whether it be nero constructing his hydraulic clocks, or prince rupert experimenting in his laboratory, or philip of burgundy contriving houses full of diableries, such as hidden trap-doors, undermined floors, and the like, we find the same habit illustrated among rulers of every age and country. when it was suggested to dr. johnson that kings must be unhappy because they are deprived of the greatest of all satisfactions, easy and unreserved society, he observed that this was an ill-formed notion. “being a king does not exclude a man from such society. great kings have always been social. the king of prussia, the only great king at present”—this was the great frederick—“is very social; charles the second, the last king of england who was a man of parts, was social; our henries and edwards were all social.”
and this is specially the case with the amusements of royalty, which have oftentimes been of the most rough and arduous nature. but, as lord brougham once remarked, “blessed is the man who has a hobby-horse;” and c?sar wrote, “under my tent, in the fiercest struggles of war, i have always found time to think of many other{121} things”—a habit which has been recognised as a secret of strength.
a hobby which was destined to have an unforeseen result was that of peter the great for boat-building, which manifested itself when he was sixteen years of age, and was accidental. when wandering one day about one of his country estates near the village of ismaílovo with his companion timmermann, he espied an old storehouse, on ransacking which with boyish curiosity his eye fell on a boat that lay in a corner, turned bottom upward.
“what is that?” he inquired.
“that is an english boat,” replied timmermann; “and if you had sails in it, it would go not only with the wind, but against the wind.”
but the boat was too rotten for use, and some time necessarily had to elapse before the little craft was put in working order with a mast and sails. the difficulty, however, was soon overcome by carsten brandt, who some years previously had been brought from holland by the tsar alexis for the purpose of constructing vessels on the caspian sea, and under his superintendence it was launched on the river yaúza; “and mighty pleasant it was to me,” writes peter in the preface to the “maritime regulations,” where he describes the beginning of the russian navy. henceforth his mind was intent upon boat-building and navigation, and in the year 1691 he went to lake plestcheief, where he remained for a fortnight in a small palace built for him on the shore of the lake. “it{122} was,” according to eugene schuyler,[56] “a small, one-storey wooden house, with windows of mica, engraved with different ornaments, the doors covered for warmth with white felt;” and here he occupied himself with building a ship, and worked so zealously that he was “unwilling to return to moscow for the reception of the persian ambassador, and it was necessary for leo na?yshkin and prince boris golitsyn to go expressly to pereyaslávl to show him the importance of returning for the reception, in order not to offend the shah.” the boat which he found at ismaílovo has ever since borne the name of the “grandsire of the russian fleet,” and is preserved with the greatest care in a small brick building near the cathedral of ss. peter and paul within the fortress of st. petersburg. in the year 1870, on the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of his birth, it was one of the chief objects of interest in the great parade of st. petersburg; and in 1872 it was conveyed with much pomp and ceremony to moscow, where for a time it formed a part of the polytechnic exposition.
but, as it has been observed, “perhaps one of the most interesting and extraordinary circumstances in the history of mankind is that the despotic monarch of a mighty dominion should descend from his throne and travel as a private person in the train of his own ambassador sent to holland. on arriving there, he first took up his abode in the admiralty at amsterdam, and afterwards enrolled himself among the ship-carpenters, and went to the village of sardam, where{123} he wrought as a common carpenter and blacksmith with unusual assiduity, under the name of master peter. he was clad and fed as his fellow-workmen, for he would not allow of vain distinctions.”
in the following year he passed over to england, where, in the space of four months, he completed his knowledge of shipbuilding. after receiving every mark of respect from william iii., he left this country accompanied by several english shipbuilders and carpenters, whom he treated with great liberality in his naval dockyards, and subsequently he is said to have written several essays on naval matters.
john evelyn, in his diary, alludes to the emperor’s visit, and under january 1698 makes this entry: “the czar of muscovy being come to england, and having a mind to see the building of ships, hired my house at say’s court, and made it his court and palace, new furnished for him by the king.”
and while the emperor was in his house one of evelyn’s servants thus wrote to him: “there is a house full of people, and right nasty. the czar lies next your library and dines in the parlour next your study. he dines at ten o’clock and six at night, is very seldom at home a whole day, very often in the king’s yard or by water, dressed in several dresses. the king is expected here this day; the best parlour is pretty clean for him to be entertained in. the king pays for all he has.”
