ing the solicitude of all the waiting hands in the establishment. A regiment of Cuirassiers of the Guard, en route for the manoeuvre-area the Explorers had just passed through, were billeted for the night in Nauen, and the officers of this corps d'élite were the principal guests in the hotel that the Explorers had themselves selected.

It so chanced that when the Explorers had finally decided upon their lepast, they turned to the man behind the bar, who spoke French, and demanded the exact distance by road between Nauen and the capital. Just as the question was asked, an officer of the Cuirassiers was passing. Seeing at a glance, even if the execrable French accent did not declare the fact, that the inquirers were English, he turned to the bar and said in perfect English, "The distance is thirty kilometres." He was duly thanked, but appeared to be as keen to continue the conversation as the Explorers were to have the natural indications of the road explained to them. In common : politeness the Major offered him a drink. This was refused, but a gold bejewelled cigarette-case was produced to further the acquaintance. The three travellers, somewhat sobered by the massive character of the cigarette-case, helped themselves demurely, bowing with a grace which their illassorted attire scarcely warranted. The Cuirassier officer then introduced himself, but so slurred his denomination that the travellers never caught his name. The next move was obvious. The Major invited him to join the Explorers at their dinner-table. The Cuirassier bowed politely, and regretted that he had already dined, but suggested that as the travellers were so kind, he would be glad to join them at the table, and would like to bring some of his brother officers who also spoke English. The incident was really very friendly and pleasing.

The three travellers occupied the table which had been prepared for them, and in a few minutes four stalwart Cuirassier officers came and joined them. There were mutual introductions, followed by a class of entertainment which at one time looked as if it would wreck all the well-laid plans which the Explorers had made to reach Berlin that night. The Cuirassiers insisted that they were the hosts as far as libations were concerned, and they hoped that their guests would join them in a beverage they affected themselves. This was a mixture of German champagne with claret,-a mixture which is most seductive to the taste, but against this seduction the uninitiated are warned. As is only proper on such occasions, the Explorers were not to be outdone by the aborigines, and bowl after bowl of this "Cuirassier punch" disappeared with a rapidity which could have left nothing to be desired from a wine-merchant's standpoint. Half way through the séance, however, Birdie, who was possessed of a worldly wisdom which his youthful looks belied, had found it necessary to withdraw for the purpose of examining his car. Nothing could have been more fortunate than this withdrawal.

To many this little evening gathering may point a moral; but the moral that we are able to adduce from it is the one which remains uppermost in our minds after a close study of the German people in their homes-namely, that a very erroneous estimate exists in this country of the natural feelings of the German and his individual attitude towards Britishers. Those belonging to the ambitious classes, and certain of those of the commercial caste, may entertain some bitterness owing to the successes of this country, but as a whole the feeling is exactly the opposite; and, as is shown by this simple narrative, Englishmen conducting themselves with that decorum which

every country has a right to demand from its visitors, are received, not with sullen politeness, but with every charity and good-fellowship. We would ask our readers to picture in this country a similar circumstance, whereby three German explorers arrive in some garrison town and find the hotel filled with officers of a Household cavalry regiment. Would the fact that the three addressed the bar-tender in German prove so attractive to British officers that they would, in the first place, go out of their way to render the visitors every assistance, and, in the second, invite them to join in an evening's entertainment? We will not venture upon an answer ourselves.

The Major allowed that he was prepared to stay in Nauen for a night; but his subordinates, of whom Birdie was the most vigilant, maintained that it would be far better to carry out the original programme and make the capital. As soon as the Cuirassier hosts found that their visitors were determined to push on to the capital, they immediately advised upon the choice of a hotel, and to make sure that the Explorers should receive every attention, one of the officers wrote a letter to the manager of the Hotel B-.

At midnight the party broke up with the best of mutual understandings, and as Birdie let in the clutch the officers of the Cuirassiers gave the Explorers a hearty send-off. The journey through Spandau to Berlin was without incident worthy of record, except a note of admiration with regard to Birdie's driving. Whether it was the brilliant lighting as the car neared Berlin and

Blackwood's Magazine.

rushed along Charlottenburg Chaussee. or whether it was the kick in the "punch bowl," it is impossible to say. but Birdie as a driver showed a recklessness of spirit, tempered with a finish of execution, that he equalled on no other occasion during the whole journey. Only once he missed the way and took the car onto the pavement; that was just as he entered Unter den Linden.

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Two minutes later the car was brought to a standstill in front of the Hotel B. Three bright-visaged, but or less dishevelled Englishmen demanded a lodging from the night manager. Exquisitely dressed in a perfectly fitting frock-coat, the manager looked over the heads of the three wayfarers. He disreputable-looking

had no room, the hotel was packed. Then the Major bethought him of the letter which his late boon companions had pressed upon him.

"This," said the night manager, tak ing the envelope, "is addressed to the manager. I am only the night manager. Do you authorize me to open it?" The Major slightly nodded in assent. The magnificent flunkey tore the envelope and glanced down the page. One look at the signature and the starchiness in his attitude entirely dissolved. "I beg your pardon, sir. course we have room. If we had not. when Royalty commands us by letter we must obey. We make room. Gaspard, give these gentlemen 218, 219 and 220. I think you will find that you will be very comfortable. If you will come with me, sirs, I will personally conduct you to your suite."

