Frederick’s birth, on January 24, 1712, remedied the anxieties of a line which had gained too much from the extinction9 of allied10 lines not to be keenly sensitive to its own lack of heirs. His father, Frederick William, gave vent11 to rude transports of joy at the arrival of a male heir. Frederick I., the royal grandfather, who had himself a third time plunged12 into wedlock13 in the hope of safeguarding the succession to the new Prussian crown, seized the opportunity to astonish Berlin by the pomp of the infant’s christening. The Prussian nation, living in tranquillity14 under the Hohenzollerns, shared in their rejoicing.
The infant prince represented many noble lines, and, it might almost be said, two separate civilisations. Frederick William was a kind of Prussian Squire16 Western. His wife, Sophia Dorothea, was a princess of the rising House of Hanover, a lady soon to be nicknamed Olympia from her majestic17 bearing as queen. Through her and through his grandmother, a clever daughter of Sophia of Hanover, a thin strain of Stuart blood flowed in Frederick’s veins18. His great-grandmother, the wife of the Great Elector, was a daughter of the House of Orange, born at the moment of its triumph over Spain. A26 generation farther back the Hohenzollerns had married into the House of the Palatinate, which in 1618 threw for the Bohemian crown and lost. But the virtues20 of every Protestant House in Europe could not compensate21 for the infirm health which had assailed22 both the father and the son of the Great Elector, and which there seemed reason to fear had descended23 to the offspring of his grandson Frederick William. Two older sons had died in infancy24, a daughter, Wilhelmina, though she grew up and married, was never robust25, and Frederick himself seems in his childhood to have been often ailing26.
The home circle of this delicate prince was surely the strangest in the world. The royal family of Prussia in the reign27 of Frederick William I. was hardly a family and hardly royal. The monarch28 seemed to regard his sceptre chiefly as a superior kind of cudgel. As Prussian King, and therefore ex officio the father of his people, he could treat them as children, could order them to be anything or to build anything or to pay anything, with even less risk of resistance than an Elector of Brandenburg might have had to fear. He was, it is true, on a footing of equality with foreign kings in negotiating for a treaty or a province or a bride. But apart from his acceptance of the perquisites29 of royalty30, his life was one long protest against all that the world associated with the name of king. Intolerant of state and ceremony, he agonised his chamberlains by his behaviour. His recreations were such as befitted a bargeman on the Havel or an overgrown loafer kidnapped to serve in the King of Prussia’s27 giant grenadiers. In that snuff-taking age, a king whose hobby was to smoke pipes in a kind of glorified32 tavern-circle known as the Tobacco Parliament earned the reputation that would fall in our own day to a king who should chew and spit.
Frederick William drank himself to death before he was fifty-two. Though an artist, if not a scholar, he drove Wolf, the philosopher, from his dominions33 and made Gundling President of the Academy of Letters because he amused the Tobacco Parliament when in his cups. As a sportsman he slew34 wild swine by the thousand and forced his subjects to buy their carcasses at a fixed35 price. He ordered his officials to spend only six thousand thalers on the entertainment of Peter the Great, but to give out that it cost him thirty or forty thousand. His mixture of fervent36 piety37 and immorality38 suggests that he was hardly sane39, and his foreign policy does not discountenance the suggestion. In some of his officials he placed complete confidence, even when proofs that they were bribing41 his envoys42 abroad to send home false news were in his hands. He rushed upon others with his cudgel, first breaking their heads and then cashiering them. What he was to his children may be inferred from the fact that his daughter became his bitter satirist44 and his son his bitter foe45.
Such was the father who directed Frederick’s education. His talent for detail was always at the service of the state. It could be devoted46 to no worthier47 object than the training of the future king. At the age of nine years, therefore, Frederick found every hour of the day assigned to some part of the28 scheme of education by which the crowned Podsnap designed to make him such another as himself.
For all its minuteness, the scheme failed in its main object. It failed because Frederick William was not the sole factor in moulding and inspiring his son. In the royal household were two trembling conspirators48 against the tyrant49—his wife and his daughter. Sophia Dorothea and Wilhelmina formed with Frederick a trio who sighed after the genteel. Loathing50 the pipe-clayed Teutonism in which their lord delighted, they longed for newer fashions and society more polite, for the wit and gallantry of the French court, and for the splendour of their own opulent kinsfolk at Saint James’s. Their lines had fallen in far less pleasant places. In Berlin, a quiet country town with dull surroundings and a trying climate, they had at least palaces, parties, and scandal. In Wusterhausen, to this day a lonely village, they were in exile; and Wusterhausen was the favourite residence of the King. The Europe in which they lived, it must be remembered, was a Europe which believed with all its heart that whatever Louis XIV. might have been in politics, he was beyond doubt the Apollo of culture. German princes prided themselves on speaking French, on dressing52 à la fran?aise, on building palaces that might be named in the same breath with Versailles. Frederick’s mother spoke53 French so well that a Huguenot refugee paid her the supreme54 compliment of enquiring55 whether she understood German. His sister’s memoirs56, like his own, are French in language and in inspiration. What sympathy, we may wonder,29 could there be between these ladies and a boor57 who hated everything French, whether language, literature, art, cookery, or dress, and whose ideal of life was to sleep on straw in a barn, wash at daybreak in a tub, don a plain uniform, inspect farms, account-books, and soldiers, gorge58 himself with rude German dishes in the middle of the day, snore under a tree in the afternoon, and devote the evening to tobacco, buffoonery, and strong drink?
It is not surprising that, when the King’s scheme of discipline outraged59 his son instead of moulding him, mother and sister were at hand with ready sympathy. The wayward boy never forgot their kindness, nor the indulgence of the tutors who connived61 at a more humane62 education than Frederick William had commanded them to inflict63. Cordially as the King detested64 French culture, he did not venture to exclude it from a leading part in the education of his son. A French lady, Madame de Roucoulle, was entrusted65 with the oversight66 of his earliest years. Madame de Camas, whom he called Mamma, was the wife of a Frenchman. His tutor, Duhan, was a Huguenot. French was at that time the universal language of the polite and learned world. Frederick, who never learned English and was forbidden to learn Latin, therefore drew all his mental supplies from French originals or French translations.
