HISTORY
OF
FREDERICK THE GREAT.
[Illustration: FREDERICK THE GREAT. ÆT. 73.]
HISTORY
OF
FREDERICK THE SECOND,
CALLED
FREDERICK THE GREAT.
By JOHN S. C. ABBOTT,
AUTHOR OF “THE HISTORY OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE,” “THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION,” “NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA,” ETC.
_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS._
[Illustration]
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANKLIN SQUARE.
1871.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by
HARPER & BROTHERS,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
PREFACE.
It is not surprising that many persons, not familiar with the wild
and wondrous events of the past, should judge that many of the honest
narratives of history must be fictions--mere romances. But it is
difficult for the imagination to invent scenes more wonderful than can
be found in the annals of by-gone days. The novelist who should create
such a character as that of Frederick William, or such a career as that
of Frederick the Great, would be deemed guilty of great exaggeration,
and yet the facts contained in this volume are beyond all contradiction.
Mr. Carlyle has written the Life of Frederick the Great in six closely
printed volumes of over five hundred pages each. It is a work of much
ability and accuracy. There are, however, but few persons, in this
busy age, who can find time to read three thousand pages of fine type,
descriptive of events, many of which have lost their interest, and
have ceased to possess any practical value. Still, the student who has
leisure to peruse these voluminous annals of all the prominent actors
in Europe during the reign of Frederick and of his half-insane father,
will find a rich treat in the wonderfully graphic and accurate pages of
Carlyle.
This volume is intended to give a clear and correct idea of the man--of
his public and private character, and of his career. It would be
difficult to find, in the whole range of English literature, a theme
more full of the elements of entertainment and instruction.
The reader of these pages will be oppressed with the consciousness of
how vast a proportion of the miseries of humanity is caused by the
cruelty of man to his brother man. This globe might be a very happy
home for those who dwell upon it. But its history, during the last six
thousand years, has presented one of the most appalling tragedies of
which the imagination can conceive. Among all the renowned warriors of
the past, but few can be found who have contributed more to fill the
world with desolated homes, with the moans of the dying, with the cry
of the widow and the orphan, than Frederick the Great; but he laid the
foundations of an empire which is at this moment the most potent upon
the globe.
CONTENTS.
Page
CHAPTER I.
PARENTAGE OF FREDERICK THE GREAT.
Origin of the Prussian Monarchy.--The Duchies of Brandenburg and
Prussia.--The Elector crowned King Frederick I.--Frederick
William.--His Childhood, Youth, and Marriage.--Birth of Fritz.--
Death of Frederick I.--Eccentric Character of Frederick William.--
His defective Education.--His Energy.--Curious Anecdotes.--
Hatred of the French.--Education of Fritz.--The Father’s Plan of
Instruction 17
CHAPTER II.
LIFE IN THE PALACE.
The Palace of Wusterhausen.--Wilhelmina and Fritz.--Education of
the Crown Prince.--Rising Dislike of the Father for his Son.--The
Mother’s Sympathy.--The double Marriage.--Character of George I.--
The King of England visits Berlin.--Wilhelmina’s Account of the
Interview.--Sad Fate of the Wife of George I.--The Giant Guard.--
Despotism of Frederick William.--The Tobacco Parliament.--A
brutal Scene.--Death of George I.--The Royal Family of Prussia.--
Augustus, King of Poland.--Corruption of his Court.--Cruel
Treatment of Fritz.--Insane Conduct of the King 36
CHAPTER III.
THE SUFFERINGS OF FRITZ AND WILHELMINA.
The King an Artist.--Cruel Exactions of the King.--Conflicts of
Etiquette.--Quarrel with George II.--Nuptial Intrigues.--Energetic
Action of Frederick William.--Marriage of Frederica Louisa.--Fritz
and his Flute.--Wrath of the King.--Beats Wilhelmina and Fritz.--
Attempts to strangle Fritz.--The Hunt at Wusterhausen.--Intrigues
in reference to the Double Marriage.--Anguish of Wilhelmina.--
Cruelty of her Mother.--Resolve of Fritz to escape to England 58
CHAPTER IV.
THE ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE.
Objections to the British Alliance.--Obstinacy of the King.--
Wilhelmina’s Journal.--Policy of Frederick William and of George
II.--Letter from Fritz.--The Camp of Mühlberg.--The Plan of
Escape.--The Flight arrested.--Ungovernable Rage of the King.--
Endeavors to kill his Son.--Arrest and Imprisonment of Fritz.--
Terror of his Mother and Sister.--Wilhelmina imprisoned 80
CHAPTER V.
IMPRISONMENT OF FRITZ AND WILHELMINA.
Spirited Conduct of Fritz.--Fortress of Cüstrin.--Prison Fare.--
Wilhelmina’s Captivity.--Sad Fate of Doris Ritter.--Motives of
the King.--Doom of Lieutenant Katte.--Pathetic Supplications.--
The Execution.--Peril of Fritz.--Theology of the King.--Letter
from Fritz.--Sufferings of Wilhelmina.--Brutality of the King.--
Wilhelmina brought to Terms 100
CHAPTER VI.
THE MARRIAGE OF WILHELMINA.
Wilhelmina’s Letter to her Mother.--Cruel Response.--The Court
Festival.--First Interview with the Prince of Baireuth.--His
Character and Appearance.--Interview between the King and Fritz.--
The Partial Reconciliation.--Divine Decrees.--The King’s Sense
of Justice.--The King’s Discipline of the Judges.--Character of
Fritz.--Wilhelmina’s Annoyances.--Her Marriage.--Interview between
Wilhelmina and Fritz.--The Departure 118
CHAPTER VII.
THE MARRIAGE OF THE CROWN PRINCE.
Matrimonial Intrigues.--Letters from the King to his Son.--Letter
from Fritz to Grumkow.--Letter to Wilhelmina.--The Betrothal.--
Character of Elizabeth.--Her cruel Reception by the Prussian
Queen.--Letter from Fritz to Wilhelmina.--Disappointment and
Anguish of Elizabeth.--Studious Habits of Fritz.--Continued
Alienation of his Father.--The Marriage.--Life in the Castle at
Reinsberg 136
CHAPTER VIII.
DEVELOPMENTS OF CHARACTER.
The Castle at Reinsberg.--Slender Purses of Fritz and Wilhelmina.--
Liberality of Fritz.--The Ball at Monbijou.--Adventures of Fritz
and Wilhelmina.--Letters.--The Interview.--Anecdote of the King.--
Wilhelmina’s Account of her Brother.--Mental and Physical Maladies
of the King.--Frederick’s cruel Neglect of his Wife.--Daily Habits
of the young Prince.--The shameful Carousal 152
CHAPTER IX.
THE DEATH OF FREDERICK WILLIAM.
