After the death of my protector, Captain Fagan, I am forced to confess
that I fell into the very worst of courses and company. Being a rough
soldier of fortune himself, he had never been a favourite with the
officers of his regiment; who had a contempt for Irishmen, as Englishmen
sometimes will have, and used to mock his brogue, and his blunt uncouth
manners. I had been insolent to one or two of them, and had only been
screened from punishment by his intercession; especially his successor,
Mr. Rawson, had no liking for me, and put another man into the
sergeant’s place vacant in his company after the battle of Minden.
This act of injustice rendered my service very disagreeable to me; and,
instead of seeking to conquer the dislike of my superiors, and win their
goodwill by good behaviour, I only sought for means to make my situation
easier to me, and grasped at all the amusements in my power. In a
foreign country, with the enemy before us, and the people continually
under contribution from one side or the other, numberless irregularities
were permitted to the troops which would not have been allowed in more
peaceable times. I descended gradually to mix with the sergeants, and to
share their amusements: drinking and gambling were, I am sorry to say,
our principal pastimes; and I fell so readily into their ways, that
though only a young lad of seventeen, I was the master of them all in
daring wickedness; though there were some among them who, I promise you,
were far advanced in the science of every kind of profligacy. I should
have been under the provost-marshal’s hands, for a dead certainty, had
I continued much longer in the army: but an accident occurred which took
me out of the English service in rather a singular manner.
The year in which George II died, our regiment had the honour to be
present at the battle of Warburg (where the Marquis of Granby and his
horse fully retrieved the discredit which had fallen upon the cavalry
since Lord George Sackville’s defalcation at Minden), and where Prince
Ferdinand once more completely defeated the Frenchmen. During the
action, my lieutenant, Mr. Fakenham, of Fakenham, the gentleman who had
threatened me, it may be remembered, with the caning, was struck by a
musket-ball in the side. He had shown no want of courage in this or any
other occasion where he had been called upon to act against the French;
but this was his first wound, and the young gentleman was exceedingly
frightened by it. He offered five guineas to be carried into the town,
which was hard by; and I and another man, taking him up in a cloak,
managed to transport him into a place of decent appearance, where we put
him to bed, and where a young surgeon (who desired nothing better than
to take himself out of the fire of the musketry) went presently to dress
his wound.
In order to get into the house, we had been obliged, it must be
confessed, to fire into the locks with our pieces; which summons brought
an inhabitant of the house to the door, a very pretty and black-eyed
young woman, who lived there with her old half-blind father, a retired
Jagdmeister of the Duke of Cassel, hard by. When the French were in the
town, Meinherr’s house had suffered like those of his neighbours; and
he was at first exceedingly unwilling to accommodate his guests. But the
first knocking at the door had the effect of bringing a speedy answer;
and Mr. Fakenham, taking a couple of guineas out of a very full purse,
speedily convinced the people that they had only to deal with a person
of honour.
Leaving the doctor (who was very glad to stop) with his patient, who
paid me the stipulated reward, I was returning to my regiment with my
other comrade--after having paid, in my German jargon, some deserved
compliments to the black-eyed beauty of Warburg, and thinking, with no
small envy, how comfortable it would be to be billeted there--when the
private who was with me cut short my reveries by suggesting that we
should divide the five guineas the lieutenant had given me.
‘There is your share,’ said I, giving the fellow one piece; which was
plenty, as I was the leader of the expedition. But he swore a dreadful
oath that he would have half; and when I told him to go to a quarter
which I shall not name, the fellow, lifting his musket, hit me a blow
with the butt-end of it, which sent me lifeless to the ground: when I
awoke from my trance, I found myself bleeding with a large wound in the
head, and had barely time to stagger back to the house where I had left
the lieutenant, when I again fell fainting at the door.
Here I must have been discovered by the surgeon on his issuing out; for
when I awoke a second time I found myself in the ground-floor of the
house, supported by the black-eyed girl, while the surgeon was copiously
bleeding me at the arm. There was another bed in the room where the
lieutenant had been laid,--it was that occupied by Gretel, the servant;
while Lischen, as my fair one was called, had, till now, slept in the
couch where the wounded officer lay.
