very name of Trenck; nor did he lose any opportunity of giving
proofs of his enmity, and especially on the present occasion, when
he left me standing in the mire till noon, the sport of the
soldiers. I was then drawn out, half dead, only again to be
imprisoned, and shut up the whole day, without water to wash me. No
one can imagine how I looked, exhausted and dirty, my long hair
having fallen into the mud, with which, by my struggling, it was
loaded.

I remained in this condition till the next day, when two fellow-
prisoners were sent to assist and clean me.

My imprisonment now became more intolerable. I had still eighty
louis-d'ors in my purse, which had not been taken from me at my
removal into another dungeon, and these afterwards did me good
service.

The passions soon all assailed me at once, and impetuous, boiling,
youthful blood overpowered reason; hope disappeared; I thought
myself the most unfortunate of men, and my King an irreconcileable
judge, more wrathful and more fortified in suspicion by my own
rashness. My nights were sleepless, my days miserable; my soul was
tortured by the desire of fame; a consciousness of innocence was a
continued stimulus inciting me to end my misfortunes. Youth,
inexperienced in woe and disastrous fate, beholds every evil
magnified, and desponds on every new disappointment, more especially
after having failed in attempting freedom. Education had taught me
to despise death, and these opinions had been confirmed by my friend
La Mettrie, author of the famous work, "L'Homme Machine," or "Man a
Machine."