CHAPTER VIII.

The State of Frederic the Great (1700).--The kingdom of the Hohenzollerns, its small size; character of the people and princes--Childhood of Frederic--Opposition to his father--Catastrophe--Training and its influence on his character--His marriage and relations with women--Residence in Rheinsberg--His character when he became King--Striking contrast between his poetic warmth and his inexorable severity--Inward change in the course of the first Silesian war--Loss of the friends of his youth--The literary period till 1766--His poetry, historical writings, and literary versatility--Seven years of iron labour--His method of carrying on war, and heroic struggle--Admiration of Germans and foreigners--His sufferings and endurance--Extracts from Frederic's Letters from 1767-1762--Principles of his government--Improvement of Silesia--Difference betwixt the Prussian and Austrian government--Feeling of duty in the Prussian officials--Acquisition of West Prussia--Miserable condition in 1772--Agriculture of Frederic--His last years