Prince Pückler Muskaw (sic) ; his arrival at Malta; brief sketch of his life; reception by the English ; notice of hiss Tutti Frutti.

A couple of years since we had the pleasure to meet Prince Puckear Muskaw, who was at that time the lion of the day in our small city of Valetta. This German nobleman, from one of his publications obtained the same, I will not say enviable, celebrity with Englishmen, which Capt. Hall did with us for his volumes on America.

Happy were we when we heard of the arrival of this prince in our quarantine, and anxiously did we await the day, when he should be received to Pratigue. We were desirous of observing his reception by the authorities of our island, the representatives of that nation, the manners, customs, and character of which he had in his tour, not only so severely criticised, but so much condemned. We had heard that the Americans were by far too sensitive, and had oftentimes expressed too much feeling for the statements of authors who derived their only importance from the notice which they had received from the American journals. In this assertion there is no little truth, and gladly did we seize the opportunity to observe the operation of a pill on the English, which they had advised us so quietly to swallow.

The prince had arrived from Tunis, and was confined in our Lazaretto fourteen days. On the morning of his landing, no guard was sent to receive him, as was always customary for a man of his station in life and rank in the army ; but at the moment of his coming on shore, he was received by one or two blackguard cicerones, who importuned his highness to be permitted to show him, through the winding streets, to his apartments at the “Clarence Hotel.” The prince was evidently mortified, his pride was touched, and the curl of the lip, which was covered with a thick, long and black mustachio, but too well told that if he should ever deign to speak of Malta, its rulers would surely come in for no small share of his aversion and contempt.

In the preface of the Tutti Frutti will be found a short and interesting biographical sketch of the author. We shall make a few extracts, before we continue our remarks, hoping the same may be interesting to the reader.

“Herman Prince Puckler Muskaw was born at the palace of Muskaw, in the province of Silesia, on the 30th October, 1785. He received the first rudiments of his education partly there and partly at Dresden. In the latter city, his father, Count Puckler, principally resided, being privy councillor to the king of Saxony. In 1800 he entered the university of Leipsig where he remained two or three years, devoting himself to the acquisition of general knowledge, and the study of the law. He very soon exchanged this pursuit for a military life, and entered the service of the king of Saxony, as a member of the Garde der Corps du Roi. While at Dresden he distinguished himself as an equestrian. At the decease of his father, with whom he was continually at variance, he came into the possession of very considerable estates at Muskaw, together with a large accession of wealth. In the year 1813, the Russian army entered Berlin, in which he entered, receiving the rank of major and aid-de-camp to the Duke of Saxe Weimar. He distinguished himself afterwards in the Netherlands, and won the character of a brave and distinguished officer in the army at Antwerp, commanded by Bulow. About this time, he was engaged in a novel kind of a duel. A French colonel of Hussars, celebrated for his daring bravery, rode out considerably in advance of the lines, and challenged any officer in the army of his opponents to single combat. Prince Puckler accepted the challenge, and the contest took place in the centre between the two armies. Intense anxiety was pictured in the countenances of the spectators. It seemed as if the glories of the respective countries depended upon the issue. A death-like silence reigned throughout, which was only occasionally interrupted by the loud cheers of the deeply interested soldiery, as their favorite champion gained a temporary advantage or suffered a momentary defeat. At length the guardian angel of Germany triumphed, the brave Frenchman fell!!”

It singularly happens, that the same volumes from which we have taken the above extract, were, during the time the prince was residing at Malta, in his possession, and in various places bear the impress of his hand, while correcting the numerous errors of his translator. The first note we have observed, was at the foot of the preceding anecdote, where the author has modestly written, “that the story is in truth not quite so brilliant.” We are, however, inclined to believe it is, in the main, correct, and that the achievement is rendered still more glorious from the doubt which at first sight his own words would seem to convey. To continue our quotation :

“Various orders were conferred upon him as a reward for his numerous and brilliant services, together with the rank of colonel. At a later period, he raised a regiment of Chasseurs, and commanded at Bruges as civil and military governor. Peace having now spread her halcyon wings over Europe, the prince returned to the enjoyments of a private life, and visited England, at that time the great focus of attraction to all the continental nations. On his return from England, he amused himself by occasionally visiting Dresden and Berlin; and still retaining his early attachment for spirited adventure, he availed himself of an opportunity afforded in 1817 of ascending from the latter city in a balloon with the aeronaut Reichard. This event imparted to him additional celebrity. He was created a prince in 1822. Public opinion has assigned Puckler Muskaw a high station in a domain of an entirely different description, namely, in the kingdom of literature. His name has been placed by the award of criticism among the most talented of his countrymen.”

