isits to theatres
at prices ranging from two shillings to sevenpence amounted to sixteen
shillings and sixpence, making a total of five pounds sixteen shillings.
The surplus of six pounds four shillings had been further reduced, by
outlay in necessities or indulgences, as the reader may assume according
to his fancy, to thirty marks banco. With this sum of thirty-five
shillings in English money, and consisting of two Dutch ducats and five
Prussian dollars, I started to tramp the two hundred miles between
Hamburg and Berlin. As a matter of explanation it may be stated that,
during a residence of seven months in Hamburg, I had acquired enough of
the German language to trust myself alone in the country.

Under the impression that I might be required to set to work in any town
on my route, like any travelling tinker, I had packed in my knapsack my
best scoopers and an upright drillstock; and these tools, while they
added to its weight, presented so many obdurate points of resistance to
my back. Stowed within the knapsack were an extra suit, two changes of
linen, a few books, a flute, and a pair of boots. It weighed
twenty-eight pounds. My remaining personal property was safely packed in
a trunk, and left in the hands of a friend, to be forwarded by waggon as
soon as my resting place should be determined.

I have only to deal in this place with the statistics of my first tramp.
The distance was lessened sixty miles by taking the _eilwagen_ from
Wusterhausen to Berlin, and nine days in all were spent upon the road.
My total expenses, including the dollar (three shillings) for coach fare,
amounted to eighteen shillings, or an average of two shillings a-day. Of
this sum I may particularise the cost of the straw-litter and early cup
of coffee at the outset of the journey, twopence; at Lubeck, where I
lodged respectably for one night, the bill was two shillings; at
Schonefeld, twopence halfpenny; a lodging, and board for two nights and a
day at Schwerin in a "grand hotel," but faring with the servants, cost
one shilling and ninepence; at Ludwigslust, a comfortable bed after a
grand supper with the carpenters at their house of call, was charged one
shilling and sevenpence; and at Perleberg, where I lodged superbly, the
cost was sixteen silver groschens, or a fraction over one shilling and
sixpence.

Against this I have to place the trade gift of two shillings at Lubeck,
being the whole contents of their cash box, and which