Fortescue. He has been of our parties ever since, and will accompany us to Brunswick and Potsdam.

LETTER LXI.

Potsdam.

On returning to Brunswick, we found the hereditary princess had come from Zell a few days before, having left the queen of Denmark in perfect health. The princess resided with her children at Antonettenruche, a villa a few miles from Brunswick. She invited the duke of Hamilton, Mr. Fortescue, and me, to dine with her the day before we were to set out for Potsdam. That morning I chanced to take a very early walk in the gardens of the palace. The duke of Brunswick was there.-He informed me, that an express had arrived with news of the queen of Denmark's death. They had received accounts a few days before that she had been seized with a putrid fever.

He said that nobody in the town or court knew of this except his own family, and desired that I would not mention it to the princess, who, he knew, would be greatly affected; for he intended to send a person, after her company should be gone, who would inform her of this event, with all its circumstances.

When we went, we found the princess in some anxiety about her sister;-yet rather elated with the accounts she had received that day by the post. She showed us her letters. They contained a general description of the symptoms, and conveyed some hopes of the queen's recovery. Unable to bear the idea of her sister's death, she wrested every expression into the most favourable sense, and the company met her wishes, by confirming the interpretation she gave. To me, who knew the truth, this scene was affecting and painful.

As we returned to Brunswick in the evening, we met the gentleman who was commissioned by the duke to impart the news of the queen's death to her sister.-We

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supped the same night at court, and took leave of this illustrious family. The duchess gave me a letter to her son, Prince Frederick, at Berlin, which she said would secure me a good reception at that capital.

On coming to the inn, we found a very numerous com pany, and the whole house resounded with music and dancing. It is customary all over Germany, after a marriage of citizens, to give the wedding-feast at an inn. As there was no great chance of our being much refreshed by sleep that night, instead of going to bed, we ordered posthorses, and left Brunswick about three in the morning.

We arrived the same afternoon at Magdeburg. The country all the way is perfectly level. The duchy of Magdeburg produces fine cattle, and a considerable quantity of corn, those parts which are not marshy, and overgrown with wood, being very fertile. I have seen few or no inclosures in this, or any part of Germany, except such as surround the gardens or parks of princes.

The king of Prussia has a seat in the diet of the empire, as duke of Magdeburg. The capital, which bears the same name with the duchy, is a very considerable town, well-built and strongly fortified. There are manufactories here of cotton and linen goods, of stockings, gloves, and tobacco; but the principal are those of woollen and silk.

The German woollen cloths are, in general, much inferior to the English and French. The Prussian officers, however, assert, that the dark blue cloth made here, and in other parts of the king of Prussia's dominions, though coarser, wears better, and has a more decent appearance when long worn, than the finest cloth manufactured in England or France.-Thus much is certain, that the Prussian blue is preferable to any other cloth made in Germany-The town of Magdeburg is happily situated for trade, having an easy communication with Hamburg by the Elbe, and lying on the road between Upper and Lower Germany. It is also the strongest place belonging to his Prussian majesty, and where his principal ma

gazines and founderies are established. In time of war, it is the repository of whatever he finds necessary to place

out of the reach of sudden insult.

Places where any extraordinary event has happened, even though they should have nothing else to distinguish them, interest me more than the most flourishing coun try, or finest town which has never been the scene of any thing memorable. Fancy, awakened by the view of the former, instantly gives shape and features to men we have never seen. We hear them speak, and see them act; the passions are excited, the mind amused; the houses, the rivers, the fields around supplying the absence of the poet and historian, and restoring with new energy the whole scene to the mind.

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While crossing the Elbe at this town with the duke of Hamilton, I recalled to his memory the dreadful tragedy which was acted here by the Austrian general Tilly, who, having taken this town by storm, delivered up the citizens, without distinction of age or sex, to the barbarity and lust of his soldiers. Besides the general massacre, they exhibited such acts of wanton cruelty, as disgrace human nature. We viewed, with a lively sympathy, that part of the river where three or four hundred of the inhabitants got over and made their escape :-all that were saved out of twenty thousand citizens !

This sad catastrophe supplied us with conversation for great part of this day's journey. It is unnecessary to comment on an event of this kind to a person of the duke's sensibility.-Proper reflections arise spontaneously in a well-formed mind from the simple narrative.

The country is well cultivated, and fertile, for about two leagues beyond Magdeburg; afterwards it becomes more barren, and within a few leagues of Brandenburg, it is as naked and sandy as the deserts of Arabia.

Brandenburg, from which the whole electorate takes its name, is but a small town, divided into old and new by a river, which separates the fort from both. The principal trade is carried on by some French woollen manufac

town.

turers, whom the king has encouraged to reside at this The whole number of inhabitants does not amount to more than 1500.

On entering the Prussian garrison towns, you are stopped at the gate; the officer of the guard asks your name, whence you come, whither you are going? and takes your answers down in writing. This is done in the French garrisons also, but not with the same degree of form and accuracy.

When the title of duke is given, the guard generally turns out under arms. As for milord, it is a title treated with very little ceremony, either in France or Germany. It is often assumed in foreign countries by those who have no right to it, and given to every Englishman of a decent appearance. But duke, in Germany, implies a sovereign, and is more respectable than prince, Every son of a duke in this country, is called prince, although he had as many as old king Priam.

We arrived last night at Potsdam, which important piece of news, you will please to observe, I have taken the earliest opportunity of communicating.

LETTER LXII.

Potsdam.

THE HE day after our arrival here, I waited on the count Finkenstein, and desired to know when the duke of Hamilton and I could have the honour of being presented to the king, requesting, at the same time, the liberty of attending at the reviews. I was not a little surprised when this minister told me, that I must write a letter to his majesty, informing him of that request, and that I should certainly receive an answer the day following. It appeared very singular to write to so great a prince upon an af fair of such small importance; but the count told me this was the established rule. So I immediately did as I was desired.

Next morning one of the court-servants called for me

at the inn, and delivered a sealed letter addressed to me, and signed by the king, importing, that as the court would soon be at Berlin, the minister in waiting there would let the duke of Hamilton and Mr. Moore know when they might be presented, and that they were very welcome to attend at all the reviews.

In the evening we were presented to the prince and princess of Prussia, who reside almost constantly at Potsdam. He is a tall, stout-made, handsome man, of about thirty-five years of age. The princess is of the family of Hesse Darmstadt, and has a great resemblance to her aunt, whom we had seen at Carlsruche. We have had the honour of supping with them twice during the few days we have been at Potsdam.

The prince and all the officers have been employed every morning in preparing for the reviews. Yesterday, for the second time, there were seven thousand men reviewed by the king. The prince of Prussia's son, a child of six or seven years old, was present on foot with his tutor, and unattended by any officer or servant. They mingled without any mark of distinction among the other spectators. I mentioned my surprise at this to the tutor. In France, said he, it would be otherwise: the dauphin, at the age of this child, would be carried to the review in a coach, with a troop of musqueteers to attend him; but here, the king and prince are equally desirous that their successor should be brought up in a hardy manner, and without any strong impression of his own importance. Sentiments of that kind will come soon enough, in spite of all the pains that can be taken to exclude them.

The troops were drawn up in one line along the summits of some hills. From this situation they descended over very unequal and rough ground, firing in grand divisions all the way, till they came to the plain, where they went through various evolutions. But as we were to set out in a little time for Berlin, where the grand re. views of that garrison are to take place, I shall say no more on the subject of reviews till then.