nant
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