“Generally speaking I cannot praise too highly the extraordinary courtesy and kindness of English people, which far surpass what I had expected; even the poor people are pleasant, very unassuming, and easy to get on with when one talks to them.  Those who come much into intercourse with strangers—­cab-drivers, porters, etc.—­naturally have a tendency to extortion, but soon give in when they see that one understands the language and customs and is determined not to be put upon.  Generally I find the life much cheaper than I expected.”

In 1844, his sister, to whom he was passionately devoted, was married to an old friend, Oscar von Arnim.  Never did an elder brother write to his young sister more delightful letters than those which she received from him; from them we get a pleasant picture of his life at this time.  Directly after the wedding, when he was staying with his father at Schoenhausen, he writes: 

“Just now I am living here with my father, reading, smoking, and walking; I help him to eat lamperns and sometimes play a comedy with him which it pleases him to call fox-hunting.  We start out in heavy rain, or perhaps with 10 degrees of frost, with Ihle, Ellin, and Karl; then in perfect silence we surround a clump of firs with the most sportsmanlike precautions, carefully observing the wind, although we all, and probably father as well, are absolutely convinced that there is not a living creature in it except one or two old women gathering firewood.  Then Ihle, Karl, and the two dogs make their way through the cover, emitting the most strange and horrible sounds, especially Ihle; father stands there motionless and on the alert with his gun cocked, just as though he really expected to see something.  Ihle comes out just in front of him, shouting ’Hoo lala, hey heay, hold him, hie, hie,’ in the strangest and most astonishing manner.  Then father asks me if I have seen nothing, and I with the most natural tone of astonishment that I can command, answer ‘No, nothing at all.’  Then after abusing the weather we start off to another wood, while Ihle with a confidence that he assumes in the most natural manner praises its wealth in game, and there we play over the game again dal segno.  So it goes on for three or four hours; father’s, Ihle’s, and Fingal’s passion does not seem to cool for a moment.  Besides that, we look at the orange house twice a day and the sheep once a day, observe the four thermometers in the room once every hour, set the weather-glass, and, since the weather has been fine, have set all the clocks by the sun and adjusted them so closely that the clock in the dining-room is the only one which ever gives a sound after the others have struck.  Charles V. was a stupid fellow.  You will understand that with so multifarious an occupation I have little time left to call on the clergymen; as they have no vote for the election it was quite impossible.

“The Elbe is full of ice, the wind