The common-place method of writing their
congratulations in a private letter is not
dramatic enough for a super-sentimental
German damsel. Like the school-girl, who
was so vain of having been entrusted with a
secret, that she told it to everybody; she
is so proud of her forbidden attachment,
that she proclaims it to the whole continent.
The feminine terminal " e " of a pronoun,
which occurs in a recent advertisement in the
Cologne Gazette, shows it emanates from a
lady. Translated, it runs thus:

A-THREE-TIMES-THUNDERING Love-greeting
(Lebehoch) to Henry R .... at
Neumarkt.

"Yes, in thee I have firm Confidence."

The love, affection, and friendship of the
Germans, as expressed on each other's saints'
days and holidays, form a very considerable
source of revenue to the proprietors of
German newspapers. They seldom publish a
number without some half-dozen of these
greetings. A few of them are a little puzzling
to English readers. One would think, for
instance, that between brother and sister
there would be a sufficiently tacit
understanding that, in absence, the one would live
in the other's thoughts when a birthday came
round. But a public congratulation is
preferred. Here is one:

TO my dear sister Minna at Breslau, a hearty
Lebehoch on this her birth-day, from her
brother at Cologne.

A whole circle of friends occasionally club
a " Lebehoch " for the local paper, thus:—

TO HENRIETTA A... of Oberpleis, a
Lebehoch on this her name day.
               From several friends in Cologne.

A great proportion of these complimentary
addresses are in verse. We would give specimens
of this advertising anthology if we
could; but most of them are so execrably
unintelligible, that the task of translation is
simply impossible.

It is only in the Austrian papers that
matrimonial advertisements abound. Ladies
as well as gentlemen, with large hearts and
small purses, seek suitable partners for life in
pithy purpose-like advertisements in which
no words are wasted: the Vienna Gazette of
the 11th instant, displays the following:—

A TWENTY-EIGHT-YEAR-OLD Nobleman,
with a fortune of 100,000 florins, wishes to
marry a young lady, either a widow or a maiden.
Address W. D. S., Poste Restante, Vienna.

Remember, ladies, that one hundred thousand
florins is only ten thousand pounds
sterling, and the "twenty-eight-year-old nobleman"
is most probably—an Austrian.

A humbler aspirant advertises upon a point
of taste. Beauty is evidently his object:—

               MARRIAGE INVITATION!

A SINGLE YOUNG MAN, of agreeable exterior,
and not without education, who derives from
permanent sources a yearly income of 1600 florins,
which will shortly be increased, desires to marry
a particularly pretty young lady. The latter must
be well-educated, and fitted, by household habits,
good nature, sound understanding, and cheerful
temper, to contribute to the happiness of a
husband. Any lady who feels conscious that she
could fulfil these great conditions, is requested to
address, X. Y. Z., Poste Restante.

Another is a wily specimen of wife-angling.
It is craftily addressed to " parents and
guardians."

A YOUNG MAN IN BUSINESS, whose income
can be proved to average from 1500 to 1800
florins per annum, desires an introduction to some
respectable family where he would have an
opportunity of meeting with a young maiden with
property, with a view, on the reciprocal satisfaction
of all parties, to enter into a more tender engagement.
Parents or guardians who are disposed to
entertain this proposition, may address, M. N.
Poste Restante, Vienna.

The next " Marriage invitation " that we
light upon, is from a votary of Apollo as well
as of Hymen:—

A YOUNG MAN, FAVOURED BY NATURE,
and musical in his tastes and profession, seeks
to marry a gentle maiden or widow who has
cultivated the same art. As in the service of Apollo
he has been blessed with every endowment except
riches, it were very desirable that the lady
possessed a certain fortune. Address, by
permission, T. Z., Poste Restante.

On the 1st ultimo, A STRONG MAN
advertised in the Vienna Gazette for a wife.
He gave a minute description of his person
with all the naïveté of a German. Ladies
were requested to take notice that he had
a fair beard, but dark eyes; that he was
above the common height, and stout in
proportion; had an agreeable voice for singing,
and was altogether of a character gay and
debonnaire; in fact, just the sort of person to
make home delightful. He was of noble birth.
Candidates were to address their letters, Poste
Restante, when a personal interview might be
obtained. No one who had not an independence
need apply:—for it appears that in
Vienna, "strong men" are at a premium. In
the next number of the same paper, a modest
"jeune Monsieur" expresses a wish for " une
jeune dame" as a travelling companion to
Italy.

Except the last, readers of certain English
newspapers are not unfamiliar with such
advertisements as the above. Sundry bachelors,
anxious to improve their prospects in life,
have long communicated their desires in the
public prints. English ladies in the same
condition have, however, refrained. The Viennese
"fair and forty " have no scruples about the
matter; they proclaim their wishes
sometimes with a little reserve, but more
frequently without any reserve whatever. From
among the covert advertisements for husbands
we select two. The first is from one of the