Schreiber, Guido (1851)
Translation:
“In the years before 1806, the old Elector of Hesse was an inspector for the Westphalian Regiments. At the annual revues everything poured onto the ore places to watch the magnificent spectacle. The elector came on horseback, in the past few years in carriages. Everything was quiet and greeted the great general, who was also a reigning gentleman. The same man went down the stately front of a regiment with a large retinue, and said repeatedly: Beautiful people. The real review, however, was that the elector took a normal measure from his pocket, according to which he judged the braids of the soldiers. Sometimes they were too fat, sometimes too thin; sometimes too long, sometimes too short; sometimes too close, sometimes too far from the head; few found mercy before his eyes. Turning against the head of the regiment, he then said aloud that everyone around could hear it, "Oh, General, it is cruelly difficult to make a good braid." (Eylert Memories.)
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