A GERMAN PEPYS.*

THE voluminous diary of Humboldt's friend—the clever ex-colonel, ex-diplomatist, Prussian privy councillor, poet, and novelist—Varn-

hagen von Ense, is the best comment and elucidation of German his- tory which has been published these fifty years. Varnhagen's Diary, in its way, is quite as valuable as Pepys's famous work, as, in fact, there are many similarities between the late privy councillor of Berlin and the ancient secretary to the Admiralty. Varnhagen had even more opportunities of seeing "great people" than Pepys. The literary fame of Varnhagen, coupled with that of his famous wife, the genial Bahel—a sort of cross between a Mrs. Thrale and a Madame de Stael—made him intimate with all the political and diplomatic notabilities of Germany, while his past military career, his social po- sition, and a certain amount of wealth, gave him the entree into the creme de la creme of Teutonic society. Of all these circumstances, unusually favourable for a diarist, Herr Varnhagen von Ense made the very best use. Getting advanced in years, becoming blasi with life, and discovering the truth that all is vanity of vanities, he set himself down to take revenge of the young world by chronicling its actions. The chapters thus produced, terribly ugly though some of them are in their photographic truthfulness, bear all of them the im- press of a profound acquaintance with the persons and events which they describe. Of course, they are entirely fragmentary, and with- out any immediate connexion with each other, written down as they were ou the spur of the moment. The best analysis and description which, therefore, can be given of the Diary is by calling some of the scraps at random, and presenting them to the reader. - The entries in the Diary commence in August, 1835, and end in April, 1848. The first two volumes, which bring the journal up to the end of 1844, are the least interesting, being descriptive chiefly of the dull and dreary, Iife at the court of Berlin, and the equally dull scandals of the city. Royal and Imperial majesties, Ducal and Grand Ducal highnesses, nobles, generals, ambassadors, and authors flit by us in a panorama, leaving no trace behind. During these first ten years, Herr Varnhagen seems not to have had the proper knack for his business, but noted down indiscriminately whatsoever came within his reach. Thus, naturally, the flat is predominating. Gradually, however, the pages of the diarist become more interesting, and genial glimpses into the Prussian world of thought and action come into light. Here is one such glimpse into the royal palace at Berlin, giving a curious sketch of the way in which a poet-laureate was treated by an august patron of art and literature :

" The count told me, with great glee, of the literary soirees at the palace when Tieck is reading to the King. There is not a moment's silence in the room, and people are constantly running in and out • but the instant Tieck ceases reading, the King, in his sweetest manner, My dear Tieck,

please do continue.' Which, however, does not prevent his Majesty taking up the newspapers, and exchanging comments with the Prince of Prussia and others around. Poor 'Beck ! What a mockery and torment it must be to him."

Here is another little morceau in which our own gracious Majesty is made to figure. The date is September, 1845 :

" The King, on the Rhine, wished to go with Queen Victoria to a magnificent concert. To his surprise, the Queen meets him en neglige,

yawns at him, says she is tired, has headache, and begs him to spare her. Thereupon the King returns to his consort, saying, /Oh hate eben is sifters

tiefen Englischen Schlund hineingesehen The concert was spoilt." Varnhagen is bitter on this royal interview : " The Victoria visit is ill commented upon by the public. The ostenta- tious splendour of the entertainments, and the exaggerated empressement shown by the King, made everybody thoroughly uncomfortable. A simple and kind reception would have been infinitely better than these fetes to the tune of a million and a half of thalers. There appeared a caricature repre- senting a host of hungry handloom weavers warming their shivering bodies at the royal fireworks."

The following is not a little characteristic :

• Tagebecher von K. A. Varnhagen von Ense (Diary of Varnhagen von Ense). 4 vols. Leipzig: P. A. Broekhaus. London: Trlibner and Co. "The King was mightily displeased with the manceuvres of the army, especially those of the life guards. He gave way to his anger by spitting, calling the Generals donkeys, oxen, and stupid asses. The Prince of Prussia did not fare much better, being spoken to very cavalierly, and told that if real war were to be carried on in this manner, the whole army might be lost in a defile. The scene was wound up by his Majesty's word of com- mand, Will you come out, you canaille ?' "

The Guelphs do not find more favour titan the Hohenzollern in the eyes of the diarist :

"The Crown Princess of Hanover has given birth to a prince. This secures the succession. Many think, however, it would be mach better that the race should die out

Under date of October 30, 1845 :

" Humboldt says at Sans Sonci the great question of the day, excluding all others, is whether the Jews crossed the Red Sea on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Nothing else is heard of for the moment, and the whole world is forgotten over the reports and drawings just sent in by Bunsen and Lepsins."

