Se 
and turned. hie thoughts to the acquifition of the regal dig- an 
nity ; this was the great objet-of his ambition, and the mi- 
nifters who oppoted the proje& as.chimerical ape aie 
were quickly difgraced. In the war carried o 
the Spanifh’ fea he ventured to unfo la his jae 
and made it a principal condition of his $s co-operation with the 
-emperor, that he fhould be recognized king of Pruffia,. and 
a: nip es to this lian was 8 conclud ae at ve m1y7oo . 
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ne is certain cm nod 
ogged with conditions on the Lan 
Hilttorians have confi fidered this fte; 
e piece was cae it was 
generally believed that 
Brederic had folicited an honour which his power was ina- 
dequate to fupport. Even his confort, Sophia-Charlotta of 
rlanover, lifter of our George I oman no lefs diftin- 
guifhed for so arta a than for the character iftic vir- 
sides whic 
philofophical jeaaiae 
all the magnificence of whic 
profufe toa degree, 
an 
which his country was-ill able bey fap. 
ort. th 
He was, however, at the defire of his que 
ce) ademy of a 
a e 
e: “ Weep not for me,” faid the dying queen to one 
ee a attendants, “¢ I am now going to fatisfy my curiofity 
re{pecting the principles of pee see even Leibnitz has 
never been. able to explain 
for the king y hu bar 
ne the exhit ition of a ae fae 
in. which - 
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a a fplendid ee 
cf in his own mind, for the 
lofs 3 ofa: wife sige death te not be fufficiently deplored, 
which was we third. In the 
- peltileatial cna me carried 
fdubjects, but the - ae oe no means of relic being 
stoo much abfor and oftentatiou 
Amidf the Rubiaceae eiftaranes of the ceri, ee 
employed his efforts to re e the different parties, and 
ee his own aon | ia. pee. He died in 1 743. 
Snglth and th ie Dut = 
Tartar, ‘whe fell their herd ‘e the butchers roy 
It has been faid of him e was gre 
ey miferably little in se concerns.’ however. 
dhe mis isfortune to. hold his {tation in hiftory, between a father 
like the w: Oe cise 
Podolia.”’ 
of the beft age of the republic. 
ces at “Beslin, 
lam preparing . 
cine by the ea which he had heard, when y 
- that the kin 
. thoufand men wathowt A aid. of foreig 
eat in little matters, © 
He has 
a fon, by whote great and eae abilities his 
sae is: howe fed. Unive 
REDERIC WILLIAM, bac or Pr as with- both names’ 
is pestle a: the I*., but as “ Frederic”® only he is the II". 
of that name. He was fon of the preceding by Sophia 
Charlotta, and born in 1688. At an early 2 he difplayed 
a-paffion for military exercifes, and highly diftinguifhed 
himfelf in the allied army againft the French. In 1706 
he married the princefs Sophia ig: daughter: of 
the eleCtor o anover, afterward king George: I... 
j On the death of his father in 1713 he fucceeded 
to the throne, and exhibited a ara in eel aia the 
—— of ae already delinea e great reduc- 
acri as they would te Poe o little minds, in 
al the eicblithments of aie pomp, and applied his whole 
attention to render his one great, by maintaining a full 
treafury and a powerful army. In his own 
extremely plain, and in his manners fimple and 
cefs. He abolithed all ufelefs expenditures, retained but few 
oon about himfelf, and reduced his private expences to 
a very moderate fum. He was a accuflomed to fay, “ that a 
prince Seas to Fe are not cnly the blood, but the property 
of his and in this refpect a bay be regarded as 
throne ; an e fruga oe which 
exercifed was oy the chara&ter of an ancient Roman i 
By this. ae ee aa and by 
his reforms in the finances and expenditure, he was arse 
to keep up a great military eftablifhment, and. he was the 
founder of that exaét difcipline and regularity for which 
the Pruffian troops have been fo much admired.. 
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‘picked up from all the eee pa countries at a vaft-ex 
pence, and without any regard to the means by which they 
might ‘be obtained : he fent to ey them frorh the e 
tremities of Europe to the borders 
ing a seals to their future fer- 
vices. e was equally res 
matching them. aie the talleft : 
were compelled to the union. 
more defpotic than his whole military fyftem.. In other 
‘refpeéts he ftudied a happinefs of his fubjeds,. and the 
profperity of the ftates. 
recognized a s. king o of ruffia in a ‘treat h etal 
Tired o ne humilations which his father had frequently 
fuffered from the Swedes Hans, who marched. their 
troops t through his - 
any future 
rupture that might Tee among his n ea. 
the monarch was excited to the formation of his 
generals, one of whom boldly Tiered 
iffia could not maintain afo orce. of fifteen 
from two Engli 
of Pru 
the 10] the r 
-o the of hi, o own reign he on~ 
fir yea 
‘riged aoe to “double that aoe without the ee of 
foreign fubfidies. 
oar car aaa the peace of Utrecht, 
war Guarana e north between Charles XII. and the 
of Rafa, and oe ich hee and Denmark  - 
into ‘this Frederic did n ter, but was. compelled 
by an attack of Cia. ee an five hundred of a 
Pruffian 
