I am sorry, and this I confess with the most heart-felt compunction, to have, through artifice and malice, robbed the K—g of the love of his people, for he really was a good man, and his humanity extended to all the creation. Oh! what a source of happiness this love proved to his feeling heart, and how often have I heard him exclaim, “Thank God, my people are happy, and so am I through their happiness!” This, however, was no more than a deception, for I, and those that were about him, never would give him an opportunity to cast a look into the most interior recesses of the system of government, and thus he was deceived, and actually thought that his subjects were happy; but it was not his fault, it was mine, for his heart was benevolence itself.
The vile creatures who flocked to my train, through the most infamous windings, attempted to deprive him of the love of his people, and became, in the fullest extent of the word, his rulers. But I must return to my own story.
I was now possessed of princely palaces, and the pomp of royalty was displayed in all my apartments. Ministers, generals, princes, and noblemen, crowded my levees and courted my smiles. What could be more natural than that the invidious should watch every step I took? The privilege of being thus noticed by a great prince could not fail to excite jealousy, and an opportunity soon offered to lay the foundation of my ruin. The K—g, who was fond of variety in love, conceived a violent passion for Miss V——, a young lady of the Court, a lady endowed by nature with the most exquisite charms she could bestow upon a favourite mortal. The name of Miss V——, till this very hour, is never mentioned but with the highest respect. At the first outset her virtue withstood every attack; but, when the K—g became more pressing, and the nobility joined him in his pursuit, she yielded at last, but on condition of a left-handed marriage. The K—g lived, during the space of one full year, in the greatest happiness with Miss V——, and I might, perhaps, have been entirely slighted and forgotten, had not a dish of chocolate, administered at a proper time, rid me of a detested rival, and the K—g of a love-sick enthusiast. I now once more was the toast, and the sovereign-arbitratrix of my Royal Lover’s mind. Whatever did not suit my plan, or harmonize with my views, was removed from the sight of the monarch, and none but those who were of my party had access to the closet.
My husband had likewise been put in the way of exercising the power of influence, and of laying by treasures. Yet I was often vexed when I saw that certain men, who could not possibly be denied, got admission to the K—g; for I was always afraid, lest, some time or other, they might have the assurance to paint me in my true colours.
It became adviseable, however, to think of securing a considerable part of my wealth, for which purpose I projected a journey to Italy, where I meant to dispose of my property as advantageously as I could. As I lived in the first style of grandeur, the K—g was prevailed on to confer the title of Countess of Lichtenau on me at the Court of Vienna. The request was granted, and to enable me to maintain the dignity and rank, I obtained a separation from Mr. Rietz. From that very instant I was, on my return from Italy, admitted to all the circles and the assemblies at Court. My daughter, who had been decorated with the title of Countess of the Mark, was to marry none but a Count, and the King intended to bestow an adequate dowry on her. Her suitors were many, and amongst the rest Count Stolberg was preferred.
As the K—g was fond of amusement, I was pleased to see that W—— and B—— entertained him with the Rosicrucian nonsense, and other magic tricks. These ventriloquists could do me no harm; nay, on the contrary, they were the means of persuading the K—g to any thing. It was at this very period that I filled all the offices of Court with wretches of my own choice. All the King did, spoke, and undertook, was faithfully reported to me, and hence he must inevitably remain entangled in my net.
The French war broke out, and then it might be said I was truly launched into my own element. B—— was employed by the Cabinet of Vienna and the Court of St. —— to bring things to bear with our K—g, and he was several times obliged to undertake journeys to Vienna and to Italy. The coalition was agreed on, and we marched against France. This war was the very thing I wanted; for, as the King was busy, I took all the opportunities I could to make him sensible of the licentiousness of the people; and, as the expences had increased, and became more multiplied than before, I had fair play to accumulate treasure in proportion. My chief contributors, however, were Austria and ——, for they would pay me abundantly for the part I took in persuading the King not to recede from the coalition. But no man ever knew how to get me over to his interest better than P—. For this purpose, he employed his relation T——, who paid me his addresses for a long time, had apartments in my palace, and partook of my table and carriage. Money was my motto, just the same as it had been at the time when Jews and Christians resorted to the house of Minna Encke, in Spandau-street. It is a pity that this war, or, at least, the coalition, did not last a little longer, for then I might, in fact, have realized my favorite project, of purchasing some principality, for the flood of presents flowed in without intermission.
We returned home without having effected any thing, and my chief object was to secure the King’s affections by all the variety of pleasure and entertainment I could possibly think of. I had in my palace a neat little theatre, where I entertained the King with such pieces as seemed to have been written for the very purpose of charming the senses. My actresses were chosen from among the handsomest girls in all Berlin. I always made them appear in such dresses as would add, if possible, to their charms. With the same view, I generally chose the subjects of the entertainment from mythology; for instance, Jove and Leda, Venus and Cupid, Hymen’s Wake, &c. A celebrated man of learning of the capital, the manager of my little theatre, took with a smile the presents which the enchanted monarch gave him, and since that time abstained from inveighing against the King’s mistress in his satirical writings.
Some disturbances, which took place in the provinces, and particularly at Berlin, gave me the fairest opportunity to induce the King to prohibit the publication of all such works as treated of liberty, equality, and the imprescriptible rights of man, and in general of all such trash.
A kind of inquisition, which, through my interference, was introduced throughout the country, enabled me to obtain a knowledge of all the pamphlets that represented me in my true colours to the world, and to suppress them. And, if at any time some determined scribbler had the audacity to transgress the limits of the liberty of thinking and writing, it would, through the medium of my creatures, represent the act as an attempt nothing short of high treason against the King’s Majesty itself, in which case imprisonment for life, or banishment from the King’s dominions, was the unavoidable consequence. Such was the fate of the merchants Z—— C——, of Doctor K——, and of Captain L——.