of
Siege-Artillery in a state of readiness." [Tempelhof, iv. 51.] Already
meaning, it is thought, or contemplating as possible a certain Siege,
which surprised everybody before long! A most inventive, enterprising
being; no end to his contrivances and unexpected outbreaks; especially
when you have him jammed into a corner, and fancy it is all over with
him!

"To no other General," says Tempelhof, "would such a notion of besieging
Dresden have occurred; or if it had suggested itself, the hideous
difficulties would at once have banished it again, or left it only as a
pious wish. But it is strokes of this kind that characterize the great
man. Often enough they have succeeded, been decisive of great campaigns
and wars, and become splendid in the eyes of all mankind; sometimes, as
in this case, they have only deserved to succeed, and to be splendid in
the eyes of judges. How get these masses of enemies lured away, so
that you could try such a thing? There lay the difficulty; insuperable
altogether, except by the most fine and appropriate treatment. Of a
truth, it required a connected series of the wisest measures and most
secret artifices of war;--and withal, that you should throw over them
such a veil as would lead your enemy to see in them precisely the
reverse of what they meant. How all this was to be set in action, and
how the Enemy's own plans, intentions and moods of mind were to be used
as raw material for attainment of your object,--studious readers will
best see in the manoeuvres of the King in his now more than critical
condition; which do certainly exhibit the completest masterpiece in the
Art of leading Armies that Europe has ever seen."

Tempelhof is well enough aware, as readers should continue to be, that,
primarily, and onward for three weeks more, not Dresden, but the getting
to Silesia on good terms, is Friedrich's main enterprise: Dresden only
a supplement or substitute, a second string to his bow, till the first
fail. But, in effect, the two enterprises or strings coincide, or are
one, till the first of them fail; and Tempelhof's eulogy will apply
to either. The initiatory step to either is a Second Feat of
Marching;--still notabler than the former, which has had this poor
issue. Soldiers of the studious or scientific sort, if there are yet any
such among us, will naturally go to Tempelhof, and fearlessly encounter
the ruggedest Documents and Books, if Tempelhof leave them dubious on
any point (which h