German he never spoke or wrote with ease. To him it stood for whatever was dull in his education,—for windy sermons every Sunday, lessons of nearly two hours a day in the Christian67 religion, books30 full of dismal68 pedantry69, the speech of boors70 and of his father. Thus he early acquired from France ideas which he proclaimed throughout his life. That literary creation is the highest achievement of man, and that next to creation stand patronage71 and culture; that religion is superstition72; that the enlightened man is he who views with calm not only the rubs of fortune but also the frailties73 of mankind—such were the abiding74 traces of Frederick’s education. The King, as may readily be believed, did not fail to remark something of this and to loathe75 it. He leaped to the conclusion that a boy who preferred French to German, and flute76-playing to parades, was a monster who would ruin Prussia. It never occurred to him that his own scheme could be imperfect, and life became one long collision between father and son.
Yet Frederick’s most irritating delinquencies—his delight in soft living and secret dissipation, his distaste for the uniform and duty of a soldier, his contempt for Germans and their tongue—may fairly be ascribed in great part to mere youthful squeamishness and to the tyranny of the King. Had Frederick William been wise enough to trust to the future and to the past, to reflect that in the long line of Hohenzollerns none had been traitor77 to his House, that a lad who could think for himself would be more easily influenced than coerced78, that at the worst he himself was not twenty-four years older than his son and might train the state to survive Frederick II. as after the Great Elector it had survived Frederick I.—had he in short been either a31 sympathetic father or a man of real penetration79, then history might have heard nothing of either the new Junius Brutus or the Ogre of Potsdam, and the million victims of Frederick’s wars might have been spared.
Unhappily for his son and for the world, Frederick William was neither sensible nor sympathetic. His aversion to an heir who refused to resemble himself was doubled when the heir became the advocate of a matrimonial policy which he came to regard with loathing. From the hour of Frederick’s birth the dearest wish of the Hanoverian House, and of Sophia Dorothea most of all, had been to unite more closely the royal lines of England and Prussia. At length a double marriage was proposed. The Prince of Wales was to marry Wilhelmina, and Frederick his cousin Amelia, daughter of George II. In 1730, however, England and Prussia were estranged80, yet Frederick William knew that his household had not given up their darling project. Flouted81 as a father and as a statesman, he treated his son so ill as to lend colour to the suspicion that he wished him dead. Not content with impounding his books, forbidding him the flute, compelling him to see his mother only by stealth, the tyrant actually rained blows upon him in public, even in the camp of the Saxon King. “Had I been so treated by my father,” he is said to have exclaimed, “I would have blown my brains out, but this fellow has no honour.”
Unfortunately for Frederick William, the youth whom he thus outraged was Crown Prince of Prussia, and as such by no means lacked friends. To32 England, to Austria, and to his father’s ministers he was an important pawn82 in the game of politics. Some of the younger officers lent him countenance40 in the hope of favours to come. But the dearest friend of his life, Lieutenant83 von Katte, loved him for himself rather than for what he might be able to bestow6. To Katte the prince confided84 his fixed purpose to flee from a tyranny that was past endurance. Together they planned to make use of the opportunity of escape which might arise when Frederick should approach the French frontier in the course of a forthcoming tour with his father among the German courts.
PRINCESS SOPHIA DOROTHEA, DAUGHTER OF KING GEORGE THE FIRST.
AFTER THE PAINTING BY HIRSEMAN.
On August 4, 1730, the attempt was made. The confederates tried to steal from the royal camp at dawn and to ride into France. Such a flight was not without precedent85 in Hohenzollern history. Frederick’s grandfather, sharing the general belief that his stepmother had poisoned his brother and meant to poison himself, had first sought shelter at Cassel with his aunt and at a later date had quitted the Great Elector’s court altogether. But for the heir to a crown to flee beyond the bounds of Germany was a still graver step. The youth of eighteen had hardly calculated the probable consequences of success. Where was Frederick William’s heir to find a safe asylum86? Louis XV. was not likely to be to him what Louis XIV. had been to the Old Pretender. George of England would hardly expose Hanover to the vengeance87 of the King of Prussia. His envoy43 had in fact refused to countenance the scheme. Nor would the Emperor care to sacrifice33 the Prussian alliance to mere sentiment. Even if Frederick should succeed in finding a refuge for himself, he would none the less have left two dear hostages at the mercy of the King. “Your mother would have got into the greatest misery88,” declared Frederick William a year later. “Your sister I would have cast for life into a place where she would never have seen sun and moon again.”
Thanks, however, to the vigilance of Colonel von Rochow, his keeper, and to the panic of his page, Frederick did not even mount the horse that was to have borne him out of Germany. His abortive89 attempt inaugurated one of the strangest tragedies in history. From the very fact that he was the guest of other princes Frederick William could not act in haste. The scheme was betrayed to him at Mannheim on August 6th, and he ordered von Rochow to deliver his son to him at his own town of Wesel, alive or dead. In this mood they continued the tour of pleasure, sailing down the Rhine and visiting the potentates90 upon its shores. At last, on the evening of the 12th, they reached Wesel. Frederick William at once interrogated91 his son, who lied and protested his submission92. The King replied by despatching him to Spandau under the care of a general, who was enjoined93 to frustrate94 any attempt at rescue by killing95 his prisoner.
Spandau is the fortress96 near Berlin where to-day the Prussian sentries97 guard some millions of the treasure wrung98 from France. It was not deemed safe enough to keep the Prince of Prussia. “He is very cunning,” wrote the King, “and will have a hundred inventions34 for making his escape.” A stronger gaol99 was sought for. In a sombre plain east of the capital lies Cüstrin, whose grim fortress marks the spot where the sluggish100 Wartha gliding101 down from Poland silently joins the Oder. There, on September 4th, Frederick was imprisoned102. On the way he had faced a tribunal of soldiers and lawyers with a jaunty103 confidence which showed that though he might cower104 before the King he had not forgotten that he was still Crown Prince of Prussia. It was rumoured105 that he had poked106 fun at Grumbkow, his father’s most trusted counsellor. For himself he asked no favours, but avowed107 his responsibility for all that Katte had done amiss.
