se cheap terms;--nay almost as
Houses of Parliament with Standing Committees and appendages, so many
Acts of Parliament admittedly rather wise, being passed daily by his
Majesty's help and theirs!--Friedrich paid them rather well; they saw no
society; lived wholly to their work, and to their own families. Eichel
alone of the three was mentioned at all by mankind, and that obscurely;
an "abstruse, reserved, long-headed kind of man;" and "made a great deal
of money in the end," insinuates Busching, [_Beitrage,_ v. 238, &c.] no
friend of Friedrich's or his.

In superficial respects, again, Friedrich finds that the Prussian King
ought to have a King's Establishment, and maintain a decent splendor
among his neighbors,--as is not quite the case at present. In this
respect he does make changes. A certain quantity of new Pages, new
Goldsticks; some considerable, not too considerable, new furbishing of
the Royal Household,--as it were, a fair coat of new paint, with gilding
not profuse,--brought it to the right pitch for this King, About "a
hundred and fifty" new figures of the Page and Goldstick kind, is the
reckoning given. [_Helden Geschichte,_ i. 353.] So many of these; and
there is an increase of 16,000 to one's Army going on: that is the
proportion noticeable. In the facts as his Father left them Friedrich
persisted all his life; in the semblances or outer vestures he changed,
to this extent for the present.--These are the Phenomena of Friedrich's
Accession, noted by us.

Readers see there is radiance enough, perhaps slightly in excess, but of
intrinsically good quality, in the Aurora of this new Reign. A brilliant
valiant young King; much splendor of what we could call a golden or
soft nature (visible in those "New-Era" doings of his, in those strong
affections to his Friends); and also, what we like almost better in him,
something of a STEEL-BRIGHT or stellar splendor (meaning, clearness
of eyesight, intrepidity, severe loyalty to fact),--which is a fine
addition to the softer element, and will keep IT and its philanthropies
and magnanimities well under rule. Such a man is rare in this world; how
extremely rare such a man born King! He is swift and he is persistent;
sharply discerning, fearless to resolve and perform; carries his great
endowments lightly, as if they were not heavy to him. He has known hard
misery, been taught by stripes; a light stoicism sits gracefully on him.

"What he will grow to?" Probably to some