suffered any man to bring us, alive, back to Glatz. Yet this was
but the first act of the tragedy of which I was doomed the hero, and
the mournful incidents of which all arose out of, and depended on,
each other.



CHAPTER VII.



Could I have read the book of fate, and have seen the forty years'
fearful afflictions that were to follow, I certainly should not have
rejoiced at this my escape from Glatz. One year's patience might
have appeased the irritated monarch, and, taking a retrospect of all
that has passed, I now find it would have been a fortunate
circumstance, had the good and faithful Schell and I never met,
since he also fell into a train of misfortunes, which I shall
hereafter relate, and from which he could never extricate himself,
but by death. The sufferings which I have since undergone will be
read with astonishment.

It is my consolation that both the laws of honour and nature justify
the action. I may serve as an example of the fortitude with which
danger ought to be encountered, and show monarchs that in Germany,
as well as in Rome, there are men who refuse to crouch beneath the
yoke of despotism, and that philosophy and resolution are stronger
than even those lords of slaves, with all their threats, whips,
tortures, and instruments of death.