her household orders, and she promised to follow me to the next village in an hour with the parrot.  I went on in advance with my little dog Peps, in order to hire a carriage in which to proceed on our journey to Chemnitz.  It was a smiling spring morning when I traversed for the last time the paths I had so often trod on my lonely walks, with the knowledge that I should never wander along them again.  While the larks were soaring to dizzy heights above my head, and singing in the furrows of the fields, the light and heavy artillery did not cease to thunder down the streets of Dresden.  The noise of this shooting, which had continued uninterruptedly for several days, had hammered itself so indelibly upon my nerves, that it continued to re-echo for a long time in my brain; just as the motion of the ship which took me to London had made me stagger for some time afterwards.  Accompanied by this terrible music, I threw my parting greeting to the towers of the city that lay behind me, and said to myself with a smile, that if, seven years ago, my entry had taken place under thoroughly obscure auspices, at all events my exit was conducted with some show of pomp and ceremony.

When at last I found myself with Minna in a one-horse carriage on the way to the Erzgebirge, we frequently met armed reinforcements on their way to Dresden.  The sight of them always kindled an involuntary joy in us; even my wife could not refrain from addressing words of encouragement to the men; at present it seemed not a single barricade had been lost.  On the other hand, a gloomy impression was made upon us by a company of regulars which was making its way towards Dresden in silence.  We asked some of them whither they were bound; and their answer, ’To do their duty,’ had been obviously impressed upon them by command.  At last we reached my relations in Chemnitz.  I terrified all those near and dear to me when I declared my intention to return to Dresden on the following day at the earliest possible hour, in order to ascertain how things were going there.  In spite of all attempts to dissuade me, I carried out my decision, pursued by a suspicion that I should meet the armed forces of the Dresden people on the country highroad in the act of retreat.  The nearer I approached the capital, the stronger became the confirmation of the rumours that, as yet, there was no thought in Dresden of surrender or withdrawal, but that, on the contrary, the contest was proving very favourable for the national party.  All this appeared to me like one miracle after another.  On this day, Tuesday, 9th of May, I once more forced my way in a high state of excitement over ground which had become more and more inaccessible.  All the highways had to be avoided, and it was only possible to make progress through such houses as had been broken through.  At last I reached the Town Hall in the Altstadt, just as night was falling.  A truly terrible spectacle met my eyes, for I crossed those parts of the town in which preparations had been made