FREDERIC. 
" infpired, - bia a eftablifhed; ee returned to his 
whic bh e had been abfen re th 
it. fi eror of Germany, i 
1769, at Neife in Silefia, where they treated. each other in 
_a cordial and seus manner ; and, after fpending two days 
in each other’s company, parted with the ftrongett  profeffions 
of mutual rege, efteem, and confidence. They seh 
to company with fome ‘general officers, am 
whom was the celebrated Laudohn, “who had greatly difice 
guithed himfelf againft the king of Pruffia in the late war, 
and who was going to place himfelf at the lower end: of the 
table, but Frederic exclaimed “ I mut beg the favour of 
general Laydahn to come and fit by me, for I can affure 
iim I had rather have him on my fide, than oppofite to me.’ 
Although the king kept up an army of two hundred thou- 
fand men, fully equipped or difeiplined, yet he was ex- 
adel 
ome dittri 
a proport tion of their 
ee by’ the fevere treatment re oe nelesy to 7 
the diftricts that had been feized by Auftria and Pruffia, 
and to retire into the’ provinces allotted to Ruffia. 
Jefuits, in other parts of his dominions, Frederic 
ete See and though the pope had abalifhed the order, 
he. afforded them, as men oft telents ag oom lear ning an 
afylun in the Prufhan territories. im- 
portant of the remaining public, events os Fre wee TIC?S lifes hie 
_ that which related to the Pro} — of a 
torate of Bavaria, by the “of na. On thi 
fion Frederic was "the ae o the reer and independence 
of the Germanic body, and the oppofer of lawlefs ambition : 
he took the field in perfon in 1778, with a powerful army, 
— was oppofed’by. t the emperor Jofeph and Laudohn, with 
‘an equal. force. No acti on: pesubale? enfued, and, in 1779, a 
eG was,entered into, whith produced an abandonment of 
the. defigns. of the Auftrian ates 85, a plan was 
formed by. the etiperor for exchanging, with the ele¢tor- 
palat ine, the low countries for Bavaria, which the king of 
‘Pruffia defeated; by propofing a confederation for maintain- 
ing the indi ivifibility 0 of the empire; and the laws-of- the 
ae of the ftad 
ed: 
‘an 
Germanic conftitution, which was immediately joined by: 
feveral of the principal members of ‘the empire. About 
i wae plate the Pruffian court remonftrated with the flates 
re 
Jnited Provinces concerning the limitations of ‘the 
3 
The Pruffi 
fam ily. In 1786, 2 a oe of amity and commerce was 
eonchided between Pruffia and the United States of America, 
which was a model of liberal policy refpe€ting the rights of 
two independent nations both in peace and in war. 
Frederic, as he-advanced in years, became milder and more 
humane, more attentive to the real welfare of his fubjects, 
and more difpofed to prefer the ufeful to the fplendid. ' His 
exertions in promoting agriculture, pa eae and thofe 
arts of life by which ‘the lower and middle ranks of life are 
rendered comfortable and flourifhing, were ala by thofe 
of any fovereign of his time, and the increafe of population: 
ruffian dominions durmg the latter 
i 
e had begun uffe 
wahich eee a pane dec 
fophic ferenity his deaneen vi 8 and continued to exer- 
cife with his accuftomed regularity the fin@tions of royalty, 
till within two i of his death. He remained in the fulk 
poffeffion.of thofe uncommon: powers of: underftanding, ‘by 
which he was diftinguifhed, till the 15th of Auguft, and 
refigned his breath Auguit 17, 1786, in the feventy fifth 
year of his age, and the forty-feventh of his reign. 
Frederic had unqueftionably a‘claim to be ranked among 
thofe princes who are called : asa general, though 
defect: rather ‘of feeling Gan of jud 
them: as the pases put into on had for-the ‘purpafe 
of playing a gréat e, and he niade it finally a winning 
ne. His political Tie were confiderable, a adapted 
to the rank he held’ in the world as an abfolute monarch. 
In perfon he was fomewhat below the middle ftature,, but 
his limbs were well formed, an he poffefied a healthful and 
vigorous conftitution. “His in rs were: 
8 
He had 
n perfon the = of 
a great king, a wile legiflator, an ilhiftrious hero, a 
comphihed general, a fine poet, and an enlightened philofox 
pher. His judgmient was naturally’ folid, but in a 
degree perverted byhis-early prejudices in: favour © 
French {chool, and this- will ealily- ai for’ his ee 
of revealed ‘religion ; ‘liis notions with 1 to- natural, 
religion feem to have fluétuated ;- but his morals = unit 
formly guided by ne-other rule than his: pleafure, . and 
e 
