`Although no doubt individuals will suffer by the suppression of
public play here, it is by no means certain that the town itself
will not be a gainer by it. Holiday seekers must go somewhere.
The air of Hombourg is excellent; the waters are invigorating;
the town is well situated and easy of access by rail; living is
comparatively cheap--a room may be had for about 18_s_. a week,
an excellent dinner for 2_s_.; breakfast costs less than a
shilling. Hombourg is now a fixed fact, and if the townspeople
take heart and grapple with the new state of things--if they buy
up the Kursaal, and throw open its salons to visitors; if they
keep up the opera, the cricket club, and the shooting; if they
have good music, and balls and concerts for those who like them,
there is no reason why they should not attract as many visitors
to their town as they do now.'[81]


[81] Correspondent of _Daily News._


AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.


The gaming at Aix-la-Chapelle is equally desperate and
destructive. `A Russian officer of my acquaintance,' says a
writer in the Annual Register for 1818, `was subject, like many
of his countrymen whom I have known, to the infatuation of play
to a most ridiculous excess. His distrust of himself under the
assailments which he anticipated at a place like Aix-la-Chapelle,
had induced him to take the prudent precaution of paying in