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cahnLast post, we had (among other things) Danish kings and their favorites; Louis XIV and Philippe d'Orléans; reviews of a very shippy book about Katte, a bad Jacobite novel, and a great book about clothing; a fic about Émilie du Châtelet and Voltaire; and a review of a set of entertaining Youtube history videos about Frederick the Great.
Charles Hanbury-Williams: Anglo among Saxons (The Life, II)
Date: 2023-03-19 11:05 am (UTC)The Lord confound the King of Prussia's armies and designs. As to his writings I could do that myself. (I don't doubt it, H-W. Except for the Voltaire correspondance.) What an impudent fellow tis, to say he does not directly make war upon the Queen of Bohemia, and yet at the same time sends his troops to attack and besiege Prague. Nobody under a King could have the face to say such things.
(Our author(s) share Macauly's stance, unsurprisingly, that whenever Fritz fights against someone allied to England, he's wrong, but when he's fighting in alliance with England, he's of course in the right.)
Of course, his opinion of his own royals isn't high, either: Two hopeful sons are sprung from George's loins,
And one in folly, one in dullness shines;
From Freddy's lips the Royal nonsense flows,
And fools and ladies catch it as it goes
More solid Will, in beef and pudding deep,
Makes love and governs armies in his sleep.
But when, by our inexorable fate,
Our Mon- rots with C- the great,
Speak, Britons, speak, who then will be your head,
The prattling monkey or the lump of lead?
H-W is in the country when the 45 happens, and among those country gentlemen hastily forming their own militia in case BPC actually makes it further south. He's also present at the executions of two Jacobite lords about whom he writes with great sympathy (they die very bravely), though he otherwise has no time for the Jacobite cause. I'll write up and post the descriptions separately, for
Dresden, as a city, finds his approval except for the "early" time of 11 pm when everyone retires. It's gorgeous - which it is - and there's much splendour. H-W also likes the King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, August III, son of August the Strong, for being nice and art loving, though he notes A3 is totally under Brühl's thumb. He's less impressed by the Queen (she who will remain in Dresden during the 7 Years War, Maria Josepha, daughter of HRE Joseph I. and thus first cousin to MT; August the Strong had married his son to her with probably an eye on Team Saxony claiming the Imperial throne):
Her Majesty is very devout, but not a bit better for her devotions. She does nothing but commit small sins, and begs forgiveness for them. She is ugly beyond painting, and malicious beyond expression. Her violent hatred to the Empress-Queen, and her great love to all her enemies, makes me rejoice that she has not the least influence at this court. She has much impotent aversion to Count Brühl; he hates Her Majesty in return, but then he makes her feel his power.
By "her enemies" he doesn't mean Fritz, he means France, which apparantly Maria Josepha is much in favour of.
This royal couple's son has just married Maria Antonia of Bavaria, or "Antoinette" as our author(s) call her, aka pen pal to MT and Fritz (on musical matters), also librettist of various operas and music lover in general.
Her person is extremely bad, but her manner is engaging. She does not want parts, but they are strangely turned. She has a desire to be admired beyond the rest of her sex. ...She has read a great deal, but her whole study has been love as it is described in French romances. She write s agreat deal, all upon the same subject, and I am sure all her poetical works would make a small folio. During the late Emperor's reign she meddled in politics, in which she varies as much as in her lovers; an t is its from them she chiefly takes her plie, for she is neither capable of forming a scheme herself, nor adhering to a plan that anybody else should prepare for her for four and twenty hours together.
(If you're by now under the impression that MT and Catherine are the only higher ranking women H-W doesn't ridicule, you would be right.)
But of course the main person at court to pay attention to is Brühl.
He is the son of a gentleman of Thuringe. The family is good. Count Brühl's father was Marshall of the court of Saxe-Weissenfels. The present Count Brühl was page to the Duchess-Dowager of Weissenfels (mother of the present Duchess of Courland) who lived hte latter end of her life at Leipzig. The late King of Poland, who always came to the (Book) Fair, used constantly to visit her Highness of Weissenfels; and it was in those visits that he first saw Count Brühl, who, as page, used to light him upstairs. HIs Polish M. observed he was a very assidious boy, and took a fance to him, and upon the Duchess' recommendation made him his Page de la Chambre. For a great while his P M employed him as his secretary in his amours, but thinking that he saw great talents in him, he resolved to breed him pu to be a Minister, and began by making him spy upon all his other Ministers, which post he executed to the K's satisfaction, who in the last years of his life applied himself very much to business. And at his Polish Majesty's death his affairs whore wholly (having then no declared Minister) in Count Brühl's hands; who from being a page was in two years become Privy Councillor, Ministre de Conference and Gt Master of the Wardrobe. He was the only MInister that was with the King of Poland at Warsow when he died, and all the secret transactions of that critical time were in his hands. He, immediately upon the King of Poland's death, came back to Dresden, and found the present King of Poland entirely governed by his faovurite, Count Sulkokwski, who was the most ignorant and the most incapable of business of any man in Saxony. To this person Count Brühl united himself, and they together persuaded the King to go no more to council, nor to suffer his Privy Councillors to approach HIs Polish M's person; after which Count Brühl alone (for Count Sukowski was against it) persuaded his master to attempt the crown of Poland; and the success that attended that attempt was the first thing that gave the present K of Poland a good opinoin of Count Brühl. But he would never have arrived at the post of favourite, if Count Sulkowski had not destroyed himself by being the most absurd, the most insolulent, and the most brutal man upon earth, who took more pains to lsoe the King of Pland's favour than ever any Minister did to gain the confidence of any other prince.
