6 THE LIFE OF 



In 1779 I returned to England, by the way 

 of Holland ; and pafllng immediately again to 

 the continent, I met at Harwich with an an^ia- 

 ble and aCcomplilhed young lady, of a highly 

 -refpe6lable family, then with her mother and 

 lifter, going to the Hague : with her I formed 

 a connexion of the tendereft nature, which in 

 a fhort time terminated in our marriage, and 

 return to Britain. After fojourning fome 

 months in London, I went with my wife tq 

 France j where I was prefentcd by her to the 

 Duchefs of Kingfton. I - remained in that 

 country fome time ; when being folicited by the 

 Duchefs to go to Ruffia, I confented to follow 

 her, as I was obliged, by affairs of my own, to 

 take a circuitous route to Pruflia; from whence 

 I went through Courland to Riga, the frontier 

 town of the Ruffian territory, where I had let- 

 ters of recommendation to all the principal 

 merchants. 



At Riga, according to my ufual bufy fate, I 

 met with an adventure worth relating, as it, 

 perhaps, fcrved as the foundation of my future 

 fortune in tjiat country. A perfon of the name 

 of Sauvage^ a Hanoverian, and who had been 

 employed by the Britifti government, during 

 the adminiftration of Lord North, to recruit in 

 Germany, was then in that city ; where he 

 palTed for a Major of the Britifh army, and 



wore 



