runs, happily for it, below the ken of rumor. The Boy, it is said,
and is easily credible, was of extraordinary vivacity; quick in
apprehending all things, and gracefully relating himself to them.
One of the prettiest, vividest little boys; with eyes, with mind
and ways, of uncommon brilliancy;--only he takes less to
soldiering than the paternal heart could wish; and appears to find
other things in the world fully as notable as loud drums, and
stiff men drawn up in rows. Moreover, he is apt to be a little
unhealthy now and then, and requires care from his nurses, over
whom the judicious Roucoulles has to be very vigilant.

Of this respectable Madame de Roucoulles I have read, at least
seven times, what the Prussian Books say of her by way of
Biography; but it is always given in their dull tombstone style;
it has moreover next to no importance; and I,--alas, I do not yet
too well remember it! She was from Normandy; of gentle blood,
never very rich; Protestant, in the Edict-of-Nantes time; and had
to fly her country, a young widow, with daughter and mother-in-law
hanging on her; the whole of them almost penniless. However, she
was kindly received at the Court of Berlin, as usual in that sad
case; and got some practical help towards living in her new
country. Queen Sophie Charlotte had liked her society; and finding
her of prudent intelligent turn, and with the style of manners
suitable, had given her Friedrich Wilhelm to take charge of.
She was at that time Madame de Montbail; widow, as we said:
she afterwards wedded Roucoulles, a refugee gentleman of her own
Nation, who had gone into the Prussian Army, as was common for the
like of him: She had again become a widow, Madame de Roucoulles
this time, with her daughter Montbail still about her, when, by
the grateful good sense of Friedrich Wilhelm, she was again