110 FORESTRY IN LITHUANIA, 



his family ; and to believe, that, if circumstances should 

 at any future time allow him to resume the duties which, 

 for nearly three years, he had faithfully performed, his 

 master would gladly receive him. This generous and 

 considerate conduct of the Count is exactly what I should 

 have expected from him. Courageous, and stedfast, and 

 even cheerful, in the endurance of his own trials, he 

 would yet have been miserable at the thought of bringing 

 any one else, through his influence, into the same 

 dangers ; and, therefore, not grudgingly or reluctantly, 

 but with sincere and hearty goodwill, he dismissed the 

 servant who, he believed, loved him ; and furnished him 

 with ample means to return home. 



' I have frequently seen the servant since his return, 

 and heard many a fresh tale of sorrow from his lips. 

 The good priest at Massalani, of whom I have before 

 spoken, has been added, among others, to the long list 

 of recent prisoners ; but I have not yet heard what sen- 

 tence has been passed upon him. 



' The various houses at which I stayed have, each and 

 all of them, been visited, if not permanently occupied, 

 by Russian troops. At Wereiki especially, where Ludwig 

 passed a few hours one day, thirty Cossacks were found 

 to have taken up their quarters in the room which 

 had been our usual dining-room ; and it can be readily 

 understood, that, at their departure, whensoever that 

 may be, little or nothing will be left behind. Every- 

 where the work of pillage and oppression goes forward ; 

 and, though the formal sentence of confiscation of the 

 Count's estates have not been proclaimed, yet who can 

 estimate the amount of damage that has been, and still 

 is, wilfully and wantonly inflicted upon every species of 

 his property ? 



' Of the Count himself, I am thankful to say that I 

 have heard a better account than I had dared to hope 

 for. The place of his residence is Ufa, in the province of 

 Orenburg. The climate has thus far agreed with him ; 

 and the Governor of the place appears to do everything 



