lieutenant of the garrison, whom I had insulted, who received two
wounds in the contest.

I ought to remark, that at this time, the University of Konigsberg
was still highly privileged. To send a challenge was held
honourable; and this was not only permitted, but would have been
difficult to prevent, considering the great number of proud, hot-
headed, and turbulent nobility from Livonia, Courland, Sweden,
Denmark, and Poland, who came thither to study, and of whom there
were more than five hundred. This brought the University into
disrepute, and endeavours have been made to remedy the abuse. Men
have acquired a greater extent of true knowledge, and have begun to
perceive that a University ought to be a place of instruction, and
not a field of battle; and that blood cannot be honourably shed,
except in defence of life or country.

In November, 1742, the King sent his adjutant-general, Baron Lottum,
who was related to my mother, to Konigsberg, with whom I dined at my
grandfather's. He conversed much with me, and, after putting
various questions, purposely, to discover what my talents and
inclinations were, he demanded, as if in joke, whether I had any
inclination to go with him to Berlin, and serve my country, as my
ancestors had ever done: adding that, in the army, I should find
much better opportunities of sending challenges than at the
University. Inflamed with the desire of distinguishing myself, I
listened with rapture to the proposition, and in a few days we
departed for Potzdam.

On the morrow after my arrival, I was presented to the King, as
indeed I had before been in the year 1740, with the character of