuits of pleasure and all literary tastes, he should be every inch a soldier. but, to the bitter disappointment of the father, the child manifested no taste for soldiering. he was gentle, affectionate, fond of books and music,4 and with an almost feminine love clung to his sister. the29 stern old king was not only disappointed, but angered. these were qualities which he deemed unmanly, and which he thoroughly despised.
the little drummer.
one day the father, returning home, found, to his inexpressible delight, little fritz strutting about beating a drum, with wilhelmina marching by his side. the king could scarcely restrain his joy. at last the military element was being developed in his child. he hastened with the tidings to his wife, whom he called30 by the pet name of “phiekin”—a word apparently coined from sophie. the matter was talked about all over the palace. a painter was sent for to transfer the scene to canvas. this picture, greatly admired, still hangs upon the walls of the charlottenburg palace. of this picture carlyle writes: “fritz is still, if not in ‘long-clothes,’ at least in longish and flowing clothes of the petticoat sort, which look as of dark blue velvet, very simple, pretty, and appropriate; in a cap of the same; has a short raven’s feather in the cap, and looks up with a face and eyes full of beautiful vivacity and child’s enthusiasm, one of the beautifulest little figures, while the little drum responds to his bits of drumsticks. sister wilhelmina, taller by some three years, looks on in pretty stooping attitude, and with a graver smile. blackamoor and room-furniture elegant enough; and finally the figure of a grenadier on guard, seen far off through an open window, make up the background.”
the early governess of little fritz was a french lady of much refinement and culture, madame racoule. she was in entire sympathy with her pupil. their tastes were in harmony. fritz became as familiar with the french language as if it were his mother tongue. probably through her influence he acquired that fondness for french literature and that taste for french elegance which continued with him through life.
when the child was but six years of age his father organized a miniature soldiers’ company for him, consisting of one hundred lads. gradually the number was increased to three hundred. the band was called “the crown prince cadets.” a very spirited, mature boy of seventeen, named rentzel, was drill-sergeant, while an experienced colonel was appointed commander-in-chief. fritz was very thoroughly instructed in his duties, and was furnished with a military dress, almost the fac-simile of that which his father wore. an arsenal was also provided for the child on the palace grounds at potsdam, where he mounted batteries and practiced gunnery with small brass ordnance. nothing was omitted which could inspire the prince with military enthusiasm, and render him skillful in the art of war. a prussian gentleman of letters testifies as follows respecting fritz in his seventh year:
“the crown prince manifests in this tender age an uncommon capacity, nay, we may say, something quite extraordinary. he31 is a most alert and vivacious prince. he has fine and sprightly manners, and shows a certain kindly sociality and so affectionate a disposition that all things may be hoped of him. the french lady who has had charge of him hitherto can not speak of him without enthusiasm. ‘he is a little angel,’ she is wont to say. he takes up and learns whatever is placed before him with the greatest facility.”
the arsenal.
when fritz was seven years of age, he was taken from the care of his female teachers and placed under tutors who had been carefully selected for him. they were all military officers who had won renown on fields of blood. the first of these was m. duhan, a french gentleman of good birth and acquirements. he was but thirty years of age. by his accomplishments he won the esteem, and by his amiability the love, of his pupil. count finkenstein, the second, was a veteran general, sixty years old, who also secured the affections of little fritz. colonel kalkstein was twenty-eight years of age. he was a thorough soldier and a man of honor. for forty years, until his death, he retained the regards of his pupil, who was ever accustomed to speak of him as “my master kalkstein.” in the education of the young32 prince every thing was conducted in accordance with the most inflexible routine. from the minute directions given to the teachers in a document drawn up by the father, bunglingly expressed and wretchedly spelled, we cull out the following:
“my son must be impressed with love and fear of god, as the foundation of our temporal and eternal welfare. no false religions or sects of atheist, 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. he is to be taught a proper abhorrence of papistry, and to be shown its baselessness and nonsensicality. impress on him the true religion, which consists essentially in this, that christ died for all men. he is to learn no latin, but french and german, so as to speak and write with brevity and propriety.
“let him learn arithmetic, mathematics, artillery, economy, to the very bottom; history in particular; ancient history only slightly, but the history of the last hundred and fifty years to the exactest pitch. he must be completely master of geography, as also of whatever is remarkable in each country. with increasing years you will more and more, to an especial degree, go upon fortification, the formation of a camp, and 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. you have, in the highest measure, to make it your care to infuse into my son a true love for the soldier business, and to 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 glory therein.”
in october, 1723, when the prince was eleven years of age, his grandfather, george i., came to berlin to visit his daughter and his son-in-law, the mother and father of fritz. from the windows of his apartment he looked out with much interest upon fritz, drilling his cadet company upon the esplanade in front of the palace. the clock-work precision of the movements of the boy soldiers greatly surprised him.
