At that time, New-Year's-Day greatly enlivened the city by the general interchange of personal felicita. tions. He who otherwise hardly left the house, now hurried on his best clothes, that for a moment he might be friendly and courteous to his wellwishers and friends. For us children, the solemnity in our grandfather's house, on this day, was a much-desired pleasure. At early dawn the grandchildren were already collected there, to hear the drums, eboes, and clarionets, the trumpets and cornets, played by the soldiers, the city musicians, and others. The new-year's gifts, sealed and superscribed, were divided by us children among the inferior congratulants; and as the day advanced, the numbers of the more distinguished increased. First appeared the intimates and the relatives, then the lower officials; the gentlemen of the Council themselves did not fail to wait on their chief magistrate; and a select party were entertained in the evening in rooms which, except now, were hardly opened through the whole year. The tarts, biscuits, march pane, and sweet wine, had the greatest charm for the children. And besides this, the chief magistrate and the two burgomasters received annually, from certain foundations, some articles of silver ware, which were then bestowed in due gradation among the grand and godchildren. This festival, in fine, hadin small whatever usually dignifies the greatest.

The New-Year's-Day of 1759 approached-desired and delightful for us children, like those before it; but full for older persons of anxiety and foreboding. The passage of French troops had indeed become a matter of custom, and happened often, but yet oftenest in the last days of the bygone year. According to the ancient usage of the imperial city, the watchman on the chief tower blew his trumpet whenever troops approached; and on this New Year's

Day he blew incessantly, which was a sign that large bodies were in movement on different sides; and in fact, they passed on this day in greater masses through the city. The crowd ran to look on. In general, people had been used to see them enter only in small parties. These, however, gradually swelled, and there was neither power nor inclination to stop the increase. In fine, on the 2d January, after a column had come through Sachsenhausen, over the Bridge, through the Fahrgasse as far as the gunner's guard, they halted, overpowered the small party which accompanied them, took possession of that guard, and then marched down the Zeile, till after a slight resistance the main guard was also obliged to yield. Instantly tly the peaceful streets were changed into a place of arms, where the troops established themselves, and bivouacked until their quarters were provided by regular billeting.

This unexpected, for many years unheard-of, burden pressed severely on the comfortable citizens. It could be more annoying to no one than to my father, who had to receive strange military inhabitants into his hardly finished house, to open for them his well adorned and neatly closed receptionrooms, and to abandon to the wantonness of others all that he had been used to arrange and preserve so accurately. He, moreover, who took the Prussian side, had now to see himself besieged by the French even in his own chambers. It was the greatest grief which, with his mode of thinking, could possibly have befallen him. Yet had it been possible for him to take the thing more easily, as he spoke French well, and could in the intercourse of life comport himself with dignity and grace, he might have saved us and himself from many unpleasant hours. For it was the King's lieutenant who was quartered on us, and he, although a military person, yet had only to arrange the civil occurrences, the disputes between soldiers and citizens, and questions of debts and of quarrels. He was the Count Thorane, a native of Grasse in Provence, not far from Antibes, a long,thin, grave figure, with a face much disfigured by small pox, black fiery eyes, and a dignified, composed demearour. His very first entrance was favourable for the family. There was some talk of the different rooms, which were, some of them to be given up to him, some to remain for our use; and, as the Count heard a picture-room spoken of, he immediately proposed, that although it was already night, he should at least hastily look at the pictures by candlelight. He took extreme pleasure in these things, behaved most obligingly to my father, who accompanied him; and when he heard that most of the artists were still living, and in Frankfort or its neighbourhood, he said that he wished for nothing more eagerly than to see them as soon as possible, and give them employ

ment.

But even this sympathy as to art could not change my father's feelings, nor bend his character. He let happen what he could not prevent, but kept himself in inactivity at a distance; and the extraordinary state of things about him was, even in the smallest trifle, intolerable to him.

Meanwhile the conduct of Count Thorane was exemplary. He would not even have his maps nailed on the walls, for fear of spoiling the new room-papers. His people were dexterous, quiet, and orderly; but, in truth, as all day long, and part of the night, there was no quiet near him-one complainant following another, accused persons brought in and led out, and all officers and adjutants admitted; and as, morover, the Count had every day an open dinner-table-thus in the moderate-sized house, planned only for a family, and having but one open staircase running from top to bottomthere was a perpetual movement and buzz as if in a beehive, though all was temperately, gravely, and severely managed.

