d if they found the rascal, to knock
him down and then let him escape, but bring back my things; for I was
convinced that the man was a pickpocket, and that I should gain no
advantage by his capture, but an expensive penal process, and have at
last to pay for his hanging. The servants found him with his booty in
the nearest wood, and executed my orders thoroughly. They brought my
things back, but these cost me dear in the end; for, scarcely four days
after, my place was burnt over my head in the night, without doubt by
this rascal, so that I could hardly save the dwelling-house, but was
obliged to look on at the destruction of the barns and stables, which
with corn and cattle were burnt to the ground.

"This misfortune disgusted me so with country life, that I only built a
couple of stalls for the remaining cattle, and shortly afterwards sold
for 4000 thalers the property for which I had given 6000. After that I
betook myself to the city."

Such is the narrative of the country householder to the young Dutchman.
A few days after, the stranger had an opportunity himself of observing
the life of an impoverished Silesian country noble. A young Herr von
K., an educated and travelled cavalier, invited him to the property of
his parents, and asked him to take a ride with him from thence to a
neighbouring property where a christening was to be celebrated. The
Herr von K. begged our hero to consent to allow himself to be
introduced as a major in the Dutch service, "For I know," he said,
"that otherwise these noble peasants will have no scruple in giving you
the last place, and will show you no consideration, in spite of your
superior education, and although, without impoverishing yourself, you
might easily buy the whole of their property put together." What the
Dutchman then observed he relates as follows:--

"The entertainment was of such a nature that there was no danger of the
table breaking down under the weight of the dishes: a good dish of
small fish with onion sauce, calf's head and trimmings, the whole
interior of a pig in as many various dishes as there were parts, a
couple of geese, and two hares; besides this, such rough watery beer,
that one was soon obliged to have recourse to not much better brandy.
In spite of this the society, which consisted of some twenty persons,
was right merry, and the ladies more lively than the affected
mercantile ladies of the city nobility. When the table was removed, a
portion of the