History of Frederick the Second, Called Frederick the Great.Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
History
History of Frederick the Second, Called Frederick the Great.
Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786
Thus the employments of every hour were strictly specified for every
day in the week. On Wednesday he had a partial holiday. After half
past nine, having finished his history and “got something by heart to
strengthen the memory, Fritz shall rapidly dress himself and come to
the king, and the rest of the day belongs to little Fritz.” On Saturday
he was to be reviewed in all the studies of the week, “to see whether
he has profited. General Finkenstein and Colonel Kalkstein shall be
present during this. If Fritz has profited, the afternoon shall be his
own. If he has not profited, he shall from two o’clock till six repeat
and learn rightly what he has forgotten on the past days. In undressing
and dressing, you must accustom him to get out of and into his clothes
as fast as is humanly possible. You will also look that he learn to put
on and put off his clothes himself, without help from others, and that
he be clean, and neat, and not so dirty.”
CHAPTER II.
LIFE IN THE PALACE.
The Palace of Wusterhausen.--Wilhelmina and Fritz.--Education of
the Crown Prince.--Rising Dislike of the Father for his Son.--The
Mother’s Sympathy.--The double Marriage.--Character of George I.--
The King of England visits Berlin.--Wilhelmina’s Account of the
Interview.--Sad Fate of the Wife of George I.--The Giant Guard.--
Despotism of Frederick William.--The Tobacco Parliament.--A
brutal Scene.--Death of George I.--The Royal Family of Prussia.--
Augustus, King of Poland.--Corruption of his Court.--Cruel
Treatment of Fritz.--Insane Conduct of the King.
Wusterhausen, where the young Crown Prince spent many of these early
years of his life, was a rural retreat of the king about twenty miles
southeast from Berlin. The palace consisted of a plain, unornamented,
rectangular pile, surrounded by numerous outbuildings, and rising
from the midst of low and swampy grounds tangled with thickets and
interspersed with fish-pools. Game of all kinds abounded in those
lakelets, sluggish streams, and jungles.
In the court-yard there was a fountain with stone steps, where
Frederick William loved to sit on summer evenings and smoke his pipe.
He frequently took his frugal dinner here in the open air under a
lime-tree, with the additional protection of an awning. After dinner
he would throw himself down for a nap on a wooden bench, apparently
regardless of the flaming sun.
There seems to have been but little which was attractive about this
castle. It was surrounded by a moat, which Wilhelmina describes as a
“black, abominable ditch.” Its pets were shrieking eagles, and two
black bears ugly and vicious. Its interior accommodations were at
the farthest possible remove from luxurious indulgence. “It was a
dreadfully crowded place,” says Wilhelmina, “where you are stuffed into
garrets and have not room to turn.”
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