eat, who herself
did not feel bound to observe so many formalities, was highly amused
at them; "that big lout of a Gu"--such was her name for Frederick
William in her letters to Grimm--"that big lout has just married a
third wife; the libertine never has enough legitimate wives; for a
conscientious libertine, commend me to him."

XI.

Frederick William loved women. Women, however, did not govern him. But
if he escaped the influence of mistresses, he fell under the influence
of favourites, and the people were none the better off. Badly brought
up, kept apart from State affairs by his uncle, distrusting others
because he was very distrustful of himself, he knew nothing of the art
of government, and dallied with vague reform projects. The Ministers
whom Frederick left behind, although very second-rate, made him ill at
ease. He was afraid of being considered under their thumb; besides,
these Ministers represented ideas and a system which he affected to
condemn. "The King will be led just because he is afraid of being so,"
wrote Mirabeau. The fear of being governed by his Ministers delivered
him into the hands of underlings, who promptly gained a mastery over
him by humbling themselves before him, reassuring his suspicious
pride, flattering his passions--above all, exploiting the shortcomings
of his mind. Frederick William desired the good of the State; he had a
hazy but quite keen idea of the necessity of counteracting the
excesses of Frederick's Government; but his intentions rambled, and
his reform fancies, more mystical then political, proceeded not so
much from the idea of the interests of the State as from the influence
of a secret doctrine with which he was imbued. The statesman in him
was but an adept in magic; for Ministers he took mere charlatans.
Skilled conjurers replaced at Potsdam Frederick's "judicious
Ministers."

XII.

Of all these mystical adventurers, the one whose influence was perhaps
the most baneful for the Prussian State was Woellner, a pure intriguer.
Son of a country pastor, he worked his way into the household of
General d'Itzenplitz; after wheedling the mother, he ended by marrying
the daughter. Frederick, who was anything but indulgent to
mis-alliances, had him clapped into prison in Berlin. The hatred of
Woellner for the Philosopher-King dated from that day. At that time he
was a rationalist and a disciple of Wolf; he became a Freemason. But
already in high society in Germany the wind