signature either the visa may be refused, or the validity of the passport questioned abroad. Travellers about to proceed to Russia, Turkey, and Portugal, can have their passports visé at the undermentioned places respectively: for Russia, at the Russian Consulate, 32 Great Winchester Street; for Turkey, at the Turkish Embassy, 1 Bryanstone Square; and for Portugal, at the Portuguese Consulate, 5 Jeffrey's Square.

Travellers who may have any intention to visit the Russian empire at any time in the course of their travels, are particularly and earnestly advised not to quit England without having had their passports visé at the Russian Consulate in London.

MODEL FORM OF CERTIFICATE OF IDENTITY, to be written out in full, signed and sealed by the person giving it; and also by the person in whose behalf it is granted.

(Date of place and day of the month).

The undersigned, mayor of (magistrate, justice of the peace, minister, physician, surgeon, solicitor or notary, as the case may be), residing hereby certifies that A. B. (Christian

at

and surname to be written at length), whose signature is written at foot, a British subject,

a naturalized British subject,

him

to proceed to

to travel on the Continent

and requires a passport to enable

(accompanied, as the case may be, by

his wife and children, with their tutor, named C. D. (Christian and sur

name to be written at length),

governess, and

a British subject,

a naturalized British subject maid servant [or servants, and

and

man servant] for servants], named E. F., a British subject [or subjects], and a courier, named G. H., a naturalized British subject).

(Seal).

Signed.....

(With the usual signature).

Signature of the above-named...

Persons preparing to travel may be spared the necessity of personal attendance at the Foreign Office and of procuring visas, by employing one of the London Passport Agents, who, on being apprized that the application has been forwarded to the Foreign Office, will at once procure the passport and the necessary visas. Edward Stanford, 55 Charing Cross, is a Passport Agent, and will give any required information.

IT

EXPENSES.

T is impossible to estimate the expenses of travelling in Europe, as they must depend upon the habits and means of the traveller, and the rapidity with which he travels. Those who travel in the first class, and live at the best hotels, will expend from onethird to one-half more than those who travel in the second class and

content themselves with more modest lodgings. Hotel charges in the large cities of Great Britain and the Continent are very nearly the same. Single persons occupying a bed-chamber without sittingroom may live very comfortably at first-class hotels at from 3 doìlars to 4 dollars, say 15s. or 18 francs per day, though pension_for a stay can generally be had at much less, say 10s. to 12s. per day. Very comfortable accommodation may be had in good hotels of the second class for 2 dollars, or say 8s. or 10 francs per day, lodging and meals included. Very comfortable bed-rooms are to be found at many large hotels in London, on the upper floors (to be always conveniently reached by the lift, or ascending room) for 3s 6d. per day; service is charged 1s. 6d. per day. A plain breakfast may be had for 2s., lunch for 2s., and a dinner by the carte at from 3s. 6d. to 5s.; or say, taking the larger estimate, 12s. 6d. per day, equal to 3 dollars. At Paris and in other large cities on the Continent, one may live very comfortably at hotels of the first class for 2 dollars 50 cents. to 3 dollars, or 12 to 15 francs per day, but for this price a bed chamber only could be afforded; a salon, or sittingroom, adds from 10 to 15 francs per day to this price. Very comfortable board may be had in respectable boarding-houses, or pensions, in London and Paris, for 10 francs per day, including room, service, and meals. Respectable pensions in Paris receive boarders even at 8 francs per day.

One may estimate the average cost of travelling on the Continent, in the first class, by express trains, at 5 francs per hour. For instance, the fare from Paris to Cologne, 11 hours, is 67 francs 15 centimes; from Paris to Frankfort, vid Strasburg or Cologne, 16 hours, it is 81 francs 15 centimes. In France and in other countries on the Continent, the express trains generally consist of first-class carriages only. The fares in the second class are about one-fourth less, and in the third class about one-half less than in the first class. Railway fares are about 25 per cent. higher in Great Britain than on the Continent.

