160 Life of Count Rum ford. 



Presents grant and confirm to the said Sir Benjamin Thompson, 

 in testimony of his Merits and Services, the Arms distinguished 

 as follows ; that is to say : Per Fess Argent and Sable, a 

 Fess embattled, counter-embattled, counter-changed between 

 two Falcons, in chief of the second beaked, membered, and 

 belled Or, and a Horse passant in base of the first. And for 

 Crest on a Wreath of the Colours, A Mural Crown Or, thereon 

 a Mullet of six points Azure, and between the Battlements four 

 Pine Buds Vert as the same are in the Margin hereof more 

 plainly depicted, to be borne and used forever hereafter by him, 

 the said Sir Benjamin Thompson, Knight, and his Descendants, 

 with due and proper Differences according to the Laws of Arms, 

 without Let or Interruption of any Person or Persons whatso- 

 ever. In Witness whereof We, the said Garter and Claren- 

 ceux Kings of Arms, have to these Presents subscribed our 

 Names and affixed the seals of our several Offices, this thirty- 

 first Day of May, in the twenty-fourth Year of the Reign of 

 our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the Grace of God 

 King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the 

 Faith, &c., and in the Year of our Lord One thousand seven 

 hundred and eighty-four." 



With a continuance, of his half-pay as a British offi- 

 cer, and with a title of honor, both of which would be 

 sure to win him consideration on the Continent of 

 Europe, this soldier of fortune entered, at Munich, in 

 the spring of 1784, on the service of the Elector. In 

 the vigor of his manhood, and now with a trained am- 

 bition, perhaps quickened by the splendid career of his 

 countryman Franklin, he had great opportunities and 

 abilities to improve and increase them. 



We derive the best and most authentic account of the 

 many and various and most remarkable labors to which 

 Sir Benjamin Thompson devoted himself so assiduously 

 and continuously in the service of the Elector from his 

 own incidental references to them, as well as from the 