There was a great meeting of German and foreign theologians at Berlin in the beginning of 1848. The 'gins' took much interest in the discussions, and inquired where the sittings were taking place. "In the saloon of Minister Eichhorn," was the reply. " Oh, I know the place," said the King. " When I was Crown Prince, I was there once at dinner, and remember a monstrous fish which stank horribly. Well, I hope the present denizens will leave a better smell behind them." " Queen Victoria called Chevalier Bunsen, informing him that her hus- band had the precedence of an Austrian Archduke. Her Majesty wished him to inform the King that the Queen, his consort, had been very wrong in giving her arm to the Archduke. The King thereupon at once went to Queen Victoria, offering excuses on the plea of his own ignorance, and pro- mising that the mistake should not occur again. To avoid unpleasantness either way, the King henceforth took great care to prevent a simultaneous meeting of the two princes, which might give rise to the question of precedence.

The review of his troops at the royal interview gave not a little trouble to Frederick William IV : According to Varnhagen, the King's love for coarse and foul anec- dote increased from year to year. The low literature of France, together with the produce of Veuve Cliquot, was imported in large quantities into the royal palace. The following is really too bad :

"One day a courtier read the foulest stories to the King, which delighted his Majesty so much that he rolled on the sofa, ready to burst with laughter. After a while the Queen entered the room, and the King, in his hilarity, ordered his reader to continue the pleasant stories. The gentleman begged to be excused. His Majesty then took up the book himself and read eine kkine Geschichte, to the horror of the Queen."

The ecclesiastical dignitaries of Prussia are prettily sketched as follows :

"On my walk, this morning, I met Bishop Neander and another clergy- man, both full of smiles. A little farther on, I ran against the Reverend Mr. Strauss, his Majesty's private chaplain, also in the happiest temper. I told him his reverend brethren must have had a happy meeting, as they seemed all excessively jolly. No,' says he, it is not that, but we ex- pected the convocation to sit all the afternoon, and are glad to get off at one.' "

Of some of the petty princes of Germany Varnhagen gives curious pictures, showing their position as anything but enviable. The old Landgraf of Hesse-Homburg he met in the summer of 1846, during a visit to Homburg :

"His Serene Highness honoured me with a visit at noon. After some talk about politics, in which I was surprised by his liberal opinions, he began discussing his own family matters. He said he led a most miserable life, seeing nobody, and separated even from his nearest relations. He particularly complained of his brother and his sister-in-law. The latter, he said, never left her room, and hated everybody, particularly his wife. Even when the Landgravine was dangerously ill, for eight months, she never visited her, but fell into a fainting-fit when she heard that a Catholic priest had been called to administer the last communion. The poor Land- graf, who told me all this, seemed to have much more on his mind; but I could not get it out of him this time."

Varnhagen was more fortunate another time, when he "got it out" that the Landgraf was suffering also under the severest of misfortunes, want of cash. It appears that the chief income of his Serene Highness is derived from the rouge-el-noir tables at Homburg, which of late had shown a falling off in victims. Poor Landgraf !

The classic realm of Hesse Cassel is not forgotten by the diarist. It seems the garrulous old Landgraf led him into not a few of the mysteries of government of that happy country. We learn:

"The suppression of the German Catholic congregations ih Hesse-Cassel was brought to pass through influence from Vienna. The influence con- sisted in a present of a hundred thousand florins made to the Countess of Schaumburg (Madame Gertrude), the married mistress of the Electoral Prince. This woman was bought from her first husband for hard cash. Trustworthy persons have seen the cheque."

