THREE: Winter Encampment.Death of Maupertuis.Infamous Conduct of Voltaire.Reproof by the King.Voltaires Insincerity.Correspondence.The King publishes his Poems.Dishonorable Conduct of the King.New Encampment near Dresden.Destruction of Fredericks Army in Silesia.Atrocities perpetrated by the Austrians.Astonishing March.The Austrians outwitted.Dresden bombarded and almost destroyed by Frederick.Battle of Liegnitz.Utter Rout of the Austrians.Undiminished Peril of Frederick.Letter to DArgens.The queen, looking reproachfully at Grumkow, remarked, I know full well to whom I owe all this. She then excused herself, saying that she was not well, and retired to her apartment. There she communicated to the anxious Wilhelmina the cruel message of the king. Sophie Dorothee then wrote a very earnest letter to Queen Caroline, the wife of George II., imploring that all obstacles in the way of the marriage of Wilhelmina with the Prince of Wales might be withdrawn. The idea of marriage with either Weissenfels or Schwedt was dreadful. But, on the other hand, the wrath of the king, the divorce of the queen, and75 the imprisonment of both mother and daughter in the chateau of Oranienburg, were also dreadful. Fritz was taken into the councils of his mother and sister. It was decided that he should also write to his aunt, urging his suit for the Princess Amelia. It is true that George II. was ready to accede to this marriage, but Frederick William threw obstacles in the way. It was probably the hope of Fritz to secure Amelia, notwithstanding his fathers opposition. The ready pen of Wilhelmina was employed to draft the letter, which her brother submissively copied. As it was not probable, in the intricacies in which the question was now involved, that both marriages could take place together, Fritz wrote pleading for the marriage of Wilhelmina at once, pledging his word that he would remain faithful to the Princess Amelia.
