272 Life of Count Rumford. 



father told her that should he find himself again in Hamburg, 

 and I to have learned German, I should call and thank her for 

 her kindness in her own language. We were both there again, 

 but had forgotten both the lady's name and address. Truly 

 unfortunate ! 



" Three weeks' constant travel, circuitous routes to avoid 

 troops, bad roads,-still worse accommodations, passing nights in 

 the carriages for the want of an inn, scantiness of provisions, 

 joined with great fatigue, rendered our journey by no means 

 agreeable. The Fair at Leipsic, as we came along and passed a 

 day there, not being able to proceed for the want of horses on 

 account of it, was amusing. I bought many little objects of 

 curiosity, which I kept a long time in remembrance of it. 



" The beautiful, luxuriant fields of rye and wheat in the two 

 Saxonies, then in perfection, a short time before the reaping, to 

 any one accustomed only to enclosed countries, were striking, 

 and gave an idea of great richness. With hardly sufficient room 

 for the wheels of the carriage, not a fence, seldom a tree, still 

 less meeting man or beast, gave a look to the country of real 

 enchantment, resembling more the never-ending waves of the 

 sea than cultivated land. It is true, after a while you come to 

 a mean, dirty-looking village, of a nature to destroy fine illusions, 

 but where, however, are to be seen pretty blue-eyed, light- 

 haired, white-faced women and children. In the Saxonies the 

 German language is said to be the most purely spoken. In the 

 mouth of a Saxon lady it is said to be really soft, a character in 

 the general way it does not sustain. 



" Our arrival at Munich was a joyful event, an end to the 

 tediousness of the journey, besides being cheered by the hand- 

 some, pleasant appearance of the city. My father's habitation 

 merits and must have a particular description, as will from 

 thence be dated, for some time to come, most that relates either to 

 him or myself; and because the building was really magnificent 

 and equally so in its furniture, it may not be amiss to mention 

 by what good fortune he became the occupant, for own it he did 

 not. 



" It was an elegant palace, furnished sumptuously some years 



