next was a
shining phenomenon in the Royal House and upper ranks of Berlin Society,
and a touching and interesting one to the busy Friedrich himself, as may
be supposed. She had her own Apartments and Household at Berlin, in the
Palace there, I think; but went much visiting about, and receiving many
visits,--fond especially of literary people.

Friedrich's notices of her are frequent in his Letters of the time,
all affectionate, natural and reasonable. Here are the first two I meet
with: TO THE ELECTRESS OF SAXONY (three weeks after Ulrique's arrival);
"A thousand excuses, Madam, for not answering sooner! What will plead
for me with a Princess who so well knows the duties of friendship, is,
that I have been occupied with the reception of a Sister, who has come
to seek consolation in the bosom of her kindred for the loss of a loved
Husband, the remembrance of whom saddens and afflicts her." And again,
two months later: "... Your Royal Highness deigns to take so obliging
an interest in the visit I have had [and still have] from the Queen of
Sweden. I beheld her as if raised from the dead to me; for an absence
of eight-and-twenty years, in the short space of our duration, is almost
equivalent to death. She arrived among us, still in great affliction
for the loss she had had of the King; and I tried to distract her sad
thoughts by all the dissipations possible. It is only by dint of such
that one compels the mind to shift away from the fatal idea where grief
has fixed it: this is not the work of a day, but of time, which in the
end succeeds in everything. I congratulate your Royal Highness on your
Journey to Bavaria [on a somewhat similar errand, we may politely say];
where you will find yourself in the bosom of a Family that adores you:"
after which, and the sight of old scenes, how pleasant to go on to
Italy, as you propose! [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxiv. 230, 235. "24th
December 1771," "February, 1772." See also, _"Eptire a la Reine
Douairiere de Suede"_ (Poem on the Troubles she has had: _OEuvres de
Frederic,_ xiii. 74, "written in December, 1770"), and _"Vers a la Reine
de Suede,"_ "January, 1771" (ib. 79).]

Queen Ulrique--a solid and ingenuous character (in childhood a
favorite of her Father's, so rational, truthful and of silent staid
ways)--appears to have been popular in the Berlin circles; pleasant and
pleased, during these eight months. Formey, especially Thiebault, are
copious on this Visit of hers; and give a