atrical trappings with which the custom of Hamburg usually adorns
them. If we bent our steps, as we sometimes did, through the Altona gate
to Hamburger Berg, we came upon a scene of hubbub and animation which was
something between Clare Market on Saturday night, and High Street,
Greenwich, at fair time. Stalls, booths, and baskets lined the way;
flowers, fruit, and pastry disputed possession of the side-paths with
sugar-plums, sticks and tobacco-pipes; and, although Franconi's Circus
was not open yet, it gave every promise of being so; and the air already
rang with voices of showmen, and the clangour of instruments. In the
Summer there were gay boats on the Alster, and nautical holiday-makers
were busy with oar and sail; while, in the Winter months, if the ice held
well, there was no end of skating and sledging; and then we had a
pleasant winter-garden near the Tivoli, with orange-trees in tubs, the
mould so covered over as to form extemporary tables, and the green leaves
and pale fruit shining above our heads. At the upper end was a
conservatory of choice plants, which was more particularly appropriated
to the ladies and children. The cafe pavilions on the Alster steamed
odoriferously; punch and hot coffee were in the ascendant; and there were
more cigars smoked in an afternoon on the Jungfern Stieg (the Maiden's
Walk) than would have stored the cases of a London suburban tobacconist.

These may, perhaps, be reckoned mere idlings, but there were occasionally
official doings on the Sunday, which might have been national, if Hamburg
had been a nation, and which no doubt were eminently popular. Two such,
I remember; one a grand review of the Burger Militar; the other the
public confirmation of the apprentices and others, and the conscription
of the youth of the city. The former was a trying affair. Some twelve
thousand citizen-soldiers had to turn out, fully rigged and equipped, by
early dawn, ready for any amount of drill and evolution. Many were the
stories--more witty than generous--of the whereabout of their uniforms
and accoutrements; as to their being deposited in Lombardian hands, or
wholly used up since the last grand field-day some three years before.
Such furbishing as there was of brass ornaments and metal-buttons; such
an oiling and sand-papering of brown muskets, and such a rearrangement of
blue tunics which, after all, did not match in colour, length, nor
appointments! Fortunately our warriors did no