tient to be in Dresden; "will be quartered there in a week," writes
he, "and more at leisure than now." ["Wilsdruf, 17th November, 1759,"
and still more "19th November," Friedrich to Voltaire in high spirits
that way (_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxiii. 66).] He is thinking of Leuthen,
of Rossbach, of Campaign 1757, so gloriously restored after ruin; and,
in the fire of his soul, is hoping to do something similar a second
time. That is Retzow's notion: who knows but there may be truth in it? A
proud Friedrich, got on his feet again after such usage;--nay, who knows
whether it was quite so unwise to be impressive on the slow rhinoceros,
and try to fix some thorn in his snout, or say (figuratively), to hobble
his hind-feet; which, I am told, would have been beautifully ruinous;
and, though riskish, was not impossible? [Tempelhof, iii. 311, &c.] Ill
it indisputably turned out; and we have, with brevity, to say how, and
leave readers to their judgment of it.

It was in the Village of Krogis, about six miles forward, on the
Meissen-Freyberg road, a mile or two on from Korbitz, and directly after
the fierce little tussle in that Village,--that Friedrich, his blood
still up, gave the Order for Maxen, which proved so unlucky to him.
Wunsch had been shot off in pursuit of the beaten Austrians; but they
ran too fast; and Wunsch came back without farther result, still early
in the day. Back as far as Krogis, where the next head-quarter is to
be;--and finds the King still in a fulminant condition; none the milder,
it is likely, by Wunsch's returning without result. "Go straight to
General Finck; bid him march at once!" orders the King; and rapidly
gives Wunsch the instructions Finck is to follow. Finck and his Corps
are near Nossen, some ten miles ahead of Krogis, some twenty west from
Dresden. There, since yesterday, stands Finck, infesting the left or
western flank of the Austrians,--what was their left, and will be again,
when they call halt and face round on us:--Let Finck now march at once,
quite round that western flank; by Freyberg, Dippoldiswalde, thence east
to Maxen; plant himself at Maxen (a dozen miles south of Dresden, among
the rocky hills), and stick diligently in the rear of those Austrians,
cutting off, or threatening to cut off, their communications with
Bohemia, and block the Pirna Country for them.

Friedrich calculates that, if Daun is for retreating by Pirna Country,
this will, at lowest, be a method to quicken him