Chapter IV.

FATHER'S MOTHER.

Friedrich Wilhelm's Mother, as we hinted, did not live to see this
marriage which she had forecast in her maternal heart. She died,
rather suddenly, in 1705, [1st February (Erman, p. 241; Forster,
i. 114): born, 20th October, 1666; wedded, 28th September 1684;
died, 1st February, 1705.] at Hanover, whither she had gone on a
visit; shortly after parting with this her one boy and child,
Friedrich Wilhelm, who is then about seventeen; whom she had with
effort forced herself to send abroad, that he might see the world
a little, for the first time. Her sorrow on this occasion has in
it something beautiful, in so bright and gay a woman: shows us the
mother strong in her, to a touching degree. The rough cub, in whom
she noticed rugged perverse elements, "tendencies to avarice," and
a want of princely graces, and the more brilliant qualities in
mind and manner, had given her many thoughts and some uneasy ones.
But he was evidently all she had to love in the world; a rugged
creature inexpressibly precious to her. For days after his
departure, she had kept solitary; busied with little; indulging in
her own sad reflections without stint. Among the papers she had
been scribbling, there was found one slip with a HEART sketched on
it, and round the heart "PARTI" (Gone): My heart is gone!--poor
lady, and after what a jewel! But Nature is very kind to all
children and to all mothers that are true to her.

Sophie Charlotte's deep sorrow and dejection on this parting was
the secret herald of fate to herself. It had meant ill health
withal, and the gloom of broken nerves. All autumn and into winter