17th July 1762.

potency of intellect, flashing clear into the matter, and yet careful of the smallest practical detail. Friday 17th, Möllendorf, with men and furnitures complete, circles off north-westward by Würben (for the benefit of certain onlookers), but will have circled round to Burkersdorf neighbourhood two days hence; by which time also Wied will be quietly in his place thereabouts, with a view to business on the 20th and 21st. Möllendorf, Wied and everything, are prosperously under way in this manner, when, on the afternoon of that same Friday 17th, Czernichef steps over, most privately, to headquarters: with what a bit of news! "A Revolution in Petersburg" (July 9th, as we saw above, or as Herr Büsching saw); "Czar Peter, your Majesty's adorer, is dethroned, perhaps murdered; your Majesty's enemies, in the name of Czarina Catharine, order me instantly homeward with my 20,000!" This is true news, this of Czernichef. A most unexpected, overwhelming Revolution in those Northern Parts;-not needing to be farther touched upon in this place.

What here concerns us is, Friedrich's feelings on hearing of it; which no reader can now imagine. Horror, amazement, pity, very poignant; grief for one's hapless friend Peter, for one's still more hapless self! "The Sisyphus stone, which we had got dragged to the top, the chains all beautifully slack these three months past,has it leapt away again? And on the eve of Burkersdorf, and our grand Daun problem!" Truly, the Destinies have been quite dramatic with this King, and have contrived the moment of hitting him to the heart. He passionately intreats Czernichef to be helpful to him,-which Czernichef would fain be, only how can he? To be helpful; at least to keep the matter ab

• Compare Tempelhof, vi. 99, and Rödenbeck, ii. 164.

20th July 1762.

solutely secret yet for some hours: this the obliging Czernichef will do. And Friedrich remains, Czernichef having promised this, in the throes of desperate consideration and uncertainty, hour after hour,—how many hours I do not know. It is confidently said,5 Friedrich had the thought of forcibly disarming Czernichef and his 20,000:-in which case he must have given up the Daun Enterprise; for without Czernichef as a positive quantity, much more with Czernichef as a negative, it is impossible. But, at any rate, most luckily for himself, he came upon a milder thought: "Stay with us yet three days, merely in the semblance of Allies, no service required of you, but keeping the matter a dead secret;— on the fourth day go, with my eternal thanks!" This is his milder proposal; urged with his best efforts upon the obliging Czernichef: who is in huge difficulty, and sees it to be at peril of his head, but generously consents. It is the same Czernichef who got lodged in Cüstrin cellars, on one occasion: know, O King,-the King, before this, does begin to know, that Russians too can have something of heroic, and can recognise a hero when they see him! In this fine way does Friedrich get the frightful chasm, or sudden gap of the ground under him, bridged over for the moment; and proceeds Burkersdorf all the same.

upon

Of the Attack itself we propose to say almost nothing. It consists of Two Parts, Wied and Möllendorf, which are intensely Real; and of a great many more which are Scenic chiefly,-some of them Scenic to the degree of Drury-Lane itself, as we perceive;—all cunningly devised, and beautifully playing into one another, both the real and the scenic. Evening of the 20th, Friedrich is on his ground, according to Program. ' Retzow, ii. 415.

21st July 1762. Friedrich,—who has now his Möllendorf and Wied beside him again, near this Village of Burkersdorf; and has his completely-scenic Czernichef, and partlyscenic Ziethen and others, all in their places behind him,-quietly crushes Daun's people out of Burkersdorf Village; and furthermore, so soon as Night has fallen, bursts up, for his own uses, Burkersdorf old Castle, and its obstinate handful of defenders, which was a noisier process. Which done, he diligently sets to trenching, building batteries in that part; will have forty formidable guns, howitzers a good few of them, ready before sunrise. And so,

