SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

BIOGRAPH Y.

Memoirs of the Private Life and Opinions of Louisa Queen of Prussia, Consort of

Frederick William III. By Mrs. Charles Richardson Bentley. Poz.rricaL ECONOMY, View of the Progress of Political Economy in Europe since the Sixteenth Century. A Course of Lectures delivered before the University of Oxford, in Michaelmas Term I84G and Lent Term 1847. By Travers Twists, D.C.L , F.R.S.. Professor of Political Economy, and Fellow of University College, Oxford. - • .Lonpman and Co.

TRAVELS,

A Voyage up the River Amazon, Including a Residence at Part. By William H.

Edwards. (Home and Colonial Library.) • Murray. FICTION, Tracey, or the Apparition; a Talc of the last Century. By Mrs. Thomson, Author of " The Chevalier, " Ragland Castle," &c. In three volumes Bentley.

MRS. RICIIARDSON'8 MEMOIRS OF QUEEN LOUISA OF PRUSSIA.

THE love and veneration with which the name and memory of Queen Louisa are regarded in Prussia, the deep affection which the late King en- tertained for her when living, and the manner in which he cherished her memory to the close of his own life, argue attractions and excellences of no common kind ; as the influence she exercised over all who approached her bespeak a fascination of manner which may exist with great feminine virtues, but is by no means a proof of them. Contemporary opinion, however, as regards personal character and conduct, is all in all, especially where no actions or works remain to enable criticism to test the truth or falsehood of the judgment. We must, however, fairly confess, that it is only on this ground that we could join in the paeans which every one raises to the name of Louisa of Prussia. In the accounts of her we have read there seems always something vague—praise without proof— an echo of

"The glorious meed of popular applause, Of which the first ne'er knows the second cause."

Nor is this uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty greatly changed by the volume before us. We are indeed told at large of the affection—the idolatry—with which she inspired her family and subjects ; and numerous instances are induced of her kindness, her charity, her condescension, and her love ; but except in her conjugal relations, they seem to us such as the natural art of a born coquette could have done as well as Queen Louisa. Against this opinion may be set the peculiarities of German character as opposed to British; the circumstance that the chief recorders of her say- ings and doings were feeble-minded courtiers, who seem to have infused their own weakness into the anecdotes they recorded; and the fact that Mrs. Richardson takes her authorities just as they stand, without conden- sation or change ; so that we have a diffusion that weakens a simplicity approaching the puerile—English words but with a German manner. The sufferings and death of Louisa through the French war, and the

alleged brutality of Napoleon, have also contributed to invest the queen and the woman with a halo of interest through the two strongest exciters of the mind—pity and indignation. The insinuations against her private character could only have emanated from a low-minded and unscrupulous defamer, befouled in the moral corruption of the old regime and the new, or a politician utterly indifferent to truth in the pursuit of his objects. That Napoleon directed these insinuations is not clear : but he did not punish the authors,—assuming the baseness, if he did not perpetrate it ; to reap the consequences of calumnious falsehood in the bitter hatred he roused in every Prussian breast. Upon the other grounds of censure we cannot fall into the general view against Napoleon. It is now known that the Queen never interfered except for charity or pardon ; but Mrs. Richardson admits that she was very favourable to the war ; her opinions, being known, must have had an influence; and she was accustomed to head her own regiment in uniform and stimulate the ardour of the troops. This was patriotic and praiseworthy, but it certainly gave an opponent a right to charge her with being a partisan of the war; and we are not quite sure but there is a just appretiation of her public intellect in this passage from a bulletin- " C'est one femme d'unejolie figure, trials de pen d'esprit, incapable de presager lea consequences de ce qu'elle faisait. 11 taut aujourd'hui an lieu de l'accuser, la plaindre ; car elle doit avoir Bien des remords des maux qu'elle a fait, I sa patrie, et de l'ascendant qu'elle a exerce sur le Roi son man, qu'on s'isccorde a presenter commo un parfaitement honnete homme qui voulait la pair et le Bien de set peoples."

As for Bonaparte's personal conduct in their interviews at Tilsit, it seems to have been as much like a gentleman as was in his nature ; and we cannot see that a victor is bound to " whine and roar away his victory " under the influence of female tears or fascinations ; especially as there was nothing in the commencement of the war to induce much re- spect, and its management was beneath contempt. The oppressions exercised on Prussia were moral and political offences, which the war of liberation and the campaign of Waterloo very amply punished. Till the battle of Jena and the disasters consequent upon it, which drove the Prussian Royal Family forth to all but exile and to compara- tive poverty, the life of Louisa was uneventful, and only varied by pro- gresses through the country, where she attached the people to her by a natural grace and affability. She was born in March 1776. Her father was the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, brother of Queen Charlotte ; she was consequently first cousin to the Royal Family of England. She was carefully educated; by a good fortune rare in courts, she married for love, and, by a fortune not often met with even in private life, her first love. The early Revolutionary war had carried the then King of Prussia to Frankfort ; and thither the Princess Louisa and her sister went on their way to Darmstadt.

