I.; Prussian by birth, though
this long while in Saxon service), That if he the Fieldmarshal were to
pay, accidentally, as it were, a little visit to his native Brandenburg
just now, it might have fine effects on those foolish Berlin-Warsaw
clouds that had risen. The Fieldmarshal, well affected in such a case,
manages the little visit, readily persuading the Polish Majesty; and
dissipates the clouds straightway,--being well received by Friedrich
Wilhelm, and seconded by the Tobacco-Parliament with all its might. Out
at Wusterhausen everything is comfortably settled. Nay Madam Flemming,
young, brilliant, and direct from the seat of fashion; it was she that
first "built up" Wilhelmina's hair on just principles, and put some
life into her appearance. [Wilhelmina, i. 117.] And now the Fieldmarshal
(Tobacco-Parliament suggesting it) hints farther, "If his Prussian
Majesty, in the mere greatness of his mind, were to appear suddenly in
Dresden when his royal Friend was next there,--what a sunburst after
clouds were that; how welcome to the Polish Majesty!"--"Hm, Na, would
it, then?"--The Polish Majesty puts that out of question; specially
sends invitation for the Carnival-time just coming; and Friedrich
Wilhelm will, accordingly, see Dresden and him on that occasion. [Ib. i.
108, 109; Pollnitz, ii. 254; Fassman, p. 374.] In those days, Carnival
means "Fashionable Season," rural nobility rallying to head-quarters for
a while, and social gayeties going on; and in Protestant Countries it
means nothing more.

This, in substance, was the real origin of Friedrich Wilhelm's sudden
visit to Dresden, which astonished the world, in January next. It makes
a great figure in the old Books. It did kindle Dresden Carnival and the
Physically Strong into supreme illumination, for the time being; and
proved the seal of good agreement, and even of a kind of friendliness
between this heteroclite pair of Sovereigns,--if anybody now cared for
those points. It is with our Crown-Prince's share in it that we are
alone concerned; and that may require a Chapter to itself.

Chapter III. -- VISIT TO DRESDEN.

One of the most important adventures, for our young Crown-Prince, was
this visit of his, along with Papa, to Dresden in the Carnival of 1728.
Visit contrived by Seckendorf and Company, as we have seen, to divert
the King's melancholy, and without view to the Crown-Prince at all. The
Crown-Prince, now sixteen, and not in the best favor with hi