urged Frederic, as M. DENINA affures us, to refign to him his pretenfions to the crown. A fimple removal from the court or kingdom would therefore, it is highly probable, have been rather agreeable to the monarch than otherwife: at any rate, it could fcarcely have exasperated him in fuch a manner as to induce him to inftitute a formal procefs against his fon, and to fhew himself particularly defirous of taking his life.

It is remarked by M. DENINA, that one of the commiffioners appointed to the trial of Frederic, and who voted for his decapitation, lived unmolested by him in Pruffia for the space of thirty years after his acceffion to the throne: a circumftance at which many have expreffed their astonishment. But in this we perceive an extraordinary greatness of mind. He had, indeed, a fort of precedent for this moderation, in the conduct of the nephew of Louis XIV. who, when asked, on his affuming the regal power, why he did not refent the behaviour of certain perfons toward him when only Prince,-replied, that it would ill become the regent of France to take vengeance for injuries done, or endeavoured to be done, to the Duke of Orleans. A fine example of felf-command, and well, deferving the attention of kings!

The king of Pruffia's love of authority, as recorded by M. DENINA, is very remarkable. He never used the expreffion, by and with the advice of our council, as is common with other mo narchs; he even appears to have been unwilling to fhare his power with his Creator, fince, in every act and deed in which the fpecification of his titles was neceffary, the words by the grace of God, as employed by his predeceffors, were uniformly omitted.

Wholly devoid of religion, and indeed in no fort pretending to it for hypocrify was not the vice of Frederic-he had a truly tolerant fpirit. He was alike the favourer of every fect.And in return for this toleration, fays the Abbé, fomewhat pleafantly, he required nothing more than that they should tolerate is incredulity. Thus much is certain, whatever may have been infinuated to the contrary, that he never interrupted them in the exercise of any of their religious duties. He piqued himself on being the friend and protector of all.

The Abbé DENINA, like many who have spoken of Frederic, talks much (and in terms of difapprobation) of his jealoufy at every appearance of excellence in others, particularly in any line in which he himself was defirous of gaining renown. But they have never fufficiently diftinguished between jealousy and envy, and on too many occafions have confounded them together. Jealoufy is merely an emulative principle-envy, on the contrary, is a paffion which aims at the deftruction of the object with which it contends. The former is common to the noble mind, the latter is peculiar to the abject foul. The king of Pruffia might be jealous, but envious he could never be. It may further be remarked,

4

that

that in almost every action and every circumftance of his life, we perceive the spirit of ancient times. Hannibal concealed paifon in the ring which he wore on his finger, in order to deftroy himfelf, fhould he be taken prifoner. Frederic carried pills of corrofive fublimate in his pocket, and with a like defign.

Let it not be imagined, from what has gone before, that we are fo greatly dazzled by the fplendour of this monarch's charac ter, as to be wholly blind and infenfible to its defects. Specks are undoubtedly discoverable in it ;-yet being for the most part fuch as are common to human nature, we fhall pass them without a comment of any kind: clofing our account of him with a quotation from an elegant writer,-the fame, with which the Abbé has clofed his book:

"Think you that your father, the great Ulyffes (faid Mentor, addreffing himself to Telemachus); Ulyffes, who is a pattern, a model for the kings of the earth; think you, I would afk, that he is exempt from error-from the frailties and imperfections of his kind? Entertain not the vain idea! yet, notwithstanding the feveral weaknesses, the various failings to which he is fubject, the world has ever bestowed on him the most unbounded admiration and applaufe :-A thoufand brilliant qualities cancel and obliterate them all!”

We cannot difmifs this article without obferving, that the prefent volume has afforded us great pleasure in the perufal: yet as the Abbé DENINA has been generally engaged in the ftudy of the Belles Lettres, it is highly probable that in the work entitled La Pruffe Letteraire, he will appear to ftill greater advantage. He will have occafion to speak of many truly eminent men.

ART. XX.

