re not prospering here?'

ICH. "'Far from it, your Majesty; they are in the greatest poverty.'

KING. "'That is bad.--Tell me though; there lived a Landrath here
before: he had a quantity of children: can't you recollect his name?'

ICH. "'That will have been the Landrath von Gorgas of Genser.'

KING. "'Ja, ja, that was he. Is he dead now?'

ICH. "'Ja, your Majesty. He died in 1771: and it was very singular; in
one fortnight he, his wife and four sons all died. The other four that
were left had all the same sickness too, which was a hot fever; and
though the sons, being in the Army, were in different garrisons, and no
brother had visited the other, they all got the same illness, and came
out of it with merely their life left.'

KING. "'That was a desperate affair (VERZWEIFELTER UMSTAND GEWESEN)!
Where are the four sons that are still in life?'

ICH. "'One is in the Ziethen Hussars, one in the Gens-d'-Armes, another
was in the regiment Prinz Ferdinand, and lives on the Estate Dersau. The
fourth is son-in-law of Herr General von Ziethen. He was lieutenant in
the Ziethen Regiment; but in the last war (POTATO-WAR, 1778), on account
of his ill health, your Majesty gave him his discharge; and he now lives
in Genser.'

KING. "'So? That is one of the Gorgases, then!--Are you still making
experiments with the foreign kinds of corn?'

ICH. "'O ja; this year I have sown Spanish barley. But it will not
rightly take hold; I must give it up again. However, the Holstein
STOOLing-rye (STAUDENROGGEN) has answered very well.'

KING. "'What kind of rye is that?'

ICH. "'It grows in Holstein in the Low Grounds (NIEDERUNG). Never below
the 10th grain [10 reaped for 1 sown] have I yet had it.'

KING. "'Nu, nu [Ho, ho], surely not the 10th grain all at once!'

ICH. "'That is not much. Please your Majesty to ask the Herr General
von Gortz [who has not spoken a syllable all day]; he knows this is not
reckoned much in Holstein:'--(the General Graf von Gortz I first had the
honor to make acquaintance with in Holstein).

"They now talked, for a while, of the rye, in the carriage together.
Presently his Majesty called to me from the carriage, 'Na, stand by the
Holstein STAUDEN-rye, then; and give some to the tenants too.'

ICH. "'Yes, your Majesty.'

KING. "'But give me some idea: what kind of appearance had the Luch
before it was drained?'

ICH. "'It was mere high rough masses of hillocks (HULLEN); between them
the water settle