‘Who are you putting into that bed?’ said he languidly, in German; for
the ball had been extracted from his side with much pain and loss of
blood.
They told him it was the corporal who had brought him.
‘A corporal?’ said he, in English; ‘turn him out.’ And you may be sure
I felt highly complimented by the words. But we were both too faint to
compliment or to abuse each other much, and I was put to bed carefully;
and, on being undressed, had an opportunity to find that my pockets
had been rifled by the English soldier after he had knocked me down.
However, I was in good quarters: the young lady who sheltered me
presently brought me a refreshing drink; and, as I took it, I could not
help pressing the kind hand that gave it me; nor, in truth, did this
token of my gratitude seem unwelcome.
This intimacy did not decrease with further acquaintance. I found
Lischen the tenderest of nurses. Whenever any delicacy was to be
provided for the wounded lieutenant, a share was always sent to the
bed opposite his, and to the avaricious man’s no small annoyance. His
illness was long. On the second day the fever declared itself; for some
nights he was delirious; and I remember it was when a commanding
officer was inspecting our quarters, with an intention, very likely, of
billeting himself on the house, that the howling and mad words of the
patient overhead struck him, and he retired rather frightened. I had
been sitting up very comfortably in the lower apartment, for my hurt was
quite subsided; and it was only when the officer asked me, with a
rough voice, why I was not at my regiment, that I began to reflect how
pleasant my quarters were to me, and that I was much better here than
crawling under an odious tent with a parcel of tipsy soldiers, or going
the night-rounds or rising long before daybreak for drill.
The delirium of Mr. Fakenham gave me a hint, and I determined forthwith
to GO MAD. There was a poor fellow about Brady’s Town called ‘Wandering
Billy,’ whose insane pranks I had often mimicked as a lad, and I
again put them in practice. That night I made an attempt upon Lischen,
saluting her with a yell and a grin which frightened her almost out of
her wits; and when anybody came I was raving. The blow on the head had
disordered my brain; the doctor was ready to vouch for this fact. One
night I whispered to him that I was Julius Caesar, and considered him
to be my affianced wife Queen Cleopatra, which convinced him of my
insanity. Indeed, if Her Majesty had been like my Aesculapius, she must
have had a carroty beard, such as is rare in Egypt.
A movement on the part of the French speedily caused an advance on our
part. The town was evacuated, except by a few Prussian troops, whose
surgeons were to visit the wounded in the place; and, when we were well,
we were to be drafted to our regiments. I determined that I never would
join mine again. My intention was to make for Holland, almost the only
neutral country of Europe in those times, and thence to get a passage
somehow to England, and home to dear old Brady’s Town.
If Mr. Fakenham is now alive, I here tender him my apologies for my
conduct to him. He was very rich; he used me very ill. I managed to
frighten away his servant who came to attend him after the affair of
Warburg, and from that time would sometimes condescend to wait upon the
patient, who always treated me with scorn; but it was my object to
have him alone, and I bore his brutality with the utmost civility and
mildness, meditating in my own mind a very pretty return for all his
favours to me. Nor was I the only person in the house to whom the worthy
gentleman was uncivil. He ordered the fair Lischen hither and thither,
made impertinent love to her, abused her soups, quarrelled with her
omelettes, and grudged the money which was laid out for his maintenance;
so that our hostess detested him as much as, I think, without vanity,
she regarded me.
For, if the truth must be told, I had made very deep love to her during
my stay under her roof; as is always my way with women, of whatever
age or degree of beauty. To a man who has to make his way in the world,
these dear girls can always be useful in one fashion or another; never
mind, if they repel your passion; at any rate, they are not offended
with your declaration of it, and only look upon you with more favourable
eyes in consequence of your misfortune. As for Lischen, I told her such
a pathetic story of my life (a tale a great deal more romantic than that
here narrated,--for I did not restrict myself to the exact truth in that
history, as in these pages I am bound to do), that I won the poor girl’s
heart entirely, and, besides, made considerable progress in the
German language under her instruction. Do not think me very cruel and
heartless, ladies; this heart of Lischen’s was like many a town in the
neighbourhood in which she dwelt, and had been stormed and occupied
several times before I came to invest it; now mounting French colours,
now green and yellow Saxon, now black and white Prussian, as the case
may be. A lady who sets her heart upon a lad in uniform must prepare to
change lovers pretty quickly, or her life will be but a sad one.
