1 files changed, 5686 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/2668.txt b/2668.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab32d29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/2668.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5686 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck, by
+Baron Trenck, Edited by Henry Morley, Translated by Thomas Holcroft
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck
+       Vol. 1 (of 2)
+
+
+Author: Baron Trenck
+
+Editor: Henry Morley
+
+Release Date: October 16, 2007  [eBook #2668]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF BARON
+TRENCK***
+
+
+Transcribed from the 1892 Cassell & Co. edition by David Price, email
+ccx074@pglaf.org, proofed by Bridie, Rab Hughes and Roland Chapman.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE
+LIFE AND ADVENTURES
+OF
+BARON TRENCK
+
+
+TRANSLATED BY
+THOMAS HOLCROFT.
+
+VOL. I.
+
+CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED:
+_LONDON_, _PARIS & MELBOURNE_.
+1892.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+There were two cousins Von der Trenck, who were barons descended from an
+ancient house in East Prussia, and were adventurous soldiers, to whom, as
+to the adventurous, there were adventures that lost nothing in the
+telling, for they were told by the authors' most admiring
+friends--themselves.  Franz, the elder, was born in 1711, the son of an
+Austrian general; and Frederick, whose adventures are here told, was the
+son of a Prussian major-general.  Franz, at the age of seventeen, fought
+duels, and cut off the head of a man who refused to lend him money.  He
+stood six feet three inches in his shoes, knocked down his commanding
+officer, was put under arrest, offered to pay for his release by bringing
+in three Turks' heads within an hour, was released on that condition, and
+actually brought in four Turks' heads.  When afterwards cashiered, he
+settled on his estates in Croatia, and drilled a thousand of his tenantry
+to act as "Pandours" against the banditti.  In 1740, he served with his
+Pandours under Maria Theresa, and behaved himself as one of the more
+brutal sort of banditti.  He offered to capture Frederick of Prussia, and
+did capture his tent.  Many more of his adventures are vaingloriously
+recounted by himself in the _Memoires du Baron Franz de Trenck_,
+published at Paris in 1787.  This Trenck took poison when imprisoned at
+Gratz, and died in October, 1747, at the age of thirty-six.
+
+His cousin Frederick is the Trenck who here tells a story of himself that
+abounds in lively illustration of the days of Frederick the Great.  He
+professes that Frederick the King owed him a grudge, because Frederick
+the Trenck had, when eighteen years old, fascinated the Princess Amalie
+at a ball.  But as Frederick the Greater was in correspondence with his
+cousin Franz at the time when that redoubtable personage was planning the
+seizure of Frederick the Great, there may have been better ground for the
+Trenck's arrest than he allows us to imagine.  Mr. Carlyle shows that
+Frederick von der Trenck had been three months in prison, and was still
+in prison, at the time of the battle of the Sohr, in which he professes
+to have been engaged.  Frederick von der Trenck, after his release from
+imprisonment in 1763, married a burgomaster's daughter, and went into
+business as a wine merchant.  Then he became adventurous again.  His
+adventures, published in German in 1786-7, and in his own French version
+in 1788, formed one of the most popular books of its time.  Seven plays
+were founded on them, and ladies in Paris wore their bonnets a la Trenck.
+But the French finally guillotined the author, when within a year of
+threescore and ten, on the 26th of July, 1794.  He had gone to Paris in
+1792, and joined there in the strife of parties.  At the guillotine he
+struggled with the executioner.
+
+H.M.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+I was born at Konigsberg in Prussia, February 16, 1726, of one of the
+most ancient families of the country.  My father, who was lord of Great
+Scharlach, Schakulack, and Meichen, and major-general of cavalry, died in
+1740, after receiving eighteen wounds in the Prussian service.  My mother
+was daughter of the president of the high court at Konigsberg.  After my
+father's death she married Count Lostange, lieutenant-colonel in the Kiow
+regiment of cuirassiers, with whom she went and resided at Breslau.  I
+had two brothers and a sister; my youngest brother was taken by my mother
+into Silesia; the other was a cornet in this last-named regiment of Kiow;
+and my sister was married to the only son of the aged General Valdow.
+
+My ancestors are famous in the Chronicles of the North, among the ancient
+Teutonic knights, who conquered Courland, Prussia, and Livonia.
+
+By temperament I was choleric, and addicted to pleasure and dissipation;
+my tutors found this last defect most difficult to overcome; happily,
+they were aided by a love of knowledge inherent in me, an emulative
+spirit, and a thirst for fame, which disposition it was my father's care
+to cherish.  A too great consciousness of innate worth gave me a too
+great degree of pride, but the endeavours of my instructor to inspire
+humility were not all lost; and habitual reading, well-timed praise, and
+the pleasures flowing from science, made the labours of study at length
+my recreation.
+
+My memory became remarkable; I am well read in the Scriptures, the
+classics, and ancient history; was acquainted with geography; could draw;
+learnt fencing, riding, and other necessary exercises.
+
+My religion was Lutheran; but morality was taught me by my father, and by
+the worthy man to whose care he committed the forming of my heart, whose
+memory I shall ever hold in veneration.  While a boy, I was enterprising
+in all the tricks of boys, and exercised my wit in crafty excuses; the
+warmth of my passions gave a satiric, biting cast to my writings, whence
+it has been imagined, by those who knew but little of me, I was a
+dangerous man; though, I am conscious, this was a false judgment.
+
+A soldier himself, my father would have all his sons the same; thus, when
+we quarrelled, we terminated our disputes with wooden sabres, and,
+brandishing these, contested by blows for victory, while our father sat
+laughing, pleased at our valour and address.  This practice, and the
+praises he bestowed, encouraged a disposition which ought to have been
+counteracted.
+
+Accustomed to obtain the prize, and be the hero of scholastic
+contentions, I acquired the bad habit of disputation, and of imagining
+myself a sage when little more than a boy.  I became stubborn in
+argument; hasty to correct others, instead of patiently attentive: and,
+by presumption, continually liable to incite enmity.  Gentle to my
+inferiors, but impatient of contradiction, and proud of resisting power,
+I may hence date, the origin of all my evils.
+
+How might a man, imbued with the heroic principles of liberty, hope for
+advancement and happiness, under the despotic and iron Government of
+Frederic?  I was taught neither to know nor to avoid, but to despise the
+whip of slavery.  Had I learnt hypocrisy, craft, and meanness, I had long
+since become field-marshal, had been in possession of my Hungarian
+estates, and had not passed the best years of my life in the dungeons of
+Magdeburg.  I was addicted to no vice: I laboured in the cause of
+science, honour, and virtue; kept no vicious company; was never in the
+whole of my life intoxicated; was no gamester, no consumer of time in
+idleness nor brutal pleasures; but devoted many hundred laborious nights
+to studies that might make me useful to my country; yet was I punished
+with a severity too cruel even for the most worthless, or most villanous.
+
+I mean, in my narrative, to make candour and veracity my guides, and not
+to conceal my failings; I wish my work may remain a moral lesson to the
+world.  Yet it is an innate satisfaction that I am conscious of never
+having acted with dishonour, even to the last act of this distressful
+tragedy.
+
+I shall say little of the first years of my life, except that my father
+took especial care of my education, and sent me, at the age of thirteen,
+to the University of Konigsberg, where, under the tuition of Kowalewsky,
+my progress was rapid.  There were fourteen other noblemen in the same
+house, and under the same master.
+
+In the year following, 1740, I quarrelled with one young Wallenrodt, a
+fellow-student, much stronger than myself, and who, despising my
+weakness, thought proper to give me a blow.  I demanded satisfaction.  He
+came not to the appointed place, but treated my demand with contempt; and
+I, forgetting all further respect, procured a second, and attacked him in
+open day.  We fought, and I had the fortune to wound him twice; the first
+time in the arm, the second in the hand.
+
+This affair incited inquiry:--Doctor Kowalewsky, our tutor, laid
+complaints before the University, and I was condemned to three hours'
+confinement; but my grandfather and guardian, President Derschau, was so
+pleased with my courage, that he took me from this house and placed me
+under Professor Christiani.
+
+Here I first began to enjoy full liberty, and from this worthy man I
+learnt all I know of experimental philosophy and science.  He loved me as
+his own son, and continued instructing me till midnight.  Under his
+auspices, in 1742, I maintained, with great success, two public theses,
+although I was then but sixteen; an effort and an honour till then
+unknown.
+
+Three days after my last public exordium, a contemptible fellow sought a
+quarrel with me, and obliged me to draw in my own defence, whom, on this
+occasion, I wounded in the groin.
+
+This success inflated my valour, and from that time I began to assume the
+air and appearance of a Hector.
+
+Scarcely had a fortnight elapsed before I had another with a lieutenant
+of the garrison, whom I had insulted, who received two wounds in the
+contest.
+
+I ought to remark, that at this time, the University of Konigsberg was
+still highly privileged.  To send a challenge was held honourable; and
+this was not only permitted, but would have been difficult to prevent,
+considering the great number of proud, hot-headed, and turbulent nobility
+from Livonia, Courland, Sweden, Denmark, and Poland, who came thither to
+study, and of whom there were more than five hundred.  This brought the
+University into disrepute, and endeavours have been made to remedy the
+abuse.  Men have acquired a greater extent of true knowledge, and have
+begun to perceive that a University ought to be a place of instruction,
+and not a field of battle; and that blood cannot be honourably shed,
+except in defence of life or country.
+
+In November, 1742, the King sent his adjutant-general, Baron Lottum, who
+was related to my mother, to Konigsberg, with whom I dined at my
+grandfather's.  He conversed much with me, and, after putting various
+questions, purposely, to discover what my talents and inclinations were,
+he demanded, as if in joke, whether I had any inclination to go with him
+to Berlin, and serve my country, as my ancestors had ever done: adding
+that, in the army, I should find much better opportunities of sending
+challenges than at the University.  Inflamed with the desire of
+distinguishing myself, I listened with rapture to the proposition, and in
+a few days we departed for Potzdam.
+
+On the morrow after my arrival, I was presented to the King, as indeed I
+had before been in the year 1740, with the character of being, then, one
+of the most hopeful youths of the University.  My reception was most
+flattering; the justness of my replies to the questions he asked, my
+height, figure, and confidence, pleased him; and I soon obtained
+permission to enter as a cadet in his body guards, with a promise of
+quick preferment.
+
+The body guards formed, at this time, a model and school for the Prussian
+cavalry; they consisted of one single squadron of men selected from the
+whole army, and their uniform was the most splendid in all Europe.  Two
+thousand rix-dollars were necessary to equip an officer: the cuirass was
+wholly plated with silver; and the horse, furniture, and accoutrements
+alone cost four hundred rix-dollars.
+
+This squadron only contained six officers and a hundred and forty-four
+men; but there were always fifty or sixty supernumeraries, and as many
+horses, for the King incorporated all the most handsome men he found in
+the guards.  The officers were the best taught of any the army contained;
+the King himself was their tutor, and he afterwards sent them to instruct
+the cavalry in the manoeuvres they had learnt.  Their rise was rapid if
+they behaved well; but they were broken for the least fault, and punished
+by being sent to garrison regiments.  It was likewise necessary they
+should be tolerably rich, as well as possess such talents as might be
+successfully employed, both at court and in the army.
+
+There are no soldiers in the world who undergo so much as this body
+guard; and during the time I was in the service of Frederic, I often had
+not eight hours' sleep in eight days.  Exercise began at four in the
+morning, and experiments were made of all the alterations the King meant
+to introduce in his cavalry.  Ditches of three, four, five, six feet, and
+still wider, were leaped, till that someone broke his neck; hedges, in
+like manner, were freed, and the horses ran careers, meeting each other
+full speed in a kind of lists of more than half a league in length.  We
+had often, in these our exercises, several men and horses killed or
+wounded.
+
+It happened more frequently than otherwise that the same experiments were
+repeated after dinner with fresh horses; and it was not uncommon, at
+Potzdam, to hear the alarm sounded twice in a night.  The horses stood in
+the King's stables; and whoever had not dressed, armed himself, saddled
+his horse, mounted, and appeared before the palace in eight minutes, was
+put under arrest for fourteen days.
+
+Scarcely were the eyes closed before the trumpet again sounded, to
+accustom youth to vigilance.  I lost, in one year, three horses, which
+had either broken their legs, in leaping ditches, or died of fatigue.
+
+I cannot give a stronger picture of this service than by saying that the
+body guard lost more men and horses in one year's peace than they did,
+during the following year, in two battles.
+
+We had, at this time, three stations; our service, in the winter, was at
+Berlin, where we attended the opera, and all public festivals: in the
+spring we were exercised at Charlottenberg; and at Potzdam, or wherever
+the King went, during the summer.  The six officers of the guard dined
+with the King, and, on gala days, with the Queen.  It may be presumed
+there was not at that time on earth a better school to form an officer
+and a man of the world than was the court of Berlin.
+
+I had scarcely been six weeks a cadet before the King took me aside, one
+day, after the parade, and having examined me near half an hour, on
+various subjects, commanded me to come and speak to him on the morrow.
+
+His intention was to find whether the accounts that had been given him of
+my memory had not been exaggerated; and that he might be convinced, he
+first gave me the names of fifty soldiers to learn by rote, which I did
+in five minutes.  He next repeated the subjects of two letters, which I
+immediately composed in French and Latin; the one I wrote, the other I
+dictated.  He afterwards ordered me to trace, with promptitude, a
+landscape from nature, which I executed with equal success; and he then
+gave me a cornet's commission in his body guards.
+
+Each mark of bounty from the monarch increased an ardour already great,
+inspired me with gratitude, and the first of my wishes was to devote my
+whole life to the service of my King and country.  He spoke to me as a
+Sovereign should speak, like a father, like one who knew well how to
+estimate the gifts bestowed on me by nature; and perceiving, or rather
+feeling, how much he might expect from me, became at once my instructor
+and my friend.
+
+Thus did I remain a cadet only six weeks, and few Prussians can vaunt,
+under the reign of Frederic, of equal good fortune.
+
+The King not only presented me with a commission, but equipped me
+splendidly for the service.  Thus did I suddenly find myself a courtier,
+and an officer in the finest, bravest, and best disciplined corps in
+Europe.  My good fortune seemed unlimited, when, in the month of August,
+1743, the King selected me to go and instruct the Silesian cavalry in the
+new manoeuvres: an honour never before granted to a youth of eighteen.
+
+I have already said we were garrisoned at Berlin during winter, where the
+officers' table was at court: and, as my reputation had preceded me, no
+person whatever could be better received there, or live more pleasantly.
+
+Frederic commanded me to visit the literati, whom he had invited to his
+court: Maupertuis, Jordan, La Mettrie, and Pollnitz, were all my
+acquaintance.  My days were employed in the duties of an officer, and my
+nights in acquiring knowledge.  Pollnitz was my guide, and the friend of
+my heart.  My happiness was well worthy of being envied.  In 1743, I was
+five feet eleven inches in height, and Nature had endowed me with every
+requisite to please.  I lived, as I vainly imagined, without inciting
+enmity or malice, and my mind was wholly occupied by the desire of
+earning well-founded fame.
+
+I had hitherto remained ignorant of love, and had been terrified from
+illicit commerce by beholding the dreadful objects of the hospital at
+Potzdam.  During the winter of 1743, the nuptials of his Majesty's sister
+were celebrated, who was married to the King of Sweden, where she is at
+present Queen Dowager, mother of the reigning Gustavus.  I, as officer of
+my corps, had the honour to mount guard and escort her as far as Stettin.
+Here first did my heart feel a passion of which, in the course of my
+history, I shall have frequent occasion to speak.  The object of my love
+was one whom I can only remember at present with reverence; and, as I
+write not romance, but facts, I shall here briefly say, ours were
+mutually the first-fruits of affection, and that to this hour I regret no
+misfortune, no misery, with which, from a stock so noble, my destiny was
+overshadowed.
+
+Amid the tumult inseparable to occasions like these, on which it was my
+duty to maintain order, a thief had the address to steal my watch, and
+cut away part of the gold fringe which hung from the waistcoat of my
+uniform, and afterwards to escape unperceived.  This accident brought on
+me the raillery of my comrades; and the lady alluded to thence took
+occasion to console me, by saying it should be her care that I should be
+no loser.  Her words were accompanied by a look I could not
+misunderstand, and a few days after I thought myself the happiest of
+mortals.  The name, however, of this high-born lady is a secret, which
+must descend with me to the grave; and, though my silence concerning this
+incident heaves a void in my life, and indeed throws obscurity over a
+part of it, which might else be clear, I would much rather incur this
+reproach than become ungrateful towards my best friend and benefactress.
+To her conversation, to her prudence, to the power by which she fixed my
+affections wholly on herself, am I indebted for the improvement and
+polishing of my bodily and mental qualities.  She never despised,
+betrayed, or abandoned me, even in the deepest of my distress; and my
+children alone, on my death-bed, shall be taught the name of her to whom
+they owe the preservation of their father, and consequently their own
+existence.
+
+I lived at this time perfectly happy at Berlin, and highly esteemed.  The
+King took every opportunity to testify his approbation; my mistress
+supplied me with more money than I could expend; and I was presently the
+best equipped, and made the greatest figure, of any officer in the whole
+corps.  The style in which I lived was remarked, for I had only received
+from my father's heritage the estate of Great Scharlach; the rent of
+which was eight hundred dollars a year, which was far from sufficient to
+supply my then expenses.  My amour, in the meantime, remained a secret
+from my best and most intimate friends.  Twice was my absence from
+Potzdam and Charlottenberg discovered, and I was put under arrest; but
+the King seemed satisfied with the excuse I made, under the pretext of
+having been hunting, and smiled as he granted my pardon.
+
+Never did the days of youth glide away with more apparent success and
+pleasure than during these my first years at Berlin.  This good fortune
+was, alas, of short duration.  Many are the incidents I might relate, but
+which I shall omit.  My other adventures are sufficiently numerous,
+without mingling such as may any way seem foreign to the subject.  In
+this gloomy history of my life, I wish to paint myself such as I am; and,
+by the recital of my sufferings, afford a memorable example to the world,
+and interest the heart of sensibility.  I would also show how my fatal
+destiny has deprived my children of an immense fortune; and, though I
+want a hundred thousand men to enforce and ensure my rights, I will leave
+demonstration to my heirs that they are incontestable.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+In the beginning of September, 1744, war again broke out between the
+Houses of Austria and Prussia.  We marched with all speed towards Prague,
+traversing Saxony without opposition.  I will not relate in this place
+what the great Frederic said to us, with evident emotion, when surrounded
+by all his officers, on the morning of our departure from Potzdam.
+
+Should any one be desirous of writing the lives of him and his opponent,
+Maria Theresa, without flattery and without fear, let him apply to me,
+and I will relate anecdotes most surprising on this subject, unknown to
+all but myself, and which never must appear under my own name.
+
+All monarchs going to war have reason on their side; and the churches of
+both parties resound with prayers, and appeals to Divine Justice, for the
+success of their arms.  Frederic, on this occasion, had recourse to them
+with regret, of which I was a witness.
+
+If I am not mistaken, the King's army came before Prague on the 14th of
+September, and that of General Schwerin, which had passed through
+Silesia, arrived the next day on the other side of the Moldau.  In this
+position we were obliged to wait some days for pontoons, without which we
+could not establish a communication between the two armies.
+
+The height called Zischka, which overlooks the city, being guarded only
+by a few Croats, was instantly seized, without opposition, by some
+grenadiers, and the batteries, erected at the foot of that mountain,
+being ready on the fifth day, played with such success on the old town
+with bombs and red-hot balls that it was set on fire.  The King made
+every effort to take the city before Prince Charles could bring his army
+from the Rhine to its relief.
+
+General Harsh thought proper to capitulate, after a siege of twelve days,
+during which not more than five hundred men of the garrison, at the
+utmost, were killed and wounded, though eighteen thousand men were made
+prisoners.
+
+Thus far we had met with no impediment.  The Imperial army, however,
+under the command of Prince Charles of Lorraine, having quitted the banks
+of the Rhine, was advancing to save Bohemia.
+
+During this campaign we saw the enemy only at a distance; but the
+Austrian light troops being thrice as numerous as ours, prevented us from
+all foraging.  Winter was approaching, dearth and hunger made Frederic
+determine to retreat, without the least hope from the countries in our
+rear, which we had entirely laid waste as we had advanced.  The severity
+of the season, in the month of November, rendered the soldiers
+excessively impatient of their hardships; and, accustomed to conquer, the
+Prussians were ashamed of and repined at retreat: the enemy's light
+troops facilitated desertion, and we lost, in a few weeks, above thirty
+thousand men.  The pandours of my kinsman, the Austrian Trenck, were
+incessantly at our heels, gave us frequent alarms, did us great injury,
+and, by their alertness, we never could make any impression upon them
+with our cannon.  Trenck at length passed the Elbe, and went and burnt
+and destroyed our magazines at Pardubitz: it was therefore resolved
+wholly to evacuate Bohemia.
+
+The King hoped to have brought Prince Charles to the battle between
+Benneschan and Kannupitz, but in vain: the Saxons, during the night, had
+entered a battery of three-and-twenty cannon on a mound which separated
+two ponds: this was the precise road by which the King meant to make the
+attack.
+
+Thus were we obliged to abandon Bohemia.  The dearth, both for man and
+horse, began to grow extreme.  The weather was bad; the roads and ruts
+were deep; marches were continual, and alarms and attacks from the
+enemy's light troops became incessant.  The discontent all these inspired
+was universal, and this occasioned the great loss of the army.
+
+Under such circumstances, had Prince Charles continued to harass us, by
+persuading us into Silesia, had he made a winter campaign, instead of
+remaining indolently at ease in Bohemia, we certainly should not have
+vanquished him, the year following, at Strigau; but he only followed at a
+distance, as far as the Bohemian frontiers.  This gave Frederic time to
+recover, and the more effectually because the Austrians had the
+imprudence to permit the return of deserters.
+
+This was a repetition of what had happened to Charles XII. when he
+suffered his Russian prisoners to return home, who afterwards so
+effectually punished his contempt of them at the battle of Pultawa.
+
+Prague was obliged to be abandoned, with considerable loss; and Trenck
+seized on Tabor, Budweis, and Frauenberg, where he took prisoners the
+regiments of Walrabe Kreutz.
+
+No one would have been better able to give a faithful history of this
+campaign than myself, had I room in this place, and had I at that time
+been more attentive to things of moment; since I not only performed the
+office of adjutant to the King, when he went to reconnoitre, or choose a
+place of encampment, but it was, moreover, my duty to provide forage for
+the headquarters.  The King having only permitted me to take six
+volunteers from the body guard, to execute this latter duty, I was
+obliged to add to them horse chasseurs, and hussars, with whom I was
+continually in motion.  I was peculiarly fortunate on two occasions, by
+happening to come after the enemy when they had left loaded waggons and
+forage bundles.
+
+I seldom passed the night in my tent during this campaign, and my
+indefatigable activity obtained the favour and entire confidence of
+Frederic.  Nothing so much contributed to inspire me with emulation as
+the public praises I received, and my enthusiasm wished to perform
+wonders.  The campaign, however, but ill supplied me with opportunities
+to display my youthful ardour.
+
+At length no one durst leave the camp, notwithstanding the extremity of
+the dearth, because of the innumerable clouds of pandours and hussars
+that hovered everywhere around.
+
+No sooner were we arrived in Silesia, than the King's body guard were
+sent to Berlin, there to remain in winter quarters.
+
+I should not here have mentioned the Bohemian war, but that, while
+writing time history of my life, I ought not to omit accidents by which
+my future destiny was influenced.
+
+One day, while at Bennaschen, I was commanded out, with a detachment of
+thirty hussars and twenty chasseurs, on a foraging party.  I had posted
+my hussars in a convent, and gone myself, with the chasseurs, to a
+mansion-house, to seize the carts necessary for the conveyance of the hay
+and straw from a neighbouring farm.  An Austrian lieutenant of hussars,
+concealed with thirty-six horsemen in a wood, having remarked the
+weakness of my escort, taking advantage of the moment when my people were
+all employed in loading the carts, first seized our sentinel, and then
+fell suddenly upon them, and took them all prisoners in the very farm-
+yard.  At this moment I was seated at my ease, beside the lady of the
+mansion-house, and was a spectator of the whole transaction through the
+window.
+
+I was ashamed of and in despair at my negligence.  The kind lady wished
+to hide me when the firing was heard in the farm-yard.  By good fortune,
+the hussars, whom I had stationed in the convent, had learnt from a
+peasant that there was an Austrian detachment in the wood: they had seen
+us at a distance enter the farmyard, hastily marched to our aid, and we
+had not been taken more than two minutes before they arrived.  I cannot
+express the pleasure with which I put myself at their head.  Some of the
+enemy's party escaped through a back door, but we made two-and-twenty
+prisoners, with a lieutenant of the regiment of Kalnockichen.  They had
+two men killed, and one wounded; and two also of my chasseurs were hewn
+down by the sabre, in the hay-loft, where they were at work.
+
+We continued our forage with more caution after this accident: the horses
+we had taken served, in part, to draw the carts; and, after raising a
+contribution of one hundred and fifty ducats on the convent, which I
+distributed among the soldiers to engage them to silence, we returned to
+the army, from which we were distant about two leagues.
+
+We heard firing as we marched, and the foragers on all sides were
+skirmishing with the enemy.  A lieutenant and forty horse joined me; yet,
+with this reinforcement, I durst not return to the camp, because I
+learned we were in danger from more than eight hundred pandours and
+hussars, who were in the plain.  I therefore determined to take a long,
+winding, but secret route, and had the good fortune to come safe to
+quarters with my prisoners and five-and-twenty loaded carts.  The King
+was at dinner when I entered his tent.  Having been absent all night, it
+was imagined I had been taken, that accident having happened the same day
+to many others.
+
+The instant I entered, the King demanded if I returned singly.  "No,
+please your Majesty," answered I; "I have brought five-and-twenty loads
+of forage, and two-and-twenty prisoners, with their officer and horses."
+
+The King then commanded me to sit down, and turning himself towards the
+English ambassador, who was near him, said, laying his hand on my
+shoulder, "_C'est un Matador de ma jeunesse_."
+
+A reconnoitring party was, at the same moment, in waiting before his
+tent: he consequently asked me few questions, and to those he did ask, I
+replied trembling.  In a few minutes he rose from the table, gave a
+glance at the prisoners, hung the Order of Merit round my neck, commanded
+me to go and take repose, and set off with his party.
+
+It is easy to conceive the embarrassment of my situation; my unpardonable
+negligence deserved that I should have been broken, instead of which I
+was rewarded; an instance, this, of the great influence of chance on the
+affairs of the world.  How many generals have gained victories by their
+very errors, which have been afterwards attributed to their genius! It is
+evident the sergeant of hussars, who retook me and my men by bringing up
+his party, was much better entitled than myself to the recompense I
+received.  On many occasions have I since met with disgrace and
+punishment when I deserved reward.  My inquietude lest the truth should
+be discovered, was extreme, especially recollecting how many people were
+in the secret: and my apprehensions were incessant.
+
+As I did not want money, I gave the sergeants twenty ducats each, and the
+soldiers one, in order to insure their silence, which, being a favourite
+with them, they readily promised.  I, however, was determined to declare
+the truth the very first opportunity, and this happened a few days after.
+
+We were on our march, and I, as cornet, was at the head of my company,
+when the King, advancing, beckoned me to come to him, and bade me tell
+him exactly how the affair I had so lately been engaged in happened.
+
+The question at first made me mistrust I was betrayed, but remarking the
+King had a mildness in his manner, I presently recovered myself, and
+related the exact truth.  I saw the astonishment of his countenance, but
+I at the same time saw he was pleased with my sincerity.  He spoke to me
+for half an hour, not as a King, but as a father, praised my candour, and
+ended with the following words, which, while life remains, I shall never
+forget: "Confide in the advice I give you; depend wholly upon me, and I
+will make you a man."  Whoever can feel, may imagine how infinitely my
+gratitude towards the King was increased, by this his great goodness;
+from that moment I had no other desire than to live and die for his
+service.
+
+I soon perceived the confidence the King had in me after this
+explanation, of which I received very frequent marks, the following
+winter, at Berlin.  He permitted me to be present at his conversations
+with the literati of his court, and my state was truly enviable.
+
+I received this same winter more than five hundred ducats as presents.  So
+much happiness could not but excite jealousy, and this began to be
+manifest on every side.  I had too little disguise for a courtier, and my
+heart was much too open and frank.
+
+Before I proceed, I will here relate an incident which happened during
+the last campaign, and which will, no doubt, be read in the history of
+Frederic.
+
+On the rout while retreating through Bohemia, the King came to Kollin,
+with his horse-guards, the cavalry piquets of the head-quarters, and the
+second and third battalions of guards.  We had only four field pieces,
+and our squadron was stationed in one of the suburbs.  Our advance posts,
+towards evening, were driven back into the town, and the hussars entered
+pell-mell: the enemy's light troops swarmed over the country, and my
+commanding officer sent me immediately to receive the King's orders.
+After much search, I found him at the top of a steeple, with a telescope
+in his hand.  Never did I see him so disturbed or undecided as on this
+occasion.  Orders were immediately given that we should retreat through
+the city, into the opposite suburb, where we were to halt, but not
+unsaddle.
+
+We had not been here long before a most heavy rain fell, and the night
+became exceedingly dark.  My cousin Trenck made his approach about nine
+in the evening, with his pandour and janissary music, and set fire to
+several houses.  They found we were in the suburb, and began to fire upon
+us from the city windows.  The tumult became extreme: the city was too
+full for us to re-enter: the gate was shut, and they fired from above at
+us with our field-pieces.  Trenck had let in the waters upon us, and we
+were up to the girths by midnight, and almost in despair.  We lost seven
+men, and my horse was wounded in the neck.
+
+The King, and all of us, had certainly been made prisoners had my cousin,
+as he has since told me, been able to continue the assault he had begun:
+but a cannon ball having wounded him in the foot, he was carried off, and
+the pandours retired.  The corps of Nassau arrived next day to our aid;
+we quitted Kollin, and during the march the King said to me, "Your cousin
+had nearly played us a malicious prank last night, but the deserters say
+he is killed."  He then asked what our relationship was, and there our
+conversation ended.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+It was about the middle of December when we came to Berlin, where I was
+received with open arms.  I became less cautious than formerly, and,
+perhaps, more narrowly observed.  A lieutenant of the foot guards, who
+was a public Ganymede, and against whom I had that natural antipathy and
+abhorrence I have for all such wretches, having indulged himself in some
+very impertinent jokes on the secret of my amour, I bestowed on him the
+epithet he deserved: we drew our swords, and he was wounded.  On the
+Sunday following I presented myself to pay my respects to his Majesty on
+the parade, who said to me as he passed, "The storm and the thunder shall
+rend your heart; beware!" {1}  He added nothing more.
+
+Some little time after I was a few minutes too late on the parade; the
+King remarked it, and sent me, under arrest, to the foot-guard at
+Potzdam.  When I had been here a fortnight, Colonel Wartensleben came,
+and advised me to petition for pardon.  I was then too much a novice in
+the modes of the court to follow his counsel, nor did I even remark the
+person who gave it me was himself a most subtle courtier.  I complained
+bitterly that I had so long been deprived of liberty, for a fault which
+was usually punished by three, or, at most, six days' arrest.  Here
+accordingly I remained.
+
+Eight days after, the King being come to Potzdam, I was sent by General
+Bourke to Berlin, to carry some letters, but without having seen the
+King.  On my return I presented myself to him on the parade; and as our
+squadron was garrisoned at Berlin, I asked, "Does it please your Majesty
+that I should go and join my corps?"  "Whence came you?" answered he.
+"From Berlin."  "And where were you before you went to Berlin?"  "Under
+arrest."  "Then under arrest you must remain!"
+
+I did not recover my liberty till three days before our departure for
+Silesia, towards which we marched, with the utmost speed, in the
+beginning of May, to commence our second campaign.
+
+Here I must recount an event which happened that winter, which became the
+source of all my misfortunes, and to which I must entreat my readers will
+pay the utmost attention; since this error, if innocence can be error,
+was the cause that the most faithful and the best of subjects became
+bewildered in scenes of wretchedness, and was the victim of misery, from
+his nineteenth to the sixtieth year of his age.  I dare presume that this
+true narrative, supported by testimonies the most authentic, will fully
+vindicate my present honour and my future memory.
+
+Francis, Baron of Trenck, was the son of my father's brother,
+consequently my cousin german.  I shall speak, hereafter, of the singular
+events of his life.  Being a commander of pandours in the Austrian
+service, and grievously wounded at Bavaria, in the year 1743, he wrote to
+my mother, informing her he intended me, her eldest son, for his
+universal legatee.  This letter, to which I returned no answer, was sent
+to me at Potzdam.  I was so satisfied with my situation, and had such
+numerous reasons so to be, considering the kindness with which the King
+treated me, that I would not have exchanged my good fortune for all the
+treasures of the Great Mogul.
