. At length, directed by a stranger to a trade herberge in the
Kleine Kirche Hof, after some demur on account of my not belonging to the
proper craft, I was admitted to a sort of out-house, paved with red
bricks, and allowed a bed for the night. On the morrow I presented a
letter of recommendation, from my good genius Alcibiade, to one of the
principal jewellers in the city, and felt inexpressibly happy on being at
once taken into employment. I spent two delightful months in Leipsic.
My fortnight's ramble, with its discomforts and anxieties, had given me a
desire for rest, and in the bustling town, (it was the Easter fair time),
skirted by its fringe of garden, and among its pleasant, good-natured
inhabitants, the time sped happily on.

The pay was better than in Hamburg, but the living worse. My wages were
four dollars--twelve shillings per week--and board and lodging. I slept
in the same room with my one fellow workman and an apprentice. It was
light, and scrupulously clean, but had the single disadvantage of being
so low in the ceiling, that one could not stand upright in it. Saxony
has the unenviable distinction of being the country the worst fed in
Germany. I had no prejudice against Saxon fare upon my arrival in
Leipsic, but found, after a fortnight's trial, that I could not possibly
endure its unvarying boiled fresh beef, excessively insipid, with no
other accompaniment than various kinds of beans stewed into a sort of
porridge. Potato dumplings were a luxury with us.

I am afraid I seriously offended my worthy "principal," on pleading my
inability to persist in this kind of training. But he acquiesced in the
desire to board myself, and generously made the additional payment of one
dollar sixteen groschens, or five shillings per week, for the purpose. I
found no difficulty in tracing out a "restauration," the proprietor of
which readily undertook to furnish one principal meal per diem for
seventeen silver groschens, that is, one shilling and eightpence
halfpenny per week, paid in advance. Each dinner cost, therefore, a
fraction less than threepence. With the remainder of the allowance it
was easy to purchase a simple supper, and even some small luxuries now
and then. The dinners, although certainly not sumptuous, were wholesome,
and infinitely more relishing than the fresh beef and beans of the
"principal's" table; while there was a relief in quitting the workshop
for a while, to descend the steep w