The German surgeon who attended us after the departure of the English
only condescended to pay our house a visit twice during my residence;
and I took care, for a reason I had, to receive him in a darkened room,
much to the annoyance of Mr. Fakenham, who lay there: but I said the
light affected my eyes dreadfully since my blow on the head; and so I
covered up my head with clothes when the doctor came, and told him that
I was an Egyptian mummy, or talked to him some insane nonsense, in order
to keep up my character.
‘What is that nonsense you were talking about an Egyptian mummy,
fellow?’ asked Mr. Fakenham peevishly.
‘Oh! you’ll know soon, sir,’ said I.
The next time that I expected the doctor to come, instead of receiving
him in a darkened room, with handkerchiefs muffled, I took care to be
in the lower room, and was having a game at cards with Lischen as the
surgeon entered. I had taken possession of a dressing-jacket of the
lieutenant’s, and some other articles of his wardrobe, which fitted me
pretty well; and, I flatter myself, was no ungentlemanlike figure.
‘Good-morrow, Corporal,’ said the doctor, rather gruffly, in reply to my
smiling salute.
‘Corporal! Lieutenant, if you please,’ answered I, giving an arch look
at Lischen, whom I had instructed in my plot.
‘How lieutenant?’ asked the surgeon. ‘I thought the lieutenant was’--
‘Upon my word, you do me great honour,’ cried I, laughing; ‘you mistook
me for the mad corporal upstairs. The fellow has once or twice pretended
to be an officer, but my kind hostess here can answer which is which.’
‘Yesterday he fancied he was Prince Ferdinand,’ said Lischen; ‘the day
you came he said he was an Egyptian mummy.’
‘So he did,’ said the doctor; ‘I remember; but, ha! ha! do you know,
Lieutenant, I have in my notes made a mistake in you two?’
‘Don’t talk to me about his malady; he is calm now.’
Lischen and I laughed at this error as at the most ridiculous thing
in the world; and when the surgeon went up to examine his patient, I
cautioned him not to talk to him about the subject of his malady, for he
was in a very excited state.
The reader will be able to gather from the above conversation what my
design really was. I was determined to escape, and to escape under the
character of Lieutenant Fakenham; taking it from him to his face, as
it were, and making use of it to meet my imperious necessity. It
was forgery and robbery, if you like; for I took all his money and
clothes,--I don’t care to conceal it; but the need was so urgent, that
I would do so again: and I knew I could not effect my escape without his
purse, as well as his name. Hence it became my duty to take possession
of one and the other.
As the lieutenant lay still in bed upstairs, I did not hesitate at
all about assuming his uniform, especially after taking care to inform
myself from the doctor whether any men of ours who might know me were in
the town. But there were none that I could hear of; and so I calmly took
my walks with Madame Lischen, dressed in the lieutenant’s uniform, made
inquiries as to a horse that I wanted to purchase, reported myself to
the commandant of the place as Lieutenant Fakenham, of Gale’s English
regiment of foot, convalescent, and was asked to dine with the officers
of the Prussian regiment at a very sorry mess they had. How Fakenham
would have stormed and raged, had he known the use I was making of his
name!
Whenever that worthy used to inquire about his clothes, which he did
with many oaths and curses that he would have me caned at the regiment
for inattention, I, with a most respectful air, informed him that they
were put away in perfect safety below; and, in fact, had them very
neatly packed, and ready for the day when I proposed to depart. His
papers and money, however, he kept under his pillow; and, as I had
purchased a horse, it became necessary to pay for it.
