ion. Think, therefore, only of making me
more worthy of you, that I may not injure you in society. I am mistress
of my own fortune, in the management of which I have hitherto sometimes
asked advice of Dr. Berger, as my guardian. He esteems you too highly,
for him to put the least obstacle in the way of my serving you when I
wish to do so.'

"Thus this worthy person has always evinced an unselfish, honourable
manner of thinking, and relieved me from all shame and uneasiness about
my position.

"Now I began to think about my journey, that I might not arrive too
late at Nuremberg.

"At Nuremberg there were still very many features of great antiquity,
which made much impression on me. Birkmann, preacher at the church of
St. Giles, had kindly offered that I should take up my quarters with
him. I was received by him very lovingly, and he gave me a room
up-stairs, in which were his books; a neighbourhood which was very
useful to me, as I was able in the evening to search out some accounts
of Nuremberg, that everything might not be so entirely strange to me.
As soon as I possibly could I presented myself before the gentlemen of
the council, in the great hall of the Council-house, at the hour when
they entered the hall from their separate rooms. The great impression
made on me by this grand building, and the unusual circumstances in
which I was placed, had a good effect upon me, so that I with modesty
and emotion spoke out freely, which, together with my pressing
recommendations, obtained me the gracious approbation of these
venerable persons. Herr von Ebner, whose own learning and noble manner
of thinking filled every one with respect, desired me afterwards to be
told that he expected me in the afternoon at his house. I sought to
recover the composure of my mind, that I might be distracted as little
as possible by so many unexpected events, and turn this visit the more
to my advantage. As this gentleman was almost blind I was deprived of
much assistance, for by an unaffected modest attitude, which I always
liked, I had elsewhere frequently procured myself a hearing, even from
those who hitherto had been prepossessed against me. After I had stood
some minutes, and had expressed my feelings of gratitude in the best
sentences I could utter, avoiding equally bombast and common-place, he
said: 'Herr Professor, your voice and speech please me so much that I
regret not being able to see you distinctly. Seat yourself near me; I
mus