" They were to be introduced to the King, and their departure had been fixed to take place in the evening after theperformances at the theatre had terminated; but the King caused the two young Princesses to be invited to supper; which in- vitation was accepted on their part. The attention of the Crown Prince was at- tracted to the Princess Louisa at the first glance: for there exists in the secret and profound depths of the human heart, in the male as well as the female bosom, a conscious feeling of intellectual sympathy, which draws together instinctively, at the first glance, with magnetic force, two beings who perhaps have never be-

fore spoken to or even seen each other. • • •

" The King would revert with mournful pleasure to the sensations of admira- tion with which the first interview with his lost Queen had inspired him. It had produced so powerful an impression that it ever remained palpably distinct in his memory. He said, ' The first moment of acquaintance was the moment of recipro- cal inclination; and an inward voice whispered, It is she or none other in this

world. I once,' continued the King, 'read something of Schiller's which ex- pressed exquisitely and truly that feeling of secret sympathy which in kindred hearts is excited by the first glance; as was the case with me and my sainted Louisa when we beheld each other for the first time in Frankfort, as we both afterwards acknowledged. It wait no sickly sentiment, but a distinct conscious ness of that stnsation, which at the same moment caused a thrill of delight in our hearts. My God ! how much has happened since the first tear of joy that

glistened in our eyed at our first meeting, and these mournful tears with which I DOW bewail her loss. I know well that these sympathetic feelings are the sweet blossoms of a youthful love which are only felt once, and never again return. I willingly fall back on these recollections, and should have liked to read that pas- sage of Schiller's again; but I have never been able to find it.' "

The death of Queen Louisa took place in 1810, four years after the battle of Jena, and in less than a twelvemonth after the settlement of affairs allowed her to return to Berlin. She is said to have died of a

broken heart. The post mortem examination exhibited a structural change. "Several polypons excrescences were found in the heart, which

had grown into it with two thick branches." These, we conceive, most have been the result of some scrofulous tendency in the constitution, ag- gravated probably by anxiety and trouble : but we doubt whether any mental emotion would so far change the character of the secretions as to produce such fungi in the absence of an original tendency. In fact, her health bad begun to fail before the war.

Besides being an ardent admirer of Queen Louisa, Mrs. Richardson has a courtierlike amiability of feeling, which not only deprives her of critical power of the sterner kind, but disposes her to attach too much value to mere conventions and to the ceremonies of life. These circumstances militate against the high biographical character ; but they have'enabled

the authoress to collect a good many particulars about and anecdotes of the Queen ; most of which indicate some trait of character, while many furnish amusing reading. The following are of this class.

QUEEN LOUISA'S READING IN YOUTH.

She read Gibbon's Decline of the Roman Empire with profound meditation and corresponding advantage; Ancient history occupied her attention at that time,' and strengthened her mind. The history of England also interested her greatly. We shall see, at a later period, how deeply the history of Germany affected her, and how some characters amongst her predecessors inspired her with enthusiasm. She read with pleasure Schiller's collection of memoirs ; but with especial delight those witty and valuable memoirs for which France is so celebrated—those treasures of information to the political and practical world, whence we may trace the causes which preceded and induced the memorable events which followed. She was much pleased with translations from the classics, especially from the old Greek tragedy; and it was natural that the grand, power- ful, and energetic views of the classical writers of antiquity should have possessed great attractions for her noble, mind. Shakspere's historical plays and purely poetical creations had an equal charm for her: the rich and peculiar dominion in which be reigned, and the grand objects which he presents to us, addressed them- selves to her intellect, whilst her mind was capable of ascending to the subliMe heights of his poetry in its most elevated flights. It was a summit on which she delighted to rest: for a vivid imagination can only repose in the regions of true sublimity.

REBUKE OF ETIQUETTE.

There is something unnatural in those forms which interpose like a screen be- tween a royal couple. The King disliked restraint, and would not submit to the forms of courtly etiquette; with his satirical gravity he broke through them: the Queen, with her bounding spirits, leapt over them: both, according to their differ- ent dispositions,. exhibiting the same unity of thought, confidence, and affection. The Oberhofmeisterin, the Countess Von Vosz, whose duty, by virtue of her po- sition in the household, was to carry out all the ceremonials of royalty, was in despair at this disregard of rules. She delighted in the forms of etiquette her- self; and was of opinion that every good thing must be surrounded by a protecting barrier in order to preserve it from desecration; and she constantly instanced the example of the French Court as a proof of the evils arising from the neglect of good old rules. Without the formula or etiquette, according to her ideas, there could be no distinction or dignity, and everything must degenerate into confusion and all respect become annihilated. The Crown Prince had a peculiarly dry and humorous manner of teazing the Countess, without allowing her to guess what he was aiming at; and on these oc- casions his features assumed a serio-comic expression that was very pleasing. " Well, then," he said one day to the Countess, "I will yield to custom; and, in order to give you a proof, I beg of you, Countess, to be kind enough to announce me, and to ask if I may have the honour of speaking with my consort, her Royal Highness the Crown Princess. I wish you to present my compliments to her, and hope she will be graciously pleased to receive them." The Countess was enchanted with the idea of the courtly etiquette becoming established, and prepared to execute her commission with all due ceremony; and having arrived full of the importance of her mission, not doubting that a favour- able reply would also be intrusted to her as the medium of the negotiation for all audience, she entered the royal apartment; and there, to her great amazement, she beheld the Crown Prince, who had arrived long before her, laughing heartily with the Crown Princess as they were walking hand-in-hand up and down the saloon. The Prince, in a peal of merriment, cried out- " Look you now, my good Vosz, my wife and I can see and speak with each other unannounced whenever we cheese: and this is as it should be, accordiug to all good Christian usages. But you are a charming Oberhofmeisterin, and for

the future you shall be called 'Dame d'Etiquette: " • • •

One day there was a question as to the ceremonial required for the reception of the congratulations of a foreign court, which was to take place with all dueforms of etiquette in Berlin the following day. The Countess von Vosz, who knew the minutest details in all such cases, remarked, that on such a grand occasion the state carriages should be used; and that the King and Queen must have the royal state carriage, with eight horses richly caparisoned, two state coachmen, and three state footmen in their best state livery. Well," said the King, "you may order it as you will." The next morning, when the brilliant equipage came up, the King put the Countess into the carnage, shut the door very suddenly, and cried out to the coachman, " Go on!" He then jumped into his own ordinary open carriage, with two horses only, which he was in the habit of driving himself, and thus drove the Queen immediately behind the Countess in the state carriage, amidst the laughter and delight of the bystanders.

THE VETERAN'S FIVE. The bosom friend of the King during his life was the General Von KOckerits; be was consequently a daily guest at the royal table, and treated as a member of the family. The Queen had remarked for some time past that the good old man retired earlier than formerly, and sooner than was agreeable to the King, who liked to have his society for some time after the dinner was removed. The Queen asked the reason; but the King merely said, "Let the brave old man do as he likes: perhaps after dinner he prefers repose in private." The Queen, how- ever, with her restless activity, soon found out the reason of his early departure: it had become nececgary to the good old soldier, from long habit, to smoke his pipe immediately after dinner, and be retired therefore to indulge this (to him) physical necessity. On the following day, when he was as usual excusing himself from remaining longer, the Queen hastened forward, and, with her sweet face fall of merriment, placed a well-filled pipe, with matches to light it, in the hands of Kockeritz; saying, "My good old friend, today you don't escape us. You must smoke your pipe with us here. Now, then, commence at once.' The King cast a glance of affectionate approbation at the Queen; saying, "Dear Louisa, you have done that admirably." The faithful subject accepted the permission to smoke bis accustomed pipe, with gratitude; and he ever after continued to avail himself of this privilege.

THE ENGLISH TRAVELLERS.

One fine day in the summer of 1799, two English gentlemen on their travels rowed to the Peacock Island, unaware that the Royal Family were staying there, and consequently ignorant of the interdiction. They had landed at a point of the island some distance from the ferry, and were strolling about, when the then Court Chamberlain, Von Massow, saw them, and they were desired to quit the island instanter, by the same way they came. They, however, deviated from the direct path to the boat; and were met by a gentleman and lady unattended, so simple in their dress and deportment that the strangers had no idea who they were.

When they met, the unknown gentleman said, " How do you like the island? " Expressing themselves in rapture as to its position and embellishments, the un- known lady, with much affability, invited the strangers to accompany them, as they could point out all that was remarkable. "We should be delighted," replied the Englishmen, "had not the Marshal peremptorily ordered us to quit the island, the King and Queen being here." "Matters are not quite so formidable," said the lady; " come with us: we will undertake to excuse you with M. Von Massow, who is our intimate friend."

An animated conversation ensued, in which the lady spoke enthusiastically of England, and seemed to enjoy the free and critical remarks made by the English- men in reply: but great was their astonishment, on approaching the chateau, to see the Chamberlain advancing to announce breakfast. Aware now that they had been in company with the Kin g and Queen, they would have apologized; but the condescension of the Queen calmed their apprehensions of having been too familiar; and what little fear remained was wholly banished on the King saying— a Enter, gentlemen; you'll take breakfast with us? After such a charming stroll, methinks some refreshment will be desirable."