nd having, it would seem, too little curiosity on the
subject.

And so the matter wavers; and in spite of Dubourgay's and Queen Sophie's
industry, and the Crown-Prince's willing mind, there can nothing
definite be made of it at this time. Friedrich Wilhelm goes on visits,
goes on huntings; leaves the matter to itself to mature a little. Thus
the negotiation hangs fire; and will do so,--till dreadful waterspouts
come, and perhaps quench it altogether?

HIS MAJESTY SLAUGHTERS 3,602 HEAD OF WILD SWINE.

His Majesty is off for a Hunting Visit to the Old
Dessauer,--Crown-Prince with him, who hates hunting. Then, "19th
January, 1729," says the reverential Fassmann, he is off for a grand
hunt at Copenick; then for a grander in Pommern (Crown-Prince still
with him): such a slaughter of wild swine as was seldom heard of, and as
never occurred again. No fewer than "1,882 head (STUCK) of wild swine,
300 of them of uncommon magnitude," in the Stettin and other Pommern
regions; "together with 1,720 STUCK in the Mark Brandenburg, once 450 in
a day: in all, 3,602 STUCK." Never was his Majesty in better spirits: a
very Nimrod or hunting Centaur; trampling the cobwebs of Diplomacy, and
the cares of life, under his victorious hoofs. All this slaughter of
swine, 3,602 STUCK by tale, was done in the season 1729. "From which,"
observes the adoring Fassmann, [p. 387.] "is to be inferred the
importance," at least in wild swine, "of those royal Forests in Pommern
and the Mark;" not to speak of his Majesty's supreme talent in hunting,
as in other things.

What Friedrich Wilhelm did with such a mass of wild pork? Not an ounce
of it was wasted, every ounce of it brought money in. For there exist
Official Schedules, lists as for a window-tax or property-tax, drawn
up by his Majesty's contrivance, in the chief Localities: every man,
according to the house he keeps, is bound to take, at a just value by
weight, such and such quotities of suddenly slaughtered wild swine, one
or so many,--and consume them at his leisure, as ham or otherwise,--cash
payable at a fixed term, and no abatement made. [Forster, Beneckendorf
(if they had an Index I).] For this is a King that cannot stand waste at
all; thrifty himself, and the Cause of thrift.

FALLS ILL, IN CONSEQUENCE; AND THE DOUBLE-MARRIAGE CANNOT GET FORWARD.

This was one of Friedrich Wilhelm's grandest hunting-bouts, this of
January, 1729; at all events, he will never have another such.