tional pair of horses all the way from Vach, yet our
travelling, which should have ended on Friday, was spun-out till
Sunday. It is universally maintained that the Fair has visibly
suffered by the shocking state of the roads; at all events, even in my
eyes, the crowd of sellers and buyers is far _beneath_ the description
I used to get of it in the Empire.

'In the very first week of my residence here, I made innumerable new
acquaintances; among whom, Weisse, Oeser, Hiller, Zollikofer,
Professor Huber, Juenger, the famous actor Reinike, a few merchants'
families of the place, and some Berlin people, are the most
interesting. During Fair-time, as you know well, a person cannot get
the _full_ enjoyment of any one; our attention to the individual is
dissipated in the noisy multitude.

'My most pleasant recreation hitherto has been to visit Richter's
coffee-house, where I constantly find half the _world_ of Leipzig
assembled, and extend my acquaintance with foreigners and natives.

'From various quarters I have had some alluring invitations to Berlin
and Dresden; which it will be difficult for me to withstand. It is
quite a peculiar case, my friend, to have a literary name. The few men
of worth and consideration who offer you their intimacy on that score,
and whose regard is really worth coveting, are too disagreeably
counterweighed by the baleful swarm of creatures who keep humming
round you, like so many flesh-flies; gape at you as if you were a
monster, and condescend moreover, on the strength of one or two
blotted sheets, to present themselves as colleagues. Many people
cannot understand how a man that wrote the _Robbers_ should look like
another son of Adam. Close-cut hair, at the very least, and
postillion's boots, and a hunter's whip, were expected.

'Many families are in the habit here of spending the summer in some
of the adjacent villages, and so enjoying the pleasures of the
country. I mean to pass a few months in Gohlis, which lies only a
quarter of a league from Leipzig, with a very pleasant walk leading to
it, through the Rosenthal. Here I purpose being very diligent, working
at _Carlos_ and the _Thalia_; that so, which perhaps will please you
more than anything, I may gradually and silently return to my medical
profession. I long impatiently for that epoch of my life, when my
prospects may be settled and determined, when I may follow my darling
pursuits merely for my own pleasure. At one time I studied med