tracing these epochs and following out the Lore-quite as familiar to him as those of course of these events so far as they bear Science. We should do injustice, however, upon the object in view, availing himself of both to him and to those whose office it may all the light which modern research has be to render an account of the further prothrown on the early history of civilization, gress of this work, by further anticipation, whether from the study of ancient monu- and shall, therefore, content ourselves with ments, or the critical comparison of written adding that, should the conclusion correrecords, M. de Humboldt has opened out spond (as we doubt not) with these beginfor himself a field nearly co-extensive with nings, a work will have been accomplished, literature itself, and one peculiarly fitted to every way worthy of its author's fame, and his own powers and habits of thought, a crowning laurel added to that wreath with which, as our readers need not to be inform- which Europe will always delight to sured, have made its higher walks-Esthetics, round the name of Alexander von HumHistory, and Antiquarian and Monumental boldt.

From the London Quarterly Review.

THE LAST YEARS OF FREDERICK THE SECOND.

1. Euvres de Frédéric le Grand, Roi de Prusse. Nouvelle Edition. Berlin: chez Rodolphe Decker, Imprimeur du Roi, vols. I., II., et III. 1846.

2. Friedrich der Grosse: eine Lebens-Geschichte. Von J. D. E. Preuss, Berlin, 4 vols. 1832.

3. Urkunden-buch zur Lebens-Geschichte. Von J. D. E. Preuss, Berlin, 5 vols. 1834.

IN a Convocation held at Oxford on the 1st We shall not be tempted, however, by of July, 1847, it was proposed and agreed this opportunity to enter into any minute that the University Seal should be affixed discussion of the writings of the Prussian to a Letter of Thanks to His Majesty the monarch. On his general demerits as an King of Prussia for his Majesty's gracious author, the department of letter-writing present of the three first volumes of a mag-alone excepted, his imperfect mastery of nificent edition of the Works of King Frederick the Great.' We have no doubt that the good taste of the Royal Donor will limit his gift to the earlier volumes, which comprise such writings as the Mémoires de Brandebourg and L'Histoire de Mon Temps. Were his Majesty to send the complete collection, with what feelings could the Reverend Heads of houses be expected to read-or with what expressions to acknowledge-the Commentaire Théologique sur Barbe Bleue, or the Ode, in the style of Petronius, on the French fugitives after Rosbach !*

the French in which he chose to write, and his peculiar tediousness, both in his prose and verse, or rather in his two kinds of prose, the rhymed and unrhymed-we imagine that all critics of all countries (unless possibly his own) are entirely agreed. Nor do we propose to descant either upon the freaks of his youth or the glories of his wars. Both are sufficiently well known— the former through his own sister, the Margravine de Baireuth, and his favourite, Voltaire;-the latter from the pages of more than one historian. But it seems to us that his system of administration in peace has This new edition comes forth with a by no means received the same degree of splendor well beseeming, if not the value attention as his military exploits. Nor of the works, yet certainly the rank of the are the habits of his declining age so faauthor. No expense has been spared on miliar to us as those of his early manhood. the paper or the types; and the editor, Dr. It is therefore to these-the life of FrederPreuss, is eminently qualified for the task ick, public and private, since the Peace of from his most full and valuable, and on the Hubertsburg that we now desire to apply whole impartial and discriminating, Life of ourselves. For this investigation the bioKing Frederick, which appeared in 1832..graphy of Dr. Preuss, with his five volumes * Congé de l'Armée des Cercles et des Tonnel- of appended documents, will supply our best, liers, Œuvres Posthumes, vol. XV., p. 217. though by no means our only, materials.

From the Peace of Hubertsburg in 1763 | memorials. The Adjutant of the Royal until his death in 1786, Frederick may be Guard brought a Report of all strangers said to have enjoyed uninterrupted peace. who had either arrived at or departed from For although a declaration of war was Potsdam the day before. A similar report called forth by the Bavarian Succession in as to Berlin had already reached the King, 1778, it was merely, as he might have inclosed in the first packet of letters. Next termed it in his adopted language, une came the Adjutant-General, with whom levée de boucliers; it led scarcely even to Frederick was wont day by day to discuss a skirmish, far less to a battle or a siege. and decide all the affairs of the army. But these twenty-three years of public peace were to the King himself very far from years of repose. A slight sketch of his daily life at Potsdam or Sans Souci will best portray his unremitting activity.

Having despatched these affairs, Frederick passed into his writing-room, where he began by drinking off several glasses of cold water flavored with fennel-leaves, and employed himself with replies to his letters and notes on his memorials. At intervals he used to sip several cups of coffee, which, in the last twenty years of his life, were always mingled with mustard. Not unfrequently, also, he indulged in a little fruit which stood ready on the side-table; of stone-fruit, above all, he was passionately fond. Parsimonious as he seemed on most occasions, he would buy the earliest forced cherries in the months of December and January for his private eating at the rate of two dollars each.

