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8

DOMESTIC MANNERS OV THE PlrtJSSIANS.

carpet must expect to pay higher for the rarity; and thosewho prefer a bedstead somewhat bigger than a plate-chestmust makc up their minds to find the total inflamed by theirobjection to sleep in a tool-box. For the sum we have named,Hoffmann supplies all but crockery and cooking Utensils,finding linen, and washing the same (though our compatriotsmust be prepared for Rhenish astonishment if they think itneeessary to have their bed-linen changed oftener than oncea-month), and providing plate — real " Germern ; " for ofcourse, in the land of nickel, we are sure to be suppliedwith the true " white copper," rather than silver forks.

At the above-mentioned terms, however, an Englishfamily may be tolerably lodged in the Rhenish capital; andthey will find on entering their make-shift home that, in addi-tion to their " flat," they are the temporary proprietors of acellar on the basement and a servants' room in the attics, andare entitled to a share in a " bleaching-ground," or grass-plot,about the size of the top of a billiard-table, at the back of thepremises. They will then begin to understand, for the firsttime in their lives, the misery of stairs held on the communisticprinciple, and the barbarous inconvenience of living in a houseas destitute of cisterns as the deserts of Arabia ; as well as thenasal annoyance of having to keep the dust and ashes andrefuse of the place in a barrel by them, tili the " schmuz-karren " comes round for the hoard the next morning.

Moreover, if the Engländer go into Prussian society, hewill have an opportunity of comparing the furniture of hisown rooms with that even of the Graffs in the town; andthough the comforts of his hired residence may be scanty,compared with what he has been aecustomed to at home, theywill appear almost luxurious in his eyes when he comes to con-trast them with those of the Counts round about him: for hewill find even the drawing-rooms of the Prussian nobles tricked