nickname of the
Thirteenth, in allusion, of course, to his being my mother's
thirteenth child. At first this offended him grievously, and many were
the sound thrashings he inflicted in his endeavours to get rid of the
obnoxious title. Finally he succeeded, but scarcely had he done so
when, from some strange perversity of character, he adopted as an
honourable distinction the very name he had taken such pains to
suppress.

"We were playing one Sunday afternoon in the large court of our house;
several of the neighbours' children were there, and it chanced that we
were exactly twelve in number. We had wooden swords, and were having
a sort of tournament, from which, however, we had managed to exclude
Bernard, who, in such games, was accustomed to hit rather too hard.
Suddenly he bounded over a wall, and fell amongst us like a
thunderbolt. He had painted his face in red and black stripes, and
made himself a pair of wings out of an old leathern apron; and thus
equipped and armed with the largest broomstick he had been able to
find, he showered his blows around him, driving us right and left, and
shouting out, 'Room, room for the mad Thirteenth!'

"Soon after this incident my father died. Bernard, who had been his
favourite, was as violent in his grief as he had already shown himself
to be in every thing else. He wept and screamed like a mad creature,
tore his hair, bit his hands till they bled, and struck his head
against the wall; raved and flew at every body who came near him, and
was obliged to be shut up when his father's coffin was carried out of
the house, or he would inevitably have done himself or somebody else a
mischief.

"My mother had an unmarried brother in the town of Marienberg, a
wealthy man, and who was Bernard's godfather. On learning my father's
death he came to Geyer, and invited his sister and her children to go
and take up their abode with him. But the worthy man little knew the
plague he was receiving into his house in the person of his godson.
Himself of a mild, quiet disposition, he was greatly scandalized by
the wild pranks of his nephew, and made vain attempts to restrain him
within some bounds; but by so doing he became the aversion of my
brother, who showed his dislike in every possible way. He gave him
nicknames, broke his china cups and saucers, by which the old
gentleman set great store, splashed his white silk stockings with mud
as he went to church, put the house clock an hour forward or