F.
Lemaitre--_Bon voyage_ to the Allies--Return to England.
I left Dresden on the 2nd March, 1819. A _Landkutsche_ conveyed me as far
as Leipzig in a day and half, stopping the first night at Oschaly, where
there is a good inn. At Leipzig I put up at the _Hotel de Baviere_ and
remained five days. Leipzig is a fine old Gothic city. It is, as everybody
knows, famous for its University and its Fair, which is held twice a year,
in spring and in autumn, and which is the greatest mart for books perhaps
in the world. The University of Leipzig and indeed all the Universities of
Germany are in bad repute among the _Obscuranten_ and _eteignoirs_ of the
day, on account of the liberal ideas professed by the teachers and
scholars. In the University of Leipzig every thing may be learned by those
who chuse to apply, but those who prefer remaining idle may do so, as there
is less compulsion than at the English Universities. There is however such
a national enthusiasm for learning, in all parts of Germany, that the most
careless and ill-disposed youth would never be about to support the
ridicule of his fellow students were he backward in obtaining prizes, but
after all I have heard of the dissipation, lawlessness, and want of
discipline at Leipzig, I can safely affirm that all these stories are
grossly exaggerated: and I fancy there is little other dissipation going
forward than amours with _Stubenmaedchen_.
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