Voltaire and Madame Du Châtelet.--Letter from Frederick to Voltaire.--
The Reply.--Visit to the Prince of Orange.--Correspondence.--The
Crown Prince becomes a Mason.--Interesting Letter from the Crown
Prince.--Petulance and declining Health of the King.--Scenes in the
Death-chamber.--Characteristic Anecdotes.--The Dying Scene 172
CHAPTER X.
THE ACCESSION OF FREDERICK THE SECOND.
Establishment of the Berlin Academy of Sciences.--Religious
Toleration.--A Free Press.--Sternness of the young King.--Domestic
Habits of the King.--Provision for the Queen-mother.--Absolutism of
the King.--Journey to Strasbourg.--First Interview with Voltaire
191
CHAPTER XI.
DIPLOMATIC INTRIGUES.
The Herstal Affair.--The Summons.--Voltaire’s Manifesto.--George II.
visits Hanover.--The Visit of Wilhelmina to Berlin.--Unpopularity
of the King.--Death of the Emperor Charles VI. 206
CHAPTER XII.
THE INVASION OF SILESIA.
Deceptive Measures of Frederick.--Plans for the Invasion of Silesia.--
Avowed Reasons for the Invasion.--The Ball in Berlin.--The March of
the Army.--Hardships and Successes.--Letter to Voltaire.--Capture
of Glogau.--Capture of Brieg.--Bombardment of Neisse 218
CHAPTER XIII.
THE CAMPAIGN OF MOLLWITZ.
Embarrassments of Frederick.--Attempts a Compromise.--New Invasion
of Silesia.--Intrigues for the Imperial Crown.--Rivalry between
England and France.--Death of Anne of Russia.--Energy of
Austria.--Narrow Escape of Frederick.--Frederick’s Antipathy to
Christianity.--Capture of Glogau.--Peril of Frederick.--The Siege
of Neisse 237
CHAPTER XIV.
THE DEFEAT AND FLIGHT OF FREDERICK.
Preparing for the Battle.--The Surprise.--The Snow-encumbered
Plain.--Horror of the Scene.--Flight of Frederick.--His Shame
and Despair.--Unexpected Victory of the Prussians.--Letters of
Frederick.--Adventures of Maupertuis 254
CHAPTER XV.
THE WAR IN SILESIA.
The Encampment at Brieg.--Bombardment.--Diplomatic Intrigues.--
Luxury of the Spanish Minister.--Rising Greatness of Frederick.--
Frederick’s Interview with Lord Hyndford.--Plans of France.--
Desperate Prospects of Maria Theresa.--Anecdote of Frederick.--
Joint Action of England and Holland.--Heroic Character of Maria
Theresa.--Coronation of the Queen of Hungary 265
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CONQUEST OF SILESIA.
An extraordinary Interview.--Carlyle’s Sympathy.--Trifling Demeanor
of Frederick.--Conspiracy in Breslau.--Guile of Frederick.--The
successful Stratagem.--Crossing the Neisse.--The Co-operation of
France.--Anguish of Maria Theresa.--Inflexible Will of Frederick.--
Duplicity of the King.--The Surrender of Neisse 275
CHAPTER XVII.
THE CAMPAIGN OF MORAVIA.
Frederick’s Motives for the War.--Marriage of William Augustus.--
Testimony of Lord Macaulay.--Frederick and his Allies.--Visit to
Dresden.--Military Energy.--Charles Albert chosen Emperor.--The
Coronation.--Effeminacy of the Saxon Princes.--Disappointment and
Vexation of Frederick.--He withdraws in Chagrin.--The Cantonment on
the Elbe.--Winter Campaigning.--The Concentration at Chrudim 295
CHAPTER XVIII.
FREDERICK TRIUMPHANT.
The Battle of Chotusitz.--Letter to Jordan.--Results of the
Battle.--Secret Negotiations.--The Treaty of Breslau.--Entrance
into Frankfort.--Treachery of Louis XV.--Results of the Silesian
Campaigns.--Panegyrics of Voltaire.--Imperial Character of Maria
Theresa.--Her Grief over the Loss of Silesia.--Anecdote of Senora
Barbarina.--Duplicity of both Frederick and Voltaire.--Gayety in
Berlin.--Straitened Circumstances.--Unamiability of Frederick 309
CHAPTER XIX.
THE INVASION OF BOHEMIA.
Correspondence between Frederick and Voltaire.--Voltaire’s Visit to
Frederick.--Domestic Habits of the King.--Unavailing Diplomacy
of Voltaire.--The New Alliance.--The Renewal of War.--The Siege
of Prague.--The Advance upon Vienna.--Darkening Prospects.--The
Pandours.--Divisions in Council.--Sickness of Louis XV.--Energy of
Frederick.--Distress of the Army 326
CHAPTER XX.
THE RETREAT.
The Retreat ordered.--Awful Suffering.--Narrow Escape of the King.--
The Flight from Prague.--Military Mistakes of the King.--Frederick
returns to Berlin.--His wonderful administrative Ability.--Poland
joins Austria.--The Austrians enter Silesia.--Unreasonable Demands
of Frederick.--Humiliation of the King.--Prince Charles and his
Bride.--Character of Leopold.--Death of the Emperor.--Bavaria
turns against Frederick.--Anecdotes of Prince Leopold.--Peril of
Frederick.--Battle of Hohenfriedberg.--Signal Victory of Frederick
335
CHAPTER XXI.
BATTLES AND VICTORIES.
Battle of Hohenfriedberg.--Religious Antagonism.--Anecdote of the
King.--Retreat of the Austrians.--Horrors of War.--“A slight
Pleasantry.”--Sufferings of the Prussian Army.--The Victory of
Fontenoy.--Frederick’s Pecuniary Embarrassments.--Executive
Abilities of Maria Theresa.--Inflexibility of the Austrian Queen.--
The Retreat to Silesia.--The Surprise at Sohr.--Military Genius of
Frederick.--Great Victory of Sohr 352
CHAPTER XXII.
THE PEACE OF DRESDEN.
Sufferings of the Peasantry.--Renown and Peril of Frederick.--New
Plan of Maria Theresa.--Despondency of Frederick.--Surprise and
Rout of the Austrians.--The “Old Dessauer” enters Saxony.--Battle
of Kesseldorf.--Singular Prayer of the Old Dessauer.--Signal
Victory of the Prussians.--Elation of Frederick.--The Peace of
Dresden.--Death of M. Duhan 364
CHAPTER XXIII.
FREDERICK THE GREAT AT SANS SOUCI.
Days of Peace and Prosperity.--The Palace of Sans Souci.--Letter
from Marshal Keith.--Domestic Habits of the King.--Frederick’s
Snuff-boxes.--Anecdotes.--Severe Discipline of the Army.--
Testimony of Baron Trenck.--The Review.--Death of the “Divine
Emilie.”--The King’s Revenge.--Anecdote of the Poor Schoolmaster.--
The Berlin Carousal.--Appearance of his Majesty.--Honors conferred
upon Voltaire 375
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE QUARREL.
