they
were officers, and by his own account did him no harm whatever; but for
fear of accidents he had unpanelled his great dining-room. Our friend
had a large and excellent house, in a style very unlike and far more
magnificent than is usually met with in England. In return for his
civility I was delighted to have it in my power to give him a few ounces
of our Pecco Tea which remained of our original stock. Travelling in
Germany is certainly neither luxurious nor rapid; the custom of hiring
a carriage for a certain distance and taking post horses does not extend
here, and you are therefore reduced to the following dilemma, either
taking a Carriage and the same horses for your journey or the "Post
Waggon," or Diligence, which is of the two rather more rapid. Of two
evils we preferred the last, and at half-past 8 this morning were landed
at Aix la Chapelle, having performed the journey of 45 miles in 12 and a
half hours shaken to death, choked with dust, and poisoned with tobacco,
for here a great hooked pipe is as necessary an appendage to the mouth
as the tongue itself. Under the circumstances above mentioned, with the
Thermometer at about 98 into the bargain, you may conceive we were
heartily glad to run from the coach office to the Baths as instinctively
as young ducks. On looking over the list of persons visiting the place,
we were delighted to find the names of Lord and Lady Glenbervie[86] and
Mr. North.[87] Accordingly, having first ascended the highest steeple in
the town, and been more disgusted than in any place I have seen since
Spain, with virgins and dolls in beads and muslins, and pomatum and
relics of saints' beards, and napkins from our Saviour's tomb, and
mummeries quite disgraceful, we went to call upon them....

We find this, like every other town and village, swarming with Prussian
troops. General Kleist commands, and has no less an army than 170,000.
This seems very like a determination of the King of Prussia not to give
up the slice he has gained in the grand continental scramble. Every
uniform we saw was of British manufacture. An officer told me we had
furnished sufficient for 70,000 Infantry and 20,000 Cavalry.

There is little to be seen in this place. The country about reminded me
most of England; for the first time on the continent we saw hedges and
trees of tolerable size growing amongst them. We were directed above all
other things to pay our respects to the great gambling table. It is,
inde