The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 23, 1865.

GREAT ST. JAMES'S-HALL.—WORLD of
MAGIC, Second Sight, and " Begone, Dull Care,"
every evening at 8. A Day Performance. Saturday, at 3.
" The most varied entertainment in the metropolis."—Vide
the Press. Admission, is.

PROFESSOR and the Misses ANDERSON.—
Farewell season. World of Magic. Second Sight, and
the original Indian Basket Trick, in conjunction with Fre-
deric (the great) Maccabe, the unrivalled ventriloquist, mimic,
and character actor.

FREDERIC MAC CABE, Ventriloquist, Mimic,
&a, in his original entertainment, " Begone, Dull Care,"
" Miss Mary May," " Early in the Morning." Balcony, 2s ;
reserved seats, as. ; stalls, ss. ; at Mr. Austin's office, St.
James's -hall, 2F, Piccadilly.
A. NIMMO, Acting Manager.

QTODARE.-138TH REPRESENTATION.-
1177 LIRE OF MYSTERY, EGYPTIAN HALL

MARVELS in MAGIC and VENTRILOQUISM, by Col.
STODARE. The REAL INDIAN BASKET TRICK, and
INSTANTANEOUS GROWTH of FLOWER TREES, as
introduced for the first time in this country en Easter Mon-
day, April 17, 1865, by Colonel Stodare, and only performed
by him and the Indian Magicians.
Every evening at 8 (Saturdays included), also on Wednes-
day and Saturday Afternoons at 3. Stalls at Mitchell's, 33,
Old Bond-street, and Box-office, Egyptian Hall. Admission,
Is., 25., and 3s.

" Almost miraculous.' =Vide Times, April 18,1865.

WESTBOURNE HALL, Westbourne-grove,
Bayswater, W.

THE GREATEST WONDER OF THE DAY.
THIS EVENING (WEDNESDAY), and TO-MORROW
(THURSDAY), August 23 and 24,
The BABY ACTRESS, age, Two Years and Ten Days, will
Recite and Act a whole scene from Shakspere's Play of
KING JOHN. She will also give some amusing COMIC
SKETCHES. In the course of the evening a SEA SONG
and DANCE (in character), by the Baby 'Actress. This
Little Wonder, although but Two Years old, recites and acts
three whole scenes from Shakspere. She also dances and
sings. As pretty as talented. he excels by far any juvenile
prodigy that has yet appeared in public.
In addition to the above performances, Mr. ALFRED
HOWARD'S DRAMATIC RECITALS and COMIC
SKETCHES, interspersed with Music.
From the Era, July 22, 1885.—" A genuine and remarkable
novelty is now beiag exhibited. She is literally a baby, not
having reached the age of two years ; and is gifted with in-
telligence and powers of memory to a marvellous extent.
She recites whole scenes from King John,' A Midsummer
Nilfht's Dream,' &c., with appropriate action and astonishing
earnestness. A more wonderful instance of precocious in-
telligence cannot well be imagined. She may be truly classed
among the wonders of the present day."
Programmes, Id. ; words of the performance, 3d. ; and
likenesses, Is. each, may be had in the hall during the enter-
tainment.

Doors open at 7.30. Commence at F. Admission, Is.; first
seats, 2s. • reserved seats, 3s. Tickets may be had from Mr.
Whirley, Westbourne Hall, or of any book or music seller.

Carriages may bo ordered at tea minutes to Ten.

rr H 0 X F O R D.
6, OXFORD STREET. W.

The Oxford and Canterbury Hall Company (limited).

SIXTY-SIX, by J. Offenbach, performed by
Misses Russell, Barrie, Waimealey, Tyrell ; Messrs A. bt.
Albyn, Husk, and Green, with full Band and Chorus.
Conductor, Mr. F. Jonghmans.