Voltaire and the Jew.--Letter from Frederick to D’Arget.--
Letter to Wilhelmina.--Caustic Letters to Voltaire.--Partial
Reconciliation.--Frederick’s brilliant Conversational Powers.--
His Neglect of his Wife.--All Females excluded from his Court.--
Maupertuis and the Academy.--Voltaire’s Malignity.--Frederick’s
Anger.--Correspondence between Voltaire and Maupertuis.--Menaces of
War.--Catt and the King 387
CHAPTER XXV.
COMMENCEMENT OF THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR.
Secret Preparations for a Coalition.--Frederick’s Embarrassments.--
The uncertain Support of England.--Causes of the War.--Commencement
of Hostilities.--Letter from Frederick to his Sister Amelia.--
Letter to his Brother.--The Invasion of Saxony.--Misfortunes of the
Royal Family of Poland.--Battle of Lobositz.--Energetic Military
Movements.--Prisoners of War compelled to enlist in the Prussian
Service.--Dispatches from Frederick.--Battle of Prague.--Battle of
Kolin.--Retreat of Frederick.--Death of Sophia Dorothea 402
CHAPTER XXVI.
DEFEATS AND PERILS.
Grief of the King over his Mother’s Death.--Interesting Letters.--
Forces in the Field.--The March upon Dresden.--Devotion of
Wilhelmina.--Atheism of the King.--Wilhelmina to Voltaire.--
Despair of Frederick.--Great Victory of Rossbach.--Description of
the Battle.--Utter Rout of the Allies.--Elation of Frederick.--His
Poem on the Occasion.--Ravages of War 418
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE LEUTHEN CAMPAIGN.
Results of the Battle of Rossbach.--The Attack upon Breslau.--
Extraordinary Address of the King to his Troops.--Confidence of the
Prussians in their Commander.--Magnificent Array of the Austrians
at Leuthen.--Tactics of Frederick.--The Battle Hymn.--The Battle
and the Victory.--Scenes after the Battle.--Recapture of Breslau by
Frederick 434
CHAPTER XXVIII.
DOMESTIC GRIEFS AND MILITARY REVERSES.
Destruction of the Army of Prince Charles.--Dismay in Vienna.--
Testimony of Napoleon I.--Of Voltaire.--Wretchedness of the King.--
Compromise rejected.--New Preparations for War.--Treaty between
England and Prussia.--Plan of the Campaign.--Siege of Olmütz.--
Death of Prince Augustus William.--The Baggage Train.--The
irreparable Disaster.--Anxiety of Frederick for Wilhelmina.--The
March against the Russians.--The Battle of Zorndorf.--Anecdotes of
Frederick 445
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE THIRD CAMPAIGN OF THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR.
Frederick’s Attempt to Rescue his Brother.--Captured Dispatches.--
Battle of Hochkirch.--Defeat and Retreat of Frederick.--Death of
Wilhelmina.--Letter to Voltaire.--Rejoicings at Vienna.--The Siege
of Neisse.--The Siege of Dresden.--Conflagrations and Terror.--
The Siege raised by Frederick.--Results of the Third Campaign.--
Unavailing Efforts for Peace.--Despair of Frederick 463
CHAPTER XXX.
FOURTH CAMPAIGN OF THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR.
Desperate Exertions of Frederick.--Aid from England.--Limited
Resources.--Opening of the Campaign.--Disgraceful Conduct of
Voltaire.--Letter to Voltaire.--An Act of Desperation.--Letter to
Count Finckenstein.--Frankfort taken by the Prussians.--Terrible
Battle of Kunersdorf.--Anguish of Frederick.--The Disastrous
Retreat.--Melancholy Dispatch.--Contemplating Suicide.--Collecting
the Wrecks of the Army.--Consternation in Berlin.--Letters to
D’Argens.--Wonderful Strategical Skill.--Literary Efforts of the
King 475
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUED.
Winter Encampment.--Death of Maupertuis.--Infamous Conduct of
Voltaire.--Reproof by the King.--Voltaire’s Insincerity.--
Correspondence.--The King publishes his Poems.--Dishonorable
Conduct of the King.--New Encampment near Dresden.--Destruction
of Frederick’s Army in Silesia.--Atrocities perpetrated by the
Austrians.--Astonishing March.--The Austrians outwitted.--Dresden
bombarded and almost destroyed by Frederick.--Battle of Liegnitz.--
Utter Rout of the Austrians.--Undiminished Peril of Frederick.--
Letter to D’Argens 495
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE END OF THE FIFTH CAMPAIGN.
Incessant Marches and Battles.--Letter from Frederick to D’Argens.--
Letter to his Brother Henry.--Berlin summoned to Surrender.--
Sacking of the City.--Letter to D’Argens.--Desperate Resolves of
Frederick.--The Resort of Suicide.--Remarkable Address of Frederick
to his Generals.--Bloody Battle of Torgau.--Dismal Night-scene.--
Familiarity of the King with the Soldiers.--Winter Quarters at
Freiberg.--Singular Letter to the Countess of Camas.--Death of the
Princess Amelia.--Anecdotes of the King.--His domestic Habits.--
His unscrupulous Measures to obtain Men and Money.--Letter of
Charlotte of Mecklenburg 507
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE END OF THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR.
Commencement of the Sixth Campaign.--The Fortified Camp at
Bunzelwitz.--Skillful Engineering.--Unintermitted Toil of the
Soldiers.--Retreat of the Russians.--Loss of Schweidnitz.--
Peculiar Treatment of General Zastrow.--Close of the Sixth
Campaign.--The King at Breslau.--Desponding Letter to D’Argens.--
Death of Elizabeth of Russia.--Accession of Peter III.--His
Marriage with the Daughter of a Prussian General.--Takes the
Baptismal Name of Catharine.--Assassination of Peter III.--
Curious Proclamation by the Empress.--Commencement of the Seventh
Campaign.--Alliance of Russia with Prussia.--Withdrawal from the
Alliance.--Termination of the War 522
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE PARTITION OF POLAND.
The King patronizes literary and scientific Men.--Anecdotes.--
The Family Quarrel.--Birth of Frederick William III.--Rapid
Recuperation of Prussia.--The King’s Tour of Observation.--Desolate
Aspect of the Country.--Absolutism of Frederick.--Interview between
Frederick and D’Alembert.--Unpopularity of Frederick.--Death of the
King of Poland.--Plans for the Partition of Poland.--Intrigues of
Catharine.--Interview between Frederick and the Emperor Joseph.--
Poland seized by Russia, Prussia, and Austria.--The Division of the
Spoil.--Remorse of Maria Theresa.--Indifference of Frederick to
public Opinion 536
CHAPTER XXXV.
LIFE’S CLOSING SCENES.
