LETTER I.


STRASBOURG TO STUTTGART. BADEN. THE ELDER SCHWEIGHÆUSER. STUTTGART. THE
PUBLIC LIBRARY. THE ROYAL LIBRARY.


_Stuttgart, Poste Royale, August 4, 1818._


Within forty-eight hours of the conclusion of my last, I had passed the
broad and rapidly-flowing Rhine. Having taken leave of all my hospitable
acquaintances at Strasbourg, I left the _Hôtel de l'Esprit_ between five
and six in the afternoon--when the heat of the day had a little
subsided--with a pair of large, sleek, post horses; one of which was
bestrode by the postilion, in the red and yellow livery of the duchy of
Baden.

Our first halting place, to change horses, was _Kehl_; but we had not
travelled a league on this side of the Rhine, ere we discovered a palpable
difference in the general appearance of the country. There was more
pasture-land. The houses were differently constructed, and were more
generally surrounded by tall trees. Our horses carried us somewhat fleetly
along a good, broad, and well-conditioned road. Nothing particularly
arrested our attention till we reached _Bischoffsheim, à la haute monté_;
where the general use of the German language soon taught us the value of
our laquais; who, from henceforth, will be often called by his baptismal