•
Ballet, Comedy, Burlesque, &c., by the celebrated D'Au-
bans, Messrs. Duriah and Davis, and the Misses TESSY
and SARA GUANISS.
NOTICE —The Oxford has been entirely Redecorated,
Altered, Newly Lighted, and Ventilated, and now is one of
the most agreeable places of resort in the kingdom.—OPEN
EVERY EVENING at Eight o'clock. _ _

The Classical Ballet, entitled THE BRIDAL of BEAUTY,
in which Miss TESSY GUNNISS will make her re appear-
ance THIS EVENING. _ _

Admission—Area, 6d.; stalls and balcony, is. ; private
boxes, 10s. 6d.

CANTERBURY HALL.
KO KO RI KO.
This wonderful entertainment, having proved the
_greatest
hit ever made, will be repeated EVERY EVENING, in ad-
dition to the Operatio Selections, supported by the whole
talent of the estab'ishment. _ _

Comedy, Burlesque, and Ballet by Mrs. and Mr. Randall,
Messrs. Duriah and Davies, the D'Aubans, and Arthur
Lloyd.
Director, Mr. F. JOngMaIIS.
All visitors to London at this season should pay a visit to
the above establishment.

MADAME TUSSAUD'S
Established 30 years, at the Bazaar, Baker-street.
NEW ADDITIONS.—In accordance with the season, the
Exhibition has been entirely re-embellished. The whole of
the ancient Court Dresses of the most costly description,
faithfully copied from the most minute pictures, have been
renewed. Modern Court Dresses of the most splendid de-
scription, selected from the first houses in Paris and London,
and probably never equalled or surpassed, are now on view.
Life-size Models of DOCTOR E. W. PRITCHARD and
CONSTANCE KENT are now added.
Open from 11 a.m. till 10 p.m.
Admittance, One Shilling; Extra Rooms, Sixpence.

3,EARK YOUR LINEN.-BOND'S PERMA-
NENT MARKING INK is by far the best for
marking CRESTS, NAMES, and INITIALS upon House-
hold Linen, Wearing Appirel, &e. Pried is. a bottle. No
6d. size ever made. Sold by E. R. BOND, 10. Bishopsgate-
street Within, Lon 'on. E C., ani by all respectable chemists
and stationers in the kingdom.—N. B. Purchasers should be
careful to ob3erve t e address 10, Ilishopsgate-qtreet
Within, E.C.—upon the label. without which the Ink is not
genuine.

GrLASS, CHINA,
CHANDELIER SHOW ROOMS.
Notice of Removal in consequence of the late Fire.

JDEFRIES and SONS' Temporary SHOW
• ROOMS.
16 and 17, COMMERCIAL-STREET, WHITECFIAPEL,
live Minutes' walk from their Late Establishment,
147, LIOUNDSDITCII.

CRYSTAL and BRONZED CHANDELIERS. New Designs,

for the Dining and Drawing-room, either for
(as or Candle.

JDEFRIES and SONS, 16 and 17,
• COMIIatCIAL-STREET.

PETROLEUM LAMPS and WALL LIGHTS, MIRRORS

(for India).
JDEFRIES and SONS, 16 and 17,
• COMMERCIAL-STREET.

TAVERN AND HOTEL GLASS.
Newest Patterns, Correct Measure.
T DEFRIES and SONS,
• 16 and 17, COMMERCIAL-STREET.

ALEXANDRA DINNER SERVICES,
For 12 Persons, Lt 18s. 6d.
I DEFRIES and SONS,
J • 16 and 17, COMMERCIAL-bTREET.

TABLE GLASS, CHINA, and EARTHENWARE.
CLUB, MESS, and FURNISHING ORDERS for the above
GOODS promptly executed.
JDEFRIES and SONS supply Derligns and
• Pattern Books Free.
Works—LONDON and BIRMINGHAM.

