cross the swamps; upon
which, notable to the roughest Prussian (being "twelve feet high by
eight feet square"), rises a Hewn Mass with this Inscription on it,--not
of the name or date of George; but of a thought of his, which is not
without a pious beauty to me:--_Straverunt alii nobis, nos Posteritati;
Omnibus at Christus stravit ad asra viam._ Others have made roads for
us; we make them for still others: Christ made a road to the stars for
us all. [Zollner, _Briefe uber Schlesien,_ i. 175; Hubner, i. t. 101.]

I know not how many Brandenburgers of General Kleist's Detachment, or
whether any, read this Stone; but they do all rustle past it there,
claiming the Heritage of this Pious George; and their mute dim interview
with him, in this manner, is a thing slightly more memorable than orders
of the day, at this date.

It was on the 11th, two days after Ohlau, that General Kleist summoned
Brieg; and Brieg answered resolutely, No. There is a garrison of 1,600
here, and a proper magazine: nothing for it but to "mask" Brieg too;
Kleist on this side the River, Jeetz on that,--had Jeetz once done with
Namslau, which he has not by any means. Namslau's answer was likewise
stiffly in the negative; and Jeetz cannot do Namslau, at least not
the Castle, all at once; having no siege-cannon. Seeing such stiffness
everywhere, Friedrich writes to Glogau, to the Young Dessauer,
"Siege-artillery hither! Swift, by the Oder; you don't need it where you
are!" and wishes it were arrived, for behoof of Neisse and these stiff
humors.

FRIEDRICH COMES ACROSS TO OTTMACHAU; SITS THERE, IN SURVEY OF NEISSE,
TILL HIS CANNON COME.

The Prussians met with serious resistance, for the first time (9th
January, same day when Ohlau yielded), at a place called Ottmachau; a
considerable little Town and Castle on the Neisse River, not far west of
Neisse Town, almost at the very south of Silesia. It lay on the route of
Schwerin's Column; long distances ahead of Liegnitz,--say, by straight
highway a hundred miles;--during which, to right and to left, there had
been nothing but submission hitherto. No resistance was expected here
either, for there was not hope in any; only that Browne had been here;
industrious to create delay till Neisse were got fully ready. He is, by
every means, girding up the loins of Neisse for a tight defence; has put
1,600 men into it, with proper stores for them, with a resolute skilful
Captain at the top of them: assiduous Br