Previous - next
peevishly, not to resume it at that period. I, therefore, moved on
with my disciple, and, at his request, began at once the sermon; for
my memory is good for anything, and I can repeat any book I have
read thrice.
'I poured out, then, under the trees, and in the calm moonlight,
that discourse which I had pronounced under the blazing sun of noon.
My Israelite only interrupted me by exclamations indicative of
surprise, assent, admiration, and increasing conviction.
"Prodigious!" said he;--"Wunderschon!" would he remark at the
conclusion of some eloquent passage; in a word, he exhausted the
complimentary interjections of our language: and to compliments what
man is averse? I think we must have walked two miles when I got to
my third head and my companion begged I would enter his house, which
we now neared, and partake of a glass of beer; to which I was never
averse.
'That house, sir, was the inn at which you, too, if I judge aright,
were taken. No sooner was I in the place, than three crimps rushed
upon me, told me I was a deserter, and their prisoner, and called
upon me to deliver up my money and papers; which I did with a solemn
protest as to my sacred character. They consisted of my sermon in
MS., Prorector Nasenbrumm's recommendatory letter, proving my
identity, and three groschen four pfennigs in bullion. I had already
been in the cart twenty hours when you reached the house. The French
officer, who lay opposite you (he who screamed when you trod on his
foot, for he was wounded), was brought in shortly before your
arrival. He had been taken with his epaulets and regimentals, and
declared his quality and rank; but he was alone (I believe it was
some affair of love with a Hessian lady which caused him to be
unattended); and as the persons into whose hands he fell will make
more profit of him as a recruit than as a prisoner, he is made to
share our fate. He is not the first by many scores so captured. One
of M. de Soubise's cooks, and three actors out of a troop in the
French camp, several deserters from your English troops (the men are
led away by being told that there is no flogging in the Prussian
service), and three Dutchmen were taken besides.'
'And you,' said I--'you who were just on the point of getting a
valuable living,--you who have so much learning, are you not
indignant at the outrage?'
'I am a Saxon,' said the candidate, 'and there is no use in
indignation. Our government is crushed under Frederick's heel these
five years, and I might as well hope for mercy from the Grand Mogul.
Nor am I, in truth, discontented with my lot; I have lived on a
penny bread for so many years, that a soldier's rations will be a
luxury to me. I do not care about more or less blows of a cane; all
such evils are passing, and therefore endurable. I will never, God
willing, slay a man in combat; but I am not unanxious to experience
on myself the effect of the war-passion, which has had so great an
influence on the human race.
Previous - next
