execrable imitations of some from the exquisite pencil of Westall. At the end of the principal street of the fair, close to the river, were rows of immense tubs, in which, like Diogenes, many poor German tradesmen and their families very sagaciously eat and slept, for want of a better habitation.

CHAPTER XXVI.

BEAUTIFUL VILLAGE OF OFFENBACH-BRAVERY OF THE HESSIANS ANECDOTES OF MARESCHAL AUGEREAU-EXCURSION TO DARMSTADT-MINUTE-POSTS-DARMSTADT-LAW'S DELAY IN GERMANY AGREEABLE MANNERS OF THE GERMANS-NATIONAL ANTIPATHIES RETURN TO FRANKFORT-GLOOMY APPEARANCE OF THE CONTINENT-FRENCH ARMY ON ITS MARCH AGAINST THE PRUSSIANS RETURN TO LONDON.

AN excursion to the beautiful and elegant little sovereign town of Offenbach, about five English miles from Frankfort, enabled me to admire the great progress which the Germans have made in the tasteful art of carriage-building. In a very large depôt of carriages there, I saw several which would have been distinguished for their lightness and beauty in London. There are several other fabrics, viz. of jewellery, pocket-books, tobacco, toys, &c. The society of this place, where the prince who bears its name has a little court, is very refined and accomplished. The suburbs of Frankfort are formed of beautiful and romantic walks and vineyards, enlivened by handsome country-houses. On the road near the entrance to the west, adjoining the splendid chateau

458

ANECDOTE OF MARESCHAL AUGERAÚ.

of Mr. Beatham, the celebrated banker, at whose townhouse the present King of Prussia became enamoured with his Queen, is a monument, composed of a helmet, a lion's skin, and emblems of war, in bronze, made out of the cannon taken by the King of Prussia from the French at Mayence, mounted upon a stone pedestal, rising from an artificial rock, upon which are inscriptions commemorative of its having been raised by Prince Williamstadt to the memory of the gallant Prince of IIesse-Phillipsthal and three hundred brave Hessians, who perished on this spot, when the French were obliged to evacuate the town in the year 1792. The French had taken quiet possession of it a few months before, under the command of General Neuwinger and Colonel Houchard, when they levied two millions of florins upon pain of military execution on the opulent classes of the inhabitants. The most distinguished personage in Frankfort was Mareschal Augerau, whom I frequently met. The heroic valour and skill which he displayed in the campaigns of Italy, particularly at the battle of Arcole and before Mantua, and afterwards in Germany, will render his name illustrious in the military annals of France: he is a highly polished and accomplished gentleman, and was equally admired an esteemed by the inhabitants of Frankfort; he lived in a style becoming his dignity, without ostentation, and was upon all occasions very accessible.

EXCURSION TO DARMSTADT.

459

Linglebach, the celebrated painter, was born here in 1625. His subjects were fairs, mountebanks, sea prospects, naval engagements, and landscapes, in which he eminently excelled. In company with my two friends from whom I parted at Rotterdam, and who rejoined me here, I set off for Darmstadt, about eighteen English miles from Frankfort. We crossed a noble bridge over the Maine, and passed through a considerable, and fortified town, called Saxenhausen. Our road, which was sandy, was for a considerable way lined with luxuriant nursery-grounds and vineyards. About four miles from Frankfort we passed a plain oaken post, about six feet high, upon which, under a painted star and crown, was written (in German), "Sovereign Territory of the Prince Primate of the Rhenish "Confederation." Upon this road I saw, for the first time, a great number of little posts, painted white and numbered; they are called minute-posts, by which the pedestrian traveller is enabled to ascertain with great exactness the progress he makes in his journey. A very handsome avenue of stately poplars, of nearly two English miles, forms the approach to the city, which is nearly surrounded by a lofty wall, not capable of affording much protection against an enemy. The suburbs contain some handsome houses, in which, as the principal hotel in the city was full, we took up our quarters at the post-house, a very excellent inn.

66

For a capital, Darmstadt is small, and its palace infinitely too large of the latter the Emperor Joseph sarcastically observed, that it was big enough to accommodate himself and the nine electors. However, very little of the internal part is finished, and most of the windows are boarded up. The Grand Duke and his family reside in a part of a new palace, projecting from the old one, looking towards the gardens. That immense structure is built in imitation of the Thuilleries, and surrounded by a broad deep dry ditch. The hereditary Prince, who married the youngest daughter of the House of Baden, and whose sisters share the thrones of Russia and Sweden, has a large and handsome house at a little distance from the old palace; exclusive of this prince, his Royal Highness the Grand Duke, Louis the Tenth, has several other children. He is turned of fifty years of age, is an enlightened, brave, and amiable prince, and a celebrated engineer. He was the last of the German princes who in the last war sheathed the sword he had drawn against the French; a power which the preservation of his dignity and his dominion compelled him to coalesce with. Bonaparte, when he was digesting the Rhenish Confederation, wished to invest him with the kingly dignity, but the Grand Duke declined the offer. Darmstadt has produced many valiant and distinguished officers. At the parade I had the pleasure of seeing General Von Werner, the governor of the city,