u, some twenty-five miles north of Neisse, ready to move
on, and open trenches, when required: and SECOND, that Holstein-Beck
gets posted at Frankenstein (chief place of that Baumgarten Skirmish),
say thirty-five miles west-by-north of Neisse; and has some 8 or 10,000
Horse and Foot thereabouts, spread up and down,--who will be much
wanted, and not procurable, on an occasion that is coming.

Friedrich has given up the Jablunka Pass; called in the Jablunka and
remoter posts; anxious to concentrate, before the Enemy get nigh. That
is the King's notion; and surely a reasonable one; the AREA of the
Prussian Army, as I guess it from the Maps, being above 2,000 square
miles, beginning at Breslau only, and leaving out Glogau. Schwerin
thinks differently, but without good basis. Both are agreed, "The
Austrian Army cannot take the field till the forage come," till the
new grass spring, which its cavalry find convenient. That is the fair
supposition; but in that both are mistaken, and Schwerin the more
dangerously of the two.--Meanwhile, the Pandour swarms are observably
getting rifer, and of stormier quality; and they seem to harbor farther
to the East than formerly, and not to come all out of Glatz. Which
perhaps are symptomatic circumstances? The worst effect of these
preliminary Pandour clouds is, Your scout-service cannot live among
them; they hinder reconnoitring, and keep the Enemy veiled from you. Of
that sore mischief Friedrich had, first and last, ample experience at
their hands! This is but the first instalment of Pandours to Friedrich;
and the mere foretaste of what they can do in the veiling way.

Behind the Mountains, in this manner, all is inane darkness to Friedrich
and Schwerin. They know only that Neipperg is rendezvousing at Olmutz;
and judge that he will still spend many weeks upon it; the real facts
being: That Neipperg--"who arrived in Olmutz on the 10th of March," the
very day while Glogau was homaging--has been, he and those above him and
those under him, driving preparations forward at a furious rate. That
Neipperg held--I think at Steinberg his hithermost post, some twenty
miles hither of Olmutz--a Council of War, "all the Generals and even
Lentulus from Glatz, present at it," day not given; where the unanimous
decision was, "March straightway; save Neisse, since Glogau is
gone!"--and in fine, That on the 26th, Neipperg took the road
accordingly, "in spite of furious snow blowing in his face;" and is
ev