of its history proved almost fatal to the nation. The French armies, under their daring young commander, were gaining fresh victories, and now, for the second time, threatened the existence of the Austrian empire. Austria turned to Prussia for aid; but the king was opposed to granting it for fear of plunging the country into

widow of Frederick the Great, then in her | his lack of decision at the most important crisis eighty-first year, was present at the christening, and gave her blessing to the new-born heir. A year of almost unalloyed happiness, passed for the most part on the humble estate of Paretz, followed; but the "days of darkness," which with this young prince and princess were to be many, were close at hand. In the third year of his marriage Prince Louis died, leav-war, and his ministers had a secret leaning toing Frederika widowed and desolate at the early age of eighteen. The deaths of the king and the queen-dowager, Elizabeth Christine, also occurred the same year-1796.

ward Napoleon. Prussia by her neutrality at this crisis prepared the way for her own downfall; for she provoked the displeasure of the other powers and the contempt of Napoleon. Prince Louis Ferdinand said, bitterly, “For the

tude toward all the other powers, and will hereafter be mercilessly overthrown by one of them. Then we shall fall without support, perhaps without honor."

The crown prince now ascended the throne as Frederick William III. "Call me Frederick | very love of peace Prussia takes a hostile attiWilliam," he said; "Frederick is unattainable for me." Always distrustful of himself, he, as | well as others, knew that he could never attempt to play the rôle of the great Frederick. Louise bore her new honors meekly; her greatest ambition seemed to be to take the place of the lamented and pious Elizabeth Christine, and become an almoner to the poor. "I am now queen," she said, "and what most gratifies me is the hope that I may not have to reckon my charities so anxiously as before." "I will not always inquire whether people deserve aid," she said at another time. "How does God deal with us when he grants us such rich gifts? Is it not all pity and grace ?"

Party strife ran high. At the head of the war party stood the queen and the brilliant and chivalrous Prince Louis Ferdinand, son of the youngest brother of Frederick the Great, and perhaps the most gifted man in Prussia. He saw that Napoleon was bent on the subjugation of Europe, and thought that now was the time to strike that united blow which would check his onward career; and both Prince Louis and the queen urged the king to unite with the other Continental powers against Napoleon.

The king and queen looked forward with de- At an early stage of hostilities Russia had light to the summer months, when they could re- asked for a passage of its troops through the tire to their dear little country estate of Paretz. Prussian dominions. The request had been reThe king used to call himself the Justice of fused, and Russia had respected the wishes of Paretz, and the queen rejoiced in the name of its neutral neighbor. But soon after, in utter Frau Von Paretz. Here, laying aside the pomp disregard of the neutrality of Prussia, Bernaand ceremony of the palace, this royal pair en-dotte, acting under the orders of Napoleon, had joyed the peaceful delights of a country life. marched sixty thousand men through the PrusThe queen used often to dance with the peas-sian state of Anspach. ants at the out-door rural fêtes, and in all their sorrows and their joys she was ever ready to bear a part. Her charities were bounded only by her means of giving. "I find it exceedingly pleasant to be Lady Bountiful of Paretz," she said.

This outrage, after Prussia had for ten years been trying to conciliate France, awoke the king and cabinet to a sense of their real position. They saw that Napoleon had sought the alliance of Prussia from no idea of equality, but only to promote his own selfish ends, that, She was in the habit of visiting the Berlin his other conquests finished, she too might fall yearly fair on foot; and, smiling and affable to a prey to his insatiate ambition. With indigall, she would walk around leaning on her hus-nation was blent a feeling of shame at the unband's arm. At such times she took great de-worthy part Prussia had chosen-neutrality at a light in buying baskets of cakes and distributing them among the poor, while young and old would cry out, "Give me some, Frau Queen!" King Frederick William II, had lived unloved and died unlamented. At the time of his death one of his subjects wrote, "Well for him, well for us, that he is no more." "The state," says Alison, was near its dissolution. He left behind him a demoralized nation, a corrupt cabinet, and an exhausted treasury."

