Note 23 — Chapter XI · The Victory of Torgau Surprises Frederick

“In Charlottenburg, certain Saxon-Bruhl dragoons, who by their conduct, might have been the dragoons of Attila, smashed the furniture and the doors, cut the pictures, much maltreated the poor people, and what was reckoned still more tragical, overset the poor Polignac Collection of Antiques and Classicalities; not only knocking off noses and arms, but beating them small, lest reparation by cement should be possible, their officers, Pirna people, looking quietly on. A scandalous proceeding, thought everybody, friend or foe,—especially thought Frederick; whose indignation at the ruin of Charlottenburg came out in way of reprisal by and by.”—Carlyle’s “Life of Frederick the Great.”