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commanding companies of boys bigger than themselves. From the Cadet corps we visited an exhibition of the Prussian arts and manufactures, displayed in a suite of rooms: the busts, models, and carpets were beautiful: some of the drawings were pretty, but the paintings were below criticism. English manufactures are severely prohibited in Prussia.

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CHAP. XXII.

POTSDAM DILIGENCE--POTSDAM—-SANS SOUCI—VOLTAIKE, AND DOGS OF FREDERICK THE GREAT-NOBLE FIRMNESS OF AN ARCHITECT-KING AND LOVELY QUEEN OF PRUSSIA-ANECDOTES-FEMALE TRAVELLING HABIT-THE DUCHY OF MECKLEBURG SWERIN -RETURN TO ENGLAND.

ON the Sunday after my arrival, namely, the third of November, I seated myself, at seven o'clock in the morning, with an intelligent companion, in the Potsdam diligence, a vehicle considerably less commodious than that of Paris: it was without springs, and so villainously put togther, that the biting air pierced through a hundred crevices; sliding wooden pannels supplied the place of glasses, and in the back part were two seats, the occupiers of which were separated from each other by a stout iron bar. Our companions, male and female, were clad in their winter dress of muffs and fur shoes. After passing through a country of corn-fields and fir forests, and some small pieces of ice, at eleven we reached the barrier of Potsdam, which is situated on the river Havel, and is formed into an isle by the adjoining lakes and canals, about sixteen English miles from Berlin.

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Having expelled the cold with some soup, we hired a little phaeton, and immediately proceeded to Sans Souci, distant about two English miles, which, as well as the neighbouring country palaces, are so much the fruit of the great Frederick's taste, that it was like paying a visit to his spirit. As we proceeded to the gallery of pictures, we passed by his hot-houses, which he cherished with great care. So partial was his Majesty to hot-house fruit, that before the buildings were erected, he who would have scantily provided for a gallant officer mutilated in his service, did not hesitate to pay a ducat for a cherry! When he was dying, his pine-apples occupied his principal attention.

We entered the picture gallery from the road through a rustic door: this room, two hundred and fifty eight feet long, thirty-six broad, and fifteen high, is supported by Carrara pillars, and is superbly gilded and ornamented. The collection is very select and precious: we principally noticed the Graces, by Dominichino; Vertumnus and Pomona, by Leonardo da Vinci; Titian and his wife, by himself; Danae and Cupid, by the same artist; Venus bathing, by Corregio; three different styles of Painting, by Guido; the Holy Family, by Raphael, which cost fourteen thousand ducats; a Cave of Devils, by Teniers, in which his mother and wife are represented as members of the infernal family, his father as Saint Antonio, and himself in a bonnet rouge, laughing at the

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DOGS OF FREDERICK THE GREAT.

group; a Head of Christ, by Vandyke; Ignorance and Wisdom, by Corregio; a Head of Christ, upon leaf gold, by Raphael, for which Frederick the Great paid six thousand ducats; several other paintings, by the same great master, upon the same ground; a Virgin and Infant, by Rubens; and several other exquisite works of art. There was once a beautiful little Magdalen here, by Raphael, which Frederick bartered to the Elector of Saxony for a troop of horse: this sort of barter seems not to have been unusual. Augustus II., Elector of Saxony, purchased forty-eight bulky porcelain vases of Frederick William I., of Prussia, for a fine regiment of dragoons.

From the gallery we ascended a stair-case, and entered a terrace, whence a beautiful view of the river, and the surrounding country, lay expanded before us. As we proceeded to the palace, or pavilion, composed of a long suite of rooms upon a ground floor, the tombs of Frederick's dogs were pointed out to us, the only creatures for whom he entertained a cordial affection. It is well known that he indulged the strange belief, that these animals possessed the power of discriminating character, and that he disliked those at whom they barked: most of these canine favourites were honoured with a royal epitaph. It is related, that whenever he went to war, he always carried a small Italian greyhound with him; and that when, in the seven years war, he happened to be pursued by a

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reconnoitring party of Austrians, he took shelter under a dry arch of a bridge, with his favourite in his arms; and that although the enemy passed and repassed the bridge several times, yet the animal, naturally churlish, lay quite still, and scarcely breathed: had he barked, Frederick must have been discovered and taken prisoner, and Prussia, in all human probability, would have shared the fate of Poland, and swelled the empires of Russia and of Germany. There is another story told, the authenticity of which is indubitable: Frederick the Great, in his dying moments, expressed a wish to be buried by the side of his dogs. One of these favourites, another greyhound bitch, was taken at the battle of Sorr, when the baggage was plundered by Trenck and Nadasti. Regardless of inferior losses, the King was in the act of writing to Nadasti, to request his bitch might be restored, when the Austrian General, knowing his love for the animal, which was itself greatly attached to him, had sent it back: the bitch, unperceived by the monarch, leaped upon the table while he was writing, and, as usual, began to caress him, at which he was so affected that he shed tears. The day before he had cut off many thousands of men, and charged his dear children to give no Saxon quarter. The only amiable trait in Frederick's composition was of a canine nature: he possessed nothing to attach man to him but his fondness for dogs.

We saw the room where Frederick slept and died: it was

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