Foreign guests
and court visitors, however, were never received at the country
palace; he saw them only in the city of Potsdam, where he transacted
government affairs. Thither the king repaired punctually at ten
o'clock every morning, where took place the meetings of the cabinet,
the consultations with the high functionaries, the audiences given
to the foreign ambassadors, and the official levees, and there the
king took his dinner in the midst of his family and the officers of
his court. But as soon as the clock struck seven he entered his
carriage without any attendants, and drove out to Sans-Souci. This
had been his invariable habit for many years; and when the
inhabitants of the street leading to his country-seat heard the roll
of a carriage at that hour, they said as positively as though they
heard the clock striking, "It is just seven, for the king is driving
to Sans-Souci."
The coachman, as was his habit, as soon as the clock struck six,
would harness two horses to the plain carriage which the king always
used, and generally drove up to the small side-gate a few minutes to
seven o'clock. Without giving any orders, or uttering a word, the
king would enter, and noisily closing the door, give thereby the
signal to start. The chime of the neighboring church had just
commenced playing the first part of the old hymn of "Ueb immer Treu
mid Redlichkeit," [Footnote: "Practise always truth and honesty.
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