thunder checked in mid-volley in a most surprising manner, and the
triumphant Cause of Liberty brought to jeopardy again.
'Perfidious, ambitious, capricious!' exclaimed they: 'a Prince
without honor, without truth, without constancy;'--and completed,
for themselves, in hot rabid humor, that English Theory of
Friedrich which has prevailed ever since. Perhaps the most
surprising item of which is this latter, very prominent in those
old times, That Friedrich has no 'constancy,' but follows his
'caprices,' and accidental whirls of impulse:--item which has
dropped away in our times, though the others stand as stable as
ever. A monument of several things! Friedrich's suddenness is an
essential part of what fighting talent he has: if the Public,
thrown into flurry, cannot judge it well, they must even misjudge
it: what help is there?

"That the above were actually Friedrich's reasons for venturing
into this Big Game again, is not now disputable. And as to the
rumor, which rose afterwards (and was denied, and could only be
denied diplomatically to the ear, if even to the ear), That
Friedrich by Secret Article was 'to have for himself the Three
Bohemian Circles, Konigsgratz, Bunzlau, Leitmeritz, which lie
between Schlesien and Sachsen,' [ Helden-Geschichte, italic> i. 1081; Scholl, ii. 349.]--there is not a doubt but
Friedrich had so bargained, 'Very well, if we can get said
Circles!' and would right cheerfully have kept and held them, had
the big game gone in all points completely well (game, to reinstate
the Kaiser BOTH in Bohemia and Bavaria) by Friedrich's fine
playing. Not a doubt of all this:--nor of what an extremely
hypothetic outlook it then and always was; greatly too weak for
enticing such a man."