Times are altered since Louis XIV. was instructed by his
tutor, as he looked out on a crowd of people, "These are all yours;"
and since he said, "_L'elot, c'est moi_"
Our guide seemed to feel bound, however, to exhaust himself in
comparison of our defects with their excellences.
"Some Prussians went over to America to live," he said, "and had to
come back again; they could not live there."
"Why not?" said I.
"O, they said there was nothing done there but working and going to
church!"
"That's a fact," said W., with considerable earnestness.
"Yes," said our guide; "they said we have but one life to live, and we
want to have some comfort in it."
It is a curious fact, that just in proportion as a country is free and
self-governed it has fewer public amusements. America and Scotland
have the fewest of any, and Italy the most. Nevertheless, I am far
from thinking that this is either necessary or desirable: the subject
of providing innocent public amusements for the masses is one that we
ought seriously to consider. In Berlin, and in all other German
cities, there are gardens and public grounds in which there are daily
concerts of a high order, and various attractions, to which people can
gain admittance for a very trifling sum.
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