THELIFEOF 



as he ufed-to do, he always got between his 

 horfc and a wall. This was a fignal for all, ex- 

 cept thofe employed in mounting him, to look 

 another way. As foon as he had got his foot into 

 the ftirrup, a powerful huzza r, in. a twinkling, 

 hoifted his Majefty into his faddle; once there, 

 he galloped off immediately. 



Perhaps, hnce the time of Charles XII. of 

 Sweden no prince ever paid lefs attention to 

 drefs than Frederic the. Great. His coat was 

 always military, and feldom, I believe, had its 

 nap difturbed by the officious intrufion of a 

 brufh : this he wore buttoned tight round him i 

 and his legs were cafed in a pair of large ftrong 

 boots. Thefe laft, the date of whofe antiquity 

 I am not chronologift enough to fix, had been 

 held facred from brufh and blacking; but when, 

 overloaded with mud, having been wafhed with 

 a fponge, had gradually deferted the fable, and 

 alTumed a mahogany hue. 



His hat was no way calculated to put the reft 

 of his drefs out of countenance ; it feemed their: 

 coeval fellow-foldier, and was fharp before.- As 

 he never fpoke, even to a private foldier, with-, 

 out uncovering and holding it in his hand, the 

 right corner, by which he always held it, ihew- 

 ed evident marks of hard duty. 



His fnuff-box, the only gaudy thing about 

 him, was of gold, of an enormous fize, and to 



this 



