from her work she cheerfully returns to her home to give milk, cream, butter, and cheese to the establishment: at her death, she is still worth eleven kreuzers a pound as beef; and when her flesh has disappeared, her bones, after being ground at the mill, once again appear upon her master's fields, to cheer, manure, and enrich them. As, quite in love with cows, I was returning from the harvest, I met the Nassau letter-cart, one of the cheapest carriages for its purpose that can well be conceived. It consists of a pair of high wheels connected by a short axle, upon which are riveted a few boards framed together in the form of a small shallow box; in this little coffin the letterbag is buried, and upon it, like a monument, sits a light boy dressed in the uniform ofa Nassau postilion, who with a trumpet in one hand, a long whip in the other, and the reins sporting loose under his feet, starts as if he deliberately meant mischief, intending to get well over his ground; and there being scarcely any weight to carry, the horse really might proceed as a mail-coach horse ought to go: but that horrible Punch and Judy trumpet upsets the whole arrangement, for as the thing is very heavy, the child soon takes two hands to it instead of one, when down goes the whip, and from that moment, the picture, which promised to be a good one, is spoilt. The letter-bag crawls, like a reptile, along the road, while the boy amusing bimself with his plaything, reminds one of those "nursery rhymes" which say, "And with rings on his fingers, and bells on his toes, We shall have music wherever he goes." It is quite provoking to see a government car riage in its theory so simply imagined, and so cleverly adapted to its purpose, thus completely ruined in its practice. Music may be, and indeed is, very delightful in its way; but a tune is one thingspeed another; and it always seems to me a pity that the Duke of Nassau should allow these two substantives to be so completely confounded in his dominions. How admirably does the long tin horn of the guard of one of our mail-coaches perform its blunt duty a single blast is sufficient to remove the obstruction of an old gentleman in his gig-two are generally enough for a heavy cart-three for a waggon-and half a dozen, slowly and sternly applied, are always sufficient to awaken the snoring keeper of a turnpike-gate-in short, to Break his bands of sleep asunder, And rouse him like a rattling peal of thunder. Has raised up his head, as awaked from the dead, The gala turn out of our mail-coaches on the King's birth-day, I always think must strike foreigner's more than anything else in our country with the sterling solid integrity of the English character. To see so many well-bred horses in such magnificent condition-so many well-built carriages-so many excellent drivers, and such a corps of steady, quiet, resolute-looking men as guards, each wearing, as well as every coachman, the King's own livery-all this must silently point out, even to our most jealous enemies, not only the wealth of the country, but the firm basis on which it stands: in short, it must prove to them, most undeniably, that there is no one thing in England " which, throughout the land, is treated with so much universal attention and respect, as the honest, speedy, and safe delivery of the letters and commercial correspondence of the country. Nevertheless, if our English coachmen were to be allowed, instead of attending to their horses, to play on trumpets as they proceeded, we should, as in the Duchy of Nassau, soon pay very dearly for their music. THE SUNSET. IT had been hot all day-the roads had been dusty-the ground, as one trod upon it, had felt warm the air was motionless-animal as well as vegetable life appeared weak and exhaustedNature herself seemed parched and thirsty-the people on the promenade, as it got hotter and hotter, had walked slower and slower, until they were now crawling along, as unwillingly as if they had been marching to their graves. The world, as if from apathy, was coming to a stand still-LangenSchwalbach itself appeared te be fainting away, when the evening sun having rested for a moment on the western height, gradually vanished from our sight. His red tyrannical rays had hardly left our pale abject faces, when all people suddenly revived: like a herd of fawning courtiers who had been kept trembling before their king, they felt that, left to themselves, they could now breathe, and think, and stamp their feet. Parasols, one after another were shut up-the pedestrians on the promenade freshened their pace-even fat patients, who had long been at anchor on the benches, began to show symptoms of getting under weigh-every leaf seemed suddenly to be enjoying the cool gentle breeze which was now felt stealing up the valley; until, in a very few minutes, everything in Nature was restored to life and enjoyment. It was the hour for returning to my 'Hof,' but the air as it blew into the window was so delightfully refreshing, and so irresistibly inviting, that I and my broad-brimmed hat went out tête à tête to enjoy it. As we passed the red pond of iron water, opposite to the great 'Indian Hof' which comes from the strong Stahl brunnen, having nothing to do, I lingered for some time watching the horses that were brought there. After having toiled through the excessive heat of the day, any water would have been agreeable to them; but the nice, cool, strengthening, effervescing mixture into which they were now led, seemed to be so exceedingly delightful, that they were scarcely up to their knees before they made a strong attempt to drink; but the rule being that they should first half walk and half swim two or three times round the pond, this cleansing or ablution was no sooner over the reins were no sooner loosened-when down went their heads into the red cooling pool; and one had then only to look at the horse's eyes to appreciate their enjoyment. With the whole of their mouths and nostrils immersed, they seemed, as if they fancied they could drink the pond dry; however, the greedy force with which they held their heads down gradually relaxed, until, at last, up they were raised, with an aspiration which seemed to say, "We can hold no more!" In about ten seconds, however, their noses again dropped to the surface, but only to play with an element which seemed now to be useless-so completely had one single draught altered its current value! As I stood at the edge of this pond, leaning over the rail, mentally participating with the horses in the luxury they were enjoying, a violent shower of rain came on; yet, before I had hurried fifty yards for an umbrella, it had ceased. Those little showers are exceedingly common amongst the hills of Nassau in the evenings of very hot days. From the power of the sun, the valleys during the day are filled brim-full with a steam, or exhalation, which no sooner loses its parent, the sun, than the cold condenses it; and then, like the tear on the cheek of a child that has suddenly missed its mother, down it falls in heavy drops, and the next instant-smiles again. As the air was very agreeable, I wandered up the hilly road which leads to Bad-Ems; and then, strolling into a field of corn, which had been just cut, I continued to climb the mountain, until, turning round, I found, as I expected, that I had attained just the sort of view I wanted; but it would be impossible to describe to the reader the freshness of the scene. Beneath was the long scrambling village of Langen-Schwalbach, the slates of which, absolutely blooming from the shower they had just received, looked so very clean and fresh, that for some time my eyes quite enjoyed rambling from one roof to the next, and then glancing from one extremity of the town to the other;-they had been looking at hot dazzling objects all dayI thought I never should be able to raise them from the cool blue wet slates. However, as the light rapidly faded, the landscape itself soon became |