At a certain hour, then, I ordered the animal to be brought round, when
I would pay the dealer for him. (I shall pass over my adieux with my
kind hostess, which were very tearful indeed). And then, making up my
mind to the great action, walked upstairs to Fakenham’s room attired in
his full regimentals, and with his hat cocked over my left eye.
‘You gWeat scoundWel!’ said he, with a multiplicity of oaths; ‘you
mutinous dog! what do you mean by dWessing yourself in my Wegimentals?
As sure as my name’s Fakenham, when we get back to the Wegiment, I’ll
have your soul cut out of your body.’
‘I’m promoted, Lieutenant,’ said I, with a sneer. ‘I’m come to take my
leave of you;’ and then going up to his bed, I said, ‘I intend to have
your papers and purse.’ With this I put my hand under his pillow; at
which he gave a scream that might have called the whole garrison about
my ears. ‘Hark ye, sir!’ said I, ‘no more noise, or you are a dead
man!’ and taking a handkerchief, I bound it tight around his mouth so
as well-nigh to throttle him, and, pulling forward the sleeves of his
shirt, tied them in a knot together, and so left him; removing the
papers and the purse, you may be sure, and wishing him politely a good
day.
‘It is the mad corporal,’ said I to the people down below who were
attracted by the noise from the sick man’s chamber; and so taking leave
of the old blind Jagdmeister, and an adieu (I will not say how tender)
of his daughter, I mounted my newly purchased animal; and, as I pranced
away, and the sentinels presented arms to me at the town-gates, felt
once more that I was in my proper sphere, and determined never again to
fall from the rank of a gentleman.
I took at first the way towards Bremen, where our army was, and gave out
that I was bringing reports and letters from the Prussian commandant
of Warburg to headquarters; but, as soon as I got out of sight of the
advanced sentinels, I turned bridle and rode into the Hesse-Cassel
territory, which is luckily not very far from Warburg: and I promise you
I was very glad to see the blue-and-red stripes on the barriers, which
showed me that I was out of the land occupied by our countrymen. I rode
to Hof, and the next day to Cassel, giving out that I was the bearer of
despatches to Prince Henry, then on the Lower Rhine, and put up at the
best hotel of the place, where the field-officers of the garrison had
their ordinary. These gentlemen I treated to the best wines that the
house afforded, for I was determined to keep up the character of the
English gentleman, and I talked to them about my English estates with a
fluency that almost made me believe in the stories which I invented. I
was even asked to an assembly at Wilhelmshohe, the Elector’s palace, and
danced a minuet there with the Hofmarshal’s lovely daughter, and lost a
few pieces to his excellency the first huntmaster of his Highness.
At our table at the inn there was a Prussian officer who treated me with
great civility, and asked me a thousand questions about England; which
I answered as best I might. But this best, I am bound to say, was bad
enough. I knew nothing about England, and the Court, and the noble
families there; but, led away by the vaingloriousness of youth (and a
propensity which I possessed in my early days, but of which I have long
since corrected myself, to boast and talk in a manner not altogether
consonant with truth), I invented a thousand stories which I told him;
described the King and the Ministers to him, said the British Ambassador
at Berlin was my uncle, and promised my acquaintance a letter of
recommendation to him. When the officer asked me my uncle’s name, I was
not able to give him the real name, and so said his name was O’Grady: it
is as good a name as any other, and those of Kilballyowen, county
Cork, are as good a family as any in the world, as I have heard. As for
stories about my regiment, of these, of course, I had no lack. I wish my
other histories had been equally authentic.
On the morning I left Cassel, my Prussian friend came to me with an open
smiling countenance, and said he, too, was bound for Dusseldorf, whither
I said my route lay; and so laying our horses’ heads together we jogged
on. The country was desolate beyond description. The prince in whose
dominions we were was known to be the most ruthless seller of men in
Germany. He would sell to any bidder, and during the five years which
the war (afterwards called the Seven Years’ War) had now lasted, had
so exhausted the males of his principality, that the fields remained
untilled: even the children of twelve years old were driven off to the
war, and I saw herds of these wretches marching forwards, attended by
a few troopers, now under the guidance of a red-coated Hanovarian
sergeant, now with a Prussian sub-officer accompanying them; with some
of whom my companion exchanged signs of recognition.
