418 Professor Tyndall [May 3, 10, and 17, 



invited to dine with the Prince. After dinner, it is said, he produced 

 a portfolio containing plans of the principal engagements, and a col- 

 lection of excellent maj)s of the seat of war. Eager for information, 

 the Prince again invited him for the next day, and when at length the 

 traveller took leave, engaged him to pass through Munich, giving him 

 a friendly letter to his uncle, the Elector of Bavaria. 



Thompson carried with him wherever he went the stamp of power 

 and the gift of address. The Elector, a sage ruler, saw in him im- 

 mediately a man capable of rendering the state good service. He 

 pressed his visitor to acccjit a post half military and half civil. The 

 proj)osal was a welcome one to Thompson, and he came to England 

 to obtain the king's permission to accej)t it. Not only was the per- 

 mission granted, but on February 23rd, 1784, he was knighted by the 

 king. Dr. Ellis publishes the " grant of arms " to the new knight. 

 In it he is described as " Son of Benjamin Thompson, late of the 

 Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England, Gent., deceased, and 

 as one of the most anticnt Families in North America ; that an Island 

 which belonged to his Ancestors, at the entrance of Boston Harbour, 

 where the tirst New England Settlement was made, still bears 

 his name ; that his Ancestors have ever lived in re2)utable Situations 

 in that country where he was born, and have hitherto used the Arms 

 of the antient and respectable Family of Thompson, of the county of 

 York, from a constant Tradition that they derived their Descent from 

 that Source." The original iiarchment, perfect and unsullied, with 

 all its seals, is in the 2^ossession of Mrs. James F. Baldwin, of 

 Boston, widow of the executor of Countess Sarah Ptumford.* The 

 knight himself, observes his biograjjher, must have furnished the 

 information written on that flowery parchment. Thompson was fond 

 of display, and he here gave rein to his tendency. He returned 

 to Munich, and on his arrival the Elector appointed him colonel of 

 a regiment of cavalry and general aide-de-camp to himself. He was 

 lodged in a palace, which he shared with the Russian Ambassador, 

 and had a military staff and a corps of servants. " His imposing 

 figure, his manly and handsome countenance, his dignity of bearing, 

 and his courteous manners, not only to the great, but equally to his 

 subordinates and inferiors, made him exceedingly popular." 



He soon acquired a mastery of the German and French languages. 

 He made himself minutely acquainted with everything concerning 

 the dominions of the Elector — their population, and employments, 

 their resources and means of development, and their relations to other 

 powers. He found much that urgently needed removal and mucli that 

 required reformation. Speaking of the Electorate, Cuvier remarks 

 that " its sovereigns had encouraged devotion, and made no stipula- 

 tion in favour of industry. There were more convents than manu- 

 factories in their states; their army was almost a shadow, while 

 ignorance and idleness were conspicuous in every class of society." 



* Ellis. 