Oeuvres Pofthumes de FREDERIC II. Roi de Pruffe, &c. i. e. The Pofthumous Works of Frederic II. King of Pruffia. 15 Vols. 8vo. Berlin. 1788*.

THE

HE works of a King form a rare phenomenon, at least in modern, and even in ancient times. Since the compofitions of Solomon, we have had very few royal publications; and fo much the better; for, however agreeably we may be ftruck with the brilliant fingularity of authorship on the throne, yet, if it became a mode, it might bring Kingship a peg lower in dig nity; and embolden Authors, perhaps Reviewers, nay even Bookfellers, to form over-fond ideas of the affinity of their vo cations to Royalty. Some fuch notion lay perhaps latent in that maxim fo often applauded by Voltaire, and his brethren of the quill, that mankind would be happy, if Kings were Philofophers, or if Philofophers were Kings.

* Imported by Meffrs. Robson and Clarke, in London.

However

However that may be, the publication before us has, in many refpects, an undoubted right to our admiration. If it is alfo adapted to excite fentiments of a different kind, we shall not difguife them, in the proper time and place. It is really amazing to fee fifteen volumes, containing not only political negociations,-military science and exploits,-wife and acute obfervations on legiflation and internal policy; but alfo elegant productions of Attic wit,-grave difcuffions in the line of minute philofophy and metaphyfics,-poetical performances,a very extenfive epiftolary correfpondence on fubjects of polite literature and ufeful arts, and all this iffuing from the pen of a Monarch, who fought fo many battles, conquered fo many countries, and was his own excellent Prime Minifter, Chancellor, Lord Chief Juftice, &c. in the government of them all.

A work from fuch an Author, and enriched with fuch a variety of materials, must not be reviewed in a hurry, and will therefore occupy more than a fingle article in our Journal; and this the rather, as its bulk will prevent its being univerfally read, and as it contains many things which it may be useful for every one to know. Among thefe we may place the new, and, at leaft, prefumptive proofs in favour of religion, arifing from the unkingly and unphilofophical manner in which it is treated in a correfpondence between the great FREDERIC and his philofopher D'ALEMBERT.

The first Volume of thefe Pofthumous Works is introduced by a fplendid Preface, in which the credibility, or rather the uncertainty, of general hiftory, is difcuffed, the merit of hiftorians and memoir-writers, ancient and modern, appreciated, and a peculiar degree of credit fecured to the fidelity and accuracy of the hiftory of his own time, tranfactions and campaigns which the Royal Author here lays before the Public. He fets out by telling us, without mincing matters, that moft hiftories are compilations of lies, mixed with fome truths.' He then obferves, that of the prodigious number of facts which have been tranf mitted to us, thofe alone can be looked on as certain which have been the epochas of the rife or fall of empires; fuch as the defeat of Darius by Alexander, of the Carthaginians, Antiochus, and Perfeus, by the Romans, and others of that kind. The civil wars of the Triumvirates are allowed, nevertheless, a high degree of credit, on account of the authenticity of the contemporary writers by whom thefe events have been related; and no doubt can be entertained concerning the downfall of the weftern and eastern empires, fince it is well known how many kingdoms were formed from their ruins. • But when,' continues our Author (if we may speak fo familiarly) curiofity goes a-goffiping into a detail of the facts of these remote times, we are involved in a chaos of obfcurities and contradictions, and find no clue to

lead

lead us through it. This is a reflection that bears hard on many voluminous compilations; and fo it feems intended by his Majefty, who maintains that the whole hiftory of the Lower Empire is a motley heap of fiction and darkness, excepting the Memoirs of the daughter of the Emperor ALEXIUS COMNENUS, who related the events of which fhe was an ocular witness.-It may be fo;-but when wit, eloquence, panegyric, and fatire, agitate the mafs, as the poet fays, and pervade agreeably the enormous body, we read with pleafure, or admire, without reading, by hearfay; and as the events are long paft, and the greateft part of them intereft us but little, we do not much mind whether they be certain or doubtful.

In more than one place in this Preface we are told that the work is defigned for POSTERITY.