(See also: Sachsens Glanz und Preußens Gloria.)
Count Brühl in his figure still has a a great deal of a page, which neither diomonds nore embroideries can efface. He is extremely polite and civil, but his civility is without distinction, which destroys the merit of it.
(I.e. he's nice to everyone, not just H-W.)
His vanity is beyond all bounds, and his expense has no l miits; neither does the King of Poland set any to it, for he permits him to take whatever he pleases out of the revenues of Saxony. His house is a palance, and his family a court. He has every vice and expense that would each of them singly undo any other person. Gambling, building, equipage, horses, books, pictures an a mistress, are extravagances that he has pushed to the highest degree.
And so forth, which, btw, is a contemporary testimony to Brühl's money wasting reputation that predates Fritz bashing him in his histories. Ironically, what frustrates H-W most about Brühl is that he seems to be afraid of pissing off Prussia. (Which, lest we forget, has invaded Saxony already once at this point, in Silesia 2.) At the same time, Brühl loathes Fritz right back, and relations to Vienna are cool because Maria Josepha thinks she should be Archduchess and Empress, whereas noble Britain wants to reconcile everyone (according this book), only to find out that the German princes want to be paid subsidies if they're to do as England wants. H-W is not happy. There's a lot of negotiating with the Poles, too, considering the question as to whether or not young future Elector also becomes the third Saxon King of Poland in a row (spoiler: he won't be), which brings H-W first into contact with Polish nobles. He keeps pondering Fritz from afar:
One must judge the King of Prussia's future by his past behaviour. (...) We have not only seen him twice abandon his allies, the French, the instant he perceived that his interest required such perfidy to support it. But also we saw him towards the end of the year 1743 promiting a peace with the greatest warmth, though at hte same time the advantages he daily gained over his enmeies gave him, to all appearance, the greatest encouragement to continue the war.
Dresden is very expensive, though, even for Sir Charles, and H-W is angling for another job, to wit, Turin, at the King of Sardinia's court. Alas, Cumberland "The Butcher" wants his friend Lord Rochefort there, so Henry Fox floates the idea of H-W going to Berlin instead. He's less than keen at first. He also is involved in the final negotiatons for the Peace of Aachen/Aix-la-Chapelle that concludes the Austrian War of Succession, and consequently is regarded as good at diplomacy by an admiring Walpole who thinks he'll teach Fritz to fetch and carry, I already gave you the quote. So it's off to Berlin for H-W, supposed master negotiator after all, and disaster ensues. Except for meeting Poniatowski. Now, you may have wondered why I didn't include any Poniatowski relevant quote in the Prussian post. It's because all the quotes regarding the H-W/Williams relationship save for some very late letter near the end of H-W's time in Russia and one single comment by one of his daughters come from Poniatowiski's own memoirs, which frustrated me - I mean, not that the quotes aren't good, but I was hoping to find out how Williams saw the developing relationship without the virtue of hindsight. (The late quote where he does say how he feels for P is quite moving, though.) Also I have already done a write up of Poniatowski's memoirs.
After his less than glorious departure from Berlin, H-W has the additional trouble of his oldest daughter Fanny's marriage to be arranged to his satisfaction, and his younger daughter Charlotte scandalizing her mother by reading Tom Jones. As mentioned, upon meeting young Essex he's first a bit sceptical because the fellow doesn't mention his daughter a lot, and is Team Love Match. Otoh, once he realizes Fanny does want the Essex guy, he sets himself to mentoring him.
OUr country is the country of Liberty. We have restraint of all sorts, an dpersons of the first rank will not permit those of inferior classes to enjoy ease beyond them in anything. And as persons of small fortunes that have no equipages, walk out in a morning wihtout any attendances, those of higer station have imagined that tis more easy and agreeable to walk out unattended than attended; and as people of fashion are generall known in London streets, they don't lose their dignity by such proceedings. But this is not to be done in foreign countries, where you are known and considered but by the exterir figure that you make. In those countries we are but birds of passage. Every Englishman of rank must keep up the outward show, or he will hardly meet with outward civility. And should a man of quality in Italy see you walking in the streets without a footman, it would not be an easy matter to persuade him afterwards that you was really the Earl of Essex.