Character of the Crown Prince.--Stratagem of the Emperor Joseph
II.--Death of the Empress Catharine of Russia.--Matrimonial
Alliance of Russia and Prussia.--Death of the King of Bavaria.--
Attempt to Annex Bavaria to Austria.--Unexpected Energy of
Frederick.--Court Intrigues.--Preparations for War.--Address to
the Troops.--Declaration of War.--Terror in Vienna.--Irritability
of Frederick.--Death of Voltaire.--Unjust Condemnation of the
Judges.--Death of Maria Theresa.--Anecdote.--The King’s Fondness
for Children.--His Fault-finding Spirit.--The King’s Appearance.--
The Last Review.--Statement of Mirabeau.--Anecdote related by Dr.
Moore.--Frederick’s Fondness for Dogs.--Increasing Weakness.--
Unchanging Obduracy toward the Queen.--The Dying Scene 550
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Frederick the Great. Æt. 73 _Frontispiece._
Page
Frederick the Great 19
Baptism of Frederick 22
Frederick William 23
The little Drummer 29
The Arsenal 31
The Sausage Car 33
Making a Soldier of him 39
Captain of the Giant Guards 43
The Tobacco Parliament 46
Royalty at Dinner 57
Wilhelmina 62
The Dressing-gown 68
A Royal Executioner 71
Frederick and his Sister 79
The Flight arrested 90
Frederick William enraged 94
Destroying the Letters 96
Wilhelmina Imprisoned 99
Frederick in Prison 102
Doris Ritter’s Punishment 104
Frederick at Katte’s Execution 108
Grumkow’s conference with Wilhelmina 116
Disciplining the Judges 126
Berlin Palace 129
The Reconciliation 133
The Betrothal 143
Frederick and Wilhelmina 159
The King and his Servant 162
Fritz in his Library 165
The Banquet 170
The Crown Prince entering the Tobacco Parliament 182
Frederick meeting his Ministers 190
Frederick in the Garden 196
Frederick’s first Interview with Voltaire 204
The Death-scene of the Emperor 215
Map of Silesia 217
The March into Silesia 224
Attack upon Neisse 235
Frederick on the Field of Baumgarten 241
The Assault on Glogau 246
Map illustrating the Mollwitz Campaign 247
The Night before Mollwitz 251
Flight of Frederick 257
Frederick at the Mill 260
Battle of Mollwitz 261
Frederick’s Interview with Valori 272
Frederick and the British Ministers 276
The Queen’s Appeal to the Hungarian Nobles 289
The King approaching Schnellendorf 290
Map of the second Silesian Campaign 294
Frederick the Great. Æt. 30 296
The young Lords of Saxony on a winter Campaign 303
Map illustrating the Campaign in Moravia 306
Frederick concentrating his Army at Chrudim 308
Battle of Chotusitz 310
Maria Theresa at the head of her Army 317
The Pandours 332
The King in the Tower at Collin 337
Prince Leopold inspecting the Army in his “Cart.” 343
Battle of Hohenfriedberg, June 4, 1745 350
The Retreat of the Austrians 354
A slight Pleasantry 357
Frederick and the Old Dessauer 371
Frederick at the Death-bed of M. Duhan 374
Sans Souci 375
The new Palace at Potsdam 376
Frederick and Linsenbarth 382
Tournament at Berlin in honor of Frederick 386
The Invasion of Saxony 405
Battle of Lobositz, October 1, 1756 407
The Battle of Prague, May 6, 1757 412
Battle of Kolin, June 18, 1757 416
After the Defeat 417
Sophia Dorothea 419
Map of the Campaign of Rossbach 430
Battle of Rossbach, November 5, 1757 431
Map of the Leuthen Campaign 438
Battle of Leuthen, December 5, 1757 440
The King in search of Lodgings 444
Siege of Olmütz, May 12-July 2, 1758 450
Charge of General Seidlitz at Zorndorf 457
Battle of Zorndorf, August 25, 1758 459
Campaign of Hochkirch 464
Battle of Hochkirch, October 14, 1758 467
Frederick crossing the Oder 481
Battle of Kunersdorf, August 12, 1759 485
Frederick asleep in the hut at Oetscher 488
Battle of Maxen, November 20, 1759 494
The winter Camp 496
Battle of Liegnitz, August 16, 1760 505
Sacking the Palace 510
Battle of Torgau, November 3, 1760 512
The King’s Bivouac 525
The Empress Catharine 530
Assassination of Peter III. 531
The Officer and the Curate 535
Frederick the Great. Æt. 59 537
Map of the East 546
Condemnation of the Judges 558
Maria Theresa at the Tomb of her Husband 560
The last Review 564
Frederick and his Dogs 567
FREDERICK THE GREAT.
CHAPTER I
PARENTAGE OF FREDERICK THE GREAT.
Origin of the Prussian Monarchy.--The Duchies of Brandenburg and
Prussia.--The Elector crowned King Frederick I.--Frederick
William.--His Childhood, Youth, and Marriage.--Birth of Fritz.--
Death of Frederick I.--Eccentric Character of Frederick William.--
His defective Education.--His Energy.--Curious Anecdotes.--
Hatred of the French.--Education of Fritz.--The Father’s Plan of
Instruction.
On the southern coasts of the Baltic Sea, between the latitudes
of 52° and 54°, there lies a country which was first revealed to
civilized eyes about three hundred years before the birth of Christ.
The trading adventurers from Marseilles, who landed at various points
upon the coast, found it a cold, savage region of lakes, forests,
marshy jungles, and sandy wastes. A shaggy tribe peopled it, of
semi-barbarians, almost as wild as the bears, wolves, and swine
which roamed their forests. As the centuries rolled on, centuries of
which, in these remote regions, history takes no note, but in which
the gloomy generations came and went, shouting, fighting, weeping,
dying, gradually the aspect of a rude civilization spread over those
dreary solitudes. The savage inhabitants, somewhat tamed, increased in
numbers, and there appeared a tall and manly race of fair complexion,
light hair, stern aspect, great physical strength, and very formidable
in battle.
Still centuries elapsed, leaving little for history to record but war
and woe. Fierce tribes swept in all directions. Battle was life’s
great business. Man, ignorant, degraded, brutal, could have had but
few if any joys. Perhaps, through his degradation, his woes were only
such as beasts feel. By degrees, from this chaos, a certain kind of
governmental order emerged. Small tribes became united under powerful
chieftains. Kings arose. There were all varieties of political
organizations, dukedoms, principalities, marquisates, and electorates.
It is recorded that Adalbert, bishop of Prag, about the year 997,
with two companions, as apostles of Christianity, first penetrated
these wilds. Like Christian heroes they went, with staff and scrip,
regardless of danger. The bishop was fifty years of age, and his gray
hairs floated in the breeze. As he landed a stout savage struck him
with the flat of his oar, and sent him headlong to the ground.
