230 THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF [book iv.

rounded by a guard of most faithful and heroic men,whose interests are strictly bound up with your own.”So to the project he assented fully, only that he couldnot put it into execution immediately. And on hishailing him as the restorer, Prince Frederick rose ina transport of evident satisfaction, and took his handand squeezed it in his own and kissed him on bothhis cheeks ; but added he could not begin executingit instantly. How forget that day ? There he stoodthe very picture of health and manly beauty ! Hewas then about thirty-two. His intimate knowledgeof finance and all official business and war by landor sea—his habits of application, his travels almostover the entire globe—he had every qualifica-tion natural and acquired that could be wished—his speaking of various languages, English cer-tainly like an Englishman, and indeed fewEnglishmen knew their native land so minutely;nor apparently was there a spot in England, Scotlandor Ireland where he had not been. To see himone would have taken him for no Austrian, butEnglish duke. In fine he seemed inimitably adaptedto what had been proposed ; and no doubt he wouldhave been one of the order’s most illustrious grandmasters ; and by that restoration too, would have ac-quired a celebrity at least equal, and perhapssuperior, to that of D’Aubusson or L’Isle Adam. But