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Updated: May 11, 2025
He dispatched, accordingly, General Grumbkow, an adroit and intelligent diplomatist, who had been sent by the King of Prussia on a mission to the Allied headquarters, to Dresden, to endeavour to ascertain the real intentions of the Swedish monarch.
One member of the circle is singled out nightly as an object for mirth, and the choice is made by lot. Each and every one can in turn become the butt of merry satire. To have been present at a meeting of this oddest of all court gatherings would furnish me with the most notable memory I could carry away from Berlin. Egad, Grumbkow! I believe he means our Smoker.
The door to the right is thrown open and the members of the Tobacco-Conference come in, led by GRUMBKOW and SECKENDORF. There are about ten of them besides the principal actors. They come in solemnly, wearing their hats, carrying pipes in their mouths. Passing the KING they touch their hats and remove their pipes for a moment. HOTHAM and the PRINCE of BAIREUTH come last of all.
GRUMBKOW and SECKENDORF come in with EVERSMANN. The latter carries a wide orange-colored ribbon with many stars and Orders on it, and a gleaming sword. The KING'S room. A side door on the left; a centre door. A writing table and chairs. It was a dispatch, you say, Eversmann? A dispatch from Hanover. And all this elegance? The ribbon? The sword of state? What does it mean?
No, let us rather drink, after such a day of annoyance and sorrow let us rather drink to cheer, jollity, and a happy turn of wit! Grumbkow, I wager it will be right jolly tonight. We'll soon begin to tap the Prince. Be merciful. Prince, since you have windbagged yourself about so much of the world do they smoke tobacco in Versailles also? No.
And the Crown Prince can play the flute for it, since he has learned that art behind my back. And the ladies and gentlemen of the Court are to act in it? Surely. Give every one of them something to say, only not me. But Grumbkow must act in it. Yes, Grumbkow must be in it and the ladies Viereck and Sonnsfeld and Seckendorf and Must it be in English or in French? Neither.
In the years of peace, and especially after a court quarrel and duel with General von Grumbkow, he devoted himself to the training of the Prussian army. The reputation it had gained in the wars of 1675 to 1715, though good, gave no hint of its coming glory, and it was even in 1740 accounted one of the minor armies of Europe.
Grumbkow, ask the Baronet whether the young man, who is doubtless destined to introduce Prussian tactics into England, would serve better on foot or to horse. He begs for a place with the Dragoons of the Guard in Potsdam. Potsdam? That won't do. They all want to serve in the Guard. No no.... But he can for a while, at least join the Glasenapp Musketiers in Pasewalk. That's a fine regiment, too.
Put in some verses about the colonies, Prince, about the land where tobacco grows. You know it's the land where the GRUMBKOW and SECKENDORF come in. Each carries under his arm a small bundle of red-bound books. Forgive us, Your Majesty but it is incredible that such unprecedented crimes should occur in the very bosom of the Royal Family! What's the matter now?
Our Court? A satire on us all on me on Seckendorf, Grumbkow, Eversmann. On me, too? The Crown Prince has underscored most of it, that it may be better understood. Here is a Marshal with the nickname le chicaneur. You know that's meant for you, Grumbkow. Outrageous! The Ambassador, Vicomte de la Rancune, otherwise le petit combinateur. That's you, Seckendorf. It's it's an international insult.
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