The New Hampshire Gazette And Historical Chronicle

Short History of Prince HERACLIUS.

Several accounts have lately appeared in the public prints, relative to Prince Heraclius of Georgia, perhaps the following little history of that great man, may not be unacceptable to your readers.

A The father of this Prince was formerly the first man in Georgia,.and exercised a kind of regal authority over the country, till the Turks who were jealous of his influence, dismissed him from all public employment, & reduced him to the rank of a common subject. Heraclius whose name was originally Imene, on this turn in his father's affairs, quitted the country in a secret manner, and came over to England, where he learned the language, and studied as I am informed, for some time at the academy in Woolwich, where he acquired a competent knowledge of the military sciences; his finances however failing him, he was obliged to quit the academy, and was at last reduced to the necessity of hiring himself a porter to a trademan somewhere in the neighbourhood of Saint-Paul's, with whom he continued a considerable time.

Fortunately however, as he was one day going about his customary business, he accidentally met a Georgian in the street, whose name was Acot, and who had come over with some curiosities to a certain great personage now a Duke, no less eminent for his rank than conspicuous for his generosity, this Acot was in the Georgian habit, and our illustrious adventurer could not resist the temptation of speaking to a countryman in so re- mote a part of the world: In the course of their conversation Acot told him that he lived at a Nobleman's to whom he had brought the curiosities, and gave him a very cordial invitation to the house. -- Imene accordingly called upon his friend, and in a little time discovered who he was; upon which Acot immediately revealed his quality to Lord--, and his Lordship. after making every possible enquiry into the truth of the account, and receiving every possible satisfaction, supplied him with such sums as enabled him to make a splendid appearance. and then introduced him to the late King, under whose protection, he was sent back to his own country. He had not been long in Georgia, before he entertained a design of recovering the lost dignities of his family, and freeing his father's subjects from the intolerable yoke of the Turks, accordingly he drew prodigious numbers to his standard, and has gained several advantages over the Ottoman forces, as we hear in all the accounts from that part of the world. This relation Sir, I had from a person whose veracity I have no cause to dispute. and who I am sensible, would neither impose on the public, nor on Sir your humble servant