r
signature; bound up along with Harrington's Despatch, "Windsor, 20th
June [1st July] 1730,"--on the morrow of which day we may fancy Captain
Dickens took the road for Berlin again,--where we auspiciously see him
on Monday, 10th July, probably a night or two after his arrival.] This
is Document FIRST; of no concernment to Hotham at this stage; but only
to us and our Crown-Prince. Document SECOND would at one time have much
interested Hotham: it is no other than a Grumkow Original seized at
St. Mary Axe, such as Hotham once solicited, "strong enough to break
Grumkow's back." Hotham now scarcely hopes it will be "strong enough."
No matter; he presents it as bidden. On introducing Dickens as
successor, Monday, 10th July, he puts the Document into his Prussian
Majesty's hand: and--the result was most unexpected! Here is Hotham's
Despatch to Lord Harrington; which it will be our briefest method to
give, with some minimum of needful explanation intercalated here and
there:--

"TO THE LORD HARRINGTON (from Sir Charles Hotham).

"BERLIN, 30th June (11th July), 1730.

"MY LORD,--Though the conduct of his Prussian Majesty has been such, for
some time past, that one ought to be surprised at nothing he does,--it
is nevertheless with great concern that I now have to acquaint your
Lordship with an extravagancy of his which happened yesterday," Monday,
10th July, 1730.

"The King of Prussia, had appointed me to be with him about noon, with
Captain Guy Dickens [who has just returned from England, on what secret
message your Lordship knows!].--We both attended his Prussian
Majesty, and I presented Captain Guy Dickens to him, who delivered his
credentials: after which the King talked to us a quarter of an hour
about indifferent matters. Seeing him in a very good humor, I took that
opportunity of telling him, 'That as General Grumkow had denied his
having held a Secret Correspondence with Reichenbach, or having written
the Letters I had some time ago delivered to his Majesty, I was now
ordered by the King my Master to put into his hands an Original Letter
of General Grumkow'"----Where is that Original Letter? ask some minute
readers. Minute readers, the IPSISSIMUM CORPUS of it is lost to mankind.
Official Copy of it lies safe here in the State-Paper Office (Prussian
Despatches, volume xli.; without date of its own, but near a Despatch
dated 20th June, 1730); has, adjoined to it, an Autograph jotting by
George Second to the effect,