The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck, vol 1 | Page 6

them to instruct the cavalry in the manoeuvres they had learnt. Their
rise was rapid if they behaved well; but they were broken for the least
fault, and punished by being sent to garrison regiments. It was likewise
necessary they should be tolerably rich, as well as possess such talents
as might be successfully employed, both at court and in the army.
There are no soldiers in the world who undergo so much as this body
guard; and during the time I was in the service of Frederic, I often had
not eight hours' sleep in eight days. Exercise began at four in the
morning, and experiments were made of all the alterations the King
meant to introduce in his cavalry. Ditches of three, four, five, six feet,
and still wider, were leaped, till that someone broke his neck; hedges,
in like manner, were freed, and the horses ran careers, meeting each
other full speed in a kind of lists of more than half a league in length.
We had often, in these our exercises, several men and horses killed or
wounded.
It happened more frequently than otherwise that the same experiments

were repeated after dinner with fresh horses; and it was not uncommon,
at Potzdam, to hear the alarm sounded twice in a night. The horses
stood in the King's stables; and whoever had not dressed, armed
himself, saddled his horse, mounted, and appeared before the palace in
eight minutes, was put under arrest for fourteen days.
Scarcely were the eyes closed before the trumpet again sounded, to
accustom youth to vigilance. I lost, in one year, three horses, which had
either broken their legs, in leaping ditches, or died of fatigue.
I cannot give a stronger picture of this service than by saying that the
body guard lost more men and horses in one year's peace than they did,
during the following year, in two battles.
We had, at this time, three stations; our service, in the winter, was at
Berlin, where we attended the opera, and all public festivals: in the
spring we were exercised at Charlottenberg; and at Potzdam, or
wherever the King went, during the summer. The six officers of the
guard dined with the King, and, on gala days, with the Queen. It may
be presumed there was not at that time on earth a better school to form
an officer and a man of the world than was the court of Berlin.
I had scarcely been six weeks a cadet before the King took me aside,
one day, after the parade, and having examined me near half an hour,
on various subjects, commanded me to come and speak to him on the
morrow.
His intention was to find whether the accounts that had been given him
of my memory had not been exaggerated; and that he might be
convinced, he first gave me the names of fifty soldiers to learn by rote,
which I did in five minutes. He next repeated the subjects of two letters,
which I immediately composed in French and Latin; the one I wrote,
the other I dictated. He afterwards ordered me to trace, with
promptitude, a landscape from nature, which I executed with equal
success; and he then gave me a cornet's commission in his body guards.
Each mark of bounty from the monarch increased an ardour already
great, inspired me with gratitude, and the first of my wishes was to
devote my whole life to the service of my King and country. He spoke
to me as a Sovereign should speak, like a father, like one who knew
well how to estimate the gifts bestowed on me by nature; and
perceiving, or rather feeling, how much he might expect from me,
became at once my instructor and my friend.

Thus did I remain a cadet only six weeks, and few Prussians can vaunt,
under the reign of Frederic, of equal good fortune.
The King not only presented me with a commission, but equipped me
splendidly for the service. Thus did I suddenly find myself a courtier,
and an officer in the finest, bravest, and best disciplined corps in
Europe. My good fortune seemed unlimited, when, in the month of
August, 1743, the King selected me to go and instruct the Silesian
cavalry in the new manoeuvres: an honour never before granted to a
youth of eighteen.
I have already said we were garrisoned at Berlin during winter, where
the officers' table was at court: and, as my reputation had preceded me,
no person whatever could be better received there, or live more
pleasantly.
Frederic commanded me to visit the literati, whom he had invited to his
court: Maupertuis, Jordan, La Mettrie, and Pollnitz, were all my
acquaintance. My days were employed in the duties of an officer, and
my