The value of early hours had been felt by Frederick in his campaigns, especially when opposed to indolent and luxurious courtiers like the Prince de Soubise. Je pense bien,' says Voltaire, 30th March, 1759-(he is addressing Frederick and alluding to Soubise)- que celui qui met ses bottes à quatre heures du matin a un grand avantage au jeu contre celui qui monte en carrosse a midi.' These early habits of Frederick were continued in his years of peace. In summer he usually rose at three, seldom ever after four; in winter he was scarcely an hour later. During the prime of his manhood five or six hours of sleep sufficed him; but in his old age the term was extended to seven or eight. His ablutions, when performed at all, were slight and few. While still in the hands of his hair-dresser he opened his first packet of letters from Berlin; this packet contained only such letters as, either by their seals or by Postoffice notices, were known to come from Prussian nobles. All other letters of sub- While still in his writing-room Frederick jects not of noble birth were opened by allowed himself daily half an hour's relaxasome one of the four Cabinet-Secretaries. tion with his flute. But even this short reHow would his Prussian Majesty, thus nice laxation was by no means lost time so far in matters of epistolary etiquette, have as business was concerned. He once said stared at Sir Robert Walpole, of whom it to d'Alembert that during his musical exis recorded that, whenever a batch of let-ercises he was accustomed to turn over in ters reached him from the country, that from his gamekeeper was always the first which he perused!

The King next proceeded to dress himself, and put on his hat, which he wore almost constantly within doors, and took off only during interviews with persons of high birth and at dinner time. His strict economy was manifest in his dress, for his uniforms were usually patched and threadbare, while his boots from age and want of blacking appeared of a tawny red. Two of the Cabinet-Secretaries now laid before him extracts of the letters which they had opened, together with various petitions and

It was the object of Frederick in this, as in other matters, to bring forward hidden merit. In a remote district an avenue of cherry-trees led, and still leads, from the village of Helmsdorf to the village of Heiligenthal. It excited little notice until Frederick, on one of his journeys, having tasted the fruit, was struck with its peculiar richness of flavor; and gave orders that some basketfuls of it should be sent every summer to Potsdam.

his mind his affairs of state, and that several of his happiest thoughts for their administration had occurred to him at those times.

These

Between eight and ten o'clock the King received the Cabinet Secretaries separately, and gave them his instructions. men, though inferior both in rank and salary, were the chief instruments of his sovereign will: for it is not the least among the singularities of his government, that only by exception, and on special occasions, did Frederick ever see his own Ministers. It was in writing that they sent him their reports,-it was in writing that he sent them his commands.

The King's meals, however, were highly social as well as gastronomic. He frequently invited guests in numbers varying from seven to ten, and entertained them with a varied and never-failing flow of con

After the Cabinet-Secretaries had been | ed him particular pleasure. Of wine he drank despatched, the occupations of Frederick sparingly; his favorite vintage being from until dinner were not so uniformly fixed as the banks of the Dordogne, and in general the preceding. Sometimes he attended the diluted with water. review of his guards at eleven; sometimes took a ride, sometimes a walk, sometimes read aloud to himself, and sometimes granted audiences. In these--at least with respect to his own subjects who were not of noble birth, nor admitted to his familiar in-versation. There was no limitation as to tercourse- -no Eastern Sultan ever maintained more haughty state. We have now lying before us two reports of interviews, as printed in the appendix to one of Dr. Preuss's volumes; the one from a President of the Chambre des Domaines at Cleves, the other from his colleague, a second President at Aurich; and it appears incidentally that although both of them parted from the King with full assurances of his approbation and favor, they were not admitted to kiss his hand, but only his coat!

rank in those whom he invited, nor any ar-
rogance of Royalty in his behavior to-
wards them; but they suffered unmercifully
from his wit, or as his butts, for he especi-
ally delighted in such jests as were most
likely to give pain. Thus, then, came his
guests, half pleased and half afraid :-

In quorum facie miseræ magnæque sedebat
Pallor amicitiæ.'

ways treated with entire freedom and unreserve. When the guests amused him, or when the conversation took a more than usually interesting turn, the sitting was sometimes protracted from noon till past four o'clock; in general, however, it ended much sooner.

Politics, religion, and history, with anecdotes of Court and war, jocular and seriBut whatever might be the previous occu-ous, were his favorite topics, and were alpations, as the clock struck noon Frederick sat down to dinner. In his youth twelve had been the dinner-hour for all classes at Berlin; nay, his ancestor the Great Elector had always dined at eleven. But before the close of Frederick's reign the people of fashion gradually extended the hour till two; and ever since at Berlin, as elsewhere, it has become later and later. Well may a French novelist of our own time exclaim, 'Tous les jours on dine plus tard; incessamment on ne dinera plus du tout!'

