COUNT RUMFORD. 111 



frightened by the plunging of his fellow-passengers, the 

 three blood-horses. 



Thompson pushed on to Strasburg, where Prince 

 Maximilian of Bavaria, then a field-marshal in the 

 service of France, was in garrison. As on a former 

 occasion in his native country, Thompson, mounted on 

 one of his chargers, appeared on the parade-ground. 

 He attracted the attention of the Prince, who spoke to 

 him, and on learning that he had been serving in the 

 American war, pointed to some of his officers, and re- 

 marked that they had been in the same war. An 

 animated conversation immediately began, at the end of 

 which Thompson was invited to dine with the Prince. 

 After dinner, it is said, he produced a portfolio con- 

 taining plans of the principal engagements, and a col- 

 lection of excellent maps 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 immediately a man capable of 

 rendering the State good service. He pressed his visitor 

 to accept a post half military, half civil. The proposal 

 was a welcome one to Thompson, and he came to 

 England to obtain the King's permission to accept it. 

 Not only was the permission granted, but on February 

 23, 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 ' of one of the most antient Families 

 in North America ; that an Island which belonged to 



