The Press.
London, England, 1853-12-17 00:00:00

respectable in the place, though, strangely enough, it is
not mentioned in the leading Oerman handbook of the
day, while two others are, though of a decidedly aiterior
kind. I could not, perhaps, give a better proof of the su-
periority of the Hotel de Haden to the other similar estab
lisluneuts iu the place than was afforded by the fact that
on the night when 1 was there the Princess of Prussia put
up at the same place. On seeing her arrive 1 could not
help being struck with the contrast between the outward
forms of royalty in our own country. and those which are
to be witnessed on the Continent. Here was an elegant,
handsome princess—decidedly the greatest rierman beauty
I had seen, and about thirtyfour or thirtytive years of age
--coming to au hotel in a carriage drawn by four horses,
which in England would not cost more than twenty Isom&
a piece, and which, instead of being finely caparisoned.
had on other harness than two or three pieces of leather
and two or three pieces of r►pe. There was not even so
much as an ounce of ornamental metal of any kind about
the harness. Possibly the horses may have been hired ;
but the carriage, I should suppose, belonged to the prin.
tees, and it was as devoid of ornament or style as the her
I could name London physicians and lawyers by
hundreds whose carriages would thouw the carriage of the
Princess of Prussia completely into the shade. Her royal
highness was attended by a lady companion, two ladies
maids, and two gentlemen in waiting ; the latter acting, I
suppose, as a sort of body guard but that was all the
pomp, if so it may be calledot Ilia characterised the arrival
of this beautiful princess at the Hotel de Haden.

To Amsterdam our tr►►vellcr devotes not
quite two pages ; and his account of " the
held of Waterloo" is decidedl3• the ►nor4t ori-
ginal we ever read. It is well worth extract-
ing:—

Of the field, or rather series of fields, on which the
greatest conflict recorded in modern times took place, I
will not attempt a description. That, indeed, at this dis-
tance of time, and with so many &tallest aeeo►u►ts of the
events of the three days, of such cast• access to all classes
of readers, would be in bad taste. The visitor will find on
the spot Intelligent guides, who are acquainted milli every
locality which has Required celebrity as living the theatre
of important incidents on that eventful °evasion. The
charge will be four or five francs. Some years ago Ser-
geant Cotton, a Scotchman, who himself look part in the
action, and was present during the whole of the three daya,
was the favourite guide. I had the benef►t of his services
when I went over the place a few years ago; but he has
since died. I shall never forget the enthusiasm► with
which this old Seotchtuan—though he loud done it thou.
sands of times before—pointed out every interesting spot,
and the earnestness wit► which he dwelt on the deeds of
valour which were performed under his own eye. Ile was
himself well known to have been one of the bravest of the
brave ; but he said nothing of himself, beyond pointing out
the various places whence he saw what was going on,
during three days of carnage which have few examples in
history—a carnage so great that 70,0tm1 human kings
were left weltering in their gore on the field of battle after
the slaughter was over. May the world he spared the eight
of another such scene.

The cool way in which the writer refers us
to " the intelligent guides," tell us what to
pay them, and that it would be "bad taste" to
describe the locality, contain sonic of those
fine touches which in a future age will verify
the unconscious humour and innate drollery
of this style of literary performance. What
art there is in appealing to Sergeant Cotton's
memory, while the magnificent contempt for
accuracy in quietly stating that "serenty thou-
sand (I) human beings were left weltering in their
gore" is enough to wrinkle the noses of the com-
mittee of the Statistical Society. Battle-fields
were painful topics to the memories of certain
classical celebrities who had more ability for
the tongue and the stylus than for the sword
or buckler; but our author has boldly shown
that in his " Records of a Rm► " the field of
Waterloo must be excepted, and, though Napo-
leon scampered away front it, " Mr. James
Grant " has not shrunk from the terrible
scene, but has actually slain more thousands
than Blucher himself. In future he ought
not to shock the economists of the Peace
Society by being so excessively sanguinary in
his statistics. _

Hating shown his originality in figures, Mr.
Grant must next exhibit his subtlety in criti-
cism. He says
Pope, whose lines I have quoted, has, I nifty here re•
mark, not only written Deism, without knowing it. lint
Atheism also. The sentiment contained in his well•knosti
lines+

"AU are but ',art.; of one stupendous whole,
Whose body Nature is, and God tke soul "

is as rank Atheism a wits ever penned. Those who wool.'
exelnie the ides from the universe of sn intelligent sn•
preme Being always pints the lines in question with great
delight. Had Pope's poetry been no better than his tips,-
logy, the sooner his name and works were eonsigneil to
oblivion the better, on every account, would it be for the
world.

Mr. Grant perpetually introduces religious
topics, and he should study them more before
ho writes of them. There has often been a
charge wade against Pops of having writte