ew Grand-Master
Albert was no better than a kind of cheat; that he took this
Grand-Mastership of Preussen; and then, in gayety of heart,
surreptitiously pocketed Preussen for his own behoof. Which is an idle
idea; inconsistent with the least inquiry, or real knowledge how the
matter stood. [Voigt, ix. 740-749; Pauli, iv. 404-407.] By no means in
gayety of heart, did Albert pocket Preussen; nor till after as tough a
struggle to do other with it as could have been expected of any man.

One thing not suspected by the Teutsch Ritters, and least of all by
their young Hochmeister, was, That the Teutsch Ritters had well deserved
that terrible down-come at Tannenberg, that ignominious dismissal out of
West-Preussen with kicks. Their insolence, luxury, degeneracy had gone
to great lengths. Nor did that humiliation mend them at all; the reverse
rather. It was deeply hidden from the young Hochmeister as from
them, That probably they were now at length got to the end of their
capability: and ready to be withdrawn from the scene, as soon as any
good way offered!--Of course, they Were reluctant enough to fulfil their
bargain to Poland; very loath they to do Homage now for Preussen, and
own themselves sunk to the second degree. For the Ritters had still
their old haughtiness of humor, their deepseated pride of place, gone
now into the unhappy CONSCIOUS state. That is usually the last thing
that deserts a sinking House: pride of place, gone to the conscious
state;--as if, in a reverse manner, the House felt that it deserved to
sink.

For the rest, Albert's position among them was what Friedrich of
Sachsen's had been; worse, not better; and the main ultimate difference
was, he did not die of it, like Friedrich of Sachsen; but found an
outlet, not open in Friedrich's time, and lived. To the Ritters, and
vague Public which called itself the Reich, Albert had promised he would
refuse the Homage to Poland; on which Ritters and Reich had clapt their
hands: and that was pretty much all the assistance he got of them. The
Reich, as a formal body, had never asserted its right to Preussen, nor
indeed spoken definitely on the subject: it was only the vague Public
that had spoken, in the name of the Reich. From the Reich, or from any
individual of it, Kaiser or Prince, when actually applied to, Albert
could get simply nothing. From what, Ritters were in Preussen, he might
perhaps expect promptitude to fight, if it came to that; which was not
much