s defeat.

Teplitz lies in a lovely valley, several miles wide, bounded by the
Bohemian mountains on one side and the Erzgebirge on the other. One
straggling peak near is crowned with a picturesque ruin, at whose foot
the spacious bath-buildings lie half hidden in foliage. As we went
down the principal street I noticed nearly every house was a hotel; we
learned afterward that in summer the usual average of visitors is five
thousand.[20] The waters resemble those of the celebrated Carlsbad; they
are warm and practically efficacious in rheumatism and diseases of like
character. After leaving Teplitz the road turned to the east, toward a
lofty mountain which we had seen the morning before. The peasants, as
they passed by, saluted us with "Christ greet you!"

We stopt for the night at the foot of the peak called the Milleschauer,
and must have ascended nearly two thousand feet, for we had a wide view
the next morning, altho' the mists and clouds hid the half of it. The
weather being so unfavorable, we concluded not to ascend, and descended
through green fields and orchards snowy with blossoms to Lobositz, on
the Elbe. Here we reached the plains again, where everything wore the
luxuriance of summer; it was a pleasant change from the dark and rough
scenery we left.

The road passed through Theresienstadt, the fortress of Northern
Bohemia. The little city is surrounded by a double wall and moat which
can be filled with water, rendering it almost impossible to be taken. In
the morning we were ferried over the Moldau, and after journeying nearly
all day across barren, elevated plains saw, late in the afternoon, the
sixty-seven spires of Prague below.

I feel out of the world in this strange, fantastic, yet beautiful, old
city. We have been rambling all morning through its winding streets,
stopping sometimes at a church to see the dusty tombs and shrines or to
hear the fine music which accompanies the morning mass. I have seen no
city yet that so forcibly reminds one of the past and makes him forget
everything but the associates connected with the scenes around him.
The language adds to the illusion. Three-fourths of the people in the
streets speak Bohemian and many of the signs are written in the same
tongue.

The palace of the Bohemian kings still looks down on the city from the
western heights, and their tombs stand in the cathedral of St. John.
When one has climbed up the stone steps leading to the fortress, there
is a