velled in the Diligence, that the
number of students did not then exceed 250, but that he had no doubt it
would increase as public affairs assumed a more settled appearance. Here
is little of that academic discipline, which distinguishes our
universities. There are no colleges, and the students live in private
houses, according to their respective inclinations. There are eight
professors, and an attendance on the lectures of such of them as the
student may prefer seems to constitute the sum of his academic duty.
There is a large botanic garden, which is kept in good order, and
contains a long range of green-houses and stoves.

I here agreed to accompany a gentleman of my acquaintance, who wished
to _travel post_ to Frankfort: and had no reason to regret having left
the Diligence, with the tediousness of which I was heartily tired. We
set out accordingly in a sort of cabriolet, resembling a covered
curricle, for Stutgard. We found much less delay at each post than we
were led to expect; and part of the time was employed in greasing and
examining the wheels of the carriage before starting: this custom
prevents many accidents, for that operation for which no time is
specified, is commonly neglected.

The price of each station is regulated by government; and the
postmasters and drivers are very civil and obliging; but the celerity
with which every thing is procured at an English inn, is not to be
expected here, as the Germans are habitually slow in all their
movements.

A German dinner is still more tedious than a French one, and it is
perhaps yet more foreign to our taste. The custom of sleeping between
_feather beds_, as it may be altered by the traveller, if unpleasant to
him, cannot be considered as a _grievance_; but all who have been
accustomed to the _social and companionable cheerfulness of a fire_,
must regret that custom, which here substitutes for it, the _dull and
unenlivening heat of a stove_.

That fire-place, which is so essential to the comfort of our apartments,
is by German taste placed in the passage and shut up, whilst heat is
conveyed into their rooms by flues.

We arrived at Stutgard without the occurrence of any thing worthy of
mention, and were much pleased with its general appearance; its streets
are spacious, and the houses mostly well built. The city has increased
considerably in size, since it has become the constant residence of its
sovereign. Its population is estimated at 24,000. It is a