which is which, then! A heavy, eating, haggling, unpleasant kind of
mortal, this Hyndford; bites and grunts privately, in a stupid
ferocious manner, against this young King: "One of the worst of
men; who will not take up the Cause of Liberty at all, and is not
made in the image of Hyndford at all." They are dreadfully stiff
reading, those Despatches of Hyndford: but they have particles of
current news in them; interesting glimpses of that same young
King;--likewise of Hyndford, laid at his Majesty's feet, and
begging for self and brothers any good benefice that may fall
vacant. We can discern, too, a certain rough tenacity and horse-
dealer finesse in the man; a broad-based, shrewdly practical Scotch
Gentleman, wide awake; and can conjecture that the diplomatic
function, in that element, might have been in worse hands. He is
often laid metaphorically at the King's feet, King of England's;
and haunts personally the King of Prussia's elbow at all times,
watching every glance of him, like a British house-dog, that will
not be taken in with suspicious travellers, if he can help it;
and casting perpetual horoscopes in his dull mind.

Of Friedrich and his demeanor in this strange scene, centre of a
World all drawing sword, and jumbling in huge Diplomatic and other
delirium about his ears, the reader will desire to see a direct
glimpse or two. As to the sad general Imbroglio of Diplomacies
which then weltered everywhere, readers can understand that, it
has, at this day, fallen considerably obscure (as it deserved to
do); and that even Friedrich's share of it is indistinct in parts.
The game, wide as Europe, and one of the most intricate ever played
by Diplomatic human creatures, was kept studiously dark while it
went on; and it has not since been a pleasant object of study.
Many of the Documents are still unpublished, inaccessible; so that