ai ~ F R E 
derived a readinefs in that language, and a predile£l:ion 
for it, which he retained during life. ‘ In the progrefs of 
education, he enjoyed but few advantages ; for it was his 
father’s principal objeft to render him thoroughly verfed 
from childhood in military dil'cipline, and in this he fuc- 
ceeded at the expence of other acquifitions. As he grew 
towards manhood, however, a decided tafte for polite 
literature began to difplay itl^elf. It wqs formed by the 
French books which were put into his hands, and to which 
all his reading was confined ; and it follered thofe polilhed 
manners which diftinguiflied him through life. He be¬ 
came likewife a great lover and a pradlitioner of mufic ; 
as well as a voluminous writer. For a confiderable time 
hepurfued his ftudies in retirement,''and added mathema¬ 
tics and other folid attainments to the moreamufing bran¬ 
ches of literature. His father’s fuccour to the imperial 
army in 1734, gave him the treat of a converfation with 
prince Eugene on military affairs; and a vifit in 1735 to 
Staniflaus, king of Poland, then a fugitive at Konigf- 
berg, gratified him with the friendfliip of an amia’ole and 
lettered fovereign. His connedlion with men of letters was 
now extended; and in 1736 he began a correfpondence 
with the great obje£t of his admiration, Voltaire, who 
had fo confiderable a (hare in forming his tafle and opi¬ 
nions. Whether he derived more benefit or injury from 
the lelfons of this celebrated man, will be differently de¬ 
termined by different judges ; but it was Voltaire who 
principally impreffed him with that fpirit of religious to¬ 
leration which ever diftinguifiied his reign. Baron Biel- 
feld, and other perfons of literary diftindlion, formed a 
part of the prince’s little court at Rheinfberg, which is 
reprefented as being at once the feat of the mufes and 
the graces ; and the charafter fuftained by the prince 
himRlf at this period, was that of one of the moft polite 
and fafcinating young men in Germany. 
When he afcended the throne of Pruffia in 1740, his 
liberal and enlightened mind difplayed itfelf in theinffitu- 
tion of a new order of knighthood, called that of merit,, 
which was to admit perfons of defect in arms or arts, 
without dillincfion of birth or country. He wrote to fe- 
veral of the moft eminent men of letters in different fla- 
tions, inviting them to fettle in his dominions; and he 
recalled the philofopher Wolf, and made him head of the 
univerfity of Halle. Voltaire, with Maupertuis and Al- 
garotti, iiad an interview with him near Cleves ; the two 
latter foon after took up their refidence with him. He 
now alfo publifhed “ Anti-Machiavel,” a work intended 
to refute the difhoneff maxims of the celebrated Italian, 
relative to the morals of fovereigns.—He always employ¬ 
ed the intervals of improving the internal government of 
his dominions, and in forming eftablifliments calculated 
to promote their.profperity. The acadenty of I'ciences 
founded at Berlin by Frederic I. liad, through the dif- 
couragements of the fucceeding reign, fallen to decay. 
He infiituted it anew, gave it a more enlarged plan, com- 
prifing tlie belles-lettres and- I'peculative philofophy, as 
well as pure fcience, provided it with able members, and 
wrote an ode in honour of its renovation. 
About the year 1746, he appeared a's an author in two 
works, which are among thofe that have done him moft 
honour. They are written in French, the only language 
which he ufed in the capacity of a man of letters; for he 
feems ever to have difliked his native tongue, and to 
have defpifed German literature. His Me'moires pour 
Jervir a I’Mifloire de la Maifon de Brandebourg, is a con- 
cife account of his electoral and royal lioufe, written 
in a good tafte, and with much apparent impartiality. 
His Poem on the Art of War, in fix books, is the 
moft confiderable of his produflions of that clafs, and may 
rank among the moft fplendid and beft planned of didaftic 
works in verfe. The compofition of thefe and other lite¬ 
rary pieces, his various ftudies and amufements, and the 
journeys he occ^fionally made'to different parts of his do¬ 
minions, occupied all the leifure he could command from 
thofe royal duties which he always performed with the 
greatefl; exadtnefs. He had, from his acceffion, entirely 
F R E 
debarred himfelf from the pleafures of the chace, by 
which the time of fo many princes is ufelefsly confumed. 
