History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 05 — John Shaqi
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 05Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 05
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
However it may have fared with his other school-lessons, here now is a
school-form he is advanced to, in which there will be no resource but
learning. Bad spelling might be overlooked by those that had charge of
it; bad drilling is not permissible on any terms. We need not doubt the
Crown-Prince did his soldier-duty faithfully, and learned in every point
the conduct of an officer: penalty as of Rhadamanthus waited upon all
failure there. That he liked it is by no means said; he much disliked
it, and his disgusts were many. An airy young creature:--and it was
in this time to give one instance, that that shearing of his locks
occurred: which was spoken of above, where the Court-Chirurgus proved so
merciful. To clog the winged Psyche in ever-returning parade-routine and
military pipe-clay,--it seems very cruel. But it is not to be altered:
in spite of one's disgusts, the dull work, to the last item of it,
has daily to be done. Which proved infinitely beneficial to the
Crown-Prince, after all. Hereby, to his Athenian-French elegancies,
and airy promptitudes and brilliancies, there shall lie as basis an
adamantine Spartanism and Stoicism; very rare, but very indispensable,
for such a superstructure. Well exemplified, through after life, in this
Crown-Prince.
OF THE POTSDAM GIANTS, AS A FACT.
His regiment was the Potsdam Grenadier Guard; that unique
giant-regiment, of which the world has heard so much in a vague
half-mythical way. The giant-regiment was not a Myth, however, but a
big-boned expensive Fact, tramping very hard upon the earth at one time,
though now gone all to the ghostly state. As it was a CLASS-BOOK, so
to speak, of our Friedrich's,--Class-Book (printed in huge type) for a
certain branch of his schooling, the details of which are so dim, though
the general outcome of it proved so unforgettable,--readers, apart from
their curiosity otherwise, may as well take a glimpse of it on this
occasion. Vanished now, and grown a Giant Phantom, the like of it hardly
again to be in this world; and by accident, the very smallest Figure
ever ranked in it makes it memorable there!--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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