gh that blessed day; making
roads into mere rivers of mud. The Prussian hosts marched on, all the
same. Head-quarters, with the van of the wet Army, that night, were
at Milkau;--from which place we have a Note of Friedrich's for Friend
Jordan, perhaps producible by and by. His Majesty lodged in some opulent
Jesuit Establishment there. And indeed he continued there, not idle,
under shelter, for a couple of days. The Jesuits, by their two head men,
had welcomed him with their choicest smiles; to whom the King was very
gracious, asking the two to dinner as usual, and styling them "Your
Reverence." Willing to ingratiate himself with persons of interest in
this Country; and likes talk, even with Jesuits of discernment.

On the morrow (20th), came to him, here at Milkau,--probably from some
near stage, for the rain was pouring worse than ever,--that Breslau
"Patent," or strongish Protestation, by its two Messengers of
dignity. The King looked over it "without visible anger" or change of
countenance; "handed it," we expressly see, "to a Page to reposit" in
the proper waste-basket;--spoke politely to the two gentlemen; asked
each or one of them, "Are you of the Ober-Amt at Breslau, then?"--using
the style of ER (He).--"No, your Majesty; we are only of the
Land-Stande" (Provincial Parliament, such as it is). "Upon which [do you
mark!] his Majesty became still more polite; asked them to dinner,
and used the style of SIE." For their PATENT, now lying safe in its
waste-basket, he gave them signed receipt; no other answer.

Rain still heavier, rain as of Noah, continued through this Tuesday, and
for days afterwards: but the Prussian hosts, hastening towards Glogau,
marched still on. This Tuesday's march, for the rearward of the Army,
10,000 foot and 2,000 horse; march of ten hours long, from Weichau to
the hamlet Milkau (where his Majesty sits busy and affable),--is thought
to be the wettest on record. Waters all out, bridges down, the Country
one wild lake of eddying mud. Up to the knee for many miles together; up
to the middle for long spaces; sometimes even up to the chin or deeper,
where your bridge was washed away. The Prussians marched through it, as
if they had been slate or iron. Rank and file, nobody quitted his rank,
nobody looked sour in the face; they took the pouring of the skies, and
the red seas of terrestrial liquid, as matters that must be; cheered
one another with jocosities, with choral snatches (tobacco, I consid