Even at that time Metternich attracted attention for his elegant manners and lively wit,—­a born courtier, a favorite in high society, and so prominent for his intelligence and accomplishments that he was sent to London as an attache to the Netherlands embassy, where it seems that he became acquainted with the leading statesmen of England.  There must have been something remarkable about him to draw, at the age of twenty, the attention of such men as Burke, Pitt, Fox, and Sheridan.  What interested him most in England were the sittings of the English Parliament and the trial of Warren Hastings.  At the early age of twenty-one he was appointed minister to the Hague, but was prevented going to his post by the war, and retired to Vienna, which he now saw for the first time.  Soon after, he married a daughter of Prince Kaunitz, eldest son of the great chancellor who under three reigns had controlled the foreign policy of the empire.  He thus entered the circle of the highest nobility of Austria,—­the proudest and most exclusive on the face of the whole earth.

At first the young count—­living with his bride at the house of her father, and occupying the highest social position, with wealth and ease and every luxury at command, fond equally of books, of music, and of art, but still fonder of the distinguished society of Vienna, and above all, enamored of the charms of his beautiful and brilliant wife—­wished to spend his life in elegant leisure.  But his remarkable talents and accomplishments were already too well known for the emperor to allow him to remain in his splendid retirement, especially when the empire was beset with dangers of the most critical kind.  His services were required by the State, and he was sent as ambassador to Dresden, after the peace of Luneville, 1801, when his diplomatic career in reality began.

Dresden, where were congregated at this time some of the ablest diplomatists of Europe, was not only an important post of observation for watching the movements of Napoleon, but it was itself a capital of great attractions, both for its works of art and for its society.  Here Count Metternich resided for two years, learning much of politics, of art, and letters,—­the most accomplished gentleman among all the distinguished people that he met; not as yet a man of power, but a man of influence, sending home to Count Stadion, minister of foreign affairs, reports and letters of great ability, displaying a sagacity and tact marvellous for a man of twenty-eight.

Napoleon was then engaged in making great preparations for a war with Austria, and it was important for Austria to secure the alliance of Prussia, her great rival, with whom she had never been on truly friendly terms, since both aimed at ascendency in Germany.  Frederick William III. was then on the throne of Prussia, having two great men among his ministers,—­Von Stein and Hardenberg; the former at the head of financial affairs, and the latter at the head of the foreign bureau.  To the more important post of Berlin, Metternich was therefore sent.  He found great difficulty in managing the Prussian king, whose jealousy of Austria balanced his hatred of Napoleon, and who therefore stood aloof and inactive, indisposed for war, in strict alliance with Russia, who also wanted peace.