in one of two different plans. The first plan
is, To attack the French retrenchment generally; the ditch which is
before it, and the morass which lies on our left wing, to be made
passable with these fascines. The other plan is, To amuse the Enemy by a
false attack, and throw succor into the Town.--One thing is certain,
in a few days we shall have a stroke of work here. Happen what may,
my All-gracious Father may be assured that" &c., "and that I will do
nothing unworthy of him.

"FRIEDRICH."

[_OEuvres,_ xxvii. part 3d, p. 79.]

Neither of those fine plans took effect; nor did anything take effect,
as we shall see. But in regard to that "survey from the steeple of
Waghausel, and ride home again between the Lines,"--in regard to that,
here is an authentic fraction of anecdote, curiously fitting in, which
should not be omitted. A certain Herr van Suhm, Saxon Minister at
Berlin, occasionally mentioned here, stood in much Correspondence with
the Crown-Prince in the years now following: Correspondence which was
all published at the due distance of time; Suhm having, at his decease,
left the Prince's Letters carefully assorted with that view, and
furnished with a Prefatory "Character of the Prince-Royal _(Portrait
du Prince-Royal, par M. de Suhm)."_ Of which Preface this is a small
paragraph, relating to the Siege of Philipsburg; offering us a momentary
glance into one fibre of the futile War now going on there. Of Suhm,
and how exact he was, we shall know a little by and by. Of "Prince
von Lichtenstein," an Austrian man and soldier of much distinction
afterwards, we have only to say that he came to Berlin next year on
Diplomatic business, and that probably enough he had been eye-witness to
the little fact,--fact credible perhaps without much proving. One rather
regretted there was no date to it, no detail to give it whereabout
and fixity in our conception; that the poor little Anecdote, though
indubitable, had to hang vaguely in the air. Now, however, the above
dated LETTER does, by accident, date Suhm's Anecdote too; date "July 8"
as good as certain for it; the Siege itself having ended (July 18) in
ten days more. Herr von Suhm writes (not for publication till after
Friedrich's death and his own):--

"It was remarked in the Rhine Campaign of 1734, that this Prince has a
great deal of intrepidity (BEAUCOUP DE VALEUR). On one occasion, among
others [to all appearance, this very day, "July 8," riding home from
Waghausel