+
+On the 12th of February, 1744, being at Berlin, I was in company with
+Captain Jaschinsky, commander of the body guard, the captain of which
+ranks as colonel in the army, together with Lieutenant Studnitz, and
+Cornet Wagnitz.  The latter was my field comrade, and is at present
+commander-general of the cavalry of Hesse Cassel.  The Austrian Trenck
+became the subject of conversation, and Jaschinsky asked if I were his
+kinsman.  I answered, yes, and immediately mentioned his having made me
+his universal heir.  "And what answer have you returned?" said
+Jaschinsky.--"None at all."
+
+The whole company then observed that, in a case like the present, I was
+much to blame not to answer; that the least I could do would be to thank
+him for his good wishes, and entreat a continuance of them.  Jaschinsky
+further added, "Desire him to send you some of his fine Hungarian horses
+for your own use, and give me the letter; I will convey it to him, by
+means of Mr. Bossart, legation counsellor of the Saxon embassy; but on
+condition that you will give me one of the horses.  This correspondence
+is a family, and not a state affair; I will make myself responsible for
+the consequences."
+
+I immediately took my commander's advice, and began to write; and had
+those who suspected me thought proper to make the least inquiry into
+these circumstances, the four witnesses who read what I wrote could have
+attested my innocence, and rendered it indubitable.  I gave my letter
+open to Jaschinsky, who sealed and sent it himself.
+
+I must omit none of the incidents concerning this letter, it being the
+sole cause of all my sufferings.  I shall therefore here relate an event
+which was the first occasion of the unjust suspicions entertained against
+me.
+
+One of my grooms, with two led horses, was, among many others, taken by
+the pandours of Trenck.  When I returned to the camp, I was to accompany
+the King on a reconnoitring party.  My horse was too tired, and I had no
+other: I informed him of my embarrassment, and his Majesty immediately
+made me a present of a fine English courser.
+
+Some days after, I was exceedingly astonished to see my groom return,
+with my two horses, and a pandour trumpeter, who brought me a letter,
+containing nearly the following words:--
+
+"The Austrian Trenck is not at war with the Prussian Trenck, but, on the
+contrary, is happy to have recovered his horses from his hussars, and to
+return them to whom they first belonged," &c.
+
+I went the same day to pay my respects to the King, who, receiving me
+with great coldness, said, "Since your cousin has returned your own
+horses, you have no more need of mine."
+
+There were too many who envied me to suppose these words would escape
+repetition.  The return of the horses seems infinitely to have increased
+that suspicion Frederic entertained against me, and therefore became one
+of the principal causes of my misfortunes: it is for this reason that I
+dwell upon this and suchlike small incidents, they being necessary for my
+own justification, and, were it possible, for that of the King.  My
+innocence is, indeed, at present universally acknowledged by the court,
+the army, and the whole nation; who all mention the injustice I suffered
+with pity, and the fortitude with which it was endured with surprise.
+
+We marched for Silesia, to enter on our second campaign: which, to the
+Prussians, was as bloody and murderous as it was glorious.
+
+The King's head-quarters were fixed at the convent of Kamentz, where we
+rested fourteen days, and the army remained in cantonments.  Prince
+Charles, instead of following us into Bohemia, had the imprudence to
+occupy the plain of Strigau, and we already concluded his army was
+beaten.  Whoever is well acquainted with tactics, and the Prussian
+manoeuvres, will easily judge, without the aid of calculation or
+witchcraft, whether a well or ill-disciplined army, in an open plain,
+ought to be victorious.
+
+The army hastily left its cantonments, and in twenty-four hours was in
+order of battle; and on the 14th of June, eighteen thousand bodies lay
+stretched on the plain of Strigau.  The allied armies of Austria and
+Saxony were totally defeated.
+
+The body guard was on the right; and previous to the attack, the King
+said to our squadron, "Prove today, my children, that you are my body
+guard, and give no Saxon quarter."
+
+We made three attacks on the cavalry, and two on the infantry.  Nothing
+could withstand a squadron like this, which for men, horses, courage, and
+experience, was assuredly the first in the world.  Our corps alone took
+seven standards and five pairs of colours, and in less than an hour the
+affair was over.
+
+I received a pistol shot in my right hand, my horse was desperately
+wounded, and I was obliged to change him on the third charge.  The day
+after the battle all the officers were rewarded with the Order of Merit.
+For my own part, I remained four weeks among the wounded, at Schweidnitz,
+where there were sixteen thousand men under the torture of the army
+surgeons, many of whom had not their wounds dressed till the third day.
+
+I was near three months before I recovered the use of my hand: I
+nevertheless rejoined my corps, continued to perform my duty, and as
+usual accompanied the King when he went to reconnoitre.  For some time
+past he had placed confidence in me, and his kindness towards me
+continually increased, which raised my gratitude even to enthusiasm.
+
+I also performed the service of adjutant during this campaign, a
+circumstantial account of which no person is better enabled to write than
+myself, I having been present at all that passed.  I was the scholar of
+the greatest master the art of war ever knew, and who believed me worthy
+to receive his instructions; but the volume I am writing would be
+insufficient to contain all that personally relates to myself.
+
+I must here mention an adventure that happened at this time, and which
+will show the art of the great Frederic in forming youth for his service,
+and devotedly attaching them to his person.
+
+I was exceedingly fond of hunting, in which, notwithstanding it was
+severely forbidden, I indulged myself.  I one day returned, laden with
+pheasants; but judge my astonishment and fears when I saw the army had
+decamped, and that it was with difficulty that I could overtake the rear-
+guard.
+
+In this my distress, I applied to an officer of hussars, who instantly
+lent me his horse, by the aid of which I rejoined my corps, which always
+marched as the vanguard.  Mounting my own horse, I tremblingly rode to
+the head of my division, which it was my duty to precede.  The King,
+however, had remarked my absence, or rather had been reminded of it by my
+superior officer, who, for some time past, had become my enemy.
+
+Just as the army halted to encamp, the King rode towards me, and made a
+signal for me to approach, and, seeing my fears in my countenance, said,
+"What, are you just returned from hunting?"  "Yes, your Majesty.  I
+hope--"  Here interrupting me, he added, "Well, well, for this time, I
+shall take no further notice, remembering Potzdam; but, however, let me
+find you more attentive to your duty."
+
+So ended this affair, for which I deserved to have been broken.  I must
+remind my readers that the King meant by the words remembering Potzdam,
+he remembered I had been punished too severely the winter before, and
+that my present pardon was intended as a compensation.
+
+This was indeed to think and act greatly; this was indeed the true art of
+forming great men: an art much more effectual than that of ferocious
+generals, who threaten subalterns with imprisonment and chains on every
+slight occasion; and, while indulging all the rigours of military law,
+make no distinction of minds or of men.  Frederic, on the contrary,
+sometimes pardoned the failings of genius, while mechanic souls he
+mechanically punished, according to the very letter of the laws of war.
+
+I shall further remark, the King took no more notice of my late fault,
+except that sometimes, when I had the honour to dine with him, he would
+ridicule people who were too often at the chase, or who were so choleric
+that they took occasion to quarrel for the least trifle.
+
+The campaign passed in different manoeuvres, marches, and countermarches.
+Our corps was the most fatigued, as being encamped round the King's tent,
+the station of which was central, and as likewise having the care of the
+vanguard; we were therefore obliged to begin our march two hours sooner
+than the remainder of the army, that we might be in our place.  We also
+accompanied the King whenever he went to reconnoitre, traced the lines of
+encampment, led the horse to water, inspected the head-quarters, and
+regulated the march and encampment, according to the King's orders; the
+performance of all which robbed us of much rest, we being but six
+officers to execute so many different functions.
+
+Still further, we often executed the office of couriers, to bear the
+royal commands to detachments.  The King was particularly careful that
+the officers of his guards, whom he intended should become excellent in
+the art of tactics, should not be idle in his school.  It was necessary
+to do much in order that much might be learnt.  Labour, vigilance,
+activity, the love of glory and the love of his country, animated all his
+generals; into whom, it may be said, he infused his spirit.
+
+In this school I gained instruction, and here already was I selected as
+one designed to instruct others; yet, in my fortieth year, a great
+general at Vienna told me, "My dear Trenck, our discipline would be too
+difficult for you to learn; for which, indeed, you are too far advanced
+in life."  Agreeable to this wise decision was I made an Austrian
+invalid, and an invalid have always remained; a judgment like this would
+have been laughed at, most certainly, at Berlin.
+
+If I mistake not, the famous battle of Soor, or Sorau, was fought on the
+14th day of September.  The King had sent so many detachments into
+Saxony, Bohemia, and Silesia, that the main army did not consist of more
+than twenty-five thousand men.  Neglecting advice, and obstinate in
+judging his enemy by numbers, and not according to the excellence of
+discipline, and other accidents, Prince Charles, blind to the real
+strength of the Prussian armies, had enclosed this small number of
+Pomeranian and Brandenburg regiments, with more than eighty-six thousand
+men, intending to take them all prisoners.
+
+It will soon be seen from my narrative with what kind of secrecy his plan
+was laid and executed.
+
+The King came into my tent about midnight; as he also did into that of
+all the officers, to awaken them; his orders were, "Secretly to saddle,
+leave the baggage in the rear, and that the men should stand ready to
+mount at the word of command."
+
+Lieutenant Studnitz and myself attended the King, who went in person, and
+gave directions through the whole army; meantime, break of day was
+expected with anxiety.
+
+Opposite the defile through which the enemy was to march to the attack
+eight field-pieces were concealed behind a hill.  The King must
+necessarily have been informed of the whole plan of the Austrian general,
+for he had called in the advanced posts from the heights, that he might
+lull him into security, and make him imagine we should be surprised in
+the midst of sleep.
+
+Scarcely did break of day appear before the Austrian artillery, situated
+upon the heights, began to play upon our camp, and their cavalry to march
+through the defile to the attack.
+
+As suddenly were we in battle array; for in less than ten minutes we
+ourselves began the attack, notwithstanding the smallness of our number,
+the whole army only containing five regiments of cavalry.  We fell with
+such fury upon the enemy (who at this time were wholly employed in
+forming their men at the mouth of the defile, and that slowly, little
+expecting so sudden and violent a charge), that we drove them back into
+the defile, where they pressed upon each other in crowds; the King
+himself stood ready to unmask his eight field-pieces, and a dreadful and
+bloody slaughter ensued in this narrow place; from which the enemy had
+not the power to retreat.  This single incident gained the battle, and
+deceived all time hopes of Prince Charles.
+
+Nadasti, Trenck, and the light troops, sent to attack our rear, were
+employed in pillaging the camp.  The ferocious Croats met no opposition,
+while this their error made our victory more secure.  It deserves to be
+noticed that, when advice was brought to the King that the enemy had
+fallen upon and were plundering the camp, his answer was, "So much the
+better; they have found themselves employment, and will be no impediment
+to our main design."
+
+Our victory was complete, but all our baggage was lost; the headquarters,
+utterly undefended, were totally stripped; and Trenck had, for his part
+of the booty, the King's tent and his service of plate.
+
+I have mentioned this circumstance here, because that, in the year 1740,
+my cousin Trenck, having fallen into the power of his enemies, who had
+instituted a legal, process against him, was accused, by some villanous
+wretches, of having surprised the King in bed at the battle of Sorau, and
+of having afterwards released him for a bribe.
+
+What was still worse, they hired a common woman, a native of Brunn, who
+pretended she was the daughter of Marshal Schwerin, to give in evidence
+that she herself was with the King when Trenck entered his tent, whom he
+immediately made prisoner, and as immediately released.
+
+To this part of the prosecution I myself, an eye-witness, can answer: the
+thing was false and impossible.  He was informed of the intended attack.
+I accompanied the watchful King from midnight till four in the morning,
+which time he employed in riding through the camp, and making the
+necessary preparations to receive the enemy; and the action began at
+five.  Trenck could not take the King in bed, for the battle was almost
+gained when he and his pandours entered the camp and plundered the head-
+quarters.
+
+As for the tale of Miss Schwerin, it is only fit to be told by
+schoolboys, or examined by the Inquisition, and was very unworthy of
+making part of a legal prosecution against an innocent man at Vienna.
+
+This incident, however, is so remarkable that I shall give in this work a
+farther account of my kinsman, and what was called his criminal process,
+at reading which the world will be astonished.  My own history is so
+connected with his that this is necessary, and the more so because there
+are many ignorant or wicked people at Vienna, who believe, or affirm,
+Trenck had actually taken the King of Prussia prisoner.
+
+Never yet was there a traitor of the name of Trenck; and I hope to prove,
+in the clearest manner, the Austrian Trenck as faithfully served the
+Empress-Queen as the Prussian Trenck did Frederic, his King.  Maria
+Theresa, speaking to me of him some time after his death, and the snares
+that had been laid for him, said, "Your kinsman has made a better end
+than will be the fate of his accusers and judges."
+
+Of this more hereafter: I approach that epoch when my misfortunes began,
+and when the sufferings of martyrdom attended me from youth onward till
+my hairs grew grey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+A few days after the battle of Sorau, the usual camp postman brought me a
+letter from my cousin Trenck, the colonel of pandours, antedated at Effek
+four months, of which the following is a copy:--
+
+"Your letter, of the 12th of February, from Berlin, informs me you desire
+to have some Hungarian horses.  On these you would come and attack me and
+my pandours.  I saw with pleasure, during the last campaign, that the
+Prussian Trenck was a good soldier; and that I might give you some proofs
+of my attachment, I then returned the horses which my men had taken.  If,
+however, you wish to have Hungarian horses, you must take mine in like
+manner from me in the field of battle: or, should you so think fit, come
+and join one who will receive you with open arms, like his friend and
+son, and who will procure you every advantage you can desire," &c.
+
+At first I was terrified at reading this letter, yet could not help
+smiling.  Cornet Wagenitz, now general in chief of the Hesse Cassel
+forces, and Lieutenant Grotthausen, both now alive, and then present,
+were my camp comrades.  I gave them the letter to read, and they laughed
+at its contents.  It was determined to show it to our superior officer,
+Jaschinsky, on a promise of secrecy, and it was accordingly shown him
+within an hour after it was received.
+
+The reader will be so kind as to recollect that, as I have before said,
+it was this Colonel Jaschinsky who on the 12th of February, the same
+year, at Berlin, prevailed on me to write to the Austrian Trenck, my
+cousin; that he received the letter open, and undertook to send it
+according to its address; also that, in this letter, I in jest had asked
+him to send me some Hungarian horses, and, should they come, had promised
+one to Jaschinsky.  He read the letter with an air of some surprise; we
+laughed, and, it being whispered through the army that, in consequence of
+our late victory, detached corps would be sent into Hungary, Jaschinsky
+said, "We shall now go and take Hungarian horses for ourselves."  Here
+the conversation ended, and I, little suspecting future consequences,
+returned to my tent.
+
+I must here remark the following observations:--
+
+1st.  I had not observed the date of the letter brought by the postman,
+which, as I have said, was antedated four months: this, however, the
+colonel did not fail to remark.
+
+2ndly.  The probability is that this was a net, spread for me by this
+false and wicked man.  The return of my horses, during the preceding
+campaign, had been the subject of much conversation.  It is possible he
+had the King's orders to watch me; but more probably he only prevailed on
+me to write that he might entrap me by a fictitious answer.  Certain it
+is, my cousin Trenck, at Vienna, affirmed to his death he never received
+any letter from me, consequently never could send any answer.  I must
+therefore conclude this letter was forged.
+
+Jaschinsky was at this time one of the King's favourites; his spy over
+the army; a tale-bearer; an inventor of wicked lies and calumnies.  Some
+years after the event of which I am now speaking, the King was obliged to
+break and banish him the country.
+
+He was then also the paramour of the beauteous Madame Brossart, wife of
+the Saxon resident at Berlin, and there can be little doubt but that this
+false letter was, by her means, conveyed to some Saxon or Austrian post-
+office, and thence, according to its address, sent to me.  He had daily
+opportunities of infusing suspicions into the King's mind concerning me;
+and, unknown to me, of pursuing his diabolical plan.
+
+I must likewise add he was four hundred ducats indebted to me.  At that
+time I had always a plentiful supply of money.  This booty became his own
+when I, unexamined, was arrested, and thrown into prison.  In like manner
+he seized on the greatest part of my camp equipage.
+
+Further, we had quarrelled during our first campaign, because he had
+beaten one of my servants; we even were proceeding to fight with pistols,
+had not Colonel Winterfield interfered, and amicably ended our quarrel.
+The Lithuanian is, by nature, obstinate and revengeful; and, from that
+day, I have reason to believe he sought my destruction.
+
+God only knows what were the means he took to excite the King's
+suspicious; for it is incredible that Frederic, considering his _well-
+known professions_ of public justice, should treat me in the manner he
+did, without a hearing, without examination, and without a court-martial.
+This to me has ever remained a mystery, which the King alone was able to
+explain; he afterwards was convinced I was innocent: but my sufferings
+had been too cruel, and the miseries he had inflicted too horrible, for
+me ever to hope for compensation.
+
+In an affair of this nature, which will soon he known to all Europe, as
+it long has been in Prussia, the weakest is always guilty.  I have been
+made a terrible example to this our age, how true that maxim is in
+despotic States.
+
+A man of my rank, having once unjustly suffered, and not having the power
+of making his sufferings known, must ever be highly rewarded or still
+more unjustly punished.  My name and injuries will ever stain the annals
+of Frederic _the Great_; even those who read this book will perhaps
+suppose that I, from political motives of hope or fear, have sometimes
+concealed truth by endeavouring to palliate his conduct.
+
+It must ever remain incomprehensible that a monarch so clear-sighted,
+himself the daily witness of my demeanour, one well acquainted with
+mankind, and conscious I wanted neither money, honour, nor hope of future
+preferment; I say it is incomprehensible that he should really suppose me
+guilty.  I take God to witness, and all those who knew me in prosperity
+and misfortune, I never harboured a thought of betraying my country.  How
+was it possible to suspect me?  I was neither madman nor idiot.  In my
+eighteenth year I was a cornet of the body guard, adjutant to the King,
+and possessed his favour and confidence in the highest degree.  His
+presents to me, in one year, amounted to fifteen hundred dollars.  I kept
+seven horses, four men in livery; I was valued, distinguished, and
+beloved by the mistress of my soul.  My relations held high offices, both
+civil and military; I was even fanatically devoted to my King and
+country, and had nothing to wish.
+
+That I should become thus wretched, in consequence of this unfortunate
+letter, is equally wonderful: it came by the public post.  Had there been
+any criminal correspondence, my kinsman certainly would not have chosen
+this mode of conveyance; since, it is well known, all such letters are
+opened; nor could I act more openly.  My colonel read the letter I wrote;
+and also that which I received, immediately after it was brought.
+
+The day after the receipt of this letter I was, as I have before said,
+unheard, unaccused, unjudged, conducted like a criminal from the army, by
+fifty hussars, and imprisoned in the fortress of Glatz.  I was allowed to
+take three horses, and my servants, but my whole equipage was left
+behind, which I never saw more, and which became the booty of Jaschinsky.
+My commission was given to Cornet Schatzel, and I cashiered without
+knowing why.  There were no legal inquiries made: all was done by the
+King's command.
+
+Unhappy people! where power is superior to law, and where the innocent
+and the virtuous meet punishment instead of reward.  Unhappy land! where
+the omnipotent "SUCH IS OUR WILL" supersedes all legal sentence, and robs
+the subject of property, life, and honour.
+
+I once more repeat I was brought to the citadel of Glatz; I was not,
+however, thrown into a dungeon, but imprisoned in a chamber of the
+officer of the guard; was allowed my servants to wait on me, and
+permitted to walk on the ramparts.
+
+I did not want money, and there was only a detachment from the garrison
+regiment in the citadel of Glatz, the officers of which were all poor.  I
+soon had both friends and freedom, and the rich prisoner every day kept
+open table.
+
+He only who had known me in this the ardour of my youth, who had
+witnessed how high I aspired, and the fortune that attended me at Berlin,
+can imagine what my feelings were at finding myself thus suddenly cast
+from my high hopes.
+
+I wrote submissively to the King, requesting to be tried by a
+court-martial, and not desiring any favour should I be found guilty.  This
+haughty tone, in a youth, was displeasing, and I received no answer,
+which threw me into despair, and induced me to use every possible means
+to obtain my liberty.
+
+My first care was to establish, by the intervention of an officer, a
+certain correspondence with the object of my heart.  She answered, she
+was far from supposing I had ever entertained the least thought
+treacherous to my country; that she knew, too well, I was perfectly
+incapable, of dissimulation.  She blamed the precipitate anger and unjust
+suspicions of the King; promised me speedy aid, and sent me a thousand
+ducats.
+
+Had I, at this critical moment, possessed a prudent and intelligent
+friend, who could have calmed my impatience, nothing perhaps might have
+been more easy than to have obtained pardon from the King, by proving my
+innocence; or, it may be, than to have induced him to punish my enemies.
+
+But the officers who then were at Glatz fed the flame of discontent.  They
+supposed the money I so freely distributed came all from Hungary,
+furnished by the pandour chest; and advised me not to suffer my freedom
+to depend upon the will of the King, but to enjoy it in his despite.
+
+It was not more easy to give this advice than to persuade a man to take
+it, who, till then, had never encountered anything but good fortune, and
+who consequently supported the reverse with impatience.  I was not yet,
+however, determined; because I could not yet resolve to abandon my
+country, and especially Berlin.
+
+Five months soon passed away in prison: peace was concluded; the King was
+returned to his capital; my commission in the guards was bestowed on
+another, when Lieutenant Piaschky, of the regiment of Fouquet, and Ensign
+Reitz, who often mounted guard over me, proposed that they and I should
+escape together.  I yielded; our plan was fixed, and every preparatory
+step taken.
+
+At that time there was another prisoner at Glatz, whose name was Manget,
+by birth a Swiss, and captain of cavalry in the Natzmerschen hussars; he
+had been broken, and condemned by a court-martial to ten years'
+imprisonment, with an allowance of only four rix-dollars per month.
+
+Having done this man kindness, I was resolved to rescue him from bondage,
+at the same time that I obtained freedom for myself.  I communicated my
+design, and made the proposal, which was accepted by him, and measures
+were taken; yet were we betrayed by this vile man, who thus purchased
+pardon and liberty.
+
+Piaschky, who had been informed that Reitz was arrested, saved himself by
+deserting.  I denied the fact in presence of Manget, with whom I was
+confronted, and bribed the Auditor with a hundred ducats.  By this means
+Reitz only suffered a year's imprisonment, and the loss of his
+commission.  I was afterwards closely confined in a chamber, for having
+endeavoured to corrupt the King's officers, and was guarded with greater
+caution.
+
+Here I will interrupt my narrative, for a moment, to relate an adventure
+which happened between me and this Captain Manget, three years after he
+had thus betrayed me--that is to say, in 1749, at Warsaw.
+
+I there met him by chance, and it is not difficult to imagine what was
+the salutation he received.  I caned him; he took this ill, and
+challenged me to fight with pistols.  Captain Heucking, of the Polish
+guards, was my second.  We both fired together; I shot him through the
+neck at the first shot, and he fell dead on the field.
+
+He alone, of all my enemies, ever died by my own hand; and he well
+merited his end, for his cowardly treachery towards the two brave fellows
+of whom I have spoken; and still more so with respect to myself, who had
+been his benefactor.  I own, I have never reproached myself for this
+duel, by which I sent a rascal out of the world.
+
+I return to my tale.  My destiny at Glatz was now become more untoward
+and severe.  The King's suspicions were increased, as likewise was his
+anger, by this my late attempt to escape.
+
+Left to myself, I considered my situation in the worst point of view, and
+determined either on flight or death.  The length and closeness of my
+confinement became insupportable to my impatient temper.
+
+I had always had the garrison on my side, nor was it possible to prevent
+my making friends among them.  They knew I had money, and, in a poor
+garrison regiment, the officers of which are all dissatisfied, having
+most of them been drafted from other corps, and sent thither as a
+punishment, there was nothing that might not be undertaken.
+
+My scheme was as follows:--My window looked towards the city, and was
+ninety feet from the ground in the tower of the citadel, out of which I
+could not get, without having found a place of refuge in the city.
+
+This an officer undertook to procure me, and prevailed on an honest soap-
+boiler to grant me a hiding place.  I then notched my pen-knife, and
+sawed through three iron bars; but this mode was too tedious, it being
+necessary to file away eight bars from my window, before I could pass
+through; another officer therefore procured me a file, which I was
+obliged to use with caution, lest I should be overheard by the sentinels.
+
+Having ended this labour, I cut my leather portmanteau into thongs, sewed
+them end to end, added the sheets of my bed, and descended safely from
+this astonishing height.
+
+It rained, the night was dark, and all seemed fortunate, but I had to
+wade through moats full of mud, before I could enter the city, a
+circumstance I had never once considered.  I sank up to the knees, and
+after long struggling, and incredible efforts to extricate myself, I was
+obliged to call the sentinel, and desire him to go and tell the governor,
+Trenck was stuck fast in the moat.
+
+My misfortune was the greater on this occasion, because that General
+Fouquet was then governor of Glatz.  He was one of the cruellest of men.
+He had been wounded by my father in a duel; and the Austrian Trenck had
+taken his baggage in 1744, and had also laid the country of Glatz under
+contribution.  He was, therefore, an enemy to the very name of Trenck;
+nor did he lose any opportunity of giving proofs of his enmity, and
+especially on the present occasion, when he left me standing in the mire
+till noon, the sport of the soldiers.  I was then drawn out, half dead,
+only again to be imprisoned, and shut up the whole day, without water to
+wash me.  No one can imagine how I looked, exhausted and dirty, my long
+hair having fallen into the mud, with which, by my struggling, it was
+loaded.
+
+I remained in this condition till the next day, when two fellow-prisoners
+were sent to assist and clean me.
+
+My imprisonment now became more intolerable.  I had still eighty louis-
+d'ors in my purse, which had not been taken from me at my removal into
+another dungeon, and these afterwards did me good service.
+
+The passions soon all assailed me at once, and impetuous, boiling,
+youthful blood overpowered reason; hope disappeared; I thought myself the
+most unfortunate of men, and my King an irreconcileable judge, more
+wrathful and more fortified in suspicion by my own rashness.  My nights
+were sleepless, my days miserable; my soul was tortured by the desire of
+fame; a consciousness of innocence was a continued stimulus inciting me
+to end my misfortunes.  Youth, inexperienced in woe and disastrous fate,
+beholds every evil magnified, and desponds on every new disappointment,
+more especially after having failed in attempting freedom.  Education had
+taught me to despise death, and these opinions had been confirmed by my
+friend La Mettrie, author of the famous work, "L'Homme Machine," or "Man
+a Machine."
+
+I read much during my confinement at Glatz, where books were allowed me;
+time was therefore less tedious; but when the love of liberty awoke, when
+fame and affection called me to Berlin, and my baulked hopes painted the
+wretchedness of my situation; when I remembered that my loved country,
+judging by appearances, could not but pronounce me a traitor; then was I
+hourly impelled to rush on the naked bayonets of my guards, by whom, to
+me, the road of freedom was barred.
+
+Big with such-like thoughts, eight days had not elapsed since my last
+fruitless attempt to escape, when an event happened which would appear
+incredible, were I, the principal actor in the scene, not alive to attest
+its truth, and might not all Glatz and the Prussian garrison be produced
+as eye and ear witnesses.  This incident will prove that adventurous, and
+even rash, daring will render the most improbable undertakings possible,
+and that desperate attempts may often make a general more fortunate and
+famous than the wisest and best concerted plans.
+
+Major Doo {2} came to visit me, accompanied by an officer of the guard,
+and an adjutant.  After examining every corner of my chamber, he
+addressed me, taxing me with a second crime in endeavouring to obtain my
+liberty; adding this must certainly increase the anger of the King.
+
+My blood boiled at the word crime; he talked of patience; I asked him how
+long the King had condemned me to imprisonment; he answered, a traitor to
+his country, who has correspondence with the enemy, cannot be condemned
+for a certain time, but must depend for grace and pardon on the King.
+
+At that instant I snatched his sword from his side, on which my eyes had
+some time been fixed, sprang out of the door, tumbled the sentinel from
+the top to the bottom of the stairs, passed the men who happened to be
+drawn up before the prison door to relieve the guard, attacked them sword
+in hand, threw them suddenly into surprise by the manner in which I laid
+about me, wounded four of them, made way through the rest, sprang over
+the breastwork of the ramparts, and, with my sword drawn in my hand,
+immediately leaped this astonishing height without receiving the least
+injury.  I leaped the second wall with equal safety and good fortune.
+None of their pieces were loaded; no one durst leap after me, and in
+order to pursue, they must go round through the town and gate of the
+citadel; so that I had the start full half an hour.
+
+A sentinel, however, in a narrow passage, endeavoured to oppose my
+flight, but I parried his fixed bayonet, and wounded him in the face.  A
+second sentinel, meantime, ran from the outworks, to seize me behind, and
+I, to avoid him, made a spring at the palisadoes; there I was unluckily
+caught by the foot, and received a bayonet wound in the upper lip; thus
+entangled, they beat me with the butt-end of their muskets, and dragged
+me back to prison, while I struggled and defended myself like a man grown
+desperate.
+
+Certain it is, had I more carefully jumped the palisadoes, and despatched
+the sentinel who opposed me, I might have escaped, and gained the
+mountains.  Thus might I have fled to Bohemia, after having, at noonday,
+broken from the fortress of Glatz, sprung past all its sentinels, over
+all its walls, and passed with impunity, in despite of the guard, who
+were under arms, ready to oppose me.  I should not, having a sword, have
+feared any single opponent, and was able to contend with the swiftest
+runners.
+
+That good fortune which had so far attended me forsook me at the
+palisadoes, where hope was at an end.  The severities of imprisonment
+were increased; two sentinels and an under officer were locked in with
+me, and were themselves guarded by sentinels without; I was beaten and
+wounded by the butt-ends of their muskets, my right foot was sprained, I
+spat blood, and my wounds were not cured in less than a month.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+I was now first informed that the King had only condemned me to a year's
+imprisonment, in order to learn whether his suspicions were well founded.
+My mother had petitioned for me, and was answered, "Your son must remain
+a year imprisoned, as a punishment for his rash correspondence."
+
+Of this I was ignorant, and it was reported in Glatz that my imprisonment
+was for life.  I had only three weeks longer to repine for the loss of
+liberty, when I made this rash attempt.  What must the King think?  Was
+he not obliged to act with this severity?  How could prudence excuse my
+impatience, thus to risk a confiscation, when I was certain of receiving
+freedom, justification, and honour, in three weeks?  But, such was my
+adverse fate, circumstances all tended to injure and persecute me, till
+at length I gave reason to suppose I was a traitor, notwithstanding the
+purity of my intentions.
+
+Once more, then, was I in a dungeon, and no sooner was I there than I
+formed new projects of flight.  I first gained the intimacy of my guards.
+I had money, and this, with the compassion I had inspired, might effect
+anything among discontented Prussian soldiers.  Soon had I gained thirty-
+two men, who were ready to execute, on the first signal, whatever I
+should command.  Two or three excepted, they were unacquainted with each
+other; they consequently could not all be betrayed at a time: had chosen
+the sub-officer Nicholai to head them.
+
+The garrison consisted only of one hundred and twenty men from the
+garrison regiment, the rest being dispersed in the county of Glatz, and
+four officers, their commanders, three of whom were in my interest.
+Everything was prepared; swords and pistols were concealed in the oven
+which was in my prison.  We intended to give liberty to all the
+prisoners, and retire with drums beating into Bohemia.
+
+Unfortunately, an Austrian deserter, to whom Nicholai had imparted our
+design, went and discovered our conspiracy.  The governor instantly sent
+his adjutant to the citadel, with orders that the officer on guard should
+arrest Nicholai, and, with his men, take possession of the casement.
+
+Nicholai was on the guard, and the lieutenant was my friend, and being in
+the secret, gave the signal that all was discovered.  Nicholai only knew
+all the conspirators, several of whom that day were on guard.  He
+instantly formed his resolution, leaped into the casement, crying,
+"Comrades, to arms, we are betrayed!"  All followed to the guard-house,
+where they seized on the cartridges, the officer having only eight men,
+and threatening to fire on whoever should offer resistance, came to
+deliver me from prison; but the iron door was too strong, and the time
+too short for that to be demolished.  Nicholai, calling to me, bid me aid
+them, but in vain: and perceiving nothing more could be done for me, this
+brave man, heading nineteen others, marched to the gate of the citadel,
+where there was a sub-officer and ten soldiers, obliged these to
+accompany him, and thus arrived safely at Braunau, in Bohemia; for,
+before the news was spread through the city, and men were collected for
+the pursuit, they were nearly half-way on their journey.
