re got hold of: Berlin, Autumn, 1756). A solid and
able Paper; rapidly done, by one Count Herzberg, who rose high in
after times. Reprinted, with many other "Pieces" and "Passages," in
_Gesammelte Nachrichten und Urkunden,_--which is a "Collection" of such
(2 vols., 113 Nos. small 8vo, no Place, 1757, my Copy of it).]--are by
no means a luminous set of Documents to readers at this day. Think what
a study they were at Potsdam in 1753, while still in the chaotic state;
fished out, more or less at random, as Menzel could lay hold of them,
or be directed to them; the enigma clearing itself only by intense
inspection, and capability of seeing in the dark!

It appears,--if you are curious on the anecdotic part,--

"Winterfeld was the first that got eye on this dangerous Saxon
Mystery; some Ex-Saxon, about to settle in Berlin, giving hint of it
to Winterfeld; who needed only a hint. So soon as Winterfeld convinced
himself that there was weight in the affair, he imparted it to
Friedrich: 'Scheme of partitioning, your Majesty, of picking
quarrel, then overwhelming and partitioning; most serious scheme,
Austrian-Russian as well as Saxon; going on steadily for years past, and
very lively at this time!' If true, Friedrich cannot but admit that this
is serious enough: important, thrice over, to discover whether it is
true;--and gives Winterfeld authority to prosecute it to the bottom, in
Dresden or wherever the secret may lie. Who thereupon charged Mahlzahn,
the Prussian Minister at Dresden, to find some proper Menzel, and bestir
himself. How Mahlzahn has found his Menzel, and has bestirred himself,
we saw. Thief-keys were made to pattern in Berlin; first set did not
fit, second did; and stealthy Menzel gains admittance to that Chamber of
the Archives, can steal thither on shoes of felt when occasion serves,
and copy what you wish,--for a consideration. Intermittently, since
about Easter-Fair, 1753. Three persons are cognizant of it, Winterfeld,
Mahlzahn, Friedrich; three, and no more. Probably the abstrusest study;
and the most intense, going on in the world at that epoch. [Rotzow,
_Charakteristik des Siebenjahrigen Krieges _(Berlin, 1802), i. 23.]

"At a very early stage of the Menzel Excerpts it became manifest that
certain synchronous Austrian Ditto would prove highly elucidative; that,
in fact, it would be indispensable to get hold of these as well. Which
also Winterfeld has managed to do. A deep-headed man, who has his eyes