Since the close of the Seven Years' War Frederick had renounced suppers, and dinner became with him, as with Prince Talleyrand, his single daily meal. The King was a gourmand of the first water; and had he survived till 1802, would no doubt have received the honorary presidency of the Jury Dégustateur; or the dedication of Grimod de la Reynière's "Almanach,' preferably even to the Second Consul Cambacérès. The bill of fare was daily laid before his Majesty, comprising not merely a list of the dishes, but the name of the cook by whom each dish was to be dressed; and these bills of fare were always well considered, and often corrected and amended by the Royal hand. Sometimes, when they gave promise of some novel experiment or favourite dainty-as polentas and eel-piesthe King, in his eagerness, would order the dinner to be brought in ten or twelve minutes earlier than the appointed hour. After dinner he used to mark with a cross the names of those dishes which had afford

On rising from table Frederick allowed himself another half hour with his flute; after which the Cabinet-Secretaries brought in the letters which he had directed or dictated, and which now came before him again transcribed and ready for his signature. It was not unusual for the King when signing to enforce the object of the letter by adding to it a few clear sharp words. Many of these postscripts are still preserved. Thus, when he replied to an application for money, there are sometimes found appended in the Royal handwriting such phrases as I cannot give a single groschen,' or 'I am now as poor as Job.'. Thus, when the celebrated singer Madame Mara sent him a long memorial against some intended arrangements at the Opera, the King's postscript is- Elle est payée pour chanter et non pas écrire." Thus, again, when a veteran General had asked permission to retire, the official answer bids him reconsider his request, and there follows manu propria, the significant remark-'The hens that will not lay I will not feed!'†

But, perhaps, the most curious of all is the following in five words to Baron Arnim, in which five words it will be seen that three languages are blended, and each of the three incorrectly :- Scriptus est scriptus; nicht raisoniren."*

flesh CHER, actress ACCTRISSE, and the word which in private life he most disliked, PEYER.

It is also singular that up to the close of May, 1737, his Majesty always signed his name in French according to the usual manner, FREDERIC, but ever afterwards FEDERIC.

From six till seven o'clock the King had usually a small concert, in which only musicians or a few amateurs of the highest rank were admitted, and in which he himself play

In some, though not numerous, cases the postscript seems to us utterly at variance with the letter. Thus when Colonel Philip Von Borcke wished to retire from the army and to live on his estates in Pomerania, the King (May 30, 1785) desired a letter to be drawn out for his Royal signa-ed the flute. By long practice he had acquirture, stating that the said Colonel has been always found faithful, brave, and irreproachable in times of war, and that his Majesty has been constantly satisfied with him;' but in signing this document the King added with his own hand some German words to the following effect:- Abschied for a Prussian who will not serve, and one ought therefore During Frederick's earlier years his supto thank God that one gets rid of him.'pers had become justly renowned from the Surely, whatever satisfaction or advantage wit of the guests whom he there gathered the letter might be intended to confer must round him and from his own. Voltaire have been turned into the very opposite by thus alludes to them in a sketch at that such an addition. period of his Royal Patron's daily life :

ed excellent skill with that instrument. In his very last years, however, the decay of his front teeth deprived him of this daily recreation. Thus losing the power to execute, he lost also the wish to hear, music; and from that time forward he seldom appeared at any concert.

'Il est grand Roi tout le matin,
Après dîner grand écrivain,
Tout le jour philosophe humain,
Et le soir convive divin;

C'est un assez joli destin :-
Puisse-t-il n'avoir point de fin !'

When this correspondence, was completed, the King sometimes took a walk-out of doors if the weather was fine, or through his saloons if it rained. Sometimes he conversed with his friend Colonel Guichard, whom he had by patent new-named Quintus Icilius, or some other staff-officer; sometimes he received the artists who had ex- But when, after 1763, the King discontiecuted his commissions, or who brought nued his suppers, the void thus left in his him their works to view. But whenever evenings was supplied by still frequently his leisure served, the hours between four receiving a circle of distinguished men, as and six, or what remained of them, were some of his generals, the Marquis d'Argens, devoted to his literary labors. It was Lord Marischal, and Lucchesini. His usual during this interval that he composed near-plan was to begin by reading aloud to them ly all the volumes in prose and verse which a passage from some book, which served as are now to be reprinted. Numerous, in- a kind of text for the lively conversation deed, they are. As Voltaire says of him which ensued. During the rest of the evenand to him (March 24, 1772), Il a fait ing, or for the whole of it when no visitplus de livres qu'aucun des princes, con- ors came, the King was read to by one or temporains n'a fait de bâtards !" more lecteurs, selecting either original French works or translations into French of the Greek and Latin classics. At about nine o'clock he went to bed.