The entire expenses of a person travelling first class, making the usual stops to visit objects of interest on the route, may be put down at 40s., or 10 dollars per day in Great Britain, and 8 dollars per day in other parts of Europe. Travellers going in the second or third class upon the railways, and seeking the smaller or more economical hotels, or who reside in pensions in the large towns, may travel for one-third less. The author has known many respectable tourists who have made extensive tours in Europe at an average cost of 5 dollars per day. One need not be ashamed to travel in the way indicated, if it is necessary to do so. Many very respectable persons travel in third-class cars. An eminent American scholar, who made an extensive tour in Germany not long since, informed the author that he travelled in the third class as the best means of coming in contact with the learned men of the country. He found professors and students frequently, if not generally, travelling in the cars of that class.

A

BAGGAGE.

GREAT diversity exists in the advice given by writers of guide-books as to the amount of baggage to be carried by tourists. On the ocean steamers no limit is made, and whatever may be the rules of the different steamship companies on the

subject, practically the passenger is allowed to carry all the personal baggage he may desire. On land, however, it is quite different, the quantity allowed to each traveller being strictly limited, and the carriage of the excess being charged for at high rates.

On the Rhine railways, and on most of the railways of Germany, a charge is made for all baggage except such as is placed within the carriage; a carpet bag or other article of baggage small enough to go easily underneath the seat, or to be placed upon the racks inside the carriage, is carried without charge. (An ordinary hand-trunk, eighteen or twenty inches in length, and not more than nine inches in height, will go underneath the seats of railway carriages.) Persons who can travel with such articles of baggage as can be conveniently carried in the hand will save much expense, to say nothing of the annoyance of being obliged to be early at stations for the purpose of registering packages, and the greater annoyance of waiting half-an-hour or more after their arrival at their journey's end until all the baggage in the train is assorted and ready for delivery. On the other hand, one who travels with so limited a supply of impedimenta must obviously submit to many inconveniences and discomforts for want of requisite supplies of clothing and other necessaries. The only proper advice to be given to travellers is to take as little as possible, but not to leave behind, for fear of annoyance and a little extra expense, comforts and necessaries to which they are accustomed at home, and the want of which will be more than ever felt abroad.

CUSTOM HOUSES.

ERSONS carrying personal baggage only have little to fear in their encounters with Customs' officials in any part of Europe. In Great Britain, tobacco, wines, and spirits, and American or other reprints of English books, are the chief objects of search. It is presumed that no traveller will have more than enough of the two former for his own proper use, and if he desires to prevent their confiscation, he will leave the latter at home. The same scrutiny is observed on the Continent as to tobacco and spirits. In the examination, both in Great Britain and on the Continent, the officers rarely examine more than a single package of the baggage of each passenger or party, and that examination is politely made. Civility and a readiness on the part of the passenger to submit to the requirements of the law will ensure civility in return. It is well for travellers making their first tour to impress this fact upon their minds; nothing is gained by treating with discourtesy or petulance officers charged by law with the performance of a disagreeable duty. Persons who have in their possession articles subject to duty, or as to which there exists any doubt on this point, will do better to frankly exhibit them to the officer, and submit patiently to his decision.

A

COURIERS.

GREAT diversity of opinion exists among travellers in relation to the employment of couriers, or travelling servants. The author has heard many travellers of experience, who could well afford to employ them, declare that they would on no

account do so; and he has heard many others, similarly situated as to means, declare that on no account would they travel without one. After more than ten years of travelling in Europe, sometimes with and sometimes without a courier, the author ventures the opinion that, while to single gentlemen, or to small parties of gentlemen in health, the services of a courier will hardly repay the cost, to parties which include ladies or children his services, if he is intelligent and faithful, are most valuable, and, if the expense can be afforded, should be secured. Besides acting as interpreter, he attends to the purchase of tickets, the registration of baggage, and the securing of eligible places in trains, duties which, at crowded stations and in the hurry and confusion of departure, most travellers are glad to delegate. It is his duty to select the hotels at which his employer is to lodge, to secure rooms, to attend to the delivery of baggage, to adjust hotel and other bills, to act as valet de place in cities and places of interest, and to perform generally all the duties of a personal servant. It is easy to see, from this brief catalogue of his duties, that if they are faithfully performed he will save his employer much discomfort and annoyance. Respectable couriers (and it is best always to exact certificates of character as well as skill) may be had at from £10 to £12 per month. Besides their wages, their fares must be paid (they expect to go in the second class if the trains on which they travel contain cars of that class), and though they always claim that they are free guests at hotels, or that they pay their own hotel expenses, there is good ground for believing that the employer pays for this in the increased rate of charges which he finds in his bill.

