,
into a great vaulted _porte cochere_.

'At the "Koenig von Preussen," mein Herr,' said a yellow-haired waiter,
who flourished a napkin about him in truly professional style.

'Ah, very true; but in what town, city, or village, and in whose
kingdom?'

'Ach, du lieber Gott!' exclaimed he, with his eyes opened to their
fullest extent. 'Where would you be but in the city of Hesse-Cassel, in
the Grand-Duchy of Seiner Koeniglichen Hoheit-----'

'Enough, more than enough! Let me have supper.'

The Speisesaal was crowded with travellers and townspeople as I entered;
but the room was of great size, and a goodly table, amply provided,
occupied the middle of it Taking my place at this, I went ahead
through the sliced shoe-leather, yclept beef, the Kalbs-braten and the
Gurken-salat, and all the other indigestible abominations of that light
meal a German takes before he lies down at night The company were, with
the exception of a few military men, of that nondescript class every
German town abounds with--a large-headed, long-haired, plodding-looking
generation, with huge side-pockets in their trousers, from one of which
a cherry-wood pipe-stick is sure to project; civil, obliging, good
sort of people they are, but by no means remarkable for intelligence
or agree-ability. But then, what mind could emerge from beneath
twelve solid inches of beetroot and bouilli, and what brain could bear
immersion in Bavarian beer?

One never can understand fully how atrocious the tyranny of Napoleon
must have been in Germany, until he has visited that country and seen
something of its inhabitants; then only can one compute what must the
hurricane have been that convulsed the waters of such a landlocked
bay. Never was there a people so little disposed to compete with their
rulers, never was obedience more thoroughly an instinct. The whole
philosophy of the German's mind teaches him to look within rather
than without; his own resources are more his object in life than the
enjoyment of state privileges, and to his peaceful temper endurance is
a pleasanter remedy than resistance. Almost a Turk in his love of
tranquillity, he has no sympathy with revolutions or public disturbances
of any kind, and the provocation must indeed be great when he arouses
himself to resist it. That when he is thus called on he can act with
energy and vigour, the campaigns of 1813 and 1814 abundantly testify.
Twice the French armies had to experience the heavy retributi