in his religious alembics, till it become tolerable
to his conscience, or even palatable, as elixirs are;--capacity of
double-distilled lying probably the greatest of his day.--Seckendorf
assists at the grand Review, 13th May, 1726; witnesses with unfeigned
admiration the non-plus-ultra of manoeuvring, and, in fact, the general
management, military and other, of this admirable King. [Pollnitz, ii.
235; Fassmann, pp. 367, 368.] Seckendorf, no question of it, will do
his Denmark business swiftly, then, since your Majesty is pleased so to
wish. Seckendorf, sure enough, will return swiftly to such a King, whose
familiar company, vouchsafed him in this noble manner, he likes,--oh,
how he likes it!

In a week or two, Seckendorf is back to Berlin; attends his Majesty
on the annual Military Tour through Preussen; attends him everywhere,
becoming quite a necessary of life to his Majesty; and does not go away
at all. Seckendorf's business, if his Majesty knew it, will not lead
him "away;" but lies here on this spot; and is now going on; the
magic-apparatus, Grumkow the mainspring of it, getting all into gear!
Grumkow was once clear for King George and the Hanover Treaty, having
his reasons then; but now he has other reasons, and is clear against
those foreign connections. "Hm, hah--Yes, my estimable, justly powerful
Herr von Grumkow, here is a little Pension of 1,600 ducats (only 500
pounds as yet), which the Imperial Majesty, thinking of the service
you may do Prussia and Germany and him, graciously commands me to
present;--only 500 pounds by the year as yet; but there shall be no lack
of money if we prosper!" [Forster, iii. 233, 232; see also iv. 172, 121,
157, &c.]

And so there are now two Black-Artists, of the first quality, busy on
the unconscious Friedrich Wilhelm; and Seckendorf, for the next seven
years, will stick to Friedrich Wilhelm like his shadow; and fascinate
his whole existence and him, as few wizards could have done. Friedrich
Wilhelm, like St. Paul in Melita, warming his innocent hands at the
fire of dry branches here kindled for him,--that miracle of a venomous
serpent is this that has fixed itself upon his finger? To Friedrich
Wilhelm's enchanted sense it seems a bird-of-paradise, trustfully
perching there; but it is of the whip-snake kind, or a worse; and will
stick to him tragically, if also comically, for years to come. The
world has seen the comedy of it, and has howled scornful laughter upon
Friedrich