112 COUNT RUMFORD. 



lishes 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 Fami- 

 lies in North America; that an Island which belonged to 

 his Ancestors, at the entrance of Boston Harbour, where 

 the first New England Settlement was made, still bears 

 his name; that his Ancestors have ever lived in reputable 

 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 parchment, perfect and 

 unsullied, with all its seals, is in the possession of Mrs. 

 James F. Baldwin, of Boston, widow of the executor 

 of Countess Sarah Rumford.* The knight himself, 

 observes his biographer, must have furnished the infor- 

 mation written on that flowery and mythical 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 ac- 

 quainted with everything concerning the dominions of 

 the Elector their population and employments, their 

 resources and means of development, and their relations 

 * Ellis. 



