FREDERICK (PRUSSIA) 455 ing from Turkey, insisted on the restoration of Stettin, but refused to refund the money. Frederick promptly declared war, and took the field in person ; and the result was the acquisi- tion of Pomerania as far as the river Peene, with Stettin, and the islands at the mouth of the Oder, on payment of 2,000,000 thalers. The following characteristic speech was ad- dressed by the king to his privy council when about to take the field for this war: "As I am a man, and may therefore die of a shot, I command you to take good care of Fritz [the crown prince Frederick, then three years old] ; and I give all of you, my wife to begin with, my curse, if you do not bury me at Potsdam in the church vault there, without feasting and without ceremony." The wife of this amiable husband, Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, bore ten children ; among whom the eldest son (afterward Frederick the Great) and a daughter, Wilhelmina, incurred the fe- rocious hatred of the father. His son wrote of him : "He had an industrious spirit in a robust body, with perhaps more capacity for minute details than any man that ever lived ; and if lie occupied himself with little things, it was that great results might be the conse- quence." His character was singularly full of contradictions. He was at once just and cruel ; parsimonious and liberal ; a careful and a brutal father; a defender of Lutheranism and protector of Protestant refugees, yet pun- ishing metaphysicians with exile. But he lib- erally rewarded all who introduced any new art, and many of the greatest manufactories in Prussia owe their foundation to him. He also founded the medico-chirurgical college and two charitable institutions at Berlin, and an orphanage at Potsdam. He left to his son $6,000,000 surplus money, 72,000 soldiers, 2,240,000 subjects, and a territory of 45,000 square miles. See Droysen's Friedrich Wil- helm I. (2 vols., Leipsic, 1869). FREDERICK II., third king of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, eldest son of the pre- ceding and the princess Sophia Dorothea, daughter of George I. of England, born in Berlin, Jan. 24, 1712, died at the chateau of Sans Souci, near Potsdam, Aug. 17, 1786. 'Up to the age of 20 he was subjected to a cruel paternal tyranny. Educated chiefly by French refugees, he conceived a strong passion for French literature, and knew nothing of any other foreign language. Latin his father posi- tively forbade. He was passionately fond of music, attained a high perfection as a player on the flute, and gave concerts at which his own compositions were performed, and to which he invited eminent musicians, who ad- mired his masterly performance in adagio. He gave employment to Graun in his chapel at Rheinsberg, and after his accession to the throne appointed him chapel master and sent him to Italy to engage vocalists for the pro- jected new opera at Berlin, the establishment of which was thus due to Frederick. He was also very fond of poetry, but, ignorant of Dante or Shakespeare, Virgil or Homer, surrendered himself to Voltaire and the Henriade. " My royal titles," he wrote to his French idol, " shall run thus : ' By the grace of God, king of Prussia, elector of Brandenburg, possessor of Voltaire,' &c." Within a week he Avrote to Algarotti that he knew Voltaire was a scoundrel, but that he could make use of him. Je veux sawir son francais ; que in'importe sa morale ? After narrowly escaping death from his father's hand, he determined to seek safety in England with his uncle George II. He was overtaken, brought a prisoner to Kus- trin, compelled to witness the execution of Katt, a young officer who had been privy to his flight (1730), was himself condemned as a deserter, and was only saved by the interpo- sition of the emperor of Germany, the kings of Sweden and Poland, and the states of Holland. His father caused him to be informed that if he would renounce the throne he might study, travel, or do whatever he pleased. " I accept," said Frederick, "if my father will declare that I am not his son." After a long imprisonment, he was appointed a councillor of war, and charged with duties which virtually banished him from court. In 1733 his father required him to marry Elizabeth Christina, daughter of the duke of Brunswick-Bevern, and in 1734 permitted him to take up his residence at the castle of Rheinsberg, where he could pursue his favorite amusements unmolested. Here he wrote many of his works, including the Anti-Machiavel (the Hague, 1740). Mean- time the heart of the old king grew softer ; a reconciliation followed ; and the father, press- ing his son to his heart, sobbed forth with al- most his latest breath (1740): "My God, my God, I die content, since I have such a noble son and successor." Frederick's character had been wholly misconceived by his subjects and by the world. One class thought him a mere sensualist, a rhapsodical voluptuary; others looked forward to a reign of moderation, peace, and universal benevolence. Both of these classes of judges, with Anti-Machiavel before them, and a knowledge of the epicurean abode at Rheinsberg, might find ground for their predictions ; and both were equally con- founded at the almost instantaneous transfor- mation effected by the crown. A military despot, listening to no council, confiding in no friend, bent upon the single purpose of en- larging his monarchy, he regarded himself as an instrument appointed to elevate Prussia, and embody in the parvenu title of Prussian king that substantial possession of royal power which could only come from enlarged domin- ion. The pragmatic sanction of Charles VI., guaranteed solemnly by Europe, and by no member of the family of nations more solemn- ly than by Prussia, had, it was supposed, se- cured the peaceful inheritance of the Austrian dominions to the young Maria Theresa as archduchess of Austria and queen of Hungary