A fortnight later, on September 16th, the commission examined him again. In the meantime he had begun to understand the nature of a gaol. His father, who lived in such a state of frenzy108 that he ordered that the tongue which spoke of this affair should be cut out, had not scrupled109 to condemn110 him to solitary111 confinement112, a penalty often destructive of health and not seldom of reason. He was clad in brown prison dress, fed on the humblest fare, and deprived of light at seven o’clock in the evening. Thus prepared, he was subjected to a merciless inquisition. After more than one hundred and eighty questions of fact, came two which the King had commanded the interrogators to add. “Do you wish that your life should be granted to you or not?” “I submit to the King’s mercy,” answered Frederick, adding in pencil, when the report was laid before him, “and to his will.”35 “Since by violating your honour,” ran the last question of all, “you have made yourself incapable114 of succeeding to the throne, will you renounce115 the succession by an abdication116 that shall be confirmed by the whole Roman Empire—to save your life?” “My life is not over-dear to me,” replied the Prince, “but Your Majesty117 would surely not be so ungracious to me”—and he added a prayer for pardon. The King tore up the petition and applied118 his genius for detail to a code of rules for the torment119 of his heir. No one was to speak to the prisoner. Three times a day the door of his room might be opened, but within four minutes it must be made fast again. Mute attendants were to set before Frederick food which they had cut in pieces, since the royal command deprived him of knife and fork. For Katte Frederick William had ordered the rack, but on the representations of Grumbkow the order was cancelled. For his son he discovered a torture which Grumbkow himself was to apply. “He must be told,” decreed the King, “that no one thinks of him any more; that my wife will not hear his name; that his sister Wilhelmina has fallen under my displeasure, that she is shut up in Berlin, and will very soon be sent into the country.”
The problem before Frederick William, whose wrath120 increased as he experienced the difficulty of laying to his son’s account any definite crime, was to crush his heir without imperilling Prussia. On October 11th Frederick declared to the commission that he was ready to renounce the succession. On October 16th the King avowed in writing his desire to make36 his second son his heir. But to do this while Frederick lived was dangerous, and on what charge could he be put to death? Assassination121, though it might rectify122 the succession to Philip of Spain or Peter of Russia, was to a Hohenzollern simply impossible. And Frederick William was not entirely123 sovereign over his son. It was true that a Prussian subject had no longer any right of appeal from the decrees of the Prussian King. But the Prussian King was also Elector of Brandenburg, and therefore a vassal124 of the Emperor. The heir to the Electorate125 of Brandenburg was equally a prince of the Empire and as such could appeal unto C?sar. Moreover, no proof could be found that Frederick was a traitor. He had neither acted nor tried to act in collusion with any foreign Power. His father suspected that England was at the bottom of the plot, but no evidence of this could be found. By no severity could his son be brought to confess more than a design to run away. Foreign sovereigns protested against violence which degraded the royal caste.
It is difficult to see with what hope the baffled King insisted on a quibble which might make out his son to be technically126 a criminal. Frederick, by no choice of his own, was a colonel in the Prussian army. On October 25th a military court met at the King’s bidding to try him and his accomplices127 for desertion.
The court consisted of fifteen officers, three from each of five grades. The members of each grade, after deliberating apart, handed their votes to a president, the aged60 Lieutenant-Colonel von Schulenburg,37 who summed up their verdicts and added a sixth vote of his own. With regard to the Crown Prince, all were unanimous. Declaring themselves incompetent128 to pronounce upon affairs of state and of the royal family, they commended the exalted129 penitent130 to His Majesty’s supreme and paternal131 mercy. Katte was condemned132 by three grades to death, by two to lifelong imprisonment133. Von Schulenburg voted for the latter, which by military law carried the day, since it was less severe. The King denounced their criminal leniency134 and clamoured for “justice,” but von Schulenburg stood firm, appealing to a Higher Power. Thereupon Frederick William decreed “that Katte, although in conformity135 with the laws he has deserved to be torn with red-hot pincers and hanged for the crime of high-treason which he has committed, be removed from life to eternity136 by the sword, out of consideration for his family. In informing Katte of this sentence, the Council will tell him that it grieves His Majesty, but that it is better that he should die than that justice should entirely leave the world.”
Under a sentence which no consensus137 of civilised opinion, no high-placed appeal, no murmur138 of disaffection could reduce, the doomed139 man journeyed slowly to Cüstrin. Frederick, who believed that all would go well with himself and his friend, was cheerful still. At five o’clock on the morning of November 6th he was awakened140 by two officers who told him that Katte was that morning to be put to death and that he must witness it. “What are these ill tidings that you bring me?” he is said to38 have exclaimed. “Lord Jesus! rather take my life.” Before his judges he had steadfastly141 declared that Katte’s guilt142 lay at his door. Now for two terrible hours he wailed143, wrung his hands, burst into tears, sent to his friend to beg forgiveness, prayed for a respite144 while a courier should lay at the King’s feet whatever he might desire from his son—renunciation of the succession, consent to lifelong imprisonment, nay145, his own life if Katte’s might be spared. His honourable146 clamour moves the heart of posterity147, but it could vary no line upon the parchment on which the King had set down even the numbers of the soldiers who were to attend the execution. Seven o’clock struck, and the dismal procession filed into the courtyard which stretched from the fortress-wall to the Oder. As the King had commanded, Frederick was led to the window of his cell. He saw his friend, who had received the communion, standing148 calm and brave amid the soldiers and awaiting with bared head the recital149 of the sentence of death. The prince kissed his hand to him and cried aloud for his forgiveness. Katte laid his finger upon his lips, bowed respectfully, and answered that there was nothing to forgive. He then bade his comrades farewell, knelt to receive the chaplain’s blessing150, and with prayer upon his lips submitted to the fatal stroke.
FREDERICK THE SECOND.
AFTER THE PAINTING BY CUNNINGHAM.
Frederick had fainted. It was the duty of the chaplain to pass straight from the dead offender151 to the living, and to exhort152 him to repent153. But nature made this royal order of none effect. The prince, when he came to, could only stare dumbly at the39 gloomy pall154 which draped the body of his friend. At two o’clock some citizens brought a coffin155 and bore away the corpse156, but Frederick could not withdraw his gaze from the place of execution. All that day he took no food. At night he passed from delirium157 into a second swoon—then fell to raving158 anew. When morning broke he declared that Katte was standing before him. But the very violence of his emotion made the reaction swift. On the same day he told the doctor that he was well and asked him for a certain powder. Next day, after much talk with the chaplain on matters of religion, he learned from him that Katte’s fate was not to be his own. Nine days later he made peace with Grumbkow, who came at the head of yet another Commission to exact an oath of strict obedience159 to the King, and to open the prison doors a little wider. Before Christmas he was reported to be “as merry as a lark160.”