‘It hurts my feelings,’ said he, ‘to be obliged to commune with such
wretches; but the stern necessities of war demand men continually, and
hence these recruiters whom you see market in human flesh. They get
five-and-twenty dollars from our Government for every man they bring
in. For fine men--for men like you,’ he added, laughing, ‘we would go as
high as a hundred. In the old King’s time we would have given a thousand
for you, when he had his giant regiment that our present monarch
disbanded.’
‘I knew one of them,’ said I, ‘who served with you: we used to call him
Morgan Prussia.’
‘Indeed; and who was this Morgan Prussia?’
‘Why, a huge grenadier of ours, who was somehow snapped up in Hanover by
some of your recruiters.’
‘The rascals!’ said my friend: ‘and did they dare take an Englishman?’
‘’Faith this was an Irishman, and a great deal too sharp for them;
as you shall hear. Morgan was taken, then, and drafted into the giant
guard, and was the biggest man almost among all the giants there. Many
of these monsters used to complain of their life, and their caning, and
their long drills, and their small pay; but Morgan was not one of the
grumblers. “It’s a deal better,” said he, “to get fat here in Berlin,
than to starve in rags in Tipperary!”’
‘Where is Tipperary?’ asked my companion.
‘That is exactly what Morgan’s friends asked him. It is a beautiful
district in Ireland, the capital of which is the magnificent city of
Clonmel: a city, let me tell you, sir, only inferior to Dublin and
London, and far more sumptuous than any on the Continent. Well, Morgan
said that his birthplace was near that city, and the only thing which
caused him unhappiness, in his present situation, was the thought that
his brothers were still starving at home, when they might be so much
better off in His Majesty’s service.
‘“‘Faith,” says Morgan to the sergeant, to whom he imparted the
information, “it’s my brother Bin that would make the fine sergeant of
the guards, entirely!”
‘“Is Ben as tall as you are?” asked the sergeant.
‘“As tall as ME, is it? Why, man, I’m the shortest of my family! There’s
six more of us, but Bin’s the biggest of all. Oh! out and out the
biggest. Seven feet in his stockin-FUT, as sure as my name’s Morgan!”
‘“Can’t we send and fetch them over, these brothers of yours?”
‘“Not you. Ever since I was seduced by one of you gentlemen of the cane,
they’ve a mortal aversion to all sergeants,” answered Morgan: “but
it’s a pity they cannot come, too. What a monster Bin would be in a
grenadier’s cap!”
‘He said nothing more at the time regarding his brothers, but only
sighed as if lamenting their hard fate. However, the story was told by
the sergeant to the officers, and by the officers to the King himself;
and His Majesty was so inflamed by curiosity, that he actually consented
to let Morgan go home in order to bring back with him his seven enormous
brothers.’
‘And were they as big as Morgan pretended?’ asked my comrade. I could
not help laughing at his simplicity.
‘Do you suppose,’ cried I, ‘that Morgan ever came back? No, no; once
free, he was too wise for that. He has bought a snug farm in Tipperary
with the money that was given him to secure his brothers; and I fancy
few men of the guards ever profited so much by it.’
The Prussian captain laughed exceedingly at this story, said that the
English were the cleverest nation in the world, and, on my setting him
right, agreed that the Irish were even more so. We rode on very well
pleased with each other; for he had a thousand stories of the war to
tell, of the skill and gallantry of Frederick, and the thousand escapes,
and victories, and defeats scarcely less glorious than victories,
through which the King had passed. Now that I was a gentleman, I could
listen with admiration to these tales: and yet the sentiment recorded
at the end of the last chapter was uppermost in my mind but three weeks
back, when I remembered that it was the great general got the glory, and
the poor soldier only insult and the cane.
‘By the way, to whom are you taking despatches?’ asked the officer.
It was another ugly question, which I determined to answer at
hap-hazard; and so I said ‘To General Rolls.’ I had seen the general
a year before, and gave the first name in my head. My friend was quite
satisfied with it, and we continued our ride until evening came on; and
our horses being weary, it was agreed that we should come to a halt.
