upon me the housekeeping, and to render an account of everything, which
was very difficult for me; because my deceased father, whenever he came
home, treated me with great severity, and called me to account for all
that was broken, or in any way not to his mind, and I was often
severely punished when I was innocent.

"Owing to this, such servile fear took possession of me, that I
shuddered whenever I heard a voice that resembled that of my father.
Concerning this I breathed forth many sighs to my God; but, when he was
away again, I became in good spirits, and sang and danced in gladness
of heart. I had at the same time a thorough aversion to everything that
was unseemly or childish, and would not have anything to do with the
games of marriages and christenings, and the like, of other girls, for
I was ashamed of them.

"When twelve years old I was taken to court to the Countess von
Solms-Roedelheim. She was about to be confined, and was sometimes not
right in her mind; when I went, however, she was tolerably well. But
soon after, she was confined and had two children, a young gentleman
and a lady, and became worse from day to day, so that she often took me
for her dog, which was a little lion-dog, called me by his name, and
beat me like him. It happened frequently that we drove in the water,
for in the winter time the meadows between Frankfort and Roedelheim were
quite overflowed with water, so that it entered the carriages; then the
carriages were driven empty, but we went in a boat and got in again
when we came to the end of the water. When we thus drove she often
pushed me into the water; I was to swim as her little dog, but the Most
High preserved me. Once I discovered that she had taken a knife with a
sheath out of her cupboard, and put it in her pocket. I mentioned it to
the maidservant, who was rather elderly, but she would not listen to
me; and thought the countess had no knife, and it was childishness in
me. There was a door from the bedroom of the countess into our room,
and another into that of the count. Now when night came I would not lie
down for thinking of the knife; but the maid was angry with me, and
threatened to tell the count how childishly I behaved; but I would only
lie down on the bed with my clothes on. In the night, hearing a great
disturbance, I woke up every one and rose from bed. Then the count was
heard running out of the room; and forth came the countess, with a
night-light and the bare