History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 11 [14]
being passed daily by
his Majesty's help and theirs!--Friedrich paid them rather well;
they saw no society; lived wholly to their work, and to their own
families. Eichel alone of the three was mentioned at all by
mankind, and that obscurely; an "abstruse, reserved, long-headed
kind of man;" and "made a great deal of money in the end,"
insinuates Busching, [ Beitrage, no friend of Friedrich's or his.
In superficial respects, again, Friedrich finds that the Prussian
King ought to have a King's Establishment, and maintain a decent
splendor among his neighbors,--as is not quite the case at
present. In this respect he does make changes. A certain quantity
of new Pages, new Goldsticks; some considerable, not too
considerable, new furbishing of the Royal Household,--as it were,
a fair coat of new paint, with gilding not profuse,--brought it to
the right pitch for this King, About "a hundred and fifty" new
figures of the Page and Goldstick kind, is the reckoning given.
[ Helden Geschichte, i. 353.] So many of
these; and there is an increase of 16,000 to one's Army going on:
that is the proportion noticeable. In the facts as his Father left
them Friedrich persisted all his life; in the semblances or outer
vestures he changed, to this extent for the present.--These are
the Phenomena of Friedrich's Accession, noted by us.
Readers see there is radiance enough, perhaps slightly in excess,
but of intrinsically good quality, in the Aurora of this new
Reign. A brilliant valiant young King; much splendor of what we
could call a golden or soft nature (visible in those "New-Era"
doings of his, in those strong affections to his Friends); and
also, what we like almost better in him, something of a STEEL-
BRIGHT or stellar splendor (meaning, clearness of eyesight,
intrepidity, severe loyalty to fact),--which is a fine addition to
the softer element, and will keep IT and its philanthropies and
magnanimities well under rule. Such a man is rare in this world;
how extremely rare such a man born King! He is swift and he is
persistent; sharply discerning, fearless to resolve and perform;
carries his great endowments lightly, as if they were not heavy to
him. He has known hard misery, been taught by stripes; a light
stoicism sits gracefully on him.
"What he will grow to?" Probably to something considerable.
Very certainly to something far short of his aspirations;
far different from his own hopes; and the world's concerning him.
It is not we, it is Father Time that does the controlling and
fulfilling of our hopes; and strange work he makes of them and us.
For example, has not Friedrich's grand "New Era," inaugurated by
him in a week, with the leading spirits all adoring, issued since
in French Revolution and a "world well suicided,"--the leading
spirits much thrown out in consequence! New Era has gone to great
lengths since Friedrich's time; and the leading spirits do not now
adore it, but yawn over it, or worse! Which changes to us the then
aspect of Friedrich, and his epoch and his aspirations, a good
deal.--On the whole, Friedrich will go his way, Time and the
leading spirits going theirs; and, like the rest of us, will grow
to what he can. His actual size is not great among the Kingdoms:
his outward resources are rather to be called small. The Prussian
Dominion at that date is, in extent, about four-fifths of an
England Proper, and perhaps not one-fifth so fertile:
subject Population is well under Two Millions and a Half; Revenue
not much above One Million Sterling,' [The exact statistic cipher
is, at Friedrich's Accession: PRUSSIAN TERRITORIES, 2,275 square
miles German (56,875 English); POPULATION, 2,240,000; ANNUAL
REVENUE, 7,371,707 thalers 7 groschen (1,105,756 pounds without
the pence). See Prenss, Buch fur Jedermann,
i. 49; Stenzel, iii. 692; &c.]--very small, were not thrift such
a VECTIGAL.
This young King is magnanimous; not much to be called ambitious,
or not in the vulgar sense almost at
his Majesty's help and theirs!--Friedrich paid them rather well;
they saw no society; lived wholly to their work, and to their own
families. Eichel alone of the three was mentioned at all by
mankind, and that obscurely; an "abstruse, reserved, long-headed
kind of man;" and "made a great deal of money in the end,"
insinuates Busching, [
In superficial respects, again, Friedrich finds that the Prussian
King ought to have a King's Establishment, and maintain a decent
splendor among his neighbors,--as is not quite the case at
present. In this respect he does make changes. A certain quantity
of new Pages, new Goldsticks; some considerable, not too
considerable, new furbishing of the Royal Household,--as it were,
a fair coat of new paint, with gilding not profuse,--brought it to
the right pitch for this King, About "a hundred and fifty" new
figures of the Page and Goldstick kind, is the reckoning given.
[
these; and there is an increase of 16,000 to one's Army going on:
that is the proportion noticeable. In the facts as his Father left
them Friedrich persisted all his life; in the semblances or outer
vestures he changed, to this extent for the present.--These are
the Phenomena of Friedrich's Accession, noted by us.
Readers see there is radiance enough, perhaps slightly in excess,
but of intrinsically good quality, in the Aurora of this new
Reign. A brilliant valiant young King; much splendor of what we
could call a golden or soft nature (visible in those "New-Era"
doings of his, in those strong affections to his Friends); and
also, what we like almost better in him, something of a STEEL-
BRIGHT or stellar splendor (meaning, clearness of eyesight,
intrepidity, severe loyalty to fact),--which is a fine addition to
the softer element, and will keep IT and its philanthropies and
magnanimities well under rule. Such a man is rare in this world;
how extremely rare such a man born King! He is swift and he is
persistent; sharply discerning, fearless to resolve and perform;
carries his great endowments lightly, as if they were not heavy to
him. He has known hard misery, been taught by stripes; a light
stoicism sits gracefully on him.
"What he will grow to?" Probably to something considerable.
Very certainly to something far short of his aspirations;
far different from his own hopes; and the world's concerning him.
It is not we, it is Father Time that does the controlling and
fulfilling of our hopes; and strange work he makes of them and us.
For example, has not Friedrich's grand "New Era," inaugurated by
him in a week, with the leading spirits all adoring, issued since
in French Revolution and a "world well suicided,"--the leading
spirits much thrown out in consequence! New Era has gone to great
lengths since Friedrich's time; and the leading spirits do not now
adore it, but yawn over it, or worse! Which changes to us the then
aspect of Friedrich, and his epoch and his aspirations, a good
deal.--On the whole, Friedrich will go his way, Time and the
leading spirits going theirs; and, like the rest of us, will grow
to what he can. His actual size is not great among the Kingdoms:
his outward resources are rather to be called small. The Prussian
Dominion at that date is, in extent, about four-fifths of an
England Proper, and perhaps not one-fifth so fertile:
subject Population is well under Two Millions and a Half; Revenue
not much above One Million Sterling,' [The exact statistic cipher
is, at Friedrich's Accession: PRUSSIAN TERRITORIES, 2,275 square
miles German (56,875 English); POPULATION, 2,240,000; ANNUAL
REVENUE, 7,371,707 thalers 7 groschen (1,105,756 pounds without
the pence). See Prenss,
i. 49; Stenzel, iii. 692; &c.]--very small, were not thrift such
a VECTIGAL.
This young King is magnanimous; not much to be called ambitious,
or not in the vulgar sense almost at