The zealous bishop, perhaps not unwilling to secure the crown of
martyrdom, pressed on, preaching the Gospel, in face of prohibitions
and menaces, until he entered one of the sacred inclosures which was
a sanctuary of the idols of these heathen. The priests rushed upon
him, endeavored to drive him out, and struck him with a dagger in
the back of his neck. He uttered but one cry, “Jesus, receive me!”
and, stretching out his arms, fell with his face to the ground, and
lay dead there “in the form of a crucifix.” The place is yet pointed
out where Adalbert fell. Still the seeds of Christianity were sown.
Other missionaries followed. Idolatry disappeared, and the realm
became nominally Christian. Revealed religion introduced increased
enlightenment and culture, though there still remained much of the
savagery of ancient days.
When the Reformation in the sixteenth century was presented to Europe,
and was rejected by Italy, France, Austria, and Spain, it was accepted,
though not unanimously, yet very generally, by the inhabitants of this
wild region. In the year 1700 there was, in the midst of the realm
of which we are about to write, and which is now called Prussia, a
province then known as the Marquisate of Brandenburg. It embraced
a little over fifteen thousand square miles, being about twice as
large as the State of Massachusetts. It was one of the electorates
of Germany, and the elector or marquis, Frederick, belonged to the
renowned family of Hohenzollern. To the east of Brandenburg there was a
duchy called Prussia. This duchy, in some of the political agitations
of the times, had been transferred to the Marquis of Brandenburg. The
Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick, an ambitious man, rejoicing in the
extent of his domain, which was large for a marquisate, though small
for a monarchy, obtained from the Emperor of Germany its recognition
as a kingdom, and assumed the title of Frederick I. of Prussia. Many
of the proud monarchies of Europe did not conceal the contempt with
which they regarded this petty kingdom. They received the elector
into their society very much as haughty nobles, proud of a long line
of illustrious ancestry, would receive a successful merchant who had
purchased a title. Frederick himself was greatly elated with the honor
he had attained, and his subjects shared with him in his exultation.
[Illustration: FREDERICK THE GREAT.]
Berlin was the capital of Brandenburg. Königsberg, an important
sea-port on the Baltic, nearly five hundred miles east of Berlin, was
the capital of the Prussian duchy. The ceremony of coronation took
place at Königsberg. The road, for most of the distance, was through
a very wild, uncultivated country. Eighteen hundred carriages, with
thirty thousand post-horses, were provided to convey the court to the
scene of coronation. Such a cavalcade was never beheld in those parts
before. The carriages moved like an army, in three divisions of six
hundred each. Volumes have been written descriptive of the pageant. It
is said that the diamond buttons on the king’s coat cost seven thousand
five hundred dollars each. The streets were not only tapestried with
the richest cloth of the most gorgeous colors, but many of them were
softly carpeted for the feet of the high-born men and proud dames who
contributed, by their picturesque costume, to the brilliance of the
spectacle. Frederick, with his own hands, placed the crown upon his
brow. Thus was the kingdom of Prussia, ushered into being at the close
of the year 1700.
Frederick I. had a son, Frederick William, then twelve years of age.
He accompanied his father upon this coronation tour. As heir to the
throne he was called the Crown Prince. His mother was a Hanoverian
princess, a sister of the Elector George of Hanover, who subsequently
became George I. of England. George I. did not succeed to the British
crown until the death of Anne, in 1714. When Frederick William was but
five years of age he had been taken by his mother to Hanover, to visit
her brother, then the elector. George had two children--a little girl,
named Sophie Dorothee, a few months older than Frederick William, and
a son, who subsequently became George II. of England. The two boys did
not love each other. They often quarreled. Though Frederick William
was the younger, it is said that on one occasion he severely beat his
cousin, the future King of England, causing the blood to flow freely.
He developed a very energetic but unamiable character. Among other
anecdotes illustrative of his determined spirit, it is recorded that at
one time, during this visit, his governess ordered some task which he
was unwilling to perform. The headstrong boy sprang out of the third
story window of the castle, and, clinging to the sill with his hands,
threatened to let himself drop. The terrified Madame Montbail was thus
brought to terms.[1]
Sophie Dorothee was a very pretty child. The plan was probably already
contemplated by the parents that the two should be married in due
time. Soon after this Frederick William lost his mother, and with her
all of a mother’s care and gentle influences. Her place was taken by
a step-mother, whose peevishness and irritability soon developed into
maniacal insanity. When Frederick William was eighteen years of age he
was allowed to choose between three princesses for his wife. He took
his pretty cousin, Sophie Dorothee. They were married with great pomp
on the 28th of November, 1706.
A son was born and died. A daughter came, Wilhelmina. But a daughter
could not inherit the crown. Another son was born and died. There was
great anxiety at court, from fear that the direct line of succession
might not be preserved. But on the 24th of January, 1712, when the
monarchy was but twelve years old, the little prince was born who
subsequently obtained such renown as Frederick the Great. The king,
his grandfather, was aged and infirm. The excessive joy with which he
greeted little Fritz, as he fondly called the child, was cordially
reciprocated throughout the Prussian nation. The realm blazed with
bonfires and illuminations, and resounded with every demonstration of
public joy. The young prince was christened with great pomp, Charles
Frederick. The emperor, Charles VI., was present on the occasion,
and in the solemnities there were blended the most imposing civil,
military, and ecclesiastical rites. The baptism took place on the
31st of January, 1712, when the babe was a week old. The young prince
subsequently dropped the name of Charles, and Frederick became his sole
designation. Wilhelmina, Frederick’s sister, was about three years
older than himself. We shall have frequent occasion to allude to her in
the course of this history, as between her and her brother there sprang
up a warm attachment, which was of life-long continuance. Ten children
were subsequently born to the royal pair, making fourteen in all, most
of whom attained mature years.
Frederick William, the Crown Prince, was at the time of the birth of
his son Frederick twenty-four years of age. He was a very peculiar
man, sturdy and thick-set in figure, of strong mental powers, but quite
uneducated. He was unpolished in manners, rude in his address, honest
and sincere, a stern, persevering worker, despising all luxurious
indulgence, and excessively devoted to the routine of military duties.
[Illustration: BAPTISM OF FREDERICK.]
The king, Frederick I., had for some time been in a feeble state of
health. The burden of life had proved heavier than he was able to
bear. His wife was crazed, his home desolate, his health broken, and
many mortifications and disappointments had so crushed his spirits
that he had fallen into the deepest state of melancholy. As he was
sitting alone and sad in a chill morning of February, 1713, gazing
into the fire, absorbed in painful musings, suddenly there was a crash
of the glass door of the apartment. His frenzied wife, half-clad,
with disheveled hair, having escaped from her keepers, came bursting
through the shattered panes. Her arms were gashed with glass, and she
was in the highest state of maniacal excitement. The shock proved a
death-blow to the infirm old king. He was carried to his bed, which
he never left, dying in a few days. His grandson Frederick was then
fourteen months old.
[Illustration: FREDERICK WILLIAM.]