peter the great was also in the habit of frequenting the different workshops and manufactories, and{124} among the places he frequently visited were the forges of müller at istia. it was here that he employed himself in learning a blacksmith’s business, succeeding so well that on one occasion he forged eighteen poods of iron, putting his own particular mark on each bar, one of which is preserved at st. petersburg. one of his predecessors, feodor, son of ivan iv., exercised his strength by ringing church bells, which was one of his favourite hobbies.
alexander iii. of russia also took great delight in manual labour, and one of his favourite pastimes was to fell huge trees, saw them into planks, plane them, and generally prepare them for the cabinet-maker. his physique, which was exceptionally powerful, enabled him to indulge in this hobby. some idea of his strength may be gathered from the fact that he could twist and break thick iron pokers and bars with his hand, render pewter tankards into bouquet holders, whereby he justified his title of the “russian samson.” in his younger days he was able to bend a bar of iron across his knees, or to burst in a strong door with his shoulder. in this respect he was not unlike william the conqueror, of whom it is said that no one but himself could bend his bow, and that he could, when riding at full speed, discharge a long-bow with unerring aim. and edward i., it is reported, was so adroit and active, that he could leap into his saddle by merely putting his hand on it. charlemagne is reputed to have been so strong as to be able to take a horse-shoe in his hands and snap it. augustus the strong of saxony was{125} a man of herculean muscular powers, who could lift weights, straighten horse-shoes with his two hands, and go through other exercises which astonished his subjects. and such was the muscular strength of don sebastian that, by the mere pressure of his knees, he could make his charger groan and sweat; and it may be added that all manly exercises which required vigour and agility were favourite hobbies of don sebastian. when the “wind blew hurricanes and the waves dashed wildly over the bar of lisbon, the inhabitants of the capital watched often with eager suspense the progress of a small vessel, having at the main the royal standard, as it ploughed its way through the foaming waters, for on board that frail ship was the hope of the nation, king don sebastia?. ‘there is no bravery, nor merit, nor profit to be gained by going on board in a calm,’ replied the king to the expostulation of his council.”[57] it may be added, too, that cymburga of poland, who was married to ernest the “iron,” cracked her nuts with her fingers, and when she trained her fruit trees, she hammered the nails into the wall with her clenched knuckles.
the albanian prince, george castriot, better known as scanderbeg, was a strong man, for he could cut off a bull’s head at a single stroke. mahomed ii. invited him to send the sword which had performed so remarkable an exploit. it was sent, but the sultan, finding that it differed not from any other weapon of the kind, expressed{126} his dissatisfaction. scanderbeg retorted that he had sent him his sword as desired, but could not send the arm which had wielded it.
charles v. of spain had a decided taste, and, as it would seem, talent for mechanical pursuits, and when in germany had invented a carriage for his own accommodation. after his abdication he would often amuse himself, with his companion torriano, in making little puppets—soldiers performing their exercises, girls dancing with their tambourines, and if the account be true, wooden birds that could fly in and out of the window.[58] when he entered nuremberg, of the many forms of welcome which he there encountered, none pleased him more than the artificial eagle which flew to meet him.[59]
he had also a turn for the mathematical sciences, and, like louis xvi., a passion for timepieces; and the difficulty which he found in adjusting his clocks and watches is said to have drawn from the monarch a philosophical reflection on the absurdity of his having attempted to bring men to anything like uniformity of belief in matters of faith, when he could not make any two of his timepieces agree with each other. on one occasion the ma?tre d’h?tel, much perplexed how to devise a daily supply of rich and high-seasoned dishes to suit his palate, told his royal master{127}—knowing his passion for timepieces—that “he really did not know what he could do, unless it were to serve up his majesty a fricassee of watches.” and like her illustrious relative, charles v., queen mary had a decided taste for clocks, for they form a prominent article in her yearly expenditure.
and among the many great and useful problems which charles discussed with torriano, mention is made of a bold and gigantic project, which was duly accomplished after his death by gianello, and consisted in raising the waters of the low-lying tagus to the heights of toledo. according to bourgoing, the remains of this ingenious machine are still to be seen on the high rocky peninsula occupied by the city; and, near them, “ruins still more ancient, which must have formed part of an aqueduct designed to convey water to the height of alcazar, from springs seven or eight leagues distant—a legacy at once useful and magnificent, by which the romans have marked their residence in more than one place in spain.”
