the old Landsknecht army under the Hohenzollerns; the new
organization of the Prussian army formed the ground-work of an
excellent education for the officers. The Elector Frederic William had
perceived that the wild country nobles of his devastated realm could be
best turned to account in the army which he created amid the roar of
cannon in the Thirty Years' War. He restrained their love of brawls by
military discipline; regulated their rude sense of honour by _esprit de
corps_ and military laws; and gave them the feeling of being in a
privileged position, by raising none but nobles to the rank of
officers. Thus was effected one of the most remarkable changes in the
civilization of the eighteenth century, especially when King Frederic
William I. and Frederic II. had so emphatically declared that every
prince of the Hohenzollern house must be both soldier and officer, wear
the same coat, be under the same subordination and the same law of
honour as the most insignificant _Junker_ from the country.

Thus it happened that the descendants of many families that had lived
as drones in the Commonwealth became closely bound up with the fondest
recollections of the people. But this political privilege of the
nobility became, it is true, even in the State of the Hohenzollerns, a
source of new danger to the families of the nobility, and, which was
still more important, to the State itself. We shall have occasion to
speak of this later.

Thus the nobility, about 1750, were at their highest point--everywhere
the ruling class. Thousands of their sons did homage, in both the great
and small courts; scarcely a less number established themselves in the
stalls of ecclesiastical endowments, occupied prebends and carried
Imperial "_panisbriefs_"[57] in their pockets. The softest seats in the
senate, the foremost places in the State carriages of diplomats, were
taken by them; almost the whole of the State domains were in their
hands. But it was just at this period that a great change took place in
the minds of the German people; a new culture arose, and new views of
the value of the things of this world spread themselves, quietly,
gradually, imperceptibly, no one knew how or from whence. The German
sentences received a new cadence; German verses became less majestic,
and soon even simple. This new seeking after simplicity spread still
further. Certain bold enthusiasts ventured to despise powder, and
perukes; this was contrary to all etiqu