my own. May the God
of heaven preserve every Hungarian from a fate similar to mine!

The Croats have ever been reckoned uncultivated; yet, among this
uncultivated people I found more subscribers to my writings than among
all the learned men of Vienna; and in Hungary, more than in all the
Austrian dominions.

The Hungarians, the unlettered Croats, seek information. The people of
Vienna ask their confessors' permission to read instructive books.
Various subscribers, having read the first volume of my work, brought it
back, and re-demanded their money, because some monk had told them it was
a book dangerous to be read. The judges of their courts have re-sold
them to the booksellers for a few pence or given them to those who had
the care of their consciences to burn.

In Vienna alone was my life described as a romance; in Hungary I found
the compassion of men, their friendship, and effectual aid. Had my book
been the production of an Englishman, good wishes would not have been his
only reward.

We German writers have interested critics to encounter if we would unmask
injustice; and if a book finds a rapid sale, dishonest printers issue
spurious editions, defrauding the author of his labours.

The encouragement of the learned produces able teachers, and from their
seminaries men of genius occasionally come forth. The world is inundated
with books and pamphlets; the undiscerning reader knows not which to
select; the more intelligent are disgusted, or do not read at all, and
thus a work of merit becomes as little profitable to the author as to the
state.

I left Vienna on the 5th of January, and came to Prague. Here I found
nearly the same reception as in Hungary; my writings were read. Citizens,
noblemen, and ladies treated me with like favour. May the monarch know
how to value men of generous feelings and enlarged understandings!

I bade adieu to Prague, and continued my journey to Berlin. In Bohemia,
I took leave of my son, who saw his father and his two brothers, destined
for the Prussian service, depart. He felt the weight of this separation;
I reminded him of his duty to the state he served; I spoke of the fearful
fate of his uncle and father in Austria, and of the possessors of our
vast estates in Hungary. He shrank back--a look from his father pierced
him to the soul--tears stood in his eyes--his youthful blood flowed
quick, and the following expression burst suddenly from his lips:--"I
call God to w