[In fine, at Potsdam I was, SATURDAY, 9th JULY, 1780, waiting ready;--stayed there about a week.] ["9th (or 10th) July, 1780" (Rodenbeck, iii.

233): "Stayed till 16th."] "While waiting for the hour of 12, with my Son Charles and M.de Lille [Abbe de Lille, prose-writer of something now forgotten; by no means lyrical DE LISLE, of LES JARDINS], to be presented to the King, I went to look at the Parade;--and, on its breaking up, was surrounded, and escorted to the Palace, by Austrian deserters, and particularly from my own regiment, who almost caressed me, and asked my pardon for having left me.
"The hour of presentation struck.

The King received me with an unspeakable charm.

The military coldness of a General's Head-quarters changed into a soft and kindly welcome.

He said to me, 'He did not think I had so big a Son.' EGO.