chinery occasions. Foreigners frequently reproach us with our want of taste, but an Englishman may more often retort upon them with greater justice; for it rarely happens but that, in the midst of the greatest splendour, there is something to shock the eye- some violation of propriety and decorum - some disgusting slovenliness, or some singular infelicity of tact. The abominations of the kennels in the streets have already been mentioned, and other, though less disgusting, incongruities perpetually occur. But to return to the palace. The apartments amount to about 500; it would therefore be tedious to describe minutely the endless variety of objects of curiosity that here present themselves. Among those, however, which ought to be mentioned, is the chapel, which is adorned with twelve columns of red marble. It may, perhaps, be set apart for acts of devotion; but these must be of the most private nature, since there was not to be seen either pulpit, desk, seats, or any thing indicating a place of worship. In a state-room occupied by the King of Prussia is a throne and splendid chandelier, the gift of the Prince Regent of England, which bears a considerable resemblance to the which was at Carlton-House. *

beautiful one

The great ban

It is related, that at one of the royal marriages in England, when Her Majesty Queen Charlotte sat near it, the reflection was so powerful, from the profusion of costly dia

queting hall contains a variety of silver articles, and about twenty jugs of various sizes, of silver, on which are medallions of the dif ferent sovereigns. One of these is four feet in height, and of such ample circumference, that when a person clasps it, he cannot make his fingers meet. The ceiling is ornamented with paintings; and there is a gallery for music, which is gilded, but was formerly of massive silver. In an adjoining room is a portrait of Blucher, with the hat worn by Bonaparte at his feet, and his mantle laid on a gun; and that of the king, as he appeared in the Place Louis XVI., at the triumphal entry of the allies to Paris.

We were now conducted to the picture gallery, which is extensive: at the end stands a cast of the Apollo Belvidere, by Vandyke. Among the pictures is a portrait of Charles I. by this artist, and several fine productions of Rubens, Rembrandt, and other first-rate masters. Several of these had been carried by Bonaparte to Paris, and since restored. One large picture, by David, represented the usurper on his favourite horse, in the act of scaling the Alps; but since I had seen it in the Louvre, the

monds she wore on the occasion, that Her Majesty could not be looked upon by any one without their eyes being. severely affected.

* This animal died July 30. 1826.

colours had greatly faded. Many artists were occupied here in making copies. Passing through several rooms decorated with paintings, we now entered a spacious hall, where hangs the portrait of the present King, for which he sat at Verona during the congress; also those of his father and predecessors, his late lamented consort, and the Queen of Holland, his sister; and eight colossal statues of the former monarchs are arranged under the pictures. We afterwards visited another apartment full of paintings, which had been also returned as spoil that had been carried off by the French. One interesting painting may be particularly noticed, of Frederick the Great sleeping in a church on straw, whither he had retired attended by two of his generals. There is also a full-length painting of Luther, which the visitor should not fail to observe.

In the royal library the only English books I perceived were Tillotson's sermons. There is a suite of apartments which had been occupied by Bonaparte, Savary, and Bertrand, and these appeared to be the best of all; indeed in every town I have visited, which he had taken possession of, I uniformly found Napoleon took most special care to plant himself and his satellites in the most superb apartments that could possibly be selected. In one room is an elegant circular table of the finest mahogany, presented

to the King by the late Duke of York. The floors are of beautiful wood, with representations of baskets of flowers, and other ingenious devices. Under a clock is a representation of all the battles fought by Bonaparte. The coat and hat worn by him at the battle of Waterloo are shown; but these kinds of soi-disant relics are always to be regarded with a degree of suspicion, there being nothing to identify them; and they frequently multiply so miraculously, as to make very great demands on credulity, like the pretended pieces of the real cross, which, if the fragments shown of it be all genuine, must have contained more timber than a first-rate man of war. After all, the spectator in these cases can have no assurance that the article exhibited is actually what it is asserted to be, although there is a possibility of its being so. Where forgery is so easy, and the thing itself has nothing to distinguish it from a thousand others of the same kind, a little scepticism is pardonable. As to the cross, it may be questioned whether, if some of the fragments were compared together, they would be found to be of the same wood; and in that case, who is to say which is the genuine relic, or which the forgery, or assure us that either of them is what it is asserted to be?

We did not fail to visit the rooms once occupied by the great Frederick, whose memory is so intimately connected with almost every part of his

capital. The windows are in front of a bridge thrown over the Spree, where he had always before his eyes the statue of Frederick the First, which is a most striking and commanding object. Here are the portraits of those who had enjoyed his peculiar friendship. As no incident respecting this illustrious personage can fail to be interesting, the following is here given as being characteristic of the royal philosopher : - Just after His Majesty had imposed a high tax on coffee, he perceived a crowd assembled near the palace, and sent a valet to enquire the cause. On his return, the domestic made some hesitation to give his royal master the information required; but the King insisting on being informed, was told that an effigy was exhibited in the act of grinding coffee. On asking why the mob kept jumping up so, he was told it was because the figure was raised too high. His Majesty at once took the hint, and said, "Let it be lowered, that the people may see it more distinctly;" and from that time the duty was taken off. This anecdote reminds us of one nearly similar respecting the Empress of Russia, who enquired of some fishermen if they were satisfied with their situation. It was answered they should be, particularly with the sturgeon fishery, if their profits had not been diminished by being obliged to send so great a quantity to her stables. The hint was taken; and the