ich she received with a smile; yet took
care to give it, in my presence, to a girl who had brought the child a
slice of bread; by which I perceived that she was the mistress or
daughter of the house, and without doubt the belle of the village. There
was, in short, an appearance of cheerful industry, and of that degree of
comfort which shut out misery, in all the little hamlets as I approached
Hamburg, which agreeably surprised me.

The short jackets which the women wear here, as well as in France, are
not only more becoming to the person, but much better calculated for
women who have rustic or household employments than the long gowns worn
in England, dangling in the dirt.

All the inns on the road were better than I expected, though the softness
of the beds still harassed me, and prevented my finding the rest I was
frequently in want of, to enable me to bear the fatigue of the next day.
The charges were moderate, and the people very civil, with a certain
honest hilarity and independent spirit in their manner, which almost made
me forget that they were innkeepers, a set of men--waiters, hostesses,
chambermaids, &c., down to the ostler, whose cunning servility in England
I think particularly disgusting.

The prospect of Hamburg at a distance, as well as the fine road shaded
with trees, led me to expect to see a much pleasanter city than I found.

I was aware of the difficulty of obtaining lodgings, even at the inns, on
account of the concourse of strangers at present resorting to such a
centrical situation, and determined to go to Altona the next day to seek
for an abode, wanting now only rest. But even for a single night we were
sent from house to house, and found at last a vacant room to sleep in,
which I should have turned from with disgust had there been a choice.

I scarcely know anything that produces more disagreeable sensations, I
mean to speak of the passing cares, the recollection of which afterwards
enlivens our enjoyments, than those excited by little disasters of this
kind. After a long journey, with our eyes directed to some particular
spot, to arrive and find nothing as it should be is vexatious, and sinks
the agitated spirits. But I, who received the cruellest of
disappointments last spring in returning to my home, term such as these
emphatically passing cares. Know you of what materials some hearts are
made? I play the child, and weep at the recollection--for the grief is
still fresh that stunn