+
+Two years after I met with this extraordinary man at Ofenbourg, where hue
+was a writer: he entered immediately into my service, and became my
+friend, but died some months after of a burning fever, at my quarters in
+Hungary, at which I was deeply grieved, for his memory will be ever dear
+to me.
+
+Now was I exposed to all the storms of ill-fortune: a prosecution was
+entered against me as a conspirator, who wanted to corrupt the officers
+and soldiers of the King.  They commanded me to name the remaining
+conspirators; but to these questions I made no answer, except by
+steadfastly declaring I was an innocent prisoner, an officer unjustly
+broken; unjustly, because I had never been brought to trial; that
+consequently I was released from all my engagements; nor could it be
+thought extraordinary that I should avail myself of that law of nature
+which gives every man a right to defend his honour defamed, and seek by
+every possible means to regain his liberty: that such had been my sole
+purpose in every enterprise I had formed, and such should still continue
+to be, for I was determined to persist, till I should either be crowned
+with success, or lose my life in the attempt.
+
+Things thus remained: every precaution was taken except that I was not
+put in irons; it being a law in Prussia that no gentleman or officer can
+be loaded with chains, unless he has first for some crime been delivered
+over to the executioner; and certainly this had not been my case.
+
+The soldiers were withdrawn from my chamber; but the greatest ill was I
+had expended all my money, and my kind mistress, at Berlin, with whom I
+had always corresponded, and which my persecutors could not prevent, at
+last wrote--
+
+   "My tears flow with yours; the evil is without remedy--I dare no
+   more--escape if you can.  My fidelity will ever be the same, when it
+   shall be possible for me to serve you.--Adieu, unhappy friend: you
+   merit a better fate."
+
+This letter was a thunderbolt:--my comfort, however, still was that the
+officers were not suspected, and that it was their duty to visit my
+chamber several times a day, and examine what passed: from which
+circumstance I felt my hopes somewhat revive.  Hence an adventure
+happened which is almost unexampled in tales of knight-errantry.
+
+A lieutenant, whose name was Bach, a Dane by nation, mounted guard every
+fourth day, and was the terror of the whole garrison; for, being a
+perfect master of arms, he was incessantly involved in quarrels, and
+generally left his marks behind him.  He had served in two regiments,
+neither of which would associate with him for this reason, and he had
+been sent to the garrison regiment at Glatz as punishment.
+
+Bach one day, sitting beside me, related how, the evening before, he had
+wounded a lieutenant, of the name of Schell, in the arm.  I replied,
+laughing, "Had I my liberty, I believe you would find some trouble in
+wounding me, for I have some skill in the sword."  The blood instantly
+flew in his face; we split off a kind of pair of foils from an old door,
+which had served me as a table, and at the first lunge I hit him on the
+breast.
+
+His rage became ungovernable, and he left the prison.  What was my
+astonishment when, a moment after, I saw him return with two soldiers'
+swords, which he had concealed under his coat.--"Now, then, boaster,
+prove," said he, giving me one of them, "what thou art able to do."  I
+endeavoured to pacify him, by representing the danger, but ineffectually.
+He attacked me with the utmost fury, and I wounded him in the arm.
+
+Throwing his sword down, he fell upon my neck, kissed me, and wept.  At
+length, after some convulsive emotions of pleasure, he said, "Friend,
+thou art my master; and thou must, thou shalt, by my aid, obtain thy
+liberty, as certainly as my name is Bach."  We bound up his arm as well
+as we could.  He left me, and secretly went to a surgeon, to have it
+properly dressed, and at night returned.
+
+He now remarked, that it was humanly impossible I should escape, unless
+the officer on guard should desert with me;--that he wished nothing more
+ardently than to sacrifice his life in my behalf, but that he could not
+resolve so far to forget his honour and duty to desert, himself, while on
+guard: he notwithstanding gave me his word of honour he would find me
+such a person in a few days; and that, in the meantime, he would prepare
+everything for my flight.
+
+He returned the same evening, bringing with him Lieutenant Schell, and as
+he entered said, "Here is your man."  Schell embraced me, gave his word
+of honour, and thus was the affair settled, and as it proved, my liberty
+ascertained.
+
+We soon began to deliberate on the means necessary to obtain our purpose.
+Schell was just come from garrison at Habelchwert to the citadel of
+Glatz, and in two days was to mount guard over me, till when our attempt
+was suspended.  I have before said, I received no more supplies from my
+beloved mistress, and my purse at that time only contained some six
+pistoles.  It was therefore resolved that Bach should go to Schweidnitz,
+and obtain money of a sure friend of mine in that city.
+
+Here must I inform the reader that at this period the officers and I all
+understood each other, Captain Roder alone excepted, who was exact,
+rigid, and gave trouble on all occasions.
+
+Major Quaadt was my kinsman, by my mother's side, a good, friendly man,
+and ardently desirous I should escape, seeing my calamities were so much
+increased.  The four lieutenants who successively mounted guard over me
+were Bach, Schroeder, Lunitz, and Schell.  The first was the grand
+projector, and made all preparations; Schell was to desert with me; and
+Schroeder and Lunitz three days after were to follow.
+
+No one ought to be surprised that officers of garrison regiments should
+be so ready to desert.  They are, in general, either men of violent
+passions, quarrelsome, overwhelmed with debts, or unfit for service.  They
+are usually sent to the garrison as a punishment, and are called the
+refuse of the army.  Dissatisfied with their situation, their pay much
+reduced, and despised by the troops, such men, expecting advantage, may
+be brought to engage in the most desperate undertaking.  None of them can
+hope for their discharge, and they live in the utmost poverty.  They all
+hoped by my means to better their fortune, I always having had money
+enough; and, with money, nothing is more easy than to find friends, in
+places where each individual is desirous of escaping from slavery.
+
+The talents of Schell were of a superior order; he spoke and wrote six
+languages, and was well acquainted with all the fine arts.  He had served
+in the regiment of Fouquet, had been injured by his colonel, who was a
+Pomeranian; and Fouquet, who was no friend to well-informed officers, had
+sent him to a garrison regiment.  He had twice demanded his dismissal,
+but the King sent him to this species of imprisonment; he then determined
+to avenge himself by deserting, and was ready to aid me in recovering my
+freedom, that he might, by that means, spite Fouquet.
+
+I shall speak more hereafter of this extraordinary man, that I must not
+in this place interrupt my story.  We determined everything should be
+prepared against the first time Schell mounted guard, and that our
+project should be executed on our next.  Thus, as he mounted guard every
+four days, the eighth was to be that of our flight.
+
+The governor meantime had been informed how familiar I was become with
+the officers, at which taking offence, he sent orders that my door should
+no more be opened, but that I should receive my food through a small
+window that had been made for the purpose.  The care of the prison was
+committed to the major, and he was forbidden to eat with me, under pain
+of being broken.
+
+His precautions were ineffectual; the officers procured a false key, and
+remained with me half the day and night.
+
+Captain Damnitz was imprisoned in an apartment by the side of mine.  This
+man had deserted from the Prussian service, with the money belonging to
+his company, to Austria, where he obtained a commission in his cousin's
+regiment, who having prevailed on him to serve as a spy, during the
+campaign of 1744, he was taken in the Prussian territories, known, and
+condemned to be hanged.
+
+Some Swedish volunteers, who were then in the army, interested themselves
+in his behalf, and his sentence was changed to perpetual imprisonment,
+with a sentence of infamy.
+
+This wretch, who two years after, by the aid of his protectors, not only
+obtained his liberty but a lieutenant-colonel's commission, was the
+secret spy of the major over the prisoners; and he remarked that,
+notwithstanding the express prohibition laid on the officers, they still
+passed the greater part of their time in my company.
+
+The 24th of December came, and Schell mounted guard.  He entered my
+prison immediately, where he continued a long time, and we made our
+arrangements for flight when he next should mount guard.
+
+Lieutenant Schroeder that day dined with the governor, and heard orders
+given to the adjutant that Schell should be taken from the guard, and put
+under arrest.
+
+Schroeder, who was in the secret, had no doubt but that we were betrayed,
+not knowing that the spy Damnitz had informed the governor that Schell
+was then in my chamber.
+
+Schroeder, full of terror, came running to the citadel, and said to
+Schell, "Save thyself, friend; all is discovered, and thou wilt instantly
+be put under arrest."
+
+Schell might easily have provided for his own safety, by flying singly,
+Schroeder having prepared horses, on one of which he himself offered to
+accompany him into Bohemia.  How did this worthy man, in a moment so
+dangerous, act toward his friend?
+
+Running suddenly into my prison, he drew a corporal's sabre from under
+his coat, and said, "Friend, we are betrayed; follow me, only do not
+suffer me to fall alive into the hands of my enemies."
+
+I would have spoken: but interrupting me, and taking me by the hand, he
+added, "Follow me; we have not a moment to lose."  I therefore slipped on
+my coat and boots, without having time to take the little money I had
+left; and, as we went out of the prison, Schell said to the sentinel, "I
+am taking the prisoner into the officer's apartment; stand where you
+are."
+
+Into this room we really went, but passed out at the other door.  The
+design of Schell was to go under the arsenal, which was not far off, to
+gain the covered way, leap the palisadoes, and afterwards escape after
+the best manner we might.
+
+We had scarcely gone a hundred paces before we met the adjutant and Major
+Quaadt.
+
+Schell started back, sprang upon the rampart, and leaped from the wall,
+which was there not very high.  I followed, and alighted unhurt, except
+having grazed my shoulder.  My poor friend was not so fortunate; having
+put out his ankle.  He immediately drew his sword, presented it to me,
+and begged me to despatch him, and fly.  He was a small, weak man: but,
+far from complying with his request, I took him in my arms, threw him
+over the palisadoes, afterwards got him on my back, and began to run,
+without very well knowing which way I went.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+It may not be unnecessary to remark those fortunate circumstances that
+favoured our enterprise.
+
+The sun had just set as we took to flight; the hoar frost fell.  No one
+would run the risk that we had done, by making so dangerous a leap.  We
+heard a terrible noise behind us.  Everybody knew us; but before they
+could go round the citadel, and through the town, in order to pursue us,
+we had got a full half league.
+
+The alarm guns were fired before we were a hundred paces distant; at
+which my friend was very much terrified, knowing that in such cases it
+was generally impossible to escape from Glatz, unless the fugitives had
+got the start full two hours before the alarm guns were heard; the passes
+being immediately all stopped by the peasants and hussars, who are
+exceedingly vigilant.  No sooner is a prisoner missed than the gunner
+runs from the guard-house, and fires the cannon on the three sides of the
+fortress, which are kept loaded day and night for that purpose.
+
+We were not five hundred paces from the walls, when all before us and
+behind us were in motion.  It was daylight when we leaped, yet was our
+attempt as fortunate as it was wonderful: this I attributed to my
+presence of mind, and the reputation I had already acquired, which made
+it thought a service of danger for two or three men to attack me.
+
+It was besides imagined we were well provided with arms for our defence;
+and it was little suspected that Schell had only his sword, and I an old
+corporal's sabre.
+
+Among the officers commanded to pursue us was Lieutenant Bart, my
+intimate friend.  Captain Zerbst, of the regiment of Fouquet, who had
+always testified the kindness of a brother towards me, met us on the
+Bohemian frontiers, and called to me, "Make to time left, brother, and
+you will see some lone houses, which are on the Bohemian confines: the
+hussars have ridden straight forward."  He then passed on as if he had
+not seen us.
+
+We had nothing to fear from the officers; for the intimacy between the
+Prussian officers was at that time so great, and the word of honour so
+sacred, that during my rigorous detention at Glatz I had been once six-
+and-thirty hours hunting at Neurode, at the seat of Baron Stillfriede;
+Lunitz had taken my place in the prison, which the major knew when he
+came to make his visit.  Hence may be conjectured how great was the
+confidence in which the word of the unfortunate Trenck was held at Glatz,
+since they did not fear letting him leave his dungeon, and hunt on the
+very confines of Bohemia.  This, too, shows the governor was deceived, in
+despite of his watchfulness and order, and that a man of honour, with
+money, and a good head and heart, will never want friends.
+
+These my memoirs will be the picture of what the national character then
+was; and will prove that, with officers who lived like brothers, and held
+their words so sacred, the great Frederick well might vanquish his
+enemies.
+
+Arbitrary power has now introduced the whip of slavery, and mechanic
+subordination has eradicated those noble and rational incitements to
+concord and honour.  Instead of which, mistrust and slavish fear having
+arisen, the enthusiastic spirit of the Brandenburg warrior declines, and
+into this error have most of the other European States fallen.
+
+Scarcely had I borne my friend three hundred paces before I set him down,
+and I looked round me, but darkness came on so fast that I could see
+neither town nor citadel; consequently, we ourselves could not be seen.
+
+My presence of mind did not forsake me: death or freedom was my
+determination.  "Where are we, Schell?" said I to my friend.  "Where does
+Bohemia lie? on which side is the river Neiss?"  The worthy man could
+make no answer: his mind was all confusion, and he despaired of our
+escape: he still, however, entreated I would not let him be taken alive,
+and affirmed my labour was all in vain.
+
+After having promised, by all that was sacred, I would save him from an
+infamous death, if no other means were left, and thus raised his spirits,
+he looked round, and knew, by some trees, we were not far from the city
+gates.  I asked him, "Where is the Neiss?"  He pointed sideways--"All
+Glatz has seen us fly towards the Bohemian mountains; it is impossible we
+should avoid the hussars, the passes being all guarded, and we beset with
+enemies."  So saying, I took him on my shoulders, and carried him to the
+Neiss; here we distinctly heard the alarm sounded in the villages, and
+the peasants, who likewise were to form the line of desertion, were
+everywhere in motion, and spreading the alarm.  As it may not be known to
+all my readers in what manner they proceed on these occasions in Prussia,
+I will here give a short account of it.
+
+Officers are daily named on the parade whose duty it is to follow
+fugitives as soon as the alarm-guns are fired.
+
+The peasants in the villages, likewise, are daily appointed to rim to the
+guard of certain posts.  The officers immediately fly to these posts to
+see that the peasants do their duty, and prevent the prisoner's escape.
+Thus does it seldom happen that a soldier can effect his escape unless he
+be, at the very least, an hour on the road before the alarm-guns are
+fired.
+
+I now return to my story.
+
+I came to the Neiss, which was a little frozen, entered it with my
+friend, and carried him as long as I could wade, and when I could not
+feel the bottom, which did not continue for more than a space of eighteen
+feet, he clung round me, and thus we got safely to the other shore.
+
+My father taught all his sons to swim, for which I have often had to
+thank him; since by means of this art, which is easily learnt in
+childhood, I had on various occasions preserved my life, and was more
+bold in danger.  Princes who wish to make their subjects soldiers, should
+have them educated so as to fear neither fire nor water.  How great would
+be the advantage of being able to cross a river with whole battalions,
+when it is necessary to attack or retreat before the enemy, and when time
+will not permit to prepare bridges!
+
+The reader will easily suppose swimming in the midst of December, and
+remaining afterwards eighteen hours in the open air, was a severe
+hardship.  About seven o'clock the hoar-fog was succeeded by frost and
+moonlight.  The carrying of my friend kept me warm, it is true, but I
+began to be tired, while he suffered everything that frost, the pain of a
+dislocated foot (which I in vain endeavoured to reset), and the danger of
+death from a thousand hands, could inflict.
+
+We were somewhat more tranquil, however, having reached the opposite
+shore of the Neiss, since nobody would pursue us on the road to Silesia.
+I followed the course of the river for half an hour, and having once
+passed the first villages that formed the line of desertion, with which
+Schell was perfectly acquainted, we in a lucky moment found a fisherman's
+boat moored to the shore; into this we leaped, crossed the river again,
+and soon gained the mountains.
+
+Here being come, we sat ourselves down awhile on the snow; hope revived
+in our hearts, and we held council concerning how it was best to act.  I
+cut a stick to assist Schell in hopping forward as well as he could when
+I was tired of carrying him; and thus we continued our route, the
+difficulties of which were increased by the mountain snows.
+
+Thus passed the night; during which, up to the middle in snow, we made
+but little way.  There were no paths to be traced in the mountains, and
+they were in many places impassable.  Day at length appeared: we thought
+ourselves near the frontiers, which are twenty English miles from Glatz,
+when we suddenly, to our great terror, heard the city clock strike.
+
+Overwhelmed, as we were, by hunger, cold, fatigue, and pain, it was
+impossible we should hold out through the day.  After some consideration,
+and another half-hour's labour, we came to a village at the foot of the
+mountain, on the side of which, about three hundred paces from us, we
+perceived two separate houses, which inspired us with a stratagem that
+was successful.
+
+We lost our hats in leaping the ramparts; but Schell had preserved his
+scarf and gorget, which would give him authority among the peasants.
+
+I then cut my finger, rubbed the blood over my face, my shirt, and my
+coat, and bound up my head, to give myself the appearance of a man
+dangerously wounded.
+
+In this condition I carried Schell to the end of the wood not far from
+these houses; here he tied my hands behind my back, but so that I could
+easily disengage them in ease of need: and hobbled after me, by aid of
+his staff, calling for help.
+
+Two old peasants appeared, and Schell commanded them to run to the
+village, and tell a magistrate to come immediately with a cart.  "I have
+seized this knave," added he, "who has killed my horse, and in the
+struggle I have put out my ankle; however, I have wounded and bound him;
+fly quickly, bring a cart, lest he should die before he is hanged."
+
+As for me, I suffered myself to be led, as if half-dead, into the house.
+A peasant was despatched to the village.  An old woman and a pretty girl
+seemed to take great pity on me, and gave me some bread and milk: but how
+great was our astonishment when the aged peasant called Schell by his
+name, and told him he well knew we were deserters, having the night
+before been at a neighbouring alehouse where the officer in pursuit of us
+came, named and described us, and related the whole history of our
+flight.  The peasant knew Schell, because his son served in his company,
+and had often spoken of him when he was quartered at Habelschwert.
+
+Presence of mind and resolution were all that were now left.  I instantly
+ran to the stable, while Schell detained the peasant in the chamber.  He,
+however, was a worthy man, and directed him to the road toward Bohemia.
+We were still about some seven miles from Glatz, having lost ourselves
+among the mountains, where we had wandered many miles.  The daughter
+followed me: I found three horses in the stable, but no bridles.  I
+conjured her, in the most passionate manner, to assist me: she was
+affected, seemed half willing to follow me, and gave me two bridles.  I
+led the horses to the door, called Schell, and helped him, with his lame
+leg, on horseback.  The old peasant then began to weep, and beg I would
+not take his horses; but he luckily wanted courage, and perhaps the will
+to impede us; for with nothing more than a dung-fork, in our then feeble
+condition, he might have stopped us long enough to have called in
+assistance from the village.
+
+And now behold us on horseback, without hats or saddles; Schell with his
+uniform scarf and gorget, and I in my red regimental coat.  Still we were
+in danger of seeing all our hopes vanish, for my horse would not stir
+from the stable; however, at last, good horseman-like, I made him move:
+Schell led the way, and we had scarcely gone a hundred paces, before we
+perceived the peasants coming in crowds from the village.
+
+As kind fortune would have it, the people were all at church, it being a
+festival: the peasants Schell had sent were obliged to call aid out of
+church.  It was but nine in the morning; and had the peasants been at
+home, we had been lost past redemption.
+
+We were obliged to take the road to Wunshelburg, and pass through the
+town where Schell had been quartered a month before, and in which he was
+known by everybody.  Our dress, without hats or saddles, sufficiently
+proclaimed we were deserters: our horses, however, continued to go
+tolerably well, and we had the good luck to get through the town,
+although there was a garrison of one hundred and eighty infantry, and
+twelve horse, purposely to arrest deserters.  Schell knew the road to
+Brummem, where we arrived at eleven o'clock, after having met, as I
+before mentioned, Captain Zerbst.
+
+He who has been in the same situation only can imagine, though he never
+can describe, all the joy we felt.  An innocent man, languishing in a
+dungeon, who by his own endeavours, has broken his chains, and regained
+his liberty, in despite of all the arbitrary power of princes, who vainly
+would oppose him, conceives in moments like these such an abhorrence of
+despotism, that I could not well comprehend how I ever could resolve to
+live under governments where wealth, content, honour, liberty, and life
+all depend upon a master's will, and who, were his intentions the most
+pure, could not be able, singly, to do justice to a whole nation.
+
+Never did I, during life, feel pleasure more exquisite than at this
+moment.  My friend for me had risked a shameful death, and now, after
+having carried him at least twelve hours on my shoulders, I had saved
+both him and myself.  We certainly should not have suffered any man to
+bring us, alive, back to Glatz.  Yet this was but the first act of the
+tragedy of which I was doomed the hero, and the mournful incidents of
+which all arose out of, and depended on, each other.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+Could I have read the book of fate, and have seen the forty years'
+fearful afflictions that were to follow, I certainly should not have
+rejoiced at this my escape from Glatz.  One year's patience might have
+appeased the irritated monarch, and, taking a retrospect of all that has
+passed, I now find it would have been a fortunate circumstance, had the
+good and faithful Schell and I never met, since he also fell into a train
+of misfortunes, which I shall hereafter relate, and from which he could
+never extricate himself, but by death.  The sufferings which I have since
+undergone will be read with astonishment.
+
+It is my consolation that both the laws of honour and nature justify the
+action.  I may serve as an example of the fortitude with which danger
+ought to be encountered, and show monarchs that in Germany, as well as in
+Rome, there are men who refuse to crouch beneath the yoke of despotism,
+and that philosophy and resolution are stronger than even those lords of
+slaves, with all their threats, whips, tortures, and instruments of
+death.
+
+In Prussia, where my sufferings might have made me supposed the worst of
+traitors, is my innocence universally acknowledged; and instead of
+contempt, there have I gained the love of the whole nation, which is the
+best compensation for all the ills I have suffered, and for having
+persevered in the virtuous principles taught me in my youth, persecuted
+as I have been by envy and malicious power.  I have not time further to
+moralise; the numerous incidents of my life would otherwise swell this
+volume to too great an extent.
+
+Thus in freedom at Braunau, on the Bohemian frontiers, I sent the two
+horses, with the corporal's sword, back to General Fouquet, at Glatz.  The
+letter accompanying them was so pleasing to him that all the sentinels
+before my prison door, as well as the guard under arms, and all those we
+passed, were obliged to run the gauntlet, although the very day before he
+had himself declared my escape was now rendered impossible.  He, however,
+was deceived; and thus do the mean revenge themselves on the miserable,
+and the tyrant on the innocent.
+
+And now for the first time did I quit my country, and fly like Joseph
+from the pit into which his false brethren had cast him; and in this the
+present moment of joy for my escape, the loss even of friends and country
+appeared to me the excess of good fortune.
+
+The estates which had been purchased by the blood of my forefathers were
+confiscated; and thus was a youth, of one of the noblest families in the
+land, whose heart was all zeal for the service of his King and country,
+and who was among those most capable to render them service, banished by
+his unjust and misled King, and treated like the worst of miscreants,
+malefactors, and traitors.
+
+I wrote to the King, and sent him a true state of my case; sent
+indubitable proofs of my innocence, and supplicated justice, but received
+no answer.
+
+In this the monarch may be justified, at least in my apprehension.  A
+wicked man had maliciously and falsely accused me; Colonel Jaschinsky had
+made him suspect me for a traitor, and it was impossible he should read
+my heart.  The first act of injustice had been hastily committed; I had
+been condemned unheard, unjudged; and the injustice that had been done me
+was known too late; Frederic the Great found he was not infallible.
+Pardon I would not ask, for I had committed no offence; and the King
+would not probably own, by a reverse of conduct, he had been guilty of
+injustice.  My resolution increased his obstinacy: but, in the discussion
+of the cause, our power was very unequal.
+
+The monarch once really loved me; he meant my punishment should only be
+temporary, and as a trial of my fidelity.  That I had been condemned to
+no more than a year's imprisonment had never been told me, and was a fact
+I did not learn till long after.
+
+Major Doo, who, as I have said, was the creature of Fouquet, a mean and
+covetous man, knowing I had money, had always acted the part of a
+protector as he pretended to me, and continually told me I was condemned
+for life.  He perpetually turned the conversation on the great credit of
+his general with the King, and his own great credit with the general.  For
+the present of a horse, on which I rode to Glatz, he gave me freedom of
+walking about the fortress; and for another, worth a hundred ducats, I
+rescued Ensign Reitz from death, who had been betrayed when endeavouring
+to effect our escape.  I have been assured that on that very day on which
+I snatched his sword from his side, desperately passed through the
+garrison, and leaped the walls of the rampart, he was expressly come to
+tell me, after some prefatory threats, that by his general's
+intercession, my punishment was only to be a year's imprisonment, and
+that consequently I should be released in a few days.
+
+How vile were means like these to wrest money from the unfortunate!  The
+King, after this my mad flight, certainly was never informed of the
+major's base cunning; he could only be told that, rather than wait a few
+days, I had chosen, in this desperate manner, to make my escape, and go
+over to the enemy.
+
+Thus deceived and strengthened in his suspicion, must he not imagine my
+desire to forsake my country, and desert to the enemy, was unbounded?  How
+could he do otherwise than imprison a subject who thus endeavoured to
+injure him and aid his foes?  Thus, by the calumnies of wicked men, did
+my cruel destiny daily become more severe; and at length render the
+deceived monarch irreconcilable and cruel.
+
+Yet how could it be supposed that I would not willingly have remained
+three weeks longer in prison, to have been honourably restored to
+liberty, to have prevented the confiscation of my estate, and to have
+once more returned to my beloved mistress at Berlin.
+
+And now was I in Bohemia, a fugitive stranger without money, protector,
+or friend, and only twenty years of age.
+
+In the campaign of 1744 I had been quartered at Braunau with a weaver,
+whom I advised and assisted to bury his effects, and preserve them from
+being plundered.  The worthy man received us with joy and gratitude.  I
+had lived in this same house but two years before as absolute master of
+him and his fate.  I had then nine horses and five servants, with the
+highest and most favourable hopes of futurity; but now I came a fugitive,
+seeking protection, and having lost all a youth like me had to lose.
+
+I had but a single louis-d'or in my purse, and Schell forty kreutzers, or
+some three shillings; with this small sum, in a strange country, we had
+to cure his sprain, and provide for all our wants.
+
+I was determined not to go to my cousin Trenck at Vienna, fearful this
+should seem a justification of all my imputed treasons; I rather wished
+to embark for the East Indies, than to have recourse to this expedient.
+The greater my delicacy was the greater became my distress.  I wrote to
+my mistress at Berlin, but received no answer; possibly because I could
+not indicate any certain mode of conveyance.  My mother believed me
+guilty, and abandoned me; my brothers were still minors, and my friend at
+Schweidnitz could not aid me, being gone to Konigsberg.
+
+After three weeks' abode at Braunau, my friend recovered of his lameness.
+We had been obliged to sell my watch, with his scarf and gorget, to
+supply our necessities, and had only four florins remaining.
+
+From the public papers I learned my cousin, the Austrian Trenck, was at
+this time closely confined, and under criminal prosecution.  It will
+easily be imagined what effect this news had upon me.
+
+Never till now had I felt any inconvenience from poverty; my wants had
+all been amply supplied, and I had ever lived among, and been highly
+loved and esteemed by, the first people of the land.  I was destitute,
+without aid, and undetermined how to seek employment, or obtain fame.
+
+At length I determined to travel on foot to Prussia to my mother, and
+obtain money from her, and afterwards enter into the Russian service.
+Schell, whose destiny was linked to mine, would not forsake me.  We
+assumed false names: I called myself Knert, and Schell, Lesch; then,
+obtaining passports, like common deserters, we left Braunau on the 21st
+of January, in the evening, unseen of any person, and proceeded towards
+Bielitz in Poland.  A friend I had at Neurode gave me a pair of pocket
+pistols, a musket, and three ducats; the money was spent at Braunau.  Here
+let me take occasion to remark I had lent this friend, in urgent
+necessity, a hundred ducats, which he still owed me; and when I sent to
+request payment, he returned me three, as if I had asked charity.
+
+Though a circumstantial description of our travels alone would fill a
+volume, I shall only relate the most singular accidents which happened to
+us; I shall also insert the journal of our route, which Schell had
+preserved, and gave me in 1776, when he came to see me at
+Aix-la-Chapelle, after an absence of thirty years.
+
+This may be called the first scene in which I appeared as an adventurer,
+and perhaps my good fortune may even have overbalanced the bad, since I
+have escaped death full thirty times when the chances were a hundred to
+one against me; certain it is I undertook many things in which I seemed
+to have owed my preservation to the very rashness of the action, and in
+which others equally brave would have found death.
+
+
+
+JOURNAL OF TRAVELS ON FOOT.
+
+
+From Braunau, in Bohemia, through Bielitz, in Poland, to Meseritsch, and
+from Meseritsch, by Thorn, to Ebling; in the whole 169 miles, {3}
+performed without begging or stealing.
+
+January 18th, 1747.--From Braunau, by Politz, to Nachod, three miles, we
+having three florins forty-five kreutzers in our purse.
+
+Jan. 19.--To Neustadt.  Here Schell bartered his uniform for an old coat,
+and a Jew gave him two florins fifteen kreutzers in exchange; from hence
+we went to Reichenau; in all, three miles.
+
+Jan. 20.--We went to Leitomischl, five miles.  Here I bought a loaf hot
+out of the oven, which eating greedily, had nearly caused my death.  This
+obliged us to rest a day, and the extravagant charge of the landlord
+almost emptied our purse.
+
+Jan. 22.--From Trubau, to Zwittau, in Moravia, four miles.
+
+Jan. 23.--To Sternberg, six miles.  This day's journey excessively
+fatigued poor Schell, his sprained ankle being still extremely weak.
+
+Jan. 24.--To Leipnik, four miles, in a deep snow, and with empty
+stomachs.  Here I sold my stock-buckle for four florins.
+
+Jan. 25.--To Freiberg, by Weiskirch, to Drahotusch, five miles.  Early in
+the morning we found a violin and case on the road; the innkeeper in
+Weiskirch gave us two florins for it, on condition that he should return
+it to the owner on proving his right, it being worth at least twenty.
+
+Jan. 26.--To Friedek, in Upper Silesia, two miles.
+
+Jan. 27.--To a village, four miles and a half.
+
+Jan. 28.--Through Skotschau, to Bielitz, three miles.  This was the last
+Austrian town on the frontiers of Poland, and Captain Capi, of the
+regiment of Marischall, who commanded the garrison, demanded our
+passports.  We had false names, and called ourselves common Prussian
+deserters; but a drummer, who had deserted from Glatz, knew us, and
+betrayed us to the captain, who immediately arrested us very rudely, and
+sent us on foot to Teschin (refusing us a hearing), four miles distant.
+
+Here we found Lieut.-Colonel Baron Schwarzer, a perfectly worthy man, who
+was highly interested in our behalf, and who blamed the irregular
+arbitrary conduct of Captain Capi.  I frankly related my adventures, and
+he used every possible argument to persuade me, instead of continuing my
+journey through Poland to go to Vienna, but in vain; my good genius, this
+time, preserved me--would to God it ever had!  How many miseries had I
+then avoided, and how easily might I have escaped the snares spread for
+me by the powerful, who have seized on my property, and in order to
+secure it, have hitherto rendered me useless to the state by depriving me
+of all post or preferment.
+
+I returned, therefore, a second time to Beilitz, travelling these four
+miles once more.  Schwarzer lent us his own horse and four ducats, which
+I have since repaid, but which I shall never forget, as they were of
+signal service to me, and procured me a pair of new boots.
+
+Irritated against Captain Capi, we passed through Beilitz without
+stopping, went immediately to Biala, the first town in Poland, and from
+thence sent Capi a challenge to fight me, with sword or pistol, but
+received no answer; and his non-appearance has ever confirmed him in my
+opinion a rascal.
+
+And here suffer me to take a retrospective view of what was my then
+situation.  By the orders of Capi I was sent prisoner as a contemptible
+common deserter, and was unable to call him to account.  In Poland,
+indeed, I had that power, but was despised as a vagabond because of my
+poverty.  What, alas! are the advantages which the love of honour,
+science, courage, or desire of fame can bestow, wanting the means that
+should introduce us to, and bid us walk erect in the presence of our
+equals?  Youth depressed by poverty, is robbed of the society of those
+who best can afford example and instruction.  I had lived familiar with
+the great, men of genius had formed and enlightened me; I had been
+enumerated among the favourites of a court; and now was I a stranger,
+unknown, unesteemed, nay, condemned, obliged to endure the extremes of
+cold, hunger, and thirst; to wander many a weary mile, suffering both in
+body and mind, while every step led me farther from her whom most I
+loved, and dearest; yet had I no fixed plan, no certain knowledge in what
+these my labours and sufferings should end.
