Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 131.djvu/380

374 thrown in her way: we learn sometimes that they are agreeable or otherwise, but rarely anything further. Not that there is any reason to think that the countess wanted the power of observation or thought, but it is evident that she had only the very humblest object in view in keeping a diary, — that she aimed at nothing more than providing a slight assistance for her memory.

It seems further that, when she had anything of great importance to record, she often abstained from doing so. There was one moment in her life when she was of real importance in Prussian history. This was in the last months of 1808, when the French army of occupation was on the point of leaving Prussia, and Napoleon was forcing a new treaty upon the king, by which he hoped to hold Prussia down as effectually as if his army were not withdrawn. A great outcry was raised about the conspiracies against the French power, which were supposed to be rife among the Prussian officials and military men. Davoust and Daru took the lead in the agitation, and the servile French party among the Prussians, which had its headquarters at Berlin, echoed all their charges. One of the absurd stories they circulated was that the Countess Voss had written a letter to Prince Wittgenstein, then at Hamburg, proposing to him to poison Napoleon at Bayonne. The prince was actually arrested on this charge. About the same time, we find the leading statesmen of Prussia complaining that it is impossible to keep important state secrets because of the countess Voss's teas, at which everything was repeated. These are not matters of the first importance, but they are, at least, more important than nine-tenths of the matters dealt with in this diary, and any information the countess might give about them would be of some interest to students of Prussian history, particularly as it would be certainly authentic. But we are disappointed; the diary contains not a syllable on these subjects, nor has the editor any light to throw upon them. If a reader is very anxious to realize to himself exactly, how the royal family of Prussia' lived in, that distressful period after Jena which was passed at Memel, he should take this book and compare it with the diaries of Sir George Jackson (of which the last volumes are called "The Bath Archives"). He will find in the one book that the countess met Mr. Jackson, and in the other that Mr. Jackson met the countess. For all we know, he may be able to find two histories of the same evening in the two books. We must add, however, that in all probability neither history will be worth reading, though the English diarist is in every case to be preferred. The diary before us at any rate can serve no better purpose than is served by a visitors' book at an inn. The utmost you can look for is to find what persons were to be met with at the Prussian court at a given time. In turning over so many names, however, something will occasionally strike the eye. For instance, in the later years of Frederic the Great, the countess often mentions a Humboldt among those at court. This we take to be the father of the illustrious brothers. We have been speaking of the staple of the book, than which nothing can be more unprofitable. There are, however, three passages in it which are more interesting. Of these the first is that part of the diary which refers to the last years of the Seven Years' War. As the editor says, there is something startling and "almost enigmatical" in the style of these pages, which show us "how, at the very time when the king, overwhelmed with losses and misfortunes of every kind, struggles all the more heroically against the enemy's superior force, people at the court of his wife, sisters, and sisters-in-law were trying to drive away the time with petty amusements, and scarcely troubled themselves seriously to know what territory of the miserable and exhausted land was at the moment groaning under the heavy hand of the Russians, Austrians, or French!" Besides the curiousness of this, these pages give us a more distinct notion than perhaps it was possible to get before of one who certainly is among the most unimportant personages in history, but yet a queen, and the queen of a great king; we mean Elizabeth Christine, the neglected wife of Frederic the Great. Her impatience and dogmatism, her want of tact in conversation, are traits which we think are new: —


 * The queen was present, too, and made some very angry remarks about the unfavorable accounts and reports that were circulated about her court. I do not know what she can mean but some silly gossip here in the place which should not have been listened to, and still less noticed. But she would not leave off scolding and declaiming that the people who received from her the greatest attentions were loudest in mocking and ridiculing her; in short, I am sorry to say she said a number of things which put us all into perplexity, and were very little becoming in a queen.