74 (quoting _ Memoires du Comte de Dohna); _ &c.

&c.]--about what?
One question only are we a little interested in: How he came by the Kingship?
How did the like of him contrive to achieve Kingship?
We may answer: It was not he that achieved it; it was those that went before him, who had gradually got it,--as is very usual in such cases.

All that he did was to knock at the gate (the Kaiser's gate and the world's), and ask, "IS it achieved, then ?" Is Brandenburg grown ripe for having a crown?
Will it be needful for you to grant Brandenburg a crown?
Which question, after knocking as loud as possible, they at last took the trouble to answer, "Yes, it will be needful."-- Elector Friedrich's turn for ostentation--or as we may interpret it, the high spirit of a Hohenzollern working through weak nerves and a crooked back--had early set him a-thinking of the Kingship; and no doubt, the exaltation of rival Saxony, which had attained that envied dignity (in a very unenviable manner, in the person of Elector August made King of Poland) in 1697, operated as a new spur on his activities.

Then also Duke Ernst of Hanover, his father-in-law, was struggling to become Elector Ernst; Hanover to be the Ninth Electorate, which it actually attained in 1698; not to speak of England, and quite endless prospects there for Ernst and Hanover.

These my lucky neighbors are all rising; all this the Kaiser has granted to my lucky neighbors: why is there no promotion he should grant me, among them!-- Elector Friedrich had 30,000 excellent troops; Kaiser Leopold, the "little man in red stockings," had no end of Wars.