+
+I was too proud to discover myself; and, indeed, to whom could I discover
+myself in a strange land?  My name might have availed me in Austria, but
+in Austria, where this name was known, would I not remain; rather than
+seek my fortune there, I was determined to shun whatever might tend to
+render me suspicious in the eyes of my country.  How liable was a temper
+so ardent as mine, in the midst of difficulties, fatigues, and
+disappointments, hard to endure, to betray me into all those errors of
+which rash youth, unaccustomed to hardship, impatient of contrariety, are
+so often guilty!  But I had taken my resolution, and my faithful Schell,
+to whom hunger or ease, contempt or fame, for my sake, were become
+indifferent, did whatever I desired.
+
+Once more to my journal.
+
+Feb. 1.--We proceeded four miles from Biala to Oswintzen, I having
+determined to ask aid from my sister, who had married Waldow, and lived
+much at her case on a fine estate at Hanmer, in Brandenburg, between
+Lansberg, on the Warta and Meseritsch, a frontier town of Poland.  For
+this reason we continued our route all along the Silesian confines to
+Meseritsch.
+
+Feb. 2.--To Bobrek and Elkusch, five miles.  We suffered much this day
+because of the snow, and that the lightness of our dress was ill suited
+to such severe weather.  Schell, negligently, lost our purse, in which
+were nine florins.  I had still, however, nineteen grosch in my pocket
+(about half-a-crown).
+
+Feb. 3.--To Crumelew, three miles; and
+
+Feb. 4.--To Wladowiegud Joreck, three miles more; and from thence, on.
+
+Feb. 5.--To Czenstochowa, where there is a magnificent convent,
+concerning which, had I room, I might write many remarkable things, much
+to the disgrace of its inhabitants.
+
+We slept at an inn kept by a very worthy man, whose name was Lazar.  He
+had been a lieutenant in the Austrian service, where he had suffered
+much, and was now become a poor innkeeper in Poland.  We had not a penny
+in our purse, and requested a bit of bread.  The generous man had
+compassion on us, and desired us to sit down and eat with himself.  I
+then told him who we were, and trusted him with the motives of our
+journey.  Scarcely had we supped, before a carriage arrived with three
+people.  They had their own horses, a servant and a coachman.
+
+This is a remarkable incident, and I must relate it circumstantially,
+though as briefly as possible.
+
+We had before met this carriage at Elkusch, and one of these people had
+asked Schell where we were going; he had replied, to Czenstochowa; we
+therefore had not the least suspicion of them, notwithstanding the danger
+we ran.
+
+They lay at the inn, saluted us, but with indifference, not seeming to
+notice us, and spoke little.  We had not been long in bed, before our
+host came to awaken us, and told us with surprise, these pretended
+merchants were sent to arrest us from Prussia; that they had offered,
+first, fifty, afterwards, a hundred ducats, if he would permit them to
+take us in his house, and carry us into Silesia: that he had firmly
+rejected the proposal, though they had increased their promises: and that
+at last they had given him six ducats to engage his silence.
+
+We clearly saw these were an officer and under-officers sent by General
+Fouquet, to recover us.  We conjectured by what means they had discovered
+our route, and imagined the information they had received could only come
+from one Lieutenant Molinie, of the garrison of Habelschwert, who had
+come to visit Schell, as a friend, during our stay at Braunau.  He had
+remained with us two days, and had asked many questions concerning the
+road we should take, and he was the only one who knew it.  He was
+probably the spy of Fouquet, and the cause of what happened afterwards,
+which, however, ended in the defeat of our enemies.
+
+The moment I heard of this infamous treachery, I was for entering with my
+pistols primed, into the enemy's chamber, but was prevented by Schell and
+Lazar: the latter entreated me, in the strongest manner, to remain at his
+house till I should receive a supply from my mother, that I might be
+enabled to continue my journey with more ease and less danger: but his
+entreaties were ineffectual; I was determined to see her, uncertain as I
+was of what effect my letter had produced.  Lazar assured me, we should,
+most infallibly, be attacked on the road.  "So much the better," retorted
+I; "that will give me an opportunity of despatching them, sending them to
+the other world, and shooting them as I would highwayman."  They departed
+at break of day, and took the road to Warsaw.
+
+We would have been gone, likewise, but Lazar, in some sort, forcibly
+detained us, and gave us the six ducats he had received from the
+Prussians, with which we bought us each a shirt, another pair of pocket
+pistols, and other urgent necessaries; then took an affectionate leave of
+our host, who directed us on our way, and we testified our gratitude for
+the great services done us.
+
+Feb. 6.--From Czenstochowa to Dankow, two miles.  Here we expected an
+attack.  Lazar had told us our enemies had one musket: I also had a
+musket, and an excellent sabre, and each of us was provided with a pair
+of pistols.  They knew not we were so well armed, which perhaps was the
+cause of their panic, when they came to engage.
+
+Feb. 7.--We took the road to Parsemechi: we had not been an hour on the
+road, before we saw a carriage; as we drew near, we knew it to be that of
+our enemies, who pretended it was set in the snow.  They were round it,
+and when they saw us approach, began to call for help.  This, we guessed,
+was an artifice to entrap us.  Schell was not strong; they would all have
+fallen upon me, and we should easily have been carried off, for they
+wanted to take us alive.
+
+We left the causeway about thirty paces, answering--"we had not time to
+give them help;" at which they all ran to their carriage, drew out their
+pistols, and returning full speed after us, called, "Stop, rascals!"  We
+began to run, but I suddenly turning round, presented my piece, and shot
+the nearest dead on the spot.  Schell fired his pistols; our oppressors
+did the same, and Schell received a ball in the neck at this discharge.
+It was now my turn; I took out my pistols, one of the assailants fled,
+and I enraged, pursued him three hundred paces, overtook him, and as he
+was defending himself with his sword, perceiving he bled, and made a
+feeble resistance, pressed upon him, and gave him a stroke that brought
+him down.  I instantly returned to Schell, whom I found in the power of
+two others that were dragging him towards the carriage, but when they saw
+me at their heels, they fled over the fields.  The coachman, perceiving
+which way the battle went, leaped on his box, and drove off full speed.
+
+Schell, though delivered, was wounded with a ball in the neck, and by a
+cut in the right hand, which had made him drop his sword, though he
+affirmed he had run one of his adversaries through.
+
+I took a silver watch from the man I had killed, and was going to make
+free with his purse, when Schell called, and showed me a coach and six
+coming down a hill.  To stay would have exposed us to have been
+imprisoned as highwaymen; for the two fugitives who had escaped us would
+certainly have borne witness against us.  Safety could only be found in
+flight.  I, however, seized the musket and hat of him I had first killed,
+and we then gained the copse, and after that the forest.  The road was
+round about, and it was night before we reached Parsemechi.
+
+Schell was besmeared with blood; I had bound up his wound the best I
+could; but in Polish villages no surgeons are to be found: and he
+performed his journey with great difficulty.  We met with two Saxon under-
+officers here, who were recruiting for the regiment of guards at Dresden.
+My six feet height and person pleased them, and they immediately made
+themselves acquainted with me.  I found them intelligent, and entrusted
+them with our secret, told them who we were, related the battle we had
+that day had with our pursuers, and I had not reason to repent of my
+confidence in them.  Schell had his wounds dressed, and we remained seven
+days with these good Saxons, who faithfully kept us company.
+
+I learned, meantime, that of the four men by whom we had been assaulted,
+one only, and the coachman, returned to Glatz.  The name of the officer
+who undertook this vile business was Gersdorf; he had a hundred and fifty
+ducats in his pocket when found dead.  How great would our good fortune
+have been, had not that cursed coach and six, by its appearance, made us
+take to flight; since the booty would have been most just!  Fortune, this
+time, did not favour the innocent; and though treacherously attacked, I
+was obliged to escape like a guilty wretch.  We sold the watch to a Jew
+for four ducats, the hat for three florins and a half, and the musket for
+a ducat, Schell being unable to carry it farther.  We left most of this
+money behind us at Parsemechi.  A Jew surgeon sold us some dear
+plaisters, which we took with us and departed.
+
+Feb. 15.--From Parsemechi, through Vielum, to Biala, four miles.
+
+Feb. 16.--Through Jerischow to Misorcen, four miles and a half.
+
+Feb. 17.--To Osterkow and Schwarzwald, three miles.
+
+Feb. 18.--To Sdune, four miles.
+
+Feb. 19.--To Goblin two miles.
+
+Here we arrived wholly destitute of money.  I sold my coat to a Jew, who
+gave me four florins and a coarse waggoner's frock, in exchange, which I
+did not think I should long need, as we now drew nearer to where my
+sister lived, and where I hoped I should be better equipped.  Schell,
+however, grew weaker and weaker; his wounds healed slowly, and were
+expensive; the cold was also injurious to him, and, as he was not by
+nature cleanly in his person, his body soon became the harbour of every
+species of vermin to be picked up in Poland.  We often arrived wet and
+weary, to our smoky, reeking stove-room.  Often were we obliged to lie on
+straw, or bare boards; and the various hardships we suffered are almost
+incredible.  Wandering as we did, in the midst of winter, through Poland,
+where humanity, hospitality, and gentle pity, are scarcely so much as
+known by name; where merciless Jews deny the poor traveller a bed, and
+where we disconsolately strayed, without bread, and almost naked: these
+were sufferings, the full extent of which he only can conceive by whom
+they have been felt.  My musket now and then procured us an occasional
+meal of tame geese, and cocks and hens, when these were to be had;
+otherwise, we never took or touched anything that was not our own.  We
+met with Saxon and Prussian recruiters at various places; all of whom, on
+account of my youth and stature, were eager to inveigle me.  I was highly
+diverted to hear them enumerate all the possibilities of future
+greatness, and how liable I was hereafter to become a corporal: nor was I
+less merry with their mead, ale, and brandy, given with an intent to make
+me drunk.  Thus we had many artifices to guard against; but thus had we
+likewise, very luckily for us, many a good meal gratis.
+
+Feb. 21.--We went from Goblin to Pugnitz, three miles and a half.
+
+Feb. 22.--Through Storchnest to Schmiegel, four miles.
+
+Here happened a singular adventure.  The peasants at this place were
+dancing to a vile scraper on the violin: I took the instrument myself,
+and played while they continued their hilarity.  They were much pleased
+with my playing: but when I was tired, and desired to have done, they
+obliged me, first by importunities, and afterwards by threats, to play on
+all night.  I was so fatigued, I thought I should have fainted; at length
+they quarrelled among themselves.  Schell was sleeping on a bench, and
+some of them fell upon his wounded hand: he rose furious: I seized our
+arms, began to lay about me, and while all was in confusion, we escaped,
+without further ill-treatment.
+
+What ample subject of meditation on the various turns of fate did this
+night afford!  But two years before I danced at Berlin with the daughters
+and sisters of kings: and here was I, in a Polish hut, a ragged, almost
+naked musician, playing for the sport of ignorant rustics, whom I was at
+last obliged to fight.
+
+I was myself the cause of the trifling misfortune that befell me on this
+occasion.  Had not my vanity led me to show these poor peasants I was a
+musician, I might have slept in peace and safety.  The same vain desire
+of proving I knew more than other men, made me through life the continued
+victim of envy and slander.  Had nature, too, bestowed on me a weaker or
+a deformed body, I had been less observed, less courted, less sought, and
+my adventures and mishaps had been fewer.  Thus the merits of the man
+often become his miseries; and thus the bear, having learned to dance,
+must live and die in chains.
+
+This ardour, this vanity, or, if you please, this emulation, has,
+however, taught me to vanquish a thousand difficulties, under which
+others of cooler passions and more temperate desires would have sunk.  May
+my example remain a warning; and thus may my sufferings become somewhat
+profitable to the world, cruel as they have been to myself!  Cruel they
+were, and cruel they must continue; for the wounds I have received are
+not, will not, cannot be healed.
+
+Feb. 23.--From Schmiegel to Rakonitz, and from thence to Karger Holland,
+four miles and a half.  Here we sold, to prevent dying of hunger, a shirt
+and Schell's waistcoat for eighteen grosch, or nine schostacks.  I had
+shot a pullet the day before, which necessity obliged us to eat raw.  I
+also killed a crow, which I devoured alone, Schell refusing to taste.
+Youth and hard travelling created a voracious appetite, and our eighteen
+grosch were soon expended.
+
+Feb. 24.--We came through Benzen to Lettel, four miles.  Here we halted a
+day, to learn the road to Hammer, in Brandenburg, where my sister lived.
+I happened luckily to meet with the wife of a Prussian soldier who lived
+at Lettel, and belonged to Kolschen, where she was born a vassal of my
+sister's husband.  I told her who I was, and she became our guide.
+
+Feb. 26.--To Kurschen and Falkenwalde.
+
+Feb. 27.--Through Neuendorf and Oost, and afterwards through a pathless
+wood, five miles and a half to Hammer, and here I knocked at my sister's
+door at nine o'clock in the evening.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+A maidservant came to the door, whom I knew; her name was Mary, and she
+had been born and brought up in my father's house.  She was terrified at
+seeing a sturdy fellow in a beggar's dress; which perceiving, I asked,
+"Molly, do not you know me?"  She answered, "No;" and I then discovered
+myself to her.  I asked whether my brother-in-law was at home.  Mary
+replied, "Yes; but he is sick in bed."  "Tell my sister, then," said I,
+"that I am here."  She showed me into a room, and my sister presently
+came.
+
+She was alarmed at seeing me, not knowing that I had escaped from Glatz,
+and ran to inform her husband, but did not return.
+
+A quarter of an hour after the good Mary came weeping, and told us her
+master commanded us to quit the premises instantly, or he should be
+obliged to have us arrested, and delivered up as prisoners.  My sister's
+husband forcibly detained her, and I saw her no more.
+
+What my feelings must be, at such a moment, let the reader imagine.  I
+was too proud, too enraged, to ask money; I furiously left the house,
+uttering a thousand menaces against its inhabitants, while the
+kind-hearted Mary, still weeping, slipped three ducats into my hand,
+which I accepted.
+
+And, now behold us once more in the wood, which was not above a hundred
+paces from the house, half dead with hunger and fatigue, not daring to
+enter any habitation, while in the states of Brandenburg, and dragging
+our weary steps all night through snow and rain, until our guide at
+length brought us back, at daybreak, once again to the town of Lettel.
+
+She herself wept in pity at our fate, and I could only give her two
+ducats for the danger she had run; but I bade her hope more in future;
+and I afterwards sent for her to Vienna, in 1751, where I took great care
+of her.  She was about fifty years of age, and died my servant in
+Hungary, some weeks before my unfortunate journey to Dantzic, where I
+fell into my enemies' hands, and remained ten years a prisoner at
+Magdeburg.
+
+We had scarcely reached the wood, before, in the anguish of my heart, I
+exclaimed to Schell, "Does not such a sister, my friend, deserve I should
+fire her house over her head?"  The wisdom of moderation, and calm
+forbearance, was in Schell a virtue of the highest order; he was my
+continual mentor; my guide, whenever my choleric temperament was disposed
+to violence.  I therefore honour his ashes; he deserved a better fate.
+
+"Friend," said he, on this occasion, "reflect that your sister may be
+innocent, may be withheld by her husband; besides, should the King
+discover we had entered her doors, and she had not delivered us again
+into his power, she might become as miserable as we were.  Be more noble
+minded, and think that even should your sister be wrong, the time may
+come when her children may stand in need of your assistance, and you may
+have the indescribable pleasure of returning good for evil."
+
+I never shall forget this excellent advice, which in reality was a
+prophecy.  My rich brother-in-law died, and, during the Russian war, his
+lands and houses were laid desolate and in ruins; and, nineteen years
+afterwards, when released from my imprisonment at Magdeburg, I had an
+opportunity of serving the children of my sister.  Such are the turns of
+fate; and thus do improbabilities become facts.
+
+My sister justified her conduct; Schell had conjectured the truth; for
+ten years after I was thus expelled her house, she showed, during my
+imprisonment, she was really a sister.  She was shamefully betrayed by
+Weingarten, secretary to the Austrian ambassador at Berlin; lost a part
+of her property, and at length her life fell an innocent sacrifice to her
+brother.
+
+This event, which is interwoven with my tragical history, will be related
+hereafter: my heart bleeds, my very soul shudders, when I recollect this
+dreadful scene.
+
+I have not the means fully to recompense her children; and Weingarten,
+the just object of vengeance, is long since in the grave; for did he
+exist, the earth should not hide him from my sword.
+
+I shall now continue my journal: deceived in the aid I expected, I was
+obliged to change my plan, and go to my mother, who lived in Prussia,
+nine miles beyond Konigsberg.
+
+Feb. 28.--We continued, tired, anxious, and distressed, at Lettel.
+
+March 1.--We went three miles to Pleese, and on the 2nd, a mile and a
+half farther to Meseritz.
+
+March 3.--Through Wersebaum to Birnbaum, three miles.
+
+March 4.--Through Zircke, Wruneck, Obestchow, to Stubnitz, seven miles,
+in one day, three of which we had the good fortune to ride.
+
+March 5.--Three miles to Rogosen, where we arrived without so much as a
+heller to pay our lodgings.  The Jew innkeeper drove us out of his house;
+we were obliged to wander all night, and at break of day found we had
+strayed two miles out of the road.
+
+We entered a peasant's cottage, where an old woman was drawing bread hot
+out of the oven.  We had no money to offer, and I felt, at this moment,
+the possibility even of committing murder, for a morsel of bread, to
+satisfy the intolerable cravings of hunger.  Shuddering, with torment
+inexpressible, at the thought, I hastened out of the door, and we walked
+on two miles more to Wongrofze.
+
+Here I sold my musket for a ducat, which had procured us many a meal:
+such was the extremity of our distress.  We then satiated our appetites,
+after having been forty hours without food or sleep, and having travelled
+ten miles in sleet and snow.
+
+March 6.--We rested, and came, on the 7th, through Genin, to a village in
+the forest, four miles.
+
+Here we fell in with a gang of gipsies (or rather banditti) amounting to
+four hundred men, who dragged me to their camp.  They were mostly French
+and Prussian deserters, and thinking me their equal, would force me to
+become one of their hand.  But, venturing to tell my story to their
+leader, he presented me with a crown, gave us a small provision of bread
+and meat, and suffered us to depart in peace, after having been four and
+twenty hours in their company.
+
+March 9.--We proceeded to Lapuschin, three miles and a half; and the 10th
+to Thorn, four miles.
+
+A new incident here happened, which showed I was destined, by fortune, to
+a variety of adventures, and continually to struggle with new
+difficulties.
+
+There was a fair held at Thorn on the day of our arrival.  Suspicions
+might well arise, among the crowd, on seeing a strong tall young man,
+wretchedly clothed, with a large sabre by his side, and a pair of pistols
+in his girdle, accompanied by another as poorly apparelled as himself,
+with his hand and neck bound up, and armed likewise with pistols, so that
+altogether he more resembled a spectre than a man.
+
+We went to an inn, but were refused entertainment: I then asked for the
+Jesuits' college, where I inquired for the father rector.  They supposed
+at first I was a thief, come to seek an asylum.  After long waiting and
+much entreaty his jesuitical highness at length made his appearance, and
+received me as the Grand Mogul would his slave.  My case certainly was
+pitiable: I related all the events of my life, and the purport of my
+journey; conjured him to save Schell, who was unable to proceed further,
+and whose wounds grew daily worse; and prayed him to entertain him at the
+convent till I should have been to my mother, have obtained money, and
+returned to Thorn, when I would certainly repay him whatever expense he
+might have been at, with thanks and gratitude.
+
+Never shall I forget the haughty insolence of this priest.  Scarcely
+would he listen to my humble request; thou'd and interrupted me
+continually, to tell me, "Be brief, I have more pressing affairs than
+thine."  In fine, I was turned away without obtaining the least aid; and
+here I was first taught jesuitical pride; God help the poor and honest
+man who shall need the assistance of Jesuits!  They, like all other
+monks, are seared to every sentiment of human pity, and commiserate the
+distressed by taunts and irony.
+
+Four times in my life I have sought assistance and advice from convents,
+and am convinced it is the duty of every honest man to aid in erasing
+them from the face of the earth.
+
+They succour rascals and murderers, that their power may be idolised by
+the ignorant, and ostentatiously exert itself to impede the course of law
+and justice; but in vain do the poor and needy virtuous apply to them for
+help.
+
+The reader will pardon my native hatred of hypocrisy and falsehood,
+especially when he hears I have to thank the Jesuits for the loss of all
+my great Hungarian estates.  Father Kampmuller, the bosom friend of the
+Count Grashalkowitz, was confessor to the court of Vienna, and there was
+no possible kind of persecution I did not suffer from priestcraft.  Far
+from being useful members of society, they take advantage of the
+prejudices of superstition, exist for themselves alone, and sacrifice
+every duty to the support of their own hierarchy, and found a power, on
+error and ignorance, which is destructive of all moral virtue.
+
+Let us proceed.  Mournful and angry, I left the college, and went to my
+lodging-house, where I found a Prussian recruiting-officer waiting for
+me, who used all his arts to engage me to enlist; offering me five
+hundred dollars, and to make me a corporal, if I could write.  I
+pretended I was a Livonian, who had deserted from the Austrians, to
+return home, and claim an inheritance left me by my father.  After much
+persuasion, he at length told me in confidence, it was very well known in
+the town that I was a robber; that I should soon be taken before a
+magistrate, but that if I would enlist he would ensure my safety.
+
+This language was new to me; my passion rose instantaneously; I
+remembered my name was Trenck, I struck him, and drew my sword; but,
+instead of defending himself, he sprang out of the chamber, charging the
+host not to let me quit the house.  I knew the town of Thorn had agreed
+with the King of Prussia, secretly, to deliver up deserters, and began to
+fear the consequences.  Looking through the window, I presently saw two
+under Prussian officers enter the house.  Schell and I instantly flew to
+our arms, and met the Prussians at the chamber door.  "Make way," cried
+I, presenting my pistols.  The Prussian soldiers drew their swords, but
+retired with fear.  Going out of the house, I saw a Prussian lieutenant,
+in the street, with the town-guard.  These I overawed, likewise, by the
+same means, and no one durst oppose me, though every one cried, "Stop
+thief!"  I came safely, however, to the Jesuits' convent; but poor Schell
+was taken, and dragged to prison like a malefactor.
+
+Half mad at not being able to rescue him, I imagined he must soon be
+delivered up to the Prussians.  My reception was much better at the
+convent than it had been before, for they no longer doubted but I was
+really a thief, who sought an asylum.  I addressed myself to one of the
+fathers, who appeared to be a good kind of a man, relating briefly what
+had happened, and entreated he would endeavour to discover why they
+sought to molest us.
+
+He went out, and returning in an hour after, told me, "Nobody knows you:
+a considerable theft was yesterday committed at the fair: all suspicious
+persons are seized; you entered the town accoutred like banditti.  The
+man where you put up is employed as a Prussian enlister, and has
+announced you as suspicious people.  The Prussian lieutenant therefore
+laid complaint against you, and it was thought necessary to secure your
+persons."
+
+My joy, at hearing this, was great.  Our Moravian passport, and the
+journal of our route, which I had in my pocket, were full proofs of our
+innocence.  I requested they would send and inquire at the town where we
+lay the night before.  I soon convinced the Jesuit I spoke truth; he
+went, and presently returned with one of the syndics, to whom I gave a
+more full account of myself.  The syndic examined Schell, and found his
+story and mine agreed; besides which, our papers that they had seized,
+declared who we were.  I passed the night in the convent without closing
+my eyes, revolving in my mind all the rigours of my fate.  I was still
+more disturbed for Schell, who knew not where I was, but remained firmly
+persuaded we should be conducted to Berlin; and, if so, determined to put
+a period to his life.
+
+My doubts were all ended at ten in the morning when my good Jesuit
+arrived, and was followed by my friend Schell.  The judges, he said, had
+found us innocent, and declared us free to go where we pleased; adding,
+however, that he advised us to be upon our guard, we being watched by the
+Prussian enlisters; that the lieutenant had hoped, by having us committed
+as thieves, to oblige me to enter, and that he would account for all that
+had happened.
+
+I gave Schell a most affectionate welcome, who had been very ill-used
+when led to prison, because he endeavoured to defend himself with his
+left hand, and follow me.  The people had thrown mud at him, and called
+him a rascal that would soon be hanged.  Schell was little able to travel
+farther.  The father-rector sent us a ducat, but did not see us; and the
+chief magistrate gave each of us a crown, by way of indemnification for
+false imprisonment.  Thus sent away, we returned to our lodging, took our
+bundles, and immediately prepared to leave Thorn.
+
+As we went, I reflected that, on the road to Elbing, we must pass through
+several Prussian villages, and inquired for a shop where we might
+purchase a map.  We were directed to an old woman who sat at the door
+across the way, and were told she had a good assortment, for that her son
+was a scholar.  I addressed myself to her, and my question pleased her, I
+having added we were unfortunate travellers, who wished to find, by the
+map, the road to Russia.  She showed us into a chamber, laid an atlas on
+the table, and placed herself opposite me, while I examined the map, and
+endeavoured to hide a bit of a ragged ruffle that had made its
+appearance.  After steadfastly looking at me, she at length exclaimed,
+with a sad and mournful tone--"Good God! who knows what is now become of
+my poor son!  I can see, sir, you too are of a good family.  My son would
+go and seek his fortune, and for these eight years have I had no tidings
+of him.  He must now be in the Austrian cavalry."  I asked in what
+regiment.  "The regiment of Hohenhem; you are his very picture."  "Is he
+not of my height?"  "Yes, nearly."  "Has he not light hair?"  "Yes, like
+yours, sir."  "What is his name?"  "His name is William."  "No, my dear
+mother," cried I, "William is not dead; he was my best friend when I was
+with the regiment."  Here the poor woman could not contain her joy.  She
+threw herself round my neck, called me her good angel who brought her
+happy tidings: asked me a thousand questions which I easily contrived to
+make her answer herself, and thus, forced by imperious necessity, bereft
+of all other means, did I act the deceiver.
+
+The story I made was nearly as follows:--I told her I was a soldier in
+the regiment of Hohenhem, that I had a furlough to go and see my father,
+and that I should return in a month, would then take her letters, and
+undertake that, if she wished it, her son should purchase his discharge,
+and once more come and live with his mother.  I added that I should be
+for ever and infinitely obliged to her, if she would suffer my comrade,
+meantime, to live at her house, he being wounded by the Prussian
+recruiters, and unable to pursue his journey; that I would send him money
+to come to me, or would myself come back and fetch him, thankfully paying
+every expense.  She joyfully consented, told me her second husband,
+father-in-law to her dear William, had driven him from home, that he
+might give what substance they had to the younger son; and that the
+eldest had gone to Magdeburg.  She determined Schell should live at the
+house of a friend, that her husband might know nothing of the matter;
+and, not satisfied with this kindness, she made me eat with her, gave me
+a new shirt, stockings, sufficient provisions for three days, and six
+Lunenburg florins.  I left Thorn, and my faithful Schell, the same night,
+with the consolation that he was well taken care of; and having parted
+from him with regret, went on the 13th two miles further to Burglow.
+
+I cannot describe what my sensations were, or the despondence of my mind,
+when I thus saw myself wandering alone, and leaving, forsaking, as it
+were, the dearest of friends.  These may certainly be numbered among the
+bitterest moments of my life.  Often was I ready to return, and drag him
+along with me, though at last reason conquered sensibility.  I drew near
+the end of my journey, and was impelled forward by hope.
+
+March 14.--I went to Schwetz, and
+
+March 15.--To Neuburg and Mowe.  In these two days I travelled thirteen
+miles.  I lay at Mowe, on some straw, among a number of carters, and,
+when I awoke, perceived they had taken my pistols, and what little money
+I had left, even to my last penny.  The gentlemen, however, were all
+gone.
+
+What could I do?  The innkeeper perhaps was privy to the theft.  My
+reckoning amounted to eighteen Polish grosch.  The surly landlord
+pretended to believe I had no money when I entered his house, and I was
+obliged to give him the only spare shirt I had, with a silk handkerchief,
+which the good woman of Thorn had made me a present of, and to depart
+without a single holler.
+
+March 16.--I set off for Marienburg, but it was impossible I should reach
+this place, and not fall into the hands of the Prussians, if I did not
+cross the Vistula, and, unfortunately, I had no money to pay the ferry,
+which would cost two Polish schellings.
+
+Full of anxiety, not knowing how to act, I saw two fishermen in a boat,
+went to them, drew my sabre, and obliged them to land me on the other
+side; when there, I took the oars from these timid people, jumped out of
+the boat, pushed it off the shore, and left it to drive with the stream.
+
+To what dangers does not poverty expose man!  These two Polish schellings
+were not worth more than half a kreutzer, or some halfpenny, yet was I
+driven by necessity to commit violence on two poor men, who, had they
+been as desperate in their defence as I was obliged to be in my attack,
+blood must have been spilled and lives lost; hence it is evident that the
+degrees of guilt ought to be strictly and minutely inquired into, and the
+degree of punishment proportioned.  Had I hewn them down with my sabre, I
+should surely have been a murderer; but I should likewise surely have
+been one of the most innocent of murderers.  Thus we see the value of
+money is not to be estimated by any specific sum, small or great, but
+according to its necessity and use.  How little did I imagine when at
+Berlin, and money was treated by me with luxurious neglect, I may say,
+with contempt, I should be driven to the hard necessity, for a sum so
+apparently despicable, of committing a violence which might have had
+consequences so dreadful, and have led to the commission of an act so
+atrocious!
+
+I found Saxon and Prussian recruiters at Marion-burgh, with whom, having
+no money, I ate, drank, listened to their proposals, gave them hopes for
+the morrow, and departed by daybreak.
+
+March 17.--To Elbing, four miles.
+
+Here I met with my former worthy tutor, Brodowsky, who was become a
+captain and auditor in the Polish regiment of Golz.  He met me just as I
+entered the town.  I followed triumphantly to his quarters; and here at
+length ended the painful, long, and adventurous journey I had been
+obliged to perform.
+
+This good and kind gentleman, after providing me with immediate
+necessaries, wrote so affectionately to my mother, that she came to
+Elbing in a week, and gave me every aid of which I stood in need.
+
+The pleasure I had in meeting once more this tender mother, whose
+qualities of heart and mind were equally excellent, was inexpressible.
+She found a certain mode of conveying a letter to my dear mistress at
+Berlin, who a short time after sent me a bill of exchange for four
+hundred ducats upon Dantzic.  To this my mother added a thousand
+rix-dollars, and a diamond cross worth nearly half as much, remained a
+fortnight with me, and persisted, in spite of all remonstrance, in
+advising me to go to Vienna.  My determination had been fixed for
+Petersburg; all my fears and apprehensions being awakened at the thought
+of Vienna, and which indeed afterwards became the source of all my cruel
+sufferings and sorrows.  She would not yield in opinion, and promised her
+future assistance only in case of my obedience; it was my duty not to
+continue obstinate.  Here she left me, and I have never seen her since.
+She died in 1751, and I have ever held her memory in veneration.  It was
+a happiness for this affectionate mother that she did not hive to be a
+witness of my afflictions in the year 1754.
+
+An adventure, resembling that of Joseph in Egypt, happened to me in
+Elbing.  The wife of the worthy Brodowsky, a woman of infinite personal
+attraction, grew partial to me; but I durst not act ungratefully by my
+benefactor.  Never to see me more was too painful to her, and she even
+proposed to follow me, secretly, to Vienna.  I felt the danger of my
+situation, and doubted whether Potiphar's wife offered temptations so
+strong as Madame Brodowsky.  I owned I had an affection for this lady,
+but my passions were overawed.  She preferred me to her husband, who was
+in years, and very ordinary in person.  Had I yielded to the slightest
+degree of guilt, that of the present enjoyment, a few days of pleasure
+must have been followed by years of bitter repentance.
+
+Having once more assumed my proper name and character, and made presents
+of acknowledgment to the worthy tutor of my youth, I became eager to
+return to Thorn.
+
+How great was my joy at again meeting my honest Schell!  The kind old
+woman had treated him like a mother.  She was surprised, and half
+terrified, at seeing me enter in an officer's uniform, and accompanied by
+two servants.  I gratefully and rapturously kissed her hand, repaid, with
+thankfulness, every expense (for Schell had been nurtured with truly
+maternal kindness), told her who I was, acknowledged the deceit I had put
+upon her concerning her son, but faithfully promised to give a true, and
+not fictitious account of him, immediately on my arrival at Vienna.
