[History of Friedrich II. of Prussia Vol. XIII. (of XXI.) by Thomas Carlyle]@TWC D-Link bookHistory of Friedrich II. of Prussia Vol. XIII. (of XXI.) CHAPTER II 52/55
106-110.
Compare _OEuvres de Frederic,_ ii.
84; and Valori, i.
119, 122.] The unsuccessfulest negotiation well imaginable by a public man. Strehlen, Monday, 7th August, 1741:--Friedrich has vanished into the interior of his tent; and the two Diplomatic gentlemen, the wind struck out of them in this manner, remain gazing at one another.
Here truly is a young Royal gentleman that knows his own mind, while so many do not. Unspeakable imbroglio of negotiations, mostly insane, welters over all the Earth; the Belleisles, the Aulic Councils, the British Georges, heaping coil upon coil: and here, notably, in that now so extremely sordid murk of wiggeries, inane diplomacies and solemn deliriums, dark now and obsolete to all creatures, steps forth one little Human Figure, with something of sanity in it: like a star, like a gleam of steel,--shearing asunder your big balloons, and letting out their diplomatic hydrogen;--salutes with his hat, "Gentlemen, Gentlemen, it is of no use!" and vanishes into the interior of his tent.
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