Page:Statement of the attempted rescue of General Lafayette from Olmutz.djvu/6

 Flanders. He would have been pleased to have obtained some military employment, greatly preferring the profession of arms to that of medicine; but finding that impossible, and that Surgeons were much needed, he offered his services, and was engaged on the medical staff for some months, attending the crowded hospitals, and doing all in his power to succour the wounded soldiers entrusted to his care. Having at length seen them embark for their homes in England, he gladly resigned his situation, and pursued his journey to Vienna, where he found that he could procure ample means for recreation and improvement. At the coffee-house that he frequented, persons of various acquirements, character and nationalities were to be met with, among them a gentleman he made acquaintance with, soon proved of peculiar interest to him—Dr. Justis Eric Bollman, a native of Hanover, who spoke English well, and German and French fluently, and who appeared to be highly esteemed by the society of the coffee-house, for his inteligence, acquirements, and gentlemanly deportment. He occasionally made inquiries about America, its institutions, and distinguished men, and spoke of General Lafayette, and his attachment and services to the Republic—in