330 Life of Count Rumford. 



what must have been the Count's feelings. I only flattered 

 myself that he attributed things to their right causes, and did 

 not blame me. But the moment at length arrived for me to 

 read the letter, and what was my surprise, on reading it, to find 

 only a few gay farewell lines, with neither regrets nor melan- 

 choly ! Had he not himself given me the letter, I should not 

 have believed he wrote it. The only thing bordering on civility 

 was, that the Countess told him to cherish the hope of my 

 return, and which method he had adopted. 



11 In order not to make Count Taxis appear unfriendly or 

 deceiving, as I do not think him so, I must observe that several 

 times, through the Countess, with whom I was in constant 

 correspondence, I had little messages to convince me I was not 

 forgotten. As I shall not again have occasion to speak of this 

 gentleman, I will here mention his unfortunate, untimely end. 

 Both he and Lieutenant Spreti, my father's other aide-de-camp, 

 lost their lives in Bonaparte's campaigns in Russia. The Ba- 

 varians at that time lost thirty thousand men." 



Taking the route through Hamburg, for the same 

 reason which had led them to enter Germany by that 

 way, the party had a most disagreeable, and even perilous 

 journey. The distractions of a state of war had de- 

 moralized even the quiet and honest peasantry, multi- 

 plying freebooters, and exposing travellers on neglected 

 and dangerous highways and byways to great risks of 

 violence. Robberies and murders were frequent on all 

 sides. The inns and public-houses were wretched and 

 unsafe. The Count, his daughter, and servants were 

 often obliged to sleep in their carriages, in which they 

 met with two accidents that caused them much alarm. 

 On one occasion, passing a bridge without a parapet, 

 the horses, seized with a fit of backing, came near pre- 

 cipitating them over a frightful precipice. While the 

 Count put his head out on one side to warn the coach- 



