we, never hurt anybody; inasmuch as they
were honest mechanics, a tailor or two, with some musical weavers who
composed the town band. Their uniform, it seems, is kept in a spare
room in the Hernhause gasthof, and they were in the act of equipping
themselves for an evening's performance when we arrived. This was
satisfactory enough, because, with all my admiration for the noble
profession of arms, I cannot say that I quite enjoy being thrust as a
traveller into an inn which happens to be thronged with some hundreds
of soldiers on the march; but it was not the only treat that awaited
us. My toilet was as yet incomplete, when in walked the landlady, first
to demand whether I could speak Latin, and, on my answering in the
affirmative, to announce that the priest of the parish was below in the
hall, and should be glad to converse with me. I desired her to inform
the reverend gentleman that I should make all the haste I could to
equip myself; after which I would wait upon him with great pleasure.

Having accomplished the necessary changes in my apparel, and otherwise
made myself comfortable, I descended the stairs, and found that the
gentleman with the red nose and grizzly head, was none other than the
priest who desired to make my acquaintance. Neither his appearance nor
his situation,--a conspicuous place in a pot-house, which all the idle
and beer-loving members of the community seemed to frequent,--at all
prepossessed me in his favour; but I took care to exhibit no symptoms
of disgust in my manner, and our conversation began. His reverence
spoke horrid Latin, of course; mine, from long disuse, was probably not
much better; but as I pronounced all my words according to the
accentuation of my schoolboy days, we at least understood one-another.
I found him full of curiosity, and wonderfully ill-informed, not only
as to the political and intellectual state of England, but even in
reference to its geographical situation. But his ignorance manifestly
proceeded rather from the lack of opportunity than of the desire to be
better informed; for of his questions I began to fear at last that
there would be no end.

By this time a whisper was circulating through the town, that two
Englishmen were arrived, and as very few of the Gabelites had ever seen
an Englishman before, the coffee-room became speedily crowded. Large
was then the consumption of beer, and dense and dark the cloud of
tobacco-smoke which circled overhead. Yet, to do