IN SEARCH OF OLD FRITZ 249Frederick had forbidden the forcible enlistment of foreign recruits,
but nothing could deter the Prussian officers from making off with
any well-set-up young men who fell into their power. It was therefore
only prudent for the tourist to shun 'the guzzling of wine and those
other excesses... which so often impair the understanding and the
will' (Willebrandt, 1758, 225). Visitors almost invariably made the
journey through fifteen miles of woodland to Potsdam, where
Frederick by preference spent the greater part of his time when he was
not absent on his tours or campaigns. The isolation and the military
character of this town were accentuated by the presence of no less
than twenty-two of the field regiments, and by the great loop of the
Havel which made the place into a virtual island, placed under heavy
guard. All the reservations harboured by the foreigners about the
streets of Berlin were here felt with greater force. There was still less
sign of animation in the streets, and all the more contrast between
the external dignity of the buildings, and the ignoble way they were
treated. Already in the last years of Frederick William I Potsdam had
begun to expand north and west from its modest red brick core into
new streets with stucco facades. This labour was continued by
Frederick after the Seven Years War, and the rustications and the
pediments indicate that Old Fritz was striving after something digni-
fied and impressive. However,
to one's question 'Who lives in these palaces?' One hears that
they are all empty space, or only occupied by goods never
wanted, or com there is nobody to feed with... when one sees
the copies of antique bas-reliefs, in no bad sculpture, decorating
the doors whence dangle a shoulder of mutton or a shoemaker's
last, it either shocks one or makes one laugh. (Piozzi, 1789, II,
356-7)
Nobody could deny that Potsdam, like Berlin, was fitted out with
public ornaments worthy of ancient Rome. Indeed the inscriptions
and ornaments might have led the stranger to 'suspect that the
Christian religion was exploded from the Prussian dominions, and old
Jupiter and his family restored to their ancient honours' (Moore,
1779, II, 171).
The main axis of this public Potsdam (Map 13, p. 356) ran across
the Havel loop. At the eastern end, the massive quadrilateral of the
Stadtschloss formed the largest single edifice in Potsdam. It was the
product of successive stages of construction from 1664, but under the
direction of Frederick (1744-52) the interior was redecorated, and the
exterior was given a modern and uniform treatment and painted in a
startling scheme of red and yellow. The bulk of this building was
alleviated by lines of those colonnades which represented Frederick's