As mediator between a master of the house, dail daily more and more a prey to melancholy self-torment, and a friendly but very grave and precise military guest, there happily a smooth interpreter, a handsome, corpulent, cheerful man, who was

was

a citizen of Frankfort, and spoke good French, could adapt himself to every thing, and only made a jest of many small annoyances. Through him my mother had sent a representation to the Count, of the situation she was placed in owing to her husband's temper. He had so judiciously explained the matter, laying before him the new house, not even completely arranged, the natural reserve of the owner, his employment in the education of his children, and whatever else could be thought of to the same purport, that the Count, who in his official post took the highest pride in the utmost justice, disinterestedness, and honourable conduct, resolved also to play an exemplary part with reference to those on whom he was quartered; and in fact did so without failure, during the varying circumstances of the years in which he remained with us.

My mother had some knowledge of Italian, a language not altogether strange to any of the family. She therefore determined to learn French also, as soon as possible, for which purpose she employed the interpreter. She had lately, in the midst of these stormy events, stood godmother for a child of his, and this connexion doubled his regard for us; so that he willingly devoted to his child's godmother every leisure moment-for he lived just oppositeand, above all, he taught her those phrases which she would herself have to use to the Count. This answered perfectly. The Count was flattered by the pains which, at her years, the mistress of the house took; and as he had a vein of cheerful pleasantry in his character, and even liked to display a certain dry gallantry, there arose the most friendly relation between the two and the godmother and father who had contrived it, could gain whatever they wanted from our guest.

Had it been possible, as I said before, to conciliate my father, this altered state of things would have had little inconvenience. The Count practised theseverest disinterestedness. He even refused presents which belonged properly to his situation. Any thing, however trifling, that could have borne the appearance of a bribe was rejected. with anger, even with punishment. His people were most severely for bidden

to put the landlord of the house to the smallest expense. On the other hand, we children were sumptuously supplied from the dessert. On this opportunity, I may give a notion of the simplicity of those times, by mentioning that my mother one day distressed us extremely, by throwing away the ices which had been sent us from the table, because she fancied it impossible that the stomach should bear a real ice however sweetened.

Besides these dainties, which we gradually learned to enjoy and digest extremely well, it also seemed to us children a great pleasure to be in a measure released from fixed hours of lessons, and from severe discipline. My father's ill-humour increased; he could not resign himself to the inevitable. How did he torment himself, my mother, and her friend the interpreter, the counsellors, and all his friends, only to get rid of the Count! In vain was it represented to him that the presence of such a man in the house, under the actual circumstances, was a real benefit; that a perpetual succession either of officers or privates would follow on the removal of the Count. None of these arguments would hit him. The present seemed to him so intolerable, that his vexation prevented him conceiving any thing worse which might follow.

In this way was his activity restrained which he had been used to employ on us. The tasks which he set us he now no longer required with his former exactness, and we tried in all possible ways to gratify our curiosity for military and other public proceedings, not only at home but also in the streets, which was easily accomplished, as the house-door, open day and night, was guarded by sentries who did not trouble themselves about the running in and out of restless children.

The many affairs which were settled before the tribunal of the King's lieutenant, gained a special charm from his peculiar care to accompany his decisions with some witty, sharp, and pleasant turn. What he decreed was severely just; his mode of expressing it was whimsical and poignant. He seemed to have taken the Duke of Ossuna as his model. There passed

*

hardly a day in which the interpreter did not relate some anecdote or other of the kind to entertain us and my mother. This lively man had made for himself a little collection of such Solomonian decisions. But I remember only the general impression, and cannot recall any one case in particular.

Time made the strange character of the Count more and more intelligible. This man had the clearest consciousness of himself and his own peculiarities; and as there were certain times when a kind of ill-humour, hypochon. dria, or whatever may be the name of the evil demon, seized him, therefore at such hours, which often prolonged themselves to days, he retired into his chamber, saw no one but his servant, and even in urgent cases could not be prevailed on to receive any one. But as soon as the evil spirit had left him, he appeared, as before, mild, cheerful, and active. From the talk of his servant, Saint Jean, a small, lean man, of lively good-nature, it might be inferred that, in earlier years, when overpowered by this temper, he had caused some great misfortune; and that, therefore, in so important a post as his, and exposed to the eyes of all the world, he was rigidly determined in avoiding the like errors.

In the very first days of the Count's residence, all the Frankfort artists, as Hirt, Schütz, Trautmann, Nothnagel, Junker, were sent for to him. They showed him the pictures they had ready, and the Count purchased what was for sale.

an

My pretty light end-room in the attic was given up to him, and was immediately turned into a cabinet and painting-room; for he designed to employ, for a considerable time, all the artists, but especially Seekaz of Darmstadt, whose pencil highly delighted him by its natural and simple representations. He therefore had account sent from Grasse, where his elder brother had a handsome house, of the dimensions of all the rooms and cabinets, considered with the artists the proper divisions of the walls, and determined accordingly the sizes of the large oil-pictures, which were not to be placed in frames, but to be fixed on the walls, like the pieces of room

NO, CCXCI, VOL, XLVII,