nteresting as it might be, and
important as revealing the sources of subsequent political developments.
Yet in passing, this at least must be borne in mind, that there was all
the while a struggle going on between the nobility and the monarchy, the
latter gradually gaining in strength.

Frederick I., whose vanity led him to make it his main object to secure
the _name_ of king, did less than his immediate predecessor, the 'great
elector,' toward deepening the foundations of the monarchy. The most
noticeable feature of his reign was the increase of the standing army
from twenty-five thousand to fifty thousand. He secured the _title_ of
royalty. It remained for his son and successor to secure its power and
authority.[3]

Frederick William I. was the first absolute monarch of Prussia. He was a
man of rough manners and coarse tastes. Caring little for the pomp of
royalty, he jealously sought to maintain his hold on the essence of it.
No sooner had he dried the tears shed over his deceased father, than he
dismissed the larger part of the court attendants, cut off unnecessary
expenses, inaugurated a simple style of living in the court, and began
to direct his attention to the improvement of the military and financial
condition of the country. More than any predecessor, he identified the
office of king with that of commander-in-chief of the army. His
domineering disposition carried him so far that he personally scolded
and threatened with blows whoever seemed to him lazy and shiftless,
however little the matter personally concerned him. So violent was his
temper that, because his son, afterward Frederick the Great, displayed
more taste for literature, and less for religion and warfare, than he
had wished, he became disgusted with him, threateningly raised his cane
whenever he saw him; and, when the prince, exasperated by constant
abuse, formed a plan of escape to Sinsheim, the king, having discovered
it before its execution, was so infuriated that, except for the
intervention of bystanders, he would have run him through with his
sword. As it was, at one time he beat him furiously with his cane.
Frederick's confidant was executed before his eyes, and he himself
condemned to a long banishment from the court; and not till he had shown
signs of repentance, was he readmitted to it and to his father's favor.
Frederick William is famous for the 'tobacco club' which he established,
at whose sessions over the pipe and the beer he and h