CHARLES WATERTON, ESQ. li 



Every body is asking, Where do they give 

 the best dinners? Where are the choicest 

 wines ? I myself always go to the Hotel du 

 Dragon d'Or, where the good widow Van Gulpen 

 enables her company to counteract the salutary 

 effect of the waters, by as fine a display of 

 cookery as is to be found in the town. I have 

 sat there, lost in astonishment, at the enormous 

 quantity of food consumed by those who had 

 come expressly to Aix-la-Chapelle for the bene- 

 fit of their health. 



Still the superabundant dainties of the table 

 are not the only obstacles to the good which 

 ought to be derived from the waters at this 

 celebrated spa. We know that in curing 

 diseases of the body, the mind, as in poetry, 

 must not be ruffled : 



► " Carmina proveniunt, animo deducta sereno. " 



But man's evil genius has formed an establish- 

 ment here, in which he has too often cause to 

 exclaim with the bard : 



" Me mare, me venti, me fera jactat hyems." 



This is no other than a gambling table in full 

 operation three times a day. Here, invalids 

 c 2 



