irtue; kept no vicious company; was never in the
whole of my life intoxicated; was no gamester, no consumer of time in
idleness nor brutal pleasures; but devoted many hundred laborious nights
to studies that might make me useful to my country; yet was I punished
with a severity too cruel even for the most worthless, or most villanous.

I mean, in my narrative, to make candour and veracity my guides, and not
to conceal my failings; I wish my work may remain a moral 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 lieute