s not in money alone (which
is of very uncertain value, and sometimes has no value at all, and even
less), but in frugality, diligence, punctuality, veracity,--the grand
fountains from which money, and all real values and valors spring for
men. To Friedrich Wilhelm in his rustio simplicity, money had no lack of
value; rather the reverse. To the homespun man it was a success of most
excellent quality, and the chief symbol of success in all kinds. Yearly
he made his own revenues, and his people's along with them and as
the source of them, larger: and in all states of his revenue, he had
contrived to make his expenditure less than it; and yearly saved
masses of coin, and "reposited them in barrels in the cellars of his
Schloss,"--where they proved very useful, one day. Much in Friedrich
Wilhelm proved useful, beyond even his expectations. As a Nation's
HUSBAND he seeks his fellow among Kings, ancient and modern. Happy the
Nation which gets such a Husband, once in the half-thousand years. The
Nation, as foolish wives and Nations do, repines and grudges a good
deal, its weak whims and will being thwarted very often; but it advances
steadily, with consciousness or not, in the way of well-doing; and
afterlong times the harvest of this diligent sowing becomes manifest to
the Nation and to all Nations.

Strange as it sounds in the Republic of Letters, we are tempted to call
Friedrich Wilhelm a man of genius;--genius fated and promoted to work
in National Husbandry, not in writing Verses or three-volume Novels. A
silent genius. His melodious stanza, which he cannot bear to see halt in
any syllable, is a rough fact reduced to order; fact made to stand firm
on its feet, with the world-rocks under it, and looking free towards
all the winds and all the stars. He goes about suppressing platitudes,
ripping off futilities, turning deceptions inside out. The realm of
Disorder, which is Unveracity, Unreality, what we call Chaos, has no
fiercer enemy. Honest soul, and he seemed to himself such a stupid
fellow often; no tongue-learning at all; little capable to give a reason
for the faith that was in him. He cannot argue in articulate logic,
only in inarticulate bellowings, or worse. He must DO a thing, leave it
undemonstrated; once done, it will itself tell what kind of thing it is,
by and by. Men of genius have a hard time, I perceive, whether born
on the throne or off it; and must expect contradictions next to
unendurable,--the plurality