s
that I should be suffered to write to no one, speak to no one, without a
ticket from the counsellors Kempt or Huttner.

Thus I remained six weeks; at length, the colonel of the regiment of
Poniatowsky, the present field-marshal, Count Alton, spoke to me. I
related what I supposed were the reasons of my being kept a prisoner in
Vienna; and to the exertions of this man am I indebted that the
intentions of my enemies were frustrated, which were to have me
imprisoned as insane in the fortress of Glatz. Had they once removed me
from Vienna, I should certainly have pined away my life in a madhouse.
Yet I could never obtain justice against these men. The Empress was
persuaded that my brain was affected, and that I uttered threats against
the King of Prussia. The election of a king of the Romans was then in
agitation, and the court was apprehensive lest I should offend the
Prussian envoy. General Reidt had been obliged to promise Frederic that
I should not appear in Vienna, and that they should hold a wary eye over
me. The Empress-Queen felt compassion for my supposed disease, and asked
if no assistance could be afforded me; to which they answered, I had
several times let blood, but that I still was a dangerous man. They
added, that I had squandered four thousand florins in six days at Prague;
that it would be proper to appoint guardians to impede such
extravagancies.

Count Alton spoke of me and my hard destiny to the Countess Parr,
mistress of the ceremonies to the Empress-Queen. The late Emperor
entered the chamber, and asked whether I ever had any lucid intervals.
"May it please your Majesty," answered Alton, "he has been seven weeks in
my barracks, and I never met a more reasonable man. There is mystery in
this affair, or he could not be treated as a madman. That he is not so
in anywise I pledge my honour."

The next day the Emperor sent Count Thurn, grand-master of the Archduke
Leopold, to speak to me. In him I found an enlightened philosopher, and
a lover of his country. To him I related how I had twice been betrayed,
twice sold at Vienna, during my imprisonment; to him showed that my
administrators had acted in this vile manner that I might be imprisoned
for life, and they remain in possession of my effects. We conversed for
two hours, during which many things were said that prudence will not
permit me to repeat. I gained his confidence, and he continued my friend
till death. He promised me protectio