FREDERIC 
basa fubjes prifone rs of war. ‘Frederic, now affe€ted 
infult, exclaimed, « What! fhall a prince whom I 
efteem compel me to become his enemy??? H 
paaaaigpeiy| declared war, put himfelf at the head of his 
rmy, and joined the Saxons and Danes with twenty thou- 
ca troops. After compelling the king of Sweden to 
abandon his territories, and to feek refuge in a foreign po 
the ets divided among them Sg fpoils of the co 
rth elefs, when Frederic he of the news 
ct 
QO 
~ 
prince, 3 whofe enemy he had moft reluctantly become. 
this, Frederic interfered with effeét in favour of the pro- 
fant ts of fome neighbouring countries, who were ate 
Frederic libe- 
ingenuity of the in meolucen 
icheft fabrics in the country 
euild oa connected seis the public see he regarded 
ext oa uncom- 
thwarted by ae bigs if 
the refltion of privately quitting 
r England. His defign 
fortable, neds he too 
ae ruffian dominions for F 
ifcovered, - exe mea pity or the prince 
himfelf, with two. young officers who were his confidants, 
‘were proceeéde ae vant as nde 
good fortune to efcape; but thé oo a very amiable youth, 
-was condemned to death by the avage monarch, 
‘who forced his own = to — a feried i the’bloody deed. 
owly efcaped a like punifh- 
el wonthe clofe iar on he was fet 
at liberty. Such a father, however, could not expe& t6 
‘iafpire i in the heart of his fon any other’ feelings than thofe 
of: horror; and the more an ieaeipd about the dame time - 
a only of an "he fre with 
ts of 
very ; Salaiog he e was mo 
a ad ST a to aggravate rather 
‘than mitigate ‘ 4 Fred 
‘fell into a bad ‘fate of health, ach increafed the n 
she year 1740s, od i in the Atte beond year of his age. At 
‘this’ tine’ he probably relented and was grie his con- 
‘duct towards his for, with whom he held many conferences 
m 
aie Se : a aeceaie, ier gia the greateft regard for 
im, “a ngth ex pired. Frederic- 
the m monarch 
hiv. TY 
Cee rH, ing Lo Pi oer deténtivated 
aV 
-One of them had the - 
was that a oné of the a a 
‘to the morals of fovereigns: 
“diftri€ts in the bifhopric of Liege, upon whieh he had 
fum oney. 
“in: ‘whicks i Brederie, by his 6 
tiles 
«“ The Great,”? was fon of the a and born.at Berlin 
‘January 24,1712. In the 
enjoyed véry bw ‘advantages, “for his father wifhed to make 
him a complete foldier a = expence of every literary ac- 
complifhment. As, however, he grew towards manhood, 
7 ja oe ae a Pa for the iber al arts, which, as we have 
» had ne e was formed 
ae a mas 
hands, aid to which all his i was confined. 
ranny which he experienced from his father w: 
of turning his attention to (ejentitic purfuits, and being un- 
willing to incur the king’s di ifpleafure, from which he had 
already fuffered fo much, he retired ina m néafure from the 
world, and purfued his fudi 
branch 
mathematics and oie ophy. In 173 
of the king his father, Elizabeth-Chriftiana, a princefs of 
the houfe of Brunfwic-Wolfenbuttle ; but it is certain, 
though obliged to marry, that he never cohabited he her, 
though it is generally fuppofed that it was not mere per- 
fonal diflike that prevented a clofer fall sees that 
phyfical caufe exifted with refpe& to the 
had not long been feated on the throne before i matdfefed 
an icles to ae his utmoft efforts for enlarging his de- 
ions. Fis father’s ficcene to the imperial army in 1734. 
me 
2 E 
“ot 
to Staniflaus, king of Poland, then a fugitive at Konig rgy 
re him Ms the friendfhip of an amiable and lettered 
ee Ne con ange with: — chara€ters was eX- 
ended, and in the r 1736 egan a cotrefpondence 
with the celebrated Voltaive, om aah fo mul tn 
formin his opinions and his tatte, and: who fis pirat him 
(See. eels ¥ May 
notre of ‘iterary ditinétion forsied a part of the pice” "8 
‘and the graces ; 
n in any. He 440, 
and im cede ely sored the poffeffion of ‘all eg -popu- 
larity sich ufually waits upon a yotng fovereign who fuc- 
ceeds to an unamiable predeceffor. ‘The firft aét of the-new 
king was to difband the regiment of giants; a at thé fame 
time he inftituted an order ‘ of Merit,’?-which admitted 
perfons of hie worth in arms or arts, without diftin@tion . 
‘birth or country. He invited many learned foreignefs 
fettle in his decisions ee recalle f, and: a aera 
him to be the head of the univertity at Halle. aupertuis 
and Algarotti paggaee his invitation, and < up their 
he ae with hi le he was a eae : be ie e Bias, 
‘intended to refute 
but “it was eer eer ” fave 
his biographer, “ that one’ of his firft praGical conmenta 
upon it fhould be the feizure, by military force, of fone 
an ob- 
_ eae and which he afterwatds tied reftored fora 
This. was a the only inftance, by many, 
vn aks, fhewed low Hittle lie 
regarded the cormton r of more lity, when - ge) fteod in 
“the way” of -his withes- a9- kin ng. Qn the death of the ett- 
Mra pe 
TOY 
his é¢ducation he . 
1 
as the means _ 
