LETTER LXII.

Potsdam.

The day after our arrival here, I waited on the Count Finkenstein, and desired to know when the D—— of H—— and I could have the honour of being presented to the King, requesting, at the same time, the liberty of attending at the reviews. I was not a little surprised when this minister told me, that I must write a letter to his Majesty, informing him of that request, and that I should certainly receive an answer the day following. It appeared very singular to write to so great a Prince upon an affair of such small importance; but the Count told me this was the established rule. So I immediately did as I was desired.

Next morning one of the court-servants called for me at the inn, and delivered a sealed letter addressed to me, and signed by the King, importing, that as the court would soon be at Berlin, the minister in waiting there would let the D—— of H—— and Mr. —— know when they might be presented, and that they were very welcome to attend at all the reviews.

In the evening we were presented to the Prince and Princess of Prussia, who reside almost constantly at Potsdam. He is a tall, stout-made, handsome man, of about thirty-five years of age. The Princess is of the family of Hesse-Darmstadt, and has a great resemblance to her aunt, whom we had seen at Carlsruhe. We have had the honour of supping with them twice during the few days we have been at Potsdam.

The Prince and all the officers have been employed every morning in preparing for the reviews. Yesterday, for the second time, there were seven thousand men reviewed by the King. The Prince of Prussia’s son, a child of six or seven years old, was present on foot with his tutor, and unattended by any officer or servant. They mingled without any mark of distinction among the other spectators. I mentioned my surprise at this to the tutor. In France, said he, it would be otherwise: the Dauphin, at the age of this child, would be carried to the review in a coach, with a troop of musqueteers to attend him; but here, the King and Prince are equally desirous that their successor should be brought up in a hardy manner, and without any strong impression of his own importance. Sentiments of that kind will come soon enough, in spite of all the pains that can be taken to exclude them.

The troops were drawn up in one line along the summits of some hills. From this situation they descended over very unequal and rough ground, firing in grand divisions all the way, till they came to the plain, where they went through various evolutions. But as we were to set out in a little time for Berlin, where the grand reviews of that garrison are to take place, I shall say no more on the subject of reviews till then.

Our mornings, since we came hither, have always been passed with the troops in the field. The forenoons we have spent in looking at every thing curious in the town. The houses are built of a fine white free-stone, almost all of them new, and nearly of the same height. The streets are regular and well paved, and there are some very magnificent public buildings; so that Potsdam has every requisite to form an agreeable town, if by that word is meant the streets, stone-walls, and external appearance. But if a more complex idea be annexed to the word, and if it be thought to comprehend the finishing, furniture, and conveniencies within the houses, in that case Potsdam is a very poor town indeed.

The King having expressed a great inclination to see this town increase, several monied people built houses, partly to pay their court to his Majesty, and partly because, by letting them, they found they would receive very good interest for their money. But as the town did not augment so quickly as he wished, his Majesty ordered several streets to be built at once, at his own expence. This immediately sunk the value of houses, and the first builders found they had disposed of their money very injudiciously.

Towns generally are formed by degrees, as the inhabitants increase in numbers; and houses are built larger and more commodious as they increase in riches; for men’s ideas of conveniency enlarge with their wealth. But here the matter is reversed: the houses are reared in the first place, in hopes that their fair outsides, like the nymphs of Circe, will allure travellers, and attract inhabitants. Hitherto their power of attraction has not been strong; for few towns are worse inhabited than Potsdam, though the houses are let to merchants and trades-people at very small rents.

I was not a little surprised, while I walked through the town, to see buff-belts, breeches and waistcoats, hanging to dry from the genteelest looking houses, till I was informed, that each housekeeper has two or more soldiers quartered in his house, and their apartments are, for the most part, on the first floor, with windows to the street; which I am told is also the case at Berlin. The King chooses that his soldiers should be quartered with the citizens, rather than in barracks. This ought to be a sufficient answer to those military gentlemen, who insist on building barracks for the soldiers in Britain, upon the supposition, that our army cannot be well disciplined without them. For it could scarcely be expected, or wished, that the British army were under more rigid discipline than the Prussian.

I imagine the Prussian soldiers are quartered in private houses rather than barracks, from considerations diametrically opposite to those which produce the same effect in England.—The British parliament have always shown an aversion to lodging the military in barracks, and have preferred quartering them in the citizens’ houses, that a connection and good-will may be cultivated between the soldiers and their fellow-citizens; and that the former may not consider themselves as a distinct body of men, with a separate interest from the rest of the community, and whose duty it is implicitly to obey the will of the crown at all times, and upon all occasions.

Whereas here it may not be thought expedient, to lodge great bodies of armed men together in barracks, lest they should, during the night, form combinations destructive of discipline, and dangerous to government. This cannot happen in the day-time, because then the officers are present, and the soldiers are not allowed even to speak to each other when under arms; and while off duty, their time is wholly filled up in cleaning their arms, accoutrements, and clothes, and preparing for the next guard.—I imagine these may be part, at least, of the reasons which induce the King of Prussia to prefer quartering his men in private houses; for in all other respects, lodging them together in barracks would be more convenient, and more agreeable to the genius of his government.

The palace at Potsdam, or what they call the castle, is a very noble building, with magnificent gardens adjacent. I shall not trouble you with a description of either, only it struck me as a thing rather uncommon in a palace, to find the study by far the finest apartment in it. The ornaments of this are of massy silver. The writing-desk, the embellishments of the table, and the accommodations for the books, were all in fine taste.

The person who attended us, asked if we had any desire to see his Majesty’s wardrobe?—On being answered in the affirmative, he conducted us to the chamber where the monarch’s clothes are deposited; it had a very different appearance from his library. The whole wardrobe consisted of two blue coats, faced with red, the lining of one a little torn;—two yellow waistcoats, a good deal soiled with Spanish snuff;—three pair of yellow breeches, and a suit of blue velvet, embroidered with silver, for grand occasions.

I imagined at first, that the man had got a few of the King’s old clothes, and kept them here to amuse strangers; but, upon enquiry, I was assured, that what I have mentioned, with two suits of uniform which he has at Sans-Souci, form the entire wardrobe of the King of Prussia. Our attendant said, he had never known it more complete. As for the velvet suit, it was about ten years of age, and still enjoyed all the vigour of youth. Indeed, if the moths spared it as much as his Majesty has done, it may last the age of Methusalem.—In the same room, are some standards belonging to the cavalry. Instead of the usual square flag, two or three of these have the figures of eagles in carved silver fixed on a pole.

In the bed-chamber where the late King died, at the lower part of the window which looks into the garden, four panes have been removed, and a piece of glass equal in size to all the four supplies their place. We were informed that his late Majesty’s supreme delight through life had been to see his troops exercise, and that he had retained this passion till his last breath. When he was confined to his room by his last illness, he used to sit and view them through the window, which had been framed in this manner, that he might enjoy these dying contemplations with the greater conveniency. Becoming gradually weaker by the increasing distemper, he could not sit, but was obliged to lie on a couch through the day. When at any time he was uncommonly languid, they raised his head to the window, and a sight of the men under arms was perceived to operate like a cordial, and revive his spirits.—By frequent repetition, however, even this cordial lost its effect.—His eyes became dim—when his head was raised, he could no longer perceive the soldiers, and he expired.

This was feeling the ruling passion as strong in death as any man ever felt it.