DR. SCOTT'S LIVER AND BILIOUS
PILLS.—A NEVER FAILING RENEDY.—Pre-
oared without any mercurial ingredient, from the recipe of Dr.
Scott, of Bromley, Kent, will be found invaluable to all who
suffer from bilious and fiver somplaints, indigestion, wind.
spasms, giddiness, dizziness of the eyes, &o. For habitual
costiveness, as a family aperient medicine, and as a purifier
of the blood, they are truly excellent; mild in their opera-
tion and grateful to the stomach, they create appetite, pro-
mote digestion, and strengthen the whole nervous system.
Sold by W. Lambert, 8, King William-street, Charing-cross.
London, and by most druggists, in boxes,ls. lid., and three
times the quantity in one, 2s. 9d. Be sure to ask for Dr.
Scott's Bilious and Liver Pills. The genuine are a square
green package. with " William Lambert," engraved on the
stamp.

/WitSLOW HALL, Winslow, Bucks, having
en recently opened and fitted with requisites for
the care and comfort of the INSANE, the proprietor, Dr.
BOISRAGON, announces that he has transferred his Estab-
lishment from Birmingham to the above desirable residence,
easily accessible, and distant from London about an hour
and a-half by the London and North-Western line, and fifty
minutes from Oxford. Attached to the mansion, situated on
a sandy soil, and commanding an extensive and pleasing
prospect, are garden, meadow, plantatfOn, and recreation
grounds. For terms and forms of admission address the
proprietor.

CONTRACT. FOR PROVISIONS.
Royal Hospital, Chelsea, 18th August, 1865.
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE the LORDS
and OTHERS. COMMISSIONERS of this HOS-
PITAL, DO HEREBY GIVE NOTICE, That they are
ready to receive TENDERS from, and to treat with, such
persons as may be willing to Contract for Victualling the
IN-PENSIONERS of the said Hospital, from the Ist Octo-
ber, 1865, to the 30th September following, both days inclu-
sive, with the following Articles of PRO V ISIONS; die.,
viz. :—Beef and Mutton, Bread, Cheese, Butter, Potatoes,
Salt, Oatmeal, Barley or Rim, Pepper, Flour, Suet, Cocoa,
Black Tea, Sugar, Milk, Onions or Leeks, Carrots, Celery,
Thyme, Marjoram, Winter Savory, and Paisley, daily, at
per head per diem for the whole ration, according to
the established allowances of the House, as specified in the
Form of Tender, which may be obtained at the Office of the
Secretary any day bet veen the hours of Ten and 'three
o'clock, which Tenders must be filled up and delivered sealed
at the Board-room of the said Hospital by the Party or
Parties tend-ring, or by an Agent appointed on his or their
behalf, on TUESDAY, the sth September, arrwelve o'clock,
at which time their Lordships will be prepared to take the
name into consideration.
It is to be observed that the Contractors will be required
to find Security to the Crown for the due uerformance of the
Contract, and chat no Tender will be received after the day
and hour above mentioned.
The Commissioners do not pledge themselves to accept the
lowest Tender.
GEORGE HUTT, Secretary and Registrar.

ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL, Gray's-inn-road,
in the immediate vicinity of the Great Northern Rail-
way Terminus, King's-cross.

Patron—Her Most Gracious Majesty the QUEEN.
Vice-Patron—His Royal Highness the Prince of WALES,
This Hospital, founded in the year 1828, the first to estab-
lish the principle of free admission to the sick poor, without
the delay and difficulty of Governors' orders, is wholly de-
pendent for support on voluntary contributions and legacies.
It affords relief to a large number of in-patients, and, in
Addition to this, the average number of 'attendance of the
lestitute sick has for a considerable period averaged between
8,000 and 4,000 weekly.
The Committee earnestly solicit the ASSISTANCE of the
benevolent, as the premises of this Hospital are 'capable of
containing several hundred more beds, had the Committee
the requisite funds to maintain them.
Contributions are received by the Treasurer, Edward Mai-
)erman, Esq., Nicholas-lane; also by Messrs. Coutts and Co.;
Drummond and Co. ; G;yn and Co. ; Herries and Co. ; Ransom
and Co. ; Prescott, Grote, and Co. ; Smith, Payne, and Co. ;
Barclay and Co. ; W dliams, Deacon, and Co.; Overend, Gur-
ney, and Co. ; Nisbet and Co. , Berners-street ; Barned and
Co., Liverpool 6 and at the Hospital,
zo from
suTtr, 8
lO tlll5.
k eoretazy.