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crisis when the neighboring powers were uniting in a life-and-death struggle against Napoleon.

The aggressions of Napoleon might well cause alarm. He had conquered Holland, and placed his brother Louis on the throne; had made his brother Joseph King of the two Sicilies; and from the ceded districts of Italy he had erected three military fiefs, which he had conferred on his favorite marshals. Unless the usurper was checked in his victorious career, Prussia felt that her turn soon would come, and the war party gained strength every hour.

If a man like Frederick the Great had been at the helm of affairs, he might have evoked order from this chaos. The new king was un- While the public excitement was at its learned in state-craft, and, though full of good in-height the Russian emperor, Alexander, artentions himself, he lent a too ready ear to evil counsels. He was hesitating and dilatory in the execution of even the best measures, and

rived in Berlin, and with all the force of his eloquence urged the king to join in the common warfare against Napoleon.

The ardent and poetical mind of the queen | berg, and even Berlin were in the hands of the had conceived the idea of bringing the two sov- French. ereigns together at the grave of the great Frederick, that they might here ratify the solemn alliance they had formed. At midnight they stood before his tomb. The emperor kissed the pall; then he and Frederick William joined hands, and made a vow of alliance and eternal friendship.

War having been decided upon, Prussia made the most vigorous preparations. An army in three divisions, and numbering 130,000 men, was speedily formed, and Prussia, who, selfishly hoping to profit by the disasters of her neigh-raised to such a height of glory by Frederick the bors, and perhaps through Napoleon's favor to gain the Electorate of Hanover, now rushed precipitately into action.

ebb. Dantzic had fallen; and with the battle | he tried to obtain some better terms for Prusof Friedland all hope from the Russian alli- sia. But Napoleon's demands rose rather than ance had vanished. The Emperor Alexander, abated. Instead of one military road through dazzled by Napoleon's successes, and cajoled the kingdom he demanded five, and made othby his flatteries, had proved faithless to Prus- er increased exactions. sia. "If you give me a finger's length, I will give you an arm's length," the wily despot had said to him; and the two emperors very likely planned together the subjugation of Europe. They met, with embraces and lavish promises, and agreed upon an armistice without reference to Prussia. When, early in July, 1807, they held an interview on a raft in the Niemen for the purpose of arranging terms of peace, Alex-ings and dignity. It was a sore trial to this ander said, "I hate the English as much as you do!" and Napoleon replied, "If that is so, peace is concluded."

erick the Great at the height of his fame and moderate in his demands, and disasters in power.

Spain at length rendered necessary the recall Napoleon carried things with a high hand. of the French soldiers stationed in Prussia. As he confiscated one great estate after another Reports also came from Berlin that the people he would say, "I will make the noblesse of were sullen and discontented, impatient of the Prussia so poor they will have to beg their foreign yoke, yet kept silent through fear. Nabread." poleon declared his wish to reorganize as speedThe greatest sacrifices were necessary to ily as possible the Prussian monarchy, "whose meet the exactions of Napoleon-the gold serv-intermediate position was necessary for the ice of Frederick the Great was melted down, tranquillity of Europe." and the royal family was so reduced as to be obliged to accept contributions from the people to meet their household expenses. Many a citizen of Memel lived better than the king.

At the queen's earnest solicitation, the once banished prime minister Stein, "the diamond and foundation-stone of the Prussian state," was recalled, and under his wise conduct things began to wear a brighter aspect. But, humbled in the dust as she was, Prussia's "passiontime" was to continue long and bitter years.

In November, 1809, the French evacuated the whole country except the garrisons and fortresses on the Oder, and on the 3d of December the royal family returned to Berlin amidst great rejoicings. Sixteen years before, in this same month of December, Louise had made her triumphal entry into Berlin as a bride.

That night at the theatre, in presence of an immense assembly, "God bless the king!" was sung amidst the wildest enthusiasm.

