inadoed some
priests, had not heard mass every Sunday, and had dragged malefactors
from convents, in which they had taken refuge. When the officers were no
longer protected by Loewenwalde, or Weber, they decamped, but did not
cease to labour to gain their purpose, which they attained by the aid of
the Court-confessor. This monk found means to render Maria Theresa
insensible of pity towards a man who had been so prodigal of his blood in
her defence. Loewenwalde knew how to profit by the opportunity. Gerhauer
discovered the secret proceedings; and Loewenwalde, now deeply interested
in the ruin of Trenck, went to the Empress, related the manner in which
the judges had been bribed, and threatened that should he, through the
protection of the Emperor and Prince Charles, be declared innocent, he
would publicly vindicate the honour of the court-martial.

Had my cousin followed my advice and plan of flight he would not have
died in prison nor should I have lain in the dungeon of Magdeburg. With
respect to individuals whom he robbed, innocent men whom he massacred,
and many other worthy people whom he made miserable; with respect to his
father, aged eighty-four, and his virtuous wife, whom he treated with
barbarity; with respect to myself, to the duties of consanguinity and of
man, he merited punishment, the pursuit of the avenging arm of justice,
and to be extirpated from all human society.

EPILOGUE.

Thomas Carlyle's opinion of the author of this History is expressed in
the following passages from his _History of Friedrich II. of Prussia_:
"'Frederick Baron Trenck,' loud sounding phantasm, once famous in the
world, now gone to the nurseries as mythical, was of this carnival (1742-
3.) . . . A tall actuality in that time, swaggering about in sumptuous
Life Guard uniform in his mess-rooms and assembly-rooms; much in love
with himself, the fool! And I rather think, in spite of his dog
insinuations, neither Princess had heard of him till twenty years hence,
in a very different phasis of his life! The empty, noisy, quasi-tragic
fellow; sounds throughout quasi-tragical, like an empty barrel;
well-built, longing to be filled."--Book xiv., ch. 3.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF BARON
TRENCK***

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