Hotham, quite indignant, sent this dispatch, dated May 13, to London, including with it a very earnest letter from the Crown Prince to his uncle, in which Fritz wrote:
ONE: Lairs mus par le bruyant tonnere. Days of Peace and Prosperity.The Palace of Sans Souci.Letter from Marshal Keith.Domestic Habits of the King.Fredericks Snuff-boxes.Anecdotes.Severe Discipline of the Army.Testimony of Baron Trenck.The Review.Death of the Divine Emilie.The Kings Revenge.Anecdote of the Poor Schoolmaster.The Berlin Carousal.Appearance of his Majesty.Honors conferred upon Voltaire.
I have nothing to add to this. I will only inform your curiosity that we passed the Elbe the day before yesterday; that to-morrow we march toward Leipsic, where I hope to be on the 31st, where I hope we shall have a battle, and whence you shall receive news of us as it occurs.Augustus, King of Poland, called Augustus the Strong, was a man of extraordinary physical vigor and muscular strength. It was said that he could break horseshoes with his hands, and crush half-crowns between his finger and thumb. He was an exceedingly profligate man, introducing to his palaces scenes of sin and shame which could scarcely have been exceeded in Rome in the most corrupt days of the C?sars. Though Frederick William, a stanch Protestant, was a crabbed, merciless man, drinking deeply and smoking excessively, he was irreproachable in morals, according to the ordinary standard. Augustus, nominally a Catholic, and zealously advocating political Catholicism, though a good-natured, rather agreeable man, recognized no other law of life than his own pleasure.CHAPTER XXXI. THE STRUGGLE CONTINUED.As he was upon the point of setting off, seven Austrian deserters came in and reported that General Neippergs full army was advancing at but a few miles distance. Even as they were giving their report, sounds of musketry and cannon announced that the Prussian outposts were assailed by the advance-guard of the foe. The peril of Frederick was great. Had Neipperg known the prize within his reach, the escape of the Prussian king would have been almost impossible. Frederick had but three or four thousand men with him at Jagerndorf, and only three pieces of artillery, with forty rounds of ammunition. Bands of Austrian cavalry on fleet horses were swarming all around him. Seldom, in the whole course of his life, had Frederick been placed in a more critical position.