speaking of louis xvi.’s taste for mechanics, we are told how over his private library were a forge, two anvils, and a vast number of iron tools, various common locks, as well as some of a secret and elaborate kind. it was here that “the infamous gamin, who afterwards accused the king of having tried to poison him, and was rewarded for his calumny with a pension of twelve hundred livres, taught him the art of lock-making. when teaching the king his trade, gamin took upon himself the tone and authority of a master.” the{128} king, according to gamin, “was good, forbearing, timid, inquisitive, and addicted to sleep; he was fond to excess of lock-making, and he concealed himself from the queen and the court to file and forge with me. in order to convey his anvil and my own backwards and forwards, we were obliged to use a thousand stratagems, the history of which would never end.”[60]
in his private apartments were his collection of instruments, charts, spheres, globes, and also his geographical cabinet. and, in addition to these, there were to be seen drawings of maps which he had begun, and others that he had finished. he inherited some from louis xv., and he often busied himself in keeping them clean and bright.[61]
we may note that amongst the earliest pieces of modern mechanism associated with royalty was a curious water-clock presented to charlemagne by the kaliph haroun al raschid. in the dial-plate there were twelve small windows, corresponding with the divisions of the hours. the hours were indicated by the opening of the windows, which let out little metallic balls which struck the hour by falling on a brazen bell. the doors continued open till twelve o’clock, when twelve little knights, mounted on horseback, came out at the same instant, and, after parading the dial, shut all the windows, and returned to their apartments.
another automaton was that of the philosopher{129} john müller, and most elaborate, consisting of an artificial eagle which flew to meet the emperor maximilian when he arrived at nuremberg on the 7th of june 1470. after soaring aloft in the air, the eagle is stated to have met the emperor at some distance from the city, and to have returned and perched upon the town gate, where it waited his approach. on the emperor’s arrival the eagle stretched out its wings, and saluted him by an inclination of its body.
a piece of mechanism of an elaborate nature was made by m. camus for the special amusement of louis xiv. when a child. it consisted of a small coach, which was drawn by two horses, and contained the figure of a lady within, with a footman and page behind. when this machine was placed at the extremity of a table of the proper size, “the coachman smacked his whip, and the horses instantly set off, moving their legs in a natural manner, and drawing the coach after them. when the coach reached the opposite edge of the table, it turned sharply at a right angle, and proceeded along the adjacent edge. as soon as it arrived opposite the place where the king sat it stopped, the page descended and opened the coach door, the lady alighted, and with a curtsey presented a petition, which she held in her hand, to the king. after waiting some time, she again curtsied and re-entered the carriage. the page closed the door, and having resumed his place behind, the coachman whipped his horses and drove on. the footman, who had previously alighted,{130} ran after the carriage and jumped up behind into his former place.”[62]
louis xiv. had an inordinate passion for jewels. his most costly possession was the famous crown of agrippina, a work of consummate art, composed of eight tiers of immense brilliants in a transparent setting. in his private cabinet louis xiv. “had two immense pedestals of rosewood, in the interior with shifting shelves, in which he kept the most precious of the crown jewels, in order that he might examine and admire them at his ease, an occupation in which he took great delight, nor did he ever hear of a gem of price, either in asia or europe, without making strenuous efforts to secure the prize.”
but this crown was the cause of a tragic and apparently mysterious occurrence. when the princess of modena passed through france on her way to england, where she was about to become the wife of the duke of york, louis gave her a costly reception, nothing on his part being left undone to make her brief sojourn at his court as enjoyable as possible. it happened that the conversation turned on the forms and fashions of jewellery, which prompted the marquis de dangeau, who prided himself on his antiquarian knowledge, to observe that it was in the time of nero the imperial crown was first arched, whereupon louis added that he possessed one himself, and which the marchioness de montespan would produce. in due time the glittering circlet was brought{131} forth to excite universal admiration; but when louis obtained a close view of it, he exclaimed to the marchioness, “how is this, madam? this is no longer my crown of agrippina; all the stones have been changed.” the setting was intact, but the brilliants had been replaced by paste.
