History of Friedrich II of Prussia, vol 9 | Page 4

the idle brains of men, have been very many,-- no limit to their
numbers; it MAY be anybody: an intending purchaser, though but
possessed of sixpence, is in a sense proprietor of the whole Fair!
Through Schulenburg we heard his own account of them, last
Autumn;--but the far noblest of the lot was hardly glanced at, or not at
all, on that occasion. The Kaiser's eldest Daughter, sole heiress of
Austria and these vast Pragmatic-Sanction operations; Archduchess
Maria Theresa herself,--it is affirmed to have been Prince Eugene's
often-expressed wish, That the Crown-Prince of Prussia should wed the
future Empress [Hormayr, Allgemeine Geschichte der neueslen
Zeit (Wien, 1817), i. 13; cited in Preuss, i. 71.] Which
would indeed have saved immense confusions to mankind! Nay she
alone of Princesses, beautiful, magnanimous, brave, was the mate for
such a Prince,-- had the Good Fairies been consulted, which seldom
happens:--and Romance itself might have become Reality in that case:
with high results to the very soul of this young Prince! Wishes are free:

and wise Eugene will have been heard, perhaps often, to express this
wish; but that must have been all. Alas, the preliminaries, political,
especially religious, are at once indispensable and impossible: we have
to dismiss that daydream. A Papal-Protestant Controversy still exists
among mankind; and this is one penalty they pay for not having settled
it sooner. The Imperial Court cannot afford its Archduchess on the
terms possible in that quarter.
What the Imperial Court can do is, to recommend a Niece of theirs,
insignificant young Princess, Elizabeth Christina of Brunswick-Bevern,
who is Niece to the Empress; and may be made useful in this way, to
herself and us, think the Imperial Majesties;--will be a new tie upon the
Prussians and the Pragmatic Sanction, and keep the Alliance still surer
for our Archduchess in times coming, think their Majesties. She, it is
insinuated by Seckendorf in Tobaoco-Parliament; ought not she,
Daughter of your Majesty's esteemed friend,--modest-minded, innocent
young Princess, with a Brother already betrothed in your Majesty's
House,--to be the Lady? It is probable she will.
Did we inform the reader once about Kaiser Karl's young marriage
adventures; and may we, to remind him, mention them a second time?
How Imperial Majesty, some five-and-twenty years ago, then only
King of Spain, asked Princess Caroline of Anspach, who was very poor,
and an orphan in the world. Who at once refused, declining to think of
changing her religion on such a score;--and now governs England,
telegraphing with Walpole, as Queen there instead. How Karl, now
Imperial Majesty, then King of Spain, next applied to
Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel; and met with a much better reception there.
Applied to old Anton Ulrich, reigning Duke, who writes big Novels,
and does other foolish good-natured things;-- who persuaded his
Grand-daughter that a change to Catholicism was nothing in such a
case, that he himself should not care in the least to change. How the
Grand-daughter changed accordingly, went to Barcelona, and was
wedded;--and had to dun old Grandpapa, "Why don't you change,
then?" Who did change thereupon; thinking to himself, "Plague on it I
must, then!" the foolish old Herr. He is dead; and his Novels, in six
volumes quarto, are all dead: and the Grand-daughter is Kaiserinn, on

those terms, a serene monotonous well-favored Lady, diligent in her
Catholic exercises; of whom I never heard any evil, good rather, in her
eminent serene position. Pity perhaps that she had recommended her
Niece for this young Prussian gentleman; whom it by no means did
"attach to the Family" so very careful about him at Vienna! But if there
lay a sin, and a punishment following on it, here or elsewhere, in her
Imperial position, surely it is to be charged on foolish old Anton Ulrich;
not on her, poor Lady, who had never coveted such height, nor durst for
her soul take the leap thitherward, till the serene old literary gentleman
showed her how easy it was.
Well, old Anton Ulrich is long since dead, [1714, age 70. Huber, t. 190.]
and his religious accounts are all settled beyond cavil; and only the sad
duty devolves on me of explaining a little what and who his rather
insipid offspring are, so far as related to readers of this History. Anton
Ulrich left two sons; the elder of whom was Duke, and the younger had
an Apanage, Blankenburg by name. Only this younger had
children,--serene Kaiserinn that now is, one of them: The elder died
childless, [1731, Michaelis, i. 132.] precisely a few months before the
times we are now got to; reigning Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel,
["Welf-BOOTHS" (Hunted Camp of the Welfs), according to
Etymology. "Brunswick," again, is BRAUN'S-Wick; "Braun" (Brown)
being an old militant Welf in those parts, who built some lodge for
himself, as a