Frederick William was too stern a man to shed many tears over his
father’s death. The old king was ostentatious in his tastes, fond of
parade and splendor. The son had almost an insane contempt for all
court etiquette and all the elegancies of life. As he stood by his
father’s dying bed, his unamiable, rugged nature developed itself in
the disgust, almost rage, with which he regarded the courtly pageantry
with which the expiring monarch was surrounded. The remains of the king
were allowed to be conveyed to the tomb with that pomp which had been
dear to him while living.
But, immediately after these ceremonies were over, the new monarch,
who assumed the crown with the title of Frederick William, not with
that of Frederick II., to the utter consternation of the court,
dismissed nearly every honorary official of the palace, from the
highest dignitary to the humblest page. His flashing eye and determined
manner were so appalling that no one ventured to remonstrate. A clean
sweep was made, so that the household was reduced to the lowest
footing of economy consistent with the supply of indispensable wants.
Eight servants were retained at six shillings a week. His father had
thirty pages; all were dismissed but three. There were one thousand
saddle-horses in the royal stables; Frederick William kept thirty.
Three fourths of the names were struck from the pension-list. Thus
rigidly the king went on through every department of administrative and
household expenses, until they were reduced to below a fifth of what
they had been under his father.
For twenty-seven years this strange man reigned. He was like no other
monarch. Great wisdom and shrewdness were blended with unutterable
folly and almost maniacal madness. Though a man of strong powers of
mind, he was very illiterate. He certainly had some clear views of
political economy. Carlyle says of him, “His semi-articulate papers
and rescripts on these subjects are still almost worth reading by a
lover of genuine human talent in the dumb form. For spelling, grammar,
penmanship, and composition they resemble nothing else extant--are as
if done by the paw of a bear; indeed, the utterance generally sounds
more like the growling of a bear than any thing that could be handily
spelled or parsed. But there is a decisive human sense in the heart of
it; and there is such a dire hatred of empty bladders, unrealities, and
hypocritical forms and pretenses, which he calls wind and humbug, as is
very strange indeed.”
His energy inspired the whole kingdom, and paved the way for the
achievements of his son. The father created the machine with which the
son attained such wonderful results. He commuted the old feudal service
into a fixed money payment. He goaded the whole realm into industry,
compelling even the apple-women to knit at the stalls. The crown
lands were carefully farmed out. He drained bogs, planted colonies,
established manufactures, and in every way encouraged the use of
Prussian products. He carried with him invariably a stout rattan cane.
Upon the slightest provocation, like a madman, he would thrash those
who displeased him. He was thoroughly an arbitrary king, ruling at his
sovereign will, and disposing of the liberty, the property, and the
lives of his subjects at his pleasure. Every year he was accumulating
large masses of coin, which he deposited in barrels in the cellar
of his palace. He had no powers of graceful speech, but spent his
energetic, joyless life in grumbling and growling.
The Prussian minister, Baron Pöllnitz, in a letter from Berlin dated
June 6, 1729, writes: “The king’s prime minister is the king himself,
who is informed of every thing, and is desirous to know every thing.
He gives great application to business, but does it with extraordinary
ease; and nothing escapes his penetration nor his memory, which is a
very happy one. No sovereign in the world is of more easy access, his
subjects being actually permitted to write to him without any other
formality than superscribing the letter _To the King_. By writing
underneath, _To be delivered into his Majesty’s own hands_, one may be
sure that the king receives and reads it, and that the next post he
will answer it, either with his own hands or by his secretary. These
answers are short, but peremptory. There is no town in all the King
of Prussia’s dominions, except Neufchatel, where he has not been; no
province which he does not know full well; nor a court of justice but
he is acquainted with its chief members.”
Fully conscious that the respect which would be paid to him as a
European sovereign greatly depended upon the number of men he could
bring into the field of battle, Frederick William devoted untiring
energies to the creation of an army. By the most severe economy,
watching with an eagle eye every expenditure, and bringing his
cudgel down mercilessly upon the shoulders of every loiterer, he
succeeded in raising and maintaining an army of one hundred thousand
men; seventy-two thousand being field troops, and thirty thousand in
garrison.[2] He drilled these troops as troops were never drilled
before.
Regardless himself of comfort, insensible to fatigue, dead to
affection, he created perhaps the most potent military machine earth
has ever known. Prussia was an armed camp. The king prized his soldiers
as a miser prizes his gold coin, and was as unwilling to expose them
to any danger as the miser is to hazard his treasures. War would thin
his regiments, soil his uniforms, destroy his _materiel_. He hated war.
But his army caused Prussia to be respected. If needful, he could throw
one hundred thousand of the best drilled and best furnished troops in
Europe, like a thunderbolt, upon any point. Unprincipled monarchs would
think twice before they would encroach upon a man thus armed.
There was but one short war in which Frederick William engaged during
his reign of twenty-seven years. That was with Charles XII. of Sweden.
It lasted but a few months, and from it the Prussian king returned
victorious. The demands of Frederick William were not unreasonable. As
he commenced the brief campaign, which began and ended with the siege
of Stralsund, he said: “Why will the very king whom I most respect
compel me to be his enemy?” In his characteristic farewell order to his
ministers, he wrote: “My wife shall be told of all things, and counsel
asked of her. And as I am a man, and may be shot dead, I command you
and all to take care of Fritz, as God shall reward you. And I give
you all, wife to begin with, my curse that God may punish you in time
and eternity if you do not, after my death, bury me in the vault of
the palace church at Berlin. And you shall make no grand to-do on the
occasion. On your body and life no festivals and ceremonials, except
that the regiments, one after the other, fire a volley over me. I am
assured that you will manage every thing with all the exactness in the
world, for which I shall ever, zealously, as long as I live, be your
friend.”
The king was scrupulously clean, washing five times a day. He would
allow no drapery, no stuffed furniture, no carpets in his apartments.
They caught dust. He sat upon a plain wooden chair. He ate roughly,
like a farmer, of roast beef, despising all delicacies. His almost
invariable dress was a close military blue coat, with red cuffs and
collar, buff waistcoat and breeches, and white linen gaiters to the
knee. A sword was belted around his loins, and, as we have said, a
stout rattan or bamboo cane ever in his hand. A well-worn, battered,
triangular hat covered his head. He walked rapidly through the streets
which surrounded his palaces at Potsdam and Berlin. If he met any
one who attracted his attention, male or female, he would abruptly,
menacingly inquire, “Who are you?” A street-lounger he has been known
to hit over the head with his cane, exclaiming, “Home, you rascal, and
go to work.” If any one prevaricated or hesitated, he would sternly
demand, “Look me in the face.” If there were still hesitancy, or the
king were dissatisfied with the answers, the one interrogated was lucky
if he escaped without a caning.[3]
The boorish king hated the refinement and polish of the French. If he
met a lady in rich attire, she was pretty sure to be rudely assailed;
and a young man fashionably dressed could hardly escape the cudgel if
he came within reach of the king’s arm. The king, stalking through the
streets, was as marked an object as an elephant would have been. Every
one instantly recognized him, and many fled at his approach. One day
he met a pale, threadbare young man, who was quietly passing him, when
the king stopped, in his jerking gait, and demanded, in his coarse,
rapid utterance, “Who are you?” “I am a theological student,” the young
man quietly replied. “Where from?” added the king. “From Berlin,” was
the response. “From Berlin?” the king rejoined; “the Berliners are all
a good-for-nothing set.” “Yes, your majesty, that is true of many of
them,” the young man added; “but I know of two exceptions.” “Of two?”
responded the king; “which are they?” “Your majesty and myself,” the
young man replied. The king burst into a good-humored laugh, and,
after having the young man carefully examined, assigned him to a
chaplaincy.
