Geske.  I swear, Henrich, that I won’t give you away.

Henrich.  There’s a college that meets every day—­Collegium Politicum, they call it—­where a dozen or more people come together and chatter about affairs of state.

Geske.  Where does the meeting take place?

Henrich.  You mustn’t call it a meeting, it is a Collegium.

Geske.  Where does the Collegium meet, then?

Henrich.  It meets in turn, now at one member’s house, now at another’s.  To-day—­don’t tell on me—­it will meet here.

Geske.  Ha, ha!  Now I understand why he wants to have me out to-day calling on Arianke, the smith’s wife.

Henrich.  You might go out, but come back in an hour and surprise them.  Yesterday this Collegium of theirs met at Jens the tavern-keeper’s.  I saw them all there sitting at a table, and the master at the head of it.

Geske.  Did you know any of them?

Henrich.  I should say I did—­all of them.  Let me see:  master and the tavern-keeper makes two, and Franz the cutler, three; Christopher the painter, four; Gilbert the paper-hanger, five; Christian the dyer, six; Gert the furrier, seven; Henning the brewer, eight; Sivert the baggage inspector, nine; Niels the clerk, ten; David the schoolmaster, eleven; and Richard the brushmaker, twelve.

Antonius.  They are fine fellows to discuss affairs of state!  Didn’t you hear what they talked about?

Henrich.  I heard well enough, but I understood very little.  I heard them depose emperors and kings and electors, and set up others in their places.  Then they talked about excise and consumption, about the stupid people who were in the council, and about the development of Hamburg and the promotion of trade; they looked things up in books and traced things out on maps.  Richard the brushmaker sat with a toothpick in his hand; so I think he must be the secretary of their council.

Antonius.  Ha, ha, ha!  The first time I see him I shall certainly say, “Good-day, Mr. Secretary!”

Henrich.  Yes, but don’t you give me away.  To the devil with fellows who put down kings and princes and even burgomaster and council!

Geske.  Does my husband join in the talk, too?

Henrich.  Not much.  He just sits and ponders and takes snuff while the others talk, and when they have talked it all out, he gives his decision.

Geske.  Didn’t he see you there?

Henrich.  He didn’t see me because I was in another room, but if he had, his dignity wouldn’t have allowed him to recognize me, for he had the air of a colonel, or of the first burgomaster when he gives audience to a minister.  As soon as people get into colleges they gather a sort of mist before their eyes, and they can’t see even their best friends.

Geske.  Oh, unfortunate creature that I am!  That husband of mine will surely get us into trouble if the burgomaster and the council find he is setting up to reform the government.  The good gentlemen don’t want any reform here in Hamburg.  You just see if we don’t have a guard in front of the house before we know it, and my poor Herman von Bremen will be dragged off to jail.