tterature. They seem amiable and goodnatured and by no
means _minaudieres_, as Lady Mary Wortley Montague has rather unjustly
termed them; for they appear to me to be the most frank, artless creatures
I ever beheld, and to have no sort of _minauderie_ or _coquetterie_ about
them. Beauty is the appanage of the Saxon women, hence the proverb in
rhyme:

Darauf bin ich gegangen nach Sachsen,
Wo die schoenen Maedchen auf den Bauemen wachsen.

In English:

Behold me landed now on Saxon ground,
Where lovely damsels on the trees are found.

A taste for litterature is indeed general throughout the whole nation; and
this city is considered as the Athens of Germany.

DRESDEN, Nov. 8th.

I have been at the theatre and witnessed the representation of a tragedy
called _Die Schuld_, written by Adolphus Muellner. It is a most interesting
piece, and the novelty of it has made a striking impression on me. It is
written in the eight-footed trochaic metre, similar to that in which the
Spanish tragedies are written. It hinges on a prophecy made by a Gipsey, in
which the person to whom the prophecy is made, in endeavoring to avert it,
hastens its accomplishment. The piece is full of interest and the
versification harmonious. I have been twice at the Italian opera, where I
saw the _Gazza Ladra_ and _Il Matrimonio secreto_. I came here with the
idea of giving myself up entirely to the study of the German language; but
such is the beauty of the country environing Dresden that, though winter
has commenced I employ the greatest part of the day in long walks. For
instance I have been to Pillnitz, which is on the right bank of the Elbe
about seven miles from Dresden, ascending the river. The road is on the
bank of the river the whole way. The Palace at Pillnitz is vast and well
built. During a part of the year the Royal family reside there. Pillnitz
will remain "damn'd to everlasting fame" as the place where the famous
treaty was signed, the object of which was to put down the French
Revolution, which Mr Pitt and the British ministry knew of and sanctioned,
tho' they pretended ignorance of it and professed to have no desire to
interfere with the affairs of France.

Every thing pleases me at Dresden except the beds. I wish it were the
fashion to use blankets and _edredons_ for the upper covering instead of
the _lits de plumes_; for they are too heavy and promote rather too intense
a perspiration, and if you become impatient of the