"When the drill was over, his Majesty went into the Garden, and the soldiers dispersed; only four Officers remained lounging upon the Esplanade, and walked up and down. For fright I knew not what to do; I pulled the Papers out of my pocket,--these were my Memorial, two Certificates of character, and a Thuringen Pass [poor soul].
The Officers noticed this; came straight to me, and said, 'What letters has He there, then?' I thankfully and gladly imparted the whole; and when the Officers had read them, they said, 'We will give you [Him, not even THEE] a good advice, The King is extra-gracious to-day, and is gone alone into the Garden. Follow him straight. Thou wilt have luck.'
"This I would not do; my awe was too great. They thereupon laid hands on me [the mischievous dogs, not ill-humored either]:
one took me by the right arm, another by the left, 'Off, off;to the Garden!' Having got me thither, they looked out for the King. He was among the gardeners, examining some rare plant;stooping over it, and had his back to us. Here I had to halt;and the Officers began, in underhand tone [the dogs!], to put me through my drill: 'Hat under left arm!--Right foot foremost!--Breast well forward!--Head up!--Papers from pouch!--Papers aloft in right hand!--Steady! Steady!'--And went their ways, looking always round, to see if I kept my posture. I perceived well enough they were pleased to make game of me; but I stood, all the same, like a wall, being full of fear. The Officers were hardly out of the Garden, when the King turned round, and saw this extraordinary machine,"--telegraph figure or whatever we may call it, with papers pointing to the sky. "He gave such a look at me, like a flash of sunbeams glancing through you; and sent one of the gardeners to bring my papers. Which having got, he struck into another walk with them, and was out of sight. In few minutes he appeared again at the place where the rare plant was, with my Papers open in his left hand; and gave me a wave with them To come nearer. I plucked up a heart, and went straight towards him. Oh, how thrice and four-times graciously this great Monarch deigned to speak to me!--KING. "'My good Thuringian (LIEBER THURINGER), you came to Berlin, seeking to earn your bread by industrious teaching of children;and here, at the Packhof, in searching your things, they have taken your Thuringen hoard from you. True, the batzen are not legal here;but the people should have said to you: You are a stranger, and did n't know the prohibition;--well then, we will seal up the Bag of Batzen; you send it back to Thuringen, get it changed for other sorts; we will not take it from you!--"'Be of heart, however; you shall have your money again, and interest too.--But, my poor man, Berlin pavement is bare, they don't give anything gratis: you are a stranger; before you are known and get teaching, your bit of money is done; what then?'
"I understood the speech right well; but my awe was too great to say: 'Your Majesty will have the all-highest grace to allow me something!' But as I was so ****** and asked for nothing, he did not offer anything. And so he turned away; but had scarcely gone six or eight steps, when he looked round, and gave me a sign I was to walk by him; and then began catechising:--KING. "'Where did you (ER) study?'
LINSENBARTH. "'Your Majesty, in Jena.'
KING. "'What years?'
LINSENBARTH. "'From 1716 to 1720.' ["Born 1689" (Rodenbeck, p.
474); twenty-five when he went.]
KING. "'Under what Pro-rector were you inscribed?'
LINSENBARTH. "'Under the PROFESSOR THEOLOGIAE Dr. Fortsch.'
KING. "'Who were your other Professors in the Theological Faculty?'"LINSENBARTH--names famed men; sunk now, mostly, in the bottomless waste-basket: "Buddaus" (who did a DICTIONARY of the BAYLE sort, weighing four stone troy, out of which I have learned many a thing), "Buddaeus," "Danz," "Weissenborn," "Wolf" (now back at Halle after his tribulations,--poor man, his immortal System of Philosophy, where is it!).
KING. "'Did you study BIBLICA diligently?'
LINSENBARTH. "'With Buddaeus (BEYM BUDDAO).'
KING. "'That is he who had such quarrelling with Wolf?'
LINSENBARTH. "'Yea, your Majesty! He was--'
KING (does not want to know what he was). "'What other useful Courses of Lectures (COLLEGIA) did you attend?'
LINSENBARTH. "'Thetics and Exegetics with Fortsch [How the deuce did Fortsch teach these things?]; Hermeneutics and Polemics with Walch [editor of <italic> Luther's Works, <end italic> I suppose];Hebraics with Dr. Danz; Homiletics with Dr. Weissenborn; PASTORALE[not Pastoral Poetry, but the Art of Pastorship] and MORALE with Dr. Buddaeus.' [There, your Majesty!--what a glimpse, as into infinite extinct Continents, filled with ponderous thorny inanities, invincible nasal drawling of didactic Titans, and the awful attempt to spin, on all manner of wheels, road-harness out of split cobwebs: Hoom! Hoom-m-m! Harness not to be had on those terms. Let the dreary Limbus close again, till the general Day of Judgment for all this.]
KING (glad to get out of the Limbus). "'Were things as wild then at Jena, in your time, as of old, when the Students were forever scuffling and ruffling, and the Couplet went:--<italic> "Wer kommt von Jena ungeschlagen, Der hat von grossen Gluck zu sagen. <end italic>
"He that comes from Jena SINE BELLO, He may think himself a lucky fellow"?'
LINSENBARTH. "'That sort of folly is gone quite out of fashion;and a man can lead a silent and quiet life there, just as at other Universities, if he will attend to the DIC, CURHIC? [or know what his real errand is]. In my time their Serene Highnesses, the Nursing-fathers of the University (NUTRITORES ACADEMIAE),--of the Ernestine Line [Weimar-Gotha Highnesses, that is], were in the habit of having the Rufflers (RENOMISTEN), Renowners as they are called, who made so much disturbance, sent to Eisenach to lie in the Wartburg a while; there they learned to be quiet.'
[Clock strikes Twelve,--dinner-time of Majesty.]