of conveyance for Strangers. With respect to the charges at Inns, such exorbitant advantages were at one time taken of the influx of strangers, especially of the English, in the larger towns, that upon complaint being made, the Senates of the principal Republics took the matter up; and, partly by indicating their displeasure-partly by pointing out the gross impolicy of such extortions, they bave induced Messieurs les Aubergistes to be somewhat more moderate in their demands. As to posting, it is shrewdly suspected that nothing but the patriotic desire of keeping the monied visitors as long as possible within the confines of Switzerland, stands at present in the way of so obvious and desirable an improvement.

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CHAPTER XXII.

SUABIA-Grand Duke of Baden's territory-Randek-Castle of Hohentwiel--Singen-The Unter-see--Village of Popemann-A Votive Offering-Lake of Constance-Stockach-Frontier of WURTEMBERG-Duttlingen-The Danube-Lutheran and Catholic villages-Aldingen-Geese-keepers and Swine-herds-AgricultureBalingen-The Paragrèles-Castle of Hohen-zollern-Heckingen; Fine Chucrh built by Prince Joseph William—Peasantry— Costume-TUBINGEN; Great Church; Tombs of the Princes; University Students-Forest of Schauenberg-STUTTGART.

THE intention of visiting the ancient city of Constance was on our part abandoned, in consequence of the road to it along the left bank of the Rhine by way of Burg and Stekborg having been reported to us as in a very bad condition, and of the weather having apparently set in for rain. This is the truth, as far as it goes. But, if "the whole truth" may be told, there was another reason, for thus curtailing a chalked out line of route, more powerful in its influence on our further proceedings than all the rest put together: I allude to the repeated and unaccountable disappointments experienced by one of us, in the non-receipt of intelligence respecting those "who guard and grace his HOME"-a disappointment whose sickening weight upon the heart, under circumstances of domestic anxiety, he that has travelled in distant lands can best appreciate.

On our departure from Schaffhausen, a pair of good horses and an active postillion (for the boundary of Switzerland being about to be crossed we were posting it again) quickly brought us within the Circle of Suabia, and into a part of the territories of the Grand Duke of Baden. The first town, called Randek, is a miserable place; on the highest ground of which stands a gloomy old chateau, occupied by its owner, whose affairs must be as impoverished as his mansion is dilapidated, or he would hardly be induced to remain in so indifferent and comfortless a residence. In the main street we noticed several persons bearing indubitable marks of belonging to the scattered house of Israel, and we learnt on inquiry, that by far the greater number of inhabitants are of the Jewish persuasion. It appears that this "peculiar people" do not here, more than elsewhere, pursue any agricultural occupation; nor do they carry on any trade, but that of a money-lender or a horse-dealer. The Government of Baden last year published an ordinance, by which these followers of the Mosaic Law were commanded to bring up their children to some useful calling, and to employ themselves in husbandry work in the same manner that their neighbours did who professed the Christian religion. At first the Hebrews seemed disposed to comply with the new regulation, which, however, not being enforced, things are now going on again with the Randek Jews according to the fashion of their forefathers; namely, that of avoiding bodily labour and exercising their cunning on the simplicity of "the Gentiles."

In approaching Singen, we passed within a short distance of the castle of Hohentwiel, situated on a steep rock,

which forms the summit of an isolated mountain, said to be of volcanic origin. This was one of the most striking objects we had seen in our tour, rising as it does to the height of nearly a thousand feet in the midst of a vast plain. The fortifications, formidable even in their overthrow, were once very noble and extensive. They were blown up in 1800 by the French, to whom the place was in the most cowardly way delivered up without the least resistance. The particulars of this event were related to us by the master of the inn at Singen:-Le Courbe, General of Division under Moreau, who was then commencing his celebrated campaign in Germany, arrived near the rock with 20,000 men. He sent a summons to the commandant to yield possession of the castle, or it would be stormed. To judge of the result which such a threat should have produced, it is only necessary to remark, that the plateau on which the citadel stands is on three sides positively inaccessible; that the fourth and only practicable face was as strong as military masonry could render it; that seventy pieces of cannon were mounted on its walls, and a numerous garrison well furnished with munitions de bouche et de guerre had been assembled within them for its defence. The governor asked for twelve hours to consider of the proposition; and in less than three had the almost inconceivable baseness to come down from his towering strong-hold, and (in the very room where we sat listening to the recital of his recreant procedure) sign articles of capitulation, by which he gave up an impregnable fortress, betrayed the interests of his sovereign, and disgraced the arms of his country. The Grand Duke broke him and the other rascally fellows who joined in the surrender.—One

superior officer, "faithful found amongst the faithless," protested against the execrable sacrifice of martial honour, and refused to it the sanction of his name. It was in this manner, and whilst Massena in Italy, by his heroic defence of Genoa, was displaying an example worthy of a better cause, that inen entrusted with the keys of Germany, gave facilities to French triumphs, and left poor unhappy Suabia to be overrun and devastated.

Respecting the destiny of this hill-fort, as connected with the military history of a preceding age, an anecdote of a very different kind was related to us by our communicative host. An army of Swedes, under Charles the Twelfth, sat down regularly before it; but finding their assaults fruitless, they turned the siege into a blockade, which lasted two years. After the garrison had, in the interval, nearly consumed all their provisions, the brave governor, on the last remaining ox being slaughtered, caused the stomach of the animal to be filled with a portion of the very little corn that was left, and let it down by a rope over the rock. His stratagem succeeded. The besiegers, on examining the bag and its contents, came naturally to the conclusion that the castle was not yet reduced to extremity, and having had sufficient experience of its invincible strength, they soon afterwards raised the siege.-Hohentwiel, though situated in the Baden dominions, belongs, as we were informed, to the King of Würtemberg, as a family appanage. It remains in an entirely dismantled state; a circumstance, however, which adds to, rather than diminishes, its picturesque grandeur. Not very far distant is another fortress on a lofty rock, called HohenKrähen, which "the Lion of the North," at the period above mentioned, besieged and took, it not being of the