scriptions, &c., thrown carelessly about the floor, or in the corners of the apartment. However, notwithstanding all these little annoyances, we returned to our inn so well satisfied with what we had seen, as to rank our inspection of the works of Holbein at Basle amongst the most interesting events of our journey.

The next day was one of no small anxiety to me. Mr. Bray, soon after rising, complained of headach, and I felt much indisposed. No wonder; for surely such heat as we that day experienced is seldom known under any suns, excepting those which burn on an African desert. We were both oppressed by it in the most painful degree; and we heard, in the course of the morning, that some of the horses in the different diligences and travelling carriages had died on the road, from the excessive heat of the atmosphere. We found ourselves so much overcome, as to be quite incapable of leaving the house till late in the evening, when we strolled down to the Rhine, in the hope to get a breath of air. That day we dined at the

five o'clock table d'hôte, expressly prepared for the English. The dinner was four francs each person, and the wine an extra charge; both were most miserable, and so different in every respect from the one o'clock cheap repast that included wine, prepared for the natives of Basle on the previous day, that we could scarcely persuade ourselves it was the same house.

On the morrow, at a very early hour, we started for Freyburg in Baden. As soon as I saw our good old voiturier on that morning, I thought there was something the matter: he looked disturbed and thoughtful. He told us he had been robbed on the previous night; that he had been put to lodge in a very uncomfortable room, with all sorts of couriers and drivers; several were Italians.

how or other, got at his Swiss

They had, some

purse, a sort of leathern bag, and had taken from it a golden piece. The coquins, he said, must have been dextrous, as he slept with the purse under his head.

I have nothing particular to notice in the

drive of this day, excepting the extraordinary change in the atmosphere. On the previous, we had, as I have already stated, felt ill and oppressed, in the most painful manner, by the excessive heat. To-day it was so cold that, although we put on all the travelling cloaks and wrappers we had with us, we could not keep ourselves warm during the whole of the way. There was only one slight shower, but there was a bleak piercing wind from sunrise to sundown, very rarely felt at this season of the year. In the evening we came in sight of Freyburg in Baden, and once more drove to the doors of our old hotel but I must here close the present letter, and have only time to assure you that I am, as ever, my dear Brother,

Your most affectionate Sister,

ANNA ELIZA BRAY.

LETTER XXIX.

TO A. J. KEMPE, ESQ., F. S. A.

A new Guide.

St. Alexander.

Once more at the Zähringer Hof.- Welcomed by the
Poet and the Household. - Visit to the Cathedral.
A Favour and a Surprise.
Jewels and old Bones. Adieu
to Freyburg. On the Road to Kehl.- Dine. —
Kehl. Adieu to the old Voiturier. The Writer
and her Companion very ill. Embark on the
Rhine.-Company on Board.-A Friend in Need.
Going down the Rhine.
Midnight Adventures.
Steamer.

My dear Brother,

Arrival at Manheim.Embark again in the

No sooner had the garçon of the Zähringer Hof recognised our old voiturier, as he descended from the box, than out ran the poet and saluted us with a welcome in English, that was as rapid and eloquent as formerly, with the usual total disregard of full stops, or breathing time, in his discourse. My nephew was inquired after, and his absence regretted, with a warm expression

of interest. The appearance of the poet was speedily followed by that of the master, and, indeed, by all the principal persons of the hotel, and we were very heartily greeted, as if old friends had come back to them after a long journey. We both felt gratified by such greetings; and nothing could exceed the attention paid to us whilst we remained in the house.

The poet felt himself to be a privileged person, and became, therefore, very inquisitive about our journey. We satisfied him as well as we could; gave him a brief account of its principal points of interest; and I finished my description of the Mer de Glace by making him a present of my nephew's alpine stock, which I had brought thus far with me, but had found it so much in the way that I could not, as I originally intended, take it on with us to England, as a relic of our expedition amongst the ice and snows of Mont Blanc. When I told the poet that the long and iron-shod pole with which I presented him had been to the Mer de Glace, he seemed mightily pleased, and assured me he would keep it "as a curious memory of me."