ust is thrown confidingly into the hands of all; and even
then, in half the practical results, money will cheat them out of the
advantages. Where the pressure is so great as to produce a recoil, it is
the poor against the rich; and where the poor have rights to stand on,
the rich are hard at work to get the better of the poor. Such is the
curse of Adam, and man himself must be changed before the disease can be
cured. All we can do, under the best constructed system, is to mitigate
the evil.

We left Frankfort at eleven, declining the services of a celebrated
_voiturier_, called _le petit Savoyard_, whom Francois introduced, with
a warm recommendation of fidelity and zeal. These men are extensively
known, and carry their _soubriquets_, as ships do their names. The
little Savoyard had just discharged a cargo of _miladies_, bound to
England, after having had them on his charter-party eighteen months, and
was now on the look-out for a return freight. As his whole equipments
were four horses, the harness, and a long whip, he was very desirous of
the honour of dragging my carriage a hundred leagues or so, towards any
part of the earth whither it might suit my pleasure to proceed. But it
is to be presumed that _miladies_ were of full weight, for even
Francois, who comes of a family of _voituriers_, and has a
fellow-feeling for the craft, is obliged to admit that the cattle of _le
petit_ appear to have been overworked. This negotiation occupied an
hour, and it ended by sending the passport to the post.

We were soon beyond the tower that marks the limits of the territory of
Frankfort, on the road to Darmstadt. While mounting an ascent, we had a
distant glimpse of the town of Homberg, the capital and almost the whole
territory of the principality of Hesse Homberg; a state whose last
sovereign had the honour of possessing an English princess for a wife.
Truly there must be something in blood, after all; for this potentate
has but twenty-three thousand subjects to recommend him!

Darmstadt is one of those towns which are laid out on so large a scale
as to appear mean. This is a common fault, both in Germany and America;
for the effect of throwing open wide avenues, that one can walk through
in five minutes, is to bring the intention into ludicrous contrast with
the result. Mannheim is another of these abortions. The disadvantage,
however, ends with the appearance, for Darmstadt is spacious, airy, and
neat; it is also well-built.