Voltaire and the Jew.--Letter from Frederick to D’Arget.-- Letter to Wilhelmina.--Caustic Letters to Voltaire.--Partial Reconciliation.--Frederick’s brilliant Conversational Powers.-- His Neglect of his Wife.--All Females excluded from his Court.-- Maupertuis and the Academy.--Voltaire’s Malignity.--Frederick’s Anger.--Correspondence between Voltaire and Maupertuis.--Menaces of War.--Catt and the King 387 CHAPTER XXV. COMMENCEMENT OF THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR. Secret Preparations for a Coalition.--Frederick’s Embarrassments.-- The uncertain Support of England.--Causes of the War.--Commencement of Hostilities.--Letter from Frederick to his Sister Amelia.-- Letter to his Brother.--The Invasion of Saxony.--Misfortunes of the Royal Family of Poland.--Battle of Lobositz.--Energetic Military Movements.--Prisoners of War compelled to enlist in the Prussian Service.--Dispatches from Frederick.--Battle of Prague.--Battle of Kolin.--Retreat of Frederick.--Death of Sophia Dorothea 402 CHAPTER XXVI. DEFEATS AND PERILS. Grief of the King over his Mother’s Death.--Interesting Letters.-- Forces in the Field.--The March upon Dresden.--Devotion of Wilhelmina.--Atheism of the King.--Wilhelmina to Voltaire.-- Despair of Frederick.--Great Victory of Rossbach.--Description of the Battle.--Utter Rout of the Allies.--Elation of Frederick.--His Poem on the Occasion.--Ravages of War 418 CHAPTER XXVII. THE LEUTHEN CAMPAIGN. Results of the Battle of Rossbach.--The Attack upon Breslau.-- Extraordinary Address of the King to his Troops.--Confidence of the Prussians in their Commander.--Magnificent Array of the Austrians at Leuthen.--Tactics of Frederick.--The Battle Hymn.--The Battle and the Victory.--Scenes after the Battle.--Recapture of Breslau by Frederick 434 CHAPTER XXVIII. DOMESTIC GRIEFS AND MILITARY REVERSES. Destruction of the Army of Prince Charles.--Dismay in Vienna.-- Testimony of Napoleon I.--Of Voltaire.--Wretchedness of the King.-- Compromise rejected.--New Preparations for War.--Treaty between England and Prussia.--Plan of the Campaign.--Siege of Olmütz.-- Death of Prince Augustus William.--The Baggage Train.--The irreparable Disaster.--Anxiety of Frederick for Wilhelmina.--The March against the Russians.--The Battle of Zorndorf.--Anecdotes of Frederick 445 CHAPTER XXIX. THE THIRD CAMPAIGN OF THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR.