has, for the most part, a fresh complexion, a neatness of costume, and an air of exclusiveness, which belong to no other people: he is very much bent on manifesting his independence, which he looks upon as always about to be assailed; and he asserts it frequently, to the prejudice of his reputation for good manners. He begins his travels with a secret contempt for those with whom he is about to sojourn,

Regardant tout avec un air hautain,'

and he does not care much to conceal it; above all, he endeavours to study the men and manners of the countries he visits, by consorting as much as possible with his own countrymen. Such are the majority of the untravelled English; but time and the hour teach thera a different lesson, and shape them into different men.

The three who now entered the saloon differed much in aspect, though they resembled each other in purpose. The two younger were tall; one of them pale, with a deep-set eye and thoughtful expression of countenance; the other, of florid complexion, with goodnature, carelessness, and courage stamped on his open features. Both were university-men, lately released from the arduous pursuit of knowledge, not on the banks but on the bed of the Cam, where the most abstruse problems in mathematics are solved in an eightoared wherry, and science is distilled from the recesses of little pint-bottles of beer.'

The names of these alumni-as Denham afterwards learnt,-were the Hon. Frederic Saville and Sir Nicholas Lackland, Bart. They were travelling, of course, for improvement; and were endeavouring to associate with it as much amusement as a stern sense of duty would permit.

He who completed the triumvirate of new-comers was a man whose appearance could not easily be forgotten. Some ten or twelve years older than his companions, his features, originally finely formed, bore on them the traces of many a stormy passion and many a deep excess. The habitual expression of his countenance was that of a reckless gaiety, which deepened when thought prevailed into an aspect of seuled gloom, from whence all signs of mirthfulness had vanished. His powers of mind were prodigious, his reading deep, his observation deeper, his memory highly retentive, and stored with the choicest lore; in conversation he was fluent, in argument profound; a wit, a scholar, and a philosopher, and withal, a most unhappy man. His personal appearance was no less remarkable. He invariably wore a large, rough, blue Taglioni coat, buttoned close across his chest-a garment that increased the almost Herculean proportions of his frame, which was about the middle height; white trousers, worn in all weathers and at all seasons, and a broad brimmed hat pulled over his brows so as entirely to conceal the whole of his forehead; his hair was long and waving, and intensely black, and he cherished an enormous growth of dark beard and whiskers. His hands, according to the prevailing mode, were usually thrust into the front pockets of his coat, from whence projected a thick and heavy cane. To identify him by name, he was known as the eccentric John Templewell.

The party approached the table where Denham sat, and called for breakfast.

Despite an occasional coarseness of manner, Denham could not help feeling interested in his conversation, and making a casual reply to some observation addressed generally, was directly made free of the guild by Templewell.

Ah!' said he, I knew you were an Englishman before you spoke; let me introduce you to your countrymen. I don't know any of your names; but you'll find 'em all out in time. What a dull place this Hanover is! We must hit upon something to make it out.'

There was a kind of freemasonry about Templewell's manner that operated marvellously on those who surrounded him; it overcame the habitual reserve which Englishmen always manifest towards each other before they are introduced, and established an intimacy

at once.

I'm the oldest resident of the lot in these parts, I believe,' said Templewell. I've been in this place exactly a month, as the cursedly long, illegible bill they brought me in here yesterday, most unsatisfactorily assured me. I'll pilot you about the place this morning; we'll have a quiet table at dinner to ourselves there in the corner, out of the way of these fellows' toothpicks; afterwards we'll take a carriage and drive to the Lindenberg, and hear the bugles of the Jägers; and then we can finish the evening wherever it pleases ourselves-or the polizei; for they're deucedly fond here of making you get into rows, that they may have the benefit of your being bestrafen.'

Bestrafen!' inquired Sir Nicholas, what 's that?'

Why, in plain English, it means being fined. They fine you for everything here. If you walk on a grass-plot instead of a gravelwalk, half-a-dollar! Smoke a cigar in the streets, half-a-dollar! And, if there were such a thing as a pretty girl in the place, they'd fine us half-a-dollar for looking at her!'

And are the women so very ugly?' demanded the Hon. Mr. Saville.

'I'll tell you what,' replied Templewell, if you can find me a handsome woman in the town I'll marry her; and that's rather a bold offer. Beauty! They dare scarcely open their mouths-except at dinner, for fear you should see their teeth. Their complexions are coarse; their figures clumsy; and then their ancles! Did you ever hear what a traveller lately said of them?'

No; pray enlighten us,' said the baronet.

Why, he declared that the reason their legs were so thick was because they always wore boots under their stockings!'

Come, come!' observed Denham; 'he must have libelled them; I've seen some very neat feet and ancles already, I assure you.'

Ah, indeed!' exclaimed Templewell; then you must have made good use of your time, and were particularly favoured. But, suppose we make the experiment en masse? We can compare notes as we go. What say you to our adjourning to the Conditorei in the

Leine Strasse ?'

Agreed!' cried the party simultaneously, and they accordingly sallied forth.

CHAPTER III.

THE CONDITOREI.

Why did she love him? Curious fool, be still,

Is human love the growth of human will ?-BYRON.

The ap

THE Leine Strasse is the principal street in Hanover. proach to it by the old bridge from the Calenberges Strasse is very picturesque. On one side is a long range of houses, varying in antiquity from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century, with the fronts curiously carved and sculptured; the upper stories projecting far beyond those beneath, and all terminating in high, pointed gables, of different degrees of elevation. A great peculiarity in all the street views in this city arises from the windows all opening outwards; and as they are never closed in the day-time during fine weather, the number of light lattices, with the sun gleaming upon the panes, produces the effect of myriads of dragon-flies' wings, and has a very singular and graceful appearance. Immediately opposite these old buildings is a large square, two sides of which are formed by the royal palace, or schloss, in which is included the public theatre; and at the extremity of the view is the Leine Strasse, containing the residenz, or king's house, the clubs and the principal shops in the town; directly in front of the spectator, across an old market-place, is the dark and yawning entrance of the Jerdein Strasse, narrow and gloomy, yet highly picturesque; and above all rises the high red spire of the Schloss Kirche, which is seen from every part of the city.

Proceeding across the bridge and passing some beautiful relics of the ornamental architecture of the latter end of the fifteenth century, which are still preserved in the Leine Strasse, the four Englishmen made the best of their way to the conditorei indicated by Templewell.

A conditorei is a German pastrycook's shop, which differs from an English one in this respect, that everything to eat or drink may be obtained at it, from a butterbrot of cavier to a beefsteak, or from a glass of liqueur to a flask of Johannisberg, or a bowl of punch. These establishments, as is commonly the case everywhere, are graced by the presence of one or more fair damsels, whose personal attractions are not the least inducement to the idlers who frequent them. Though Templewell's boutade against Hanoverian beauty was so roundly made, it was plain that his secret conviction was very different, for the maiden who ministered at this conditorei was evidently the object that daily attracted him thither. Unlike the generality of her countrywomen, Doretta Brandis was of olive complexion, with large dark eyes full of expression, and long, silken, black hair; her teeth were as white as ivory, and revealed themselves not unfrequently as she smiled upon her customers. She was of the middle height, inclining rather to embonpoint, but very beautifully formed; and wearing the neat corsage and bright colours of her native town of Hilderheim, looked as pretty an object as a traveller might hope to encounter in such a spot. Though comparatively uneducated, her mental qualifications were of a superior order; and though ignorant of the language of her English visitors,

her quick glance and acuteness of perception enabled her at once to catch the meaning of almost everything that was said; and if allusion were made to herself, it might just as well have been spoken in her own tongue. Many sweet words and honeyed phrases had been poured into her ear by young and handsome strangers, but her heart had remained untouched till the arrival of the eccentric Englishman, and then it yielded at once, and to a mode of assault which, since the days of Petruchio, has rarely been adopted. Templewell had at first sight been struck by her beauty, and perhaps his eyes had involuntarily betrayed his secret, but his tongue as yet had never told it; he seemed, on the contrary, to have adopted for his maxim, to woo her as the lion woos his bride,' so rough was his greeting, and so abrupt the manner in which he invariably accosted her. Templewell presented his friends to the pretty condi torina, with his accustomed courtesy.

'Here you, German frau, Doretta, these are some countrymen of mine-what do you call 'em-landsleute?-curse your languageEnglish herrs; gentlemen, though they don't wear rings on their forefingers like Hanoverian noblemen. Give me a cigar.'