Such is the character of this prince, as given by the translator of his “Tutti Frutti.” We have noticed the reception at this island, of a Grecian, French, Austrian, Bavarian, and Turkish prince: yet we found in every instance a guard of honor ready to receive them as they landed, brigade reviews at Florian, made for their amusement, and dinners and balls given at the palace by the governor, as a mark of distinction. Why, we are induced to ask, were all these ceremonies abolished in the solitary instance of Puckler Muskaw ? Was it because he was the known author of “A Tour of a German Prince,” in which he had written things which did not suit the palate of Englishmen ? Was it because he had, while speaking of the honesty of a man, who, on the continent, had found his pocket-book containing all his money and brought it to him unopened, remarked, “that in England he should hardly have had the good fortune to find his pocket-book again, even if a gentleman had found it, he would have probably let it lie in peace, or kept it?” Was it because he had called his horses Englishmen, and spoke of driving them as he would his animals ? Or, lastly, was it for the reason given by a spirited Englishman, a captain of a man-of-war, who being asked if he was going to invite the prince on board, remarked with an oath, that he would be shot before he would permit any man to come on board his ship who had said there was not a gentleman in England? The prince, during his residence of six weeks in Valetta, mingled but little in society, and was as eccentric in his conduct as singular in his daily customs : returning from the opera at midnight, he would call for his dinner ; at six in the morning his tea; after which he immediately retired and slept till one or two in the afternoon, and at five was seated with his secretary at what he termed his breakfast. His acts of charity were numerous, and hardly could he venture from his apartments in Strada Reale without being surrounded with beggars; this, which to most travellers would have been a great nuisance, was to him a chief source of amusement. Having formed a friendship for Madam G, , who is the Madam de Stael of Malta, he was doubtless given much information, which, if it should ever find light, would not a little amuse the public, and give a currency to his pages in Valetta. An anecdote was told me of the prince’s conduct at Tunis, which evinced a most trifling feeling: coming from the best source, it must be credited. For centuries the consuls in Barbary have been considered by the pashas as the lords of the land ; and on a stranger’s arriving in a regency, whether he be a prince or beggar, he is considered by the Turkish ruler as subject to him who has the flag of his country waving over his dwelling. It chanced that a consul gave a grand dinner to one of his friends, and the prince received an invitation to attend, which he accepted. After the party was assembled and dinner announced, the one for whom the entertainment was made was asked by the consul to hand his wife to dinner. This trifling circumstance so mortified his highness, that all the time he was at the table he spoke to no one, and answered the questions he was asked only in monosyllables: when the dinner was finished, he immediately retired. This slight, as he fancied it, the prince never forgave; and on his leaving Tunis, he observed he could not cull to take leave of one who had intentionally shown him such an indignity. Perhaps his highness, had he gone from this to Barbary, would not have been so scrupulous as to the attentions which he had required on his first visit should be paid to his rank.

On his leaving Malta, the prince was accompanied to the Marina by his secretary, the porters who carried his baggage, a crowd of beggars to whom he was accustomed to give alms, and a few police sergeants, who, knowing he was a “principe,” followed more as a matter of curiosity than in observance of their duty. It unfortunately happened that one of the trunks containing his notes was dropped overboard, at the moment of his embarkation, and lost. The prince engaged his passage in one of his majesty’s steamers for the Ionian islands, and on his hearing of the accident, remarked, that he had not known, in all his travels for the last five and twenty years, of a similar instance of inattention and inexcusable carelessness;, turning to his secretary, he significantly observed, “though the originals are lost the duplicates are left.”

