fully by Letourneur (Paris, 1788); and again by himself (Strasbourg,
1788), with considerable additions. Holcroft translated from the French
versions.

H.M.

CHAPTER I.

Blessed shade of a beloved sister! The sacrifice of my adverse and
dreadful fate! Thee could I never avenge! Thee could the blood of
Weingarten never appease! No asylum, however sacred, should have secured
him, had he not sought that last of asylums for human wickedness and
human woes--the grave! To thee do I dedicate these few pages, a tribute
of thankfulness; and, if future rewards there are, may the brightest of
these rewards be thine. For us, and not for ours, may rewards be
expected from monarchs who, in apathy, have beheld our mortal sufferings.
Rest, noble soul, murdered though thou wert by the enemies of thy
brother. Again my blood boils, again my tears roll down my cheeks, when
I remember thee, thy sufferings in my cause, and thy untimely end! I
knew it not; I sought to thank thee; I found thee in the grave; I would
have made retribution to thy children, but unjust, iron-hearted princes
had deprived me of the power. Can the virtuous heart conceive affliction
more cruel? My own ills I would have endured with magnanimity; but thine
are wrongs I have neither the power to forget nor heal.

Enough of this.--

The worthy Emperor, Francis I., shed tears when I afterwards had the
honour of relating to him in person my past miseries; I beheld them flow,
and gratitude threw me at his feet. His emotion was so great that he
tore himself away. I left the palace with all the enthusiasm of soul
which such a scene must inspire.

He probably would have done more than pitied me, but his death soon
followed. I relate this incident to convince posterity that Francis I.
possessed a heart worthy an emperor, worthy a man. In the knowledge I
have had of monarchs he stands alone. Frederic and Theresa both died
without doing me justice; I am now too old, too proud, have too much
apathy, to expect it from their successors. Petition I will not, knowing
my rights; and justice from courts of law, however evident my claims,
were in these courts vain indeed to expect. Lawyers and advocates I know
but too well, and an army to support my rights I have not.

What heart that can feel but will pardon me these digressions! At the
exact and simple recital of facts like these, the whole man must be
roused, and the philosopher himself shudder.

On