1 88 Life of Count RumforcL 



benefactor. Thompson says that the fear of being re- 

 proached for personal vanity shall not withhold him 

 from mentioning some of the marks of public gratitude, 

 esteem, and consideration which he received. On one 

 occasion, when he was dangerously ill, the poor of 

 Munich went publicly in a body, in procession, to the 

 cathedral, and put up public prayers for his recovery. 

 And again, when four years afterwards they learned 

 that he was in a similar condition at Naples, they, of 

 their own accord, set apart an hour each evening, after 

 they had finished their work in the Military Work- 

 house, to pray for him. On his return, after an 

 absence of fifteen months, the subjects of his benevo- 

 lence gave him a most affecting reception. He, in 

 response, provided for them a fete in the English 

 Garden, where eighteen hundred poor people ol all 

 ages enjoyed themselves, in presence of above eighty 

 thousand visitors. Thompson asks his reader not to 

 be impatient with him for thus expressing his feelings. 

 He says : 



" Let him figure to himself, if he can, my situation, sick in 

 bed, worn out by intense application, and dying, as everybody 

 thought, a martyr in the cause to which I had devoted myself; 

 let him imagine, I say, my feelings, upon hearing the confused 

 noise of the prayers of a multitude of people who were passing 

 by in the streets, upon' being told that it was the Poor of Mu- 

 nich, many hundreds in number, who were going in procession 

 to the church to put up public prayers for me ; public prayers 

 for me ! for a private person ! a stranger ! a Protestant ! 

 I believe it is the first instance of the kind that ever hap- 

 pened ; and I dare venture to affirm that no proof could well be 

 stronger than this, that the measures adopted for making these 

 poor people happy were really successful. And let it be re- 

 membered that this fact is what I am most anxious to make 

 appear in the clearest and most satisfactory manner." 



