Herbest Tuleaberg. London: Al wing" Dries, 188. net 'The late rulers of Germany were not a very attractive clan; none of them had the personal charm of our' Stuarts. "The Hohenzollerns" mak-
'e5 out as good a case for them as possible but the author is by no eans Dlind to their faults, He! says in his foreword: og. against them is thet reproach we 9 Germat Galician even' at a. time when out fiterstare bed reached "ite ullest With the exception of Frederick' the Great the Hohenzollerns culti ated: no Society, and were content with a Court which consisted of "a. mere crowd of gossips, male and female,. toadies and sycophants." They believed in their own unlimited_absolutism.
Naturally the most interesting personality in this series of portraits is that of Frederick the Great. Napoleon is reported to have said te Murat: "How a genius ever! found his way into that Hohenzol-Tern family is, and remains, an eternally impenetrable mystery _0! eve ation!" Frederick's father" was! ar insufferable autocrat; he told the! military instructors of his seven year-old son to "imbue our son true love of the soldier's Jife, and to impress upon him that' just as nothing in the world can bring a Prince such honour and renown as the sword, so he himself would become an object of scorn! to all the world if he were not to ove the same and to seek-in it his: sole glory."
He objected to his son's flute playing, insisted that his curls should be cut off, and humiliated him in every possible way. Frederick wished to marry an_Engli yrincess—which would have been ood poliey—but a little and attractive German forced upon him.
When the old King lay dying 'The Crown, Prince, summoned by couriers... found hiss swollen with Siropay, seated im m wheeled chair the eutden of the The King. had woond. up. His Vinal boyuest of is Stanchoonda. te old' Deseas, because, Weer he, dictated parturiation. because. he the attendant full regimentals, the eld tyrant was reassured. Frederick the Great, on his access immediately plunged into those! wars which made him both famous] and infamous. He hated everything German, and talked philosophy with Voltaire; he had no artistic appreciation, and little decency of eeling of any kind. But he was, jin a sense, great, and towards the end developed a kind of lopped humanity. The concluding words of Lis will were:—
"Until my last breath my desires: shall centre in the happiness of the Ick ©'Londor's Weekly."
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