[17] “General Ginkel, the Dutch embassador, here told me of an interview he had with the king. The king harbors most monstrous wicked designs, not fit to be spoken of in words. It is certain, if he continue in the mind he is in at present, we shall see scenes here as wicked and bloody as any that were ever heard of since the creation of the world. He will sacrifice his whole family—every body, except Grumkow, being, as he imagines, in conspiracy against him. All these things he said with such imprecations and disordered looks, foaming at the mouth all the while, as it was terrible either to see or hear.”—Dickens’s Dispatch, 7th December, 1730.
[18] Carlyle.
[19] Life of Frederick II., by Lord Dover, vol. i., p. 127.
[20] The grandmother was a very gay, fashionable woman, entirely devoted to pleasure.
[21] The prince used a harsher term, which we can not quote.
[22] A ruble was about eighty-five cents of our money.
[23] To Frederick cultivating tranquillity.
[24] Her husband.
[25] The above extracts are taken from Correspondance Familière et Amicale de Frédéric II., Roi de Prusse, avec U. F. de Suhm.
[26] Thibault, Souvenirs de Vingt Ans de Séjours à Berlin.