KINABAN'S LL
LBRAWNHDYISKY v. COGNAC
Tots ocle3rated Old MI6 FT WHISKY rivals the finest
FRENCH BRANDY,
It ie Pure, Mild, Mellow, Delicious, and very Wholesome.
sold in Bottles, 35. Bd., at the Retail Houses in London ; by
the Agents in the principal towns in England; or wholesale
at

8, GREAT WINDMILL-STREET, LONDON, W.
Observe the Red Seal, Pink Label, and Cork branded
LL Whisky."

MO be SOLD by AUCTION, pursuant to a
DECREE of the High Court of Chancery made in the
Causes " Emerson v. Mason" and "Emerson v. Pearce,"
with the approbation of the Vice-Chancellor Sir William
Page Wood, the Judge to whose court the said causes are
attached, by Messrs. DRIVER and CO., the persons ap-
pointed by the said Judge, at the Talbot Hotel, in Rich-
mond, Surrey, on Wednesday, the 30th day of August, at
One precisely, in 31 Lots, THREE valuable FIELDS of
BUILDING GROUND at Richmond aforesaid, part of
the estate of the late George Robinson, Esq., deceased,
divided into plots varying from lr. 9p. to la. lr. 26p.,
many of which are suitable for the erection of villas.
—Particulars and conditions, with plans, may be obtained
at the Talbot Hotel, Richmond ; the Guildhall Coffee-
house, Gresham-street, London ; the Estate Exchange,
Cornhill ; the Griffin Hotel, Kingston ; of Mr. W. H.
Withall, solicitor, 7, Parliament-street, London ; of Mr. John
Chapple, solicitor, 19, Great Carter-lane, Doctors' Commons,
London ; of Messrs. Francis and Thomas Smith, solicitors,
No. 15, Furnival's-inn, London; of Mr. C. J. Manper,
solicitor, 9, New-square, Lincoln's-inn, London ;of Mr. H.
Dain, solicitor, No. 12, Parliament-street, London; of Mr.
H. H. Mason, at ,Robinson's Estate Office, Richmond,
Surrey, and 18, Bedford-row, London ; and of Messrs.
Driver and Co., surveyors, land agents, and auctioneers,
4, Whitehall, London, S.W.
Dated this 9th day of August, 1865.
EDWD. WEATHERALL, Chief Clerk.

TO be SOLD by AUCTION, pursuant to a
DECREE of the High Court of Chancery made in the
Causes "Emerson v. Mason," and "Emerson v. Pearce,"
with the approbation of the Vice-Chancellor Sir William
Page Wood, the judge to whose Court the said causes are
attached, by Messrs. DRIVER and CO., the person ap-
pointed by the said judge, at the Guildhall Coffee-
house, Gresham-street, in the City of London, on
FRIDAY, the 13th day of October, 1865, at one o'clock
precisely, in One Lot, a FREEHOLD ESTATE, consist-
ing of the bridge over the River Thames, from Strand-on-
the-Green, near Brentford, Middlesex, to Kew, Surrey, called
"Kew Bridge," now producing from tolls and other profits
a gross income of £3,000 a-year.—Particulars and condi-
tions, with a plan, may be obtained at the Talbot and
Greyhound Inns, Richmond ; at the Estate Exchange,
Change-alley, Cornhill ; at the Guildhall Coffee-house,
Gresham-street, City; of Mr. W. H. Withall, solicitor, No.
7, Parliament-street, London ; of Mr. John Chapple, soli-
citor, No. 19, Great Carter-lane, Doctors'-Commons, Lon-
don ; of Messrs. Francis and Thomas Smith, solicitors, No.
15, Furnival's-inn, London ; of Mr. C. S. Mander, solicitor,
No. 9, New-square, Lincoln's-inn, London ; Mr. H. Davin,
solicitor, No. 12, Parliament-street, London ; of Mr. H. H.
Mason, of No. 18, Bedford-row, London; at Robinson's
Estate Office, Richmond, Surrey, where the daily returns
of tolls for the last seven years may be inspected ; of Mr.
Henry Harris, the check clerk at the Bridge; and of Messrs.
Driver and Co, surveyors, land agents, and auctioneers,
No. 4, Whitehall, London, S.W.
Dated this 9th day of August, 1865.
EDWD. WEATHERALL, Chief Clerk.