‘There is a very good inn,’ said the Captain, as we rode up to what
appeared to me a very lonely-looking place.
‘This may be a very good inn for Germany,’ said I, ‘but it would not
pass in old Ireland. Corbach is only a league off: let us push on for
Corbach.’
‘Do you want to see the loveliest woman in Europe?’ said the officer.
‘Ah! you sly rogue, I see THAT will influence you;’ and, truth to say,
such a proposal WAS always welcome to me, as I don’t care to own. ‘The
people are great farmers,’ said the Captain, ‘as well as innkeepers;’
and, indeed, the place seemed more a farm than an inn yard. We entered
by a great gate into a Court walled round, and at one end of which was
the building, a dingy ruinous place. A couple of covered waggens were in
the court, their horses were littered under a shed hard by, and lounging
about the place were some men and a pair of sergeants in the Prussian
uniform, who both touched their hats to my friend the Captain. This
customary formality struck me as nothing extraordinary, but the aspect
of the inn had something exceedingly chilling and forbidding in it,
and I observed the men shut to the great yard-gates as soon as we were
entered. Parties of French horsemen, the Captain said, were about
the country, and one could not take too many precautions against such
villains.
We went into supper, after the two sergeants had taken charge of our
horses; the Captain, also, ordering one of them to take my valise to my
bedroom. I promised the worthy fellow a glass of schnapps for his pains.
A dish of fried eggs-and-bacon was ordered from a hideous old wench that
came to serve us, in place of the lovely creature I had expected to see;
and the Captain, laughing, said, ‘Well, our meal is a frugal one, but a
soldier has many a time a worse:’ and, taking off his hat, sword-belt,
and gloves, with great ceremony, he sat down to eat. I would not be
behindhand with him in politeness, and put my weapon securely on the old
chest of drawers where his was laid.
The hideous old woman before mentioned brought us in a pot of very sour
wine, at which and at her ugliness I felt a considerable ill-humour.
‘Where’s the beauty you promised me?’ said I, as soon as the old hag had
left the room.
‘Bah!’ said he, laughing, and looking hard at me: ‘it was my joke. I was
tired, and did not care to go farther. There’s no prettier woman here
than that. If she won’t suit your fancy, my friend, you must wait a
while.’
This increased my ill-humour.
‘Upon my word, sir,’ said I sternly, ‘I think you have acted very
coolly!’
‘I have acted as I think fit!’ replied the captain.
‘Sir,’ said I, ‘I’m a British officer!’
‘It’s a lie!’ roared the other, ‘you’re a DESERTER! You’re an impostor,
sir; I have known you for such these three hours. I suspected you
yesterday. My men heard of a man escaping from Warburg, and I thought
you were the man. Your lies and folly have confirmed me. You pretend to
carry despatches to a general who has been dead these ten months: you
have an uncle who is an ambassador, and whose name forsooth you don’t
know. Will you join and take the bounty, sir; or will you be given up?’
‘Neither!’ said I, springing at him like a tiger. But, agile as I was,
he was equally on his guard. He took two pistols out of his pocket,
fired one off, and said, from the other end of the table where he stood
dodging me, as it were,--
‘Advance a step, and I send this bullet into your brains!’ In another
minute the door was flung open, and the two sergeants entered, armed
with musket and bayonet to aid their comrade.
The game was up. I flung down a knife with which I had armed myself; for
the old hag on bringing in the wine had removed my sword.
‘I volunteer,’ said I.
‘That’s my good fellow. What name shall I put on my list?’
‘Write Redmond Barry of Bally Barry,’ said I haughtily; ‘a descendant of
the Irish kings!’
‘I was once with the Irish brigade, Roche’s,’ said the recruiter,
sneering, ‘trying if I could get any likely fellows among the few
countrymen of yours that are in the brigade, and there was scarcely one
of them that was not descended from the kings of Ireland.’
‘Sir,’ said I, ‘king or not, I am a gentleman, as you can see.’