Doretta laughed, blushed, cast down her large eyes, and curtseyed to the new-comers. Then affecting to pout at Templewell as she gave

him a light, she said,

'Sie sind sehr böse (wicked) Herr Temple-. She could not pronounce the rest of his name.

She says I'm boozy, does she? Thank God I'm not quite drunk! But what can one do in a place like this? It would be a mercy never to be sober again!'

A quick fire of broken German and English was then opened by the party upon the fair conditorina, who sustained her share of the dialogue with wit and self-possession.

What's the German for "pretty?" asked the baronet.

'Why, the German for "pretty," as far as it goes,' replied Templewell, stands behind that counter. But the word for it is nearly as good as the conception of it in Germany. What do you think of hübsch? Isn't it melody itself to utter it? It was a wild boar, I believe, who first invented language in this country.'

Vous êtes-particularly-hübsch,' said Sir Nicholas, looking tenderly at Doretta, and making what Mrs. Malaprop would have called a Cerberean effort to master three languages at once.

6

Oh!

'What! caught already by that flirt?' cried Templewell. she can understand you fast enough; it's always the last comer with her.'

'Est ist nicht wahr, Herr Temple-' said Doretta, quickly, stifling a sob.

'What the devil! so soon down upon me! hold your tongue!sey rukig-and hear what he's going to say to you.

Don't you see he has fallen in love; it's "all round his hat" with him,-Ganz herum sein hut,-as it may be worthily translated.'

Ich weiss nicht was ist das! Ich kann nicht verstehen,' replied Doretta, utterly unable to comprehend this jargon. Was macht er mit seinem hut?'

'She wants to know what you are going to do with your hat,' said Templewell, addressing Sir Nicholas.

In conversation like this, half idle and half satirical, the morning wore away, and, breaking up the conclave at the Conditorei, the party strolled about the city, examining with a critical eye whatever was worthy of comment, until the hour arrived which summoned them to assist in the labours of the table d'hôte.

When a moderate circulation had ensued of the grape called 'generous' by prescription, Denham suggested the proposed excursion to the Lindenberg, to hear the really splendid bugles of the Jägers; and though, perhaps, Templewell and the baronet would rather have despatched another bottle of Rüdesheimer before they started, the proposition was finally agreed to.

'We must have the Couut,' said Templewell; we can't do without him.'

Who is the Count?' inquired every one.

'You shall see,' was the answer. Here, Kellner, send up the Graf.'

'Yes, sare;' and the waiter proceeded on his mission.

In a few minutes the door opened, and the individual called 'the Count' made his appearance. He merits, perhaps, a brief description. The Count was an elderly man, hovering, it might be, on the confines of sixty years; but an air of pretension, to which he owed his title, robbed Time of at least ten years of his claim, and a red spot on each cheek, which some hinted was less natural than the hue of the winter-apple, which it most resembled, materially assisted the delusion. He had a light grey eye, whose ordinary expression was, 'What can I do to be of service to you?'-but there was a cunning twinkle in it occasionally, that asked the real question of himself, How can I make the most of these English Herrs? Accordingly he shaped his conduct to meet both categories, and with a puckered up face, on which there gleamed the rays of a perpetual smirk, he was every one's lohnbedienter (hired servant) who paid him for his trouble. He had originally served in the German Legion, and had subsequently been valet, courier, and-if you chose to believe his assertions, though few did-confidential domestic to a great many English gentlemen, whom, as he said, he took care of.' He spoke English and French remarkably well, and allowed his many masters to abuse his native language as much as they pleased. His figure was wiry and spare, and about the middle height; and there was an odd sort of motion observable in his hands when he spoke, which he said was one of the inevitable attributes of practised oratory, but which to a common observer bore a closer resemblance to the action of one accustomed to the flourish of a pair of barber's tongs. He had, in fact, at one time been the regimental tonsor, before side-curls were exploded. He was very particular in regard to his costume, inclining not so much to old fashions as to old clothes, for the excellent reason that what he wore was generally the cast-off apparel of the gentlemen whom he served He always prided himself, therefore, upon the cut of his coat,-wearing blue with gilt buttons for choice, and, by dint of furbishing and sponging, made as respectable a figure as many a faded old dandy of more extensive means. For his nether garments, he chiefly affected nankeens, and gave the preference to a white waistcont and neckcloth. In fact, his ambition was to dress as near as possible to the style of a noble lord with whom he had once resided in the Mansion House of the City of London,'