, was only a page
to the late king, and had the education of a page. By his assiduity, and
being never absent from the king's side, he became necessary to this
marvellously idle monarch; he himself, next to the monarch, being,
probably, the idlest man in his dominions. The day of a German prime
minister seems to have been a succession of formal idlenesses. Bruhl
rose at six in the morning, the only instance of activity in his
career. But he was obliged to attend the king before nine, after having
read the letters of the morning. With the king he staid until the hour
of mass, which was at eleven. From mass he went to the Countess
Moyensha, where he remained till twelve. From her house he adjourned to
dinner with the king, or to his own house, where he was surrounded by a
circle of profligates, of his own choosing. After dinner he undressed,
and went to sleep till five. He then dressed, for the second time in the
day, each time occupying him an hour. At six he went to the king, with
whom he staid till seven. At seven he always went to some assembly,
where he played deep, the Countess Moyensha being always of the party.
At ten he supped, and at twelve he went to bed. Thus did the German
contrive to mingle statesmanship with folly, and the rigid regularities
of a life not to be envied by a horse in a mill, with the feeble
frivolities of a child in the nursery. His expenses were immense; he
kept three hundred servants, and as many horses. Yet he lived without
elegance, and even without comfort. His house was a model of
extravagance and bad taste. He had contracted a mania for building, and
had at least a dozen country seats, which he scarcely ever visited. This
enormous expenditure naturally implied extraordinary resources, and he
was said to sell all the great appointments in Poland without mercy.

Frederick of Prussia described him exactly, when he said, that "of all
men of his age he had the most watches, dresses, lace, boots, shoes, and
slippers. Caesar would have put him among those well dressed and perfumed
heads of which he was not afraid." But this mixture of prodigality and
profligacy was not to go unpunished, even on its own soil. Bruhl
involved Saxony in a war with Frederick. Nothing could be more foolish
than the beginning of the war, except its conduct. The Prussian king,
the first soldier in Europe, instantly out-manoeuvred the Saxons, shut
up their whole army at Pirna; made them lay down their arms, and took
p