History of Friedrich II of Prussia, vol 4 | Page 4

is well-born in more senses
than one;--and that in the breeding of him there are two elements
noticeable, widely diverse: the French and the German. This is perhaps
the chief peculiarity; best worth laying hold of, with the due
comprehension, if our means allow.
FIRST EDUCATIONAL ELEMENT, THE FRENCH ONE.
His nurses, governesses, simultaneous and successive, mostly of
French breed, are duly set down in the Prussian Books, and held in
mind as a point of duty by Prussian men; but, in foreign parts, cannot
be considered otherwise than as a group, and merely with generic
features. He had a Frau von Kamecke for Head Governess,-- the lady
whom Wilhelmina, in her famed Memoires,
always writes KAMKEN; and of whom, except the floating gossip
found in that Book, there is nothing to be remembered. Under her, as
practical superintendent, SOUS-GOUVERNANTE and quasi-mother,
was the Dame de Roucoulles, a more important person for us here.
Dame de Roucoulles, once de Montbail, the same respectable
Edict-of-Nantes French lady who, five-and-twenty years ago, had taken

similar charge of Friedrich Wilhelm; a fact that speaks well for the
character of her performance in that office. She had done her first
edition of a Prussian Prince in a satisfactory manner; and not without
difficult accidents and singularities, as we have heard: the like of which
were spared her in this her second edition (so we may call it); a second
and, in all manner of ways, an improved one. The young Fritz
swallowed no shoe-buckles; did not leap out of window, hanging on by
the hands; nor achieve anything of turbulent, or otherwise memorable,
in his infantine history; the course of which was in general smooth, and
runs, happily for it, below the ken of rumor. The Boy, it is said, and is
easily credible, was of extraordinary vivacity; quick in apprehending all
things, and gracefully relating himself to them. One of the prettiest,
vividest little boys; with eyes, with mind and ways, of uncommon
brilliancy;--only he takes less to soldiering than the paternal heart could
wish; and appears to find other things in the world fully as notable as
loud drums, and stiff men drawn up in rows. Moreover, he is apt to be a
little unhealthy now and then, and requires care from his nurses, over
whom the judicious Roucoulles has to be very vigilant.
Of this respectable Madame de Roucoulles I have read, at least seven
times, what the Prussian Books say of her by way of Biography; but it
is always given in their dull tombstone style; it has moreover next to no
importance; and I,--alas, I do not yet too well remember it! She was
from Normandy; of gentle blood, never very rich; Protestant, in the
Edict-of-Nantes time; and had to fly her country, a young widow, with
daughter and mother-in-law hanging on her; the whole of them almost
penniless. However, she was kindly received at the Court of Berlin, as
usual in that sad case; and got some practical help towards living in her
new country. Queen Sophie Charlotte had liked her society; and finding
her of prudent intelligent turn, and with the style of manners suitable,
had given her Friedrich Wilhelm to take charge of. She was at that time
Madame de Montbail; widow, as we said: she afterwards wedded
Roucoulles, a refugee gentleman of her own Nation, who had gone into
the Prussian Army, as was common for the like of him: She had again
become a widow, Madame de Roucoulles this time, with her daughter
Montbail still about her, when, by the grateful good sense of Friedrich
Wilhelm, she was again intrusted as we see;--and so had the honor of

governessing Frederick the Great for the first seven years of his life.
Respectable lady, she oversaw his nurses, pap-boats,--"beer-soup and
bread," he himself tells us once, was his main diet in
boyhood,--beer-soups, dress-frocks, first attempts at walking; and then
also his little bits of intellectualities, moralities; his incipiencies of
speech, demeanor, and spiritual development; and did her function very
honestly, there is no doubt.
Wilhelmina mentions her, at a subsequent period; and we have a
glimpse of this same Roucoulles, gliding about among the royal
young-folk, "with only one tooth left" (figuratively speaking), and
somewhat given to tattle, in Princess Wilhelmina's opinion. Grown
very old now, poor lady; and the dreadfulest bore, when she gets upon
Hanover and her experiences, and Queen Sophie Charlotte's, in that
stupendously magnificent court under Gentleman Ernst. Shun that topic,
if you love your peace of mind! [ Memoires (above
cited).]--She did certainly superintend the Boy Fritzkin for his first
seven years; that is a glory that cannot be taken from her. And her pupil,
too, we agreeably perceive, was always grateful for her services in that
capacity.