A stranger's first impression on landing at the old town of Hamburg is decidedly unfavourable; the most prominent objects remind him of the worst parts of Rotterdam, narrow streets and stagnant canals, redolent of those exhalations so offensive to a sensitive nasal organ; but on ascending the new town, he is agreeably pleased by a succession of clean wide streets, with handsome well-built houses, which sufficiently indicate that they belong to a rich, populous city.

As a commercial town, Hamburg has the advantage of being situated upon three navigable rivers, the Elbe, Alster, and Bille. Antiquarians pretend it is the Marionis of the Greeks, and the Grambriviorum of the Latins, that Jupiter Ammon was adored there, and hence the origin of its name, Ammonia. Be this as it may, it is now, owing to its advantageous position, (being in a manner the gate to the whole of Northern Europe,) the first maritime and commercial city in the Germanic Empire. Of the hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, who form the population, eight thousand are Jews: the latter I should judge to be the most despised of all the tribes of the house of Israel, for they are treated on every occasion, by their fellow citizens, with as much contumely as the negroes on the other side of the Atlantic by brother Jonathan.

Hamburg is honoured with the appellation of free! but it would almost seem as if the epithet were bestowed in derision; for being one of the Lilliputian members of the Germanic confederation, she is subject to the decisions of that despotic assembly, however tyrannical they may be, and in few German towns have I wit

nessed a more rigid enforcement of the censorship of the press. In consequence of her commercial relations, she is so entirely under foreign influence, and so foreign in her manners, feelings and attachments, that she can scarcely be called German.

The military contingent of the little republic is fourteen hundred, besides the national guards, and a corps of police, about four hundred: the latter are extremely well organized, perform the duties of firemen, and watch the rise and fall of the Elbe, whose inundations are frequent and sudden: a pillar with an inscription informs us of the height this river attained during the dreadful inundation of 1771, which laid nearly the whole town under water. In consequence of this fearful calamity, a most humane law has been enacted, making it compulsory upon those who inhabit the upper part of a house, to receive, as inmates, the sick and children of those who dwell in the cellars. I need scarcely add, that the lower part of the houses are all tenanted by the poor.

Hamburg does not contain a single public edifice of striking architectural beauty: the Exchange is an elegant building, but by no means splendid; and the Orphan-house is merely celebrated as a benevolent institution. Among the churches, the most worthy of observation is St. Michael's, whose beautiful spire is fifty feet higher than St. Paul's of London. It is peculiary well adapted for astronomical observations, and commands a very extensive prospect, which a clear May evening afforded me an opportunity of enjoying to perfection. Altona and Hamburg lay beneath me, around which

gardens, parterres, groves, orchards, and pretty villas, were charmingly mingled. The majestic Elbe, studded with verdant islands, was seen winding its course through the immense plain; it was high tide, and numerous vessels, with their broad pennons gracefully waving in the breeze, floated in and out of the harbour. On the opposite coast lay the level country of Hanover, bounded at the dim horizon by a chain of hills, and the indistinct outline of the towers of Lunebourg. Towards the Baltic the view is not less extensive, comprising part of the plains of Holstein and Lauenburg, with the town of Lubeck. The landscape is altogether so delightful, that no traveller will regret the ascent, but he must be accompanied by fine weather and a good glass.

The most fashionable part of the town is on the banks of the Alster; here the river forms a basin, called the binnen Alster, so extensive that it occupies half an hour to complete the circuit, and on a summer's evening, when the vast lake is covered by so large an assemblage of gaily painted boats as to resemble a regatta, and the citizens in their best attire are enjoying the cool breezes on its shores, or crowding the numerous coffee-houses that surround it, my readers may easily imagine that few cities possess a more agreeable promenade than Hamburg.

To form an idea of the good things consumed by the well-fed Burghers of this flourishing city, a traveller should visit the principal market-place, and the banks of the Elbe, early in the morning: he will then see the harbour literally covered with boats, laden with such

provisions as would tempt the appetite of the most fastidious epicure,-Elbe salmon, oysters and lobsters from the German ocean, haddocks, &c. from the Baltic, beef and mutton from the fat prairies of Holstein, game from the neighbouring forests, together with the produce of her own territory, the "Vierländer," which are said to rival the Egyptian Delta in fertility.

The inhabitants of these fortunate little islands, the "Vierländer," are most primitive in their habits and manners, and are said to be very wealthy; they regard strangers with jealousy, and invariably intermarry with each other. The married women frequent the market, to sell the produce of the dairy and poultry-yard; while the young damsels are the flower-merchants, they are every where distinguished by their variegated costume, which is generally a violet-coloured petticoat, bordered with black ribbon, and stomachers composed of a mixture of red and green: the maidens wear their hair long and plaited, and a Turk would be in raptures on beholding them, for their good-humoured faces, shaded by broad straw hats, appear round and rosy as the full moon,-in short, whoever delights in contemplating the beauties of Rubens, may here find them in perfection. The men are as easily discoverable by their darkcoloured tight jackets, and small-clothes of most ample dimensions, and globular form: these are confined at the knees, where they are met by tight, black boots, contrived it would seem for the purpose of exhibiting to the best advantage the spindle-like proportions of the limbs they encase. A broad hat, in the Quaker style, completes their costume.

While visiting the market, I observed a curious custom prevalent among the maid-servants: after depositing their purchases in long narrow baskets, they cover them with a printed cotton shawl of the brightest colours: thus equipped, the pretty damsels look as if each was carrying under her arms a baby in a cradle, enveloped in a gay quilt. The rosy plumpness of these lasses sufficiently indicates that they feed on other viands than salad or saurekraut; they are, I presume, somewhat fastidious, for a friend informed me some few years since they made such forcible remonstrances to the Burgomaster, that it was found necessary to pass a law, interdicting masters from compelling their servants