too slow to profit by them. The sharp
fellows, on the contrary, see in such incidents all that they need to
lead them to success. Into which of these categories you are to enter,
Potts, let this incident decide."

Having by a reference to my John Murray ascertained the whereabouts of
the capital of Hesse-Kalbbratonstadt, I took my place at once on the
rail for Cologne, reading myself up on its beauty and its belongings as
I went There is, however, such a dreary sameness in these small Ducal
states, that I am ashamed to say how little I gleaned of anything
distinctive in the case before me. The reigning sovereign was, of
course, married to a Grand Duchess of Russia, and he lived at a
country-seat called Ludwig's Lust, or Carl's Lust, as it might be, "took
little interest in politics,"--how should he?--and "passed much of
his time in mechanical pursuits, in which he had attained considerable
proficiency;" in other words, he was a middle-aged gentleman, fond of
his pipe, and with a taste for carpentry. Some sort of connection with
our own royal family had been the pretext for having a resident minister
at his court, though what he was to do when he was there seemed not
so easy to say. Even John, glorious John, was puzzled how to make a
respectable half-page out of his capital, though there was a dome in the
Byzantine style, with an altarpiece by Peter von Grys, the angels in
the corner being added afterwards by Hans Luders; and there was a
Hof Theatre, and an excellent inn, the "Schwein," by Kramm, where the
sausages of home manufacture were highly recommendable, no less than a
table wine of the host's vineyard, called "Magenschmerzer," and which,
Murray adds, would doubtless, if known, find many admirers in England;
and lastly, but far from leastly, there was a Music Garten, where
popular pieces were performed very finely by an excellent German band,
and to which promenade all the fashion of the capital nightly resorted.

I give you all these details, respected reader, just as I got them in my
"Northern Germany," and not intending to obtrude any further description
of my own upon you; for who, I would ask, could amplify upon his
Handbook? What remains to be noted after John has taken the inventory?
Has he forgotten a nail or a saint's shin-bone? With him for a guide, a
man may feel that he has done his Em-ope conscientiously; and though it
be hard to treasure up all the hard names of poets, painters, priests,
and warrior