REDERICK II., surnamed the GREAT, King of Prussia, one of the greatest warriors the last century has produced, was the son of Frederick William, then hereditary Prince of Brandenburg, and Prinpocess Sophia Dorothea, daughter of King George I.

He was born in 1712, the year before his father mounted the throne, who was so far from being a patron of literature, that he regarded nothing but what related to the military art; and most of his generals scarce knew how to sign their names. His son was of a disposition the very reverse. Being put from his birth

under the care of Val de Recoule, a French lady of great merit and understanding, he early acquired a taste for literature and a predilection for the French language, which were never obliterated. At seven years of age, young Frederick was put under the military tuition of General Count de Finkestein, and Colonel De Kalkstein, officers renowned for courage and experience. He was taught mathematics and fortification by Major Sen ning; Han de Jendun, a Frenchman, instructed him in other branches of knowledge; and a cadet, of the name of Kenzel, taught him his exercise At eight, he was furnished with a small arsenal, stored with all sorts of arms proportioned to his age and strength, of which his father left him absolute master. Soon after he was named captain and chief of the corps of cadets; and he performed every day, in miniature, with his little soldiers, all the evolutions with which his father exercised his giants. At last he received the command of a company in his father's famous gigantic regiment, composed of men of whom scarce one was short of seven French feet.

Endued, however, with a taste for the arts, he devoted to their cultivation every moment he could escape the vigilance of his guardians. He was particularly fond of poetry and music, and when he could find a moment's leisure, read French authors, or played on the flute; but his father, as often as he surprised him playing or reading, broke his flute, and threw his books into the fire. The prince, chagrined at this treatment, and having a great desire to visit Germany, England, France, and Italy, desired permission to travel. This, however, his father refused, but permitted him to accompany himself occasionally into Germany; and in 1728, took him to Dresden to see the King of Poland. By these little expeditions, the prince's desire to travel was only the more inflamed; so that, at last, he resolved to set out without his father's knowledge. The design was intrusted to two of his young friends, named Katte and Keith; money was borrowed, and the day of departure fixed, when, unluckily, the whole project was discovered and the party arrested.

The old king, implacable in his resentment, and considering his son as a deserter, determined to put him to death. He was shut up in the fortress of Custrin; and it was with difficulty, that the Count de Seckendorf, sent purposely by the Emperor Charles VI., was able to alter the king's resolution. Certain vengeance, however, was determined on both his intended associates. Keith escaped the danger by flying into Holland; but Katte had not that good fortune. The king first directed that he should be tried by a court-martial; but, as they only sentenced Katte to perpetual imprisonment, the revengeful monarch, by an unheard-of exercise of his prerogative, caused him to be beheaded. The execution was performed under the windows of the prince, whose face being held towards the scaffold by four grenadiers, he fainted away at the shocking

sight; and, during the remainder of his life, he considered capital punishments with so great a degree of horror, that they were rare throughout his dominions while he reigned.

When the emperor had succeeded in preventing the execution of Frederick, the old king remarked, that "Austria would one day see what a serpent she had nourished." The prince remained prisoner a year at Custrin; during which time his father wished that he should learn the maxims of government and finance. For this purpose, M. de Munchow, president of the chamber of domains and finances, was ordered to make him assist at all their assemblies, to consider him as a simple counsellor, and to treat him as such. But though Frederick assisted at their meetings, he did not trouble himself with reading acts or copying decrees.

Instead of this, he amused himself sometimes with reading French pamphlets, and at others with drawing caricatures of the president or members of the assembly. Munchow was also very favourable to the prince at this time, by furnishing him with books and other articles of amusement, notwithstanding the express prohibition of his father; though in this he certainly ran a great risk of his life.

Frederick, after this, was reconciled to his father and recalled to Berlin, on pretence of being present at the celebration of his eldest sister's marriage with the hereditary Prince of Bareith; but the true reason was, that the king had now prepared a match for the prince himself. This was the Princess Elizabeth Christina of Brunswick, niece to the empress. Frederick, who was not only totally indifferent to the fair sex in general, but particularly prejudiced against this princess, made some objections; his father, however, overcame all obstacles with "his usual arguments, (says the author of the life of Frederick,) viz. his cane and a few kicks." But the coldness which Frederick at this time showed for the fair sex was not natural; for as early as 1723, though then only in his eleventh year, he fell in love with the Princess Anne, daughter of King George II.

Even at this early period he vowed to refuse every other but her for his consort; nor was his vow ever broken, as far as depended on himself. This marriage might have taken place, had it not been for some differences which arose between the courts of Prussia and Hanover about a few