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Show A SIlAUll'-l;Ii.TEEL MAX. Col. Frederick wits son of tliat un-lmppy un-lmppy ailventurer, Tlieotlure, Kinj; of C'or.siea. Ho juinetl his Hither, wiio tliej in Soho in lT.'iti, und supported himself as teneher of lantrti:it:es a not unconnnon resource for poor irentle-tnen, irentle-tnen, and cniiyrt'x in particular. Jn tho uiitscrulilo wreck of liis fortunes, and throuL'h the agonies of deferred hope, ho slill preserved tins iireatscul and reL'alia of Corsica, lite Colonel in early life, as a needy gentleman, had been lead iiif; secretary to .Frederick tho Great, who treated him with that agreeable agree-able Prussian initio that bears so lightly light-ly on the unfortunate, 'i he Kine: always kept him standing while lie read .his foolish verses and literary essays to Voltaire and other puc.-ts seated at his table. W eary of this, the Colonel applied ap-plied to his relation, tho Duke ol" Wur-teiuberr, Wur-teiuberr, who ottered him protection at his court. When tho King of Prussia Prus-sia was informed of this, he said cruelly cruel-ly : "And you may ko; it is fit that one bcL'trar should live with another." He was once in such distress at the Court of icnna, as to have cone two whole d;i's without food, l'ale and taint on tho third day he contrived to reach thehou.-e of a lady in attendance at the Court, whose interest to advance his petition with the Kmperor he had before tried to secure. Secim; too plainly from his weak voice and faltering, falter-ing, dejected manner, that he was ill, the woman's heart was touched; she instantly rant; the bell, ordered the well-fed blooming footman to bring in a dih of chocolate and some eaes; and when he was cheered and heartened up, listened to his request. re-quest. In ambush behind that footman, foot-man, Cupid stole in on tip-toe; they fell in love with each other, anil married. Their life was hard and painful; yet love and haiininess bright ened their poor lodgings. One of the sons, an elegant young man, became an officer in the Britith army, and was killed in the American war. One day, when the Col. was with his father in the Bench, Sir John Stewart, a fellow-prisoner, fellow-prisoner, invited Lady Jane Douglas and her child, the claimant in the great Douglas-Hamilton case; and the King Theodore and his son were of the party. The i'east culminated in a turkey. The prison walls fell flat as those of Jericho before the pleasant enchantment enchant-ment of a bottle or two of wine.When the party broke up, the young Prince offered to see Lady Jane home to-her obscure lodgings at Chelsea. A slight rain came, and the young officer longed to call a coach, but he had no money he knew, and he was afraid Lady Jarie had none either; so, defiant of all suspicions sus-picions of meanness and poverty, ho undertook the child and trudged away. The son of a King suffered much of fortune, and the clouds grew darker and darker to the end. To this claimant claim-ant of a crown creditors' faces were only too familiar. When Stanislaus, Prince Poniatowski, afterward the first King of Poland, was hjre, the only companion of his long walks was Col. Frederick. On one occasion the Prince, having some bills to discount in the city, and not getting the money that day, went for a walk round Islington, and returned to a dinner of rump-steaks rump-steaks and porter at Dolly's chop-house in Paternoster-row. After finishing a bottle of port, the mauvais quart d'heure came, as it will come, and the bill was brought. The Prince blandly approved, and desired Frederick to pay. "But I have no money." "More have I; what have we to do?" Frederick paused; then telling the Prince to remain quiet, ran out and pledged his watch, and discharged the reckoning, Ceaselessly and cruelly fortune pelted the Colonel with her sleet and cutting rain. His lodgings in Northumberland Northumber-land street were burnt down, and he-had he-had to fly half nude to the house of Mr. Stirling, officiating Coroner for Middlesex, who generously offered him a gratuitous asylum, where he resided for many years, reading the classics, and discussed the German Generals of the day, according to wont. The Colo'nel's life was one of blameless routine. Ho rose early, lighted his own fire, cleaned his own boots, then took a breakfast cooked by lrrnself, and read the classics; then it was time for him to take his constitutional aud visit his friends. At last fortune tired at playing with her victim, struck the coup de grace. The old Colonel, beloved be-loved and respected by his friends, in a rash moment accepted two notes for a friend, "a trading justice." The man died before the notes became due, and the city people came down on the Colonel. He had no money; he dreaded disgrace and the jail; his old despondency preyed on him with the weight of madness. He thought of his favorite heroes in Tacitus and Plutarch, and resolved to die as they died. He borrowed a pistol from a friend, and shot himself one evening in the churchyard of St. Margaret, Westminster. West-minster. Tormented by fortune to the last, died the son of the first and only king of Corsica. English Society. |