Page:Letters from Abroad to Kindred at Home (Volume 1).djvu/160

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
WIESBADEN.
157

pretty costumes embellish these surroundings. They do not wear bonnets, but, in their stead, an endless variety of headgear. Some wear a little muslin cap or one of gay-coloured embroidery, and others a sort of silver case that just encloses the long hair, which is always braided and neatly arranged.




Did you know that the prince of diplomatists and arch-enemy of liberty, Metternich, was born at Coblentz? We have just been to see a fountain, on which is an inscription commemorative of the French invasion of Russia. It was put there by the French prefect of the department, and a few months after, when the Russians passed through here in pursuit of the blattered army of Napoleon, their commander annexed the following happy sarcasm: "Vu et approuvé par nous commandant Russe," &c. (Seen and approved by us, the Russian commander.)




Wiesbaden, Poste Restante, July 26.


K. and I came here this morning to purvey for the party, and get lodgings for a month or two. The best hotels were full. We were shown disagreeable rooms at the Poste, and though the man assured us he could not keep them for us ten minutes, as all the world was rushing to Wiesbaden, we took our chance, and hazed about the streets, finding nothing that we liked. At last I made inquiry in a book-shop, and a good-natured little woman entering into