ous mixture of piety and
indifference, outward practice and inward negligence. Some were telling
their beads and chattering Pater Nosters, some were at one moment on
their knees, in the next quarrelling with their neighbour; but, after
all, the general effect was so solemn and imposing that I was willing to
spare my criticisms, and give them credit for perhaps more than they
deserved. Conceive such a concourse of persons, on one of the finest
Evenings imaginable, floating silently with the stream, and then at a
signal given bursting forth into songs of praise to God--all perfect in
their respective parts, now loud, now low, the softer tones of the women
at one time singing alone. If the value of a Sabbath depends on the
religious feelings excited, I may safely say I have passed few so
valuable. They had no Priest amongst them, the hymns were the
spontaneous flow of the moment. Whenever one began the rest were sure to
follow.

When upon the subject of music I must be the advocate of Mme. de Stael.
She has been accused of falsehood in stating that in the Cottages in
Germany a Piano Forte was a necessary piece of furniture. I cannot from
my own knowledge go quite so far, but from my short experience of German
manners I may safely say there is no nation in which Music is so
popular. We have heard the notes of pianos and harpsichords issuing from
holes and corners where they might least be expected, and as for flutes
and other instruments, there is scarcely a village in which, in the
course of an hour, you will not hear a dozen.

At Cologne we were lodged at a French Inn kept by the landlord and his
wife alone--no waiters, no other attendance--and yet the house was
spacious, clean, and excellent. I never met with more attention and wish
to accommodate, and not only in the house; the exertions of our host
were exerted still further in our behalf. He introduced us to a Club
chiefly composed of French Germans, who were as hospitably inclined as
himself. One gentleman invited us to his house, would give us some
excellent hock, introduced us to his family, amongst the rest a little
fellow with a sabre by his side, with curling locks and countenance and
manner interesting as Owen's. Hearing I was fond of pictures and painted
glass, he carried me to a fine old Connoisseur, his father-in-law, whose
fears and temper were a good deal roused by the "peste," as he termed
it, of still having half a dozen Cossacks in his house. However,