It is very remarkable, however, and not easily explained, that though Frederick practised authorship for almost half a century-though every day he was reading. and writing German for business and French for pleasure-yet he never in any degree mastered the spelling of either language. To the last we find the strangest errors even in the most common words. Thus he writes winter HIVERD, old VIEU,

granted the General his retirement, but refused him his pension.

* Oct. 26, 1776--Urkunden-buch, vol. III., p. 196.

Such was the daily life of Frederick; a life not at all varied on Sundays or other holidays, but diversified by annual reviews of his troops and journeys to his provinces. From his alternate toils in the field and labors in the administration, it might be supposed that he had in truth an iron frame:

from his childhood was delicate and variable. on the contrary, however, his health But the want of bodily strength was well

supplied by his ardent and indomitable, At these moments when he (Frederick) lays soul. The following are his own expressions aside the monarch and indulges himself in every in a letter to Voltaire of the 7th September, kind of debauchery, he never suffers the instru

1776 :

ments or partakers of these excesses to have the smallest influence over him. Some few he has

rewarded; discarded several; but left most of them in the same situation he found them."*

The conduct of Frederick, as a master and in his household, cannot be held deserving of praise. Some of his warmest admirers, as Dr. Preuss, acknowledge that he was extremely harsh towards his servants, chary in wages or rewards to them; but, on the other hand, liberal of sharp re

the noise, and asked what had happened; on being told, he only remarked, I did not think that the fellow had so much courage.'†

It may be observed that the sketch of the King's daily life makes no reference what-proofs and of blows both with his fist and ever to a Queen Consort; yet in 1733, with his cane. These, however, were their under his father's dictation, Frederick had lighter punishments; when their offences espoused the Princess Elizabeth of Bruns- seemed more serious they were at once diswick-Bevern, who survived not only through carded, or sent to prison, or enlisted as his whole reign of almost half a century, valet de chambre, named Deesen or Deiss, common soldiers. Thus, for instance, one but even for eleven years afterwards, namely, valet de chambre, named Deesen or Deiss, till 1797. This Princess was of exemplary was thought to have embezzled some money, character, filled with admiration for the and had been ordered to enter the army as great deeds of her husband, and grateful a drummer, when, on the 23rd of July, for the slightest token of his notice; and 1775, the unhappy man put a pistol to his so benevolent, that of the 41,000 dollars head, and fell a corpse in Frederick's own assigned her yearly she devoted no less than ante-chamber. The king was startled at 24,000 to purposes of charity. Like Frederick she had a taste for literature; but, unlike him, loved to encourage the German rather than the French; and, unlike him Frederick used to show especial anger also, she was embued with a deep and fervent, though unostentatious, feeling of re- and displeasure whenever any man-servant ligion. For some years Frederick, dread-contracted either matrimony or a less leing the resentment of his imperious and gitimate connexion with the other sex. The brutal father, had lived with her on appasame prejudice subsisted against the marrently good terms; but on his own accession riages of his familiar friends and associates, to the throne he allotted to her the château as D'Argens, Quintus Icilius, and Le Catt. of Schönhausen for her separate residence. It is said, however, that in the last few To the end of her life she never even saw the new palaces at Potsdam. At Berlin, however, during winter, she had apartments in the Royal Palace: the King used to dine with her in state three or four times every year, and on all occasions showed her, as her character deserved, marks of his high respect and esteem. But the union had been, from the first, a constrained one; and he had little taste for hers, or indeed for any female, society; men were, on all occasions, his chosen and favorite companions.

There are some points however, real or alleged, in Frederick's private life, which we do not wish to discuss at large. We shall waive any further testimony, and merely insert without comment the following extract from a despatch of our own distinguished countryman, Lord Malmesbury, when Envoy at Berlin :

years of Frederick's life, and when himself probably conscious of decay, he had become in all respects less ungracious and exacting to his household.

But although gusts and sallies of passion were by no means uncommon with Frederick, we scarcely ever find them impel him in the transaction of state-business. A few cases to the contrary might be gathered from Dr. Preuss's volumes, but should be considered as only exceptions. Thus, on one occasion, a young man, a Land-Rath, in Brandenburg, wrote to the King to state that a flight of locusts had appeared in his district. The King, in his

*Despatch to the Earl of Suffolk, Berlin, March 18, 1776.

† Compare Preuss, Lebens-Geschichte, vol. I., p. 424, note, with the despatch of Lord Malmesbury of July 29, 1775, giving a milder version of the King's reply.