It became adviseable, however, to think of securing a considerable part of my wealth, for which purpose I projected a journey to Italy, where I meant to dispose of my property as advantageously as I could. As I lived in the first style of grandeur, the K--g was prevailed on to confer the title of Countess of Lichtenau on me at the Court of Vienna. The request was granted, and to enable me to maintain the dignity and rank, I obtained a separation from Mr. Rietz. From that very instant I was, on my return from Italy, admitted to all the circles and the assemblies at Court. My daughter, who had been decorated with the title of Countess of the Mark, was to marry none but a Count, and the King intended to bestow an adequate dowry on her. Her suitors were many, and amongst the rest Count Stolberg was preferred. As the K--g was fond of amusement, I was pleased to see that W---- and B---- entertained him with the Rosicrucian nonsense, and other magic tricks. These ventriloquists could do me no harm; nay, on the contrary, they were the means of persuading the K--g to any thing. It was at this very period that I filled all the offices of Court with wretches of my own choice. All the King did, spoke, and undertook, was faithfully reported to me, and hence he must inevitably remain entangled in my net. The French war broke out, and then it might be said I was truly launched into my own element. B---- was employed by the Cabinet of Vienna and the Court of St. ---- to bring things to bear with our K--g, and he was several times obliged to undertake journeys to Vienna and to Italy. The coalition was agreed on, and we marched against France. This war was the very thing I wanted; for, as the King was busy, I took all the opportunities I could to make him sensible of the licentiousness of the people; and, as the expences had increased, and became more multiplied than before, I had fair play to accumulate treasure in proportion. My chief contributors, however, were Austria and ----, for they would pay me abundantly for the part I took in persuading the King not to recede from the coalition. But no man ever knew how to get me over to his interest better than P--. For this purpose, he employed his relation T----, who paid me his addresses for a long time, had apartments in my palace, and partook of my table and carriage. Money was my motto, just the same as it had been at the time when Jews and Christians resorted to the house of Minna Encke, in Spandau-street. It is a pity that this war, or, at least, the coalition, did not last a little longer, for then I might, in fact, have realized my favorite project, of purchasing some principality, for the flood of presents flowed in without intermission.