Holiday Makers.

(From the Times Correspondent)

WIESBADEN, Aug. 15.
" Ton't you hobjeck to smoking ?" Such were
the first words that greeted me as I got into the
railway carriage at the Victoria station, bound to
Dover and Calais 10 days ago. They were spoken
by my only fellow-traveller in the carriage, and the
solicited permission was unhesitatingly granted, for
the smell of tobacco-smoke is not the worst torture
fastidious olfactories may be subjected to. " Don't
you object to smoking ? " I am travelling over
lands where any objection of that nature has long
been triumphantly overruled. As true as there are
creatures who only live in water, so there are ani-
mals that can only breathe tobacco-smoke. Smoking
in some countries has become the business of life.
In Italy the railway guard calls out " Per fumare"
or " Per non fumare." To be or not to be. In
France the arch-smoker on the throne lights or puts
out his subjects' pipe according as a passing whim
dictates. Here, in Germany, there is one carriage
in some trains where "Das tabakranchen ist verbo-
ten ;" but what avails it when there is a rush at an
insufficient train, and the station-master calls out
" Completez vos compartements," as I heard it the
other day at Lille, when passengers were stowed in
pell-mell, hurry-scurry, higgledy-piggledy, without
even paying due respect to first-class tickets, within
the two seconds between the last peal of the bell and
first whistle of the engine ? What avails it, were
you even safe in the train, if anywhere, at the
waiting-rooms, at the buffet, on the platform, iA
the inevitable omnibus, at the hotel door, on the
stairs, along the passages, the cloud-compellers have
you at their mercy and show none ?
I got into a coach the other day at Coburg,
which was to convey me from the hotel to the
station. The vehicle was constructed to carry four
inside, and we had already our complement —my-
self and a sort of Thuringian bumpkin in the back
seat, and opposite to us two young and comely
women, a married lady and her sister, as I thought,
about whose ladylike appearance there could be no
mistake. Just as we were starting, a youngster,
or junker, looked in, a man of prepossessing appear-
ance, with good features, a sanguine complexion, and
the bright expression of a " witziger kopf," a wag
agreeably to the German notions of waggery. He
looked in, and the ladies, with whom he was evi-
dently a favourite, with many an 6' Ach !" and an
" Herr Je," hastened to make as much room between
them as enabled him to squeeze in The fair com-
panions gathered up their ample folds to the best of
their abilities, and apologised for the inconvenience
he had to endure from the pressure of their poor
crushed crinolines. " Ach was sagen Sie, meine
Damen," said the gallant spark, ogling to the right
and left ; " Ich bin hier wie im Paradies." And his
grin and his leer were certainly like those of
Mephistopheles between two angels. He had his
stump of cigar in his mouth, and he went on during
the whole journey, with one puff here and a drollery
there, lavishing his incense on those two deities, '
who stood that and the ashes and the sparks and
worse, well knowing that in this country " Love me,
love my cigar " is the motto ; and that men are only
to be had on those terms, or not to be had at all.
"Beasts !" I fancy I may hear some of our own
fair young ladies at home exclaim, as the disgusting
but true and commonplace picture is laid before
them. I quite agree with you, my dear girls ; but
it is just as well you should be forewarned that it is
what travelling abroad will bring you all to ; and,
in sober truth, I must say that most English damsels,
as they cross the Channel, soon learn to stand fire
unflinchingly, and I have heard more than one assert
that " Continental smoke is not so offensive as that
which they so much detest at home." It is a clear
the first sight of.,:a factory
case of de gustibus ; all matter of habit, and I have
known a Lancashire man, after a trip through agri-
culturaland thank his stars that " he
had come once more within the limits of civilisa-
tion." •
chimney disontrmicstsr,ethurailn,

