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Show THE GERMAN CROWN PRINCE. As a hard-working, painstaking officer the prince has no superior; and it was exemplified about five years ago, when the chancellor decreed that all officers in the Prussian army ought to learn Russian; and, hard as it is for a middle aged man to acquire a new language, and such a difficult one, the prince applied himself to the task, and learned it. Yet his imperial highness is not generally accredited with literary tastes and ?[bualing, dueling], as conducted at German courts, cannot be exciting to a man who has served throughout such campaigns as ?[thono] with Austria and ?[Fru?ca, France]. He was formerly not unknown at the gaming-tables in Hamburg and Belen, and was generally fortunate at play; but since those establishments have been banished altogether from Germany, he has not even had that resource. Perhaps he ?[had, made] the entertainment of the royal visitors to Berlin, with the stiff etiquette still preserved at the court, somewhat irksome and monotonous, as it is reported that he is already tired of a ten years' peace. When the ?[shak] paid his first visit to Berlin, and severely tried the patience of his hosts, the prince at last made his escape to ?[Bibelsburg], but was paraded unceremoniously by his wearisome guest, who, it was said found him sitting out in the garden by the side of his wife, smoking a short pipe, and without his coat. The shah's visit was followed by one from the late King Victor Emanuel, who was almost as unappreciative as the semi barbarous polentate of the monuments of Prussia's greatness and of the souvenirs of her philosopher-king. In fact, it was even stated that when the Italian monarch, whose education had been much neglected, was asked if he should like to drive to Potsdam, it was found that he had never even heard of Frederick the Great, and the only sight he wished to see in Berlin was the zoological gardens. Thither the prince accompanied him in a glass state-carriage, with the windows down, and almost ?[invisible] to the outer world through the thick clouds of smoke from their cigars. It may be supposed that they did not find each other a company very congenial, as Victor Emanuel abruptly cut his visit a day shorter than had been arranged, for no other reason but his own pleasure, and declined to taste a morsel of the sumptuous repast placed before him on every occasion when he dined with the German imperial family; but having brought his Italian cooks to Berlin, he ate the soups and ragouts in private, which they prepared in his own apartments. No wonder if the prince grew tired of such visitors. Prince Frederick William is a well proportioned man of 5 feet 10, his most striking feature being his thick whiskers-beard and hair, and he look particularly well in the light-blue uniform of the Prussian Imperial Guard. His eldest son, a very amiable looking young man, in appearance takes after his mother's family; while the next brother, Prince Henry, resembles their father, and is reported to be of a more volatile, wayward disposition than his elder, who was a diligent student at college and is now an excellent officer. Besides the young princess of ?[Saxe-Milnougen]the prince has three daughters-Victoria, ?[Sophie] and Margaret but the most prominent member of the family will always be the imperial princess, our princess royal, whose ?[induence] over her husband is will known, and who has closely superintended the education of her children to an extent for which she could have hardly had the time if she had already occupied a share of the throne. Loyalty is not a characteristic of the people of Berlin; and Englishmen who are accustomed to see crowds wait patiently for hours to catch a glimpse of even one of the younger members of the royal family are surprised at the little outward respect which the Germans show for their fine old emperor or for his gallant son, who is good temper personified, and has a pleasing bow or military salute for everybody. Even the children of the imperial prince have been ?[hissed] in a part of Berlin which they had never visited before, merely on account of their royal parentage. Yet there is hardly a German who has not a good word for the princess, owing to the admirable manner in which she fulfills her duties as a mother and a wife; and their parise would probably be warmer still were it not for a lurking fear, often expressed that some day she might lead her husband into war for the benefit of Great Britain rather than of Germany; for German middle class, feeling the weight of taxation and the conscription, have a great a horror of war as Mr. Bright himself. Her economy, as setting a good example to the upper class, is also highly spoken of; but it must be admitted that the Prussian royal family has seldom failed in that respect, and the present emperor, brought up as he was in adversity, is a notable proof of it. His son's more lavish disposition used to be regarded as very contrary to the traditions of his house; yet his income is less than that of the youngest English prince, and he has never been known to exceed it. -London World. |