There are a good many sketches in the diary more or less charac- teristic of the present King of Prussia. The following is one of the moat striking :

"An ugly affair, in which the Prince of Prussia was concerned, took place at the Stettin Railway station here at Berlin. The Prince accom- panied the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia to the station, and finding things not in the order he desired, went up to a director, took hold of him, • and bumped him against the wall. He then began quarrelling with a merchant of Hamburg, who walked about on the platform without taking off his hat. The merchant, however, brusquely replied that he was a stranger, and knew nothing whatever of princes. The whole affair came to the ears of the King, who said ironically, Well, this is first-rate on the part of an heir-apparent in search of popularity."

Varnhagen does not contribute much that has not been already known to the history of the Prussian revolution of 1848 ; but the sketches he gives of the individual actors in the drama are very striking. On the first outbreak of the insurrection at Berlin the King was in favour of the largest concessions to the liberal party ; the Prince of Prussia, on the other side, would hear of nothing but violent means of suppression—" Kill the revolutionary dogs ; kill them ! " he continually shouted. He trembled with rage when his advice was disregarded. "The King himself was pale with fear ; he could neither eat nor sleep, not even drink." His inactivity gave the reigns of government finally into the hands of the Prince of Prus- sia, and the fight between soldiers and citiriens began : it was a fearful bloodshed, the actual extent of which has never been cor- rectly ascertained.

" After the fight had lasted for twenty-four hours, in the night from the 18th to the 19th of March, an eminent inhabitant of Berlin went up to the ICmg, and entreated him, in wild accents, to end the frightful carnage, and to command the cessation of the bombardment. The King, leaning his head on his arm, remained silent. The Prince of Prussia then approached, crying, 'No, that shall not be. Never ! Rather the city of Berlin and all its inhabitants shall perish than we shall give way. We must crush the demagogues under cartridges.' The king remained silent, leaning on his arm."

In a note to this paragraph it is stated that the facts are derived from a " most trustworthy communication of one at the court." Another equally strange scene is reported on the authority of a Lieu- tenant Lnpinsky, who, with six grenadiers, stood sentinel at the chamber of the king on the 18th of March :

"At the first booming of cannon, the queen fell at the feet of the king, In the name of God,' she exclaimed, ' do not kill the people. Let us fly!' she added, we have no children ; we are rich enough.' It was too late. Five times the king, with the queen on his arm, accompanied by a single soldier, went in the direction of the Lustgarten, where the carriages were waiting, ready packed ; and five times they came back at the expiration of a quarter of an hour. Major von Vincke, and others, went after their Majesties, and fetched them back almost by force." It is almost unnecessary to say that the publication of Varnhagen's diary has made an immense sensation in Germany. The work is praised by some, abused by others, and read by all. It is somewhat to the honour of the present king of Prussia, that when the third and fourth volumes, in which he is particularly roughly handled, ap- peared, some few weeks ago, and the minister of police wanted to forbid their circulation within the country, his Majesty opposed this order, and gave leave for the free sale of the book. It was certainly the best policy under the circumstances, for, had the work been pro- hibited, it would probably have been still more eagerly devoured than it is now. As it is, edition after edition is struck off at Leipsic, to the great satisfaction of Herr Brockhans, the Murray- of Germany. The publication of the Diary, chiefly owing to the niece of Yarn- hagen, Fraulein Ludmilla Assing, is a good deal blamed by some of the more straight-laced German critics, as being unauthorised ; but even their adversaries have little to say against the facts of the book, which seem to be generally accepted as true. This being the case, the political sky of German affairs looks very threatenin. With kings, princes, and ministers, such as are painted by Herr Varnhagen von Ense—petty tyrants some, knaves others, and blockheads nearly all of them—Germany can scarcely think of marching forward in the " path of progress," and has the choice only of either extinguishing her rulers by constitutional means, or offering them a passport in un- constitutional modern Italian fashion. At any rate, the Diary cannot fail of leaving a great impression on the minds of the more thoughtful among the people, stimulating them to political energy. Germany is singularly poor in bold and unbiassed histories of the German go- vernments, and while the past of India and Egypt has been explored by the learned professors of Berlin, Gottingen, and Bonn, the actual state of Prussia, Hanover, Bavaria, and the rest of the thirty Teutonic realms, has remained a sealed book even to the denizens of these countries. It is quite a piece of good fortune for Germany to have found a Pepys.