234 FIRST JOURNEY IN EUROPE. _ [1839, 
having an unexpected engagement, consigned me to 
the head gardener, and I was very kindly shown over 
the whole establishment, which is much larger and 
better than I had supposed, and in excellent condition. 
Afterwards I strolled about the town for an hour 
or two, heard the fine military band in the Hofgarten, 
and at half past six went to the house of Martius; saw 
his wife, who looks much younger than he, and I suspect 
he was not married until after his return from Brazil. 
She seems a very intelligent and pleasant lady, under- 
stands English pretty well, but does not speak it, while 
Martius speaks extremely well; the eldest daughter, 
a pretty girl of thirteen, speaks French fluently, has 
taken lessons in English, which she reads readily, but 
speaks slightly ; there is another daughter of about 
ten, another still younger, and a boy a little more than 
a year old completes the list. Professor Zuccarini! 
was there, and afterwards an entomologist, whose 
name I forget, dropped in; also a young man from 
Rio Janeiro, a Dr. Hentz from Vienna, who inquired 
especially after Dr. Buck; the director of the mu- 
sic in the royal chapel here; and two ladies, one of 
whom sung exquisitely. The director and Dr. Hentz 
both played the piano to perfection, and, to crown all, 
Martius seized his fiddle, quite to my surprise, and 
played with great spirit. Before they were done a 
little crowd had begun to assemble before the windows. 
So the evening passed off very pleasantly. 
I like the sound of the German language much ; it 
is manly, and certainly not more rough than the Eng- 
lish. From the lips of the women and the little chil- 
dren I assure you it sounds very musical, and I often 
oseph Gerhard Zuecarini, 1797-1848 ; professor of botany at 
pe ch. Among other publications he assisted in describing the 
plants collected and described by Siebold in the Flora Japonica. 