+Schell was ready in three days, and we left Thorn, came to Warsaw, and
+passed thence, through Crakow, to Vienna.
+
+I inquired for Captain Capi, at Bilitz, who had before given me so kind a
+reception, and refused me satisfaction; but he was gone, and I did not
+meet with him till some years after, when the cunning Italian made me the
+most humble apologies for his conduct.  So goes the world.
+
+My journey from Dantzic to Vienna would not furnish me with an
+interesting page, though my travels on foot thither would have afforded
+thrice as much as I have written, had I not been fearful of trifling with
+the reader's patience.
+
+In poverty one misfortune follows another.  The foot-passenger sees the
+world, becomes acquainted with it, converses with men of every class.  The
+lord luxuriously lolls and slumbers in his carriage, while his servants
+pay innkeepers and postillions, and passes rapidly over a kingdom, in
+which he sees some dozen houses, called inns; and this he calls
+travelling.  I met with more adventures in this my journey of 169 miles,
+than afterwards in almost as many thousand, when travelling at ease, in a
+carriage.
+
+Here, then, ends my journal, in which, from the hardships therein
+related, and numerous others omitted, I seem a kind of second Robinson
+Crusoe, and to have been prepared, by a gradual increase and repetition
+of sufferings, to endure the load of affliction which I was afterwards
+destined to bear.
+
+Arrived at Vienna in the month of April, 1747.
+
+And now another act of the tragedy is going to begin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+After having defrayed the expenses of travelling for me and my friend
+Schell, for whose remarkable history I will endeavour to find a few pages
+in due course, I divided the three hundred ducats which remained with
+him, and, having stayed a month at Vienna, he went to join the regiment
+of Pallavicini, in which he had obtained a lieutenant-colonel's
+commission, and which was then in Italy.
+
+Here I found my cousin, Baron Francis Trenck, the famous partisan and
+colonel of pandours, imprisoned at the arsenal, and involved in a most
+perplexing prosecution.
+
+This Trenck was my father's brother's son.  His father had been a colonel
+and governor of Leitschau, and had possessed considerable lordships in
+Sclavonia, those of Pleternitz, Prestowacz, and Pakratz.  After the siege
+of Vienna, in 1683, he had left the Prussian service for that of Austria,
+in which he remained sixty years.
+
+That I may not here interrupt my story, I shall give some account of the
+life of my cousin Baron Francis Trenck, so renowned in the war of 1741,
+in another part, and who fell, at last, the shameful sacrifice of envy
+and avarice, and received the reward of all his great and faithful
+services in the prison of the Spielberg.
+
+The vindication of the family of the Trencks requires I should speak of
+him; nor will I, in this, suffer restraint from the fear of any man,
+however powerful.  Those indeed who sacrificed a man most ardent in his
+country's service to their own private and selfish views, are now in
+their graves.
+
+I shall insert no more of his history here than what is interwoven with
+my own, and relate the rest in its proper place.
+
+A revision of his suit was at this time instituted.  Scarcely was I
+arrived in Vienna before his confidential agent, M. Leber, presented me
+to Prince Charles and the Emperor; both knew the services of Trenck, and
+the malice of his enemies; therefore, permission for me to visit him in
+his prison, and procure him such assistance as he might need, was readily
+granted.  On my second audience, the Emperor spoke so much in my
+persecuted cousin's favour that I became highly interested; he commanded
+me to have recourse to him on all occasions; and, moreover, owned the
+president of the council of war was a man of a very wicked character, and
+a declared enemy of Trenck.  This president was the Count of Lowenwalde,
+who, with his associates, had been purposely selected as men proper to
+oppress the best of subjects.
+
+The suit soon took another face; the good Empress Queen, who had been
+deceived, was soon better informed, and Trenck's innocence appeared, on
+the revision of the process most evidently.  The trial, which had cost
+them twenty-seven thousand florins, and the sentence which followed, were
+proved to have been partial and unjust; and that sixteen of Trenck's
+officers, who most of them had been broken for different offences, had
+perjured themselves to insure his destruction.
+
+It is a most remarkable circumstance that public notice was given, in the
+_Vienna Gazette_, to the following purport.
+
+"All those who have any complaints to make against Trenck, let them
+appear, and they shall receive a ducat per day, so long as the
+prosecution continues."
+
+It will readily be imagined how fast his accusers would increase, and
+what kind of people they were.  The pay of these witnesses alone amounted
+to fifteen thousand florins.  I now began the labour in concurrence with
+Doctor Gerhauer, and the cause soon took another turn; but such was the
+state of things, it would have been necessary to have broken all the
+members of the council of war, as well as counsellor Weber, a man of
+great power.  Thus, unfortunately, politics began to interfere with the
+course of justice.
+
+The Empress Queen gave Trenck to understand she required he should ask
+her pardon; and on that condition all proceedings should be stopped, and
+he immediately set at liberty.  Prince Charles, who knew the court of
+Vienna, advised me also to persuade my cousin to comply; but nothing
+could shake his resolution.  Feeling his right and innocence, he demanded
+strict justice; and this made ruin more swift.
+
+I soon learned Trenck must fall a sacrifice--he was rich--his enemies
+already had divided among them more than eighty thousand florins of his
+property, which was all sequestered, and in their hands.  They had
+treated him too cruelly, and knew him too well, not to dread his
+vengeance the moment he should recover his freedom.
+
+I was moved to the soul at his sufferings, and as he had vented public
+threats, at the prospect of approaching victory over his enemies, they
+gained over the Court Confessor: and, dreading him as they did, put every
+wily art in practice to insure his destruction.  I therefore, in the
+fulness of my heart, made him the brotherly proposition of escaping, and,
+having obtained his liberty, to prove his innocence to the Empress Queen.
+I told him my plan, which might easily have been put in execution, and
+which he seemed perfectly decided to follow.
+
+Some days after, I was ordered to wait on field-marshal Count Konigseck,
+governor of Vienna.  This respectable old gentleman, whose memory I shall
+ever revere, behaved to me like a father and the friend of humanity,
+advised me to abandon my cousin, who he gave me clearly to understand had
+betrayed me by having revealed my proposed plan of escape, willing to
+sacrifice me to his ambition in order to justify the purity of his
+intentions to the court, and show that, instead of wishing to escape, he
+only desired justice.
+
+Confounded at the cowardly action of one for whom I would willingly have
+sacrificed my life, and whom I only sought to deliver, I resolved to
+leave him to his fate, and thought myself exceedingly happy that the
+worthy field-marshal would, after a fatherly admonition, smother all
+farther inquiry into this affair.
+
+I related this black trait of ingratitude to Prince Charles of Lorraine,
+who prevailed on me to again see my cousin, without letting him know I
+knew what had passed, and still to render him every service in my power.
+
+Before I proceed I will here give the reader a per-'trait of this Trenck.
+
+He was a man of superior talents and unbounded ambition; devoted, even
+fanatically, to his sovereign; his boldness approached temerity; he was
+artful of mind, wicked of heart, vindictive and unfeeling.  His cupidity
+equalled the utmost excess of avarice, even in his thirty-third year, in
+which he died.  He was too proud to receive favours or obligations from
+any man, and was capable of ridding himself of his best friend if he
+thought he had any claims on his gratitude or could get possession of his
+fortune.
+
+He knew I had rendered him very important services, supposed his cause
+already won, having bribed the judges, who were to revise the sentence,
+with thirty thousand florins, which money I received from his friend
+Baron Lopresti, and conveyed to these honest counsellors.  I knew all his
+secrets, and nothing more was necessary to prompt his suspicious and bad
+heart to seek my destruction.
+
+Scarcely had a fortnight elapsed, after his having first betrayed me,
+before the following remarkable event happened.
+
+I left him one evening to return home, taking under my coat a bag with
+papers and documents relating to the prosecution, which I had been
+examining for him, and transcribing.  There were at this time about five-
+and-twenty officers in Vienna who had laid complaints against him, and
+who considered me as their greatest enemy because I had laboured
+earnestly in his defence.  I was therefore obliged, on all occasions, to
+be upon my guard.  A report had been propagated through Vienna that I was
+secretly sent by the King of Prussia to free my cousin from imprisonment;
+he, however, constantly denied, to the hour of his death, his ever having
+written to me at Berlin; hence also it will follow the letter I received
+had been forged by Jaschinsky.
+
+Leaving the Arsenal, I crossed the court, and perceived I was closely
+followed by two men in grey roquelaures, who, pressing upon my heels,
+held loud and insolent conversation concerning the runaway Prussian
+Trenck.  I found they sought a quarrel, which was a thing of no great
+difficulty at that moment, for a man is never more disposed to duelling
+than when he has nothing to lose, and is discontented with his condition.
+I supposed they were two of the accusing officers broken by Trenck, and
+endeavoured to avoid them, and gain the Jew's place.
+
+Scarcely had I turned down the street that leads thither before they
+quickened their pace.  I turned round, and in a moment received a thrust
+with a sword in the left side, where I had put my bag of papers, which
+accident alone saved my life; the sword pierced through the papers and
+slightly grazed the skin.  I instantly drew, and the heroes ran.  I
+pursued, one of them tripped and fell.  I seized him; the guard came up:
+he declared he was an officer of the regiment of Kollowrat, showed his
+uniform, was released, and I was taken to prison.  The Town Major came
+the next day, and told me I had intentionally sought a quarrel with two
+officers, Lieutenants F---g and K---n.  These kind gentlemen did not
+reveal their humane intention of sending me to the other world.
+
+I was alone, could produce no witness, they were two.  I must necessarily
+be in the wrong, and I remained six days in prison.  No sooner was I
+released, than these my good friends sent to demand satisfaction for the
+said pretended insult.  The proposal was accepted, and I promised to be
+at the Scotch gate, the place appointed by them, within an hour.  Having
+heard their names, I presently knew them to be two famous swaggerers, who
+were daily exercising themselves in fencing at the Arsenal, and where
+they often visited Trenck.  I went to my cousin to ask his assistance,
+related what had happened, and, as the consequences of this duel might be
+very serious, desired him to give me a hundred ducats, that I might be
+able to fly if either of them should fall.
+
+Hitherto I had expended my own money on his account, and had asked no
+reimbursement; but what was my astonishment when this wicked man said to
+me, with a sneer, "Since, good cousin, you have got into a quarrel
+without consulting me, you will also get out of it without my aid!"  As I
+left him, he called me back to tell me, "I will take care and pay your
+undertaker;" for he certainly believed I should never return alive.
+
+I ran now, half-despairing, to Baron Lopresti, who gave me fifty ducats
+and a pair of pistols, provided with which I cheerfully repaired to the
+field of battle.
+
+Here I found half a dozen officers of the garrison.  As I had few
+acquaintances in Vienna, I had no second, except an old Spanish invalid
+captain, named Pereyra, who met me going in all haste, and, having
+learned whither, would not leave me.
+
+Lieutenant K---n was the first with whom I fought, and who received
+satisfaction by a deep wound in the right arm.  Hereupon I desired the
+spectators to prevent farther mischief; for my own part I had nothing
+more to demand.  Lieutenant F---g next entered the lists, with threats,
+which were soon quieted by a lunge in the belly.  Hereupon Lieutenant M-
+f, second to the first wounded man, told me very angrily--"Had I been
+your man, you would have found a very different reception."  My old
+Spaniard of eighty proudly and immediately advanced, with his long
+whiskers and tottering frame, and cried--"Hold!  Trenck has proved
+himself a brave fellow, and if any man thinks proper to assault him
+further, he must first take a breathing with me."  Everybody laughed at
+this bravado from a man who scarcely could stand or hold a sword.  I
+replied--"Friend, I am safe, unhurt, and want not aid; should I be
+disabled, you then, if you think proper, may take my place; but, as long
+as I can hold a sword, I shall take pleasure in satisfying all these
+gentlemen one after another."  I would have rested myself a moment, but
+the haughty M-f, enraged at the defeat of his friend, would not give me
+time, but furiously attacked me, and, having been wounded twice, once in
+the hand and again in the groin, he wanted to close and sink me to the
+grave with himself, but I disarmed and threw him.
+
+None of the others had any desire to renew the contest.  My three enemies
+were sent bleeding to town; and, as M---f appeared to be mortally
+wounded, and the Jesuits and Capuchins of Vienna refused me an asylum, I
+fled to the convent of Keltenberg.
+
+I wrote from the convent to Colonel Baron Lopresti, who came to me.  I
+told him all that had passed, and by his good offices had liberty, in a
+week, to appear once more at Vienna.
+
+The blood of Lieutenant F---g was in a corrupt state, and his wound,
+though not in itself dangerous, made his life doubtful.  He sent to
+entreat I would visit him, and, when I went, having first requested I
+would pardon him, gave me to understand I ought to beware of my cousin.  I
+afterwards learned the traitorous Trenck had promised Lieutenant F---g a
+company and a thousand ducats if he would find means to quarrel with me
+and rid the world of me.  He was deeply in debt, and sought the
+assistance of Lieutenant K-n; and had not the papers luckily preserved
+me, I had undoubtedly been despatched by his first lunge.  To clear
+themselves of the infamy of such an act, these two worthy gentlemen had
+pretended I had assaulted them in the streets.
+
+I could no more resolve to see my ungrateful and dangerous kinsman, who
+wished to have me murdered because I knew all his secrets, and thought he
+should be able to gain his cause without obligation to me or my
+assistance.  Notwithstanding all his great qualities, his marked
+characteristic certainly was that of sacrificing everything to his
+private views, and especially to his covetousness, which was so great
+that, even at his time of life, though his fortune amounted to a million
+and a half, he did not spend per day more than thirty kreutzers.
+
+No sooner was it known that I had forsaken Trenck than General Count
+Lowenwalde, his most ardent enemy, and president of the first council of
+war, by which he had been condemned, desired to speak to me, promised
+every sort of good fortune and protection, if I would discover what means
+had secretly been employed in the revision of the process; and went so
+far as to offer me four thousand florins if I would aid the prosecution
+against my cousin.  Here I learned the influence of villains in power,
+and the injustice of judges at Vienna.  The proposal I rejected with
+disdain, and rather determined to seek my fortune in the East Indies than
+continue in a country where, under the best of Queens, the most loyal of
+subjects, and first of soldiers, might be rendered miserable by
+interested, angry, and corrupt courtiers.  Certain it is, as I now can
+prove, though the bitterest of my enemies, and whose conduct towards me
+merited my whole resentment, he was the best soldier in the Austrian
+army, had been liberal of his blood and fortune in the Imperial service,
+and would still so have continued had not his wealth, and his contempt
+for Weber and Lowenwalde put him in the power of those wretches who were
+the avowed enemies of courage and patriotism, and who only could maintain
+their authority, and sate their thirst of gain, by the base and wicked
+arts of courts.  Had my cousin shared the plunder of the war among these
+men, he had not fallen the martyr of their intrigues, and died in the
+Spielberg.  His accusers were, generally, unprincipled men of ruined
+fortunes, and so insufficient were their accusations that a useful member
+of society ought not, for any or all of them, to have suffered an hour's
+imprisonment.  Being fully informed, both of all the circumstances of the
+prosecution and the inmost secrets of his heart, justice requires I
+should thus publicly declare this truth and vindicate his memory.  While
+living he was my bitterest enemy, and even though dead, was the cause of
+all my future sufferings; therefore the account I shall give of him will
+certainly be the less liable to suspicion, where I shall show that he, as
+well as myself, deserved better of Austria.
+
+I was resolved forever to forsake Vienna.  The friends of Trenck all
+became distrustful of him because of his ingratitude to me.  Prince
+Charles still endeavoured to persuade me to a reconciliation, and gave me
+a letter of recommendation to General Brown, who then commanded the
+Imperial army in Italy.  But more anxious of going to India, I left
+Vienna in August, 1748, desirous of owing no obligation to that city or
+its inhabitants, and went for Holland.  Meantime, the enemies of Trenck
+found no one to oppose their iniquitous proceedings, and obtained a
+sentence of imprisonment, in the Spielberg, where he too late repented
+having betrayed his faithful adviser, and prudent friend.  I pitied him,
+and his judges certainly deserved the punishment they inflicted: yet to
+his last moments he showed his hatred towards me was rooted, and, even in
+the grave, strove by his will to involve me in misfortune, as will
+hereafter be seen.
+
+I fled from Vienna, would to God it had been for ever; but fate by
+strange ways, and unknown means, brought me back where Providence thought
+proper I should become a vessel of wrath and persecution: I was to enact
+my part in Europe, and not in Asia.  At Nuremberg I met with a body of
+Russians, commanded by General Lieuwen, my mother's relation, who were
+marching to the Netherlands, and were the peace-makers of Europe.  Major
+Buschkow, whom I had known when Russian resident at Vienna, prevailed on
+me to visit him, and presented me to the General.  I pleased him, and may
+say, with truth, he behaved to me like a friend and a father.  He advised
+me to enter into the Russian service, and gave me a company of dragoons,
+in the regiment of Tobolski, on condition I should not leave him, but
+employ myself in his cabinet: and his confidence and esteem for me were
+unbounded.
+
+Peace followed; the army returned to Moravia, without firing a musket,
+and the head-quarters were fixed at Prosnitz.
+
+In this town a public entertainment was given, by General Lieuwen, on the
+coronation day of the Empress Elizabeth; and here an adventure happened
+to me, which I shall ever remember, as a warning to myself, and insert as
+a memento to others.
+
+The army physician, on this day, kept a Faro bank for the entertainment
+of the guests.  My stock of money consisted of two and twenty ducats.
+Thirst of gain, or perhaps example, induced me to venture two of these,
+which I immediately lost, and very soon, by venturing again to regain
+them, the whole two and twenty.  Chagrined at my folly, I returned home:
+I had nothing but a pair of pistols left, for which, because of their
+workmanship, General Woyekow had offered me twenty ducats.  These I took,
+intending by their aid to attempt to retrieve my loss.  Firing of guns
+and pistols was heard throughout the town, because of the festival, and
+I, in imitation of the rest, went to the window and fired mine.  After a
+few discharges, one of my pistols burst, and endangered my own hand, and
+wounded my servant.  I felt a momentary despondency, stronger than I ever
+remember to have experienced before; insomuch that I was half induced,
+with the remaining pistol, to shoot myself through the head.  I however,
+recovered my spirits, asked my servant what money he had, and received
+from him three ducats.  With these I repaired, like a desperate gamester,
+once more to the Faro table, at the General's, again began to play, and
+so extraordinary was my run of luck, I won at every venture.  Having
+recovered my principal, I played on upon my winnings, till at last I had
+absolutely broke the Doctor's bank: a new bank was set up, and I won the
+greatest part of this likewise, so that I brought home about six hundred
+ducats.
+
+Rejoiced at my good fortune, but recollecting my danger, I had the
+prudence to make a solemn resolution never more to play at any game of
+chance, to which I have ever strictly adhered.
+
+It were to be wished young men would reflect upon the effects of gaming,
+remembering that the love of play has made the most promising and
+virtuous, miserable; the honest, knaves; and the sincere, deceivers and
+liars.  Officers, having first lost all their own money, being entrusted
+with the soldiers' pay, have next lost that also; and thus been
+cashiered, and eternally disgraced.  I might, at Prosnitz, have been
+equally rash and culpable.  The first venture, whether the gamester wins
+or loses, ensures a second; and, with that, too often destruction.  My
+good fortune was almost miraculous, and my subsequent resolution very
+uncommon; and I entreat and conjure my children, when I shall no longer
+be living to advise and watch for their welfare, most determinedly to
+avoid play.  I seemed preserved by Providence from this evil but to
+endure much greater.
+
+General Lieuwen, my kind patron, sent me, from Crakow, to conduct a
+hundred and forty sick men down the Vistula to Dantzic, where there were
+Russian vessels to receive and transport them to Riga.
+
+I requested permission of the General to proceed forward and visit my
+mother and sister, whom I was very desirous to see: at Elbing, therefore,
+I resigned the command to Lieutenant Platen, and, attended by a servant,
+rode to the bishopric of Ermeland, where I appointed an interview with
+them in a frontier village.
+
+Here an incident happened that had nearly cost me my life.  The
+Prussians, some days before, had carried off a peasant's son from this
+village, as a recruit.  The people were all in commotion.  I wore
+leathern breeches, and the blue uniform of the Russian cavalry.  They
+took me for a Prussian, at the door, and fell upon me with every kind of
+weapon.  A chasseur, who happened to be there, and the landlord, came to
+my assistance, while I, battling with the peasants, had thrown two of
+them down.  I was delivered, but not till I had received two violent
+bruises, one on the left arm, and another which broke the bridge of my
+nose.  The landlord advised me to escape as fast as possible, or that the
+village would rise and certainly murder me; my servant, therefore, who
+had retired for defence, with a pair of pistols, into the oven, got ready
+the horses and we rode off.
+
+I had my bruises dressed at the next village; my hand and eyes were
+exceedingly swelled, but I was obliged to ride two miles farther, to the
+town of Ressel, before I could find an able surgeon, and here I so far
+recovered in a week, that I was able to return to Dantzic.  My brother
+visited me while at Ressel, but my good mother had the misfortune, as she
+was coming to me, to be thrown out of her carriage, by which her arm was
+broken, so that she and my sister were obliged to return, and I never saw
+her more.
+
+I was now at Dantzic, with my sick convoy, where another most remarkable
+event happened, which I, with good reason, shall ever remember.
+
+I became acquainted with a Prussian officer, whose name I shall conceal
+out of respect to his very worthy family; he visited me daily, and we
+often rode out together in the neighbourhood of Dantzic.
+
+My faithful servant became acquainted with his, and my astonishment was
+indeed great when he one day said to me, with anxiety, "Beware, sir, of a
+snare laid for you by Lieutenant N-; he means to entice you out of town
+and deliver you up to the Prussians."  I asked him where he learned this.
+"From the lieutenant's servant," answered he, "who is my friend, and
+wishes to save me from misfortune."
+
+I now, with the aid of a couple of ducats, discovered the whole affair,
+and learned it was agreed, between the Prussian resident, Reimer, and the
+lieutenant, that the latter should entice me into the suburb of Langfuhr,
+where there was an inn on the Prussian territories.  Here eight
+recruiting under-officers were to wait concealed, and seize me the moment
+I entered the house, hurry me into a carriage, and drive away for
+Lauenberg in Pomerania.  Two under-officers were to escort me, on
+horseback, as far as the frontiers, and the remainder to hold and prevent
+me from calling for help, so long as we should remain on the territories
+of Dantzic.
+
+I farther learned my enemies were only to be armed with sabres, and that
+they were to wait behind the door.  The two officers on horseback were to
+secure my servant, and prevent him from riding off and raising an alarm.
+
+These preparations might easily have been rendered fruitless, by my
+refusing to accept the proposal of the lieutenant, but vanity gave me
+other advice, and resentment made me desirous of avenging myself for such
+detestable treachery.
+
+Lieutenant N--- came, about noon, to dine with me as usual, was more
+pensive and serious than I had ever observed him before, and left me at
+four in the afternoon, after having made a promise to ride early next day
+with him as far as Langfuhr.  I observed my consent gave him great
+pleasure, and my heart then pronounced sentence on the traitor.  The
+moment he had left me I went to the Russian resident, M. Scheerer, an
+honest Swiss, related the whole conspiracy, and asked whether I might not
+take six of the men under my command for my own personal defence.  I told
+him my plan, which he at first opposed; but seeing me obstinate, he
+answered at last, "Do as you please; I must know nothing of the matter,
+nor will I make myself responsible."
+
+I immediately joined my soldiers, selected six men, and took them, while
+it was dark, opposite the Prussian inn, hid them in the corn, with an
+order to run to my help with their firelocks loaded the first discharge
+they should hear, to seize all who should fall into their power, and only
+to fire in case of resistance.  I provided them with fire-arms, by
+concealing them in the carriage which brought them to their hiding-place.
+
+Notwithstanding all these precautions, I still thought it necessary to
+prevent surprise, by informing myself what were the proceedings of my
+enemies, lest my intelligence should have been false; and I learned from
+my spies that, at four in the morning, the Prussian resident, Reimer, had
+left the city with post horses.
+
+I loaded mine and my servant's horse and pocket pistols, prepared my
+Turkish sabre, and, in gratitude to the lieutenant's man, promised to
+take him into my service, being convinced of his honesty.
+
+The lieutenant cheerfully entered about six in the morning, expatiated on
+the fineness of the weather, and jocosely told me I should be very kindly
+received by the handsome landlady of Langfuhr.
+
+I was soon ready; we mounted, and left the town, attended by our
+servants.  Some three hundred paces from the inn, my worthy friend
+proposed that we should alight and let our servants lead the horses, that
+we might enjoy the beauty of the morning.  I consented, and having
+dismounted, observed his treacherous eyes sparkle with pleasure.
+
+The resident, Reimer, was at the window of the inn, and called out, as
+soon as he saw me, "Good-morrow, captain, good-morrow; come, come in,
+your breakfast is waiting."  I, sneering, smiled, and told him I had not
+time at present.  So saying, I continued my walk, but my companion would
+absolutely force me to enter, took me by the arm, and partly struggled
+with me, on which, losing all patience, I gave him a blow which almost
+knocked him down, and ran to my horses as if I meant to fly.
+
+The Prussians instantly rushed from behind their door, with clamour, to
+attack me.  I fired at the first; my Russians sprang from their hiding-
+place, presented their pieces, and called, _Stuy_, _stuy_, _yebionnamat_.
+
+The terror of the poor Prussians may well be supposed.  All began to run.
+I had taken care to make sure of my lieutenant, and was next running to
+seize the resident, but he had escaped out of the back door, with the
+loss only of his white periwig.  The Russians had taken four prisoners,
+and I commanded them to bestow fifty strokes upon each of them in the
+open street.  An ensign, named Casseburg, having told me his name, and
+that he had been my brother's schoolfellow, begged remission, and excused
+himself on the necessity which he was under to obey his superiors.  I
+admitted his excuses and suffered him to go.  I then drew my sword and
+bade the lieutenant defend himself; but he was so confused, that, after
+drawing his sword, he asked my pardon, laid the whole blame upon the
+resident, and had not the power to put himself on his guard.  I twice
+jerked his sword out of his hand, and, at last, taking the Russian
+corporal's cane, I exhausted my strength with beating him, without his
+offering the least resistance.  Such is the meanness of detected
+treachery.  I left him kneeling, saying to him, "Go, rascal, now, and
+tell your comrades the manner in which Trenck punishes robbers on the
+highway."
+
+The people had assembled round us during the action, to whom I related
+the affair, and the attack having happened on the territories of Dantzic,
+the Prussians were in danger of being stoned by the populace.  I and my
+Russians marched off victorious, proceeded to the harbour, embarked, and
+three or four days after, set sail for Riga.
+
+It is remarkable that none of the public papers took any notice of this
+affair; no satisfaction was required.  The Prussians, no doubt, were
+ashamed of being defeated in an attempt so perfidious.
+
+I since have learnt that Frederic, no doubt by the false representations
+of Reimer, was highly irritated, and what afterwards happened proves his
+anger pursued me through every corner of the earth, till at last I fell
+into his power at Dantzic, and suffered a martyrdom most unmerited and
+unexampled.
+
+The Prussian envoy, Goltz, indeed, made complaints to Count Bestuchef,
+concerning this Dantzic skirmish, but received no satisfaction.  My
+conduct was justified in Russia, I having defended myself against
+assassins, as a Russian captain ought.
+
+Some dispassionate readers may blame me for not having avoided this
+rencontre, and demanded personal satisfaction of Lieutenant N---.  But I
+have through life rather sought than avoided danger.  My vanity and
+revenge were both roused.  I was everywhere persecuted by the Prussians,
+and I was therefore determined to show that, far from fearing, I was able
+to defend myself.
+
+I hired the servant of the lieutenant, whom I found honest and faithful,
+and whom I comfortably settled in marriage, at Vienna, in 1753.  After my
+ten years' imprisonment, I found him poor, and again took him into my
+service, in which he died, at Zwerbach, in 1779.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+And now behold me at sea, on my voyage to Riga.  I had eaten heartily
+before I went on board; a storm came on; I worked half the night, to aid
+the crew, but at length became sea-sick, and went to lie down.  Scarcely
+had I closed my eyes before the master came with the joyful tidings, as
+he thought, that we were running for the port of Pillau.  Far from
+pleasing, this, to me, was dreadful intelligence.  I ran on deck, saw the
+harbour right before me, and a pilot coming off.  The sea must now be
+either kept in a storm, or I fall into the hands of the Prussians; for I
+was known to the whole garrison of Pillau.
+
+I desired the captain to tack about and keep the sea, but he would not
+listen to me.  Perceiving this, I flew to my cabin, snatched my pistols,
+returned, seized the helm, and threatened the captain with instant death
+if he did not obey.  My Russians began to murmur; they were averse to
+encountering the dangers of the storm, but luckily they were still more
+averse to meet my anger, overawed, as they were, by my pistols, and my
+two servants, who stood by me faithfully.
+
+Half an hour after, the storm began to subside, and we fortunately
+arrived the next day in the harbour of Riga.  The captain, however, could
+not be appeased, but accused me before the old and honourable Marshal
+Lacy, then governor of Riga.  I was obliged to appear, and reply to the
+charge by relating the truth.  The governor answered, my obstinacy might
+have occasioned the death of a hundred and sixty persons; I, smiling,
+retorted, "I have brought them all safe to port, please your Excellency;
+and, for my part, my fate would have been much more merciful by falling
+into the hands of my God than into the hands of my enemies.  My danger
+was so great that I forgot the danger of others; besides, sir, I knew my
+comrades were soldiers, and feared death as little as I do."  My answer
+pleased the fine grey-headed general, and he gave me a recommendation to
+the chancellor Bestuchef at Moscow.
+
+General Lieuwen had marched from Moravia, for Russia, with the army, and
+was then at Riga.  I went to pay him my respects; he kindly received me,
+and took me to one of his seats, named Annaburg, four miles from Riga.
+Here I remained some days, and he gave me every recommendation to Moscow,
+where the court then was.  It was intended I should endeavour to obtain a
+company in the regiment of cuirassiers, the captains of which then ranked
+as majors, and he advised me to throw up my commission in the Siberian
+regiment of Tobolski dragoons.  Peace be to the names and the memory of
+this worthy man!  May God reward this benevolence!  From Riga I departed,
+in company with M. Oettinger, lieutenant-colonel of engineers, and
+Lieutenant Weismann, for Moscow.  This is the same Weismann who rendered
+so many important services to Russia, during the last war with the Turks.
+
+On my arrival, after delivering in my letters of recommendation, I was
+particularly well received by Count Bestuchef.  Oettinger, whose
+friendship I had gained, was exceedingly intimate with the chancellor,
+and my interest was thereby promoted.
+
+I had not been long at Moscow before I met Count Hamilton, my former
+friend during my abode at Vienna.  He was a captain of cavalry, in the
+regiment of General Bernes, who had been sent as imperial ambassador to
+Russia.
+
+Bernes had been ambassador at Berlin in 1743, where he had consequently
+known me during the height of my favour at the court of Frederic.
+Hamilton presented me to him, and I had the good fortune so far to gain
+his friendship, that, after a few visits, he endeavoured to detach me
+from the Russian service, offering me the strongest recommendations to
+Vienna, and a company in his own regiment.  My cousin's misfortunes,
+however, had left too deep an impression on my mind to follow his advice.
+The Indies would then have been preferred by me to Austria.
+
+Bernes invited me to dine with him in company with his bosom friend, Lord
+Hyndford, the English ambassador.  How great was the pleasure I that day
+received!  This eminent statesman had known me at Berlin, and was present
+when Frederic had honoured me with saying, _C'est un matador de ma
+jeunesse_.  He was well read in men, conceived a good opinion of my
+abilities, and became a friend and father to me.  He seated me by his
+side at table, and asked me, "Why came you here, Trenck?"  "In search of
+bread and honour, my lord," answered I, "having unmeritedly lost them
+both in my own country."  He further inquired the state of my finances; I
+told him my whole store might be some thirty ducats.
+
+"Take my counsel," said he; "you have the necessary qualifications to
+succeed in Russia, but the people here despise poverty, judge from the
+exterior only, and do not include services or talents in the estimate;
+you must have the appearance of being wealthy.  I and Bernes will
+introduce you into the best families, and will supply you with the
+necessary means of support.  Splendid liveries, led horses, diamond
+rings, deep play, a bold front, undaunted freedom with statesmen, and
+gallantry among the ladies, are the means by which foreigners must make
+their way in this country.  Avail yourself of them, and leave the rest to
+us."  This lesson lasted some time.  Bernes entered in the interim, and
+they determined mutually to contribute towards my promotion.
