I am much pleased with the little I have seen of the German women. They
appear to be extremely well educated. I observe many of them in their
morning walks with a book in their hand either of poetry or a novel.
Schiller is the favourite poet among them and Augustus Lafontaine the
favourite novel writer.[25] He is a very agreeable author were he not so
prolix; yet we English have no right to complain of this fault, since there
is no novel in all Germany to compare in point of prolixity with Clarissa,
Sit Charles Grandison, or Tom Jones. The great fault of Augustus Lafontaine
is that of including in one novel the history of two or three generations.
A beautiful and very interesting tale of his, however, is entirely free
from this defect and is founded on a fact. It is called _Dankbarkeit und
Liebe_ (Gratitude and Love). There is more real pathos in this novelette
than in the _Nouvelle Heloise_ of Rousseau.
EHRENBREITSTEIN, 8 July.
After a _sejour_ of three days at Godesberg, we left that delightful
residence and proceeded to Neuwied to deposit the boys. We stopped,
however, for an hour or two at Andernach, which is situated in a beautiful
valley on the left bank.
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