Of

There is no more suitable appurtenance to the dignity and majesty of a Crown than a fine collection of pictures and other works of art. The existence of such a collection may be held to show that the sovereigns to whom it has in succession belonged have not only been influenced by the desire for possessing beautiful things, but have also extended to art and artists that patronage without which the fine arts would have been unable to thrive.

Popes, emperors and kings have from time to time reckoned it among their highest duties to be patrons of the fine arts, and the standard of excellence shown by a nation in the exercise of these arts may usually be accepted as a gauge of that nation's social and financial prosperity. The capitals of Europe for the most part contain collections of pictures which have been formed, and are still owned, by their royal or imperial governors, but which are now to a great extent devoted to the benefit of their people, serving also as an attraction for visitors from afar. Vienna, Dresden, Munich, Madrid, their very names suggest to many minds not only the great cities themselves, but the picture-galleries which they contain, and these galleries are all royal collections. These collections have, however, been dedicated, more or less permanently, to the service of the public, and are maintained for this purpose.

In England the history of the royal collection has followed a different line. From the outset the pictures and works of art have been the private property of the sovereigns, acquired for personal gratification, and for the adornment of the royal palaces. The bulk of these treasures has been handed on by each sovereign to his or her successor as an

appanage of the British Crown, and the additions made to them have varied according to the personal taste or habit of the particular sovereign who at the time might happen to be their proprietor. The ordinary ravages of time, cataclysms, such as the Civil War and the Puritan revolution, the negligence and indifference of one sovereign, or the careless generosity of another; all these causes have taken their toll from the royal collection. Yet, in spite of these ravages, few people would perhaps realize that King Edward VII. is the fortunate possessor of one of the finest collections of pictures in the world, and one which, if it could all be brought under one roof, would be a formidable rival to the National Gallery.

The existence of the National Gallery is in itself a proof of the difference in temperament between the British and other nations. As the great collections of pictures dispersed among the royal palaces on the continent of Europe became, owing to the liberality of their owners, more and more accessible to the outer world, a gradual process of national education set in, which has led to these collections being regarded as valuable assets of the nation's wealth. Napoleon, at the zenith of his career, sought to enhance his own and his country's glory by robbing other countries of their greatest treasures of art, even as the Roman conquerors despoiled Greece in ancient days. The outcry caused by this robbery, and the excitement caused by such an assemblage of masterpieces at Paris, contributed a great deal to stimulate the education of the public mind in the direction of the fine arts. After Napoleon's fall the nations of Europe clamored for the return of their treas

ures. It was one of the privileges of the British nation to take the leading part in the return of as many as possible of these pictures and works of art to their original homes, to be henceforth valued there and appreciated to a much higher degree than before.

On

Amid all this hurly-burly of falling thrones and exiled monarchs, it never occurred to the British nation to despoil their sovereign of his private property, as was the case elsewhere. the contrary, the nation set to work to collect pictures for itself, bought with public money for the public benefit. Thus grew up the National Gallery in London, a collection formed by the skill and knowledge of experts, and not due to the whims and fancies of any private owner. This example was to be followed later at Berlin, under even more favorable circumstances than in London. Where London and Berlin have led the way, in America New York and Boston are striving in healthy rivalry to follow.

It thus came about that the pictures belonging to the British Crown remained for the most part practically unknown and inaccessible to the public eye. For many years the sovereign had no fixed residence. William III. abandoned Whitehall as a royal residence after the disastrous fires at the end of the seventeenth century, and the royal palace there soon ceased to exist. William and Mary, and their successors, occupied Kensington Palace and Hampton Court Palace, but these in turn were abandoned by George III. George III. and Queen Charlotte contented themselves with a small palace at Kew, and a still smaller residence contiguous to, but outside, Windsor Castle. The purchase of Buckingham House as a London residence for Queen Charlotte gave the Court a pied-à-terre in London once more. George IV., as Prince Regent, had a fresh residence. allotted to him in London at Carlton,

at once to furnish the British Crown with a suitable abode. Windsor Castle was taken in hand by Wyatt in 1824, and not only encased externally in its present magnificent shell, but transformed internally into a palace suitable for the reception of the sovereign and his Court, and also for royal guests. Buckingham House was placed in the hands of Nash, and almost entirely rebuilt. Money flowed in streams, but the nation raised no definite objection. George IV. aspired to be not only the first gentleman in Europe, but the first sovereign, and it is strange, on looking back through his'tory, to see that at this date George IV. was the only monarch in Europe who could be said to be seated safely on his throne.

Meanwhile the royal collection of pictures was temporarily dispersed, and in some cases went to the wall; that is to say, when Windsor Castle and Buckingham House were dismantled, when Kew Palace and Carlton House were also abandoned and demolished, the pictures were either sent to Hampton Court Palace to be hung on the walls. where possible, or stacked away at Kensington Palace, or elsewhere, until the new palaces were completed.

George IV. did not live long enough to enjoy the splendor of his new residences, in which the pictures were gradually re-hung, under the superintendence of William Séguier. William IV. had a still shorter lease of life as king, and less opportunity for the en