LETTERS FROM A CONTINENTAL TOUiilST. 591 



We returned to Kehl before nightfall, and left it for Carlsruh - by 

 the Eilwagen at ten, which for once exceeded the pace of a tortoise, 

 inasmuch as it traversed the ground at the rate of six miles per hour. 

 At Carlsruhe my fellow voyager was to remain, in order to submit his 

 passport to some necessary examinations, and obtain certain signa- 

 tures to enable him to continue his journey. The Prussian minister at 

 Berne had refused to si^n his passport because he was an American ; 

 I suppose on the plea, that a native of the United States lived under 

 too free a government to render him a fitting person to travel in the 

 territories of the despotic monarch of northern Germany. As I had 

 friends to see at Heidelberg, I engaged a conveyance, and hurried on. 

 My agreement with the voiturier was to be carried to Heidelberg for 

 six florins, that is, about ten shillings English ; he having liberty t.) 

 take another traveller if he could find one, and to stop one hour on the 

 road to refresh his horses. However, at eight in the morning I started 

 alone, and arrived at Bruchsal, our baiting place, about fourteen 

 miles from Karlsruhe, by half-past ten. After waiting here till my 

 patience was exhausted, that is to say, twice the time agreed on, I 

 at last insisted upon the fellow's starting with or without another 

 freight ; and by dint of scolding, in French and English, interlarded 

 with such German as I could muster, enforced by sundry threats of an 

 application to a magistrate, I contrived to get his high mightiness in 

 motion by one o'clock, and reached Heidelberg in time to see the cas- 

 tle before sunset. 



While I am on the subject of voituriers, I may as well state, that 

 without a very exact agreement and some firmness in resisting their 

 attempts at imposition, you are sure to be egregiously cheated, for if 

 you fall in with an honest, civil driver of horses, you have met with 

 an exception to the rule. 



To return to Heidelberg. The ruins are magnificent, though 

 when viewed from a distance the dingy red stone of which the castle 

 is built gives it a gloomy aspect, and renders it somewhat difficult to 

 trace the form. It has suffered severely, having been dismantled and 

 in part blown up in J 692 by the French under Turenne, when he laid 

 waste the palatinate, it being the seat of the Elector, husband of 

 James the First's daughter, from whom our present royal family de- 

 rive their title to the British throne. Description and depiction 

 have been lavished on these ruins, so that any minute particulars 

 would be tedious. To my mind the most lamentable part of the 

 scene was the bruised and mutilated state of the marble ornaments, 

 once the delight of princes, and now scarcely affording a resting-place 

 for the birds who nestle in the walls. Among the legends connected 

 with the castle is one of a princess who leaped from the top of the 

 chapel to the platform beneath, where she has left a foot print at 

 least twelve inches long and six inches deep in the stones. Another 

 story tells of a knight and maiden whose plighted vows were disre- 

 garded by some superior powers; wherefore, he, to cure his melan- 

 choly, hung himself, and the lady, in despair, threw herself headlong 

 from the terrace. Of course her ghost haunts the vicinity of the spot. 

 In the cellars of the castle they show you the great tun, which every 

 fool goes to see, because other fools have talked about it. I expended 



