ween
them again. Nay, the day after his departure, there goes a beautifully
affectionate Letter to him; which we could give, if there were room:
[_OEuvres,_ xxvii. part 1st, p. 23.] "the happiest time I ever in my
life had;" "my heart so full of gratitude and so sensibly touched;"
"every one repeating the words 'dear Brother' and 'charming
Prince-Royal:'"--a Letter in very lively contrast to what we have just
been reading. A Prince-Royal not without charm, in spite of the hard
practicalities he is meditating, obliged to meditate!--

As to the outbreak of candor, offensive to Wilhelmina and us, we suppose
her report of it to be in substance true, though of exaggerated,
perhaps perverted tone; and it is worth the reader's note, with these
deductions. The truth is, our charming Princess is always liable to
a certain subtrahend. In 1744, when she wrote those _Memoires,_ "in
a Summer-house at Baireuth," her Brother and she, owing mainly to
go-betweens acting on the susceptible female heart, were again in
temporary quarrel (the longest and worst they ever had), and hardly on
speaking terms; which of itself made her heart very heavy;--not to
say that Marwitz, the too artful Demoiselle, seemed to have stolen her
Husband's affections from the poor Princess, and made the world look
all a little grim to her. These circumstances have given their color to
parts of her Narrative, and are not to be forgotten by readers.

The Crown-Prince--who goes by Dessau, lodging for a night with the Old
Dessauer, and writes affectionately to his Sister from that place, their
Letters crossing on the road--gets home on the 12th to Potsdam. October
12th, 1734, he has ended his Rhine Campaign, in that manner;--and
sees his poor Father, with a great many other feelings besides those
expressed in the dialogue at Baireuth.

Chapter XI. -- IN PAPA'S SICK-ROOM; PRUSSIAN INSPECTIONS: END OF WAR.

It appears, Friedrich met a cordial reception in the sickroom at
Potsdam; and, in spite of his levities to Wilhelmina, was struck to
the heart by what he saw there. For months to come, he seems to be
continually running between Potsdam and Ruppin, eager to minister to his
sick Father, when military leave is procurable. Other fact, about him,
other aspect of him, in those months, is not on record for us.

Of his young Madam, or Princess-Royal, peaceably resident at Berlin or
at Schonhausen, and doing the vacant officialities, formal visitings
and the like