The conduct of father and son during this crisis is peculiarly worthy161 of attention because each was his own counsellor, and because Frederick never again lay under a scrutiny so searching. In the summer of 1730 the King reaped all that he had sown during his son’s boyhood. He found in his heir a youth whom he distrusted and despised but could not get rid of. He therefore began the task anew and inaugurated a second education sterner than the first. He had slain162 his son’s friend, not, as he professed163, “that justice should not entirely leave the world,” but that he might, in spite of past failures, fashion an heir after his own heart. The loyal father of the dead man found consolation164 in viewing his40 loss as a sacrifice to this design. That this, which he believed to be indispensable to the welfare of Prussia, was the leading motive165 of the King’s policy, grew clearer as his outbursts of wrath against his son became less frequent and less fierce. It inspired Frederick also with a leading motive—to beguile166 his father into believing that he had his way.
His first education made him a rebel; his second, a hypocrite. Katte’s death had taught him once and for all that life would be tolerable only if he gained his father’s confidence. To this end he applied every art which a fertile brain could devise and an unscrupulous actor could practise. He exhausted167 the language of contrition168 for the past. He promised full amendment169 for the future. He sent letters, as many as his father would consent to receive, and the burden of all was that he was indeed a new man, a second Frederick William, adoring the things that he had burned and burning those that he had adored. The new Frederick is interested in tall soldiers, his father’s hobby, and longs to put on the uniform which he had been wont170 to call his winding-sheet. He relishes171 theology and after argument abandons what his father calls “the damned heresy” of predestination. He professes173 to find pleasure in the work of the estates committee and informs his father with ecstasy174 that the rent of some royal domains175 can be raised. He tries to propitiate176 the King of Prussia as Philip of Spain tried to propitiate the English people, by pretending to a taste for beer. Even his opinion of his own family has swiftly changed. He now pretends to realise that his mother is a mischievous41 intriguer177; to be content that his sister shall abjure179 the throne of England and marry an obscure Hohenzollern of Baireuth; to desire that his father may live to see his children’s children grow up around him. Finally he receives at the hands of Frederick William a regiment180 and a wife and withdraws into the marshy181 solitudes182 of Brandenburg to make the best of both.
It is the duty of Frederick’s biographer to mark from Frederick’s point of view the stages of this second education. The first period lasted rather more than two and a half years, from November, 1730, to June, 1733, and therefore roughly corresponds with the period of residence at an English university which is usually enjoyed at the age at which the Crown Prince had then arrived. This course began and ended with a crime. Katte was done to death for a military offence which a tribunal representing the most sternly disciplined army in the world had declared not to be death-worthy—though their commander-in-chief and king demanded another verdict. A fortnight later, that is, on November 20, 1730, Frederick was admitted as a humble113 participant in the proceedings183 of the local Chamber31 of War and Domains—to assist in duties which he privately184 styled the work of brigands185. He was to study agriculture under the Director, Hille, and in general to survey the foundations of the Prussian State.
He was still a close prisoner living at Cüstrin under the heavy cloud of the King’s displeasure. At Christmas he fell ill and his father wrote on the42 margin186 of a report which told him of it: “If there were any good in him he would die, but I am certain that he will not die, for weeds never disappear.” He was forbidden all books save bible, hymn-book, and Arndt’s True Christianity, a work of devotion dear to humble believers in many lands. Geometry and fortifications were classed as “amusement” and forbidden, along with cards, music, dancing, summer-clothing, and meals outside the house. Again, as in the early days of August, Frederick William entrusted him to the care of three nobles. These were to refuse to converse with him on any subject save “the Word of God, the constitution of the land, manufactures, police, agriculture, accounts, leases, and lawsuits187.” Such a scheme of education, aimed at compounding a king out of a recluse188 and an attorney, it is hardly necessary to discuss. We hardly know whether to think the King a simpleton for imagining that he would be obeyed, or a fool for continuing to issue minute directions if he knew that he would not. What is certain is that Frederick’s household revelled189 in forbidden gifts, diverted itself as best it could, and pressed unceasingly for further freedom. One pleasure, as Frederick William knew in his heart, sweetened his son’s captivity,—in exile he was at least safe from the sight of his father.
The first dawn of forgiveness took place on August 15, 1731, the King’s forty-third birthday. Then Frederick received his father in his shabby lodging190, kissed his feet, listened to his reproaches, confessed once more that it was he who had led Katte astray,43 and finally received the royal embrace before all the people. Soon came permission to engage in the practical study of agriculture, attended by an increase of liberty and even of amusement. The King still imposed restrictions191 upon Frederick’s reading and ordered him to sing hymns192. He was never to be alone or to speak privately to anybody, especially to any girl or woman. Within a fortnight of his father’s visit he had begun his courtship of the young wife of Colonel von Wreech.
The remaining months of the year 1731 brought Frederick great pleasure and a heavy blow. He grew in favour with his father, who in November summoned him to appear for a short time at Berlin and at last promised to restore to him his rank in the army. But at the same time he lost his sister. Wilhelmina was forced by her father into an unhappy marriage with the Margrave of Baireuth, a humble cousin whose title to the favour of his bride was that by accepting him she propitiated193 her father and freed herself from a still less bearable suitor. Elated by the progress of his own fortunes, Frederick seems for the moment to have been insensible to her trouble and to his own loss. By the King’s order he paid his sister a visit. But he treated her coldly when they met, broke off the conversation abruptly194, and walked into the room to which her husband had courteously195 withdrawn196. “He scanned him for some time from head to foot,” writes Wilhelmina, “and after addressing to him a few words of cold politeness he withdrew.... I could not recognise that dear brother who had cost44 me so many tears and for whom I had sacrificed myself.” Frederick’s standard of behaviour towards his social inferiors was however revealed by other incidents at this time. His tutor, Hille, was a man of the middle classes. In his official position he received reports from a Landrat, or Sheriff, who was of noble birth. A reference by Hille to these reports drew from the Crown Prince the remark that it was singular that a nobleman should render account to a man of the middle class. Next year he wrote to Grumbkow that his daughter was “without charms and without ancestors.”
