Camas returns to him out of Glatz; five
of his men lost; and reports That Browne has had the roads torn up, that
Glatz is mere ice and obstruction, and that nothing can be made of it at
this season. Good news alternating with not so good.

The truth is, Friedrich has got no Strong Place in Schlesien; all
strengths make unexpected defence; paltry little Namslan itself
cannot be quite taken, Castle cannot, till Jeetz gets his
siege-artillery,--which does not come along so fast as that to Neisse
does. Here is an Excerpt from my Dryasdust, exact though abridged,
concerning Jeetz:--

"JANUARY 24th, 1741. Prussians, masters of the Town for a couple of
weeks back, have got into the Church at Namslau, into the Cloister; are
preparing plank floors for batteries, cutting loop-holes; diligent as
possible,--siege-guns now at last just coming. The Castle fires fiercely
on them, makes furious sallies, steals six of our oxen,--makes insolent
gestures from the walls; at least one soldier does, this day. 'Sir,
may I give that fellow a shot?' asks the Prussian sentry. 'Do, then,'
answers his Major: 'too insolent that one!' And the sentry explodes on
him; brings him plunging down, head foremost (HERUNTER PURZELTE); the
too insolent mortal, silent enough thenceforth." [_Helden-Geschichte,_
i. 703.]--Jeetz did get his cannon, though not till now, this very day
I think; and then, in a couple of days more, Jeetz finished off Namslau
("officers to Custrin, Common men to Berlin"); and thereupon blockades
the Eastern side of Brieg, joining hands with Kleist on the Western:
whereby Brieg, like Glogau, is completely masked,--till the season mend.

Friedrich, now that his artillery is come, expects no difficulty with
Neisse. A "paltry hamlet (BICOQUE)" he playfully calls it; and, except
this, Silesia is now his. Neisse got (which would be the desirable
thing), or put under "mask" as Glogau is, and as Brieg is being, Austria
possesses not an inch of land within these borders. Here are some
Epistolary snatches; still in the light style, not to say the flimsy
and uplifted; but worth giving, so transparent are they; off hand, like
words we had heard his Majesty SPEAK, in his high mood:--

KING TO M. JORDAN, AT BERLIN (two successive Letters).

1. "OTTMACHAU, 14th JANUARY, 1741 [second day after our arrival there].
My dear Monsieur Jordan, my sweet Monsieur Jordan, my quiet Monsieur
Jordan, my good, my benign, my pacific, my humanest Monsieur Jorda