the Taunus mountains, and not far from
Frankfort. The capital is Homburg vor der Hoehe
(before the hills), so called to distinguish it
from other places of the same name. Some
twenty years ago this little town was scarcely
known to any but its neighbours. Those of its
inhabitants who were not employed in the service
of the government or of the household of
the prince, lived either by farming or by the
alms which the Landgravine distributed. She
was a sister of our King George IV., who lived
here in great splendour on an allowance which
the Homburgs thought very extravagant. Her
rooms were lighted up every night by numerous
wax candles, of which the remainders were burnt
in almost every house in Homburg to the despair
of the only chandler, who had his prospects in
life darkened by her highness's illuminations.
Her end, however, and that of the income she
spent, was severely felt by the country, and,
yet more, by her husband the Landgrave, whose
revenue was not equal to his dignity, and who
found it prudent to enter as a general the
Austrian army. Having lost his country by
Napoleon I., and always taken part with the allies, he
managed, at the Congress of Vienna, to get a
considerable addition to his territory in the
county of Meisenheim, with ten thousand
inhabitants. He was, however, only the prince of
the country, not its owner, and his revenue was
not much increased.

Paris was formerly the Paradise of gamblers.
Louis Philippe closed the gambling-houses and
expelled their tenants from France. Most of
them went to Germany, many of them to Frankfort;
but they could not prosper there till the
arrival of two brothers Blané, who had been
gamblers on 'Change in France, which they had
good reason for quitting. At Frankfort they
met with two master gamblers and a staff of
French croupiers, and then they conceived the
idea of establishing a special gambling-place.

Everywhere in the Taunus mountain mineral
springs are to be found. Homburg has them
also, and some other favourable circumstances
led the brothers Blané to select this little innocent
town for the seat of their projected gambling
hell. They had made the acquaintance of
an old friend of the Landgrave of Homburg and
an old rich and unprincipled baroness. By these
helpers, the transactions with the Homburg
Government and the Landgrave were contrived,
and at last the prince was induced to grant an
audience to our adventurers. A mason, working
near the open window of the room where the
Landgrave received them, was an unseen witness
of the rather curious conversation, and
through him the particulars transpired; so, at
least, it is said in Homburg. We have only to
do with the result. The prince resisted for
some time the shameful proposition, but having
a small income, he at last consented, and a
document was signed by which the brothers
Blané were invested with all the exclusive
rights they sought.

Experience of Wiesbaden and Baden had
proved that this sort of business is very
profitable. There was no want, therefore, of capital;
many, indeed, regretted that the company was
limited. In an astonishingly short time there
rose before the eyes of the wondering
Homburgians a temple of vice, grander than any of
their churches. This happened three-and-twenty
years ago. The greater part of the inhabitants
of the place, dazzled by the prospects of trade
pointed out to them, lent themselves to the
scheme, and sided for once with their paternal
prince. The modest houses of the simple
farmers and peasants have vanished, and where
they stood palaces have been erected ready to
accommodate the rich fools of all nations. The
swine which mingled freely with the rustics in
the street have been changed into ladies and
gentlemen. The Haymarket in the evening,
among Londoners, is but a pale reflexion of
the aspect of the streets of Homburg during the
whole summer, and a part even of winter.

How has the ascendancy of Homburg been
secured? Simply by advertising in the papers
of Europe and America, and chiefly because of
the following little clause in the advertisements:
"The game of Trente et Quarante is played with
a Quart de Refait, and the Roulette with a Single
Zero, which arrangement offers to the players
at Trente et Quarante seventy-five per cent
more advantage than any other bank, and at
Roulette fifty per cent." In other words, the
bank of Homburg cheats the gambling public
fifty per cent less than those at the other
Rhenish watering-places. The ruin of the gambler,
who is attracted by this promise, is in Homburg
only more protracted, although quite as
certain as elsewhere. Yet, the whole
gambling world went almost crazy over it. Even
old professional gamblers, who supposed they
understood trente et quarante and roulette,
predicted speedy ruin to the foolish bankers;
particularly in face of the unheard-of splendour
of the buildings they erected. It was the
almost general belief that these advantages
would and must be soon revoked, and all the
gamblers rushed to Homburg to make hay while
such a sun as this was shining. But the result
proved that, notwithstanding the immense sums
spent in buildings and the laying out of grounds,
high wages paid to their obliging prince, and
expenses amounting to about one hundred
pounds a day, the undertakers did not become
bankrupt, but paid to the shareholders a dividend
of not less than forty per cent.

An alley of orange-trees—each costing about
forty pounds—leads across the park to the far-
famed palace of play. Through a noble portico
the victim enters the hall, where he is received by
liveried footmen ready to take charge of his hat,
stick, and overcoat. It is advisable to use their
services, for a good hat or coat left anywhere
in the saloons might prove too irresistible a
temptation to one of the numberless marquises,
counts, and barons prowling hereabout. In front
of us, as we enter, is a splendid ball-room; but
we turn to the left, and then to the right, straight
on: that is the way to the devil's sanctuary.
We find a splendid hall longer than it is wide,