‘Oh! you will find plenty more in our corps,’ answered the Captain,
still in the sneering mood. ‘Give up your papers, Mr. Gentleman, and let
us see who you really are.’
As my pocket-book contained some bank-notes as well as papers of Mr.
Fakenham’s, I was not willing to give up my property; suspecting very
rightly that it was but a scheme on the part of the Captain to get and
keep it.
‘It can matter very little to you,’ said I, ‘what my private papers are:
I am enlisted under the name of Redmond Barry.’
‘Give it up, sirrah!’ said the Captain, seizing his cane.
‘I will not give it up!’ answered I.
‘HOUND! do you mutiny?’ screamed he, and, at the same time, gave me a
lash across the face with the cane, which had the anticipated effect
of producing a struggle. I dashed forward to grapple with him, the two
sergeants flung themselves on me, I was thrown to the ground and
stunned again; being hit on my former wound in the head. It was bleeding
severely when I came to myself, my laced coat was already torn off my
back, my purse and papers gone, and my hands tied behind my back.
The great and illustrious Frederick had scores of these white
slave-dealers all round the frontiers of his kingdom, debauching troops
or kidnapping peasants, and hesitating at no crime to supply those
brilliant regiments of his with food for powder; and I cannot help
telling here, with some satisfaction, the fate which ultimately befell
the atrocious scoundrel who, violating all the rights of friendship and
good-fellowship, had just succeeded in entrapping me. This individual
was a person of high family and known talents and courage, but who had
a propensity to gambling and extravagance, and found his calling as a
recruit-decoy far more profitable to him than his pay of second captain
in the line. The sovereign, too, probably found his services more useful
in the former capacity. His name was Monsieur de Galgenstein, and he was
one of the most successful of the practisers of his rascally trade. He
spoke all languages, and knew all countries, and hence had no difficulty
in finding out the simple braggadocio of a young lad like me.
About 1765, however, he came to his justly merited end. He was at this
time living at Kehl, opposite Strasburg, and used to take his walk upon
the bridge there, and get into conversation with the French advanced
sentinels; to whom he was in the habit of promising ‘mountains and
marvels,’ as the French say, if they would take service in Prussia.
One day there was on the bridge a superb grenadier, whom Galgenstein
accosted, and to whom he promised a company, at least, if he would
enlist under Frederick.
‘Ask my comrade yonder,’ said the grenadier; ‘I can do nothing without
him. We were born and bred together, we are of the same company, sleep
in the same room, and always go in pairs. If he will go and you will
give him a captaincy, I will go too.’
‘Bring your comrade over to Kehl,’ said Galgenstein, delighted. ‘I will
give you the best of dinners, and can promise to satisfy both of you.’
‘Had you not better speak to him on the bridge?’ said the grenadier.
‘I dare not leave my post; but you have but to pass, and talk over the
matter.’
Galgenstein, after a little parley, passed the sentinel; but presently a
panic took him, and he retraced his steps. But the grenadier brought
his bayonet to the Prussian’s breast and bade him stand: that he was his
prisoner.
The Prussian, however, seeing his danger, made a bound across the bridge
and into the Rhine; whither, flinging aside his musket, the intrepid
sentry followed him. The Frenchman was the better swimmer of the two,
seized upon the recruiter, and bore him to the Strasburg side of the
stream, where he gave him up.
‘You deserve to be shot,’ said the general to him, ‘for abandoning your
post and arms; but you merit reward for an act of courage and daring.
The King prefers to reward you,’ and the man received money and
promotion.
As for Galgenstein, he declared his quality as a nobleman and a captain
in the Prussian service, and applications were made to Berlin to know if
his representations were true. But the King, though he employed men of
this stamp (officers to seduce the subjects of his allies) could not
acknowledge his own shame. Letters were written back from Berlin to
say that such a family existed in the kingdom, but that the person
representing himself to belong to it must be an impostor, for
every officer of the name was at his regiment and his post. It was
Galgenstein’s death-warrant, and he was hanged as a spy in Strasburg.
‘Turn him into the cart with the rest,’ said he, as soon as I awoke
from my trance.