6 BERLIN AND VIENNA [JET. 14

service with Frederick, had become one of that great soldier's favourite generals. Having been at first attracted to the Moores' party by the presence of the premier duke of Scotland, he soon took a great fancy to the keen boy, who was studying with such zeal as I have recorded in order to prepare himself for the career on which he had set his heart. The old soldier presented John with a pair of Prussian pistols and a small pocket Horace, which became his companions throughout life, and are still preserved in the family.

From Berlin the party went to Vienna, where Joseph II. offered young Moore rapid promotion in the Austrian army if he would accept a commission from him. Moore, as he told his brother Graham, then about to enter the Navy, had already in his mind's eye a very different prospect, closely foreshadowing what was before him. " I hope," he writes on October 2ist, 1775, "that in some years after this you and I will thrash the Monsieurs both by sea and by land; but I hope we won't make war on the Spaniards, for the Spanish Ambassador is the best and the kindest man I ever saw." It was fated that his brother Graham should, by the destruction of their treasure-ships, inflict on the Spaniards one fatal blow which did in fact lead us into the second of two wars with them, which were to precede the time when John was to fall in doing for Spain heroic service. At this moment Moore's zeal to "thrash the Monsieurs" was due to the fact that France was threatening to aid the revolted colonies by the war which began in 1777, while Spain was also watching her opportunity, which came in 1779. Moore was longing to be in the Army in order to take his share in the fighting. During his stay in Germany he had gained a knowledge of