rague;
but none which much repay the trouble of inspecting them. That of St.
Emaus is, perhaps, the most interesting, both because it is the oldest,
being of the date 1348, and because here some traces of frescoes, which
escaped the Hussite violences, may be found. But except for these, and
a few of the trophies that were taken at the battle of the White
Mountain, it will not strike the visitor as, in any respect,
remarkable. It is not here, indeed, nor in the Alt Stadt neither, that
the curious in such matters will seek for gratification. He who loves
to muse amid the cloisters of a monastery, or delights to recreate
himself amid the "Temple's holy gloom," will find the freest scope for
the indulgence of his humours, on the opposite side of the Moldau; and
as our tastes reverted to that channel, after sufficient time had been
devoted to other matters, it may not be amiss if I state some of the
occurences that befell during our second visit to the Hradschin and the
Strahow.

Not far from the cathedral, and, as a necessary consequence, adjoining
to the palace, are two objects which put in strong claims to notice.
One is a Loreto chapel, built on the model of that which has so often
changed its resting-place; the other is the convent of St. Lawrence,
within which the chapel is erected. The latter,--an exact copy of that
in the valley of the Misio,--is small, and dark in the interior, the
shrine being lighted up only by the lamps which burn continually before
the image of the Virgin. It is, however, rich in costly vestments and
plate, and richer still in the reverence which the pious pay to it. The
convent, again, is large, with fine cloisters, and some tolerable
frescoes along the sides of them, and the monks, to do them justice,
are exceedingly civil. My young companion expressed a wish to visit
their cells, and it was instantly complied with: we were directed to
pass round to another door, and there the porter took charge of us.

Our guide,--a squalid creature, with shaven crown, bare legs, sandaled
feet, and a grizzly beard,--led us by a long passage first into the
refectory. It was a hall of no great dimensions, meanly furnished with
deal benches and tables, and surrounded on the walls, with some rude
representations of the most loathsome and horrid martyrdoms. The tables
were spread with wooden trenchers, each of which had a morsel of
rye-bread beside it, and beneath each bench were rows of
spit-boxes,--one being s