retainers of
the castle, passed for a Ritter, or a knight confined for some crime
against the state.

With a farewell look at the old chamber, where stands his oaken chair
and table, I left the Schloss, and as night was falling descended
towards Eisenach--for a description of whose water-mills and
windmills--Whose cloth factories and toy shops, I refer you to various
and several guide books--only begging to say, on my own account, that
the "Reuten Kranta" is a seemly inn, and the host a pleasant German
of the old school; that is, in other words, one whose present life is
always about twenty years in advance of his thoughts, and who, while he
eats and drinks in the now century, thinks and feels with that which is
gone. The latest event of which he had any cognizance, was the retreat
from Leipsic, when the French poured through the village for five days
without ceasing. All the great features of that memorable retreat,
however, were absorbed in his mind, by an incident which occurred to
himself, and at which, by the gravity of his manner in relating it, I
could not help laughing heartily.

When the commissariat arrived at Eisenach, to make arrangement for
the troops on their mardi, they allowed the inhabitants the option--a
pleasant one--of converting the billets, imposed upon them, for a
certain sum of money, in virtue of which, they obtained an exemption
from all intrusion on the part of men and officers, save those of
the rank of colonel and upwards; and in evidence, a great placard was
affixed to their door, setting forth the same, as a "general order," Now
as it was agreed that only one officer should be accommodated at a time,
the privilege was worth paying for, particularly by our host of the
"Rue Garland," whose larder was always stored with delicacies, and whose
cellar was famed for thirty miles round. He accordingly counted down his
reichs-thalers, gulden, and groschen--with a heavy heart it is true, but
to avert a heavier evil, and with his grand patent of immunity, hung out
upon his sign post, he gave himself no farther trouble about the war or
its chances. On the third evening of the retreat, however, a regiment
of the Chasseurs de la Garde, conspicuous by their green coats and white
facings, the invariable costume of the Emperor himself, entered the
town, and bivouacked in the little square. The colonel, a handsome
fellow of about five-and-thirty, or forty, looked about him sharply for
a moment or two, ir