rince of Prussia,
King's eldest Brother, wished ardently to obtain her Portrait, and had
applied to me for it; as had Prince Henri to my Predecessor. The King,
who has such gallant and seductive ways when he likes, could certainly
have reconciled this "celebrated Lady",--a highly important Improper
Female to him and others. [Valori, i. 320.]

Yes; but he quite declined, not counting the costs. Costs may be
immediate; profits are remote,--remote, but sure. Costs did indeed prove
considerable, perhaps far beyond his expectation; though, I flatter
myself, they never awoke much remorse in him, on that score!--

Friedrich's Enigma, towards the end of 1755 and onwards, is becoming
frightfully stringent; and the solution, "What practically will be the
wise course for me?" does not lessen in abstruse intricacy, but the
reverse, as it grows more pressing. A very stormy and dubious Future,
truly! Two circumstances in it will be highly determinative: one of
them evident to Friedrich; the other unknown to him, and to all mortals,
except two or three. FIRST,

That there will be an English-French War straightway; and that, as
usual, the French, weaker at sea, will probably attack Hanover;--
that is to say, bring the War home to one's own door, and ripen
into fulfilment those Austrian-Russian Plots. This is the evident
circumstance, fast coming on; visible to Friedrich and to everybody.
But that, in such event, Austria will join, not with England, but with
France: this is a SECOND circumstance, guessable by nobody; known
only to Kaunitz and a select one or two; but which also will greatly
complicate Friedrich's position, and render his Enigma indeed
astonishingly intricate, as well as stringent for solution!

Chapter II.--ENGLISH DIPLOMACIES ABROAD, IN PROSPECT OF A FRENCH WAR.

Britannic Majesty, I know not at what date, but before the launching of
that poor Braddock thunder-bolt, much more after the tragic explosion it
made, had felt that French War was nearly inevitable, and also that the
French method would be, as heretofore, to attack Hanover, and wound
him in that tender part. There goes on, accordingly, a lively Foreign
Diplomatizing, on his Majesty's part, at present,--in defect, almost
total, of Domestic Preparation, military and other;--Majesty and
Ministers expecting salvation from abroad, as usual. Military
preparation does lag at a shameful rate: but, on the other hand,
there is a great deal of pondering, reall