exterior (which perhaps are as old as the church) being still preserved, though in a very decayed state. They are curiously but rudely carved, and contain medallions of heads in the panels. On knocking them with his key, I thought the guide meant to convince me that they were more fragile than the glass.

LETTER V.

TO A. J. KEMPE, ESQ., F. S. A.

German Cookery. — Dinners, their Fashion. -En

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counter with a Stranger at the Maison-Rouge. Voiture recommended. The Commissionaire. · The old Voiturier first introduced. - Engaged for the Journey. - A Sketch of the old Man, his Character and Capabilities. Anecdotes concerning him. Departure from Strasburg. The Bridge. Khel. - The Rhine. - The Duchy of Baden; its Beauty and Richness. The Peasantry; their Costume and Characteristics. Stop to Dine. The old Voiturier in Trouble. Journey continued. Beautiful Country. Mountains of the Black Forest. Ruined Castle. - Villages, and numerous Churches. Peculiar Fashion among the Women. Goitre. German Apprentices. Population and Prosperity of the Duchy. - Bridges and Statues. Sunset. Beauty of the Scene. The Black Forest. Cathedral in sight.- Town of Friburg.

My dear Brother,

Ir was at Strasburg I first began seriously to apprehend being half starved before we might

find our way back to England; not, however, from any want of provision, but from the mode and manner of preparing it. We had here a regular sample of German cookery: to my mind it was detestable; and I should fear for any one who, like myself, happens to have a weak digestion: the viands thus cooked must be any thing but healthful.

All meats and poultry were generally so tough, that they were scarcely eatable; and even had they been less so, from the circumstance of their being not roasted, but baked, or rather soddened, in the oven, and still half raw, they would be totally unpalatable. Ham is often sliced off the joint, and brought at once to table, without any kind of cookery whatsoever; and to eat it in this state is deemed luxurious: it certainly would be so to a North American Indian. And then we were served with such an appearance of a dinner -- such a number and variety of miserable dishes that one could not touch; such messes of vegetables, stewed till they had literally lost all colour and all taste, excepting that of the grease with which they

were saturated; and when they were only boiled, they were generally almost green,scarcely cooked at all. And then every thing was so spiced, that more than once, when attempting to dine off a half-raw chicken, as tough as a halter, I could taste nothing but spice; whilst the bread in all the German inns was so unlike itself, that I fancied at first the people had given us something resembling a disagreeably flavoured tea-cake in mistake for it. But I found we were served with the best sort. I saw but two kinds—one the same as our hot cross buns, but not so nice in flavour; and the other prepared in some way with eggs, and very unpleasant. I detested both, and only eat to keep life and soul together, for as to a good plain solid meal it was quite out of the question; and, I do confess, I now began to learn what I had never learnt before the real value of a good dinner-certainly a blessing to the hungry, and absolutely necessary to enable the traveller to sustain that bodily fatigue and waste of spirits to which he is exposed by the hourly exertions

that must be incurred in a journey of any length.

The different way in which a dinner is served here, to the fashion of our own country, is not unworthy notice. The fish never comes first, and sometimes it is eaten cold! Indeed, even the difference existing between the most common utensils of household convenience is not a little amusing. Instead of a tureen, they frequently bring in their soup in a round vessel (and this I have lately observed in England also, from our too great affection for foreign fashions); and if you ask for a slop-basin at breakfast, they bring you one four times as large as the teapot and all the cups besides. The milk-cup is the only one that bears any comparison with it, for they generally use nearly an equal quantity of hot milk with both their tea and coffee. On the other hand, the wash-hand-basin is seldom larger than a pie-dish, and their water-vessel little other than a cream-jug.

We were dining, en particulier, in the Salon-àmanger, at Strasburg, when a person came in