the brilliant parts of
the French nobleman, and when his father, Frederic William I., no longer
allowed him to serve under Eugene, he asked Chasot to follow him to
Prussia. The years from 1735 to 1740 were happy years for the prince,
though he, no doubt, would have preferred taking an active part in the
campaign. He writes to his sister:--

"J'aurais repondu plus tot, si je n'avais ete tres-afflige de ce
que le roi ne veut pas me permettre d'aller en campagne. Je le lui
ai demande quatre fois, et lui ai rappele la promesse qu'il m'en
avait faite; mais point de nouvelle; il m'a dit qu'il avait des
raisons tres-cachees qui l'en empechaient. Je le crois, car je
suis persuade qu'il ne les sait pas lui-meme."

But, as he wished to be on good terms with his father, he stayed at home,
and travelled about to inspect his future kingdom. "C'est un peu plus
honnete qu'en Siberie," he writes, "mais pas de beaucoup." Frederic, after
his marriage, took up his abode in the Castle of Rheinsberg, near
Neu-Ruppin, and it was here that he spent the happiest part of his
existence. M. de Schloezer has described this period in the life of the
king with great art; and he has pointed out how Frederic, while he seemed
to live for nothing but pleasure,--shooting, dancing, music, and
poetry,--was given at the same time to much more serious
occupations,--reading and composing works on history, strategy, and
philosophy, and maturing plans which, when the time of their execution
came, seemed to spring from his head full-grown and full-armed. He writes
to his sister, the Markgravine of Baireuth, in 1737:--

"Nous nous divertissons de rien, et n'avons aucun soin des choses
de la vie, qui la rendent desagreable et qui jettent du degout sur
les plaisirs. Nous faisons la tragedie et la comedie, nous avons
bal, mascarade, et musique a toute sauce. Voila un abrege de nos
amusements."

And again, he writes to his friend Suhm, at Petersburg:--

"Nous allons representer l'_OEdipe_ de Voltaire, dans lequel je
ferai le heros de theatre; j'ai choisi le role de Philoctete."

A similar account of the royal household at Rheinsberg is given by
Bielfeld:--

"C'est ainsi que les jours s'ecoulent ici dans une tranquillite
assaisonnee de tous les plaisirs qui peuvent flatter une ame
raisonnable. Chere de roi, vin des dieux, musique des anges,
promenades delicieuses dans les jardins