rous
unfortunate class of mortals, whom Voltaire is sometimes capable of
sinking to be spokesman for, in this world!--Alas, go where you will,
especially in these irreverent ages, the noteworthy Dead is sure to be
found lying under infinite dung, no end of calumnies and stupidities
accumulated upon him. For the class we speak of, class of "flunkies
doing _ saturnalia _ below stairs," is numerous, is innumerable; and can
well remunerate a "vocal flunky" that will serve their purposes on such
an occasion!--

Friedrich is by no means one of the perfect demigods; and there are
various things to be said against him with good ground. To the last,
a questionable hero; with much in him which one could have wished not
there, and much wanting which one could have wished. But there is one
feature which strikes you at an early period of the inquiry, That in his
way he is a Reality; that he always means what he speaks; grounds his
actions, too, on what he recognizes for the truth; and, in short, has
nothing whatever of the Hypocrite or Phantasm. Which some readers will
admit to be an extremely rare phenomenon. We perceive that this man was
far indeed from trying to deal swindler-like with the facts around
him; that he honestly recognized said facts wherever they disclosed
themselves, and was very anxious also to ascertain their existence where
still hidden or dubious. For he knew well, to a quite uncommon degree,
and with a merit all the higher as it was an unconscious one, how
entirely inexorable is the nature of facts, whether recognized or not,
ascertained or not; how vain all cunning of diplomacy, management and
sophistry, to save any mortal who does not stand on the truth of things,
from sinking, in the long-run. Sinking to the very mud-gods, with all
his diplomacies, possessions, achievements; and becoming an unnamable
object, hidden deep in the Cesspools of the Universe. This I hope
to make manifest; this which I long ago discerned for myself, with
pleasure, in the physiognomy of Friedrich and his life. Which indeed
was the first real sanction, and has all along been my inducement and
encouragement, to study his life and him. How this man, officially a
King withal, comported himself in the Eighteenth Century, and managed
not to be a Liar and Charlatan as his Century was, deserves to be seen a
little by men and kings, and may silently have didactic meanings in it.

He that was honest with his existence has always meaning for