In her retirement at Memel the queen de- The king was greatly elated at being once voted herself to the education of her children, more in his capital, but the queen was oppresssix in number. The crown prince, Frederick ed with an unwonted sadness. Her health was William, was then twelve years of age, and a boy somewhat shaken; but as the spring advanced of much promise. She sought to animate him she became better and more cheerful. In the with her own patriotic spirit and love of coun- beautiful spring weather the royal family sought try. "You see me weep," she said to him aft- their charming retreat at Potsdam, and on Easter the battle of Jena. "I weep for the down-er-Sunday Louise received the sacrament from fall of my house and country. Recall these un- the hands of her beloved pastor, Doctor Ribhappy hours when I am no more, and weep beck. such tears for me as I now weep for my coun- The king had made his wife a birthday promtry. But do not be satisfied with tears: act,ise that, as soon as official engagements perdevelop your strength. Perhaps you may be mitted, they would both visit her father and her destined to deliver your country. Do not let aged grandmother. June was fixed upon as yourself be carried away by the degeneracy of the time for the visit. On the 24th the queen the age. Be a man! Court the fame of a gen- set out for Mecklenburg; the king was soon to eral, of a hero; and if you can not raise your follow. At Fürstenburg she was met by her fallen country, then seek death, as Prince Louis father, her sister Frederika, and two brothers; Ferdinand has done!" at New Strelitz her grandmother stood on the palace steps to receive her. One of the ladies present chanced to remark upon the beauty of a set of pearl ornaments worn by the queen. "Yes," said she, "I am fond of these ornaments; I kept them when I had to part with my other jewels. Pearls suit me: they are emblems of tears, and I have shed so many."

This son lived to see his country great among the nations of the earth; but to the second son, William, it has been given to repay, with interest, the ignominy heaped upon Prussia by Napoleon-to avenge the wrongs of Germany's loveliest and best-beloved but most unhappy queen.

Louise's sister Frederika had formed a second marriage, and was now the Princess of Salms. She shared the exile of the royal household; and among the most intimate friends of the family was Scheffner, an old officer who had served in the armies of Frederick the Great. He was a man of considerable literary culture, and a writer of some note. He describes the Princess Frederika as very charming in person and manner, with a spice of coquetry, and a most musical voice; but of the queen he speaks as of a superior being, declaring that, with the utmost loveliness of person, she possessed every grace of mind and heart.

As months passed on some faint gleams of hope arose amidst the utter darkness that had settled round the Prussian state. The overwhelming defeat of Napoleon in the battle of Eylau had caused him to be somewhat more

On the 28th the king arrived. As the queen had a slight cold, she remained in the house with her brother George while the rest of the party went to inspect some alterations in the chapel. She said to her brother, "Dear George, now I am quite happy ;" and then, seating herself at her father's escritoire, she wrote:

"MY DEAR FATHER,-I am very happy to-day as your daughter and the wife of the best of husbands. "LOUISE. "NEW STRELITZ, 28th June, 1810."

These were the last words she ever wrote. On the 29th the whole party went to the ducal castle of Hohenzieritz, and here Louise grew rapidly worse. She was seized with spasms and difficulty of breathing, and the king was obliged to leave without her. He promised to return as soon as possible, but fell ill on the way back, and was laid up at Charlottenburg.

ter;

After a week's illness the queen became betbut one morning, as the papers containing news of Bonaparte's abdication were being read to her, she was again seized with difficulty of breathing, and could only gasp, "Air! air!" The king was sent for, but urgent business matters prevented his setting out at once.

"All this time," says Eylert, "Louise lay, looking like an angel, repeating hymns she had learned in childhood, thankful for every thing, and fearful lest her attendants might become weary with watching. On Wednesday at midnight she was again seized with spasms. Her father was called at three o'clock. 'Lord, Thy ways are not our ways,' said the old man, solemnly. It would be hard if I should die,' said Louise: 'think of the king and the children!'

