as a whole or must reject as
a whole. No, we shall have to leave the Prince his garland-wreathing and
the glove which he catches as a consequence of it. But the incident is
by no means essential to the rest of the drama. The structure has,
beside these artificial supports, other very different and entirely
solid ones, and there is no need to enlarge upon the former unless one
is animated with a desire to find fault. Here we have a youth who had
the misfortune to have fortune smile upon him prematurely, and who loves
where perhaps--he has as yet no certainty of it--he should not love;
what more is needed to enable us to comprehend the arrogance displayed
in the first catastrophe and the pusillanimity in the second? Kleist has
put a set of pulleys in motion where the simplest lever would have
sufficed, but the pulleys have been connected with the lever, and the
purpose has been thoroughly accomplished, though not by the most direct,
and therefore the best means.

The action, conceived from the point of view just described, is, briefly
summed up, as follows: It is the evening, or rather the night, before
the battle of Fehrbellin. The Great Elector, surrounded by his family,
has gathered his generals about him and is making known to them, by his
field-marshal, the plan which he has devised for the battle on the
morrow. Each officer, Homburg among them, is informed what part he is to
play in the bloody work of the following day; the Prince receives the
most difficult post for one of his age and temperament, since he is to
remain outside the firing line with the cavalry which he commands during
the actual battle, and not until the victory is practically won can he
come into action; even then he is to await a definite order from the
Elector, and is merely to assist in completely routing the vanquished
enemy. Here, be it noted, his ordeal already begins. It is not an
accident that the Elector has assigned him a post which must necessarily
bring him into conflict with his passions and the demands of his blood;
the sovereign does it purposely in order that he may learn to control
both. The Prince is scarcely listening to the field-marshal when his
turn comes; he is absent-minded, for Nathalie, the Princess of Orange,
an orphan who has taken refuge at the Brandenburg Court, and whom he
secretly loves, is present, and the Electress is leaving with her and
the other ladies while his orders are being dictated. However, be
scarcely re