WEDGEWOOD. Overheard? (Aside.) Ah, that's the way they do everything here. A man can't sneeze without some one of the four winds of heaven reporting it to His Majesty! There is no such thing as a secret in the whole kingdom! How do the women get along, I wonder? (To FREDERICK.) "Like to see the king?" Certainly I should.
KING.
That box will procure you an audience. Present it at the palace.
WEDGEWOOD. Look you here, my jolly old cock, none of your jokes—none of your tricks upon travellers, if you please. What do you mean?
KING.
That I am appreciated at court.
WEDGEWOOD (aside.) Oh, there's no standing on this! (To FREDERICK.) Do you intend to say that you are personally acquainted with Frederick the Great?
KING. I know him, I believe, better than any subject in his realm. He is my most intimate friend.
WEDGEWOOD. Well, then, if that be the case, all that I have to say is, that he is not over and above nice in his choice of companions.—What an odd old file!
KING (angrily.)
Look you here, Mr. Wedgewood—
WEDGEWOOD.
W-e-d-g-e-w-o-o-d!—
KING. Yes—I know you well enough. You are an Englishman by birth—a crockery-merchant by trade—a gentleman from inclination—and an odd sort of character from habit. Without knowing anything more about it than the man in the moon, you have condemned the policy of the king, who is aware of all you have said and done since your arrival in Prussia.