THE

RAILWAY TRAVELLING.

HE author is well aware that a majority of English and American travellers will not stop to inquire in relation to any class of conveyance upon railways or otherwise, except the first class. It will interest many travellers, however, to know that on many routes in Great Britain the cars of the second class (which are to be found on all trains) are very nearly as comfortable as those of the first, the principal difference being in the curtains and carpeting. For several years improvements have been constantly made in the second class cars in Great Britain, especially upon the through express trains. The difference in price between the various classes is considerable, and many well-to-do Englishmen travel in the second and even in the third class. The second-class cars in Belgium and France are very nearly equal, and those in Germany and Switzerland are fully equal, in point of comfort, to most first-class cars in England. On several of the great French railways the through express trains are made up of first-class carriages only. In Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy second-class carriages accompany all trains. Travellers wishing to take the second class in France must therefore content themselves with a diminished rate of speed. In travelling from Paris or any other place in France into Germany by express trains, the traveller may purchase a mixed ticket, entitling him to travel in the first class to the frontier, and thence to his destination in the second. Very few Germans travel in the first class in their own country, the cars of that class being given up to

foreigners. It is stated on good authority that out of every 100 travellers upon the German railways, 4 travel in the first class, 26 in the second, and 70 in the third class.

It would be impossible, in a work of this character, to give reliable information as to the hours of the departure of the trains. Although changes in the running of trains are much less frequent than in America, they are sometimes made; and the traveller, to avoid all difficulty on this score, should, on his entrance into each country, purchase at the first railway station the local railway timetables, which are always to be had for a trifle. In England, "Bradshaw's Railway Guide" (not to be confounded with "Bradshaw's Continental Guide "); in France, "Chaix's Indicateur des Chemins de Fer;" in Germany, "Hendschel's Telegraph," are the best.

In Great Britain, France, and Switzerland, compartments are set apart for persons who wish to smoke, and no smoking is allowed in any other, except with the consent of the occupants. The guard will always interfere to prevent smoking in the other compartments if he is requested to do so. In Germany, smoking is allowed in all carriages which are not designated by the officers of the train or placarded, "For those who do not smoke" (Fur Nichtraucher). Tourists can save a good deal of trouble and expense by obtaining the Circular Tickets of Messrs THOMAS COOK & SONS of London and New York, who are always able and willing at the same time to afford travellers much valuable information.

TH

HOTELS.

HE names of hotels are inserted in the " HOTEL LIST " following page 13, ante. The characters of hotels are given either from the author's own knowledge, or from that of respectable persons who are well known to him. Where changes for the better may have occurred in any hotel not favourably noticed, the author, on receiving satisfactory evidence through his publishers of such improvement, will be glad to make the proper corrections in future editions.

It is advisable, before reaching any town where the traveller is to stop, to fix upon the hotel at which he intends to reside, and on coming out of the railway station, or on leaving a steamer, to at once call for the porter of that hotel. This announcement will relieve him from the clamours of the mob of porters and touters who in many places attend upon the arrivals of trains and steamers.

66

Having reached the hotel, the tourist will find it to his advantage to ask to be shown the apartment which the hotel-keeper proposes to assign to him, and to ask the price, if even for one day; and this before the baggage is deposited in the hotel and the cab has been sent away. Phillips, in his recently-published Guide," says on this point, "It is always prudent to ask, and, if need be, discuss the price of apartments before occupying them. In order that the amour propre of my reader may not be wounded, let me say that this precaution is now the mode; the English, who are wise tourists, aving given us the excellent example." If any traveller will take the trouble to test the efficacy of this advice, he will be surprised to see how much the course here recommended will diminish his daily expenditure. There is no impropriety in asking the price of enter