doors of the Grande Salle-where files of Grenadiers and Courtiers wait to honour their Sovereign and his family with a salute as they pass-open into a beautiful garden, laid out in the English taste, which, in the long summer evenings affords a cool and delightful promenade, where the company

assemble and walk in the intervals between the acts. The musical performances are exquisitely tasteful and well managed. The premiere chanteuse is a pretty, interesting, woman, with a clear voice, of animating shrillness, and considerable compass, which she manages with a voluble ease, and accompanies by an air of hilarity and sentiment, which would gain her admirers in a more extended sphere: it would be diffi-cult to find a more scientific one. The Grand Duke, the Court, and the town, are just now rejoicing in the acquisition of Wild from Berlin, one of the first singers in Germany. The accessories of the little Theatre display taste and elegance; the scenery is sometimes little inferior, on a small scale, in good keeping, and splendid execution, to that of Covent Garden. Much of it is the work of Schön

berger, one of the first landscape painters in Germany, the husband of Madame Marconi the singer. His scenes are far better than his pictures; though the last are not without genius, principally shown in exhibiting the varied effects of sunlight upon scenery. The Germans call him their Claude, with not half the reason that Turner has been sometimes flattered by the title of the English Claude. The merchants of Frankfort, and the courtiers of Darmstadt, who agree about as cordially as commercial solidity and aristocratic elegance generally do, mutually boast the pre-eminence of their respective orchestras. Impartial critics appear to decide that the performers at Darmstadt are more equal, more judiciously assorted, like the hounds. of Theseus,

"Match'd in mouth like bells each under each :"

but that the Orchestra of Frankfort contains individual musicians of musicians of greater genius.

The Grand Duchess of Hesse, who has survived the bloom of female charms, has been one of the most celebrated of Ger

GRAND DUCHESS OF HESSE.

29

man beauties. The pictures of her in her youth are exquisitely lovely; and her person has still remains of dignity and grace. Her manners are affable, gay and obliging. To a natural grace and vivacity, she adds an acquaintance with elegant literature and a refinement of taste. She is mistress in an eminent degree of all the amiable attentions and politenesses which acquire popularity in the circles of a Court, and unites with them a kindness and friendliness of disposition which gain her much affection.

I rejoiced to have an opportunity of becoming acquainted, at Darmstadt, with one of the most distinguished women, and the wife of the most popular Prince of Germany--Louisa, Grand Duchess of Saxe Weimar. She is the sister of the Grand Duke of Hesse, the friend and patron of Schiller, Wieland, Goethe, and Herder. Though one of the smallest of the German States, the character of the Prince and Princess, and of the enlightened men whom they have assembled around them, has spread the name of Weimar throughout Europe. A literary Court is no slight

phenomenon in a country where the line of demarcation between talent and fashion is generally very broad, and where the Court society is often as elegant and superficial as many of the professors and men of letters are deficient in the graces of manner and of breeding. The Grand Duchess of Weimar, in addition to her literary accomplishments, has displayed qualities which rank her much above a mere savante. Owing to her undaunted persuasions, the Grand Duke was prevented from allying himself with Buonaparte, in despair of the utility of any other conduct. After the battle of Jena had decided the fate of the north of Germany, when the Grand Duke was still absent with his army, the Duchess remained in Weimar. On the approach of the French, headed by Napoleon, the poor deserted women, children, and inhabitants of the town all flocked to the Castle for safety. The gates were opened to them, and the Grand Duchess sheltered and protected them with the kindness of a mother. On Napoleon's entry, he summoned her Royal Highness to abandon the Castle and attend him. She refused;

HER CONDUCT TOWARDS NAPOLEON. 31

The

and an order for the pillage of the palace and town was instantly issued. Duchess remained firm; determined, if possible, to avert this fate from her little Capital. Her efforts were crowned with success, and her dignified firmness even at last induced the Emperor to wait on her in person. The interview between Napoleon and the Grand Duchess might have afforded a subject not unworthy of the historical painter. Her noble deportment and energetic reasonings wrought upon the conqueror, and induced him to withdraw his cruel order:

Oppressors big with pride, when she appear'd, Blush'd and believed their greatness counterfeit. The Grand Duchess underwent the severest hardships for the accomplishment of her admirable purpose; remaining shut up in the castle with her helpless subjects for several days, almost without the bare necessaries of life. A triumph like this, of the energy of female character, over animosity, pride, and military violence, is one of those rare examples which occasionally occur to tinge history with a tone of romance.