ng 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 Hamburg. 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 Hamburg, 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 artizan friends, although there were very
pressing orders in the shape of those unvarying German court douceurs,
diamond-circled snuff boxes, 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 Guard 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 Tafel-lieder 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