+
+Few of the young men who seek their fortune in foreign countries meet
+incidents so favourable.  Fortune for a moment seemed willing to
+recompense my past sufferings, and again to raise me to the height from
+which I had fallen.  These ambassadors, here again by accident met, had
+before been witnesses of my prosperity when at Berlin.  The talents I
+possessed, and the favour I then enjoyed, attracted the notice of all
+foreign ministers.  They were bosom friends, equally well read in the
+human heart, and equally benevolent and noble-minded; their
+recommendation at court was decisive; the nations they represented were
+in alliance with Russia, and the confidence Bestuchef placed in them was
+unbounded.
+
+I was now introduced into all companies, not as a foreigner who came to
+entreat employment, but as the heir of the house of Trenck, and its rich
+Hungarian possessions, and as the former favourite of the Prussian
+monarch.
+
+I was also admitted to the society of the first literati, and wrote a
+poem on the anniversary of the coronation of the Empress Elizabeth.
+Hyndford took care she should see it, and, in conjunction with the
+chancellor, presented me to the sovereign.  My reception was most
+gracious.  She herself recommended me to the chancellor, and presented me
+with a gold-hilted sword, worth a thousand roubles.  This raised me
+highly in the esteem of all the houses of the Bestuchef party.
+
+Manners were at that time so rude in Russia, that every foreigner who
+gave a dinner, or a ball, must send notice to the chancellor Bestuchef,
+that he might return a list of the guests allowed to be invited.  Faction
+governed everything; and wherever Bestuchef was, no friend of Woranzow
+durst appear.  I was the intimate of the Austrian and English
+ambassadors; consequently, was caressed and esteemed in all companies.  I
+soon became the favourite of the chancellor's lady, as I shall hereafter
+notice; and nothing more was wanting to obtain all I could wish.
+
+I was well acquainted with architectural design, had free access to the
+house and cabinet of the chancellor, where I drew in company with Colonel
+Oettinger, who was then the head architect of Russia, and made the
+perspective view of the new palace, which the chancellor intended to
+build at Moscow, by which I acquired universal honour.  I had gained more
+acquaintance in, and knowledge of, Russia in one month, than others,
+wanting my means, have done in twelve.
+
+As I was one day relating my progress to Lord Hyndford, he, like a
+friend, grown grey in courts, kindly took the trouble to advise me.  From
+him I obtained a perfect knowledge of Russia; he was acquainted with all
+the intrigues of European courts, their families, party cabals, the
+foibles of the monarchs, the principles of their government, the plots of
+the great Peter, and had also made the peace of Breslau.  Thus, having
+been the confidential friend of Frederic, he was intimately acquainted
+with his heart, as well as the sources of his power.  Hyndford was
+penetrating, noble-minded, had the greatness of the Briton, without his
+haughtiness; and the principles, by which he combined the past, the
+present, and the future, were so clear, that I, his scholar, by adhering
+to them, have been enabled to foretell all the most remarkable
+revolutions that have happened, during the space of six-and-thirty years,
+in Europe.  By these I knew, when any minister was disgraced, who should
+be his successor.  I daily passed some hours improving by his kind
+conversation; and to him I am indebted for most of that knowledge of the
+world I happen to possess.
+
+He took various opportunities of cautioning me against the effects of an
+ardent, sanguine temper; and my hatred of arbitrary power warned me to
+beware of the determined persecution of Frederic, of his irreconcilable
+anger, his intrigues and influence in the various courts of Europe, which
+he would certainly exert to prevent my promotion, lest I should impede
+his own projects, and lamented my future sufferings, which he plainly
+foresaw.  "Despots," said he, "always are suspicious, and abhor those who
+have a consciousness of their own worth, of the rights of mankind, and
+hold the lash in detestation.  The enlightened are by them called the
+restless spirits, turbulent and dangerous; and virtue there, where virtue
+is unnecessary for the humbling and trampling upon the suffering subject,
+is accounted a crime, of all others the most to be dreaded."
+
+Hyndford taught me to know, and highly to value freedom: to despise
+tyrants, to endure the worst of miseries, to emulate true greatness of
+mind, to despise danger, and to honour only those whose elevation of soul
+had taught them equally to oppose bigotry and despotism.
+
+Bernes was a philosopher; but with the penetration of an Italian, more
+cautious than Hyndford, yet equally honest and worthy.  His friendship
+for me was unbounded, and the time passed in their company was esteemed
+by me most precious.  The liberality of my sentiments, thirst after
+knowledge and scientific acquirements gained their favour; our topics of
+conversation were inexhaustible, and I acquired more real information at
+Moscow than at Berlin, under the tuition of La Metri, Maupertuis, and
+Voltaire.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+Scarcely had I been six weeks in this city before I had an adventure
+which I shall here relate; for, myself excepted, all the persons
+concerned in it are now dead.  Intrigues properly belong to novels.  This
+book is intended for a more serious purpose, and they are therefore here
+usually suppressed.  It cannot be supposed I was a woman-hater.  Most of
+the good or bad fortune I experienced originated in love.  I was not by
+nature inconstant, and was incapable of deceit even in amours.  In the
+very ardour of youth I always shunned mere sensual pleasures.  I loved
+for more exalted reasons, and for such sought to be beloved again.  Love
+and friendship were with me always united; and these I was capable of
+inciting, maintaining, and deserving.  The most difficult of access, the
+noblest, and the fairest, were ever my choice: and my veneration for
+these always deterred me from grosser gratifications.  By woman I was
+formed; by the faith of woman supported under misfortunes; in the company
+of woman enjoyed the few hours of delight my life of sorrows has
+experienced.  Woman, beautiful and well instructed, even now, lightens
+the burden of age, the world's tediousness and its woes; and, when these
+are ended, I would rather wish mine eyes might be closed by fair and
+virgin hands, than, when expiring, fixed on a hypocritical priest.
+
+My adventures with women would amply furnish a romance: but enough of
+this, I should not relate the present, were it not necessary to my story.
+
+Dining one public day with Lord Hyndford, I was seated beside a charming
+young lady of one of the best families in Russia, who had been promised
+in marriage, though only seventeen, to an old invalid minister.  Her eyes
+soon told me she thought me preferable to her intended bridegroom.  I
+understood them, lamented her hard fate, and was surprised to hear her
+exclaim, "Oh, heavens! that it were possible you could deliver me from my
+misfortune: I would engage to do whatever you would direct."
+
+The impression such an appeal must make on a man of four and twenty, of a
+temperament like mine, may easily be supposed.  The lady was ravishingly
+beautiful; her soul was candour itself, and her rank that of a princess;
+but the court commands had already been given in favour of the marriage;
+and flight, with all its inseparable dangers, was the only expedient.  A
+public table was no place for long explanations.  Our hearts were already
+one.  I requested an interview, and the next day was appointed, the place
+the Trotzer garden, where I passed three rapturous hours in her company:
+thanks to her woman, who was a Georgian.
+
+To escape, however, from Moscow, was impossible.  The distance thence to
+any foreign country was too great.  The court was not to remove to
+Petersburg till the next spring, and her marriage was fixed for the first
+of August.  The misfortune was not to be remedied, and nothing was left
+us but patience perforce.  We could only resolve to fly from Petersburg
+when there, the soonest possible, and to take refuge in some corner of
+the earth, where we might remain unknown of all.  The marriage,
+therefore, was celebrated with pomp, though I, in despite of forms, was
+the true husband of the princess.  Such was the state of the husband
+imposed upon her, that to describe it, and not give disgust, were
+impossible.
+
+The princess gave me her jewels, and several thousand roubles, which she
+had received as a nuptial present, that I might purchase every thing
+necessary for flight; my evil destiny, however, had otherwise determined.
+I was playing at ombre with her, one night, at the house of the Countess
+of Bestuchef, when she complained of a violent headache, appointed me to
+meet her on the morrow, in the Trotzer gardens, clasped my hand with
+inexpressible emotion, and departed.  Alas!  I never beheld her more,
+till stretched upon the bier!
+
+She grew delirious that very night, and so continued till her death,
+which happened on the sixth day, when the small-pox began to appear.
+During her delirium she discovered our love, and incessantly called on me
+to deliver her from her tyrant.  Thus, in the flower of her age, perished
+one of the most lovely women I ever knew, and with her fled all I held
+most dear.
+
+All my plans were now to be newly arranged.  Lord Hyndford alone was in
+the secret, for I hid no secrets from him: he strengthened me in my first
+resolution, and owned that he himself, for such a mistress, might perhaps
+have been weak enough to have acted as I had done.  Almost as much moved
+as myself, he sympathised with me as a friend, and his advice deterred me
+from ending my miseries, and descending with her, whom I have loved and
+lost, to the grave.  This was the severest trial I had ever felt.  Our
+affection was unbounded, and such only as noble hearts can feel.  She
+being gone, the whole world became a desert.  There is not a man on
+earth, whose life affords more various turns of fate than mine.  Swiftly
+raised to the highest pinnacle of hope, as suddenly was I cast headlong
+down, and so remarkable were these revolutions that he who has read my
+history will at last find it difficult to say whether he envies or pities
+me most.  And yet these were, in reality, but preparatory to the evils
+that hovered over my devoted head.  Had not the remembrance of past joys
+soothed and supported me under my sufferings, I certainly should not have
+endured the ten years' torture of the Magdeburg dungeon, with a fortitude
+that might have been worthy even of Socrates.
+
+Enough of this.  My blood again courses swifter through my veins as I
+write!  Rest, gentle maiden, noble and lovely as thou wert!  For thee
+ought Heaven to have united a form so fair, animated as it was, by a soul
+so pure, to ever-blooming youth and immortality.
+
+My love for this lady became well-known in Moscow; yet her corpulent
+overgrown husband had not understanding enough to suppose there was any
+meaning in her rhapsodies during her delirium.
+
+Her gifts to me amounted in value to about seven thousand ducats.  Lord
+Hyndford and Count Bernes both adjudged them legally mine, and well am I
+assured her heart had bequeathed me much more.
+
+To this event succeeded another, by which my fortune was greatly
+influenced.  The Countess of Bestuchef was then the most amiable and
+witty woman at Court.  Her husband, cunning, selfish, and shallow, had
+the name of minister, while she, in reality, governed with a genius, at
+once daring and comprehensive.  The too pliant Elizabeth carelessly left
+the most important things to the direction of others.  Thus the Countess
+was the first person of the Empire, and on whom the attention of the
+foreign ministers was fixed.
+
+Haughty and majestic in her demeanour, she was supposed to be the only
+woman at court who continued faithful to her husband; which supposition
+probably originated in her art and education, she being a German born:
+for I afterwards found her virtue was only pride, and a knowledge of the
+national character.  The Russian lover rules despotic over his mistress:
+requires money, submission, and should he meet opposition, threatens her
+with blows, and the discovery of her secret.
+
+During Elizabeth's reign foreigners could neither appear at court, nor in
+the best company, without the introduction of Bestuchef.  I and Sievers,
+gentlemen of the chamber, were at that time the only Germans who had free
+egress and regress in all houses of fashion; my being protected by the
+English and Austrian ambassadors gave me very peculiar advantages, and
+made my company everywhere courted.
+
+Bestuchef had been resident, during the late reign, at Hamburg, in which
+inferior station he married the countess, at that time, though young and
+handsome, only the widow of the merchant Boettger.  Under Elizabeth,
+Bestuchef rose to the summit of rank and power, and the widow Boettger
+became the first lady of the empire.  When I knew her she was eight and
+thirty, consequently no beauty, though a woman highly endowed in mind and
+manners, of keen discernment, disliking the Russians, protecting the
+Prussians, and at whose aversions all trembled.
+
+Her carriage towards the Russians was, what it must be in her situation,
+lofty, cautious, and ironical, rather than kind.  To me she showed the
+utmost esteem on all occasions, welcomed me at her table, and often
+admitted me to drink coffee in company with herself alone and Colonel
+Oettinger.  The countess never failed giving me to understand she had
+perceived my love for the princess N---; and, though I constantly denied
+the fact, she related circumstances which she could have known, as I
+thought, only from my mistress herself; my silence pleased her; for the
+Russians, when a lady had a partiality for them, never fail to vaunt of
+their good fortune.  She wished to persuade me she had observed us in
+company, had read the language of our eyes, and had long penetrated our
+secret.  I was ignorant at that time that she had then, and long before,
+entertained the maid of my mistress as a spy in her pay.
+
+About a week after the death of the princess, the countess invited me to
+take coffee with her, in her chamber; lamented my loss, and the violence
+of that passion which had deprived me of all my customary vivacity, and
+altered my very appearance.  She seemed so interested in my behalf, and
+expressed so many wishes, and so ardent to better my fate, that I could
+no longer doubt.  Another opportunity soon happened, which confirmed
+these my suspicions: her mouth confessed her sentiments.  Discretion,
+secrecy, and fidelity, were the laws she imposed, and never did I
+experience a more ardent passion from woman.  Such was her understanding
+and penetration, she knew how to rivet my affections.
+
+Caution was the thing most necessary.  She contrived, however, to make
+opportunity.  The chancellor valued, confided in me, and employed me in
+his cabinet; so that I remained whole days in his house.  My captainship
+of cavalry was now no longer thought of: I was destined to political
+employment.  My first was to be gentleman of the chamber, which in Russia
+is an office of importance, and the prospect of futurity became to me
+most resplendent.  Lord Hyndford, ever the repository of my secrets,
+counselled me, formed plans for my conduct, rejoiced at my success, and
+refused to be reimbursed the expense he had been at, though now my
+circumstances were prosperous.
+
+The degree of credit I enjoyed was soon noticed: foreign ministers began
+to pay their court to me: Goltz, the Prussian minister, made every effort
+to win me, but found me incorruptible.
+
+The Russian alliance was at this time highly courted by foreign powers;
+the humbling of Prussia was the thing generally wished and planned: and
+nobody was better informed than myself of ministerial and family factions
+at this court.
+
+My mistress, a year after my acquaintance with her, fell into her
+enemies' power, and with her husband, was delivered over to the
+executioner.  Chancellor Bestuchef, in the year 1756, was forced to
+confession by the knout.  Apraxin, minister of war, had a similar fate.
+The wife of his brother, then envoy in Poland, was, by the treachery of a
+certain Lieutenant Berger, with three others of the first ladies of the
+court, knouted, branded, and had their tongues cut out.  This happened in
+the year 1741, when Elizabeth ascended the throne.  Her husband, however,
+faithfully served: I knew him as Russian envoy, at Vienna, 1751.  This
+may indeed be called the love of our country, and thus does it happen to
+the first men of the state: what then can a foreigner hope for, if
+persecuted, and in the power of those in authority?
+
+No man, in so short a space of time, had greater opportunities than I, to
+discover the secrets of state; especially when guided by Hyndford and
+Bernes, under the reign of a well-meaning but short-sighted Empress,
+whose first minister was a weak man, directed by the will of an able and
+ambitious wife, and which wife loved me, a stranger, an acquaintance of
+only a few months, so passionately that to this passion she would have
+sacrificed every other object.  She might, in fact, be considered as
+Empress of Russia, disposing of peace or war, and had I been more prudent
+or less sincere, I might in such a situation, have amassed treasures, and
+deposited them in full security.  Her generosity was boundless; and,
+though obliged to pay above a hundred thousand roubles, in one year, to
+discharge her son's debts, yet might I have saved a still larger sum; but
+half of the gifts she obliged me to receive, I lent to this son, and
+lost.  So far was I from selfish, and so negligent of wealth, that by
+supplying the wants of others, I often, on a reverse of fortune, suffered
+want myself.
+
+This my splendid success in Russia displeased the great Frederic, whose
+persecution everywhere attended me, and who supposed his interest injured
+by my success in Russia.  The incident I am going to relate was, at the
+time it happened, well known to, and caused much agitation among all the
+foreign ambassadors.
+
+Lord Hyndford desired I would make him a fair copy of a plan of
+Cronstadt, for which he furnished the materials, with three additional
+drawings of the various ships in the harbour, and their names.  There was
+neither danger nor suspicion attending this; the plan of Cronstadt being
+no secret, but publicly sold in the shops of Petersburg.  England was
+likewise then in the closest alliance with Russia.  Hyndford showed the
+drawing to Funk, the Saxon envoy, his intimate friend, who asked his
+permission to copy it himself.  Hyndford gave him the plan signed with my
+name; and after Funk had been some days employed copying it, the Prussian
+minister, Goltz, who lived in his neighbourhood, came in, as he
+frequently paid him friendly visits.  Funk, unsuspectingly, showed him my
+drawing, and both lamented that Frederic had lost so useful a subject.
+Goltz asked to borrow it for a couple of days, in order to correct his
+own; and Funk, one of the worthiest, most honest, and least suspicious of
+men, who loved me like a brother, accordingly lent the plan.
+
+No sooner was Goltz in possession of it than he hurried to the
+chancellor, with whose weakness he was well acquainted, told him his
+intent in coming was to prove that a man, who had once been unfaithful to
+his king and country, where he had been loaded with favours, would
+certainly betray, for his own private interest, every state where he was
+trusted.  He continued his preface, by speaking of the rapid progress I
+had made in Russia, and the free entrance I had found in the chancellor's
+house, where I was received as a son, and initiated in the secrets of the
+cabinet.
+
+The chancellor defended me: Goltz then endeavoured to incite his
+jealousy, and told him my private interviews with his wife, especially in
+the palace-garden, were publicly spoken of.  This he had learned from his
+spies, he having endeavoured, by the snares he laid, to make my
+destruction certain.
+
+He likewise led Bestuchef to suspect his secretary, S-n, was a party in
+the intrigue; till at last the chancellor became very angry; Goltz then
+took my plan of Cronstadt from his pocket, and added, "Your excellency is
+nourishing a serpent in your bosom.  This drawing have I received from
+Trenck, copied from your cabinet designs, for two hundred ducats."  He
+knew I was employed there sometimes with Oettinger, whose office it was
+to inspect the buildings and repairs of the Russian fortifications.
+Bestuchef was astonished; his anger became violent, and Goltz added fuel
+to the flame, by insinuating, I should not be so powerfully protected by
+Bernes, the Austrian ambassador, were it not to favour the views of his
+own court.  Bestuchef mentioned prosecution and the knout; Goltz replied
+my friends were too powerful, my pardon would be procured, and the evil
+this way increased.  They therefore determined to have me secretly
+secured, and privately conveyed to Siberia.
+
+Thus, while I unsuspectingly dreamed of nothing but happiness, the
+gathering storm threatened destruction, which only was averted by
+accident, or God's good providence.
+
+Goltz had scarcely left the place triumphant, when the chancellor
+entered, with bitterness and rancour in his heart, into his lady's
+apartment, reproached her with my conduct, and while she endeavoured to
+soothe him, related all that had passed.  Her penetration was much deeper
+than her husband's: she perceived there was a plot against me: she indeed
+knew my heart better than any other, and particularly that I was not in
+want of a poor two hundred ducats.  She could not, however, appease him,
+and my arrest was determined.  She therefore instantly wrote me a line to
+the following purport.
+
+"You are threatened, dear friend, by a very imminent danger.  Do not
+sleep to-night at home, but secure yourself at Lord Hyndford's till you
+hear farther from me."
+
+Secretary S-n, her confidant (the same who, not long since, was Russian
+envoy at Ratisbon) was sent with the note.  He found me, after dinner, at
+the English ambassador's, and called me aside.  I read the billet, was
+astonished at its contents, and showed it Lord Hyndford.  My conscience
+was void of reproach, except that we suspected my secret with the
+countess had been betrayed to the chancellor, and fearing his jealousy,
+Hyndford commanded me to remain in his house till we should make further
+discovery.
+
+We placed spies round the house where I lived; I was inquired for after
+midnight, and the lieutenant of the police came himself and searched the
+house.
+
+Lord Hyndford went, about ten in the morning, to visit the chancellor,
+that he might obtain some intelligence, who immediately reproached him
+for having granted an asylum to a traitor.  "What has this traitor done?"
+said Hyndford.  "Faithlessly copied a plan of Cronstadt, from my cabinet
+drawings," said the chancellor; "which he has sold to the Prussian
+minister for two hundred ducats."
+
+Hyndford was astonished; he knew me well, and also knew that he had then
+in money and jewels, more than eight thousand ducats of mine in his own
+hands: nor was he less ignorant of the value I set on money, or of the
+sources whence I could obtain it, when I pleased.  "Has your excellency
+actually seen this drawing of Trenck's?"--"Yes, I have been shown it by
+Goltz."--"I wish I might likewise be permitted to see it; I know Trenck's
+drawing, and make myself responsible that he is no traitor.  Here is some
+mystery; be so kind as to desire M. Goltz will come and bring his plan of
+Cronstadt.  Trenck is at my house, shall be forthcoming instantly, and I
+will not protect him if he proves guilty."
+
+The Chancellor wrote to Goltz; but he, artful as he was, had no doubt
+taken care to be informed that the lieutenant of the police had missed
+his prey.  He therefore sent an excuse, and did not appear.  In the
+meantime I entered; Hyndford then addressed me, with the openness of an
+Englishman, and asked, "Are you a traitor, Trenck?  If so, you do not
+merit my protection, but stand here as a state prisoner.  Have you sold a
+plan of Cronstadt to M. Goltz?"  My answer may easily be supposed.
+Hyndford rehearsed what the chancellor had told him; I was desired to
+leave the room, and Funk was sent for.  The moment he came in, Hyndford
+said, "Sir, where is that plan of Cronstadt which Trenck copied?"  Funk,
+hesitating, replied, "I will go for it."  "Have you it," continued
+Hyndford, "at home?  Speak, upon your honour."--"No, my Lord, I have lent
+it, for a few days, to M. Goltz, that he may take a copy."
+
+Hyndford immediately then saw the whole affair, told the chancellor the
+history of this plan, which belonged to him, and which he had lent to
+Funk, and requested a trusty person might be sent with him to make a
+proper search.  Bestuchef named his first secretary, and to him were
+added Funk and the Dutch envoy, Schwart, who happened then to enter.  All
+went together to the house of Goltz.  Funk demanded his plan of
+Cronstadt; Goltz gave it him, and Funk returned it to Lord Hyndford.
+
+The secretary and Hyndford both then desired he would produce the plan of
+Cronstadt which he had bought of Trenck for two hundred ducats.  His
+confusion now was great, and Hyndford firmly insisted this plan should be
+forthcoming, to vindicate the honour of Trenck, whom he held to be an
+honest man.  On this, Goltz answered, "I have received my king's commands
+to prevent the preferment of Trenck in Russia, and I have only fulfilled
+the duty of a minister."
+
+Hyndford spat on the ground, and said more than I choose to repeat; after
+which the four gentlemen returned to the chancellor, and I was again
+called.  Everybody complimented me, related to me what had passed, and
+the chancellor promised I should be recompensed; strictly, however,
+forbidding me to take any revenge on the Prussian ambassador, I having
+sworn, in the first transports of anger, to punish him wherever I should
+find him, even were it at the altar's foot.
+
+The chancellor soothed me, kept me to dine with him, and endeavoured to
+assuage my boiling passions.  The countess affected indifference, and
+asked me if suchlike actions characterised the Prussian nation.  Funk and
+Schwart were at table.  All present congratulated me on my victory, but
+none knew to whom I was indebted for my deliverance from the hasty and
+unjust condemnation of the chancellor, although my protectress was one of
+the company.  I received a present of two thousand roubles the next day
+from the chancellor, with orders to thank the Empress for this mark of
+her bounty, and accept it as a sign of her special favour.  I paid these
+my thanks some days after.  The money I disregarded, but the amiable
+Empress, by her enchanting benevolence, made me forget the past.  The
+story became public, and Goltz appeared neither in public, nor at court.
+The manner in which the countess personally reproached him, I shall out
+of respect pass over.  Bernes, the crafty Piedmontese, assured me of
+revenge, without my troubling myself in the matter, and--what happened
+after I know not; Goltz appeared but little in company, fell ill when I
+had left Russia, and died soon after of a consumption.
+
+This vile man was, no doubt, the cause of all the calamities which fell
+upon me.  I should have become one of the first men in Russia: the
+misfortune that befel Bestuchef and his family some years afterward might
+have been averted: I should never have returned to Vienna, a city so
+fatal to the name of Trenck: by the mediation of the Russian Court, I
+should have recovered my great Sclavonian estates; my days of persecution
+at Vienna would have passed in peace and pleasure: nor should I have
+entered the dungeon of Magdeburg.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+How little did the Great Frederic know my heart.  Without having
+offended, he had rendered me miserable, had condemned me to imprisonment
+at Glatz on mere suspicion, and on my flying thence, naked and destitute,
+had confiscated my paternal inheritance.  Not contented with inflicting
+all these calamities, he would not suffer me peaceably to seek my fortune
+in a foreign land.
+
+Few are the youths who, in so short a time, being expelled their native
+country with disgrace, by their own efforts, merits, and talents, have
+obtained honour and favour so great, acquired such powerful friends, or
+been entrusted with confidence equally unlimited in transactions so
+important.  Enraged as I was at the treachery of Goltz, had opportunity
+offered, I might have been tempted even to turn my native country into a
+desert; nor do I deny that I afterwards promoted the views of the
+Austrian envoy, who knew well how to cherish the flame that had been
+kindled, and turn it to his own use.  Till this moment I never felt the
+least enmity either to my country or king, nor did I suffer myself, on
+any occasion, to be made the agent of their disadvantage.
+
+No sooner was I entrusted more intimately with cabinet secrets, than I
+discovered the state of factions, and that Bestuchef and Apraxin were
+even then in Prussian pay; that a counterpoise, by their means, might be
+formed to the prevalence of the Austrian party.
+
+Hence we may date the change of Russian politics in the year 1762.  Here
+also we may find a clue to the contradictory orders, artifices,
+positions, retreats and disappointments of the Russian army, in the seven
+years' war, beginning in 1756.  The countess, who was obliged to act with
+greater caution, foresaw the consequence of the various intrigues in
+which her husband was engaged: her love for me naturally drew her from
+her former party; she confided every secret to me, and ever remained till
+her fall, which happened in 1758, during my imprisonment, my best friend
+and correspondent.  Hence was I so well informed of all the plans against
+Prussia, to the years 1754 and 1756; much more so than many ministers of
+the interested courts, who imagined they alone were in the secret.  How
+many after events could I then have foretold!  Such was the perverseness
+of my destiny, that where I should most have been sought for, and best
+known, there was I least valued.
+
+No man, in my youth, would have believed I should live to my sixtieth
+year, untitled and obscure.  In Berlin, Petersburg, London, and Paris,
+have I been esteemed by the greatest statesmen, and now am I reduced to
+the invalid list.  How strange are the caprices of fortune!  I ought
+never to have left Russia: this was my great error, which I still live to
+repent.
+
+I have never been accustomed to sleep more than four or five hours, so
+that through life I have allowed time for paying visits and receiving
+company.  I have still had sufficient for study and improvement.  Hyndford
+was my instructor in politics; Boerhaave, then physician to the court, my
+bosom friend, my tutor in physic and literary subjects.  Women formed me
+for court intrigues, though these, as a philosopher, I despised.
+
+The chancellor had greatly changed his carriage towards me since the
+incident of the plan.  He observed my looks, showed he was distrustful,
+and desirous of revenge.  His lady, as well as myself, remarked this, and
+new measures became necessary.  I was obliged to act an artful, but, at
+the same time, a very dangerous part.
+
+My cousin, Baron Trenck, died in the Spielberg, October 4, 1749, and left
+me his heir, on condition I should only serve the house of Austria.  In
+March, 1750, Count Bernes received the citation sent me to enter on this
+inheritance.  I would hear nothing of Vienna; the abominable treatment of
+my cousin terrified me.  I well knew the origin of his prosecution, the
+services he had rendered his country, and had been an eye-witness of the
+injustice by which he was repaid.  Bernes represented to me that the
+property left me was worth much above a million: that the empress would
+support me in pursuit of justice, and that I had no personal enemy at
+Vienna, that a million of certain property in Hungary was much superior
+to the highest expectations in Russia, where I myself had beheld so many
+changes of fortune, and the effects of family cabals.  Russia he painted
+as dangerous, Vienna as secure, and promised me himself effectual
+assistance, as his embassy would end within the year.  Were I once rich,
+I might reside in what country I pleased; nor could the persecutions of
+Frederic anywhere pursue me so ineffectually as in Austria.  Snares would
+be laid for me everywhere else, as I had experienced in Russia.  "What,"
+said he, "would have been the consequence, had not the countess warned
+you of the impending danger?  You, like many other honest and innocent
+men, would have been sent to Siberia.  Your innocence must have remained
+untested, and yourself, in the universal opinion, a villain and a
+traitor."
+
+Hyndford spoke to me in the same tone, assured me of his eternal
+protection, and described London as a certain asylum, should I not find
+happiness at Vienna.  He spoke of slavery as a Briton ought to speak,
+reminded me of the fate of Munich and Osterman, painted the court such as
+I knew it to be, and asked me what were my expectations, even were I
+fortunate enough to become general or minister in such a country.
+
+These reasonings at length determined me; but having plenty of money, I
+thought proper to take Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Holland in my way, and
+Barnes was in the meantime to prepare me a favourable reception at
+Vienna.  He desired, also, I would give him authority to get possession
+of the estates to which I was heir.  My mistress strongly endeavoured to
+detain me, but yielded at length to the force of reason.  I tore myself
+away, and promised, on my honour, to return as soon as I had arranged my
+affairs at Vienna.  She made the proposition of investing me within some
+foreign embassy, by which I might render the most effectual services to
+the court at Vienna.  In this hope we parted with heavy hearts: she
+presented me with her portrait, and a snuffbox set with diamonds; the
+first of these, three years after was torn from my bosom by the officers
+in my first dungeon at Magdeburg, as I shall hereafter relate.  The
+chancellor embraced me, at parting, with friendship.  Apraxin wept, and
+clasped me in his arms, prophesying at the same time, I should never be
+so happy as in Russia.  I myself foreboded misfortune, and quitted Russia
+with regret, but still followed the advice of Hyndford and Bernes.
+
+From Moscow I travelled to Petersburg, where I found a letter, at the
+house of Baron Wolf, the banker, from the countess, which rent my very
+heart, and almost determined me to return.  She endeavoured to terrify me
+from proceeding to Vienna, yet inclosed a bill for four thousand roubles,
+to aid me on my journey, were I absolutely bent to turn my back on
+fortune.
+
+My effects, in money and jewels, amounted to about thirty-six thousand
+florins; I therefore returned the draft, intreated her eternal
+remembrance, and that she would reserve her favour and support to times
+in which they might become needful.  After remaining a few days at
+Petersburg, I journeyed, by land, to Stockholm; taking with me letters of
+recommendation from all the foreign envoys.
+
+I forgot to mention that Funk was inconsolable for my departure; his
+imprudence had nearly plunged me into misery, and destroyed all my hopes
+in Russia.  Twenty-two years after this I met the worthy man, once more
+in Dresden.  He, there, considered himself as the cause of all the evils
+inflicted on me, and assured me the recital of my sufferings had been so
+many bitter reproaches to his soul.  Our recapitulation of former times
+gave us endless pleasure, and it was the sweetest of joys to meet and
+renew my friendship with such a man, after having weathered so many
+storms of fate.
+
+At Stockholm I wanted for no recommendation; the Queen, sister to the
+great Frederic, had known me at Berlin, when I had the honour, as an
+officer of the body guard, of accompanying her to Stettin.  I related my
+whole history to her without reserve.  She, from political motives,
+advised me not to make any stay at Stockholm, and to me continued till
+death, an ever-gracious lady.  I proceeded to Copenhagen, where I had
+business to transact for M. Chaise, the Danish envoy at Moscow: from whom
+also I had letters of recommendation.  Here I had the pleasure of meeting
+my old friend, Lieutenant Bach, who had aided me in my escape from my
+imprisonment at Glatz.  He was poor and in debt, and I procured him
+protection, by relating the noble manner in which he behaved I also
+presented him with five hundred ducats, by the aid of which he pushed his
+fortune.  He wrote to me in the year 1776, a letter of sincere thanks,
+and died a colonel of hussars in the Danish service in 1776.
+
+I remained in Copenhagen but a fortnight, and then sailed in a Dutch
+ship, from Elsineur to Amsterdam.  Scarcely had we put to sea, before a
+storm arose, by which we lost a mast and bowsprit, had our sails
+shattered, and were obliged to cast anchor among the rocks of Gottenburg,
+where our deliverance was singularly fortunate.
+
+Here we lay nine days before we could make the open sea, and here I found
+a very pleasant amusement, by going daily in the ship's boat from rock to
+rock, attended by two of my servants, to shoot wild ducks, and catch
+shell-fish; whence I every evening returned with provisions, and sheep's
+milk, bought of the poor inhabitants, for the ship's crew.
