h seems cognizant of all
that is passing, and believe that he has a posthumous satisfaction in
the interpretation of his great thoughts.

The managers of the conservatoire also give vocal concerts, and there
are, besides, quartette soiries; so that there are few evenings without
some attraction. The opera alternates with the theater two or three
times a week. The singers are, perhaps, not known in Paris and London,
but some of them are not unworthy to be. There is the baritone, Herr
Kindermann, who now, at the age of sixty-five, has a superb voice and
manner, and has had few superiors in his time on the German stage. There
is Frau Dietz, at forty-five, the best of actresses, and with a still
fresh and lovely voice. There is Herr Nachbar, a tenor, who has a
future; Fraulein Stehle, a soprano, young and with an uncommon voice,
who enjoys a large salary, and was the favorite until another soprano,
the Malinger, came and turned the heads of king and opera habitues. The
resources of the Academy are, however, tolerably large; and the practice
of pensioning for life the singers enables them to keep always a
tolerable company. This habit of pensioning officials, as well as
musicians and poets, is very agreeable to the Germans. A gentleman the
other day, who expressed great surprise at the smallness of the salary
of our President, said, that, of course, Andrew Johnson would receive
a pension when he retired from office. I could not explain to him how
comical the idea was to me; but when I think of the American people
pensioning Andrew Johnson,--well, like the fictitious Yankee in "Mugby
Junction," "I laff, I du."

There is some fashion, in a fudgy, quaint way, here in Munich; but it is
not exhibited in dress for the opera. People go--and it is presumed the
music is the attraction in ordinary apparel. They save all their dress
parade for the concerts; and the hall of the Odeon is as brilliant as
provincial taste can make it in toilet. The ladies also go to operas and
concerts unattended by gentlemen, and are brought, and fetched away,
by their servants. There is a freedom and simplicity about this which
I quite like; and, besides, it leaves their husbands and brothers at
liberty to spend a congenial evening in the cafes, beer-gardens, and
clubs. But there is always a heavy fringe of young officers and gallants
both at opera and concert, standing in the outside passages. It is
cheaper to stand, and one can hear quite as well, and