Before we close, we will briefly notice Puckler Muskaw’s “Tutti Frutli,” a work which, on its first appearance in London, was much sought after, and rapidly passed through several editions. To translate a work into one’s own language correctly, will at all times be found no easy task, but for an Englishman to translate from the German, with its numerous idioms, and to express, in his native tongue, the many beauties which may be conveyed in that language alone, is impossible. We will not condemn Mr. Spencer for his translation of the “Tulti Frutti,” nor Mrs. Austin for her’s, of “The Tour of a German Prince.” The literary world is indebted to them for their labors, and for the amusement which their works have afforded ; yet the prince, who is certainly the best judge of his own writing, was any thing but satisfied with the manner in which the same were performed, and, at the close of both translations, has written with his own hand,

“Select a tree, tear it out of its native soil, strip it of its leaves and blossoms, and then plant it again in a neighbor’s garden: doing this you will have performed a translation quite similar to the one before you.

“The unfortunate author of the German Tutti Frutti.’

But, to continue, the prince has written of the “Wanderer’s Return,” which occupies the first fifty pages of the first volume, “That it has become nonsense by wrong translation, as, unfortunately, a great part of the whole book.” In poetry, also, it would appear, Mr. Spencer was not more fortunate ; for, on the same page where occur the following lines,

“Long time I’ve reigned o’er mice and rats ;
For lawyers I’ve employed the cats,
Who never cease to snarl and bite
From night till morn, from morn till night.

One remedy alone I give,
Which, like all doctors draughts and pills,
Soon bid the small deer cease to live,
For poison quickly cures or kills.”

the author has written “a horrible translation.” In the second chapter, the subject of which is a visit to the establishment of Hernhutters, and which commences with the following quotation of Pope,

“For modes of faith, let graceless zealots fight;
His can’t be wrong whose life is in the right;”

the corrections are most numerous, and the interpolations not at all unfrequent. In the narration of this visit, the author has made mention of his lady-love of England. Celebrated as the prince has long been for his amours, his description may afford some amusement; if for nothing else it will show his taste:

“Her person is pleasing, and she has entered into that peculiar age of conquest which commences there about the age of forty. We have been for many years the most attached friends; and she is, in my opinion, by her talented mind, and kind, benevolent disposition, independently of her external graces, superior to hundreds of her younger cotemporaries ; but above all, she has always evinced towards me the most unchanging affection, which no wealth can purchase, in a word, it is my Julie. Notwithstanding her moral excellence, she has, fortunately for me, some amiable weaknesses, as nothing is more tiresome than perfection. There is, also, another being, besides myself, who possesses a large share of her affections, an enfante gâté, named Fancy, a being as whimsical as he is graceful, and who is occasionally somewhat formidable ; at least when he is visited by a fit of ill humor. This young English gentleman, or, more correctly speaking, nobleman, is a true sprig of the noble Marlborough race at Blenheim, at the hall door of which palace I purchased him, as the slave trade in spaniels was then permitted, though it is impossible to say whether this will always be the case. I then little dreamed what a serpent I was nourishing in my bosom with the tenderness of a nurse. I reared the helpless baby to become, oh misery ! in later days, my successful rival in the good graces of the fair Julie. What ingratitude, after I had carefully transported him over the broad seas, in a mixed society of Englishmen, apes, parrots and islanders, all of which I offered with deep reverence at the feet of the queen of my affections.”

It will not appear surprising, after the perusal of the above extract, that the English should have felt themselves insulted at the sarcastic language of the author; possessing, as they do, no small share of self-esteem, they could not but doubly feel the sarcasms conveyed in the works of a foreign prince. “For him to have said that the gentlemen of England would retain a lost pocket-book, if they found the owner, to have him compare our nobility with spaniels, to nick-name his horses Englishmen, because they had short tails, to class the travellers of our nation with apes and parrots, and to speak of them as coming from the land of fogs, are sufficiently good reasons,” in my opinion, observed captain D., “for the prince not only to be slighted, but even insulted by the high spirited Englishmen, in whatever country he may chance to find him.” This officer was not alone in his opinion, as I had an opportunity of witnessing some few evenings after, at the opera. One of the few who paid Puckler Muskaw any attention during his residence at Malta, was lady B-, whose daughter was engaged to the flag-captain of the fleet. On the prince’s entering the box, the captain would not recognise him, and remained seated for three quarters of an hour, until the act was finished, when he retired without a salutation, leaving his highness, who bad been all the time standing with cap in hand, to take his empty seat. It was said that captain M- was justified in his conduct by the manner in which his relatives had been mentioned in the noble author’s tour. Puckler Muskaw, it would appear, while at Valetta, had an aversion to the society around him: when in it he felt uneasy; when by any chance he could avoid it, he would.