All this somewhat long preamble brings me back
to Wiesbaden, where at least there is one safe haven
from her temple.
where no nicotine perfume intrudes, and that is the
suite of gambling rooms at the Kursaal ; for the
egoddessxelue R a
all
The swarming of European idlers to these their favou-
rite haunts at this season is something beyond all that has
ever been witnessed in former years. On Sunday evening
at Frankfort, which is only a Pied 4 terre for visitors to the
Rouge et
worship is
da jealous goddess, and
Taunus baths, I was turned back from the West-end Halle,
the Brusseler Hof, the Hotel de Russie and d'h.ngleterre,
and, as no trains left that night, I should have had to sleep
in my cab had I not claimed the right of private hospitality
at a friend's house. Hero, at "Wiesbaden, accommodation
is not easily to be had without previous notice. The dis-
gorging of shoals of passenger; the tumbling down of
mountains of luggage by every train is something appal-
ling. You are fain to share your drosky' or cab with an
unknown fellow traveller, unless you prefer walking to
your hotel, and perhaps carrying your . portmanteau to
boot. You may meet everybody you fancy here ; and,
again, you may have those you care for and wish to see,
two doors or two rooms off, and never come across them,
or dream of their existence.

In the midst of this apparent bustle and confusion, how-
ever, the instinct of birds of a feather to crowd together
is true to itself, and people can b© as exclusive, and indi-
viduals as private here, where everything is apparently
so promiscuous and public, as in the closest coterie, and
the most inexorable black-balling club. Hotels may be
open to all comers, and their charges may suit all purses,
but somehow the power of attraction and repulsion works
magnetically, every one in the end comes home to his. own

and is readily recognised and admitted. There are English
houses here where English tastes and habits are con-
sulted, and even English prejudices humoured; tables for
English guests to sit at, and allies for English saunterers
to stroll in ; meal times set apart for the English almost ex-
clusively. An intruder finds no obstruction, he is not stared
at or shrunk from. On the contrary, John Bull shows
at theseplacesinfinite good humour, sociability, and accom-
modativeness. Some how or other that house gets an English
name, nevertheless; and that dispensation which gave
the English an island for a home seems equally to secure
in their favour a certain amount of isolation wherever they
go. For his own part John Bull, although he has free
access to the haunts of other people, and is everywhere
cordially welcome, only moderately avails himself of the
privilege. He is, oven when idling, more chary of his
time than his neighbours ; he cannot sit for half a day
under the Kursaal verandah ; his walks stretch beyond
the tether of the Kursaal grounds ; he may be extrava-
gant, dashing, and headlong at rouge et noir ; but he is
seldom to be seen sitting doggedly day and night, fighting
for florins. He does not delight in loose conversation.
There is a degree of refinement about him, which to other
people is irksome restraint. He lives to himself, to a
great extent, or only mixes with those whom congeniality
of taste points out as his fit associates.
The Royal family of England are at this time all in
Germany. Yesterday, as I was travelling from Frank-
fort to Wiesbaden by the 4 o'clock train I was surprised
to find a great crowd at Castel, near Mayence. A gallant
staff of brilliant officers of that garrison—Austrians, Prus-
sians, and Hessians—had assembled to do honour to the
Duke of Cambridge, who was with us in the train, and
who had probably come from the Castle of Rumpenheim,
the seat of the Duchess, his mother, to attend some parade
or other military show at Mayence. His Royal Highness
was received with enthusiastic cheers. The Duchess of
Cambridge and the Princess Mary were with the Duke,
and followed in an open carriage and four, escorted by
many of the officers.