+
+There was a dearth among these poor people.  Our vessel was laden with
+corn; some of this I purchased, to the amount of some hundreds of Dutch
+florins, and distributed wherever I went.  I also gave one of their
+ministers a hundred florins for his poor congregation, who was himself in
+want of bread, and whose annual stipend amounted to one hundred and fifty
+florins.
+
+Here in the sweet pleasure of doing good, I left behind me much of that
+money I had so easily acquired in Russia; and perhaps had we stayed much
+longer should myself have left the place in poverty.  A thousand
+blessings followed me, and the storm-driven Trenck was long remembered
+and talked of at Gottenburg.
+
+In this worthy employment, however, I had nearly lost my life.  Returning
+from carrying corn, the wind rose, and drove the boat to sea.  I not
+understanding the management of the helm, and the servants awkwardly
+handling the sails, the boat in tacking was overset.  The benefit of
+learning to swim, I again experienced, and my faithful servant, who had
+gained the rock, aided me when almost spent.  The good people who had
+seen the shallop overset, came off in their boats to my assistance.  An
+honest Calmuc, whom I had brought from Russia, and another of my servants
+perished.  I saw the first sink after I had reached the shore.
+
+The kind Swedes brought me on board, and also righted and returned with
+the shallop.  For some days I was sea-sick.  We weighed anchor, and
+sailed for the Texel, the mouth of which we saw, and the pilots coming
+off, when another storm arose, and drove us to the port of Bahus, in
+Norway, into which we ran, without farther damage.  In some few days we
+again set sail, with a fair wind, and at length reached Amsterdam.
+
+Here I made no long stay; for the day after my arrival, an extraordinary
+adventure happened, in which I was engaged chiefly by my own rashness.
+
+I was a spectator while the harpooners belonging to the whale fishery
+were exercising themselves in darting their harpoons, most of whom were
+drunk.  One of them, Herman Rogaar by name, a hero among these people,
+for his dexterity with his snickasnee, came up, and passed some of his
+coarse jests upon my Turkish sabre, and offered to fillip me on the nose.
+I pushed him from me, and the fellow threw down his cap, drew his
+snickasnee, challenged me, called me monkey-tail, and asked whether I
+chose a straight, a circular, or a cross cut.
+
+Thus here was I, in this excellent company, with no choice but that of
+either fighting or running away.  The robust, Herculean fellow grew more
+insolent, and I, turning round to the bystanders, asked them to lend me a
+snickasnee.  "No, no," said the challenger, "draw your great knife from
+your side, and, long as it is, I will lay you a dozen ducats you get a
+gash in the cheek."  I drew; he confidently advanced with his snickasnee,
+and, at the first stroke of my sabre, that, and the hand that held it,
+both dropped to the ground, and the blood spouted in my face.
+
+I now expected the people would, indubitably, tear me to pieces; but my
+fear was changed into astonishment at hearing a universal shout
+applauding the vanquisher of the redoubted Herman Rogaar who, so lately
+feared for his strength and dexterity, became the object of their
+ridicule.  A Jew spectator conducted me out of the crowd, and the people
+clamorously followed me to my inn.  This kind of duel, by which I gained
+honour, would anywhere else have brought me to the highest disgrace.  A
+man who knew the use of the sabre, in a single day, might certainly have
+disabled a hundred Herman Rogaars.  This story may instruct and warn
+others.  He that is quarrelsome shall never want an enemy.  My temerity
+often engaged me in disputes which, by timely compliance and calmness,
+might easily have been avoided; but my evil genius always impelled me
+into the paths of perplexity, and I seldom saw danger till it was
+inevitable
+
+I left Amsterdam for the Hague, where I had been recommended to Lord
+Holderness, the English ambassador, by Lord Hyndford; to Baron Reisbach,
+by Bernes; to the Grand Pensionary Fagel, by Schwart; and from the
+chancellor I had a letter to the Prince of Orange himself I could not,
+therefore, but be everywhere received with all possible distinction.
+Within these recommendations, and the knowledge I possessed, had I had
+the good fortune to have avoided Vienna, and gone to India, where my
+talents would have insured me wealth, how many tears of affliction had I
+been spared!  My ill fortune, however, had brought me letters from Count
+Bernes, assuring me that heaven was at Vienna, and including a citation
+from the high court, requiring me to give in my claim of inheritance.
+Bernes further informed me the Austrian court had assured him I should
+meet with all justice and protection, and advised me to hasten my
+journey, as the executorship of the estates of Trenck was conducted but
+little to my advantage.
+
+This advice I took, proceeded to Vienna, and from that moment all my
+happiness had an end.  I became bewildered in lawsuits, and the arts of
+wicked men, and all possible calamities assaulted me at once, the recital
+of which would itself afford subject matter for a history.  They began by
+the following incidents:--
+
+One M. Schenck sought my acquaintance at the Hague.  I met with him at my
+hotel, where he intreated I would take him to Nuremberg, whence he was to
+proceed to Saxony.  I complied, and bore his expenses; but at Hanau,
+waking in the morning, I found my watch, set with diamonds, a ring worth
+two thousand roubles, a diamond snuff-box, with my mistress's picture,
+and my purse, containing about eighty ducats, stolen from my bed-side,
+and Schenck become invisible.  Little affected by the loss of money, at
+any time, I yet was grieved for my snuff-box.  The rascal, however, had
+escaped, and it was fortunate that the remainder of my ready money, with
+my bills of exchange, were safely locked up.
+
+I now pursued my journey without company, and arrived in Vienna.  I
+cannot exactly recollect in what month, but I had been absent about two
+years; and the reader will allow that it was barely possible for any man,
+in so short a time, to have experienced more various changes of fate,
+though many smaller incidents have been suppressed.  The places, where my
+pledged fidelity required discretion will be easily supposed, as likewise
+will the concealment of court intrigues, and artifices, the publication
+of which might even yet subject me to more persecutions.  All writers are
+not permitted to speak truth of monarchs and ministers.  I am the father
+of eight children, and parental love and duty vanquish the inclination of
+the author; and this duty, this affection, have made me particularly
+cautious in relating what happened to me at Vienna, that I might,
+thereby, serve them more effectually than by indulging the pride of the
+writer, or the vengeance of the man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+Since accounts so various, contradictory, and dishonourable to the name
+of Trenck, have been circulated in Vienna, concerning facts which
+happened thirty-seven years ago, I will here give a short abstract of
+them, and such as may he verified by the records of the court.  I pledge
+my honour to the truth of the statement, and were I so allowed, would
+prove it, to the conviction of any unprejudiced court of justice: but
+this I cannot hope, as princes are much more disposed to bestow unmerited
+favours than to make retribution to those whom they have unjustly
+punished.
+
+Francis Baron Trenck died in the Spielberg, October 4th, 1749.  It has
+been erroneously believed in Vienna that his estates were confiscated by
+the sentence which condemned him to the Spielberg.  He had committed no
+offence against the state, was accused of none, much less convicted.  The
+court sentence was that the administration of his estate should be
+committed to Counsellor Kempf and Baron Peyaczewitz, who were selected by
+himself, and the accounts of his stewards and farmers were to be sent him
+yearly.  He continued, till his death, to have the free and entire
+disposal of his property.
+
+Although, before his death, he sent for his advocate, Doctor Berger, and
+by him petitioned the Empress she would issue the necessary orders to the
+Governor of the Spielberg, to permit the entrance of witnesses, and all
+things necessary to make a legal will, it by no means follows that he
+petitioned her for permission to make this will.  The case is too clear
+to admit of doubt.  The royal commands were given, that he should enjoy
+all freedom of making his will.  Permission was also given that, during
+his sickness, he might be removed to the capuchin convent, which was
+equal to liberty, but this he refused to accept.
+
+Neither was his ability to make a will questioned.  The advocate was only
+to request the Queen's permission to supply some formalities, which had
+been neglected, when he purchased the lordships of Velika and Nustar,
+which petition was likewise granted.  The royal mandate still exists,
+which commissioned the persons therein named as trustees to the estate
+and effects of Trenck, and this mandate runs thus: "Let the last will of
+Trenck be duly executed: let dispatch be used, and the heir protected in
+all his rights."  Confiscation, therefore, had never been thought of, nor
+his power to make a will questioned.
+
+I will now show how I have been deprived of this valuable inheritance,
+while I have been obliged to pay above sixty thousand florins, to defray
+legacies he had left; and when this narrative is read, it will no longer
+be affirmed at Vienna, that by the favours of the court I inherited
+seventy-six thousand florins, or the lordship of Zwerbach from Trenck, I
+shall proceed to my proofs.
+
+The father of Baron Trenck, who died in the year 1743, governor of
+Leitschau, in Hungary, named me in his will the successor of his son,
+should he die without heirs male.
+
+This will was sent to be proved, according to form, at Vienna, after
+having been authenticated in the most legal manner in Hungary.  The court
+called Hofkriegsrath, at Vienna, neglected to provide a curator for the
+security of the next heir; yet this could not annul my right of
+succession.  When Trenck succeeded his father, he entered no protest to
+this, his father's will; therefore, dying without children, in the year
+1749, my claim was indisputable.  I was heir had he made no will: and
+even in case of confiscation, my title to his father's estates still
+remained valid.
+
+Trenck knew this but too well: he, as I have before related, was my worst
+enemy, and even attempted my life.  I will therefore proceed to show the
+real intent of this his crafty testament.
+
+Determined no longer to live in confinement, or to ask forgiveness, by
+which, it is well known, he might have obtained his freedom, having lost
+all hopes of reimbursing his losses, his avarice was reduced to despair.
+His desire of fame was unbounded, and this could no way be gratified but
+by having himself canonized for a saint, after spending his life in
+committing all the ravages of a pandour.  Hence originated the following
+facts:--
+
+He knew I was the legal claimant to his father's estates.  His father had
+bought with the family money, remitted from Prussia, the lordships of
+Prestowacz and Pleternitz, in Sclavonia, and he himself, during his
+father's life, and with his father's money, had purchased the lordship of
+Pakratz, for forty thousand florins: this must therefore descend also to
+me, he having no more power to will this from me, than he had the
+remainder of his paternal inheritance.  The property he himself had
+gained was consigned to administrators, but a hundred thousand florins
+had been expended in lawsuits, and sixty-three suits continued actually
+pending against him in court; the legacies he bequeathed amounted to
+eighty thousand florins.  These, he saw, could not be paid, should I
+claim nothing more than the paternal inheritance; he, therefore, to
+render me unfortunate after his death, craftily named me his universal
+heir, without mentioning his father's will, but endeavoured, by his
+mysterious death, and the following conditions, to enforce the execution
+of his own will.
+
+First,--I was to become a Catholic.
+
+Secondly,--I was to serve only the house of Austria; and,
+
+Lastly,--He made his whole estate, without excepting the paternal
+inheritance, a _Fidei commissum_.
+
+Hence arose all my misfortunes, as indeed was his intention; for, but a
+short time before his death, he said to the Governor, Baron Kottulinsky,
+"I shall now die contented, since I have been able to trick my cousin,
+and render him wretched."
+
+His death, believed in Vienna to be miraculous, happened after the
+following manner; and by this he had induced many weak people, who really
+believed him a saint, to further his views.
+
+Three days before his death, while in perfect health, he desired the
+governor of the Spielberg would send for his confessor, for that St.
+Francis had revealed to him he should be removed into life everlasting on
+his birth-day at twelve o'clock.  The capuchin was sent for, but the
+prediction laughed at.
+
+The day, however, after the departure of his confessor, he said, "Praise
+be to God, my end approaches; my confessor is dead, and has appeared to
+me."  Strange as it may seem; it was actually found to be true that the
+priest was dead.  He now had all the officers of the garrison of Brunn
+assembled, tonsured his head like a capuchin, took the habit of the
+order, publicly confessed himself in a sermon of an hour's length,
+exhorted them all to holiness, acted the part of a most exemplary
+penitent, embraced all present, spoke with a smile of the insignificance
+of all earthly possessions, took his leave, knelt down to prayers, slept
+calmly, rose, prayed again, and about eleven in the forenoon, October
+4th, taking his watch in his hand, said, "Thanks be to my God, my last
+hour approaches."  All laughed at such a farce from a man of such a
+character; yet they remarked that the left side of his face grew pale.  He
+then leaned his arm on the table, prayed, and remained motionless, with
+his eyes closed.  The clock struck twelve--no signs of life or motion
+could be discovered; they spoke to him, and found he was really dead.
+
+The word miracle was echoed through the whole country, and the
+transmigration of the Pandour Trenck, from earth to heaven, by St.
+Francis, proclaimed.  The clue to this labyrinth of miracles, known only
+to me, is truly as follows:--He possessed the secret of what is called
+the _aqua tofana_, and had determined on death.  His confessor had been
+entrusted with all his secrets, and with promissory notes, which he
+wished to invalidate.  I am perfectly certain that he had returned a
+promissory note of a great prince, given for two hundred thousand
+florins, which has never been brought to account.  The confessor,
+therefore, was to be provided for, that Trenck might not be betrayed, and
+a dose of poison was given him before he set off for Vienna: his death
+was the consequence.  He took similar means with himself, and thus knew
+the hour of his exit; finding he could not become the first on earth, he
+wished to be adored as a saint in heaven.  He knew he should work
+miracles when dead, because he ordered a chapel to be built, willed a
+perpetual mass, and bequeathed the capuchins sixty thousand florins.
+
+Thus died this most extraordinary man, in the thirty-fourth year of his
+age, to whom nature had denied none of her gifts; who had been the
+scourge of Bavaria; the terror of France; and who had, with his supposed
+contemptible pandours, taken above six thousand Prussian prisoners.  He
+lived a tyrant and enemy of men, and died a sanctified impostor.
+
+Such was the state of affairs, as willed by Trenck, when I came to
+Vienna, in 1759, where I arrived with money and jewels to the amount of
+twenty thousand florins.
+
+Instead of profiting by the wealth Trenck had acquired, I expended a
+hundred and twenty thousand florins of my own money, including what
+devolved to me from my uncle, his father, in the prosecution of his
+suits.  Trenck had paid two hundred ducats to the tribunal of Vienna, in
+the year 1743, to procure its very reprehensible silence concerning a
+curator, to which I was sacrificed, as the new judges of this court
+refused to correct the error of their predecessors.  Such are the
+proceedings of courts of justice in Vienna!
+
+On my first audience, no one could be received more kindly than I was, by
+the Empress Queen.  She spoke of my deceased cousin with much emotion and
+esteem, promised me all grace and favour, and informed me of the
+particular recommendations she had received, on my behalf, from Count
+Bernes.  Finding sixty-three cases hang over my head, in consequence of
+the inheritance of Trenck, to obtain justice in any one of which in
+Vienna, would have employed the whole life of an honest man, I determined
+to renounce this inheritance, and claim only under the will and as the
+heir of my uncle.
+
+With this view I applied for and obtained a copy of that will, with which
+I personally appeared, and declared to the court that I renounced the
+inheritance of Francis Trenck, would undertake none of his suits, nor be
+responsible for his legacies, and required only his father's estates,
+according to the legal will, which I produced; that is to say, the three
+lordships of Pakratz, Prestowacz, and Pleneritz, without chattels or
+personal effects.  Nothing could be more just or incontrovertible than
+this claim.  What was my astonishment, to be told, in open court, that
+Her Majesty had declared I must either wholly perform the articles of the
+will of Trenck, or be excluded the entire inheritance, and have nothing
+further to hope.  What could be done?  I ventured to remonstrate, but the
+will of the court was determined and absolute: I must become a Roman
+Catholic.
+
+In this extremity I bribed a priest, who gave me a signed attestation,
+"That I had abjured the accursed heresy of Lutheranism."  My religion,
+however, remained what it had ever been.  General Bernes about this time
+returned from his embassy, and I related to him the lamentable state in
+which I found my affairs.  He spoke to the Empress in my behalf, and she
+promised everything.  He advised me to have patience, to perform all that
+was required of me, and to make myself responsible for the depending
+suits.  Some family concerns obliged him, as he informed me, to make a
+journey to Turin, but his return would be speedy: he would then take the
+management of my affairs upon himself, and insure my good fortune in
+Austria.  Bernes loved me as his son, and I had reason to hope, from his
+assurance, I should be largely remembered in his will, which was the more
+probable, as he had neither child nor relations.  He parted from me, like
+a father, with tears in his eyes; but he had scarcely been absent six
+weeks before the news arrived of his death, which, if report may be
+credited, was effected by poison, administered by _a friend_.  Ever the
+sport of fortune, thus were my supporters snatched from me at the very
+moment they became most necessary.
+
+The same year was I, likewise, deprived by death of my friend and
+protector, Field-marshal Konigseck, Governor of Vienna, when he had
+determined to interest himself in my behalf.  I have been beloved by the
+greatest men Austria ever produced, but unfortunately have been
+persecuted by the chicanery of pettifoggers, fools, fanatics, and
+priests, who have deprived me of the favour of my Empress, guiltless as I
+was of crime or deceit, and left my old age in poverty.
+
+My ills were increased by a new accident.  Soon after the departure of
+Bernes, the Prussian minister, taking me aside, in the house of the
+Palatine envoy, M. Becker, proposed my return to Berlin, assured me the
+King had forgotten all that was past, was convinced of my innocence, that
+my good fortune would there be certain, and be pledged his honour to
+recover the inheritance of Trenck.  I answered, the favour came too late;
+I had suffered injustice too flagrant, in my own country, and that I
+would trust no prince on earth whose will might annihilate all the rights
+of men.  My good faith to the King had been too ill repaid; my talents
+might gain me bread in any part of the world, and I would not again
+subject myself to the danger of unmerited imprisonment.
+
+His persuasions were strong, but ineffectual.  "My dear Trenck," said he,
+"God is my judge that my intentions are honest; I will pledge myself,
+that my sovereign will insure your fortune: you do not know Vienna; you
+will lose all by the suits in which you are involved, and will be
+persecuted because you do not carry a rosary."
+
+How often have I repented I did not then return to Berlin!  I should have
+escaped ten years' imprisonment; should have recovered the estates of
+Trenck: should not have wasted the prime of life in the litigation of
+suits, and the writing of memorials; and should have certainly been
+ranked among the first men in my native country.  Vienna was no place for
+a man who could not fawn and flatter: yet here was I destined to remain
+six-and-thirty years, unrewarded, unemployed; and through youth and age,
+to continue on the list of invalid majors.
+
+Having rejected the proposition of the Prussian envoy, all my hopes in
+Vienna were ruined; for Frederic, by his residents and emissaries, knew
+how to effect whatever he pleased in foreign courts, and determined that
+the Trenck who would no longer serve or confide in him should at least
+find no opportunity of serving against him: I soon became painted to the
+Empress as an arch heretic who never would be faithful to the house of
+Austria, and only endeavoured to obtain the inheritance of Trenck that he
+might devote himself to Prussia.  This I shall hereafter prove; and
+display a scene that shall be the disgrace of many, by whom the Empress
+was induced to harbour unjust suspicions of an able and honest man.  I
+here stand erect and confident before the world; publish the truth, and
+take everlasting shame to myself, if any man on earth can prove me guilty
+of one treacherous thought.  I owe no thanks; but so far from having
+received favours, I have six and thirty years remained unable to obtain
+justice, though I have all the while been desirous of shedding my blood
+in defence of the monarchy where I have thus been treated.  Till the year
+1746, I was equally zealous and faithful to Prussia; yet my estates
+there, though confiscated, were liable to recovery: in Hungary, on the
+contrary, the sentence of confiscation is irrevocable.  This is a
+remarkable proof in favour of my honour, and my children's claims.
+
+Surely no reader will be offended at these digressions; my mind is
+agitated, my feelings roused, remembering that my age and grey hairs
+deprive me of the sweet hope of at length vanquishing opposition, either
+by patience, or forcing justice, by eminent services, or noble efforts.
+
+This my history will never reach a monarch's eye, consequently no
+monarch, by perceiving, will be induced to protect truth.  It may,
+indeed, be criticised by literati; it will certainly be decried by my
+persecutors, who, through life, have been my false accusers, and will
+probably, therefore, be prohibited by the priests.  All Germany, however,
+will read, and posterity perhaps may pity, should my book escape the
+misfortune of being classed among improbable romances; to which it is the
+more liable, because that the biographers of Frederic and Maria Theresa,
+for manifest reasons, have never so much as mentioned the name of Trenck.
+
+Once more to my story: I was now obliged to declare myself heir, but
+always _cum reservatione juris mei_, not as simply claiming under the
+will of Francis Trenck I was obliged to take upon myself the management
+of the sixty-three suits, and the expenses attending any one of these are
+well known in Vienna.  My situation may be imagined, when I inform the
+reader I only received, from the whole estate of Trenck, 3,600 florins in
+three years, which were scarcely sufficient to defray the expenses of new
+year's gifts to the solicitors and masters in chancery.  How did I labour
+in stating and transcribing proofs for the court!  The money I possessed
+soon vanished.  My Prussian relations supported me, and the Countess
+Bestuchef sent me the four thousand roubles I had refused at Petersburg.
+I had also remittances from my faithful mistress in Prussia; and, in
+addition, was obliged to borrow money at the usurious rate of sixty per
+cent.  Bewildered as I was among lawyers and knaves, my ambition still
+prompted me to proceed, and all things are possible to labour and
+perseverance; but my property was expended: and, at length, I could only
+obtain that the contested estates should be made a _Fidei commissum_, or
+put under trust; whereby, though they were protected from being the
+further prey of others, I did not inherit them as mine.  In this pursuit
+was my prime of life wasted, which might have been profitably and
+honourably spent.
+
+In three years, however, I brought my sixty-three suits to a kind of
+conclusion; the probabilities were this could not have been effected in
+fifty.  Exclusive of my assiduity, the means I took must not be told; it
+is sufficient that I here learnt what judges were, and thus am enabled to
+describe them to others.
+
+For a few ducats, the president's servant used to admit me into a closet
+where I could see everything as perfectly as if I had myself been one of
+the council.  This often was useful, and taught me to prevent evil; and
+often was I scarcely able to refrain bursting in upon this court.
+
+Their appointed hour of meeting was nine in the morning, but they seldom
+assembled before eleven.  The president then told his beads, and muttered
+his prayers.  Someone got up and harangued, while the remainder, in
+pairs, amused themselves with talking instead of listening, after which
+the news of the day became the common topic of conversation, and the
+council broke up, the court being first adjourned some three weeks,
+without coming to any determination.  This was called _judicium delegatum
+in causis Trenkiansis_; and when at last they came to a conclusion, the
+sentence was such as I shall ever shudder at and abhor.
+
+The real estates of Trenck consisted in the great Sclavonian manors,
+called the lordships of Pakratz, Prestowatz, and Pleternitz, which he had
+inherited from his father, and were the family property, together with
+Velika and Nustak, which he himself had purchased: the annual income of
+these was 60,000 florins, and they contained more than two hundred
+villages and hamlets.  The laws of Hungary require--
+
+1st.  That those who purchase estates shall obtain the _consensus regius_
+(royal consent).
+
+2nd.  That the seller shall possess, and make over the right of property,
+together with that of transferring or alienating, and
+
+3dly.  That the purchaser shall be a native born, or have bought his
+naturalisation.
+
+In default of all, or any of these, the Fiscus, on the death of the
+purchaser, takes possession, repaying the _summa emptitia_, or purchase-
+money, together within what can be shown to have been laid out in
+improvements, or the _summa inscriptitia_, the sum at which it stands
+rated in the fiscal register.
+
+Without form or notice, the Hungarian Fiscal President, Count
+Grassalkowitz, took possession of all the Trenck estates on his decease,
+in the name of the Fiscus.  The prize was great, not so much because of
+the estates themselves, as of the personal property upon them.  Trenck
+had sent loads of merchandise to his estates, of linen, ingots of gold
+and silver from Bavaria, Alsatia, and Silesia.  He had a vast storehouse
+of arms, and of saddles; also the great silver service of the Emperor
+Charles VII., which he had brought from Munich, with the service of plate
+of the King of Prussia; and the personal property on these estates was
+affirmed considerably to exceed in value the estates themselves.
+
+I was not long since informed by one of the first generals, whose honour
+is undoubted, that several waggons were laden with these rich effects and
+sent to Mihalefze.  His testimony was indubitable; he knew the two
+pandours, who were the confidants of Trenck, and the keepers of his
+treasures; and these, during the general plunder, each seized a bag of
+pearls, and fled to Turkey, where they became wealthy merchants.  His
+rich stud of horses were taken, and the very cows driven off the farms.
+His stand of arms consisted of more than three thousand rare pieces.
+Trenck had affirmed he had sent linen to the amount of fifty thousand
+florins, in chests from Dunnhausen and Cersdorf, in the county of Glatz,
+to his estates.  The pillage was general; and when orders came to send
+all the property of Trenck and deliver it to his universal heir, nothing
+remained that any person would accept.  I have myself seen, in a certain
+Hungarian nobleman's house, some valuable arms, which I knew I had been
+robbed of! and I bought at Esseck some silver plates on which were the
+arms of Prussia, that had been sold by Counsellor D-n, who had been
+empowered to take possession of these estates, and had thus rendered
+himself rich.  Of this I procured an attestation, and proved the theft: I
+complained aloud at Vienna, but received an order from the court to be
+silent, under pain of displeasure, and also to go no more into Sclavonia.
+The principal reason of my loss of the landed property in Hungary was my
+having dared to make inquiries concerning the personal, not one guinea of
+which was ever brought to account.  I then proved my right to the family
+estates, left by my uncle, beyond all dispute, and also of those
+purchased by my cousin.  The commissions appointed to inquire into these
+rights even confirmed them; yet after they had been thus established, I
+received the following order from the court, in the hand of the Empress
+herself:--"The president, Count Grassalkowitz, takes it upon his
+conscience that the Sclavonian estates do not descend to Trenck, _in
+natura_; he must therefore receive the _summa emptitia et inscriptitia_,
+together with the money he can show to have been expended in
+improvements."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+And herewith ended my pleadings and my hopes.  I had sacrificed my
+property, laboured through sixty-three inferior suits, and lost this
+great cause without a trial.  I could have remained satisfied with the
+loss of the personal property: the booty of a soldier, like the wealth
+amassed by a minister, appears to me little better than a public robbery;
+but the acquirements of my ancestors, my birth-right by descent, of these
+I could not be deprived without excessive cruelty.  Oh patience!
+patience!--Yet shall my children never become the footmen, nor grooms, of
+those who have robbed them of their inheritance; and to them I bequeathed
+my rights in all their power: nor shall any man prevent my crying aloud,
+so long as justice shall not be done.
+
+The president, it is true, did not immediately possess himself of the
+estates, but he took good care his friends should have them at such rates
+that the sale of them did not bring the fiscal treasury 150,000 florins,
+while I, in real and personal property, lost a million and a half; nay,
+probably a sum equal to this in personal property alone.
+
+The summa _inscriptitia et emptitia_ for all these great estates only
+amounted to 149,000 florins, and this was to be paid by the chamber, but
+the president thought proper to deduct 10,000 on pretence the cattle had
+been driven off the estate of Pakratz; and, further, 36,000 more, under
+the shameful pretence that Trenck, to recruit his pandours, had drained
+the estates of 3,600 vassals, who had never returned; the estates,
+therefore, must make them good at the rate of thirty florins per head,
+which would have amounted to 108,000 florins; but, with much difficulty,
+this sum was reduced, as above stated, to 36,000 florins, each vassal
+reckoned at ten florins per head.  Thus was I obliged, from the property
+of my family, to pay for 3,600 men who had gloriously died in war, in
+defence of the contested rights of the great Maria Theresa; who had
+raised so many millions of contributions for her in the countries of her
+enemies; who, sword in hand, had stormed and taken so many towns, and
+dispersed, or taken prisoners, so many thousands of her foes.  Would this
+be believed by listening nations?
+
+All deductions made for legacies, fees, and formalities, there remained
+to me 63,000 florins, with which I purchased the lordship of Zwerbach,
+and I was obliged to pay 6,000 florins for my naturalisation.  Thus, when
+the sums are enumerated which I expended on the suits of Trenck, received
+from my friends at Berlin and Petersburg, it will be found that I cannot,
+at least, have been a gainer by having been made the universal heir of
+the immensely rich Trenck.  With regret I write these truths in support
+of my children's claims, that they may not, in my grave, reproach me for
+having neglected the duty of a father.
+
+I will mere add a few particulars which may afford the reader matter for
+meditation, cause him to commiserate my fate, and give a picture of the
+manner in which the prosecution was carried on against Trenck.
+
+One Schygrai, a silly kind of beggarly baron, who was treated as a
+buffoon, was invited in the year 1743 to dine with Baron Pejaczewitz,
+when Trenck happened to be present.  The conversation happened to turn on
+a kind of brandy made in this country, and Trenck jocularly said he
+annually distilled this sort of brandy from cow-dung to the value of
+thirty thousand florins.  Schygrai supposed him serious, and wished to
+learn the art, which Trenck promised to teach him Pejaczewitz told him he
+could give him thirty thousand load of dung.
+
+"But where shall I get the wood?" said Schygrai.  "I will give you thirty
+thousand klafters," answered Trenck.  The credulous baron, thinking
+himself very fortunate, desired written promises, which they gave him;
+and that of Trenck ran thus:
+
+   "I hereby permit and empower Baron Schygrai to sell gratis, in the
+   forest of Tscherra Horra, thirty thousand klafters of wood.
+
+"Witness my hand,
+"TRENCK."
+
+Trenck was no sooner dead than the Baron brought his note, and made
+application to the court.  His attorney was the noted Bussy, and the
+court decreed the estates of Trenck should pay at the rate of one form
+thirty kreutzers per klafter, or forty-five thousand florins, with all
+costs, and an order was given to the administrators to pay the money.
+
+Just at this time I arrived at Vienna, from Petersburg.  Doctor Berger,
+the advocate of Trenck, told me the affair would admit of no delay.  I
+hastened to the Empress, and obtained an order to delay payment.  An
+inquiry was instituted, and this forest of Tscherra Horra was found to be
+situated in Turkey.  The absurdity and injustice were flagrant, and it
+was revoked.  I cannot say how much of these forty-five thousand florins
+the Baron had promised to the noble judge and the attorney.  I only know
+that neither of them was punished.  Had not some holidays luckily
+intervened, or had the attorney expected my arrival, the money would have
+been paid, and an ineffectual attempt to obtain retribution would have
+been the consequence, as happened in many similar instances.
+
+I have before mentioned the advertisement inviting all who had any
+demands or complaints against Trenck to appear, with the promise of a
+ducat a day; and it is mere proper to add that the sum of fifteen
+thousand florins was brought to account, and paid out of the estates of
+Trenck.  For this shameful purpose some thousand of florins were paid
+besides to this species of claimants and though, after examination, their
+pretensions all proved to be futile, and themselves were cast in damages,
+yet was none of this money ever refunded, or the false claimants
+punished.  Among these the pretended daughter of General Schwerin
+received two thousand florins, notorious as was her character.  Again,
+Trenck was accused of having appropriated the money to his own use, and
+treated as if convicted.  After his death a considerable demand was
+accordingly made.  I happening, however, to meet with Ruckhardt, his
+quarter-master, he with asseverations declared that, instead of being
+indebted to the regiment, the regiment was more than a hundred thousand
+florins indebted to him, advised me to get attestations from the
+captains, and assured me he himself would give in a clear statement of
+the regiment's accounts.
+
+I followed his advice, hastened to the regiment, and obtained so many
+proofs, that the quarter-master of the regiment, who, with the major, had
+in reality pocketed the money, was imprisoned and put in irons.  What
+became of the thief or the false witness afterward I know not; I only
+know that nothing was refunded, that the quarter-master found protectors,
+detained the money, and, some years after this vile action, purchased a
+commission.  One instance more.
+
+Trenck, to the corps of infantry he commanded, added a corps of hussars,
+which he raised and provided with horses and accoutrements sold by
+auction.  My demand on this account was upwards of sixty thousand
+florins, to which I received neither money nor reply.  He had also
+expended a hundred thousand florins for the raising and equipping his
+three thousand pandours; in consequence of which a signed agreement had
+been given by the Government that these hundred thousand florins should
+be repaid to his heir, or he, the heir, should receive the command of the
+regiment.  The regiment, however, at his decease, was given to General
+Simschen; and as for the agreement, care was taken it should never come
+into my hands.  Thus these hundred thousand florins were lost.
+
+Yet it has been wickedly affirmed he was imprisoned in the Spielberg for
+having embezzled the regiment's money; whereas, I would to God I only was
+in possession of the sums he expended on this regiment; for he considered
+the regiment as his own; and great as was his avarice, still greater was
+his desire of fame, and greater still his love for his Empress, for whom
+he would gladly have yielded both property and life.