ELIZABETH CHRISTINA OF BRUNSWICK.
FROM AN OLD PRINT.
In 1732 Frederick experienced another pleasure and a far severer blow. He was allowed to leave Cüstrin, but he left it under sentence of marriage. This had been decreed in consequence of a curious chain of events. Frederick’s preceptors had remarked that he scorned administrative198 detail but displayed a taste for high politics. This was evident in his suggestions for the disposal of his hand. Now he would marry, if he must marry at all, Anne of Russia; now the Archduchess Maria Theresa, renouncing199 his succession in Prussia. This suggestion was reported by Grumbkow to the Emperor’s great minister, Eugene. The old diplomat200 scented201 danger in such large ideas and urged that the Crown Prince of Prussia should be bound to the car of Austria. He might be encouraged to borrow money from the Emperor, and married to Elizabeth of Brunswick-Bevern, a niece of the Empress. Frederick William, still hot against England, with whose Court his queen continued to intrigue178, cheerfully assented202 to the match.
45 In a honeyed letter of February 4, 1732, the King broke the news to his son. “She is a creature who fears God,” he wrote, “and that is everything.” The bridegroom elect thought otherwise. He wrote to Grumbkow that he hated severe virtue19, and rather than marry a fanatic203, always grimacing204 and looking shocked, he would prefer the worst character in Berlin. “When all is said and done he cried, there will be one more unhappy princess in the world.” “I shall put her away as soon as I am master,” he twice declared. “Am I of the wood out of which they carve good husbands?” “I love the fair sex, my love is very inconstant; I am for enjoyment205, afterwards I despise it. I will keep my word, I will marry, but that is enough; Bonjour, Madame, et bon chemin.”
Frederick’s marriage, by which he brought to an end the sternest period of his second education, was a crime, but the bridegroom was not guiltless. All his outcry was made in secret. To the King, in whose hands his fate lay, he showed himself all submission. Frederick William had in his own young days received the names of three princesses from whom his father desired him to choose a bride. He protested with success against such compulsion and his marriage with Sophia Dorothea was something of a love-match. Here was an argument to which he could hardly shut his ears. His son preferred to purchase greater liberty for himself by condemning206 to a life of misery an innocent creature who had never harmed him. At the same time, by making a happy home-life impossible, he shut out what was46 perhaps the last chance that he might become in any sense of the words a good man.
For the moment, however, his submission brought him freedom. On March 10, 1732, he went through the formal ceremony of betrothal207. Some of the guests remarked that his eyes were filled with tears and that he turned abruptly from his betrothed208 to a lady who was supposed to be the mistress of his heart. But a year’s respite was granted him. While Austrian statesmen schemed to turn the timid, ignorant Elizabeth of Brunswick-Bevern into a woman of the world, who might make her husband a Hapsburg partisan209, Frederick was learning his work as colonel not far from the field of Fehrbellin. It was drudgery210, but it was not Cüstrin. After a year of it he wrote: “I have just drilled, I drill, I shall drill. That is all the news. But it is delightful211 to indulge in a few moments’ breathing-space, and I would rather drill here from dawn to dusk than live as a rich man at Berlin.”
June 12, 1733, was Frederick’s wedding-day. The Austrian diplomats212, who had made the match, went far towards flinging away their advantage. At the last moment they dared to suggest that Frederick William should accommodate the Emperor by entering into a new combination which assigned an English bride to his son. The King was furious at the slight, and the marriage was only another step towards the alienation213 of the Hapsburgs and the Hohenzollerns.
After his marriage Frederick’s father still dictated214 his movements and kept him short of money. But47 the period of dragooning was over, and it becomes important to enquire215 what Frederick William had achieved by this stage of the second education begun with crime and carried on with cruelty. One answer to this question must be mentioned because it is supported by the authority of Carlyle. He holds that the execution of Katte was just, that the imprisonment of Frederick was salutary, that the King was a father yearning216 to reconcile his son with God and with himself, and that he was not only just and affectionate but also successful. An opinion more widely held is that the execution and imprisonment were unjust but politic51, that reasons of state excused them, that their righteousness was proved by their success, and that by them Prussia gained a hero who made her great among the nations of the earth as none but he was able.
On reflection we may think it strange that results so great should have been achieved by a scheme of education so stupid. The King owed the best features of his plan to suggestions from outside. He had condemned his son to tedious, nay, dangerous idleness: it was Wolden who obtained for him a grudging217 permission to work. He had set him to learn agriculture by attending board meetings: it was Hille who urged that he should be allowed to see how farming was carried on. The united efforts of Hille and Wolden could not convince him that the heir to the throne needed any books save books of devotion. These faults, though significant, were errors of detail. But the King’s whole plan is open to graver objections. It is in fact based on three of48 the commonest yet most fatal errors with regard to education. That boys are dough218 or putty to be placed in a mould and beaten till they take the exact shape of it, that a youth who is destined219 for a given career will succeed best by trying to make himself a facsimile of some one else who has been successful in it, and that it is good to limit training to the acquisition of professional aptitude—these are errors which Frederick William held in common with pedants220 and doctrinaires of every era.
From Frederick’s birth onwards he had laboured to give him his own characteristics, even his own vices221, in the hope that as his son’s conduct grew like his own, so also would his policy. This was still the aim of all his measures. But the second education is distinguished222 from the first by the ghastly object-lesson with which it opens and by its appearance of success. The death of Katte affords the measure of Frederick William’s powers as a teacher. It imperilled the health, even the reason of his pupil, but assuredly it was not forgotten. Are we then to infer that the King’s system atoned223 for its faults by its triumph? That Frederick was bullied224 into love for his father seems incredible. It is true that in public he spoke little ill of him, either before his death, when it would have been dangerous to himself, or after it, when it would have been detrimental225 to the office which he had inherited. But neither his motto nor his conduct after 1730 betokened226 love. “Far from love, far from the thunderbolt,” are not words of affection, nor is it filial piety to cozen227, to flatter, and to shun228. He addressed49 the King as “most all-gracious Father,” while he secretly petitioned the foes229 of Prussia for funds wherewith to play upon his weakness for tall recruits. It was like a foretaste of death, he said, when a hussar appeared to command his presence at Berlin.