The French minister at the court of Berlin, Count Rothenburg, was a
Prussian by birth. He was a man of much diplomatic ability, and a very
accomplished gentleman. Having spent much of his life in Paris, he had
acquired the polished manners of the French court, and wore the costume
appropriate to the Tuileries and Versailles. He and his associates
in the embassy attracted much attention as they appeared in their
cocked hats, flowing wigs, laced coats, and other gorgeous trimmings.
The king, in his homespun garb, was apprehensive that the example so
obnoxious to him might spread.
There was to be a grand review on the parade-ground just out from
Berlin, at which the French embassy was to be present. The king caused
a party equal in number, composed of the lowest of the people, to be
dressed in an enormous exaggeration of the French costume. Their cocked
hats were nearly a yard in diameter. Immense wigs reached to their
heels; and all other parts of the French court costume were caricatured
in the most grotesque manner possible. As soon as the French embassy
appeared, there was a great sound of trumpets and martial bands from
another part of the field, and these harlequins were brought forward
to the gaze of every eye, and conspicuously to the view of Count
Rothenburg and his companions. Military discipline prevented any
outburst of derisive laughter. Perfect silence reigned. The king sat
upon his horse as stolid and grim as fate. Count Rothenburg yielded to
this gross discourtesy of the king, and ever after, while he remained
in Berlin, wore a plain German costume.
Frederick William was very anxious that little Fritz should be
trained to warlike tastes and habits; that, like himself, he should
scorn all effeminacy; that, wearing homespun clothes, eating frugal
food, despising all pursuits of pleasure and all literary tastes, he
should be every inch a soldier. But, to the bitter disappointment
of the father, the child manifested no taste for soldiering. He was
gentle, affectionate, fond of books and music,[4] and with an almost
feminine love clung to his sister. The stern old king was not only
disappointed, but angered. These were qualities which he deemed
unmanly, and which he thoroughly despised.
[Illustration: THE LITTLE DRUMMER.]
One day the father, returning home, found, to his inexpressible
delight, little Fritz strutting about beating a drum, with Wilhelmina
marching by his side. The king could scarcely restrain his joy. At last
the military element was being developed in his child. He hastened
with the tidings to his wife, whom he called by the pet name of
“Phiekin”--a word apparently coined from Sophie. The matter was talked
about all over the palace. A painter was sent for to transfer the
scene to canvas. This picture, greatly admired, still hangs upon the
walls of the Charlottenburg palace. Of this picture Carlyle writes:
“Fritz is still, if not in ‘long-clothes,’ at least in longish and
flowing clothes of the petticoat sort, which look as of dark blue
velvet, very simple, pretty, and appropriate; in a cap of the same;
has a short raven’s feather in the cap, and looks up with a face and
eyes full of beautiful vivacity and child’s enthusiasm, one of the
beautifulest little figures, while the little drum responds to his bits
of drumsticks. Sister Wilhelmina, taller by some three years, looks on
in pretty stooping attitude, and with a graver smile. Blackamoor and
room-furniture elegant enough; and finally the figure of a grenadier on
guard, seen far off through an open window, make up the background.”
The early governess of little Fritz was a French lady of much
refinement and culture, Madame Racoule. She was in entire sympathy with
her pupil. Their tastes were in harmony. Fritz became as familiar with
the French language as if it were his mother tongue. Probably through
her influence he acquired that fondness for French literature and that
taste for French elegance which continued with him through life.
When the child was but six years of age his father organized a
miniature soldiers’ company for him, consisting of one hundred lads.
Gradually the number was increased to three hundred. The band was
called “The Crown Prince Cadets.” A very spirited, mature boy of
seventeen, named Rentzel, was drill-sergeant, while an experienced
colonel was appointed commander-in-chief. Fritz was very thoroughly
instructed in his duties, and was furnished with a military dress,
almost the fac-simile of that which his father wore. An arsenal was
also provided for the child on the palace grounds at Potsdam, where
he mounted batteries and practiced gunnery with small brass ordnance.
Nothing was omitted which could inspire the prince with military
enthusiasm, and render him skillful in the art of war. A Prussian
gentleman of letters testifies as follows respecting Fritz in his
seventh year:
“The Crown Prince manifests in this tender age an uncommon capacity,
nay, we may say, something quite extraordinary. He is a most alert
and vivacious prince. He has fine and sprightly manners, and shows a
certain kindly sociality and so affectionate a disposition that all
things may be hoped of him. The French lady who has had charge of him
hitherto can not speak of him without enthusiasm. ‘He is a little
angel,’ she is wont to say. He takes up and learns whatever is placed
before him with the greatest facility.”
[Illustration: THE ARSENAL.]
When Fritz was seven years of age, he was taken from the care of his
female teachers and placed under tutors who had been carefully selected
for him. They were all military officers who had won renown on fields
of blood. The first of these was M. Duhan, a French gentleman of
good birth and acquirements. He was but thirty years of age. By his
accomplishments he won the esteem, and by his amiability the love, of
his pupil. Count Finkenstein, the second, was a veteran general, sixty
years old, who also secured the affections of little Fritz. Colonel
Kalkstein was twenty-eight years of age. He was a thorough soldier
and a man of honor. For forty years, until his death, he retained the
regards of his pupil, who was ever accustomed to speak of him as “my
master Kalkstein.” In the education of the young prince every thing
was conducted in accordance with the most inflexible routine. From the
minute directions given to the teachers in a document drawn up by the
father, bunglingly expressed and wretchedly spelled, we cull out the
following:
“My son must be impressed with love and fear of God, as the foundation
of our temporal and eternal welfare. No false religions or sects of
Atheist, Arian, Socinian, or whatever name the poisonous things have,
which can so easily corrupt a young mind, are to be even named in his
hearing. He is to be taught a proper abhorrence of papistry, and to
be shown its baselessness and nonsensicality. Impress on him the true
religion, which consists essentially in this, that Christ died for all
men. He is to learn no Latin, but French and German, so as to speak and
write with brevity and propriety.
