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 KÖnigsberg.

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 TrÜbau, 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.