CHAPTER IV. 



Thompson receives Permission to travel on the Continent. 

 Gibbon and Laurens. Meeting with Maximilian de 

 Deux Fonts. Intercourse with French Officers. Vis- 

 its Munich. Goes to Vienna. Returns^ by Invitation 

 of the Elector ', to Munich. In England. Knighted. 

 Permitted to enter the Service of the Elector. His 

 Career and Services in Bavaria. Offices and Honors. 

 Schemes. Essays. Tears of Preparation. Work- 

 Houses at Mannheim and Munich. Military Reforms. 

 Soldiers Gardens. Mendicancy : its Abuses, Meas- 

 ures for its Removal. Wise and Efficient Plans. Seiz- 

 ure of Beggars. Experiments on Food. Minor Schemes 

 of Reforms. Sickness. Travels in Italy and Switzer- 

 land. Visits to Hospitals and Poor-Houses. Returns 

 to Munich. Convalescence. Writes his Essays. 

 Goes to England. Economical Schemes there. Pub- 

 lishes his Essays. Visits Ireland. Sends for his 

 Daughter. 



AS a commissioned officer of high rank in the Brit- 

 ish army, now on half-pay, though without an 

 occasion for his active services, Colonel Thompson, 

 of course, needed a special permission to enable him 

 to leave the kingdom, if only for travel, and still more 

 if he had any purpose of seeking military employment 

 under another power. He readily obtained leave of 

 the King to visit the Continent. He had two leading 



