erties than any other; and that he, like the rest, should lose his head, if he continued to worship the rising sun.

"The king was particularly anxious to have in his evening society persons well-versed in history, geography, and political science. French, Dutch, and German newspapers lay on the table, and the articles contained in them furnished subjects for conversation. The Berlin papers the king never read, because they contained nothing but articles copied from foreign journals. At the beginning of his reign he even prohibited them, so that they were not published in 1713 and 1714. When the Dutch Courant, a paper very much read at the time, related that a fugleman of the tall grenadier guard had died at Potsdam, and on opening his body it was found to contain two stomachs, but no heart,' the king ordered a letter to be written to the editor, intimating that the account was quite correct, but one circumstance had been omitted, namely, that the deceased was a Dutchman.

"By way of variety, the king allowed a game at chess or draughts; cards were prohibited. He himself was accustomed to play at tocadille, a game played with the dice like backgammon, with General Flanss, a Pomeranian nobleman of the roughest stamp. When the king once remarked to the general that it was not right for them to play for nothing, like tailors, and that in future the game must be for a groschen (11⁄2d.), Flanss replied in his Low German dialect, I shall do no such thing. Your majesty is ready to throw the

"The princes usually went in the evening to the smoking-room, to wish the king good-night. In this society the king wished to be treated as a private person, and therefore for. hade all ceremonious salutation "-Page 193.

dice at my head when we play for nothing; and how would it be if I were to play with you for money?' The king was fond of such jokes, and those who indulged in them were his most welcome companions. The duke of Holstein, whose manner was rather too assuming, learned also that it was dangerous to meddle with the general. The duke having one evening interrupted him in his usual pompous way, the general spread out the map of Europe before him, and apologizing for taking all the candles, pretended to be looking eagerly for some particular place. The king was curious to know what the general was seeking, and the latter replied, 'I am looking for the country of those dukes of Holstein; but it must be a confounded little scurvy spot for I can't find it, though the gentleman does talk so big.'

"The princes usually went in the evening to the smoking-room to wish the king good night. As boys, they were sometimes exercised there by the officers present, and it was always a difficult task to induce them to return to the queen's apartments, where they were not allowed so much liberty. When the prince royal, (afterwards Frederick II., called the Great) was grown up, he was also obliged to attend these meetings, notwithstanding his dislike of tobaccosmoke and the jokes of the company.

"In this society the king wished to be treated as a private person, and therefore forbade all ceremonious salutation. So completely did he place himself on an equality with the rest of the party, that, having once

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received an affront, to which he had himself given occasion, he demanded the usual satisfaction with the sword. One evening, when the party had been drinking hard, the king applied to Major Jurgas, who was fond of displaying his learning, a coarse epithet, invented to express contempt for literature and science. The major in his cups retorted, "he is a scoundrel who says so," and immediately withdrew. The king declared to those present that, as an officer and a man of honour, who neither could nor would suffer any stigma to attach to him, he was ready to settle the matter with sword or pistol. The company exclaimed against this intention, observing that he was not only an officer, but also a king, and that as such, he ought not to fight unless for insults offered to the state. The king, however, insisted on having satisfaction as an officer, and it was determined that some other officer should challenge and fight Major Jurgas, instead of the king. Major Einsiedel, who was the king's representative with the battalion, undertook the office, fought the next day with Jurgas, in the wood behind. the Parade, with the sword, and received a slight wound in the arm. With his arm bound up, he made his report to the king, who expressed his thanks, and hung about him a musqueteer's cartouch-box, asking him whether he would walk with it along the street, if it were filled with money. The major replied in the affirmative, and the king, having with his own hand filled the cartouch-box with hard dollars, gave the word of command, "March.” The king con