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The Companions of Pickle; Being a Sequel to "pickle the Spy"
The Companions of Pickle Being a Sequel to pickle the Spy Author:Andrew Lang General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1898 Original Publisher: Longmans, Green and co. Subjects: Jacobites Jacobite Rebellion, 1745-1746 Scotland History / Europe / General History / Europe / Great Britain Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may... more » be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: II THE EARL IN PRUSSIAN SERVICE About the Earl's first years in the company of the great Frederick little is known or likely to be known. Deus nobis hcec otia fecit, he may have murmured to himself while he refused the Prince's insistent prayers for his service, and put his Royal Highness off in a truly Royal way, with his miniature in a snuff-box of mother-of-pearl. The old humourist may have reflected that men had given lands and gear for the cause, and now, like the representative of Lochgarry, have nothing material to show for their loyalty, save an inexpensive snuff-box of agate and gold. Xo, the Earl would not travel from Venice in 1749 to meet the Prince. His name occurs in brief notes of Voltaire, then residing with Frederick, and quarrelling with his Royal host. Voltaire kept borrowing books from the Scottish exile, books chiefly on historical subjects. If we may believe Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, then at Berlin, the celebrated Livonian mistress of Keith caused quarrels between him and his brother, and even obliged them to live separately.1 The 1 See Sir Charles's letter of February 6, 1751, in Pitkle the Spy. p. 117. THE EARL AS AMBASSADOR 43 Earl gave much good advice to Henry Goring, the Prince's envoy at that time, and if he was indeed on bad terms with his brother (these bad terms cannot have lasted long), he may have been all the better pleased to go as Frederick's ambassador to Versailles in August 1751. Thither...« less