species in a former visit to Italy. In Piedmont, both exist, and at Turin the domestica is abundant. Both are found at Florence, but the Cisalpina is the most common. South of that city I never saw it, and at Rome there is no other species than the Cisalpina. With these data I examined the greater part of Spain. I particularly looked at the species in the south, at Cordova, Ecija, which is the hottest place in Spain, Seville, Cadiz, Malaga, Velez Malaga, Granada, Valencia, and other places, and never saw an individual in any of them, excepting of f. domestica. I shot the darkest individual out of a flock, within a league of Algesiras, whence the species was said to have been brought, which was equally of the common sort. It is probable that the individual, which caused this mistake, had been blown over from Africa. At Gibraltar also, the birds I saw, were all of the common species. There are some individuals with the chesnut over the ears, carried over the region of the occiput, so as to narrow the vinous colour very considerably, but these are merely varieties, and are of comparatively rare occurrence, and I am forced to the conviction, that no other species than the domestica, or common house sparrow, of the north of Europe, exists in the varied climate of Spain. If the Cisalpina exist, it is in Catalonia, which I did not examine in detail, but I have not the slightest reason to believe it is."—pp. 271–273.

He then speaks of the mammalia of Spain, and of its reptiles. The account of the geological structure of the country concludes the work.

ART. VI.-Bubbles from the Brunnens of Nassau. By an OLD MAN. Svo London: Murray. 1834.

If we were to estimate the effect of the drinking of the Brunnens, or bubbling springs of Nassau, as apparently produced in this book on the unhealthy system of its author, we should certainly hold their virtues in the profoundest admiration; for, judging by this standard alone, we should say that instead of an Old Man, we were commencing with a gay spirit of buoyant youth. The writer modestly says that he wrote this work simply, because he had nothing else to do, and intended it only for those who stood exactly in the same predicament. "In the cold evening of life," says he, "I was sentenced to drink the mineral waters of Nassau;" he deemed that his constitution was not worth the trouble of repair, but he was outvoted, and so bowed and departed. Having accomplished his voyage across the waters, he soon reached the district of Nassau, with which he seemed, from the earliest moment of his arrival to have been pleased. He tells us that the whole Duchy of Nassau contributes more than its average share to the luxuries and comforts of mankind; its vegetation, trees, crops, wines, fruits, are all of the most excellent and useful kind; its minerals are practically serviceable, and its mineral waters a blessing; for in Nassau are found waters for every complaint:-if for example, a man be consumptive,

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Or, what is much more probable, be dyspeptic, let him hurry to Ems; if he wishes to instil iron into his system, and to brace up his muscles, let him go to Langen-Schwalbach; if his brain should require calming, his nerves soothing, and his skin softening, let him glide onwards to Schlangenbad-the serpent's bath; but if he should be rheumatic in his limbs, or if mercury should be running riot in his system, let him hasten, body and bones,' to Wiesbaden, where, they say, by being parboiled in the Kochbrunnen (boiling spring), all his troubles will evaporate."-pp. 25, 26.

To all these waters, crowds from various parts of the world, England, Russia, Poland, Denmark, &c., accumulate, and sometimes the waters are transmitted to these countries in stone bottles. It is curious that very seldom English visitors are seen at these places. The chief places where parties reside for the purpose of drinking the waters are numerous; that which the author selected was called Langen-Schwalbach, and it contained three springs. On consulting the most eminent physician of the place, he commenced taking his draught at the spring, whose name was Pauline, being so called from the then Duchess of Nassau: the course of taking the waters was at 6, A.M., six glasses-at 10, A.M., a bath; on coming out of the bath two glasses more-at 5, P.M., three glasses. He continued this systematic course for a considerable time.

The author in seeking employment for his leisure hours, appears to have paid particular attention to the study of horses, and he enters very particularly into the details of their treatment, and the nature and effects of the harness employed for them, in Germany, France, and England.

