Whether or no Frederick, Baron Trench, was a liar and
a ruffian, as Carlyle said in his forthright way, whether or no his autobiography contains errors and exaggerations, does not very much matter, for there is in it a living quality of hardihood and adventure which has thrilled boys old and young these hundred years and more. When he is docked even of fifty per cent. of his adventures, there is enough left to enthral anyone—how he broke prison at Glatz ; how he had an affaire with Frederick the Great's sister, and was clapped up for ten years in the fortress of Magdeburg, chained hands, feet, and waist ; how, like Barry Lyndon, he would free himself of any awkward entanglement by a timely duel in which he gave his adversary " a deep wound -in the arm " or " a lunge in the belly." The vivid nature of his story has led to its frequent reprinting in many tongues, and now here is another reprint entitled The Strange Adventures of Frederick Baron Trenck (Allan. lOs. 6d.). There is a misprint on the very first page—Friherr for Freiherr.
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