Jan. 3.—After dinner the Duchess pressed me to stay some time at Brunswick, at least till the arrival of Lady Minto, to whom she said she would introduce me. She dwelt on the inconvenience of my going to Vienna a perfect stranger; and said that a woman of my age and appearance, who travelled in that way, had ‘tous les préjugés contre elle.’ We were alone, and she enlarged most affectionately on the subject, ending by kissing my cheek, and assuring me that, despite of this disadvantage, every one in Brunswick was excessively partial to me, which she kindly said gave her great pleasure. I supped with the Dowager Duchess. She conversed with me after she rose from supper: ‘Vous n’aimez pas beaucoup en Angleterre le Roi de Prusse?’ I frankly owned to her we did not. ‘But,’ said she, ‘il n’est pas assez riche pour faire face aux dépenses d’une guerre contre les François, et d’ailleurs il ne pourroit pas s’unir avec l’Empéreur. Les François ont bien voulu lui donner Hanovre, mais il l’a refusé.’ She expressed great regret at not having learned English. ‘Vous avez de grandes écrivains en Angleterre; j’aime infiniment Pope; je le trouve au dessus de Voltaire.’ She then reverted to politics, extolled Mr. Pitt, and said every Englishman should wear him in his heart.
Jan. 4-9.—Every morning has brought me a regular invitation from the reigning Duchess to dine and sup at Court, except when she knew I was engaged to the Hereditary Princess or the Dowager. She has behaved to me with real affection, and once said to me with the utmost kindness, ‘I think you will love me at last.’ Indeed I should be very ungrateful if I did not. The only day on which she went out to a private party she took me with her, and presented me to the lady of the house, Mad. Munichhausen, a pleasing little woman, but in a bad state of health. The ceremonial of the dinner at Court on the ordinary days is as follows:—you go about three, dressed as you like, except that you must not appear in a hat, bonnet, shawl, or muff. You find the Duchess standing at the door of an inner apartment, her maids of honour being in the next. The whole company stand till dinner time (the Duke and Duchess never sit except when their company can do so too). The chamberlain announces to the Duchess that it is on the table, and hands her out. She makes a low curtsey to the Duke and the company. The ladies follow, also curtseying to the Duke, according to their rank; except foreigners, who, even when untitled, take place of all others, going in and out of the rooms, and also at table. At dinner the Duchess sits at the middle of one side, and the Duke opposite to her. This situation, as far as I have seen, answers to the head and foot in England. The ladies are all ranged on one side, and the gentlemen on the other, excepting princes, who are allowed to mix with the ladies. The Prince de Salm generally fell to my lot, and once Prince George. The Prince de Salm is rather above par in address, appearance, and understanding. At dinner there are every day forty people, and the conversation, of course, is seldom general. Once only it turned on politics. Some of the company expressed their expectations that monarchy would be re-established in France. ‘Je le désire,’ said the Duke, ‘plus que je ne l’espère.’ He speaks well, in the subdued voice of good sense, and has a stoop which takes nothing away from the dignity of his appearance. I have never seen him converse with a woman. There is an apparent coldness in his manner to the Duchess, and in hers to him a degree of constraint which it is evident she tries to conceal. (Her rival, a woman of birth and fashion, is lodged in the palace, and he dines with her on a fixed day in every week.) Some time after dinner the company all remove to the drawing-room, where tea and coffee occupy a few minutes; no one sits down. The Duchess takes leave of her company about half-past five; the ladies curtsey to the Duke, and return home, even though they may be engaged for the evening party which begins at a little after six. The Duchess one evening invited me to retire with her at this time to her private apartment, which is a particular favour. She spoke with great gratitude of the affection the English had shown to her daughter, and with great delicacy of the Prince of Wales, yet in a manner which showed she felt his conduct. I dined twice with the Hereditary Prince. There the dinners are more cheerful, about ten people at a round table, and men and women are intermixed. On n’y fait pas trop bonne chère, but that is to me of no consequence whatever. The Duchess Dowager’s dinners are more in the style of her son’s; she has near thirty people every day, so that the three Courts, except when the family happen to dine together, entertain daily near eighty persons. This dear little old woman is just like a mummy; she is mere skin and bone in the highest preserve. On the 9th I had a private audience to take leave, and she gave me a letter of recommendation, with some very kind expressions. She has the talent of accommodating her conversation to the age, situation, and country of those she speaks to in a high degree. Indeed, her address is pre-eminently good. I supped with the reigning Duchess the last evening. She kissed me with the utmost sensibility at parting, and the whole family took leave of me as if I were an old friend. The Princess Abbess is most caressing. She is easy, lively, and clever; but I hear she is very false, extremely gallant, and that she entirely governs the Duke, which I should think difficult.[13]
Jan. 10.—Left Brunswick for Berlin, 127 English miles; engaged four horses for ten louis. Just before I set out, the dear Duchess sent me a letter of introduction to Prince Augustus at Berlin. Travelled twenty-five miles through an unvaried expanse of snow, bounded at a great distance by a few rows of trees, which looked like dark lines across the horizon. It appeared as if one was in the midst of a wide sea of snow. Slept at Helmstedt, still in the Duke of Brunswick’s dominions. It is said to be one of the oldest towns in Germany; and I saw nothing in its appearance to contradict the assertion. After a journey in England, where all is busy and populous and animated, one through this country conveys a strange idea of privation and non-existence.
Jan. 11.—To-day’s journey was monotonous and melancholy as that of yesterday. Slept at Magdeburg. On entering his Prussian Majesty’s dominions, the precautions at the gates of every city are much increased, and hurt the pride of an English traveller, who is accustomed to pass unquestioned and unmolested. You are required to write down your name, condition, whence you come, where you go; and this paper is afterwards verified at the inn, where the host makes the same inquiries, and signs a duplicate.
Jan. 13.—As well as I can judge while the ground is covered several feet deep with snow, the prospect improves as one advances to Brandenburg, a small town, built with more regularity and appearance of comfort than any I have seen since I left England.
Jan. 14.—Slept at Potsdam. The gradual improvement of the country from the moment you enter the King of Prussia’s territories is visible to the most careless observer. Roads, plantations, neat cottages, pleasant country seats, well-built towns and good inns, take place of the appearance of poverty and depopulation so strongly marked in that of Germany I have hitherto seen.
Jan. 15.—A dull road to Berlin, where I arrived early, and was settled immediately in the Russian Hotel. The superiority in cleanliness and accommodation of the Prussian to the German inns is very great.
Jan. 16.—Sent to Prince Augustus a letter of introduction given to me by the Duchess of Brunswick; received a very civil answer, offering to arrange my presentation at Court, and regretting that his illness did not allow him to visit me. It is said he is perfectly well, but confines himself to avoid meeting the French Ambassador.
Jan. 17.—Drove about this very beautiful town, which abounds in public buildings of great magnificence, that all seem at their ease, instead of being crowded up like ours in London.
Jan. 18.—Saw Mr. Garlike and Dr. Brown, the only English gentlemen to whom I had brought letters. Received from them every offer of assistance and civility. Dr. Garlike is Secretary of Legation, Dr. Brown physician to the King. Had the most polite notes from the Ladies of Honour of the Princess Ferdinand, and Princess Radziwill. I had been recommended to the former by the Dowager Duchess, to the latter both by the Hereditary Princess and the Princess Abbess.