The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck, vol 1 | Page 5

lesson
to the world. Yet it is an innate satisfaction that I am conscious of never
having acted with dishonour, even to the last act of this distressful
tragedy.
I shall say little of the first years of my life, except that my father took
especial care of my education, and sent me, at the age of thirteen, to the
University of Konigsberg, where, under the tuition of Kowalewsky, my
progress was rapid. There were fourteen other noblemen in the same
house, and under the same master.
In the year following, 1740, I quarrelled with one young Wallenrodt, a
fellow-student, much stronger than myself, and who, despising my
weakness, thought proper to give me a blow. I demanded satisfaction.
He came not to the appointed place, but treated my demand with
contempt; and I, forgetting all further respect, procured a second, and
attacked him in open day. We fought, and I had the fortune to wound
him twice; the first time in the arm, the second in the hand.

This affair incited inquiry:- Doctor Kowalewsky, our tutor, laid
complaints before the University, and I was condemned to three hours'
confinement; but my grandfather and guardian, President Derschau,
was so pleased with my courage, that he took me from this house and
placed me under Professor Christiani.
Here I first began to enjoy full liberty, and from this worthy man I
learnt all I know of experimental philosophy and science. He loved me
as his own son, and continued instructing me till midnight. Under his
auspices, in 1742, I maintained, with great success, two public theses,
although I was then but sixteen; an effort and an honour till then
unknown.
Three days after my last public exordium, a contemptible fellow sought
a quarrel with me, and obliged me to draw in my own defence, whom,
on this occasion, I wounded in the groin.
This success inflated my valour, and from that time I began to assume
the air and appearance of a Hector.
Scarcely had a fortnight elapsed before I had another with a lieutenant
of the garrison, whom I had insulted, who received two wounds in the
contest.
I ought to remark, that at this time, the University of Konigsberg was
still highly privileged. To send a challenge was held honourable; and
this was not only permitted, but would have been difficult to prevent,
considering the great number of proud, hot- headed, and turbulent
nobility from Livonia, Courland, Sweden, Denmark, and Poland, who
came thither to study, and of whom there were more than five hundred.
This brought the University into disrepute, and endeavours have been
made to remedy the abuse. Men have acquired a greater extent of true
knowledge, and have begun to perceive that a University ought to be a
place of instruction, and not a field of battle; and that blood cannot be
honourably shed, except in defence of life or country.
In November, 1742, the King sent his adjutant-general, Baron Lottum,
who was related to my mother, to Konigsberg, with whom I dined at
my grandfather's. He conversed much with me, and, after putting
various questions, purposely, to discover what my talents and
inclinations were, he demanded, as if in joke, whether I had any
inclination to go with him to Berlin, and serve my country, as my
ancestors had ever done: adding that, in the army, I should find much

better opportunities of sending challenges than at the University.
Inflamed with the desire of distinguishing myself, I listened with
rapture to the proposition, and in a few days we departed for Potzdam.
On the morrow after my arrival, I was presented to the King, as indeed
I had before been in the year 1740, with the character of being, then,
one of the most hopeful youths of the University. My reception was
most flattering; the justness of my replies to the questions he asked, my
height, figure, and confidence, pleased him; and I soon obtained
permission to enter as a cadet in his body guards, with a promise of
quick preferment.
The body guards formed, at this time, a model and school for the
Prussian cavalry; they consisted of one single squadron of men selected
from the whole army, and their uniform was the most splendid in all
Europe. Two thousand rix-dollars were necessary to equip an officer:
the cuirass was wholly plated with silver; and the horse, furniture, and
accoutrements alone cost four hundred rix- dollars.
This squadron only contained six officers and a hundred and forty- four
men; but there were always fifty or sixty supernumeraries, and as many
horses, for the King incorporated all the most handsome men he found
in the guards. The officers were the best taught of any the army
contained; the King himself was their tutor, and he afterwards sent