William rose, kissed and closed the dear eyes, and stood gazing, mute and tearless, at the heavenly repose of that beautiful face; then, a man stricken by a woe never to be healed on earth, he sought his two sons, and led them up to take a last look at their mother. While they knelt and sobbed by the dear, lifeless form the king paced up and down with a look of despair on his face which none who saw it could ever forget. "If she had not been mine, she would not have died!" he said in his first agony and desolation; then he shut his grief within his own breast, and became more silent and reserved than ever.

The artists commissioned to reproduce the beautiful form in marble worked long and faithfully, but without success-that ideal loveliness seemed beyond their power. At length Rausch succeeded. He first made a cast which the king heard much spoken of, and asked to see. "It is fearfully like," he said. "Take it away, and do not let me see it again." Then he burst into tears, the first which had come to his

"She kept growing weaker and weaker. At four o'clock on the morning of the 19th the king arrived, and read the evil tidings in the faces that met his anxious inquiries. The physician told him that the queen's disease was a confirmed affection of the heart, and that, human-relief since the queen's death. ly speaking, there was no hope." The king's face became so distorted with agony that no one would have recognized him. When he entered the queen's apartment he could not speak, and she was greatly alarmed at his extreme agitation.

He then requested Rausch to execute a design for a monument. Rausch finished that, and still another—a reclining figure asleep— which he intended to keep himself. It was so exquisite that the king desired to possess it, and Rausch gave it to him. The monument is now in the mausoleum of Charlottenburg; the reclining figure in the antique temple at SansHe gave an evasive answer, and added, Souci, where it has long been a shrine for sym"God be thanked that I am here!"

"Dear friend," she said, "why are you so sad? Am I in such great danger?"

"Who came with you?" asked the queen. "Fritz and Wilhelm," replied the king. "Oh, what a delight!" Louise exclaimed. Frederick William could endure this no lonHe went out under pretense of seeking his sons. When he had left the room Louise said, "It has shaken me to see him; his embrace was so passionate, as if he was bidding me farewell-as if I must die!"

ger.

pathetic hearts.

At the first victory for the Prussian arms over Napoleon the king reverently laid a laurel wreath upon the grave of his Louise, who had so loved, so sorrowed for her country, and whose gentle heart had broken for its sake.

In death, as in life, Louise remained the king's inspiration-his good angel: all his efforts for the weal of the people she had loved so well were made in her name. There was The crown prince and William (the present the "Louisen Denkmal,” a little dowry for such Emperor of Germany) now came to her. She poor, deserving couples as should be betrothed repeated several times, "My Fritz! my Wil- on the anniversary of her death; there were helm!" and looked at them long and wistfully. Louise schools for the training of governesses, They soon left the room, and the king, now and for the general improvement of women. outwardly calm, returned. He put one arm The order of the Iron Cross was founded on around the dying queen, and held her hand. her birthday, as Prussia began its new strugThe spasms became more and more violent. gle for freedom; and ere long still another was "Lord Jesus, make it short!" she said, gave instituted-the "Louise Order”-in honor of one low, deep sigh, and so departed. She died those women who devoted themselves to the in the Lustschloss (pleasure-castle) of Hohen- care of the sick and wounded from the battlezieritz, on the 19th of July, 1810. field.

"She died in the pleasure-castle where she was born," says Jean Paul. "If it must lose its happy name, call it a temple, she died in it so holy and so fair."

"But death had no power over that high beauty; a holy peace rested on those noble features," said one who gazed upon that lovely face, transfigured and glorified by the light of that other life which we call death.

For a time all were silent; no words must break that holy calm. At length Frederick

And thus, as a type of purest, noblest womanhood, Louise of Prussia lives to-day. Though her eyes were not gladdened by the sight of her country's resurrection from the dust, yet in this, the hour of its triumph and its glory, Prussia cherishes her memory as that of no other woman is cherished; and linking her name with its best and holiest charities, the Fatherland shows its love and pride in the "angel-good and angel-fair Louise," its martyrqueen.