' full of hope to the then mercantile mind; a Mr. Hanway
despatched, years ago, as Chief Clerk, inexpressibly interested to
manage well;--and managing, as you may read at large. Has done his best
and utmost, all this while; and had such travellings through the
Naphtha Countries, sailings on the Caspian; such difficulties,
successes,--ultimately, failure. Owing to Mr. Elton and Thamas Kouli
Khan mainly. Thamas Kouli Khan--otherwise called Nadir Shah (and a very
hard-headed fellow, by all appearance)--wiled and seduced Mr. Elton, an
Ex-Naval gentleman, away from his Ledgers, to build him Ships; having
set his heart on getting a Navy. And Mr. Elton did build him (spite of
all I could say) a Bark or two on the Caspian;--most hopeful to the said
Nadir Shah; but did it come to anything? It disgusted, it alarmed
the Russians; and ruined Sir Jonas,--who is returning at this period,
prepared to render account of himself at London, in a loftily resigned
frame of mind. [Jonas Hanway,--An Account of &c.--(or in brief, TRAVELS:
London, 3 vols. 4to, 1753), ii. 183. "Arrived in Berlin," from the
Caspian and Petersburg side, "August 15th, 1750."]

"The remarks of Sir Jonas upon Berlin--for he exercises everywhere a
sapient observation on men and things--are of dim tumidly insignificant
character, reminding us of an extinct Minerva's Owl; and reduce
themselves mainly to this bit of ocular testimony, That his Prussian
Majesty rides much about, often at a rapid rate; with a pleasant
business aspect, humane though imperative; handsome to look upon, though
with face perceptibly reddish [and perhaps snuff on it, were you near].
His age now thirty-eight gone; a set appearance, as if already got into
his forties. Complexion florid, figure muscular, almost tending to be
plump.

"Listen well through Hanway, you will find King Friedrich is an object
of great interest, personal as well as official, and much the theme in
Berlin society; admiration of him, pride in him, not now the audiblest
tone, though it lies at the bottom too: 'Our Friedrich the Great,' after
all [so Hanway intimates, though not express as to epithets or words
used]. The King did a beautiful thing to Lieutenant-Colonel Keith the
other day [as some readers may remember]: to Lieutenant-Colonel Keith;
that poor Keith who was nailed to the gallows for him (in effigy), at
Wesel long ago; and got far less than he had expected. The other
day, there had been a grand Review, part of it