eems
to have avoided smoking and drinking as much as possible, escaping from
the scene before it degenerated into an orgy of excess, in which it was
apt to terminate.

These tastes and tendencies were not calculated to increase the love of
the brutal old monarch for his son, and the life of the boy became
harder to bear as he grew older. His sister Wilhelmina was equally
detested by the harsh old king, who treated them both with shameful
brutality, knocking them down and using his cane upon them on the
slightest provocation, confining them and sending them food unfit to
eat, omitting to serve them at table, and using disgusting means to
render their food unpalatable.

"The king almost starved my brother and me," says the princess. "He
performed the office of carver, and helped everybody excepting us two,
and when there happened to be something left in a dish, he would spit
upon it to prevent us from eating it. On the other hand, I was treated
with abundance of abuse and invectives, being called all day long by all
sorts of names, no matter who was present. The king's anger was
sometimes so violent that he drove my brother and me away, and forbade
us to appear in his presence except at meal-times."

This represented the state of affairs when they were almost grown up,
and is a remarkable picture of court habits and manners in Germany in
the early part of the eighteenth century. The scene we have already
described, in which the king attempted to strangle his son with the
curtain cord, occurred when Frederick was in his nineteenth year, and
was one of the acts which gave rise to his resolution to run away, the
source of so many sorrows.

Poor Frederick's lot had become too hard to bear. He was bent on flight.
His mother was the daughter of George I. of England, and he hoped to
find at the English court the happiness that failed him at home. He
informed his sister of his purpose, saying that he intended to put it
into effect during a journey which his father was about to make, and in
which opportunities for flight would arise. Katte, he said, was in his
interest; Keith would join him; he had made with them all the
arrangements for his flight. His sister endeavored to dissuade him, but
in vain. His father's continued brutality, and particularly his use of
the cane, had made the poor boy desperate. He wrote to Lieutenant
Katte,--

"I am off, my dear Katte. I have taken such precautions that I have
nothing to fear. I sh