the mystery was before long solved, it being proved that the maker of the casket had affected an attachment for one of the waiting-women of the marchioness de montespan, who during his visits, having free access to where the crown of agrippina was kept, had substituted the mock for the true diamonds. he was convicted and hanged, upon which occasion louis xiv. remarked to the duchess, “he has at least left us the setting, but cromwell would have seized it whole.”[63]
the elector frederick, surnamed “the wise,” was an indefatigable collector of relics. after his death one of the monks employed by him solicited payment for several parcels he had purchased for “the wise elector; but the times had changed. he was advised to give over this business. the relics for which he desired payment, it was argued, they were willing to return; that the price had fallen considerably since the reformation of luther; and that they would be more esteemed and find a better market in italy than in germany.”[64]
the only expensive personal fancy, it is said,{132} of frederick the great was for collecting snuff-boxes, of which he left as many as one hundred and thirty, valued at one million three hundred thousand dollars. lord malmesbury says that “one could hardly approach the king without sneezing.” two thousand pounds weight of spanish snuff had always to be kept in store. smoking, on the other hand, says vehse,[65] “was an abomination to frederick ever since the tobacco in his father’s time.” a female sovereign who indulged in this habit was catherine ii. of russia.
and in the reign of alexis the penalty for a man who smoked a pipe of tobacco was to have his nose cut off. this sovereign seems to have had a great dislike of tobacco, but times were to change, and a well-known portrait of peter the great represents him sitting in a sailor’s dress enjoying a pipe.
augustus the strong of saxony was a great china fancier, and his credulity in the transmutation of metals was accidentally the cause of the discovery of the celebrated dresden ware. an apothecary’s lad, named b?ttiger, composed a tincture that was supposed to be capable of being transformed into gold. but the reputation of a successful alchemist was fatal to his liberty, and the lad of seventeen was by order of augustus placed under lock and key, with a complete laboratory at his disposal—a restraint which almost made him mad. the governor of konigstein reported on the 12th of april 1702 that “he foamed at the mouth like a horse, roared like a bull, knocked his head{133} against the wall, and trembled so violently that two soldiers could not hold him. he considered the commandant to be the archangel gabriel; he blasphemed, and drank twelve cans of beer a day without getting drunk.”
accordingly, the lad was removed to dresden, where he was allowed a certain liberty, and owing to his flow of animal spirits he had the art of enchanting every one he met. augustus himself sought his acquaintance, without giving him full liberty. it was whilst pursuing his experiments that b?ttiger discovered the meissen porcelain—commonly called dresden china—which to augustus, who, as already stated, was a great china fancier, was as welcome as gold itself, for he had expended vast sums on what is known as the japan palace. many workmen were engaged from delft to work the new ware, and in 1710 the manufactory of meissen commenced the supply of the demand, which soon became european.
b?ttiger’s fortune and reputation were made, for henceforth he had access to the king as often as he chose, who gave him a ring with his effigy, a young bear, two apes, and credit with the royal banker. and in 1715 he not only obtained his full liberty, but the profits of the porcelain manufactory for life. but he proved himself unequal to success, and he died of his excesses at the early age of thirty-four.[66]
ludwig ii. of bavaria was a most inveterate{134} builder, and in the course of a few years he built the castle of neuschwanstein, and the palaces of linderhof and herrenchiemsee, the last intended by him to be a monument to louis quatorze, “who was the supreme god of his mad olympus.” true to his love of nocturnal expeditions, ludwig arrived at chiemsee at midnight, but in spite of all its splendour he failed to find much comfort there, set down as this gorgeous castle was in a wilderness far away from everywhere, and at last he only spent nine days in every year here.
another sovereign who became a great builder was stanislaus leczinski, who, to gratify his hobby, demolished churches, chapels, ducal palaces, castles, towers, and town-houses. according to some, his greatest glory is the church of notre dame de bon secours, in which he and his consort, caroline opzinska, were entombed. but, writes dr. doran, “antiquaries see in this building the ex-king’s greatest crime; for in order to construct it, he demolished the famous old church of the same name, erected by rené ii., duke of lorraine, in gratitude for his victory over charles, duke of burgundy, in 1477, won on the very spot.” the story goes that an honest plasterer, who lived in sight of the old church, was so indignant at the profanation that he walled up his windows that his eyes might not be offended by the continual sight of what was going on. then there was henry iv. of france, whose taste for building conduced much to the improvement of his capital.