Ifhe could be faid in any refpeft to be wafteful of his 
hours, it was in the pradVice of mufic : all his other re¬ 
laxations partook of fomething mental. He indulged his 
tafte for the fine arts in decorating the royal palaces, and 
eredling many fplendid edifices at Berlin and Potzdam, 
which during his reign became, in their exterior, equal 
to the fineft places in Europe. Their internal opulence 
and comfort, however, did not keep an equal pare ; in¬ 
deed, the richeft architedtural beauties were often lavifh- 
ed upon buildings which were in reality only military 
barracks. 
In 1750 Frederic was made happy in a vifit from the 
great objedl of his admiration, Voltaire. No literary man 
was probably-ever received by a fovereign with more dif- 
.tindlion and cordiality ; and for a time his prefence feem- 
ed to infpire the monarch with all that pleafure which a 
perpetual flow of wit, feafoned with good fenfe and re¬ 
fined tafte, was calculated to produce in a cultivated 
mind. He likewife derived from him much inftruction 
in the arts of writing and criticifm, and much ufeful cor- 
reftion in his own compofitions. It will rather belong to 
the life of a wit, than of a king, to give a detail of thofe 
literary fquabbles, and other circumftances of difguft, 
which terminated in Voltaire’s difmiflion from the court 
of Berlin in 1753. Both of them loft credit by their con- 
nedlion ; the king, perhaps, the leaft ; thoughthearref- 
tation of Voltaire at Frankfort, upon his return, was a 
very unhandfome meafure, and too much favoured of 
German defpotifm. The monarch was afterwards however 
reconciled, and renewed a literary commerce with him be¬ 
fore his death, which happened in '17S6, though their 
mutual eftecm and affection appears never to have been 
perfectly reftored. As a man of letters, Frederic would 
probably have fhone even independently of his rank, or 
rather, perhaps, the more, had he merely had the educa¬ 
tion and employment of a man of letters. Befides the 
works already mentioned as written by him, he publiftied 
Military Inftrudtions; and a variety of pieces in verfe 
and profe, on mifcellaneous topics, all compofing four 
volumes 8vo. under the title of CEuvres Primitives. After 
his death appeared his (Euvres Pojlhumes, in fifteen vo¬ 
lumes 8vo. of which the principal are the Hiftory of 
his own Time; the Hiftory of the Seven Years’ War; 
Memoirs from the Peace of Hubertfburg to the Parti¬ 
tion of Poland in 1775 : all thefe contain much valuable 
information, with as much impartiality as could be ex¬ 
pected. • Of his correfpondence alone there are {'even 
volumes, much of it very interefting. For his great mi¬ 
litary exploits, deep policy, and luccefsful reign, fee 
the article Prussi.\. 
FREDERIC, a county of the American States, in 
Maryland, bounded north by Pennfylvania, weft and 
north-weft by Waftiington, eaft by Baltimore, and fouth- 
weft by Potowmack river. On the Monocacy river and 
its branches are about thirty-feven grift-mills, a furnace, 
iron forge, and a glafs manufactory, called the Etna glafs 
works, which are in a thriving ftate. This county is 
about thirty miles each way, reckoning from the extreme 
parts. The CotoCtiny mountain extends from the Potow¬ 
mack in a north direction through this county into Penn¬ 
fylvania, between the fouth mountain and Monocacy 
Creek ; the eaftern parts are generally level. It contains 
30,791 inhabitants. Chief town, Frederic-town. 
FREDERIC, a county of the American States, in Vir¬ 
ginia, bounded north by Berkley,'fouth by Shanandoah, 
weft by Hampftiire, and eaft by Shanandoah river, which 
feparates it from Loudon county. It is thirty miles in 
length, and twenty in breadth, and contains 19,681 inha¬ 
bitants. Iron ore is found here in great plenty; and 
works have been ereCled which produce 160 tons of bar 
iron, and 650 tons of pig, annually. Pots and other uten- 
fils, eaft thinner than ufual of this iron,, may be fafely 
thrown into or out of the waggon, in which they are tranf- 
ported. Both this and Berkley county have a good foil. 
Between 
