COUNT RUMFORD. HI 



horses, who are not the most agreeable fellow-passengers. 

 If we survive, I will finish and seal my letter at Calais. 

 Our salvation shall be ascribed to the prayers of my 

 lady and aunt, for I do believe they both pray." The 

 "grand Gibbon" is reported to have been terribly 

 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 ani- 

 mated 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 Eng- 

 land to obtain the King's permission to accept it. Xot 

 only was the permission granted, but on February 23, 

 1784, he was knighted by the King. Dr. Ellis pub- 



