of wakes in Ailgna—all as conducive to a
shocking state of things—he may draw upon
me at sight, and I will honour the draft.

THE ROVING ENGLISHMAN.

FROM GIUHGEVO TO BUCHAREST.

MY chief object in writing these papers is
to furnish such useful information as I am
able, to those who may be disposed to return
to England from the Crimea by way of
Varna and the Principalities. I have no
more ambitious design in the present
instance, and I venture to hope that the facts
and incidents to which I may endeavour to
call observation will not seem obtrusive or
superfluous; because they will refer to a part
of Europe comparatively little known, and
record events such as are likely to happen to
any traveller who may decide on making the
same journey. If I shall sometimes set
down trivial or unimportant matter, let me
plead in extenuation that in such cases (and
perhaps in such cases only) it is better to say
too much than too little. A traveller is not
always the best judge as to what may most
interest his readers, or which part of his
experiences may be of the most value to those
who are to tread the same ground after him.
Men travel with objects varying widely, and
some little event which was deemed scarcely
worthy of notice by one, may perhaps form
the strongest link in a chain of argument by
which another shall be able to prove some
great and valuable fact. Most important
discoveries and sound conclusions have,
indeed, been based on a multitude of petty
facts, most of them, taken separately,
insignificant enough. Before, therefore, we
condemn minute details as trifling, let us
remember that perhaps every one taken in
conjunction with others of a similar nature
may hereafter serve to establish some new
truth, and ultimately make mankind either
wiser or happier.

To go on with my journey, let me say
that the passport affair was settled at
last; not easily, however, for the official
charged with that department was enjoying
a siesta after the custom of the country, and
a good deal of angry shouting and blustering
was necessary to persuade him to give it up
and attend to his duty. I really do believe
that persons in the public service are very
much the same all over the world; they
seem licensed to be lazy, and paid to be
indifferent.

Our hotel bill was moderate; and it is but
fair to say, the principal hotel at Giurgevo
is a very good one. It is kept by an Italian
of robust and promising appearance. His
wife is a fresh, brisk, good-natured German
body, such as one may meet with often
enough in the pleasant road-side inns of
Bavaria and Saxony, He has also a mother-
in-law, a lady with whom I enjoyed much
improving discourse. She told me, however,
that though Wallachia was a good country
enough, she dared say, and the Wallachians
were as canny folk as elsewhere, yet she
could never get altogether reconciled to it,
and she longed after the fatherland with a
feeling very much resembling home-sickness.
It was not easy to realise the idea that the
worthy old lady was a political refugee.
What she could have done to incur the lifelong
vengeance of the Austrian government
must be surely a mystery, only to be read by
Austrian policemen; but I was given to
understand, that both she and her whole
family had been supposed, at some former
period, to entertain treasonable designs, and
had fled from the homeland to escape a
dungeon, or a shameful death. Heaven forbid
that I should say anything against the
Austrians. I have passed some of the
happiest years of my life among them. There
are many gentlemen of that nation for
whom I feel the profoundest respect and
the most affectionate esteem. I look on the
political conduct of Austria merely as
a mournful mistake. It seems to me
that her rulers have been stricken of late
years with a horrid unhealthy panic. That
they are acting under the influence of a
sickly dream, or strange delusion; and so
that they start at shadows, and wage
unseemly war with singers, actors, books, and
feeble women! Mercy on us, are such
worthy foes of the Royal and Imperial
House of Hapsburg Lorraine! It sickens
one to see their plumed pride; to hear their
clashing cymbals, and their warrior's march,
and then reflect on the Italian book and
poor old woman, who are not beneath their
enmity even here.

Now, the mode of travelling throughout
Turkey is on horseback; but, the moment you
pass the Danube, you have at once the option
of carriages. To be sure they are carriages
of rather a strange and unusual description
at Giurgevo; and those which were brought
to convey us to Bucharest presented an
appearance anything but inviting. There were
three of them: one for my companion, one for
myself, and one for the luggage. They were
scarcely larger than wheelbarrows. They
were insufferably dirty, dangerous and
uncomfortable. It required considerable
experience to sit in them at all. They had
neither springs nor seats, nor anything to
take hold of; while to each, four very vicious-
looking ponies were attached, quite equal
to ten miles an hour, and something over.
Indeed, the Wallachian post is perhaps at
this time the most expeditious mode of travelling
(with horses) known in the world. It is
not, however, agreeable, and the brief trial
which I had of it was more than sufficient to
prevent my ever again undergoing
voluntarily the same pains and perils. Innocently
supposing that to travel in a post-cart might,
alter all, be a less arduous undertaking than