every year frederick william rigorously reviewed all his garrisons. though accompanied by a numerous staff, he traveled with spartan simplicity, regardless of exposure and fatigue.33 from an early age he took fritz with him on these annual reviews. a common vehicle, called the sausage car, and which was the most primitive of carriages, was often used by the king in his rough travels and hunting excursions. this consisted of a mere stuffed pole, some ten or twelve feet long, upon which one sits astride, as if riding a rail. it rested upon wheels, probably with a sort of stirrup for the feet, and the riders, ten or a dozen, were rattled along over the rough roads, through dust or mud, alike regardless of winter’s frost or summer’s rain. the cast-iron king, rejoicing in hardship and exposure, robbed his delicate child even of needful sleep, saying, “too much sleep stupefies a fellow.”
the sausage car.
this rude, coarse discipline was thoroughly uncongenial to the crown prince. he was a boy of delicate feelings and sensitive temperament. the poetic nature very decidedly predominated in him. he was fond of music, played the flute, wrote verses, and was literary in his tastes. he simply hated chasing boars, riding on the sausage car, and being drenched with rain and spattered with mud. the old king, a mere animal with an active intellect, could not appreciate, could not understand even, the34 delicate mental and physical organization of his child. it is interesting to observe how early in life these constitutional characteristics will develop themselves, and how unavailing are all the efforts of education entirely to obliterate them. when frederick william was a boy, he received, as a present, a truly magnificent dressing-gown, of graceful french fashion, richly embroidered with gold. indignantly he thrust the robe into the fire, declaring that he would wear no such finery, and demanded instead a jacket of wholesome homespun. fritz, on the contrary, could not endure the coarse homespun, but, with almost girlish fondness, craved handsome dress. he had no money allowance until he was seventeen years of age. a minute account was kept of every penny expended for him, and the most rigid economy was practiced in providing him with the mere necessaries of life. when fritz was in the tenth year of his age, his father gave the following curious directions to the three teachers of his son in reference to his daily mode of life. the document, an abridgment of which we give, was dated wusterhausen, september 3, 1721:
“on sunday he is to rise at seven o’clock, and, as soon as he has got his slippers on, shall kneel at his bedside and pray to god, so as all in the room may hear, in these words:
“‘lord god, blessed father, i thank thee from my 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 himself clean; dress, and powder, and comb himself. while they are combing and queuing him, he is to breakfast on tea. prayer, washing, breakfast, and the rest to be done pointedly within fifteen minutes.
“this finished, his domestics and preceptor, duhan, shall come in and perform family worship. prayer on their knees. duhan to read a chapter of the bible, and sing some proper psalm or hymn. all the domestics then withdraw, and duhan reads my son the gospel of the sunday, expounds it a little, adducing the main points of christianity, and questioning him from noltenius’s catechism. it will then be nine o’clock.
35 “at nine o’clock he brings my son down to me, who goes to church and dines with me at twelve o’clock. the rest of the day is his own. at half past nine in the evening he shall come 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 shall make a prayer on his knees and sing a hymn, all the servants being there again. instantly after which my son shall get into bed; shall be in bed at half past ten.
“on monday, as on all week-days, he is to be called at six o’clock, and so soon as he is called he is to rise. you are to stand by him that he do not loiter or turn in bed, but briskly and at once get up and say his prayers the same as on sunday morning. this done, he shall, as rapidly as he can, get on his shoes and spatterdashes, also wash his face and hands, but not with soap; shall put on his dressing-gown, have his hair combed and queued, but not powdered. while being combed and queued, he shall, at the same time, take breakfast of tea, so that both jobs go on at once; and all this shall be ended before half past six. preceptor and domestics shall then come in with bible and hymn-books, and have family worship as on sunday. this shall be done by seven o’clock.
“from seven till nine duhan takes him on history; at nine o’clock comes noltenius” (a clergyman from berlin) “with the christian religion till a quarter to eleven. then fritz rapidly washes his face with water, his hands with soap and water; clean shirt; powders and puts on his coat. at eleven o’clock he comes to the king, dines with him at twelve, and stays till two.
“directly at two he goes back to his room. duhan is then ready; takes him upon maps and geography from two to three o’clock, giving account of all the european kingdoms, their strength and weakness; the size, riches, and poverty of their towns. from three o’clock till four duhan shall treat of morality; from four till five shall write german letters with him, and see that he gets a good style. about five o’clock fritz shall wash his hands and go to the king; ride out, and divert himself in the air, and not in his room, and do what he likes if it is not against god.”
thus the employments of every hour were strictly specified for every day in the week. on wednesday he had a partial36 holiday. after half past nine, having finished his history and “got something by heart to strengthen the memory, fritz shall rapidly dress himself and come to the king, and the rest of the day belongs to little fritz.” on saturday he was to be reviewed in all the studies of the week, “to see whether he has profited. general finkenstein and colonel kalkstein shall be present during this. if fritz has profited, the afternoon shall be his own. if he has not profited, he shall from two o’clock till six repeat and learn rightly what he has forgotten on the past days. in undressing and dressing, 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.”