August 17.

I told you in my last letter how I met his Royal High-
ness the Duke of Cambridge, on Monday, on his way to
Mayence. On the following day, Tuesday, Wiesbaden
was honoured by the presence of half the Royal family of
England—the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke
and Duchess of Cambridge, and the Princess Mary of
Cambridge. Their Royal Highnesses put up at the Four
Fahrzeiten (the Four Seasons), a large hotel, where
Prince Frederick of Hesse, the Grand Duke and the Crown
Prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz were also accommodated
with all their "hohern gef-u-Drschft" (high suite and
retinue), as the Kur-uncl-Fremdenlist has it.
You may imagine that the appearance of these distin-
guished visitors has not had the effect of thinning
the ranks of strangers staying in Wiesbaden and of the
loyal English especially. We have no less than 24 new
arrivals from England in to-day's list, rather more than
the daily average, and constituting about the tenth of
visitors coming on the same day to Wiesbaden from all
parts of the world. The names of many of these English
birds of passage would not, if taken literally from the list,
convey much information to their friends at home. I will
trouble you, for instance, to make out who Herr Pony-
desta, Gentlemant, London, may be; or, to look over the
Court Guids for one Herr Etleyander, also fresh from
London.

It might be interesting to inquire wherein the peculiar
charm resides which attracts so many people to Wiesba-
den. To the good single-minded German who, like all his
continental neighbours, is, with few highly aristocratic
exceptions, a dweller in the cities, to issue forth from his
close streets and breathe the free air in the dog-days in a
place like this, which combines many of the advantages of
town and country, must undoubtedly be a rare treat.
Bating his board and lodging, for which also he is mode-
rately charged, he has all sorts of enjoyment supplied him
free of expense. Spacious and lofty rooms, all glittering
with gold, in the Kursaal ; comfortable seats under its
porticoes, shady walks in the shrubberies round its minia-
ture lake in front of it ; stately swans, black and white, to
feed, a never-ending source of delight with your kind-
hearted grown-up German as it is with our English chil-
dren ; strains of warlike music by the best Austrian bands,
well-supplied reading-rooms, gorgeous light, genial
warmth, when required—the sum of all earthly luxuries—
all is to be had here gratis et amore. The Croupier, or, I
beg his pardon, Proprietaire des Jeux, is a mighty wizard,
who, by the touch of his wand, conjures up a fairy palace
and garden, and bids every care-laden mortal lay aside his
burden and be happy. Anzusez vows Messieurs ; c'est tout
page.

