_Mr. Warendorff_.--"Did you ever see this vase before?"
_Mr. Warendorff_.--"Where? when? Tell all you know about it to the gentlemen of the jury."
_Solomon_.--"The first time I saw that vase was in the gallery of paintings, at the king's palace of Sans Souci; to the best of my recollection, it was on the night of the first day of the month, about ten o'clock, or, perhaps, it might be eleven: I wish to be exact; but I cannot be certain as to the hour precisely."
_Mr. Warendorff_.--"The exact hour is not of any consequence: proceed. Tell us how you came to see this vase. Take your time to speak. We are in no hurry: the truth will appear sooner or later."
_Solomon_.--"His majesty himself put the vase into my hands, and commanded me to pack it up, with some other china, which he was going to send as a present to a gentleman at Paris. I am something of a judge of china myself, being used to selling small pieces of it up and down the town and country. So I was struck with the first sight of this beautiful vase; I looked at it very carefully, and wiped away, with my handkerchief, the dust which had settled on the white figures: here is the very handkerchief. I wiped the vase all over; but, when I came to rub the bottom, I stopped to read the verses _on the character of Frederick the Great_; and having read these, I rubbed the white letters quite clean: the ground on which they were written was blue. I found that some of the blue colour came off upon my handkerchief, which surprised me a good deal. Upon examining further, I perceived that the colour came off only in one spot, of about an inch long, and half an inch broad. The king was at this time standing with his back to me, looking at a new picture which had just been hung up in the gallery; but hearing me make an exclamation ('_Father Abraham!_' I believe it was that I said), his majesty turned round. 'What is the matter with you, Solomon? You look wondrous wise,' his majesty was pleased to say. 'Why do you call on Father Abraham at this time of day? Do you expect that he will help you to pack up that china--hey, Solomon, my friend?' I had no power to answer this question, for by this time, to my utter astonishment, I had discovered that, on the spot where I had rubbed off the blue paint, there was a word written--the word was _tyrant_. '_On the character of Frederick, the great tyrant!_' Said I to myself--'what can this mean?' The king snatched the vase from my hands, read what I had read, saw the paint which had been rubbed off upon my handkerchief, and without saying one word left the gallery. This is all I know about the matter."