Re: Charles Hanbury-Williams: Anglo among Saxons (The Life, II)
Date: 2023-03-24 11:58 pm (UTC)Oh, Brits.
George I: *cough*
Dresden, as a city, finds his approval except for the "early" time of 11 pm when everyone retires.
I had a feeling that Elizaveta stayed up later, and indeed, flipping through Anisimov, I see supper is starting at 11 pm. Now, that's more up H-W's alley! I have a feeling that was a regular thing. Let me see if I can find it.
According to the court record book, this is how Elizabeth spent January 1751: January 1st--a New Year celebration, 2nd--a masquerade, 3rd--visiting Aleksandr Buturlin, 4th--Christmas Eve, 6th--a French tragedy, 7th--a French comedy, 8th--a court masquerade, 9th--a carriage ride and visit to Sumarokov, 13th--a liturgy at the church, Courtag at the Palace, 15th--a court ball, 18th--a public masquerade, 20th--Courtag, a French comedy, 22nd--a court masquerade, 24th--a Russian tragedy, 25th--a French comedy, 28th and 29th--courtiers' weddings.
Aha, Montefiore is what I'm remembering:
She often partied until 6 a.m., sleeping till midday and sending for jewellers and ministers in the middle of the night. “Nobody ever knew the hour Her Imperial Majesty would deign to have dinner,” recalled Catherine, “and it often happened that the courtiers having waited playing cards till 2 a.m. and gone to sleep were awakened to attend Her Majesty’s supper.” If they were too sleepy to speak, they were likely to get a slap.
I put it to you that H-W was in a better mood in Russia and thus more inclined to look on the young people fondly and want to mentor them.
He is extremely polite and civil, but his civility is without distinction, which destroys the merit of it.
(I.e. he's nice to everyone, not just H-W.)
Hahaha, this is great. Wasn't that one of MT's good points according to visitors, that she was uniformly gracious? Yeah, last paragraph here.
Perhaps H-W didn't notice this trait of hers when he was praising her. :P
but I was hoping to find out how Williams saw the developing relationship without the virtue of hindsight
Aww, yeah, that's too bad.
And as persons of small fortunes that have no equipages, walk out in a morning wihtout any attendances, those of higer station have imagined that tis more easy and agreeable to walk out unattended than attended...And should a man of quality in Italy see you walking in the streets without a footman, it would not be an easy matter to persuade him afterwards that you was really the Earl of Essex.
I keep saying this, but I'm loving these little insights into contemporary thinking, which are useful for fanfic too!
Re: Charles Hanbury-Williams: Anglo among Saxons (The Life, II)
Date: 2023-03-25 09:21 am (UTC)Incidentally, H-W while in Saxony was put in charge of Philip Stanhope the son of Chesterfield to whom the famous letters regarding gentlemanly behaviour are adressed to. Apparantly "he's good with young people" was an opinion already among his aquaintances before he left Britain. Though I also think you're right and he performed best as an envoy in Russia because the lifestyle at Elizaveta's court suited him best.
Perhaps H-W didn't notice this trait of hers when he was praising her. :P
Or she was one of those politicians who manage to make you feel special to them no matter how many other hands they shake, and Brühl was not? But I suspect the difference lies in H-W meeting Brühl before his Prussia experience, at the start of his time in Saxony, when his ego is intact and he expects to be made a great fuss about because that's what is owed to his rank as GB's envoy and to himself. Whereas he meets MT post Prussia, where he's utterly failed to impress anyone other than young Poniatowski (who was a lonely visitor like himself), has on the contrary ended up ostracized by pretty much everyone and thinks even a "Tartar" envoy (racism alert) has been treated with greater distinction not just by the monarch but by Berlin high society. And while he can and does blame Fritz for this, there still has to be a voice at the back of his mind where he thinks maybe, just maybe, he fucked up as well and isn't as cool as he always thought he was. And then he's in Vienna, where they might be all backwards haughty Catholics but hey, not only do the VIPs throw parties and receptions for him but MT (who outranks the Margrave of Brandenburg as even an Englishman knows and is in fact the highest positioned female in Europe both by rank and bloodline) is gracious to him! Had to be balm on the soul - for the first reception, until they started to talk business.
Oh, and regarding his little ditty about Fritz of Wales and brother Cumberland, I forgot to add, in case you're wondering: the line of what will happen when "Our Mon- rots with C- the great" presumably means when "Our Monarch rots with Caroline the Great" , though why he bothers in a realm where far worse things about the royals get into print, I don't know.