"
Prince Frederick laughed aloud. "Well, I think my most worthy
cousin, Ernest Augustus, of Saxe-Weimar, will understand this
allusion, and in gratitude for my giving his name to posterity in my
'Anti-Machiavel,' will unravel the mystery, and inform the world how
it is possible, with the annual income of four hundred dollars, to
keep a retinue of seven hundred men, a squadron of one hundred and
eighty, and a company of cavalry; if he is capable of accomplishing
this, without plunging into debt, he is certainly my superior, and I
could learn a great deal from him. I could learn of him how to rid
myself of this torment that I endure from day to day, from hour to
hour. What could be a greater degradation to an honorable man than
to be compelled to flatter the base pride of these vile usurers to
whom I am forced to resort for the money I need; this money pressed,
perhaps, from widows and orphans? To think that I, the inheritor of
a kingdom, am in this condition--that I must lower myself to sue and
plead before these men, while millions are lying in the cellars of
my father's palace at Berlin! But what! Have I the right to
complain? am I the only one who suffers from the closeness of the
king? are not the people of Berlin crying for bread, whilst the
royal larder is filled to overflowing? But patience! the day will
come when the keys will be in my hands--on that day I will give the
people what rightly belongs to them, bread.
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