[16]George Keith was an English soldier, who fought for the house of Stuart in 1715, with his younger brother James. When that cause was lost, they went to the Continent and served under various flags, finally taking service with Frederick. Macaulay says: “Some of those who knew the palace best pronounced that the Lord Marischal (Keith) was the only human being whom Frederick ever really loved.” [17]This letter was written by Daun to the Russian General Fermor. The reply sent to Daun was written by the King, but was signed “Fermor,” and read: “Your Excellency was in the right to warn me against a cunning enemy whom you know better than I. Here have I tried fighting him and got beaten. “Your unfortunate “Fermor.” [18]Princess Friederike Sophie Wilhelmina was the favorite sister of Frederick the Great. She was born in 1709, married the Margrave of Baireuth in 1731, and died in 1758. She wrote her memoirs, but they were not published until 1810. Like her brother, she was the frequent victim of her father’s cruelty. [19]Lord George Sackville, third son of the first Duke of Dorset, was an English soldier. He was made Major General in 1755 and Lieutenant General in 1757. He served second in command to Marlborough at Hanover in 1758, and upon the latter’s death succeeded to the chief command. For his conduct at Minden he was dismissed from the army. [20]Frankfurt. [21]The battlefield of Kunersdorf is near Frankfurt, on the other side of the Oder, fifty miles southeast of Berlin. [22]A ducat was the equivalent at that time of seven thalers. [23]“In Charlottenburg, certain Saxon-Bruhl dragoons, who by their conduct, might have been the dragoons of Attila, smashed the furniture and the doors, cut the pictures, much maltreated the poor people, and what was reckoned still more tragical, overset the poor Polignac Collection of Antiques and Classicalities; not only knocking off noses and arms, but beating them small, lest reparation by cement should be possible, their officers, Pirna people, looking quietly on. A scandalous proceeding, thought everybody, friend or foe,—especially thought Frederick; whose indignation at the ruin of Charlottenburg came out in way of reprisal by and by.”—_Carlyle’s_ “_Life of Frederick the Great._” [24]Elizabeth Petrovna, born December 29, 1709, Empress of Russia from 1741 to 1762, was the daughter of Peter the Great and Catharine I. She was the founder of the Moscow University and St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts. [25]Peter III was born in Holstein in 1728. He was the son of Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein, and Anna, daughter of Peter the Great. He was assassinated, and his wife, who was an accomplice, succeeded him.