ken. Bruhl and the Austrians had decided otherwise. "Open
mouse-trap," at Striegau; claws of the sleeping cat, at Sohr: these were
sad experiences; ill to bear, with the Sea-Powers grumbling on you, and
the world sniffing its pity on you;--but are not conclusive, are only
provoking and even maddening, to the sanguine mind. Two sad failures;
but let us try another time. "A tricky man; cunning enough, your King of
Prussia!" thinks Bruhl, with a fellness of humor against Friedrich which
is little conceivable to us now: "Cunning enough. But it is possible
cunning may be surpassed by deeper cunning!"--and decides, Bartenstein
and an indignant Empress-Queen assenting eagerly, That there shall, in
the profoundest secrecy till it break out, be a third, and much fiercer
trial, this Winter yet. The Bruhl-Bartenstein plan (owing mainly to the
Russian Bugbear which hung over it, protective, but with whims of its
own) underwent changes, successive redactions or editions; which the
reader would grudge to hear explained to him. [Account of them in
Orlich, ii. 273-278 (from various RUTOWSKI Papers; and from the
contemporary satirical Pamphlet, "MONDSCHEINWURFE, Mirror-castings of
Moonshine, by ZEBEDAUS Cuckoo,) beaten Captain of a beaten Army."] Of the
final or acted edition, some loose notion, sufficient for our purpose,
may be collected from the following fractions of Notes:--

NOVEMBER 17th (INTERIOR OF GERMANY).... "Feldmarschall-Lieutenant von
Grune, a General of mark, detached by Traun not long since, from the
Rhine Country, with a force of 10,000 men, why is he marching about:
first to Baireuth Country, 'at Hof, November 9th,' as if for Bohemia;
then north, to Gera ('lies at Gera till the 17th'), as if for
Saxony Proper? Prince Karl, you would certainly say, has gone into
winter-quarters; about Konigsgratz, and farther on? Gone or going,
sure enough, is Prince Karl, into the convenient Bohemian
districts,--uncertain which particular districts; at least the Young
Dessauer, watching him from the Silesian side, is uncertain which.
Better be vigilant, Prince Leopold!--Grune, lying at Gera yonder, is not
intending for Prince Karl, then? No, not thither. Then perhaps
towards Saxony, to reinforce the Saxons? Or some-whither to find fat
winter-quarters: who knows? Indeed, who cares particularly, for such
inconsiderable Grune and his 10,000!--

"The Saxons quitted their inexpugnable Camp towards Halle, some time
ago; went into cantonmen