less to get before him; all that could be done was to follow him
close. If one let him have the last word, he contrived always to have
the best of the argument." He seems to have been a thorough Englishman
in the highest sense of the word, and to have had the loftiest opinion
of the power and principles of England; not from any fantastic
prejudice, but from the experience of a long life, with the best
opportunities of forming an unprejudiced judgment. We have already
mentioned his declared opinion after living long abroad, and as a great
diplomatic functionary, living under the most advantageous circumstances
of foreign society; that any Englishman who, after a residence abroad,
prefers the Continent to his own country, is beyond all question a man
of gross and contemptible mind, and incapable of taking a "common-sense
view" of the subject. We have his constant testimony, that "as there is
nothing equal to England on the face of the earth, so no exertion on the
part of her people can be too great in defence of her freedom and
honour." In conformity with this matured conviction, and reigning
principle of his heart, he chose as the motto for his coronet--

"Ubique patriam reminisci."{B}

Mr Harris's first visit to the Continent was in 1767, when he set out on
a tour to Holland, Prussia, and Poland, remaining for some time at
Berlin, where he had the advantage of seeing the cleverest, though the
most eccentric, of all sovereigns, Frederick the Great. A number of
traits of character are given, of various degrees of force, but all
expressive. The king's chief amusement was playing on the flute, on
which he performed very well for an amateur, though, compared with the
professional performers, he necessarily made rather an unkingly figure.
Frederick, who was afraid of nothing else, was so much afraid of failure
in his flute playing, that whenever he had a new piece of music, he shut
himself up in his closet some hours beforehand, to practise it; and
although no one was permitted to be present at those concerts except a
very few select friends, he was always observed to be remarkably nervous
at the commencement. He had a fine collection of flutes, all made by the
same man, and for which he paid a hundred ducats a-piece. He had an
attendant whose sole office was to keep those flutes in order. During
the war, when his finances were reduced to so low an ebb that he paid
bad coin to every one, he took care that his flute-maker