he lives.' Here the fellows began to laugh, whereupon I could have cried, and none of them would hear of such an Excellency. Meanwhile they brought me a very stiff mess of pease porridge. I eat of it with little appetite.

"We had hardly finished, when an old thin fellow entered the room, who I now saw must be more than a common soldier. He was a sergeant. He carried a soldier's uniform on his arm, which he spread upon the table, laid beside it a six groschen piece, and said: 'That is for you, my son! I will bring you directly some ammunition bread.' 'What? for me?' answered I, 'from whom? what for?' 'Why your uniform and pay, lad! what's the use of asking questions? You are a recruit.' 'How? what? a recruit?' answered I; 'God forbid! I have never thought of such a thing. No, never in my life. I am Markoni's servant. That was what I agreed for and nothing else. No man can tell me otherwise.' 'But I tell you, fellow, that you are a soldier, I can answer for that. There is no help for it.' I: 'Ah, if my master Markoni were but here!' He: 'You will not soon get a sight of him. Would you not rather be a servant to our King, than to his lieutenant?' Therewith he went away. 'For God's sake, Herr Zittermann,' I continued, 'what does this mean?' 'Nothing, sir,' answered he, 'but that you, like I, and the other gentlemen there, are soldiers, and consequently all brothers, and that no opposition will avail, except to take you to the guard-house, where you will have bread and water, have your hands bound, and be flogged till your ribs crack, and you are satisfied.' I: 'By my troth that would be shameful, wicked!' He: 'Believe me upon my word it will be so, and nothing else.' I: 'Then I will complain to the King.' Here they all laughed loud. He: 'You will never see him.' I: 'To whom else can I complain?' He: 'To our Major, if you choose. But that will be all in vain.' I: 'I will try, however, whether it will avail!' The lads laughed again." (The Major kicked him out with blows.)

"In the afternoon the sergeant brought me my ammunition bread, together with my musket and side-arms and so forth, and asked whether I now thought better of it? 'Why not?' answered Zittermann for me; 'he is the best lad in the world.' Then they led me into the uniform room, and fitted on me a pair of pantaloons, shoes and boots, gave me a hat, necktie, stockings, and so forth. Then I had to go with some twenty other recruits to Colonel Latorf. They took us into a room as large as a church, brought in some tattered flags, and commanded each of us to take hold of a corner. An Adjutant, or whoever he was, read us a whole heap of the articles of war, and repeated some words which most of them murmured after him; but I did not open my mouth, but thought of what pleased me, I believe it was of Aennchen; he then waved the banner over our heads and dismissed us. Hereupon I went to a cook-shop and got something to eat, together with a mug of beer. For this I had to pay two groschen. Now I had only four out of the six remaining to me; with these I had to provide for myself for four days, and they would scarcely last two. Upon this calculation I began to make great lamentations to my comrades. One of them, called Eran, said to me with a smile, 'You will soon learn. Now it does not signify to you; for have you not something to sell? For example your whole servant's livery; thus you are at present doubly armed; all that will turn into silver. And as to your ménage, only observe what others do. Three, four or five, club together to buy corn, peas, and potatoes, and the like, and cook for themselves. In the morning they have a half-penny worth of bad brandy and a piece of ammunition bread; in the middle of the day they get a half-penny worth of soup, and take a piece of ammunition bread; in the evening they have two penny worth of small beer, and again the bread.' 'But that, by Jove, is a cursed life,' I answered; he said, 'Yes! thus one gets on, and not otherwise. A soldier must learn this; for many other things are necessary: pipeclay, powder, blacking, oil, emery, and soap, and a hundred other things.' I: 'And that is all to be paid for out of six groschen?' He: 'Yes! and still more; as for example, the pay for washing, for cleaning the weapons and so forth, if you cannot do those things yourself.' Thereupon we went to our quarters, and I got on as well as I could.

"During the first week I still had a holiday; I went about the town to all the places of drill, and saw how the officers inspected and flogged the soldiers, so that beforehand for very fear, great drops of sweat broke out on my brow. I therefore begged of Zittermann to show me at home how to handle my weapons. 'You will learn that by-and-by,' said he, 'but if you are dexterous you will get on like lightning.' Meanwhile he was so good as really to show me everything, how to keep my weapon clean, how to squeeze myself into my uniform, and to dress my hair in a soldierly style, and so forth. After Eran's counsel, I sold my boots, and bought with the money a wooden chest to hold my linen. In quarters I practised myself in exercising, read the Halle hymn-book or prayed. Then I walked by the Spree and saw there hundreds of soldiers employed in lading and unlading merchants' wares; the timber yard also was full of soldiers at work. Another time I went to the barracks and so forth; I found everywhere the like, a hundred sorts of business carried on, from works of art to the distaff. If I came to the guard-house, I there found those who played, drank, and jested; others who quietly smoked their pipes and conversed, some few who read an edifying book and explained it to the others. In the cook-shops and breweries, things went on after the same fashion. In Berlin we had among the military—as I think indeed is the case in all great cities—people from all the four quarters of the world, of all nations and religions, of all characters and of every profession by which men can earn their bread.

"The second week I had to attend every day on the parade-ground, where I unexpectedly found three of my country-people. Shärer, Bachmann, and Gästli, who were all in the same regiment with me—Itzenplitz—both were in the company called Lüderitz. At first I had to learn to march under a crabbed corporal, with a crooked nose, by name Mengke; this fellow I hated like death; when he hit me on the feet the blood went to my head. Under his hands I should have learnt nothing all my days. This was observed by Hevel, who manœuvred with his people on the same ground, so he exchanged me for another, and took me into his platoon. This was a heartfelt pleasure to me. Now I learned in an hour more than in ten days with the other.

"Shärer was as poor as I; but he got an augmentation of two groschen and a double portion of bread, for the Major thought a good bit more of him than of me. Meanwhile we loved each other as brothers; as long as one had anything the other would share it with him. Bachmann, on the contrary, who also lodged with us, was a niggardly fellow, and did not agree with us; nevertheless the hours always appeared as long as day when we could not be together. As soon as our drills were over, we flew together to Schottmann's cellar, drank our mug of Ruppin or Kotbuss beer, smoked a pipe, and trilled a Swiss song. The Brandenburgers and Pomeranians always listened to us with pleasure. Some gentlemen even sent for us express to a cook-shop, to sing the ranz-des-vackes. The musicians' pay principally consisted in nasty soup, but in such a situation one must be content with still less.

"We often related to one another our manner of life at home; how well off we were and how free; and what a cursed life we led here, and the like. Then we made plans for our escape. Sometimes we entertained hopes that we might succeed; at other times we saw before us insurmountable difficulties, and we were principally deterred by thinking of the consequences of an unsuccessful attempt. We heard every week fearful