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3
He desired me to put them in my pocket as
I should probably see both these gentlemen at
Court, I did so accordingly and into the carriage
we got.
Though the Palace is not above a
stone's througw from my lodgings yet in the time
we were going there we were coming to the point.
He told me that Duke Ofenberg had written about me
to the Duke and that the Duke had —— I know
not what the expression was I believe he muttered
it to himself even as your dear brother is wont
to mutter sometimes but the idea it
conveyed was that the D wished me to come.
I then took occasion to tell him it was on that
account and from the persuasion of Ofenberg
that I came this way and that I had made
it my business to acquire all the information
at the several ports between holland & here
which I thought could be subservient to the plan
which I imagined the Duke had in view.
I told him my plan had otherwise been to
have gone straight to the Snd and to have
taken Denmark & Sweden in my way
to Petersburgh. He then told me that
a former Duke of Courland had built Ships and that the
Island of Tobago had belonged to him that there
was a treaty between the Duke and our Charles the
first about it but that it was afterwards taken
by the Dutch. We then got to the difficulty there
was in procuring Shipbuilders, (the advantages
there would be in building Ships seemed to be agreed
upon) and I was just about obviating that difficulty
when the carriage stopt at the door.
There was now of necessity an end to our conversation,
on that subject. As we were going up the stairs
he told me He should introduce me to the Dutchess
and that I was to kiss her hand but as to
the Duke himself that was not necessary. If he
had not told me I was just that instant going
to ask him if the Dutchess's hand was not to be
kissed. He first took me into a small room
where the Dutchess's 2 maids of honour or Ladies in waiting were
waiting, introduced me to them and left me for
a minute or two. neither of these ladies were
very beautifull and one of them looked had much
the appearance of having been her Mistress's
Maid Servant before She arrived at the rank of
Dutchess.
They could neither of them speak
a word of french and therefore I have made no
great progress in my german our conversation
was a little straightened. The Baron then carried
me to another room in which was a billiard table
and 8 or 10 pPersons of the Court. I was introduced
to 5 or 6 of them seperately but dont remember
the name of one. We amused One however was
an Uncle of Kleist's and of course we talked about
his Nephew. We amused ourselves here for about
a quarter of an hour some playing at billiards
others looking on. I was as you may imagine
of the latter number. On a sudden the balls
were flung on one side the maces & ques on
the table or the floor and all run towards
the door. I was a began to be a little surprized
at this disorderly movement, but as I am not
very susceptible of any sudden motions or emotions,
my surprize had not acted strong enough upon
me to make me follow up towards the door also
before I saw the train coming in. The Duke and
Dutchess were in the middle and Baron Klopman
who had just before stept out of the room followed
close by him. When the Duke had entered the
room and passed those who stood crowding at the
door to receive him, the Baron stept forward
to me by the time the Duke was coming up, to me
and presented me. As soon as we had made a
sufficient number of bows to each other and he
had told me how happy he was to have the honour
of seeing me and I had told him how happy I
was in the honour of paying my respects to his
Highness; the Baron took me to advanced with
me to the Dutchess where the same compliments
were repeated with the addition of the kissing the
hand which on my side was by no means a
disagreable part of the ceremony. I then turned
again to the Duke angd gave him my letter
which he put immediately into his pocket.
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Identifier: | JB/538/417/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 538.
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1779-12-18 |
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538 |
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417 |
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001 |
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Correspondence |
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Samuel Bentham |
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