The bath taken at 10 o'clock, it seems, is situated in a different part of the village: it is described as

"An oblong, slated building, which contains the famous waters of Langen-Schwalbach, is plain and unassuming in its elevation, and very sensibly adapted to its purpose. The outside walls are plastered, and coloured a very light red. There are five-and-twenty windows in front, with an arcade or covered walk beneath them, supported by an equal number of pilasters, connected together by Saxon arches. On entering the main door, which is in the centre, the great staircase is immediately in front, and close to it, on the left, there sits a man, from whom the person about to bathe purchases his ticket, for which he pays forty-eight kreuzers, about sixteen pence."-pp. 56, 57.

The baths of the three springs are on different floors in this building, and that of the Pauline, is the uppermost. This was the one chosen by our invalid, who described the bath water as being of the thickness of that of a horse-pond, and of the colour of mulligatawny soup! The fluid was so deeply coloured with red oxide of iron, that it was no longer transparent. Here the patient spent half-anhour each day and then proceeded to the spring to have his draught. He distinctly states that he felt the bracingpower of the bath. Amongst other of the daily customs noticed by him is the dinner,

which seems to have been entirely of a public nature. During the fashionable season, this important meal takes place at one o'clock, and the moment when the bell announces the hour, the town exhibits the following picture :

"From all the Hofs and lodging-houses, a set of demure, quiet-looking, well-dressed people are suddenly disgorged, who, at a sort of funeral pace, slowly advance towards the Alle Saal, the Goldene Kette, the Kaiser Saal, and one or two other houses, ou l'on dine. The ladies are not dressed in bonnets, but in caps, most of which are quiet; the rest being of those indescribable shapes which are to be seen in London or Paris. Whether the stiff-stand-up frippery of bright-red ribands was meant to represent a house on fire, or purgatory itself-whether those immense white ornaments were intended for reefs of coral or not-it is out of my department even to guess; ladies' caps being riddles only to be explained by themselves.

At the dinner our author remarks, that with no one to affront them, with no fine-powdered footman to attend them, with nothing but their appetites to direct them, and with their own quiet conduct to protect them, old ladies, young ladies, elderly gentlemen, and young ones, were seen. He further assures us that there was no greediness in their looks, and when he contemplated their manner and demeanour, he declares that he must admit that these Germans had more self-possession, and could better muzzle their feelings than many of the best behaved people in the universe. The author on one occasion, to which he more particularly refers, counted one hundred and eighty persons at dinner in one room. With respect to the materials of the dinner, he has much to complain of, as will be seen in the following extract:

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To my simple taste, the cooking is most horrid: still there were now and then some dishes, particularly sweet ones, which I thought excellent. With respect to the made-dishes, of which there was a great variety, I beg to offer to the reader a formula I invented, which will teach him (should he ever come to Germany) what to expect. The simple rule is this:-Let him taste the dish, and if it be not sour, he may be quite certain that it is greasy;-again, if it be not greasy, let him not eat thereof, for then it is sure to be sour. With regard to the order of the dishes, that, too, is unlike anything which Mrs. Glasse ever thought of. After soup, which all over the world is the alpha of the gourmand's alphabet, the barren meat from which the said soup has been extracted is produced. Of course it is dry, tasteless, withered-looking stuff, which a Grosvenor-square cat would not touch with its whisker; but this dish is always attended by a couple of satellites the one a quantity of cucumbers dressed in vinegar, the other a black, greasy, sauce; and if you dare to accept a piece of this flaccid beef, you are instantly thrown between Sylla and Charybdis; for so sure as you decline the indigestible cucumber, souse comes into your plate a deluge of the greasy sauce! After the company have eaten heavily of messes which it would be impossible to describe, in comes some nice salmonthen fowls-then puddings-then meat again-then stewed fruit; and VOL. I. (1834) No. IV. 2 L

after the English stranger has fallen back in his chair quite beaten, a leg of mutton majestically makes its appearance!

"I dined just two days at the Saals, and then bade adieu to them for ever. Nothing which this world affords could induce me to feed in this gross manner. The pig, who lives in his stye, would have some excuse; but it is really quite shocking to see any other animal overpowering himself at mid-day with such a mixture and superabundance of food. Yet only think what a compliment all this is to the mineral waters of LangenSchwalbach; for if people who come here and live in this way, morning, noon, and night, can, as I really believe they do, return to their homes in better health than they departed, how much more benefit ought any one to derive, who, maintaining a life of simplicity and temperance, would resolve to give them a fair trial!"-p.69-71.

