f
which reminded me of a conversation I had there some years ago.

The major of the town, after swallowing countless boxes of Morrison's
pills, died in the belief that he had not begun to take them soon
enough. The consumption of these drugs at that time almost surpassed
belief. There was scarcely a sickly or hypochondriac person, from the
Hill of Presburg to the Iron Gates, who had not taken large quantities
of them. Being curious to know the cause of this extensive
consumption, I asked for an explanation.

"You must know," said an individual, "that the Anglo-mania is nowhere
stronger than in this part of the world. Whatever comes from England,
be it Congreve rockets, or vegetable pills, must needs be perfect. Dr.
Morrison is indebted to his high office for the enormous consumption
of his drugs. It is clear that the president of the British College
must be a man in the enjoyment of the esteem of the government and the
faculty of medicine; and his title is a passport to his pills in
foreign countries."

I laughed heartily, and explained that the British College of Health,
and the College of Physicians, were not identical.

The road from this point to Belgrade presents no particular interest.
Half an hour from the city I crossed the celebrated trenches of
Marshal Laudohn; and rumbling through a long cavernous gateway, called
the Stamboul Kapousi, or gate of Constantinople, again found myself in
Belgrade, thankful for the past, and congratulating myself on the
circumstances of my trip. I had seen a state of patriarchal manners,
the prominent features of which will be at no distant time rolled flat
and smooth, by the pressure of old Europe, and the salient angles of
which will disappear through the agency of the hotel and the
stagecoach, with its bevy of tourists, who, with greater facilities
for seeing the beauties of nature, will arrive and depart, shrouded
from the mass of the people, by the mercenaries that hang on the
beaten tracks of the traveller.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 17: In Servian, Belgrade is called Beograd, "white
city;"--poetically, "white eagle's nest."]

[Footnote 18: I think that a traveller ought to see all that he can;
but, of course, has no right to feel surprised at being excluded from
citadels.]

[Footnote 19: One of the representatives of the ancient imperial family
is the Earl of Devon, for Urosh the Great married Helen of
Courtenay.]

CHAPTER XXV.

Personal Appearance of the Se