in the coorse of the afternoon; and at eight o'clock they're ready for their suppers, wich means their dinners over agin. After that they goes to a condyto-ri, (somethin' between a pastry-cook's and a eatin'-house,) and there they drinks beer, and punch, and passes their time werry agreeable, and eats a butterbrot made of "calves' flesh," or maybe a bit of raw ham, and then they smokes their way home to bed.' A very intellectual life, truly; but I hope you were not prevented from enjoying yourselves.' "Why, for the matter o' that, we did contrive to do pretty well, wot with one thing and wot with another. The most curos part of the supper was their bringing' in a large plum-pudden with sweet sarse, afore we'd half done with the meat; and wether or no, you must have some, to please the gen'l'm'n as hands it round, him as they calls the "kellner." We shouldn't have minded eatin' of the pudden; but we was rayther vexed when we see roasts and stoos a-comin' in arterwards, and we jest fit to bust our weskit-buttons off. It put me in mind of what they doos at schools, to take away the boys' appetites. Howsever, it made no difference to the Jarmans; first or last was all the same to them.' 'And had you the benefit of the music you spoke of as not being much to your taste?' 'I b'lieve we had, sir. I was jest a askin' the captin of the wessel, as sot next to me, why they called their taturs "cast-offal," wen I heard sich a scream close at my back as made me think some of the Jarmans had made away with theirselves, wich you know, sir, they is a wery much in the habit of doing. I shies round, jest as one of my hosses might have done at the sight of a wheelbarrow, bottom uppards, and wot did I see but a gal a-playin' on the harp, and screechin' with all her might, and a old feller in a smock frock a-workin' away at a base wial, as if he'd a sawed it in two. I assure you, sir, it gave me quite a turn. The captain larfed, and said it was quite reglar, and so we found it,-and werry reg'lar we found, as we was obligated to pay for it. I says to the young lady when she came round with the plate,-(will you believe it, they calls a plate a "teller !")—" You don't make a noise, marm, for nothin'." I think she understood me, seeing I spoke as loud as I could; for she drops me a curtsey, and says, "Swy gooty groschen," which means, "I'll trouble you for threepence.' Them 'ere words is in everybody's mouth in Han-o-ver. You go into any shop in the town, and ask 'em any question, and see if they don't say, "Swy gooty groschen."-"How do you feel?" says one; "Swy gooty groschen," says the other; and it's the same with everything. Well, sir, as soon as dinner was over, we shakes hands with the captin, fust of all gettin' him to arsk where our bed-rooms wos, and up stairs we toddles into two double-bedded rooms, with paper windercurtins and sandy floors. You've heard tell, maybe, of Jarman beds ?' 'You forget that I must have slept in one as lately as yourself.' 'Arsk your pardon, sir; but torkin' to you on board this 'ere Brittish wessel, I quite forgot as you've bin in Jarmany. Well, then, I needn't to tell you wot they is. Blest if ever I had a night's rest all the time I was in the country,--not what I calls a reg'lar good downright snooze.' *Kartoffeln. + Our friend must allude here to the frequent question, Wie fiel?' 'How much?' and the answer, Zwei gute Groschen,'-Two good groschen (3d.),' the price of numerous small articles. I thought of the unlucky snooze' of the last night, but said nothing. 'Well, we turned in as well as we could atween the two featherbeds; and next mornin' wen we got up, we found 'at a gen'l'm'n had been a-askin' for us, wot proved to be one of the King's Jarman grooms, sent up to Harburg to help us along the road, pay the bills, and sich like. As this ere gen'l'm'n spoke our langidge, we hadn't any more trouble except wot we wos obliged to in lookin' arter our hosses; so we had our "freestick," got the hosses out, and was off for Han-o-ver, wich we got to in three days, over a piece of road as flat as a skittle-ground, and that for a hundred mile. But I see, sir, you're like me, you've paid your devours to the brekfist, as the French say; so, with your leave, I'll tell you my adventures in Han-o-ver by and by, if so be as you're inclined to hear more on 'em.' Assuring him how much it would gratify me to hear more of his observations on men and manners, I rose from the table, and we went on deck to see what progress the vessel had made. SONG. BY PAUL FLEMMING.* DEAR cheeks, ye inspire Dear cheeks ye inspire. Oh! suns of delight, Thou fairest of fair, Thou fairest of fair! Born at Hartenstein, 1609; died at Hamburg, 1640. |