e middle of the dance, than I was
at what the King said to me." [Bielfeld, i. 167, 168.] Next morning, I--

The fact is, next morning, Truchsess and I began preparation for the
Court of London,--and we did there, for many months afterwards, strive
our best to keep the Britannic Majesty in some kind of tune, amid the
prevailing discord of events;--fact interesting to some. And the other
fact, interesting to everybody, though Bielfeld has not mentioned it,
is, That King Friedrich, the same next morning, punctually "at the
stroke of 9," rolled away Frankfurt-ward,--into the First Silesian War!
Tuesday, "13th December, this morning, the King, privately quitting the
Ball, has gone [after some little snatch of sleep, we will hope] for
Frankfurt, to put himself at the head of his Troops." [Dickens (in
State-Paper Office), 13th December, 1740; see also _Helden-Geschichte,_
i. 452; &c. &c.] Bellona his companion for long years henceforth,
instead of Minerva and the Muses, as he had been anticipating.

Hereby is like to be fulfilled (except that Friedrich himself is perhaps
this "little stone") what Friedrich prophesied to his Voltaire, the
day after hearing of the Kaiser's death: "I believe there will, by June
next, be more talk of cannon, soldiers, trenches, than of actresses, and
dancers for the ballet. This small Event changes the entire system of
Europe. It is the little stone which Nebuchadnezzar saw, in his dream,
loosening itself, and rolling down on the Image made of Four Metals,
which it shivers to ruin." [Friedrich to Voltaire, busy gathering actors
at that time, 26th October, 1740 (_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxii. 49).]

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Friedrich II. of Prussia,
Vol. XI. (of XXI.), by Thomas Carlyle

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. ***

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