+
+Within respect to the money that was to have been repaid for improvement
+of the estates, I must add, these estates were bought at a time when the
+country had been left desolate by the Turks, and the reinstalment of such
+places as had fallen into their hands, and the erecting of farmhouses,
+mills, stocking them with horses, cattle, and seed corn, according to my
+poor estimate, could not amount to less than eighty thousand florins; but
+I was forbidden to go into Sclavonia, and the president offered, as an
+indemnification, four thousand florins.  Everybody was astonished, but
+he, within the utmost coolness, told me I must either accept this or
+nothing.  The hearers of this sentence cast their eyes up to heaven and
+pitied me.  I remonstrated, and thereby only made the matter worse.  Grief
+and anxiety occasioned me to take a journey into Italy, passing through
+Venice, Rome, and Florence.
+
+On my return to Vienna, I, by a friendly interference in behalf of a
+woman whose fears rather than guilt had brought her into danger, became
+suspected myself; and the very officious officers of the police had me
+imprisoned as a coiner without the least grounds for any such accusation
+except their own surmises.  I was detained unheard nine days, and when,
+having been heard, I had entirely justified myself, was again restored to
+liberty; public declaration was then made in the Gazette that the
+officers of the police had acted too precipitately.
+
+This was the satisfaction granted, but this did not content me.  I
+threatened the counsellor by whom my character had been so aspersed, and
+the Empress, condescending to mediate, bestowed on me a captainship of
+cavalry in the Cordova cuirassiers.
+
+Such was the recompense I received for wounds so deep, and such the
+neglect into which I was thrown at Vienna.  Discontent led me to join my
+regiment in Hungary.
+
+Here I gained the applause of my colonel, Count Bettoni, who himself told
+the Empress I, more than any other, had contributed to the forming of the
+regiment.  It may well be imagined how a man like me, accustomed, as I
+had been, to the first company of the first courts, must pass my time
+among the Carpathian mountains, where neither society nor good books were
+to be found, nor knowledge, of which I was enamoured, improved.  The
+conversation of Count Bettoni, and the chase, together with the love of
+the general of the regiment, old Field-marshal Cordova, were my only
+resources; the persecutions, neglect, and even contempt, I received at
+Vienna, were still the same.
+
+In the year 1754, in the month of March, my mother died in Prussia, and I
+requested the permission of the court that held the inheritance of
+Trenck, as a _fidei commissum_, to make a journey to Dantzic to settle
+some family affairs with my brothers and sister, my estates being
+confiscated.  This permission was granted, and thither I went in May,
+where I once more fell into the hands of the Prussians; which forms the
+second great and still more gloomy epoch in my life.  All who read what
+follows will shudder, will commiserate him who, feeling himself innocent,
+relates afflictions he has miserably encountered and gloriously overcome.
+
+I left Hungary, where I was in garrison, for Dantzic, where I had desired
+my brothers and sister to meet me that we might settle our affairs.  My
+principal intent, however, was a journey to Petersburg, there to seek the
+advice and aid of my friends, for law and persecution were not yet ended
+at Vienna; and my captain's pay and small income scarcely sufficed to
+defray charges of attorneys and counsellors.
+
+It is here most worthy of remark that I was told by Prince Ferdinand of
+Brunswick, governor of Magdeburg, he had received orders to prepare my
+prison at Magdeburg before I set out from Hungary.
+
+Nay, more; it had been written from Vienna to Berlin that the King must
+beware of Trenck, for that he would be at Dantzic at the time when the
+King was to visit his camp in Prussia.
+
+What thing more vile, what contrivance more abominable, could the
+wickedest wretch on earth find to banish a man his country, that he might
+securely enjoy the property of which the other had been robbed?  That
+this was done I have living witnesses in his highness Prince Ferdinand of
+Brunswick and the Berlin ministry, from whose mouths I learned this
+artifice of villainy.  It is the more necessary to establish this truth,
+because no one can comprehend why the _Great Frederic_ should have
+proceeded against me in a manner so cruel that, when it comes to be
+related, must raise the indignation of the just, and move hearts of iron
+to commiserate.
+
+Men so vile, so wicked, as I have described them, in conjunction with one
+Weingarten, secretary to Count Puebla, then Austrian minister at Berlin,
+have brought on me these my misfortunes.
+
+This was the Weingarten who, as is now well known, betrayed all the
+secrets of the Austrian court to Frederic, who at length was discovered
+in the year 1756, and who, when the war broke out, remained in the
+service of Prussia.  This same Weingarten, also, not only caused my
+wretchedness, but my sister's ruin and death, as he likewise did the
+punishment and death of three innocent men, which will hereafter be
+shown.
+
+It is an incontrovertible truth that I was betrayed and sold by men in
+Vienna whose interest it was that I should be eternally silenced.
+
+I was immediately visited by my brothers and sister on my arrival at
+Dantzic, where we lived happy in each other's company during a fortnight,
+and an amicable partition was made of my mother's effects; my sister
+perfectly justified herself concerning the manner in which I was obliged
+to fly from her house an the year 1746: our parting was kind, and as
+brother and sister ought to part.
+
+Our only acquaintance in Dantzic was the Austrian resident, M. Abramson,
+to whom I brought letters of recommendation from Vicuna, and whose
+reception of us was polite even to extravagance.
+
+This Abramson was a Prussian born, and had never seen Vienna, but
+obtained his then office by the recommendation of Count Bestuchef,
+without security for his good conduct, or proof of his good morals,
+heart, or head.  He was in close connection with the Prussian resident,
+Reimer; and was made the instrument of my ruin.
+
+Scarcely had my brothers and sister departed before I determined to make
+a voyage by sea to Russia.  Abramson contrived a thousand artifices, by
+which he detained me a week longer in Dantzic, that, he in conjunction
+with Reimer, might make the necessary preparations.
+
+The King of Prussia had demanded that the magistrates of Dantzic should
+deliver me up; but this could not be done without offending the Imperial
+court, I being a commissioned officer in that service, with proper
+passports; it was therefore probable that this negotiation required
+letters should pass and repass; and for this reason Abramson was employed
+to detain me some days longer, till, by the last letters from Berlin, the
+magistrates of Dantzic were induced to violate public safety and the laws
+of nations.  Abramson, I considered as my best friend, and my person as
+in perfect security; he had therefore no difficulty in persuading me to
+stay.
+
+The day of supposed departure on board a Swedish ship for Riga
+approached, and the deceitful Abramson promised me to send one of his
+servants to the port to know the hour.  At four in the afternoon he told
+me he had himself spoken to the captain, who said he would not sail till
+the next day; adding that he, Abramson, would expect me to breakfast, and
+would then accompany me to the vessel.  I felt a secret inquietude which
+made me desirous of leaving Dantzic, and immediately to send all my
+luggage, and to sleep on board.  Abramson prevented me, dragging me
+almost forcibly along with him, telling me he had much company, and that
+I must absolutely dine and sup at his house; accordingly I did not return
+to my inn till eleven at night.
+
+I was but just in bed when I heard a tremendous knocking at my chamber
+door, which was not shut, and two of the city magistrates with twenty
+grenadiers entered my chamber, and surrounded my bed so suddenly that I
+had not time to take to my arms and defend myself.  My three servants had
+been secured and I was told that the most worthy magistracy of Dantzic
+was obliged to deliver me up as a delinquent to his majesty the King of
+Prussia.
+
+What were my feelings at seeing myself thus betrayed!  They silently
+conducted me to the city prison, where I remained twenty-four hours.
+About noon Abramson came to visit me, affected to be infinitely concerned
+and enraged, and affirmed he had strongly protested against the
+illegality of this proceeding to the magistracy, as I was actually in the
+Austrian service; but that they had answered him the court of Vienna had
+afforded them a precedent, for that, in 1742, they had done the same by
+the two sons of the burgomaster Rutenberg, of Dantzic, and that,
+therefore, they were justified in making reprisal; and likewise, they
+durst not refuse the most earnest request accompanied with threats, of
+the King of Prussia.
+
+Their plea of retaliation originated as follows:--There was a kind of
+club at Vienna, the members of which were seized for having committed the
+utmost extravagance and debauchery, two of whom were the sons of the
+burgomaster Rutenberg, and who were sentenced to the pillory.  Great sums
+were offered by the father to avoid this public disgrace, but
+ineffectually--they were punished, their punishment was legal, and had no
+similarity whatever to my case, nor could it any way justly give pretence
+of reprisal.
+
+Abramson, who had in reality entered no protest whatever, but rather
+excited the magistracy, and acted in concert with Reimer, advised me to
+put my writings and other valuable effects into his hands, otherwise they
+would be seized.  He knew I had received letters of exchange from my
+brothers and sister, about seven thousand florins, and these I gave him,
+but kept my ring, worth about four thousand, and some sixty guineas,
+which I had in my purse.  He then embraced me, declared nothing should be
+neglected to effect my immediate deliverance; that even he would raise
+the populace for that purpose; that I could not be given up to the
+Prussians in less than a week, the magistracy being still undetermined in
+an affair so serious, and he left me, shedding abundance of crocodile
+tears, like the most affectionate of friends.
+
+The next night two magistrates, with their posse, came to my prison,
+attended by resident Reimer, a Prussian officer and under officers, and
+into their hands I was delivered.  The pillage instantly began; Reimer
+tore off my ring, seized my watch, snuff-box, and all I had, not so much
+as sending me a coat or shirt from my effects; after which, they put me
+into a close coach with three Prussians.  The Dantzic guard accompanied
+the carriage to the city gate, that was opened to let me pass; after
+which the Dantzic dragoons escorted me as far as Lauenburg in Pomerania.
+
+I have forgotten the date of this miserable day; but to the best of my
+memory, it must have been in the beginning of June.  Thirty Prussian
+hussars, commanded by a lieutenant, relieved the dragoons at Lauenburg,
+and thus was I escorted from garrison to garrison, till I arrived at
+Berlin.
+
+Hence it was evidently falsely affirmed, by the magistracy of Dantzic,
+and the conspirator Abramson, who wrote in his own excuse to Vienna, that
+my seizure must be attributed wholly to my own imprudence, and that I had
+exposed myself to this arrest by going without the city gates, where I
+was taken and carried off; nor was it less astonishing that the court of
+Vienna should not have demanded satisfaction for the treachery of the
+Dantzickers toward an Austrian officer.  I have incontrovertibly proved
+this treachery, after I had regained my liberty Abramson indeed they
+could not punish, for during my imprisonment he had quitted the Austrian
+for the Prussian service, where he gradually became so contemptible, that
+in the year 1764, when I was released from my imprisonment, he was
+himself imprisoned in the house of correction; and his wife, lately so
+rich, was obliged to beg her bread.  Thus have I generally lived to see
+the fall of my betrayers; and thus have I found that, without indulging
+personal revenge, virtue and fortitude must at length triumph over the
+calumniator and the despot.
+
+This truth will be further proved hereafter, nor can I behold, unmoved,
+the open shame in which my persecutors live, and how they tremble in my
+presence, their wicked deeds now being known to the world Nay, monarchs
+may yet punish their perfidy:--Yet not so!--May they rather die in
+possession of wealth they have torn from me!  I only wish the pity and
+respect of the virtuous and the wise.
+
+But, though Austria has never resented the affront commenced on the
+person of an officer in its service, still have I a claim on the city of
+Dantzic, where I was thus treacherously delivered up, for the effects I
+there was robbed of, the amount of which is between eleven and twelve
+thousand florins.  This is a case too clear to require argument, and the
+publication of this history will make it known to the world.  This claim
+also, among others, I leave to the children of an unfortunate father.
+
+Enough of digression; let us attend to the remarkable events which
+happened on the dismal journey to Berlin.  I was escorted from garrison
+to garrison, which were distant from each other two, three, or at most
+five miles; wherever I came, I found compassion and respect.  The
+detachment of hussars only attended me two days; it consisted of twelve
+men and an officer, who rode with me in the carriage.
+
+The fourth day I arrived at ---, where the Duke of Wirtemberg, father of
+the present Grand Duchess of Russia, was commander, and where his
+regiment was in quarters.  The Duke conversed with me, was much moved,
+invited me to dine, and detained me all the day, where I was not treated
+as a prisoner.  I so far gained his esteem that I was allowed to remain
+there the next day; the chief persons of the place were assembled, and
+the Duchess, whom he had lately married, testified every mark of pity and
+consideration.  I dined with him also on the third day, after which I
+departed in an open carriage, without escort, attended only by a
+lieutenant of his regiment.
+
+I must relate this, event circumstantially for it not only proves the
+just and noble character of the Duke, but likewise that there are moments
+in which the brave may appear cowards, the clear-sighted blind, and the
+wise foolish; nay, one might almost be led to conclude, from this, that
+my imprisonment at Magdeburg, was the consequence of predestination,
+since I remained riveted in stupor, in despite of suggestions,
+forebodings, and favourable opportunities.  Who but must be astonished,
+having read the daring efforts I made at Glatz, at this strange
+insensibility now in the very crisis of my fate?  I afterwards was
+convinced it was the intention of the noble-minded Duke that I should
+escape, and that he must have given particular orders to the successive
+officers.  He would probably have willingly subjected himself to the
+reprimands of Frederic if I would have taken to fight.  The journey
+through the places where his regiment was stationed continued five days,
+and I everywhere passed the evenings in the company of the officers, the
+kindness of whom was unbounded I slept in their quarters without
+sentinel, and travelled in their carriages, without other guard than a
+single officer in the carriage.  In various places the high road was not
+more than two, and sometimes one mile from the frontier road; therefore
+nothing could have been easier than to have escaped; yet did the same
+Trenck, who in Glatz had cut his way through thirty men to obtain his
+freedom, that Trenck, who had never been acquainted with fear, now remain
+four days bewildered, and unable to come to any determination.
+
+In a small garrison town, I lodged in the house of a captain of cavalry,
+and continually was treated by him with every mark of friendship.  After
+dinner he rode at the head of his squadron to water the horse, unsaddled.
+I remained alone in the house, entered the stable, saw three remaining
+horses, with saddles and bridles; in my chamber was my sword and a pair
+of pistols.  I had but to mount one of the horses and fly to the opposite
+gate.  I meditated on the project, and almost resolved to put it in
+execution, but presently became undetermined by some secret impulse.  The
+captain returned some time after, and appeared surprised to find me still
+there.  The next day he accompanied me alone in his carriage; we came to
+a forest, he saw some champignons, stopped, asked me to alight, and help
+him to gather them; he strayed more than a hundred paces from me, and
+gave me entire liberty to fly; yet notwithstanding all this, I
+voluntarily returned, suffering myself to be led like a sheep to the
+slaughter.
+
+I was treated so well, during my stay at this place, and escorted with so
+much negligence, that I fell into a gross error.  Perceiving they
+conveyed me straight to Berlin, I imagined the King wished to question me
+concerning the plan formed for the war, which was then on the point of
+breaking out.  This plan I perfectly knew, the secret correspondence of
+Bestuchef having all passed through my hands, which circumstance was much
+better known at Berlin than at Vienna.  Confirmed in this opinion, and
+far from imagining the fate that awaited me, I remained irresolute,
+insensible, and blind to danger.  Alas, how short was this hope!  How
+quickly was it succeeded by despair! when, after four days' march, I
+quitted the district under the command of the Duke of Wirtemberg, and was
+delivered up to the first garrison of infantry at Coslin!  The last of
+the Wirtemberg officers, when taking leave of me, appeared to be greatly
+affected; and from this moment till I came to Berlin, I was under a
+strong escort, and the given orders were rigorously observed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+Arrived here, I was lodged over the grand guardhouse, with two sentinels
+in my chamber, and one at the door.  The King was at Potzdam, and here I
+remained three days; on the third, some staff-officers made their
+appearance, seated themselves at a table, and put the following questions
+to me:--
+
+First.  What was my business at Dantzic?
+
+Secondly.  Whether I was acquainted with M. Goltz, Prussian ambassador to
+Russia?
+
+Thirdly.  Who was concerned with me in the conspiracy at Dantzic?
+
+When I perceived their intention, by these interrogations, I absolutely
+refused to reply, only saying I had been imprisoned in the fortress of
+Glatz, without hearing, or trial by court-martial; that, availing myself
+of the laws of nature, I had by my own exertions procured my liberty, and
+that I was now a captain of cavalry in the imperial service; that I
+demanded a legal trial for my first unknown offence, after which I
+engaged to answer all interrogatories, and prove my innocence; but that
+at present, being accused of new crimes, without a hearing concerning my
+former punishment, the procedure was illegal.  I was told they had no
+orders concerning this, and I remained dumb to all further questions.
+
+They wrote some two hours, God knows what; a carriage came up; I was
+strictly searched, to find whether I had any weapons; thirteen or
+fourteen ducats, which I had concealed, were taken from me, and I was
+conducted under a strong escort, through Spandau to Magdeburg.  The
+officer here delivered me to the captain of the guard at the citadel; the
+town major came, and brought me to the dungeon, expressly prepared for
+me; a small picture of the Countess of Bestuchef, set with diamonds,
+which I had kept concealed in my bosom, was now taken from me; the door
+was shut, and here was I left.
+
+My dungeon was in a casemate, the fore part of which, six feet wide and
+ten feet long, was divided by a party wall.  In the inner wall were two
+doors, and a third at the entrance of the casemate itself.  The window in
+the seven-feet-thick wall was so situated that, though I had light, I
+could see neither heaven nor earth; I could only see the roof of the
+magazine; within and without this window were iron bars, and in the space
+between an iron grating, so close and so situated, by the rising of the
+walls, that it was impossible I should see any parson without the prison,
+or that any person should see me.  On the outside was a wooden palisade,
+six feet from the wall, by which the sentinels were prevented from
+conveying anything to me.  I had a mattress, and a bedstead, but which
+was immovably ironed to the floor, so that it was impossible I should
+drag it, and stand up to the window; beside the door was a small iron
+stove and a night table, in like manner fixed to the floor.  I was not
+yet put in irons, and my allowance was a pound and a half per day of
+ammunition bread, and a jug of water.
+
+From my youth I had always had a good appetite, and my bread was so
+mouldy I could scarcely at first eat the half of it.  This was the
+consequence of Major Reiding's avarice, who endeavoured to profit even by
+this, so great was the number of unfortunate prisoners; therefore, it is
+impossible I should describe to my readers the excess of tortures that,
+during eleven months, I felt from ravenous hunger.  I could easily every
+day have devoured six pounds of bread; and every twenty-four hours after
+having received and swallowed my small portion, I continued as hungry as
+before I began, yet must wait another twenty-four hours for a new morsel.
+How willingly would I have signed a bill of exchange for a thousand
+ducats, on my property at Vienna, only to have satiated my hunger on dry
+bread!  For, so extreme was it, that scarcely had I dropt into a sweet
+sleep.  Therefore I dreamed I was feasting at some table luxuriously
+loaded, where, eating like a glutton, the whole company were astonished
+to see me, while my imagination was heated by the sensation of famine.
+Awakened by the pains of hunger, the dishes vanished, and nothing
+remained but the reality of my distress; the cravings of nature were but
+inflamed, my tortures prevented sleep, and, looking into futurity, the
+cruelty of my fate suffered, if possible, increase, from imagining that
+the prolongation of pangs like these was insupportable.  God preserve
+every honest man from sufferings like mine!  They were not to be endured
+by the villain most obdurate.  Many have fasted three days, many have
+suffered want for a week, or more; but certainly no one, beside myself,
+ever endured it in the same excess for eleven months.  Some have supposed
+that to eat little might become habitual, but I have experienced the
+contrary.  My hunger increased every day; and of all the trials of
+fortitude my whole life has afforded, this, of eleven months, was the
+most bitter.
+
+Petitions, remonstrances, were of no avail; the answer was--"We must give
+no more, such is the King's command."  The Governor, General Borck, born
+the enemy of man, replied, when I entreated, at least, to have my fill of
+bread, "You have feasted often enough out of the service of plate taken
+from the King, by Trenck, at the battle of Sorau; you must now eat
+ammunition bread in your dirty kennel.  Your Empress makes no allowance
+for your maintenance, and you are unworthy of the bread you eat, or the
+trouble taken about you."  Judge, reader, what pangs such insolence,
+added to such sufferings must inflict.  Judge what were my thoughts,
+foreseeing, as I did, an endless duration to this imprisonment and these
+torments.
+
+My three doors were kept ever shut, and I was left to such meditations as
+such feelings and such hopes might inspire.  Daily, about noon, once in
+twenty-four hours, my pittance of bread and water was brought.  The keys
+of all the doors were kept by the governor; the inner door was not
+opened, but my bread and water were delivered through an aperture.  The
+prison doors were opened only once a week, on a Wednesday, when the
+governor and town major, my hole having been first cleaned, paid their
+visit.
+
+Having remained thus two months, and observed this method was invariable,
+I began to execute a project I had formed, of the possibility of which I
+was convinced.
+
+Where the night-table and stove stood, the floor was bricked, and this
+paving extended to the wall that separated my casemate from the adjoining
+one, in which was no prisoner.  My window was only guarded by a single
+sentinel; I therefore soon found, among those who successively relieved
+guard, two kind-hearted fellows, who described to me the situation of my
+prison; hence I perceived I might effect my escape, could I but penetrate
+into the adjoining casemate, the door of which was not shut.  Provided I
+had a friend and a boat waiting for me at the Elbe, or could I swim
+across that river, the confines of Saxony were but a mile distant.
+
+To describe my plan at length would lead to prolixity, yet I must
+enumerate some of its circumstances, as it was remarkably intricate and
+of gigantic labour.
+
+I worked through the iron, eighteen inches long, by which the night-table
+was fastened, and broke off the clinchings of the nails, but preserved
+their heads, that I might put them again in their places, and all might
+appear secure to my weekly visitors.  This procured me tools to raise up
+the brick floor, under which I found earth.  My first attempt was to work
+a hole through the wall, seven feet thick behind, and concealed by the
+night-table.  The first layer was of brick.  I afterwards came to large
+hewn stones.  I endeavoured accurately to number and remember the bricks,
+both of the flooring and the wall, so that I might replace them and all
+might appear safe.  This having accomplished, I proceeded.
+
+The day preceding visitation all was carefully replaced, and the
+intervening mortar as carefully preserved; the whole had, probably, been
+whitewashed a hundred times; and, that I might fill up all remaining
+interstices, I pounded the white stuff this afforded, wetted it, made a
+brush of my hair, then applied this plaster, washed it over, that the
+colour might be uniform, and afterwards stripped myself, and sat with my
+naked body against the place, by the heat of which it was dried.
+
+While labouring, I placed the stones and bricks upon my bedstead, and had
+they taken the precaution to come at any other time in the week, the
+stated Wednesday excepted, I had inevitably been discovered; but, as no
+such ill accident befell me, in six months my Herculean labours gave me a
+prospect of success.
+
+Means were to be found to remove the rubbish from my prison; all of
+which, in a wall so thick, it was impossible to replace; mortar and stone
+could not be removed.  I therefore took the earth, scattered it about my
+chamber, and ground it under my feet the whole day, till I had reduced it
+to dust; this dust I strewed in the aperture of my window, making use of
+the loosened night-table to stand upon, I tied splinters from my bedstead
+together, with the ravelled yarn of an old stocking, and to this I
+affixed a tuft of my hair.  I worked a large hole under the middle
+grating, which could not be seen when standing on the ground, and through
+this I pushed my dust with the tool I had prepared in the outer window,
+then, waiting till the wind should happen to rise, during the night I
+brushed it away, it was blown off, and no appearance remained on the
+outside.  By this simple expedient I rid myself of at least three hundred
+weight of earth, and thus made room to continue my labours; yet, this
+being still insufficient, I had recourse to another artifice, which was
+to knead up the earth in the form of sausages, to resemble the human
+faeces: these I dried, and when the prisoner came to clean my dungeon,
+hastily tossed them into the night-table, and thus disencumbered myself
+of a pound or two more of earth each week.  I further made little balls,
+and, when the sentinel was walking, blew them, through a paper tube, out
+of the window.  Into the empty space I put my mortar and stones, and
+worked on successfully.
+
+I cannot, however, describe my difficulties after having penetrated about
+two feet into the hewn stone.  My tools were the irons I had dug out,
+which fastened may bedstead and night-table.  A compassionate soldier
+also gave me an old iron ramrod and a soldier's sheath knife, which did
+me excellent service, more especially the latter, as I shall presently
+more fully show.  With these two I cut splinters from my bedstead, which
+aided me to pick the mortar from the interstices of the stone; yet the
+labour of penetrating through this seven-feet wall was incredible; the
+building was ancient, and the mortar occasionally quite petrified, so
+that the whole stone was obliged to be reduced to dust.  After continuing
+my work unremittingly for six months, I at length approached the
+accomplishment of my hopes, as I knew by coming to the facing of brick,
+which now was only between me and the adjoining casemate.
+
+Meantime I found opportunity to speak to some of the sentinels, among
+whom was an old grenadier called Gelfhardt, whom I here name because he
+displayed qualities of the greatest and most noble kind.  From him I
+learned the precise situation of my prison, and every circumstance that
+might best conduce to my escape.
+
+Nothing was wanting but money to buy a boat, and crossing the Elbe with
+Gelfhardt, to take refuge in Saxony.  By Gelfhardt's means I became
+acquainted with a kind-hearted girl, a Jewess, and a native of Dessau,
+Esther Heymannin by name, and whose father had been ten years in prison.
+This good, compassionate maiden, whom I had never seen, won over two
+other grenadiers, who gave her an opportunity of speaking to me every
+time they stood sentinel.  By tying my splinters together, I made a stick
+long enough to reach beyond the palisades that were before my window, and
+thus obtained paper, another knife, and a file.
+
+I now wrote to my sister, the wife of the before-mentioned only son of
+General Waldow; described my awful situation, and entreated her to remit
+three hundred rix-dollars to the Jewess, hoping, by this means, I might
+escape from my prison.  I then wrote another affecting letter to Count
+Puebla, the Austrian ambassador at Berlin, in which was enclosed a draft
+for a thousand florins on my effects at Vienna, desiring him to remit
+these to the Jewess, having promised her that sum as a reward for her
+fidelity.  She was to bring the three hundred rix-dollars my sister
+should send to me, and take measures with the grenadiers to facilitate my
+flight, which nothing seemed able to prevent, I having the power either
+to break into the casemate or, aided by the grenadiers and the Jewess' to
+cut the locks from the doors and that way escape from my dungeon.  The
+letters were open, I being obliged to roll them round the stick to convey
+them to Esther.
+
+The faithful girl diligently proceeded to Berlin, where she arrived safe,
+and immediately spoke to Count Puebla.  The Count gave her the kindest
+reception, received the letter, with the letter of exchange, and bade her
+go and speak to Weingarten, the secretary of the embassy, and act
+entirely as he should direct.  She was received by Weingarten in the most
+friendly manner, who, by his questions, drew from her the whole secret,
+and our intended plan of flight, aided by the two grenadiers, and also
+that she had a letter for my sister, which she must carry to Hammer, near
+Custrin.  He asked to see this letter; read it, told her to proceed on
+her Journey, gave her two ducats to bear her expenses, ordered her to
+come to him on her return, said that during this interval he would
+endeavour to obtain her the thousand florins for my draft, and would then
+give her further instructions.
+
+Esther cheerfully departed for Hammer, where my sister, then a widow, and
+no longer, as in 1746, in dread of her husband, joyful to hear I was
+still living, immediately gave her three hundred rix-dollars, exhorting
+her to exert every possible means to obtain my deliverance.  Esther
+hastened back with the letter from my sister to Berlin, and told all that
+passed to Weingarten, who read the letter, and inquired the names of the
+two grenadiers.  He told her the thousand florins from Vienna were not
+yet come, but gave her twelve ducats; bade her hasten back to Magdeburg,
+to carry me all this good news, and then return to Berlin, where he would
+pay her the thousand florins.  Esther came to Magdeburg, went immediately
+to the citadel, and, most luckily, met the wife of one of the grenadiers,
+who told her that her husband and his comrade had been taken and put in
+irons the day before.  Esther had quickness of perception, and suspected
+we had been betrayed; she therefore instantly again began her travels,
+and happily came safe to Dessau.
+
+Here I must interrupt my narrative, that I may explain this infernal
+enigma to my readers, an account of which I received after I had obtained
+my freedom, and still possess, in the handwriting of this Jewess.
+Weingarten, as was afterwards discovered, was a traitor, and too much
+trusted by Count Puebla, he being a spy in the pay of Prussia, and one
+who had revealed, in the court of Berlin, not only the secrets of the
+Imperial embassy, but also the whole plan of the projected war.  For this
+reason he afterwards, when war broke out, remained at Berlin in the
+Prussian service.  His reason for betraying me was that he might secure
+the thousand florins which I had drawn for on Vienna; for the receipt of
+the 24th of May, 1755, attests that the sum was paid, by the
+administrators of my effects, to Count Puebla, and has since been brought
+to account; nor can I believe that Weingarten did not appropriate this
+sum to himself, since I cannot be persuaded the ambassador would commit
+such an action, although the receipt is in his handwriting, as may easily
+be demonstrated, it being now in my possession.  Thus did Weingarten,
+that he might detain a thousand florins with impunity, bring new evils
+upon me and upon my sister, which occasioned her premature death; caused
+one grenadier to run the gauntlet three successive days, and another to
+be hung.
+
+Esther alone escaped, and since gave me an elucidation of the whole
+affair.  The report at Magdeburg was, that a Jewess had obtained money
+from my sister and bribed two grenadiers, and that one of these had
+trusted and been betrayed by his comrade.  Indeed, what other story could
+be told at Magdeburg, or how could it be known I had been betrayed to the
+Prussian ministry by the Imperial secretary?  The truth, however, is as I
+have stated: my account-book exists, and the Jewess is still alive.
+
+Her poor imprisoned father was punished with more than a hundred blows to
+make him declare whether his daughter had entrusted him with the plot, or
+if he knew whither she was fled, and miserably died in fetters.  Such was
+the mischief occasioned by a rascal!  And who might be blamed but the
+imprudent Count Puebla?
+
+In the year 1766, this said Jewess demanded of me a thousand florins; and
+I wrote to Count Puebla, that, having his receipt for the sum, which
+never had been repaid, I begged it might be restored.  He received my
+agent with rudeness, returned no answer, and seemed to trouble himself
+little concerning my loss.  Whether the heirs of the Count be, or be not,
+indebted to me these thousand florins and the interest, I leave the world
+to determine.  Thrice have I been betrayed at Vienna and sold to Berlin,
+like Joseph to the Egyptians.  My history proves the origin of my
+persuasion that residents, envoys, and ambassadors must be men of known
+worth and honesty, and not the vilest of rascals and miscreants.  But,
+alas! the effects and money they have robbed me of have never been
+restored; and for the miseries they have brought upon me, they could not
+be recompensed by the wealth of any or all the monarchs on earth.  Estates
+they may, but truth they cannot confiscate; and of the villainy of
+Abramson and Weingarten I have documents and proofs that no court of
+justice could disannul.  Stop, reader, if thou hast a heart, and in that
+heart compassion for the unfortunate!  Stop and imagine what my
+sensations are while I remember and recount a part only of the injustice
+that has been done me, a part only of the tyranny I have endured!  By
+this last act of treachery of Weingarten was I held in chains, the most
+horrible, for nine succeeding years!  By him was an innocent man brought
+to the gallows!  By him, too, my sister, my beloved, my unfortunate
+sister, was obliged to build a dungeon at her own expense! besides being
+amerced in a fine, the extent of which I never could learn.  Her goods
+were plundered, her estates made a desert, her children fell into extreme
+poverty, and she herself expired in her thirty-third year, the victim of
+cruelty, persecution, her brother's misfortunes, and the treachery of the
+Imperial embassy!
+
+
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+
+{1}  A common expression with Frederic when he was angry, and which has
+since become proverbial among the Prussian and other German officers.  See
+Critical _Review_, _April_, 1755.
+
+{2}  The same Doo who was governor of Glatz during the Seven Years' war,
+and who, having been surprised by General Laudohu, was made prisoner,
+which occasioned the loss of Glatz.  The King broke him with infamy, and
+banished him with contempt.  In 1764 he came to Vienna, where I gave him
+alms.  He was, by birth, an Italian, a selfish, wicked man; and, while
+major under the government of Fouquet, at Glatz, brought many people to
+misery.  He was the creature of Fouquet, without birth or merit; crafty,
+malignant, but handsome, and, having debauched his patron's daughter,
+afterwards married her; whence at first his good, and at length his ill
+fortune.  He wanted knowledge to defend a fortress against the enemy, and
+his covetousness rendered him easy to corrupt.
+
+{3}  The German mile contains from four to seven English miles, and this
+variation appears to depend on the ignorance of the people and on the
+roads being in some places but little frequented.  It seems probable the
+Baron and his friend might travel about 809 English miles.--TRANSLATOR.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF BARON
+TRENCK***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 2668.txt or 2668.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/6/6/2668
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://www.gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+