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- "The hereditary Prince of Prussia lives in a small house in the town of Potsdam. His appointments do not admit of that degree of magnificence, which might be expected in the Heir of the Crown, but he displays a spirit of hospitality far more obliging than magnificence; and doubly meritorious, considering the very moderate revenue allowed him. We generally sup there two or three times a week.
"This Prince is not often at the King's parties, nor is it imagined that he enjoys a great share of his uncle's favor. In what degree he possesses the talents of a general is not known, as he was too young to have any command during the late war. But he certainly has a very just understanding, which has been improved by study. He has taken some pains to acquire the English language, to which he was induced by an admiration of several English authors whose works he had read in French and German. He is now able to read English prose with tolerable facility and has been of late studying Shakespeare, having actually read two or three of his plays.
"I took the liberty to observe that as Shakespeare's genius had traced every labyrinth and penetrated into every recess of the human heart, his sentiments could not fail to please his Royal Highness. But, as his language was uncommonly bold and figurative and full of allusions to national customs and the manners of our island two centuries ago, the English themselves, who had not made a particular study of his works, did not always comprehend their full energy. I added that to transfuse the soul of Shakespeare into a translation was impossible, and to taste all his beauties in the original required such a knowledge of the English manners and language as few foreigners, even after a long residence in the capital, could attain.
"The Prince said he was aware of all this, yet he was determined to struggle hard for some acquaintance with an author so much admired by the English nation. That though he should never be able to taste all his excellencies, he was convinced he should understand enough to compensate him for his trouble. That he had already studied some detached parts, which he thought superior to anything he had ever met with in the works of any other poet.
"His Royal Highness attends to military business with as much assiduity as most officers of the same rank in the army, for in the Prussian service, no degree of eminence in the article of birth can excuse a remission in the duties of that profession. He is much esteemed by the army and considered as an exceedingly good officer. To the frankness of a soldier, he joins the integrity of a German, and is beloved by the public in general, on account of his good-nature, affability, and humane turn of mind." (en)
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