office buttoned up his pocket and assured his
visitor agreeably that he would not be
troubled any more; nor was he.

The means here hinted at, however, must
be used cautiously. An Englishman in
Austria, who was summoned before the police
without being able to understand why, put
his hand bluffly into his pocket and offered to
fee the Chief Commissioner without any ceremony
but a wink. The next day he was
sent to the frontier for an attempt to bribe a
Royal and Imperial officer in the discharge of
his duty. His courier used to say that the
eyes of the Royal and Imperial officer
sparkled oddly when the offer was made to
him; but that he looked round the room in
despair at the number of witnesses, and the
light in his eyes died away.

It is remarkable, also, to witness the ready
appreciation of money which characterises
Custom-house officers; in London, even, they
are by no means free from the itching palm
of their race, and three several times I have
personally witnessed the passing of a very
considerable amount of luggage (which might,
of course, have contained any quantity of
smuggled goods,) for half-a-crown. On one
occasion, a gentleman, who had been kept
waiting a considerable time for his luggage,
was addressed by a shabby-looking person
who offered to get it passed for him at once.
Unluckily, however, he had not a single
shilling of English money; but this did not
stand in his way; the shabby-looking gentleman
had seen the address on the luggage,
and promising to call the next morning for
his fee, saw them chalked off at once unopened,
and hoisted on a cab. This must be
a very good business, and furnishes another
intelligible argument for Free Trade, or it is
not easy to say what will.

In Spain and Italy (except in the Austrian
states), in Greece, Turkey, and throughout the
East, bribes require no ceremony at all either
in giving or receiving. They seem to be
looked upon as a recognised part of salaries.

Tables d'hôte are not what I have heard
say they used to be, but they are still what
I always remember them for the last ten
years to have been; and that is, nine times
in ten, a noisy assembly of wrangling
commercial travellers and officers, often
something worse than stupid and ill-bred. At
fashionable watering-places like Kreuznach,
Ems, Bagnères de Bigorre, and the like, it
may still sometimes be possible for ladies,
attended by a strong party of their friends,
to dine at a table d'hôte. Otherwise I
certainly do not recommend it. Ladies are
apt to meet with the most unwarrantable
rudeness and insult at such places. I give this
as no prejudiced man, but as the opinion of one
who has had more experience than most folk.
Ladies should avoid tables d'hôte as they
would Vauxhall after twelve o'clock, or the
Casino. Fix, therefore, your dinner hour at
least an hour after or before the table d'hôte.
The best way of ordering dinner at a foreign
hotel is to have it served at so much a head.
In France five francs is a fair average;
in northern Germany a thaler; in Austria
and in the south, three florins (six shillings);
in Spain, a dollar and a half (say six and
sixpence); in Russia, you must take what
you can get; in Italy five lire is a fair price
for a good dinner. Throughout the East you
have seldom any choice, at least on the day
of your arrival.

Pedestrian tours may be taken in Great
Britain, some parts of America, all over
Germany, and in France (though in some
places a solitary pedestrian might attract
attention if well dressed and meet with
annoyance); in Spain, Greece, Italy, and the
East, a regular walking tour is not simply
dangerous: it is impossible. Riding on horseback
will be pleasant and possible almost
anywhere to a man who is fond of it and
has time to spare; but, upon the whole, I do
not recommend it. Phaeton and four-in-
hand driving are expensive, and in bad taste.
Besides they make you looked upon as a lion,
and in ten days you will find some very neat
caricatures going about in society, of which
you are the hero. In fact, there is a golden
rule in travelling, and that is—" Make yourself
as little remarkable in any way as possible."

The best means of carrying money is by
circular notes, but it is quite as well to have
two or three English bank-notes with you,
and a little bag of sovereigns. English gold
will go anywhere abroad, English silver is
absolutely useless. Prussian dollars—either
in silver or notes—are the best things to carry
all over Germany. No Austrian money will
pass beyond the frontiers, not even in the
Austrian states in Italy. In Spain, French
money, and especially five-franc pieces, have
ready currency; also in Italy. The sovereign,
the louis d'or, the thaler, and the five-franc
piece, will all and each pass anywhere.
Beware, however, of Swiss money, and the
small change of the German principalities:
beyond the country where they are coined,
so many cheese parings are quite as useful.
A Bavarian waiter wondered that a gentleman
should carry Austrian money in his purse.
For this reason bank-notes or circular notes
should be for as small an amount as possible,
for ten pounds in batzen or kreuzers and
groschen by way of change is seven pounds lost.

It need hardly be said that one of the most
important requisites for a traveller is some
knowledge of the language of the country
he is going to. There is but one way of
acquiring it rapidly, and it is not a very
agreeable one:—viz., to seclude yourself
altogether from the society of your countrymen;
take lodgings in the house of some
one who speaks no language but his own,
engage a foreign servant, read resolutely the
local papers every morning, and go to the
theatre as to a lecture every evening. There
are few languages that will not yield to a