n Hanover
to do the impossible there, is leading France with winged steps the same
road.

Since March 17th, Friedrich was no longer in Leipzig. He left at that
time, for Meissen Country, and the Hill Cantonments,--organized there
his little Expedition into Voigtland, for behoof of the Reichsfolk;--and
did not return. Continued, mostly in Meissen Country, as the fittest for
his many businesses, Army-regulatings and other. Till the Campaign come,
we will remember of him nothing, but this little Note, and pleasant
little Gift, to his CHERE MAMAN, the day after his arrival in those
parts:--

TO MADAM CAMAS (at Magdeburg, with the Queen).

"MEISSEN, 20th March, 1761.

"I send you, my dear Mamma, a little Trifle, by way of keepsake and
memento [Snuffbox of Meissen Porcelain, with the figure of a Dog on the
lid]. You may use the Box for your rouge, for your patches, or you may
put snuff in it, or BONBONS or pills: but whatever use you turn it to,
think always, when you see this Dog, the Symbol of Fidelity, that he who
sends it outstrips, in respect of fidelity and attachment to MAMAN, all
the dogs in the world; and that his devotion to you has nothing whatever
in common with the fragility of the material which is manufactured
hereabouts.

"I have ordered Porcelain here for all the world, for Schonhausen [for
your Mistress, my poor uncomplaining Wife], for my Sisters-in-law; in
fact, I am rich in this brittle material only. And I hope the receivers
will accept it as current money: for, the truth is, we are poor as can
be, good Mamma; I have nothing left but honor, my coat, my sword, and
porcelain.

"Farewell, my beloved Mamma. If Heaven will, I shall one day see you
again face to face; and repeat to you, by word of mouth, what I have
already said and written; but, turn it and re-turn it as I may, I shall
never, except very incompletely, express what the feelings of my heart
to you are.--F." [Given in Rodenbeck, ii. 79; omitted, for I know not
what reason, in _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xviii. 145: cited partly in
Preuss, ii. 282.] ------

It was during this Winter, if ever it was, that Friedrich received
the following Letter from an aspiring Young Lady, just coming out, age
seventeen,--in a remote sphere of things. In "Sleepy Hollow" namely, or
the Court of Mirow in Mecklenburg-Strelitz, where we once visited with
Friedrich almost thirty years ago. The poor collapsed Duke has ceased
making dressing-gowns there; and this