usement, without form, or fuss, or much expense,
which forms the great charm of German watering places.

We cannot understand why at the present moderate price of all kinds of
provisions in England, a tariff of prices, and a set of customs of expense
are kept up, which send all persons of moderate fortune to continental
watering places, or compel them to depart at the end of a fortnight, instead
of staying a month.

Why do we English,--after dining at a table d'hote, all the way from Baden-
Baden to Boulogne, for something not exceeding half-a-crown a-head, without
drinking wine, unless we like,--find ourselves bound, the moment we set our
foot in England, to have a private or stereotyped dinner at five or six
shillings a-head, and no amusement. In London, for gentlemen only, there are
three or four public dinners at a moderate figure. When will some of our
bell-wethers of fashion, to whom economy is of more consequence than even the
middle classes, set the example at Leamington, Tunbridge Wells, Buxton, and
Cheltenham, of dining with their wives and daughters at the public table? How
long are we to be slaves of salt soup, fried soles, and fiery sherry?

The decayed watering places, ruined by the competition of the continent,
should try the experiment of commercial prices, as an invitation to idlers
and half-invalids to stay at home.

Another great help to our watering places and farmers, would be the repeal of
the post-horse tax. It brings in a mere trifle. The repeal would be an
immense boon to places where the chief attraction depends on rides and
drives. It would largely increase the number of horses and vehicles for
hire, and be a real aid to the distressed agricultural interest, by the
increased demand it would make for corn, hay, and straw. Besides, near a
small place like Matlock, or Ilfracombe, in Devonshire, farmers would work
horses through the winter, and hire them out in summer. It is a great tax to
pay four shillings and sixpence as a minimum for going a mile in any country
place where flies and cabs have not been planted.

The environs of Buxton afford ample room for rides, drives, picnics, and
geological and botanical explorations. Beautifully romantic scenes are to be
found among the high crags on the Bakewell road, overhanging the river Wye.
Among the natural curiosities is a cave called Poole's Hole, five hundred and
sixty yards in length, with a ceiling in one part very lofty, and adorned