make the water boil before my nephew could make his imaginary tea; and then there was such a set of crazy and perilous tea urns and kettles, and such substitutes for those utensils; and once he had his hot water ladled out of a great cauldron by an old woman who might have passed for one of the witches in Macbeth. Not unfrequently stove, kettle, and all, were brought into the room in a machine, in shape something like a portable Roman altar; yet even where there was this apparatus, there was difficulty, and disappointment, and delay in attempting to accomplish the object of boiling the water; and if that operation proved successful, it generally' only drew out the stronger the detestable flavour of the compound of dry leaves intended to represent the tea. On such occasions I never spared my nephew, for I had been very earnest with him to induce him to purchase some small stock before we left England. But he, putting more faith in the "Hand-book" than in my experience, slighted my counsel; and on the faith of Mr. Murray's assurance that good

tea would be found in Switzerland, he went on expecting to meet with it every where, but found it no where after he left Brussels.

I must now conclude with the assurance, my dear brother, that

I am,

Ever most affectionately yours,

A. E. BRAY.

LETTER IV.

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

At Metz. German Method of Sleeping. The Town and Cathedral. Metz the Divodurum of the Romans-Its Antiquities. - A View from the Roof of the Cathedral. Gardens. Houses. The Sacristan guides the Writer's Nephew to ascend a Tower. Visit to a Roman Aqueduct. Start for Strasburg. A Pair of Friends taking leave. -French Politeness. Sunrise. Saverne. Magnificent View. The Women; their Appearance and Costume. - Horses in the Market. Approach to Strasburg. — Arrival. — The Cathedral. The Sexagenarian's Impressions concerning it.. His Criticism. Curiosities. The Sacristan's Account of its Antiquities. High Ceremonies of former Times. How the good Wives and little Boys of Metz were frightened in other Days. Further Account of the Interior and Exterior of the Cathedral.

My dear Brother,

It was at Metz I first slept under a thing like a balloon, and almost as light in weight, though very warm. It was an enormous pillow, half as

large as the bed itself, composed of down feathers, and covered with thin crimson silk; nothing can be lighter, softer, or warmer. I wished that I could have taken it home with me for the winter. At this season, however, it was too much of a good thing; so I soon tossed it off the bed but I did not rest well, for my nerves had been too much shaken by so long a journey.

On the following day, July the 4th, we sallied out to see the town. The cathedral, though certainly a handsome edifice, struck me as being too low in proportion to its breadth. Parts of the building were very fine in their detail, and the glass most beautiful. I observed in it one figure in particular that was nearly as large as life. It was of a nobleman in the dress of the early part of the 15th century, with a hawk on his fist, the badge of knighthood or noble birth. But as Mr. Bray says a good deal about this cathedral in his journal, I shall pass over it in silence, and mention one or two things he has omitted.

First, then, I purchased a little book, from which I learnt that Metz was the Divodurum of

the Romans, and one of the most opulent cities of that all-conquering people on this side the Alps. But we are told by a French antiquary, Monsieur Devilly (in his brief but interesting account of the Roman remains found on the site of the modern citadel in 1822), that the invasion of Chrocus, and subsequently of Attila in 451, destroyed all the Celtic antiquities and the vast Roman edifices which then enriched Metz; and, moreover, about the year 1552, after the memorable siege of Charles V., a quantity of stone being wanted to repair the injury the walls had sustained from the besiegers, an order was issued to break up all the ancient fragments and ruins which even at that late period stood within the town, as they had been left after the buildings themselves had been overthrown by Attila. Some of these were used for rubble, merely to fill up a hollow; and many an altar or inscription was afterwards found built into the towers and walls: and not very many years ago so exquisite a tesselated pavement was discovered on the site of the temple of Diana, that the Benedictines of Metz caused a drawing of