Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/242

302 Burgeons recommended that the wounded limb should be amputated, and the general at once gave his consent to the operation being- performed. But his brother, who had gone to visit him on this occasion, would not listen to the proposal. "I hope," he said, " James has yet more to do with that leg, and I will not part with it so easily, at least not. until I have the best advice in Europe." In the spirit of brotherly affection which these expressions bespeak, he immediately removed the general to Paris, to procure the advice of the surgical skill of that city, and the result was highly favourable. The French surgeons, doing what those of Russia had neglected, laid open the general's knee, and extracted some pieces of cloth which had been driven into the wound by the shot, and had all along prevented that cure which was now soon effected.

The military fame of general Keith was now spread over all Europe, and had attracted in a particular manner the notice of the warlike Frederick of Prussia, who lost no time in inviting him into his service, offering him the rank of a field marshal and the governorship of Berlin, with ample means to support the dignity of these situations. These offers were too tempting to be refused. The general accepted them, and immediately proceeded to the Prussian court. His affable manners and military genius soon won him the personal esteem of his new master, who not only admitted but invited him to the most familiar intercourse, travelled with him throughout his own dominions and those of the neigh- bouring states, and acknowledged him as an adviser in matters of military business, and as his companion in his hours of relaxation. For some time after his arrival in Prussia the marshal enjoyed a respite from military service, Frederick happening then to be, we cannot say at peace, but not at actual war with any of the European powers. This leisure he devoted to literary pursuits, entering into and maintaining a correspondence with some of the most eminent politicians and philosophers of the day, all of whom bear testimony to the great talent and ability with which he discussed the various subjects on which he w r rote, and not the smallest portion of their praise was bestowed upon the elegance and felicity of language which his correspondence exhibited.

Frederick's, however, was not a service in which much repose of this kind could be expected. He, of whom it is said, that he looked upon peace only as a preparation for war, was not likely either to remain long idle himself, or to permit such a man as marshal Keith to be so.

The outrageous conduct of Frederick in repeated instances had long given great umbrage to many of the European powers, but none of them had dared to come to open hostilities with him. At length, however, they fell upon the plan of combining their efforts for the chastisement of the warlike monarch, whom none of them would venture to face singly.

Austria, Russia, Germany, and France, all took the field against the Prussian monarch. During the vicissitudes and operations which ensued, in attacking at one time and resisting at another, the various efforts of his numerous enemies, Frederick intrusted the most important, next to those which he himself assumed, to marshal Keith, whose military talents and sound judgment he found during the arduous struggle which followed, had not been over-rated. When summoned by the prince of Saxe-Hildburg to surrender Leipsic, which Frederick had left him to defend with 8000 men, the gallant soldier, then upwards of 60 years of age, replied to the messenger, "Let your master know that I am by birth a Scotsman, by inclination as well as duty, a Prussian, and' shall defend the town in such a manner that neither the country which gave me birth nor that which has adopted me shall be ashamed of me. The king my master has ordered me to defend it to the last extremity, and he shall be obeyed." Early on the