This,' fays the Royal Author,' fets me free from the restraint of refpecting those who are now alive, and obferving certain menagemens which are incompatible' with the bold frankness of truth.I fhall reprefent Princes in their natural colours, without partiality for my allies, or refentment against my enemies. I fhall fpeak of my. felf only where it is neceffary, and always in the third perfon, after Cæfar's example, to avoid egotism.

In all this the King keeps his word to the full, and often more ftrictly than was expedient; but if he does not spare others, he is candid enough to turn, on feveral occafions, the feverity of his cenfures on himself. He avows his faults in the cabinet and in the field: in the former they are very rare; in the latter they are the faults of a great genius.

As we are defirous to get to the work, we pass over in filence feveral things in this curious Preface, which would otherwise highly deferve notice. It abounds with acute and wife reflections on the duties of Princes and their minifters; on the principles on which wars ought to be undertaken and carried on; and on the rules which ought to be obferved in the execution or ! the violation of treaties; though with refpect to this laft article, we think too much latitude is given for fubterfuges and evafions.

The first and fecond volumes are entitled, The Hiftory of my own Time. This Hiftory is divided into fourteen chapters, of which we shall point out, fucceffively, the contents.

In the firft and introductory chapter, we have an account of the ftate of Pruffia at the death of FREDERIC WILLIAM, in the year 1740.-The characters of the Princes of Europe, of their Minifters and Generals.-A view of their forces, of their refources, and of their influence in the affairs of Europe.-The fate of the arts and sciences. And the circumstances and mo

*MENS agitat molem magno fe corpore mifcet. VIRG.

1

tives that occafioned the firft war between his Pruffian Majefty and the house of Auftria.

The greatest part of thefe objects are too recent not to be more or lefs known by the enlightened clafs of our Readers. They nevertheless derive a very interesting aspect from the manner in which they are here defcribed. They are prefented to us with that noble fimplicity, that eafe and elegance of diction, which diftinguish the Commentaries of Cæfar; and this chapter unites, in a very high degree, inftruction and entertainment, by the value of the materials, their luminous arrangement, beauty of ftyle, and the fine touches of pleasantry that ftrike us, here and there, in certain epithets, fimilitudes, and turns of expreffion, which make the reader fmile, without diminifhing the kingly tone of the narration. The great man (for fuch certainly he was) writes, as he fought, with spirit, precifion, and facility, we had almoft added, with amenity.

We see here what the Pruffian monarchy was, when FREDERIC 11. fucceeded to the crown; its revenues amounted to between seven and eight millions of dollars; its population to between two and three millions of inhabitants; its army to 76,000 men, of which 26,000 were foreigners. The favings of the late King amounted to near nine millions of dollars, which he left to his fucceffor, with his finances in a good state of adminiftration, but with feanty refources in the country for their improvement, as the balance of commerce loft annually above a million. Such was the fortune of our hero when he entered on the theatre of the world; and what he made of it, and in what ftate he left it, when he went behind the curtain, we all know.

In defcribing the fituation of the ftates and powers of Europe, at his acceffion to the throne, he draws, with an able pencil, the portraits of the minifters and leading men who directed their counfels. These portraits are not all highly finished; but the predominant lines are fketched with energy and precifion.-A few fpecimens of the Royal Writer's talent for moral and political painting will not, we think, be unacceptable to our Readers. The Emperor CHARLES VI. had received from nature the qua -lities which conftitute a good citizen, but not one of those which form a great man. He was generous, but without difcernment. He was capable of effort and application, but void of genius, parts, and penetration; fo that he laboured much, and produced nothing. He was well acquainted with German law, fpoke feveral languages, and particularly the Latin, with fluency and precifion. He was a good father and a good hufband, but was bigotted and fuperftitious, as were all the Princes of the house of Auftria. He was educated to obey, and not to command. His ministers amused him with the decifion of law-fuits in the Aulic Council, and the punctual observance of all the minute formalities of the ceremonial of the house of Bur

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gundy;