e the ground, and I departed in peace. As
I was to start at six in the morning, the Herr rose earlier than was his
wont, prepared for me with his own hands a cup of hot coffee, kissed me
on both cheeks, and wished me God speed.

My stay in Berlin was limited to six weeks. It would have been longer,
but that Alcibiade had set his heart upon tramping to Vienna at the end
of that period; and I was pledged to accompany him. We worked together
at one of the court jewellers. Alcibiade stood in high favour, and
received in wages thirty dollars per calendar month, or an average rate
of twenty-two shillings and sixpence a week. My own wages were fixed at
twenty-four dollars a month to begin with, or eighteen shillings a week;
but I received ten dollars for the last ten days of my engagement, which
brought me on a level with my Parisian friend. These were, I believe,
high wages. We worked twelve hours a day. The city of Berlin had
outgrown the feudal usages of Hamburg and Leipsic, and we were no longer
lodged under the same roof with the Herr, nor humbly ate at his table.
Alcibiade had an apartment in a rambling house with a princely staircase,
but the central court of which happened, unfortunately, to be a stable.
An extra bed and double rent enabled us to domicile together, and we paid
for this chamber, roomy and commodious (always overlooking the stable),
per month, together with morning coffee and a bullet of white bread, two
dollars eighteen groschens each. This would give, in English money,
seven shillings and tenpence, being less than two shillings a week. Our
average expenses for living were five shillings each per week; and thus,
while our whole weekly necessities were met by the sum of seven
shillings, we were in the receipt of eighteen shillings and twenty-two
shillings and sixpence respectively. Reckoning, however, the average
wages in Berlin at sixteen shillings a week, it will be seen that the
artisan, whose necessary outlay for food and lodging need certainly not
exceed seven shillings, is at least in as good a position as his
self-vaunted brother of London upon thirty shillings. It naturally
results that the mechanics of Berlin, unlike those of the smaller towns
of Germany, "are married and given in marriage," although the practice is
regarded even there as indiscreet and improvident. It is doubtless a
creditable feeling which demands of the workman that he shall have past
out of his state of servitude