Alexandria gazette, commercial and political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1812-1817, 1816-09-16
Interesting Historical .AnecdOte.

| All the world has heard OF Baroni reI1k
land his severe suferings but the cause
lof his misfortunes is not generally under
istood.
lrenk is described as having been in
Ibis youth e a yonng cavalier Of singular
Accomplishments" who, /" when he FIRST
Imade his appearance at the court Of
Berlin. became the object of general adj
lmiratlon." The Princess Amelia, having,
fit is said, been caoled out ola match with
Ithe king of Sweden. by her eldest sister
IUIrica. who Succeeded in obtaining it for
herself, fixed her affections upon the ba-
on. Amelia was a favorite Of Frede-
lrick, and owing to the indiscreet, but per,
lhaps irresistible passion which she eucou-
|raged and Erenk INDUCED, this Prussan
nonarch inflicted those punishments UP,
Oh the i'll fated lover which have excited
ttor him the commiseration Of thousands
Ia Europe and America. Tlleseltects of
The lady's love and of the baron's indis
1sretion, are thus described by@ThiebUut:
8 The lady, for whom he had sacrificed
SO much, had never lost sight Of him :
lshe had administered to him every posi-
Iole assistance in bis first prison ard
while he was fugitive abroad, and at
the moRent when Trenk was ehsciing
the completion of their mutual ruin by
his iHprudence, he was indebted TO her
Tor the means of his subsistence. But,
from the tine of his being buried as il
were in the fortress of Magdeburg, nei-
ther the most active zeal nor the most
lperseverlng Efforts, could find passage
TO their miserable object.
She now telt with double poignancy
the conviction that she was the original
lcause OF ms suifetiEga, when size could
mo longer relieve thcm. 10 the mental
ltDrtufes she endured, must be attributed
those extraordinary and premature iniir~
Im!ties to which she was victim. In the!
course of few years her personal charmsl
ad wholly disappeared Ter Yuice uasI
lgone; hereJes. once remarkable for their,
beauty, bad nov started ON their sock !
let's, and she WAS threatened with totalI
iblindness /; she nearly lost the use of herl
farms an& her hands; scarcely could sheI
with her left haGd fa'se the RIGHT to ccr-
ltain helsh:, and even this not without ex-
Itfeme pam and tie weakness Of her legs
WAS excessive. Never did despair and
grief produce such fatal effects Oh any
lone whose life they had spared; and as
she survived those cruel attacks, II is ma
!tural to conclude that the desire and
hope she felt Of stN being useful to him
for whoa she endured such suffering ]
INSPIRED her with supernatural strength
land resolution.
6 A singular circumstance, and which,
proves how dan veil was thrown oyerl
Ithe Whole OF this affair, l., that the public.
though witnesses the i,h] sicai All ctionsl
she lahored under, had no idea of tie
Icause, and sometimes even asciibed theml
70 the eccentric cast of her charactgr|
She has become what she is. people al |
lIirmed, eniirel yby her own attempt to
Ilsfgue herself. Her chal acter is sol
strange and eccentric. that she wilfullY!
Inisapphed the remedies prescribed forE
her recovery, and this for the sole pur |
p9se OF, rendering herself hidecus and il
firm, even at the risk of her life.
" She was accused Of extraordinary eel
of character, because in fact, /
She possessed an extraordinary under
Standing; though at the same fine. ii
must be admitted that her temper. ouinsI
to tie violence aud dui alton OF her af}ic-j
tons had altered considerably for theE
worse. A woman o! more genie audi
pleasing manners, Or of motv in2enoueI
temper, d;an she bad been in her early
years las not to be met with but thesel
qualities she bad now exchanged for al;
severity that knew no intervals of indul /
gence, that was prompt to presume evil
rather than good, and exerted its inaa-I
ence the more sensibIy as her, turn forI
epgram made her spleen more easil y
felt
F" Of all the predictions OF her youth
her taste Tor reading was the ouIy one
she retained with this variation however,
that she now read only books on philoso-
phical or serious subjects. aud entirely
laid aside those Of mere amusement
She had also abandoned her music, the art
which she formerly more than any otha
and in which she most excel |
led, a terrible example ofthe effects pro-
daced on the human frame by the conf
staat disappointment of violent pas.
sion"
Trenk, having fingered in his dnngeonf
above 10 years, the empress queen oil
Germany, at the instance OF the princess
applied for his Liberation. The king set
(, :. / Al Il IN