It may at once be granted that in conduct Frederick was transformed. Before his disgrace he had been a trifler, after it he worked hard till the day of his death. What is doubtful is that this result could not have been obtained at a less cost. There is no evidence that the King had ever tried the normal method of giving his son a fitting task and a reasonable independence in performing it. Frederick, moreover, was nearing the age at which many triflers develop a new spirit. During his year of exile his health improved. He became stouter230 in body and firmer in gait, so that at first even Wilhelmina did not recognise him. This change at least was not designed by the father who wished him dead, yet to this may be ascribed much of his novel energy.
It is still less certain that his character had gained from the second education. Many of the striking traits of old reappear. Frederick is still before all else brilliant—a gay and versatile231 young man with elastic232 spirits and a passion for music, society, and intellectual conversation. Despite his father’s hatred233 of all things French, Frederick still looked on Paris as the Mecca of civilisation15. His literary ambitions were more pronounced than ever. At Cüstrin he had gone back to verses—verses always50 Gallic, copious234, and bad. A Prussian patriot235 lamented236 that while he knew not whether his ancestors had won Magdeburg at cards or in some other way, he had Aristotle’s rules of composition by heart. Yet, for all his perseverance237, Lord Mahon speaks with justice of “his two kinds of prose, the rhymed and unrhymed.” In the darkest hours of his struggle against all Europe, he sat down to rhyme in French. “He does not really know the Germans at all,” complained his tutors. Though sometimes brutal238, he prided himself on his ceremonious politeness—a German version of Louis XIV. All through his career he was wont at times to put on the great monarch. “Hush, gentlemen,” once exclaimed Voltaire when his royal host thus suddenly stiffened239, “the King of Prussia has just come in.” His morals were no better after confronting death than before. “The flesh is weak,” he writes to his mother, “but I do not believe that Cato was Cato when he was young.” It was said that the motive of his amours was vainglory rather than the satisfaction of vicious desires. No one, wrote harsh critics, could rely upon his word, and few if any could tell of a disinterested240 act that he had done.
Yet in some respects Frederick had gained. His talent for diplomacy241 grew with the need for it. His father’s schooling242 had this effect—that he learned to outwit his father. The closing years of Frederick William’s life were cheered by the mirage243 of a good son and a good husband, which of all Frederick’s fabrications was perhaps the cleverest. Progress in diplomacy was attended by increase of51 self-control. Frederick learned in a hard school to disguise his true emotions and to feign244 what he did not feel. Hence arises a difficulty which Carlyle constantly encounters as he strives to approach his hero with paternal sympathy and to penetrate245 into his inner man. He is forced to speak of Frederick’s “polished panoply,” and to describe him as “outwardly a radiant but metallic246 object to mankind.”
The King’s handiwork may be discerned in the increasing poverty of affection that his son displayed. Frederick William had killed his friend, proscribed247 his associates, banished248 his sister, placed his mother under a cloud, and forced upon him a wife whom he despised. It is not surprising that Frederick’s heart, never of the tenderest, grew harder year by year. He turned to the friendship of men, always difficult for kings to win, and doubly difficult for an autocrat249 who was not prone250 to self-sacrifice. It was remarked of him in later life that he softened251 only in illness, and that the sure sign of his recovery was renewed harshness towards those about him. His intimates were chiefly devotees of art and letters, among whom Voltaire was chief. But the very name of Voltaire, whom Frederick first adored and then expelled, hints at the transient nature of these ties. As his sister, his mother, and Madame de Camas were one by one removed by death, he became bankrupt of affection, and his old age was consoled only by the fidelity252 of his servants and of his dogs.
Such was Frederick at his marriage, but his very defects contributed for a time to his social success.52 An accomplished253 man, with great flashing eyes and flexible, resonant254 voice, “musical even in cursing,” he had a genuine relish172 for the circle of which he was the centre. His schooling had given him skill in seeming what he pleased, and whatever affection he possessed255 was given to his friends. At Rheinsberg, where he built himself a house and lived from 1736 till 1740, he was gay, hospitable256, and refined, living in apparent amity257 with his wife and fitting himself by study and by administration to fill the throne in his turn.
The year after Frederick’s marriage, the year 1734, was of high importance in his career. The war of the Polish Succession had broken out between France and the Empire, and Prussia fulfilled her obligations by sending an auxiliary258 force of ten thousand men to serve on the Rhine under Eugene. In this campaign, which proved inglorious, Frederick played the part of an eager novice259, dogging the footsteps of the aged hero and copying even his curt260 manner. There he laid to heart several fruitful facts—that the great commander never accepted praise to his face, that the enemy feared him more than they feared his army, and that other German troops cut a sorry figure beside the men of Prussia. And—though his father had ordered him to keep out of harm’s way—he proved by his calm while cannon-balls were splintering trees around him that the traditional courage of the Hohenzollerns had descended to him.
Next year (1735) he begged to go to the war again, but the King, who had been near death from dropsy,53 put him off with a journey to Ost-Preussen. This was the first of those official tours of inspection261 which later became one of the chief occupations of Frederick’s years of peace. In 1736 he began a far more agreeable pursuit. It was then that he established himself at Rheinsberg, and, that, to quote his own testimony262, he began to live.
To live, in Frederick’s vocabulary, meant to read. He plunged into books, comparing, annotating263, analysing, and learned by four days’ trial the lesson of the zealous264 freshman—that man needs more than two hours’ sleep a day. To the remonstrances265 of the doctors he replied that he would rather suffer in body than in mind. Books were supplemented by conversation, the society of ladies, music, theatricals266, literary effort of every kind. His Anti-Machiavel, a treatise267 on the duty of princes, attracted the attention of Europe, and men of liberal mind awaited with impatience268 the moment at which he would be able to put his virtuous269 maxims270 into practice. Meanwhile he revelled in intercourse271 with philosophers and learned men. Frederick styled his house “the temple of friendship,” and his guests rejoiced to find that the palace of a Crown Prince could be Liberty Hall.
