route, as it takes you by Dresden, rich in art treasures and
still renowned for its music.

The best time of year to travel by this route is the season when the
fruit trees are in blossom. Then the valley of the Elbe is a mass of
white and pale green set against a background of yellow sandstone rocks
and the sombre greens and purples of pine forests. It is not so very
long ago since this district of Saxony formed part of the Kingdom of
Bohemia, and many names familiar to travellers in these parts recall
memories of Slavonic inhabitants--Blasewitz, Loschwitz, Pilnitz, whither
the royal family of Wettin, another Slavonic name, was wont to retire
for the summer months. The Wettins have now retired from business as
monarchs, and their former subjects are following the prevailing fashion
of submission to democratic rule tempered by an occasional diversion in
the form of an attempted local counter-revolution. These movements are
generally innocuous; they sometimes add to the gaiety of nations by the
sheer imbecility of their inception and attempted execution, and they
appear to be welcome rather than otherwise, as a means of distracting
public attention from the universal muddle and general misguidance of
European affairs, to those who consider themselves called upon and
qualified to set those affairs right.

* * * * *

You may also approach Prague via Vienna; in former days you were
encouraged by Austrian propaganda to do so, and this in order to
emphasize the fact that you were expected to regard Prague as a quaint
little provincial town lying on the road to nowhere in particular. The
hand of the Habsburg lay heavy on Prague, and all the glory of great
possessions had to be concentrated on Vienna.

We are still on the road to Prague, which has come into its own at last,
whereas the glory of Vienna has departed. You wind up to the Bohemian
Forest through lovely scenery, where the grey ramparts of Eggenburg look
out over the blue distances, across the uplands of Bohemia, passing
Tabor dreaming yet of stirring days of religious strife, its towers
mirrored in the waters of Jordan, and onward till a wide curve brings
the first sight of the towers and spires of "Zlata Praha," Golden
Prague.

The usual travelling Westerner prefers the shortest and most convenient
route to Prague, namely, via Paris. You may get right through from
London to Prague in thirty-six hours if you just skirt round Paris