ne."

"Look upon the table by the window--what do you there see?"

"Your majesty, there is an instrument-case and a sword-sheath."

"They are the ones I refer to. In the case lies my flute, that is to
say, my youth, love, poesy, and art, are encoffined there. In the sheath
is my sword, which is my manhood, energy, laurels, and fame. I will
never play the flute or draw the sword again. All that is past!"

"But there still remains for the great king a noble work to perfect,"
cried Herzberg. "Youth has flown, and the war-songs are hushed. The poet
and hero will change to the lawgiver. Sire, you have made Prussia great
and powerful externally; there remains a greater work, to make her the
same within. You have added new provinces, give them now a new code of
laws. You will no longer unsheath the sword of the hero; then raise that
of justice high above your subjects!"

"I will," cried the king, with beaming eyes. "You have rightly seized
and comprehended what alone seems to me worthy of will and execution.
There shall be but one law for the high and the low, the poor and the
rich. The distinguished Chancellor Carmer shall immediately go to work
upon it, and you shall aid him. The necessity of such a reform we have
lately felt in the Arnold process, where the judge decided in favor of
the rich, and wronged the poor man. How could the judge sustain Count
Schmettau against the miller Arnold, who had been deprived of the water
for his mill, when it was so evident that it was unjust?"

"I beg pardon, majesty, but I believe the judge obeyed the very letter
of the law, and--"

"Then this law must be annulled," interrupted the king. "This is why
I revoked the judge's sentence, and sent the obstinate fellows to the
fortress, sustaining the miller in his right deposing the arrogant
Chancellor Furst. I had long resolved upon it, for I knew that he was a
haughty fellow, who let the poor crowd his anteroom, and listened to
the flattery of the high-born rabble who courted him. I only waited an
occasion to bow his haughty head. This offered, and I availed myself of
it, voila tout. It is to be hoped that it will be good example for all
courts of justice. They will remember that the least peasant and
beggar is a human being as much as the king, and that justice should be
accorded to if they do not, they will have to deal with me. If a college
of justice practises injustice, it is more dangerous than a band of
robbers; for one can prot