myself tired and indisposed, and remained there next day. In the
afternoon I found myself better; and as a public pleasure-garden was
near the hotel where I stopped, I went to amuse myself for a few minutes
there. Whether custom or any festival had that evening assembled an
unusual concourse of people I never inquired, but the garden was crowded
with a gay multitude, and music with great hilarity enlivened the
entertainment. I walked about delighted with the scene.

"In the course of my sauntering amidst the arbours, I came to an alcove
a little remote from the more stirring cloud, and in it were several
gentlemen playing cards: two were at chess, and by their side a little
boy, seemingly one of their sons, amusing himself with throwing dice.
After looking for a minute or two, I went to the child, and in sheer
playfulness challenged the boy for a throw. At the same instant that
I took the box in my hand, some one touched my elbow; I looked round,
and the old man was there--'PAUSE!' said he. In that instant
a rope-dancer at some distance fell, a shriek rose, my attention was
roused, and I missed again the stranger; but when tranquillity was
restored, my desire to play at dice returned, and I again challenged the
child to whom I lost several pieces of money, which the lucky boy was as
proud of gaining as the conqueror at the Battle of Prague.

"That was the first time I had ever played at dice. My education
was recluse. I had no companions, and we had no dice in the castle.
The idle game pleased me. When I returned to the hotel, I ordered dice,
and amused myself all the evening with casting them, actuated by a
persuasion that there must be a mode of doing so by which any desired
number may be thrown. This notion took possession of my mind, and I
stayed several days at Frankfort, employed in attempts to make the
discovery; at last I did succeed. With a pair of dice I attained a