But there is one feature which strikes you at an early period of
the inquiry, That in his way he is a Reality; that he always means
what he speaks; grounds his actions, too, on what he recognizes
for the truth; and, in short, has nothing whatever of the
Hypocrite or Phantasm. Which some readers will admit to be an
extremely rare phenomenon. We perceive that this man was far
indeed from trying to deal swindler-like with the facts around
him; that he honestly recognized said facts wherever they
disclosed themselves, and was very anxious also to ascertain their
existence where still hidden or dubious. For he knew well, to a
quite uncommon degree, and with a merit all the higher as it was
an unconscious one, how entirely inexorable is the nature of
facts, whether recognized or not, ascertained or not; how vain all
cunning of diplomacy, management and sophistry, to save any mortal
who does not stand on the truth of things, from sinking, in the
long-run. Sinking to the very mud-gods, with all his diplomacies,
possessions, achievements; and becoming an unnamable object,
hidden deep in the Cesspools of the Universe. This I hope to make
manifest; this which I long ago discerned for myself, with
pleasure, in the physiognomy of Friedrich and his life.
Which indeed was the first real sanction, and has all along been
my inducement and encouragement, to study his life and him.
How this man, officially a King withal, comported himself in the
Eighteenth Century, and managed not to be a Liar and Charlatan as
his Century was, deserves to be seen a little by men and kings,
and may silently have didactic meanings in it.

He that was honest with his existence has always meaning for us,
be he king or peasant. He that merely shammed and grimaced with
it, however much, and with whatever noise and trumpet-blowing,