This subject gives rise to some reflections, which bring about a comparison between German social manners and those of English society, in which certainly the latter comes off worst. Whilst the laws, he says, which regulate our small island manners are odd, unmeaning, imaginary, and often fictitious, those of the Continent are, on the contrary, at once legible to all the inhabitants of the globe. Every child on the Continent before he learns his alphabet, before he can crack a whip, is taught civility; and as a proof of the truth of this statement he mentions, that on ascending a hill one morning, he came up to a little boy who was flying his kite. The author had scarcely looked at him when the little village clod, as he calls the child, actually was near losing his string, kite and all, in an irresistible effort to pull off his hat for the stranger. He saw three labouring boys about the same place laughing most heartily together, but the moment they separated, they took off their caps to each other with the politest possible bow. Such is the general wellfounded system which binds altogether all classes of society. A very sensible series of remarks is made by the author on the great differences and its effects, of the treatment of a certain class of servants in Germany and England. The ladies, who form a good portion of the promenaders at the watering places, when they have children are generally accompanied by "nice, steady, healthylooking women, whose dress at once denotes their humble rank. The conduct of this servant he praises for its correctness and reserve, and the consequent approach to familiarity which the mistress allows is never abused. How different the case would be if such terms were permitted in England! Supposing that these young people were placed," says our author, on high wages

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"Of course, if these young people were placed on high w.ges-tricked out with all the cast-off finery of their mistresses-and if laden with these elements of corruption, and hopelessly banished from the presence of their superiors, they were, day after day, and night after night, to be stewed up together with stewards, butlers, &c., in the devil's frying pan -I mean, that den of narrow-minded iniquity, a housekeeper's room—

of course, these strong, bony, useful servants would very soon dress as finely, and give themselves all those airs for which an English lady'smaid is so celebrated even in her own country; but, in Germany, good sense and poverty have as yet firmly and rigidly prescribed, not only the dress which is to distinguish servants from their masters, but that, with every rational indulgence, with every liberal opportunity of raising themselves in their own estimation, they shall be fed and treated in a manner and according to a scale, which, though superior, still bears a due relation to the humble station and habits in which they were born and bred."-pp. 84, 85.

One cannot help looking at a very peculiar advantage of the German system of treatment, inasmuch as in the humble hovel, to which, when married those menials must retire, they may be able to retain the improved manners, and graceful behaviour which they saw practised during the pleasant period of their servitude.

A strange custom is observed in the village which appears to be only a specimen of what prevails all over Germany. Every morning at half-past five, the sound of an immense wooden horn is heard throughout the village. It proceeds from the Schwein-general, or pig-herdsman, who thus collects the whole of the pigs, and leads them to a declivity outside the village. The ascent led to a part on which are strewed hot stones and dust, and here the pigs are allowed to employ themselves in lifting up the dust and stones with their snouts to search for roots. They are kept at this work for four hours, and then with a speed, of which hunger is alone the cause, they rush back to the village where the dinner trough is prepared for them. The same process is repeated in the evening, and in every town throughout Germany every day in the year. The number of pigs at the village of Langen-Schwalbach, was about one hundred and fifty. The Schwein-general received forty kreutzers (13d.) for each, every six months, so that his income amounted to 201. a-year, out of which he had to pay for the board, lodging, and clothing of two aide-de-camps.

The Lutheran church, and the new school of the village come in for a particular description from the author. The former we need not notice, but of the latter he states. "That the scholars consisted of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews blended together. Of the children whom he visited in the school-room, he gives the following pleasing account :

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Among these white-haired laddies, most of whom were from four to eight years of age, it was quite unnecessary to inquire which were the Jew boys, for there each stood, as distinctly marked as their race is all over the globe; yet I must acknowledge they were by far the handsomest children in the room, looking much more like Spaniards than Germans. The chamber full of little girls would have pleased anybody, so nicely were they dressed, and apparently so well-behaved. Several were exceedingly pretty children, and the garlands they held in their hands, the wreathes of roses which bloomed on their heads, and the