The Shasta courier., 1866-02-10
SHASTA . COURIER.
Frederic the Great.

he never fell into the hands OF satlrist WIZ
could make the most of him. To an cpl
grammatic writer like Pope, be would have
been invaluable. The inconsistencies and
contrasts in his nature are grotesque anu
puzzling. The real truth suspect to have
been that Frederic's whole nature was dls-
torted and corrupted by the treatment OF MS
youth. As a boy, he was g one of the pref
tiest and widest little boys" as he grew
ND he evinced an open generous and anec-
tionate nature. But his love OF literature
and music. and distaste for constant drill.
excited his fathers wrath. To what lengths
the wrath reached-public blows, imprison-
ment. murder of bis sons friend, almost the
murder of the son himself, is well known
No mortal could 20 through such an ordeal
unscatbed. None but rarely beautiful ma
lures can come out of an unhappy home
otherwise than hurt or marred. Fredcric's
home was more than usually unhappy, and
the results of this were not trihing. Want
ing sympathy made him reserved cruelty
made him hard-hearted stern repression
made his nature break out into low practical
joking. So far as we can now Judge, he was
naturally the very reverse of irreligious. and
indeed he early showed disposition towards
serious thought. But his father stormed at
him, As Calvinist and Professionalism !;
forced him, on pain of death, to relinquish
those damnable heresies; and ended, as
might have been anticipated, in making him
a believer in nothing. Again paternal love
sought to exert itself in arranging marriage
for the prince, and yielding to the sugges-
tions of courtiers in Austrian paw, paternal
love forced upon Frederic a wife whom he
detested, and whom he hardly ever saw
condemning him to life of loneliness, with
out the affection of woman, or the hope of
posperity. Worst of all was that fear taught
deceit. the only protection of the weak
From that sad day on which Katie was led
to death before his eyes, Frederic shrouded
himself in polite cloak of darkness, to use
Mr.. Carlyle's elegant emphemsm fer n sys-
tenn of complete hypocrisy 1t is painful to
read of the Crown Prince kissing his fathers
dirty garters but he had to stoop vet
lower. His proud heart must have suffered
many bitter pang before he endured to
write in terms of fawning affection to such
a creature as Grunkow the most contempti-
BILE of the knot of traitors and toadies who,
under the intellectual reign of Mr. Carlyle's
first hero, ruled the destinies of Prussia
The cloak of darkness. which then seemed
to stand him in good stead, was never through
life thrown aside. Altogether apart from his
faithfulness to his engagements, Frederlc's
attempts to deceive. or in slang phraseology,
to humbugn his adversaries, were often
so barefaced as to be quite ludierous. Thus,
at the very time WI en- his armies were oc-
cupying the whole of Silesa, except a few
fortified towns. he had the efrontery to
write to the Duke of Lorraine, " My heart
has no share in the mischief which my hand
is doing to your Court
Curiouslv enough, the domestic vices gem
orally reappear in those who have suffered
from them. Frederic had many of the faults
of his father, only in a less degree. But;
they do not seem to have been his naturally
he acquired them from the teaching of ex-
ample. By nature frank. generous, affec-
tionate cruel usage made him deceitful,
harsh, unfeeling, implacable. He is as
hard" said Voltaire of him, as Churchill
said of James H.. ''he is as hard as that
marble table" In some points he greatly
improved and softened as he grew older; he
grew more tolerent, more patient, more mod
crate. 1t would have been instructive
study to mark how many of his greatest
faults were derived from corruptins ed
ucation, and how many of these faults age
and experience removed.
An extravagant affection for lower animals
has often been found in men who cared very
little for their fellow creatures Frederic was a
noble example. He had always some half
dozen Indian greyhounds in the room with
him; one, the especial favorite, the rest kept
to afford the favorite the pleasure of society.
To one of these, called Aemena, he was so
attached, that at her death he was quite
overpowered with grief. and insisted on
keeping her corpse in his room long after II
had become putrid. Dogs cost him less. he
used to say, and were much more attached
and faithful than a Marquse de Pom padour.
A footman was appointed to the honor Of at
tending on them. and carriage was appro-
priared to their use. They were all buried
on the terrace of Sans Souci, and in his will
he left directions that he should be inferred
beside them.
Keen literary tastes were among the
strange elements of Frederic's character
Beyond doubt he was possessed by an earn
est and pure love of literature. Few kings
ever so loved literature for its own sake
many successful authors have striven less
laboriously after literary success He lay
under the. disadvantage of having the com
mand of no language; and yet his prose
writings have received the commendaton of
Gibbon. As to his verses, the less said Of
them the better.
curious similarity may be remarked be-
tween the weakness and faults which marred
the character of Frederic, and the weakness
and faults which marred the character of
Richelieu. In both these great men there
was the same love of small matters. and pas
sions for minuteness of detail, which could
not but be injurious to greater interests. In
both there was the same love of literature.
the same addiction to literary trihing. Both
were penetrated with profound scorn and
dlstrust of their fellow men; neither could
resist mocking humor which made enemies
for the sake of laugh both derived enjoy
ment from humiiating and giving pain to
others in the intercourse of social life
Assuredly, Frederic possessed, if ever man
did, fortitude-" the virtue of adversity."
the most heroic of all the virtues The full
force of his character was never shown till
among the dangers and sorrows of a Seven
Years War. He bore up against over
whelming calamities. and triumphed over
them, and established himself in securitv.-
Few men ever sought less their own .iappi.
ness and ease, ever worked harder in their
vocation. He discharged with calm endur-
ance, the multifarious lators of his life Of
self imposed toll, uncheered bv hope. urged
on by no sense of fear, but ever loyai to his
sense of duty: The night cometh when no
man can work As the night drew nioh
his WEAKNESS grew more intense, his loneli
ness yet deeper. One by one the companions
of his prime, towards few of whom he felt