33 THE SILESIAN WARS, 1740-5pursuers, but Frederick and an aide-de-camp made good their escape
to the village of Lowen. There he strode up and down the room,
giving vent to loud lamentations. "My God", he cried, "this is too
much! Why are You so intent on punishing me?" ' (Valori, 1820,
104-5). An officer now arrived with a message from Schwerin. He told
Frederick not about the final stages of some disaster, but of how his
master had reassembled the shattered cavaliy and pushed the Aus-
trians from Mollwitz with the infantry. It is said that the king 'never
forgave Schwerin for having rendered a service too important in
itself, as well as too wounding to the vanity of a sovereign such as
Frederick' (Wraxall, 1806, I, 155).
Frederick was back with his army on 11 April, but he allowed the
Austrians to retire with their forces intact. He was still a novice in
warfare, and he was too glad not to have been beaten to be able to
think of exploiting the victory (Gisors, 1868, 106). With their 4,850
dead, wounded or missing, the Prussians had actually lost 300 more
men than the Austrians. However, the importance of the victory can
be judged only by reference to what would have happened if Neipperg
had won, for then 'not only would all Silesia have been restored to the
Queen of Hungary [Maria Theresa], but the King of Prussia and his
entire army would have been forced into an unconditional surrender'
(Geuder, 1902, 101).
Frederick's tactical summary was forceful and accurate: 'It is to
our incomparable infantry alone that we are indebted for the con-
tinuation of my good fortune, the preservation of our valiant army,
and the welfare of the state... but the cavalry is damnably awful -
none of the officers can do anything with it' (Gr. Gstb., 1890-3, I,
419).
Regarding the campaign as a whole, Frederick censured his own
conduct with unnecessary harshness, and cited three major mistakes:
(a) He allowed his army to be caught in scattered positions when
the Austrians opened their advance.
(b) He permitted himself to be cut off from his forces on the left bank
of the Neisse, and he was ultimately compelled to fight under
circumstances in which a defeat would have been disastrous.
(c) He lost precious time in forming his army up well short of
Mollwitz village. (Oeuvres, II, 77)
It is agreeable to record that Frederick, so ungrateful to human-
kind, never forgot his debt to the long-striding animal which had
carried him to safety. The 'Mollwitz Grey' (Mollwitzer Schimmel)
was put into retirement and tended for the rest of its long life.
Frederick rode the horse occasionally for exercise, but in fine weather
it was allowed the freedom to gallop and graze in the Lustgarten at
Potsdam: