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ance, came to deliver me from prison; but the iron gate 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 an under 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 Osnaburg, where he 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 ever be dear

to me.

Nv was I exposed to all the storms of ill fortone: 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 stedfastly declaring I was an innocent prisoner, an officer unjustly brcken; unjustly because I had never been brought to trial.

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The soldiers were withdrawn from my chamber; C

but the greatest ill was that I had expended all my money, and my kind mistress at Berlin, with whom I had always corresponded, and which my prosecutors could not prevent, at last wrote

"My tears flow with yours: the evil is without remedy-I dare say 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 thunder-bolt :-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 revived. Hence an adventure happened, which is almost unexampled in tales of knight-errantry.

A lieutenant whose name was Bach, a Daby 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 a punishment.

Bach one day sitting beside me, relating 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 lounge, I hit him in 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 soldier's 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 now 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 mean time he would prepare every thing 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 now began to deliberate on the means necessary to obtain our purpose. Schell was just come from garrison at Habelschwert 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 present only contained about 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 I must inform the reader, that at this time the officers and I all understood each other, captain Roder alone excepted, who was exact, rigid, and gave trouble on all occasions.

Major Quadt was my kinsman by my mother's side, a good friendly man, and ardently desirous I should escape, seeing my calamities were now so much increased. The four lieutenants, who suc cessively mounted guard over me, were Bach, Schroeder, Lunitz and Schell. The first was the grand projector, and made all the preparations; Schell was to desert with me; and Schroder and Lunitz, three days after, were to follow.

The talents of Schell were of a superior order; he spoke and wrote six languages, and was well aċquainted 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 dismission, 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 thereby spite Fouquet.

*I shall speak more hereafter of this extraordinary man, that I may not, in this place, interrupt my story.- -We determined every thing should be prepared against the first time Schell mounted guard, and that our project should be executed on the next. Thus, as he mounted guard every four days, the eighth was to be the day of our flight.

The governor had been informed how familiar I became with the officers, at which, taking offence, he sent orders that my doors should not be opened, and that I should receive my food through a small window that had been made for that purpose.The care of the prison was committed to the mnajor, 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.

Beside my prison was that of captain Damnitz. This man had deserted from the Prussian service, with the men 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 his protectors not only obtained his liberty, but a lieutenant-colonel's commission, was then the secret spy of the major over the prisoners; and he remarked, that notwithstanding the express prohibition laid

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