lth? And thoroughly occupied?

PRINCE.

The Crown Prince leads a life of the gayest diversity in his exile. He
has made of Rheinsberg a veritable little Court of the Muses, devoted
now to serious study, now to poetic recreation. We have enjoyed
unforgettably beautiful hours there; one would hardly believe that so
much imagination could be developed and encouraged on the borders of
Mecklenburg! We paint, we build, we model, we write. The regiment which
is under the immediate command of our talented Prince serves merely to
carry out, by military evolutions, the strategic descriptions of
Polybius. In short, I should deeply regret leaving so delightful a spot
had it not been for the flattering and important task intrusted to me.
Princess, the Crown Prince desires full and true information, obtained
at the source, as to the situation of his sister, his mother, here, that
he may, if necessary, advise how this situation be improved, how any
difficulties may be met.

WILHELMINE.

If it became known that I am granting an audience, here in this public
hall, to a Prince who has not yet been presented either to my father or
to my mother--I could prepare myself for several weeks in Fortress
Kuestrin.

[_She bows and turns as if to go_.]

PRINCE.

Princess! Then it is really true--that which is whispered, with horror,
at every court in Europe? It is true that the King of Prussia tyrannizes
not only his court, his entire environment, but his own family as well?

WILHELMINE.

Prince, you employ too harsh an expression for what I would rather term
merely our own peculiar ceremonial. In Versailles they glide as on
butterfly wings over the polished floors. Here we tread the earth with
ringing spurs. In Versailles the Royal Family consider themselves but as
a merry company, recognizing no ties as sacred save those of
congeniality, no bond but that of--unfettered inclination. Here the
Court is merely one big middle-class family, where a prayer is said
before meat, where the parents must always be the first to speak, where
strictest obedience must, if necessary, tolerate even absurdities; where
one quarrels, out of one's mutual affection, sometimes--where we even
torture one another and make life harder for one another--all out of
love--

PRINCE.

Princess, I swear to you--this must be changed.

WILHELMINE.

And how, pray?

PRINCE.

The Crown Prince asked me to employ all conceivable means to free you
from this barbari