The amount of
business transacted at these fairs is very considerable; on several
occasions, above twenty thousand dealers have assembled. The trade is
principally in woollen cloths; but lighter wares, and even ornaments of
every description, are sold to a large extent. The manner in which every
available place is taken advantage of is very curious: archways, cellars,
passages, and courtyards are alike filled with merchandise, and the
streets are at times so crowded as to be almost impassable. When the
three weeks have passed, the wooden booths which have been erected in the
market-place and the principal streets are taken down, the buyers and
sellers vanish together, and the visitor would scarcely recognise in the
quiet streets around him the bustling busy city of a few days ago.--ED.

{11} The fire broke out on 4th May 1842, and raged with the utmost fury
for three days. Whole streets were destroyed, and at least 2000 houses
burned to the ground. Nearly half a million of money was raised in
foreign countries to assist in rebuilding the city, of which about a
tenth was contributed by Britain. Such awful fires, fearful though they
are at the time, seem absolutely necessary to great towns, as they cause
needful improvements to be made, which the indolence or selfishness of
the inhabitants would otherwise prevent. There is not a great city that
has not at one time or another suffered severely from fire, and has risen
out of the ruins greater than before.--ED.

{12} There are no docks at Hamburgh, consequently all the vessels lie in
the river Elbe, and both receive and discharge their cargoes there.
Madame Pfeiffer, however, is mistaken in supposing that only London could
show a picture of so many ships and so much commercial activity
surpassing that of Hamburgh. Such a picture, more impressive even than
that seen in the Elbe, is exhibited every day in the Mersey or the
Hudson.--ED.

{13} Kiel, however, is a place of considerable trade; and doubtless the
reason why Madame Pfeiffer saw so few vessels at it was precisely the
same reason why she saw so many at Hamburgh. Kiel contains an excellent
university.--ED.

{14} At sea I calculate by sea-miles, of which sixty go to a degree.

{15} This great Danish sculptor was born of poor parents at Copenhagen,
on the 19th November, 1770; his father was an Icelander, and earned his
living by carving figure-heads for ships. Albert, or "Bertel," as he is
more genera