History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 13Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 13
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
Kuttenberg, Czaslau, Chotusitz and all these other places lie in what
is called the Valley of the Elbe, but what to the eye has not the least
appearance of a hollow, but of an extensive plain rather, dimpled here
and there; and, if anything, rather sloping FROM the Elbe,--were it
not that dull bushless brooks, one or two, sauntering to NORTHward, not
southward, warn you of the contrary. Conceive a flat tract of this kind,
some three or four miles square, with Czaslau on its southern border,
Chotusitz on its northern; flanked, on the west, by a straggle of
Lakelets, ponds and quagmires (which in our time are drained away,
all but a tenth part or so of remainder); flanked, on the east, by
a considerable puddle of a Stream called the Dobrowa; and cut in the
middle by a nameless poor Brook ("BRTLINKA" some write it, if anybody
could pronounce), running parallel and independent,--which latter, of
more concernment to us here, springs beyond Czaslau, and is got to be of
some size, and more intricate than usual, with "islands" and the like,
as it passes Chotusitz (a little to east of Chotusitz);--this is our
Field of Battle. Sixty or more miles to eastward of Prag, eight miles or
more to southward of Elbe River and the Ford of Elbe-Teinitz (which we
shall hear of, in years coming). A scene worth visiting by the curious,
though it is by no means of picturesque character.
Uncomfortably bare, like most German plains; mean little hamlets, which
are full of litter when you enter them, lie sprinkled about; little
church-spires (like suffragans to Chotusitz spire, which is near you); a
ragged untrimmed country: beyond the Brook, towards the Dobrowa, two
or more miles from Chotusitz, is still noticeable: something like a
Deer-park, with umbrageous features, bushy clumps, and shadowy vestiges
of a Mansion, the one regular edifice within your horizon. Schuschitz is
the name of this Mansion and Deer-park; farther on lies Sbislau, where
Leopold happily found his Bridge unbroken yesterday.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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