But for an English gentleman, who has a mansion and
park of his own, with perhaps a hunting-box in the shires
and no end of acres in the moors, what may be the peculiar
attractions of this place ? Is it the cheap opera and drama,
the balls and concerts, with Madame Czilln g, Made-
moiselle Topp, and others stars of the Vienna firmament ?
Is it the "Reading from the best poets and dramatists," the
cricket-match, such as came off yesterday at. Homburg,
"The Eleven of England against the Eleven of all the rest
of Europe?" It may bo for any of these things that an
Englishman comes to this place, it may be for all these
things together, or it may be for other things besides.
Wiesbaden is voted a charming spot by many, though it
lies in a hollow, and is as close and hot in the summer as a
steaming tea-kettle. But the gardens and walks, the ponds
and fountains are laid out with taste. There is a certain
heaviness about the buildings hardly redeemed by their
bran-new tidiness, their flowered balconies, their dainty
trellised summer-houses by the road side. Their great
hotels, bathhouses, boarding and lodging houses are huddled
together no less in defiance of the laws of sober symmetry
than with utter disregard of the requirements of pleasing
variety. Huge square whitewashed structures they are,
many of them, which might well pass muster in rows along
a terrace or around a square in a town, but which stare at
you hideously as they rise detached in their own narrow
lots, dwarfing the trees which ought to embosom them, and
crushing the tiny hills on which they are piled one above
another. Anything in the style of the love cottage, or of the
mountain chalet you would look for in vain for miles round
the town. German taste runs not in that line. The "Die"
model, as they call it, as broad as it is long, as high as it is
broad, flat, ponderous, unsightly is everywhere the fashion.
Wiesbaden, that part of it at least which is got up for the
accommodation of strangers, looks very much like a town
to be sold by auction, with its houses moved from their
places, and thrown out here and there at random for the
convenience of inspecting bidders. Talk of the want of
architectural taste in England! I contend that, out of
town, at least, your Englishman knows how to build a
home without making it an eyesore in the landscape.
Out of town, again, when you have managed to get past
the last scattered buildings, you have a land of homely and
"friendly," as the Germans have it, but by no means
transcendant beauty. It is green and woody, with ranges
of flat hills of easy but somewhat weary ascent. The
two miles' walk to tho ruined Castle of Sonnenberg,
along a narrow dell, all meadow and chestnut and walnut
groves, of which the mediaeval structure bars the upper
gully, is delightful. That grey stronghold rears its square
massive tower far up in the heavens, as you near it, far
above the fort mantling the shattered fragments at its feet.
The enchantment that distance lends vanishes, however,
in a great measure as you come to it, the whole fabric
dwindles, and the view at the back of it, over the round
summit of the Feldberg and the ridges of the Taunus, is
not quite Alpine. On the other side of the town, not many
hundred yards beyond the last habitations in the Eliza-
bethan Strasse, you have the Nevo Thal, the Nevo Berg,
a verdant region, and, on the side of the hill, out of the
bosom of a young but dense wood, you have the Greek or
Russian chapel, "Die Bapelle," as it is called par excel-
lence, a striking object as seen from afar, a quaint edifice
in Oriental taste, with its five gilded minarets, and ele-
gant arches and columns, a striking object, which also
does not gain by a nearer approach.
These are the lions of Wiesbaden, and the killing of
them would not take more than half a day. Yet people
come to the spot, and stay over a month. The charm of
the place is altogether social. Nowhere else, perhaps, are
all the races of Europe, with all their variety of counte-
nance, garb, and accent, with all their peculiarities of
taste and costume, brought together in so close a famili-
arity, in such intimate intercourse—the upper classes of
Europe, the wealthy, the refined, the idle, the frivolous.
It is a study for an age to the physiognomist and ethno-
logist ; a study you never tire of.
All this outside the Kursaal. Within its precincts, in
its fine suite of gilt apartments, as your eyes get used to
the soft denzijour which makes them deliciously cool in spite
of the crowd and of the sultriness of the weather, you have
the key to the mysteries of Wiesbaden. Enter ; you have
before you eight or ten rooms, with as many roulettes, or
rouge-et-noir tables in them, and all of them beset from 11
o'clock in the morning to 11 o'clock at night—so beset as
to allow you little chance of sitting or even standing
room. At certain hours in the evening, even to
elbow your way through on your way to the
reading-rooms is an extremely difficult task. The
interest taken by the multitude in the rites therein per-
formed is intense. There is something appalling in the
silence, still more in the undertoned words that some
one is droning out, like a spell, at frequent intervals.
There is a rattle and jingle, too, but the sound is subdued,
muffled, almost dreamlike, and the order and decorum of
the assemblage are quite edifying. Few faces round the
tables, hardly any, indeed, give signs of any very lively
emotion.. There they sit, pale and earnest, most of them
in a brown study, hardly ever raising their eyes, seldom
addressing their neighbour, even in whispers. Here and
there you catch sight of a deep furrow in a man's brow, of
a twitch in a woman's lip. The sitters inside the Kursaal
make up as motley a group as the crowd outside on the
terrace. Here you have the florid complexioned German
Baron, the slender-built Magyar noble, the ZalMUck Rus-