History of Friedrich II of Prussia, vol 7 | Page 4

and get across to England; where I do not doubt I shall work
out your deliverance too, when I am got thither. So I beg you, calm
yourself, We shall soon meet again in places where joy shall succeed
our tears, and where we shall have the happiness to see ourselves in
peace, and free from these persecutions.'" [Wilhelmina, i. 205.]
Wilhelmina stood stupefied, in silence for some moments;--argued long
with her Brother; finally got him to renounce those wild plans, or at
least postpone them; and give her his word that he would attempt
nothing on the present occasion. This small Dresden Excursion of
February, 1730, passed, accordingly, without accident, It was but the
prelude to a much grander Visit now agreed upon between the
neighboring Majesties. For there is a grand thing in the wind.
Something truly sublime, of the scenic-military kind, which has not yet

got a name; but shall soon have a world-wide one,--"Camp of
Muhlberg," "Camp of Radewitz," or however to be named,--which his
Polish Majesty will hold in those Saxon parts, in a month or two. A
thing that will astonish all the world, we may hope; and where the King
and Prince of Prussia are to attend as chief guests.
It was during this brief absence in February, or directly after Friedrich
Wilhelm had returned, that Queen Sophie had that fit of real sickness
we spoke of. Scarcely was his Majesty got home, when the Queen,
rather ambiguous in her sicknesses of late, fell really and dangerously
ill: so that Friedrich Wilhelm, at last recognizing it for real, came
hurrying in from Potsdam; wept loud and abundantly, poor man;
declared in private, "He would not survive his Feekin;" and for her sake
solemnly pardoned Wilhelmina, and even Fritz,--till the symptoms
mended. [Wilhelmina, i. 306.]
HOW VILLA WAS RECEIVED IN ENGLAND.
Meanwhile Dr. Villa, in England, has sped not ill. Villa's eloquence of
truth; the Grumkow-Reichenbach Correspondence in St. Mary Axe:
these two things produce their effect. These on the one hand; and then
on the other, certain questionable aspects of Fleury, after that fine
Soissons Catastrophe to the Kaiser; and certain interior quarrels in the
English Ministry, partly grounded thereon:--"On the whole, why should
not we detach Friedrioh Wilhelm from the Kaiser, if we could, and
comply with a Royal Sister?" think they at St. James's.
Political men take some interest in the question; "Why neglect your
Prince of Wales?" grumbles the Public: "It is a solid Protestant match,
eligible for Prince Fred and us!"--"Why bother with the Kaiser and his
German puddles?" asks Walpole: "Once detach Prussia from him, the
Kaiser will perhaps sit still, and leave the world and us free of his
Pragmatics and his Sanctions and Apanages."--"Quit of him? German
puddles?" answers Townshend dubitatively,--who has gained favor at
headquarters by going deeply into said puddles; and is not so ardent for
the Prussian Match; and indeed is gradually getting into quarrel with
Walpole and Queen Caro1ine. {Coxe, i. 332-339.] These things are all
favorable to Dr. Villa.

In fact, there is one of those political tempests (dreadful to the teapot,
were it not experienced in them) going on in England, at this
time,--what we call a Change of Ministry;--daily crisis laboring
towards fulfilment, or brewing itself ripe. Townshend and Walpole
have had (how many weeks ago Coxe does not tell us) that meeting in
Colonel Selwyn's, which ended in their clutching at swords, nay almost
at coat-collars: [Ib. p. 335.] honorable Brothers-in-law: but the good
Sister, who used to reconcile them, is now dead. Their quarrels,
growing for some years past, are coming to a head. "When the firm
used to be Townshend and Walpole, all was well; when it had to
become Walpole and Townshend, all was not well!" said Walpole
afterwards.
Things had already gone so far, that Townshend brought Chesterfield
over from the Hague, last Autumn;--a Baron de Montesquieu, with the
ESPRIT DE LOIS in his head, sailed with Lord Chesterfield on that
occasion, and is now in England "for two years;"--but Chesterfield
could not be made Secretary; industrious Duke of Newcastle stuck so
close by that office, and by the skirts of Walpole. Chesterfield and
Townshend VERSUS Walpole, Colonel Stanhope (Harrington) and the
Pelhams: the Prussian Match is a card in that game; and Dr. Villa's
eloquence of truth is not lost on Queen Caroline, who in a private way
manages, as always, to rule pretty supreme in it.
There lies in the State-Paper Office, [Close by Despatch (Prussian):
"London, 8th February (o.s.) 1729-1730."] without date or signature, a
loose detached bit of writing, in scholastic style, but brief and to the
purpose, which is evidently the Memorial of Villa; but as it teaches us
nothing that we do not already know, it need not be inserted