There I was born, there I sported through the years of my boyhood, learned to read and guide the pen.

There was plenty of hunting in the forests, we had spirited horses in the stable, and, wild lad that I was, I rarely went voluntarily into the school-room, the grey-haired teacher, Lorenz, had to catch me, if he wanted to get possession of me.

My sisters and Hans, our youngest child, the boy was only three years younger than I, kept quiet--I had an older brother too, yet did not have him.

When his beard was first beginning to grow, he was given by our gracious Duke to Chevalier von Brand as his esquire, and sent to Spain, to buy Andalusian horses.

John Frederick's father had learned their value in Madrid after the battle of Muhlburg.