But, to continue our notice of the Tutti Frutti, the next chapter which comes under our observation, is pleasingly entitled “The Album of an Active Mind,” well written, and containing many capital anecdotes. In this, as in others, the criticisms of the author, have been given with an unsparing hand; on every page will be found some such remark as the following: “A horrible translation;” “this is rendered unintelligible by the ignorance of the translator ;” “in this place many lines are wanting,” &c &c. It might, however, have been well for the prince, while criticising the work of Mr. Spencer, in such unmeasured terms, to have written his criticisms in his native language: the sentences which he has left on record are full of grammatical errors, and many of the words are so badly spelt, that the English reader will require no little study to decipher them, and be enabled to understand what ideas in writing the author would wish to convey. We take another extract, which is evidently intended as a hit against the English, and which these people might say was not inapplicable to their “transatlantic brethren.” “During the time I was in England, I met with a little boy, the well known Thellusson, of whom I was informed, that he would one day be in the possession of from ten to twenty millions of pounds sterling. Happy mortal! what an enviable privilege to be the heir of such immense wealth. Nothing is more ludicrous or more evidences a contracted mind, than the exclamation I so frequently heard, how could I employ such an enormous fortune? Oh ye men of limited and confined intellect, if I had been destined by Heaven to be so highly favored, how quickly I should form and execute my plans for expending, aye, even the capital itself: it is only with such fortunes human nature can be benefitted.”

The author here sarcastically observes, he would not squander it in luxury, for that is a common, an everyday practise. He would not expend it in the erection of schools, as he should leave them to the state;, indulging in his tory creed, he continues, they are already too numerous, and those who go to them receive more nourishment than they can well digest. He would not appropriate his wealth for the building of churches, as they are, in his opinion, sufficiently numerous, and the multiplication of them appeared to him about as useful to religion as the fourth gale built by the Schildaers for the purpose of augmenting their customhouse dues. He would not employ it in the conversion of the heathen, as he considered it an useless undertaking. The prince here has humorously given his readers to understand in what manner he would have expended this property, had it been his good fortune to have possessed it. In his own words, he says,, the first would be that he would cause to be carved a statue of Napoleon, out of one of the highest anguilles of Mont Blanc, an immortal monument to his gigantic mind. Further, he would despatch two expeditions, the first to Africa, to seek in every direction of the compass for the source of the Nile, and the gold mines in the mountains of the moon; to ascertain the existence of the fabulous unicorn, and also to procure for his aviary a specimen of the bird Roc. It is possible, he continues, that with this expedition he might send a company of missionaries, and a half a million of bibles ; he would then make a conquest of Japan, if it were only to evince his contempt for those tasteless barbarians who will only permit the Dutch to visit them. The last few miserable millions, he would employ in digging a pit a mile deep, in the national sands of his country, and when the last dollar was expended, he would throw himself in, it would at least be so deep that the voice of the critic would be unheard., In closing this notice of the “Trutti Frutli,” which has extended to a much greater length than we had originally intended, we would only mention the articles entitled the “Congress at Aix la Chapelle,”in which will be found a good description of Prince Metternich, the Talleyrand of Austria, and that of the “Bear Hunt;” at the close of which, the author has penned the following note : “The translation of this bear hunt is the only part of the book resembling the original; perhaps it is because it is the most insignificant.” We regret that the prince should have been so much displeased with the manner in which the translator performed his task, but, as they are, we can safely recommend these volumes to the attention of every reader. Malta, July 2d, 1838. A.

From: Southern literary messenger, Band 5 (1839)