94^ miscellaneous reflections, Fel. i^. 



REFLECTIONS OF FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

 Selected from his letters. 

 Oh ! how prudent, • moderate, forbearing and mild, 

 does the school of adversity render man I The proof 

 is terrible ; but where it has been endured, its uti- 

 Jitj continues to the end of life. 



Letters to the marquis cP Argens, LXXVI, 



How different is it, my dear marquis, to view 

 objects of ambition at a distance, through a de- 

 ceitftil prism, by wliich they are embellifhed, from 

 examining them closely, naked as they are, and 

 stripped of their tinsel ornaments! Vanity of vani- 

 ties I Vanit}' of victories I This is the sentence of a 

 sage. It comprehends all things, and in itself coa- 

 tains reflections which every man ought to make, 

 but which are seldom made in the hurry of action. 



Letter XCV. 



Oh ! how hard is the human 'heart ! It is said I 

 have friends ; yes, and excellent friends they are to 

 be sure ! They stand peaceably still, and see me 

 going to destruction. 



*' I wifh you every happinefs I" " O, then, I am 

 djowning, throw me a rope I" " Pardon me, sir, you 

 will not be drowned, I think, and I fhall catch cold by 

 going into the water." " Nay, but good God I I 

 am absolutely sinking sir I" "I hope not, dear sir, 

 and if the worst iliould happen, which God forbid, 

 be persuaded, that I fhall make it my businefs to 

 -write a very handsome elegy on your death." Such 

 ^narquis is the world. Letter XCVIIJU 



'To he con'imied , 



