took a very serious tone; and commanded him to tell the King of
Poland in his name, 'That he begged him very much not to expose
him again to accidents of that nature, unless he wished to have
him quit Dresden at once.' Herr von Grumkow did his message.
The King of Poland laughed heartily at it; went straight to
Friedrich Wilhelm, and excused himself. The King of Prussia,
however, kept his grim look; so that August ceased joking, and
turned the dialogue on some other subject." [Pollnitz, ii. 256.]

This is Pollnitz's testimony, gathered from the whispers of the
Tabagie, or rumors in the Court-circles, and may be taken as
indisputable in the main. Wilhelmina, deriving from similar
sources, and equally uncertain in details, paints more
artistically; nor has she forgotten the sequel for her Brother,
which at present is the essential circumstance:--

"One evening, when the rites of Bacchus had been well attended to,
the King of Poland led the King [my Father], strolling about, by
degrees, into a room very richly ornamented, all the furniture and
arrangements of which were in a quite exquisite taste. The King,
charmed with what he saw, paused to contemplate the beauties of it
a little; when, all on a sudden, a curtain rose, and displayed to
him one of the most extraordinary sights. It was a girl in the
condition of our First Parents, carelessly lying on a bed.
This creature was more beautiful than they paint Venus and the
Graces; she presented to view a form of ivory whiter than snow,
and more gracefully shaped than the Venus de' Medici at Florence.
The cabinet which contained this treasure was lighted by so many
wax-candles that their brilliancy dazzled you, and gave a new
splendor to the beauties of the goddess.