visits (for the inspector seems to hang on the outside of the train, and to pounce on each traveller ere he is aware) renders it necessary that these billets should be easily producible. It is curious, therefore, to observe the different contrivances of each person in this particular. My companion, who had been here before, folded his long strip, and stuck it in his buttonhole; and, as it was of coloured paper, it looked so much like some military order, that he ran some chance, I thought, of being suspected of turning this mark of distinction into ridicule. An old Bavarian officer put his billet in his snuff box; so that, the first time he held it out to the conducteur, I fancied he meant to present him with a pinch of snuff. But as a discussion took place between them more than once, in consequence of the officer's servant having lost or mislaid his baggage billet, the flinking and filliping of it, before it could be read, became a complete nuisance, as it almost filled the vehicle with snuff.

At certain distances on the road is stationed a person in a kind of uniform (whether that

of the military or police I could not tell), with a mattock in one hand and a kind of baton in the other (probably to render assistance in case of accident), but sufficiently automatic to remind me of the late figures at St. Dunstan's church, prepared" to strike" the hour.

It is no wonder that I should confound the military with the civil uniform; for even a veritable Belgic soldier has little either in dress or appearance to remind us of ours. I might venture, perhaps, to call the Belgians a three-quarter nation. Their soldiers, their money, their miles, are no more than about three parts of ours. The dress of the military hangs so loose about them, that one would think it made with an allowance for them to grow both in height and size. The French soldiers, that we afterwards met with, were very different in this respect; indeed, some of the officers were laced so tight as almost to have waists like wasps but still they were so opposite to English soldiers, as almost to convey to my mind an idea that, if the latter were turned topsy-turvy, they would make the former. This, perhaps, may have been

suggested by their wearing blue coats and red trousers, the very reverse of our national regimentals. And to red breeches, moreover, I can never attach any other idea than a livery. I may here mention that, on arriving at the inn at Ostend, without being accommodated with any the least part of my baggage, I was indebted to the fille de chambre for a handkerchief instead of a nightcap; and reminded by my wife, in the morning, that I had adopted what was once so significant a portion of the national costume a bonnet rouge. The pre

valent dress of the peasantry is a blue smock frock. As we advanced on our route towards Switzerland, the peasantry, instead of wearing a cap, had on their heads a cocked hat, slouched over their eyes, with the point behind. Their braces were held together over the breast by a kind of square gorget, generally worked or embroidered; and the women mostly wore upon the head something like a pair of black wings, which, as they moved, flapped like those of a They were universally the plainest women I ever saw; but they are almost majestic

raven.

in their height and bearing, carrying themselves erect without stiffness; which I attribute to their being so accustomed to carry heavy burdens upon their head, that required not only strength but agility in balancing. They certainly are a strong and robust race; but still I could not reconcile myself to what I saw more than once — a woman mowing, and even pitching dung into a cart: surely not very feminine avocations.

In the omnibus that took us from the railroad we met with a French gentleman, who told us that the Hotel de Belle Vue was only frequented by des princes et des grands seigneurs, and recommended us to another: owing, however, to its being so full, we were led up so many stairs, that we declined looking at any apartments, and civilly took leave of the landlady, who as civilly expressed a hope that she might see us another time, and accommodate us better. We proceeded, therefore, to the hotel, which is near; and there, for the same reason, had about as many stairs to ascend; but we made a virtue of necessity, and were contented.

Belle Vue, (where we were,) though loftily situated, has but little pretensions to its name, as, though there is a grande place before it, it is nearly surrounded with buildings. At the back, over the stable yard, it somewhat commands the palace, which, however, has little to boast of in point of architecture. A solitary tree in front of it, like a maypole, gives it still more of meanness than of grandeur; and the flag that floats over the portico is the only thing that harmonises with the latter, - taken, however, rather in its literal than figurative meaning, for it certainly is a large building. The park is laid out in a very stiff and artificial manner, where each alley has its brother. There is a basin, where water-lilies would, perhaps, have been more in keeping than bulrushes; and this is surrounded with terminal statues, which looked, however, like the upper part of human bodies with their arms cut off. A terminus should have little more than the head: and though the ancients sometimes represented the feet at the bottom of an inverted cone, yet you feel as if there was nothing wanting; whereas,