in Switzerland, a fish brought to table that had a most queer appearance in its colour; it looked as if dyed blue by art, probably in some particular process of the boiling, for it was only boiled fish that thus brought to mind our popular reference in England, of whatever seems sad without sufficient cause, to the influence of blue devils. Do they impregnate the fish-kettles in this country?

Just as we were about to set down to table, our old voiturier came in with a countenance so full of dismay, that we feared something very serious had happened to him, or to his cattle. The tears were in his eyes as he declared his distress of mind in a very lively manner. "Never had such a misfortune occurred to him. before!" "He could not tell how it had happened." "What should he do?" "What was to be done in such a disaster?" His dismay really not a little alarmed us, till at length we managed to get from him a clear statement of his cause of distress:-one of our carpet-bags, under his care, was missing, and no where to be found. I soon relieved the poor man's trouble,

by declaring my nephew to have been the thief of my carpet-bag at my own request; for I had wanted to take from it Murray's "Hand-book," in order that we might know what there was to be seen at Friburg, and to what inn we had best direct our steps. On hearing the safety of the carpet-bag, the tears which had before been in the eyes of our old voiturier burst out, and he almost sobbed with joy; and when I rose up, and once more put the bag into his hands, he grasped it as if he had really recovered the most valuable thing he possessed in the world; and we promised never more to help ourselves to any part of our property without first apprising him of our intentions so to do. We then consoled him with what he really needed — a cup of wine to cheer his spirits, in which he drank our healths, and retreated. This little incident convinced us of his honest and good feeling, nor did we find him wanting in an equal care of our baggage to the end of the journey.

After having finished our dinner, we con

a

country, increasing in beauty at every mile we advanced, and in one of the loveliest summer evenings that ever shone out of the heavens. We still continued to drive along the plain that was skirted, at no very great distance, by the mountains of the Black Forest. We passed ruined castle in our way, and we now began to observe the vineyard in abundance. Sometimes it extended for a considerable distance, and ran up the sides of steep hills, or among the openings between the heights. The villages, also, ran into the narrow valleys of these most beautiful mountains: their sides were richly wooded; and if we may form an estimation of the inhabitants of the duchy by the number of its churches, great indeed must be the population

of Baden.

We now observed the women we met had

a fashion among them which we had not

before seen

that of wearing a handkerchief (generally red in colour) tied loose round the throat, the ends hanging down the back. This fashion, I cannot help thinking, has its origin in sympathy. Women afflicted with the

goitre wear a handkerchief so tied round the throat to conceal the frightful protuberance produced by that disease; and their fellow countrywomen, who have no such affliction, have, nevertheless, adopted the handkerchief, which is therefore no longer a peculiarity, but a general costume. As we drove along, a couple of youths, of about seventeen or eighteen years old, dressed in a sort of fustian jacket, bound round the middle with a leathern belt, a glazed cap on their heads, a stick in their hands, each having a short heavy pipe in his mouth, and at his back a glazed knapsack, being altogether of a respectable appearance, to my astonishment, ran up to the carriage, held out the cap, and begged! This was the first instance I had yet met with of what my nephew forthwith explained to me~~ namely, that this method of begging was common with the German apprentices of every class.

As there is really no end to the demands and importunities of the beggars of all sorts and kinds upon the Continent, even an Englishman at last learns to say no, and to drive them away,

if he can, by a perseverance of denial. In Switzerland, however, I have known instances where this is of no use, and that a beggar has seized on my cloak or my arm (as it happened once in the Jura mountains when we were going up a long narrow steep road), so that there was no help for it but to give, in order to be rid of the annoyance. The German apprentices, however, are beggars of a different order. They will run by the side of your carriage, hold out a cap for an alms, but the moment it is denied desist from any importunity; and if the traveller has an alms to spare, it is much better to bestow it on some of these poor lads than on nine tenths of the beggars of any other description; always excepting the aged and the blind, who, generally speaking, are objects of charity in countries where there are no public institutions to afford them regular or permanent relief.

My nephew told me, that, by the laws of Germany, and also by those of some of the cantons in Switzerland, apprentices, before they can receive their freedom to set up for themselves in any craft or trade, are obliged to travel