Sometimes we, workmen, spent a pleasant
hour or two in the concert-rooms, of which
there were several admirably conducted ; or
pored hours long over the papers, chiefly
literary, in the Alster Halle ; sipping our
coffee, and listening in the pauses of our
reading to the band of choice musicians,
who played occasionally through the evening.
Sometimes we dived into snug cellars,
where they sold good beer, or mixed
odoriferous punch ; and here again music would
come, though in a more questionable shape, her
attendant priestesses being the wandering
harp-players, who sang sentimental ditties to
the twanging of their instruments. Other
places there were, some in the city, and some
outside the walls, where an abominable
medley of waltz, smoke, wine, and lotto made
up the evening's entertainment. The larger
of these establishments had some pretensions
to gentility, seeing that they did not allow
gentlemen to dance with their hats on ; but
whatever other claims they set up to the
respect of the community may be briefly
set down as worth very little. It will not
unnaturally follow that where there is much
liberty there will be some licence, and with
respect to Hamburgh, it is in her
dance-houses that this excess is to be found. But
where is the wonder ? The Hamburgher
authorities, in this and some other cases, set up a
sort of excise officer, and grant permits for
this frivolity, and that vice, at a regular scale
of charges.

In spite of these half-incentives and whole
encouragements to laxity of behaviour, what
is the general character of the Hamburgher
population? I venture to call them provident,
temperate, and industrious. Let it be
remembered that we speak of a mercantile
port, in some parts a little like Wapping,
and into and out of which there is a perpetual
ebb and flow of seamen of all nations, full of
boisterous humour, of strong life, and wilful
in their recent escape from ship restraint.
The worst of the dance-houses are situated
near the water's edge, and are almost wholly
frequented by sailors; while the other resorts
which are open to the charge of licentiousness,
have also a strong proportion of maritime
frequenters, and the rest is mostly made
up of the wandering workmen of Germany,
to many of whom Hamburgh is a
culminating point, and who are, as it were, out on
leave. But, after all, these cancer spots are
few indeed, when compared with the great
proportion of the means of amusement thrown
open, or, rather never closed to the people.
Wander on the Sunday when and where you
will; in theatre, concert-room, or coffee-house;
in public garden or beer-cellar; you
will find them joyous indeed, sometimes loud
in song or conversation, and taking
generally a sort of pride in a dash of rudeness,
calling it independence, but you will never
find them sottish; nowhere cumbering the
footway with their prostrate carcases;
nowhere reeling zigzag, blear-eyed and stupid,
to a miserable home.

On tramp towards the South, we rested on
the Sunday in Schwerin, the capital of
Mecklenburgh ; but there was public mourning in
the city for a death in the ducal family, and
the usual Sunday festivities were forbidden.
On attending church in the evening, I found
a large congregation, and the service similar
to that of Hamburgh. In the afternoon, as
there was no military parade or music, over
the absence of which the chambermaids of
Der Gross-Herzog moaned dolorously, we
rambled through the ducal garden, admiring
the quaintly-shaped basin in its centre, its
numerous statues, and fresh grass. The town
was dull and methodical enough, but would
have been rejoicing, if it had not been
respectfully mournful.

Our next resting-place was Berlin, where
we stayed two months; and here, according
to our experience, the Sunday afternoon
recreations differed only in tone from those
of Hamburgh, being less boisterous in their
gaiety than in the former seaman's paradise.
We never worked on Sunday in Berlin, nor
did any of our artisan friends, although there
were very pressing orders in the shape of
those unvarying German court douceurs,
diamond-circled snuffboxes, and insignia of
the Red and Black Eagle. Once, we
accompanied our principal, by special invitation, to
the Hasenheide, to witness the rifle practice,
civil and military, among its heather and
sandy hollows. Officers and rank and file
alike were there; the officer practising with
the private's heavy gewehr, and the private
in his turn with the light weapon of his
superior in grade. There were some capital
shots among them. Thence, on the same
day, we waded through the sand to Tegel, to
visit the residence and private grounds of
Baron Humboldt; and from a mound in his
garden beheld the beautifully picturesque
view of Lake Tegel, and the distant towers
of Spandau. I have been present on the
Sunday at a review of the Royal Garde in
their striking uniform of black and dazzling
white.

Once, we made a river voyage in a huge
tub of a boat along the weedy banks of the
Spree, under the command of a female
captain—a jolly matron, weighing I am afraid to
guess how many stone. I am told it was a
very plebeian piece of business, but we were
very happy notwithstanding. We had a
Tafellieder party on board, with a due
proportion of guitars, and they played and sang
all the way to Treptow and back again. Once
arrived at our destination, we sat upon the
grass, and watched the merry groups around,
or sauntered along the margin of the stream,
sipping occasionally very inconsiderable
quantities of feeble cordials; and when the
evening drew near, we re-embarked, and,
under the safe conduct of our female commodore
who was skilled in the difficult navi-