“Let him learn arithmetic, mathematics, artillery, economy, to the
very bottom; history in particular; ancient history only slightly,
but the history of the last hundred and fifty years to the exactest
pitch. He must be completely master of geography, as also of whatever
is remarkable in each country. With increasing years you will more and
more, to an especial degree, go upon fortification, the formation of a
camp, and other war sciences, that the prince may, from youth upward,
be trained to act as officer and general, and to seek all his glory in
the soldier profession. You have, in the highest measure, to make it
your care to infuse into my son a true love for the soldier business,
and to impress on him that, as there is nothing in the world which
can bring a prince renown and honor like the sword, so he would be a
despised creature before all men if he did not love it and seek his
glory therein.”
In October, 1723, when the prince was eleven years of age, his
grandfather, George I., came to Berlin to visit his daughter and his
son-in-law, the mother and father of Fritz. From the windows of his
apartment he looked out with much interest upon Fritz, drilling his
cadet company upon the esplanade in front of the palace. The clock-work
precision of the movements of the boy soldiers greatly surprised him.
Every year Frederick William rigorously reviewed all his garrisons.
Though accompanied by a numerous staff, he traveled with Spartan
simplicity, regardless of exposure and fatigue. From an early age he
took Fritz with him on these annual reviews. A common vehicle, called
the sausage car, and which was the most primitive of carriages, was
often used by the king in his rough travels and hunting excursions.
This consisted of a mere stuffed pole, some ten or twelve feet long,
upon which one sits astride, as if riding a rail. It rested upon
wheels, probably with a sort of stirrup for the feet, and the riders,
ten or a dozen, were rattled along over the rough roads, through dust
or mud, alike regardless of winter’s frost or summer’s rain. The
cast-iron king, rejoicing in hardship and exposure, robbed his delicate
child even of needful sleep, saying, “Too much sleep stupefies a
fellow.”
[Illustration: THE SAUSAGE CAR.]
This rude, coarse discipline was thoroughly uncongenial to the Crown
Prince. He was a boy of delicate feelings and sensitive temperament.
The poetic nature very decidedly predominated in him. He was fond of
music, played the flute, wrote verses, and was literary in his tastes.
He simply hated chasing boars, riding on the sausage car, and being
drenched with rain and spattered with mud. The old king, a mere animal
with an active intellect, could not appreciate, could not understand
even, the delicate mental and physical organization of his child.
It is interesting to observe how early in life these constitutional
characteristics will develop themselves, and how unavailing are all
the efforts of education entirely to obliterate them. When Frederick
William was a boy, he received, as a present, a truly magnificent
dressing-gown, of graceful French fashion, richly embroidered with
gold. Indignantly he thrust the robe into the fire, declaring that he
would wear no such finery, and demanded instead a jacket of wholesome
homespun. Fritz, on the contrary, could not endure the coarse homespun,
but, with almost girlish fondness, craved handsome dress. He had no
money allowance until he was seventeen years of age. A minute account
was kept of every penny expended for him, and the most rigid economy
was practiced in providing him with the mere necessaries of life. When
Fritz was in the tenth year of his age, his father gave the following
curious directions to the three teachers of his son in reference to his
daily mode of life. The document, an abridgment of which we give, was
dated Wusterhausen, September 3, 1721:
“On Sunday he is to rise at seven o’clock, and, as soon as he has got
his slippers on, shall kneel at his bedside and pray to God, so as all
in the room may hear, in these words:
“‘Lord God, blessed Father, I thank thee from my heart that thou hast
so graciously preserved me through this night. Fit me for what thy holy
will is, and grant that I do nothing this day, nor all the days of my
life, which can divide me from thee; for the Lord Jesus my Redeemer’s
sake. Amen.’
“After which the Lord’s Prayer; then rapidly and vigorously wash
himself clean; dress, and powder, and comb himself. While they are
combing and queuing him, he is to breakfast on tea. Prayer, washing,
breakfast, and the rest to be done pointedly within fifteen minutes.
“This finished, his domestics and preceptor, Duhan, shall come in
and perform family worship. Prayer on their knees. Duhan to read a
chapter of the Bible, and sing some proper psalm or hymn. All the
domestics then withdraw, and Duhan reads my son the Gospel of the
Sunday, expounds it a little, adducing the main points of Christianity,
and questioning him from Noltenius’s Catechism. It will then be nine
o’clock.
“At nine o’clock he brings my son down to me, who goes to church and
dines with me at twelve o’clock. The rest of the day is his own. At
half past nine in the evening he shall come and bid me good-night;
shall then go directly to his room; very rapidly get off his clothes,
wash his hands, and, as soon as that is done, Duhan shall make a prayer
on his knees and sing a hymn, all the servants being there again.
Instantly after which my son shall get into bed; shall be _in_ bed at
half past ten.
“On Monday, as on all week-days, he is to be called at six o’clock, and
so soon as he is called he is to rise. You are to stand by him that
he do not loiter or turn in bed, but briskly and at once get up and
say his prayers the same as on Sunday morning. This done, he shall, as
rapidly as he can, get on his shoes and spatterdashes, also wash his
face and hands, but not with soap; shall put on his dressing-gown, have
his hair combed and queued, but not powdered. While being combed and
queued, he shall, at the same time, take breakfast of tea, so that both
jobs go on at once; and all this shall be ended before half past six.
Preceptor and domestics shall then come in with Bible and hymn-books,
and have family worship as on Sunday. This shall be done by seven
o’clock.
“From seven till nine Duhan takes him on history; at nine o’clock comes
Noltenius” (a clergyman from Berlin) “with the Christian religion till
a quarter to eleven. Then Fritz rapidly washes his face with water, his
hands with soap and water; clean shirt; powders and puts on his coat.
At eleven o’clock he comes to the king, dines with him at twelve, and
stays till two.
“Directly at two he goes back to his room. Duhan is then ready; takes
him upon maps and geography from two to three o’clock, giving account
of all the European kingdoms, their strength and weakness; the size,
riches, and poverty of their towns. From three o’clock till four Duhan
shall treat of morality; from four till five shall write German letters
with him, and see that he gets a good style. About five o’clock Fritz
shall wash his hands and go to the king; ride out, and divert himself
in the air, and not in his room, and do what he likes if it is not
against God.”
Thus the employments of every hour were strictly specified for every
day in the week. On Wednesday he had a partial holiday. After half
past nine, having finished his history and “got something by heart to
strengthen the memory, Fritz shall rapidly dress himself and come to
the king, and the rest of the day belongs to little Fritz.” On Saturday
he was to be reviewed in all the studies of the week, “to see whether
he has profited. General Finkenstein and Colonel Kalkstein shall be
present during this. If Fritz has profited, the afternoon shall be his
own. If he has not profited, he shall from two o’clock till six repeat
and learn rightly what he has forgotten on the past days. In undressing
and dressing, you must accustom him to get out of and into his clothes
as fast as is humanly possible. You will also look that he learn to put
on and put off his clothes himself, without help from others, and that
he be clean, and neat, and not so dirty.”