CHAPTER VII. VISIT TO MECKLENBURG 1835-1837. AND TOUR THROUGH BERLIN, DRESDEN, PRAGUE, VIENNA, ETC. FIRST VISIT ΤΟ ENGLAND THE PRINCE. IMMEDIATELY after their confirmation the young Princes went to Mecklenburg to congratulate their great-grandfather the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin,' on the 50th anniversary of his accession to the Grand Dukedom; and after a few days spent there, they joined their father at Berlin. Their stay at that capital at this time was short, as they merely remained till they had been presented at Court, after which the Princes set out on a tour by themselves, visiting Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Pesth, The mother of the Princes was the daughter of Duke Augustus of Saxe-Gotha, by his first marriage to a daughter of this Grand Duke of Mecklenburg. and Ofen, and returning to Coburg towards the end of May. On the 11th of that month, whilst they were still at Berlin with their father, the Duchess of Gotha writes to congratulate the Duke on the success which the young Princes had everywhere met with. "I was sure beforehand," she says, "that you would "be received with the accustomed friendship "at Berlin. It is really most satisfactory that "our dear children bore every thing so well, "and have everywhere made themselves so "beloved by their nice manners. May God continue to protect them. I would, however, "entreat you not to tire them too much, particularly by too much travelling at night." Again, on the 23rd of the month, the Duchess speaks of the arrival of the young Princes in Vienna; of their having visited their uncle, Count Mensdorff, and their aunt at Prague, and with true grand-motherly solicitude, repeats the expression of her anxiety, that they should not be over-fatigued. 3 2 A caution, the Queen remarks in a note, very necessary, but which was unheeded. 3 Count Mensdorff had been transferred, at this time, from the command of the fortress of Mayence to that of the troops at Prague. At every Court which they visited they seem to have been received with the greatest kindness, and to have created the most favourable impression. On the 27th June, after the return of the Duke to Coburg, where the Princes had already been settled some time, the Duchess writes:— Accept my best thanks for your dear letter of the 24th, announcing your safe arrival at the "lovely Rosenau. Rosenau. Thank God that you and “the dear children arrived quite well after your great fatigues; but I must scold you a little "for having made your journey back such a “fatiguing one." It would be interesting to read the Prince's own account of their tour, and of the impression made upon him by all he saw; and he doubtless wrote fully to his parents and his grandmother during his travels; but the following short letter to his stepmother, the new Duchess of Coburg, is the only letter of his written at this time that is at present forthcoming "Berlin, May 9, 1835. "DEAR MAMA,-I hope you will excuse my "long silence, for I can assure you that I have "never been able to find a moment's leisure; "even the time for this letter is, as it were, "snatched from other things, for we are already expected at a review. It "I can assure you, dear Mama, that we are quite well, and that we have enjoyed ourselves "in Mecklenburg, as well as in Berlin. requires, however, a giant's strength to bear all the fatigue we have had to undergo. Visits, parades, rides, déjeûners, dinners, "suppers, balls, and concerts follow each other "in rapid succession, and we have not been "allowed to miss any of the festivities." At the beginning of July the young Princes went to Gotha for their grandmother's birthday, and she writes on the 12th, when they had again left her, to express the pleasure it had given her to have "the dear children with her " on her birth-day." After describing the manner in which it had been kept, she adds "I would willingly have kept them longer with me, but good Florschütz said it was not good that "their studies should be longer interrupted, particularly as they were to have a new "master to-morrow. I submitted, and must "again assure you how very much I was "pleased with the dear young people. May "God protect them!" Early in 1836 we find the Prince corresponding from Gotha, where the brothers were again residing, with Dr. Seebode, Director of the Gymnasium (High School) at Coburg; and his letters give us a pleasing insight into the literary nature of his pursuits, and the philosophical and inquiring turn of his mind, even at this early period of his life, for he was not yet seventeen years old. On the 5th February he writes: " 66 "VEREHRTESTER HERR CONSISTORIALRATH, "In spite of all the distractions (Zerstreuungen) of our life here at Gotha, in spite of "innumerable visits, in spite of the howling of "the wind and storm, in spite of the noise of "the guard under our windows, I have at length completed the framework (Disposition) "of my Essay on the Mode of Thought of the "Germans (die Anschauungsweise der Deut schen); and I send it with this for your perusal, begging you not to judge too severely "the many faults which your critical eye will 66 doubtless discover in it. "You have my work without head or tail (ohne Kopf und Schwanz). I have sketched See original of this and following letters in Appendix C. pp. 401 et seqq. |