Wednesday, 21st July 1762, All Prussians are in motion, far and wide; especially Möllendorf and Wied (versus O'Kelly and Prince de Ligne),-which Pair of Prussians may be defined rather as near and close; these Two being, in fact, the soul of the matter, and all else garniture and semblance. About 4 in the morning, Friedrich's battery of 40 has begun raging; the howitzers diligent upon O'Kelly and his Burkersdorf Height, -not much hurting O'Kelly or his Height, so high was it, but making a prodigious noise upon O'Kelly; others of the cannon sheering home on those palisades and elaborations, in the Weistritz Valley in particular, and quite tearing up a Cavalry Regiment which was drawn out there; so that O'Kelly had instantly to call it home, in a very wrecked condition. Why O'Kelly ever put it there, except that he saw no place for it in his rugged localities, or no use for it anywhere, is still a mystery to the intelligent mind. The howitzers, their shells bursting mostly in the air, did O'Kelly little hurt, nor for hours yet was there any real attack on Burkersdorf or him; but the noise, the horrid death-blaze was pro

• Tempelhof, vi. 107.

21st July 1762. digious, and kept O'Kelly, like some others, in an agitated, occupied condition till their own turn came.

For it had been ordered that Wied and Möllendorf were not to attack together: not together, but successively, for the following reasons. Together; suppose Möllendorf to prosper on O'Kelly (whom he is to storm, not by the steep front part as O'Kelly fancies, but to go round by the western flank and take him in rear); suppose Möllendorf to be near prospering on Burkersdorf Height,-unless Wied too have prospered, Ludwigsdorf batteries and forces will have Möllendorf by the right flank, and between two fires he will be ruined; he and everything! On the other hand, let Wied try first: if Wied can manage Ludwigsdorf, well: if Wied cannot, he comes home again with small damage; and the whole Enterprise is off for the present. That was Friedrich's wise arrangement, and the reason why he so bombards O'Kelly with thunder, blank mostly.

And indeed, from 4 this morning and till 4 in the afternoon, there is such an outburst and blazing series of Scenic Effect, and thunder mostly blank, going on far and near all over that District of Country; General This ostentatiously speeding off, as if for attack on some important place; General That, for attack on some other; all hands busy,-the 20,000 Russians not yet speeding, but seemingly just about to do it,-and blank thunder so mixed with not-blank, and scenic effect with bitter reality, as was seldom seen before. And no wisest Daun, not to speak of his O'Kellys and lieutenants, can, for the life of him, say where the real attack is to be, or on what hand to turn himself. Daun in person, I believe, is still at Tannhausen, near the centre of this astonishing scene; five or six miles from Tempelhof, vi. 105-111.

7

21st July 1762.

any practical part of it. And does order forward, hither, thither, masses of force to support the De Ligne, the O'Kelly among others; but who can tell what to support? Daun's lieutenants were alert some of them, others less: General Guasco, for instance, who is in Schweidnitz, an alert Commandant, with 12,000 picked men, was drawing out, of his own will, with certain regiments to try Friedrich's rear: but a check was put on him (some dangerous shake of the fist from afar), when he had to draw in again. In general the O'Kelly supports sat gazing dubiously, and did nothing for O'Kelly but roll back along with him when the time came. But let us first attend to Wied, and the Ludwigsdorf-Leuthmannsdorf part.

Wied, divided into Three, is diligently pushing up on Ludwigsdorf by the slacker eastern ascents; meets firm enough battalions, potent, dangerous, and resolute in their strong posts; but endeavours firmly to be more dangerous than they. Dislodges everything, on his right, on his left; comes in sight of the batteries and ranked masses atop, which seem to him difficult indeed; flatly impossible, if tried on front; but always some Colonel Lottum, or quick-eyed man, finds some little valley, little hollow; gets at the Enemy side-wise and rear-wise; rushes on with fixed bayonets, double-quick, to cooperate with the front: and, on the whole, there are the best news from Wied, and we perceive he sees his way through the affair.

Upon which, Möllendorf gets in motion, upon his specific errand. Möllendorf has been surveying his ground a little, during the leisure hour; especially examining what mode of passage there may be, and looking for some road up those slacker western parts: has found no road, but a kind of sheep-track, which he