Yet the hand of Frederick William was not entirely invisible. Thrice every Sunday must the master of the house tear himself from philosophy to go to church, and he was also compelled to read the sermons which his father’s favourite chaplains had composed. His own select preacher was Voltaire, with whom and with his intimates he “reasoned high54 Of providence272, fore-knowledge, will and fate, Passion and apathy273 and glory and shame.” From history he learned much for every department of life; from philosophy chiefly contempt for religion and a deep-rooted fatalism which sustained him at many moments of disaster. He speaks of
“this Necessity, which orders all things, directs our intercourse and determines our fate.” “I know too well that we cannot escape from the inexorable laws of fate ... and that it would be folly274 to desire to oppose what is Necessity and was so arranged from all eternity. I admit that consolation drawn197 from the impossibility of avoiding an evil is not very well fitted to make the evil lighter275, but still there is something calming in the thought that the bitter which we must taste is not the result of our fault, but pertains276 to the design and arrangement of Providence.”
In such discussions passed many hours of the halcyon277 period, 1736–1740. Of perhaps higher value was the insight into the possibilities of human providence which Frederick gained during his visits to Ost-Preussen. There he saw how the hand of his father had turned a wilderness278 into the most blooming of his provinces, so that a land which the King had found swept bare of men by the plague now contained half a million prosperous inhabitants. When at last (May 31, 1740) he took the place of the father whose last hours his presence had consoled, it was with a conviction that if his foreign policy had been contemptible279, he had shown himself heroic at home.
VOLTAIRE.
FROM THE STATUE BY HOUDON AT THE COMéDIE FRAN?AIS.
55 The time had come when the domestic organisation280 of Prussia was to acquire a new significance in Europe. At Rheinsberg, while protesting that he desired nothing more in life than to be left in peace with his books and his friends, Frederick had been steadily281 pursuing the study of politics. In 1738 he had set down on paper “Considerations” which pointed282 to the need of a new champion to defend the liberties of Europe against the stealthy and menacing expansion of France. It remained to be seen whether Prussian foreign policy would in future be influenced by her singular constitution. To appreciate the meaning and the value of Frederick’s innovations in both systems we must portray283 the situation that he found on his accession. This demands in the first place a brief scrutiny of Europe as it was at Frederick William’s death.
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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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enigma
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| n.谜，谜一样的人或事 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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extinction
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| n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种 | |
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allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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wedlock
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| n.婚姻，已婚状态 | |
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tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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compensate
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| vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消 | |
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assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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ailing
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| v.生病 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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perquisites
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| n.（工资以外的）财务补贴( perquisite的名词复数 )；额外收入；（随职位而得到的）好处；利益 | |
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royalty
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| n.皇家，皇族 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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glorified
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| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
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dominions
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| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
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slew
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| v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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fervent
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| adj.热的，热烈的，热情的 | |
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piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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immorality
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| n. 不道德, 无道义 | |
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sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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bribing
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| 贿赂 | |
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envoys
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| 使节( envoy的名词复数 )； 公使； 谈判代表； 使节身份 | |
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envoy
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| n.使节，使者，代表，公使 | |
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satirist
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| n.讽刺诗作者，讽刺家，爱挖苦别人的人 | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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worthier
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| 应得某事物( worthy的比较级 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征 | |
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conspirators
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| n.共谋者，阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 ) | |
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tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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politic
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| adj.有智虑的；精明的；v.从政 | |
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52
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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enquiring
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| a.爱打听的，显得好奇的 | |
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memoirs
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| n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数) | |
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boor
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| n.举止粗野的人；乡下佬 | |
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gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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connived
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| v.密谋 ( connive的过去式和过去分词 )；搞阴谋；默许；纵容 | |
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humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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detested
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| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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oversight
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| n.勘漏，失察，疏忽 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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pedantry
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| n.迂腐，卖弄学问 | |
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boors
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| n.农民( boor的名词复数 )；乡下佬；没礼貌的人；粗野的人 | |
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patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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frailties
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| n.脆弱( frailty的名词复数 )；虚弱；（性格或行为上的）弱点；缺点 | |
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abiding
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| adj.永久的，持久的，不变的 | |
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loathe
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| v.厌恶，嫌恶 | |
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flute
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| n.长笛；v.吹笛 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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coerced
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| v.迫使做( coerce的过去式和过去分词 )；强迫；（以武力、惩罚、威胁等手段）控制；支配 | |
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penetration
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| n.穿透，穿人，渗透 | |
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80
estranged
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| adj.疏远的，分离的 | |
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81
flouted
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| v.藐视，轻视( flout的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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82
pawn
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| n.典当，抵押，小人物，走卒；v.典当，抵押 | |
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83
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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84
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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85
precedent
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| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
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86
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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87
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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88
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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89
abortive
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| adj.不成功的，发育不全的 | |
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90
potentates
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| n.君主，统治者( potentate的名词复数 )；有权势的人 | |
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91
interrogated
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| v.询问( interrogate的过去式和过去分词 )；审问；（在计算机或其他机器上）查询 | |
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92
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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93
enjoined
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| v.命令( enjoin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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94
frustrate
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| v.使失望；使沮丧；使厌烦 | |
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95
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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96
fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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97
sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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98
wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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99
gaol
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| n.(jail)监狱；(不加冠词)监禁；vt.使…坐牢 | |
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100
sluggish
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| adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的 | |
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101
gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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102
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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103
jaunty
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|
| adj．愉快的，满足的；adv.心满意足地，洋洋得意地；n.心满意足；洋洋得意 | |
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104
cower
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| v.畏缩，退缩，抖缩 | |
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105
rumoured
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| adj.谣传的；传说的；风 | |
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106
poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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107
avowed
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| adj.公开声明的，承认的v.公开声明，承认( avow的过去式和过去分词) | |
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108
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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109
scrupled
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| v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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110
condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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111
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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112
confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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113
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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114
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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115
renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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116
abdication
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| n.辞职；退位 | |
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117
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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118
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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119
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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120
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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121
assassination
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| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
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122
rectify
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| v.订正，矫正，改正 | |
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123
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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124
vassal
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| n.附庸的；属下；adj.奴仆的 | |
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125
electorate
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| n.全体选民；选区 | |
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126
technically
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| adv.专门地，技术上地 | |
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127
accomplices
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| 从犯，帮凶，同谋( accomplice的名词复数 ) | |
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128
incompetent
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| adj.无能力的，不能胜任的 | |
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129
exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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130
penitent
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| adj.后悔的；n.后悔者；忏悔者 | |
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131
paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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132
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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133
imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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134
leniency
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| n.宽大（不严厉） | |
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135
conformity
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| n.一致，遵从，顺从 | |
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136
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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137
consensus
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| n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识 | |
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138
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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139
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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140
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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141
steadfastly
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| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
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142
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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143
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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144
respite
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| n.休息，中止，暂缓 | |
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145
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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146
honourable
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|
| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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147
posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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148
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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149
recital
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| n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会 | |
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150
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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151
offender
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| n.冒犯者，违反者，犯罪者 | |
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152
exhort
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| v.规劝，告诫 | |
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153
repent
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| v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔 | |
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154
pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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155
coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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156
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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157
delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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158
raving
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| adj.说胡话的；疯狂的，怒吼的；非常漂亮的；令人醉心[痴心]的v.胡言乱语(rave的现在分词)n.胡话；疯话adv.胡言乱语地；疯狂地 | |
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159
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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160
lark
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| n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏 | |
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161
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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162
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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163
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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164
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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165
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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166
beguile
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| vt.欺骗，消遣 | |
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167
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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168
contrition
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| n.悔罪，痛悔 | |
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169
amendment
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| n.改正，修正，改善，修正案 | |
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170
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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171
relishes
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| n.滋味( relish的名词复数 )；乐趣；（大量的）享受；快乐v.欣赏( relish的第三人称单数 )；从…获得乐趣；渴望 | |
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172
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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173
professes
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| 声称( profess的第三人称单数 )； 宣称； 公开表明； 信奉 | |
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174
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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175
domains
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| n.范围( domain的名词复数 )；领域；版图；地产 | |
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176
propitiate
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| v.慰解，劝解 | |
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177
intriguer
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| 密谋者 | |
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178
intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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179
abjure
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| v.发誓放弃 | |
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180
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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181
marshy
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| adj.沼泽的 | |
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182
solitudes
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| n.独居( solitude的名词复数 )；孤独；荒僻的地方；人迹罕至的地方 | |
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183
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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184
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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185
brigands
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| n.土匪，强盗( brigand的名词复数 ) | |
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186
margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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187
lawsuits
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| n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 ) | |
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188
recluse
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| n.隐居者 | |
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189
revelled
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| v.作乐( revel的过去式和过去分词 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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190
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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191
restrictions
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| 约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则） | |
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192
hymns
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
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193
propitiated
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| v.劝解，抚慰，使息怒( propitiate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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194
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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195
courteously
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| adv.有礼貌地，亲切地 | |
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196
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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197
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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198
administrative
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| adj.行政的，管理的 | |
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199
renouncing
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| v.声明放弃( renounce的现在分词 )；宣布放弃；宣布与…决裂；宣布摒弃 | |
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200
diplomat
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| n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人 | |
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201
scented
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| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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202
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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203
fanatic
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| n.狂热者，入迷者；adj.狂热入迷的 | |
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204
grimacing
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| v.扮鬼相，做鬼脸( grimace的现在分词 ) | |
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205
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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206
condemning
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| v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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207
betrothal
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| n. 婚约, 订婚 | |
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208
betrothed
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| n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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209
partisan
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| adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒 | |
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210
drudgery
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| n.苦工，重活，单调乏味的工作 | |
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211
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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212
diplomats
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| n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人 | |
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213
alienation
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| n.疏远；离间；异化 | |
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214
dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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215
enquire
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| v.打听，询问；调查，查问 | |
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216
yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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217
grudging
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| adj.勉强的，吝啬的 | |
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218
dough
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| n.生面团；钱，现款 | |
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219
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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220
pedants
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| n.卖弄学问的人，学究，书呆子( pedant的名词复数 ) | |
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221
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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223
atoned
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| v.补偿，赎（罪）( atone的过去式和过去分词 )；补偿，弥补，赎回 | |
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224
bullied
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| adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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225
detrimental
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| adj.损害的，造成伤害的 | |
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226
betokened
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| v.预示，表示( betoken的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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227
cozen
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| v.欺骗，哄骗 | |
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228
shun
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| vt.避开，回避，避免 | |
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229
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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230
stouter
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| 粗壮的( stout的比较级 )； 结实的； 坚固的； 坚定的 | |
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versatile
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| adj.通用的，万用的；多才多艺的，多方面的 | |
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232
elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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234
copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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235
patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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236
lamented
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| adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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237
perseverance
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| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
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238
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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239
stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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240
disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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241
diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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242
schooling
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| n.教育；正规学校教育 | |
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243
mirage
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| n.海市蜃楼，幻景 | |
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244
feign
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| vt.假装，佯作 | |
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245
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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247
proscribed
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| v.正式宣布（某事物）有危险或被禁止( proscribe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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248
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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249
autocrat
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| n.独裁者；专横的人 | |
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250
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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251
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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252
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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253
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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254
resonant
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| adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的 | |
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255
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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256
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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257
amity
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| n.友好关系 | |
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258
auxiliary
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| adj.辅助的，备用的 | |
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259
novice
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| adj.新手的，生手的 | |
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260
curt
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| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
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261
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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262
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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263
annotating
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| v.注解，注释( annotate的现在分词 ) | |
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264
zealous
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| adj.狂热的，热心的 | |
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265
remonstrances
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| n.抱怨，抗议( remonstrance的名词复数 ) | |
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266
theatricals
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| n.（业余性的）戏剧演出，舞台表演艺术；职业演员；戏剧的( theatrical的名词复数 )；剧场的；炫耀的；戏剧性的 | |
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267
treatise
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| n.专著；(专题)论文 | |
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268
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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269
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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270
maxims
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| n.格言，座右铭( maxim的名词复数 ) | |
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271
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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272
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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273
apathy
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| n.漠不关心，无动于衷；冷淡 | |
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274
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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275
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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276
pertains
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| 关于( pertain的第三人称单数 )； 有关； 存在； 适用 | |
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277
halcyon
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| n.平静的，愉快的 | |
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278
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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279
contemptible
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| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
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280
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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281
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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282
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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283
portray
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| v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等) | |
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