_Thursday, December 8th._--Some one asked at dinner how the question of Emperor and Empire now stood. The Chief replied _inter alia_: “We have had a great deal of trouble with it in the way of telegrams and letters. But after all Holnstein has done the greater part of the work. He is a clever fellow, and not in the least spoilt by or prepossessed in favour of Court manners.” Putbus asked what position he held. “Master of the Horse. He showed himself very willing and energetic, making the journey to Munich and back in six days. In the present condition of the railways that requires a great deal of good will. Of course he has the necessary physique. Indeed, not merely to Munich, but to Hohenschwangau,--and there saw the King who had just been operated under chloroform for a tumour in the gum. But King Lewis also greatly contributed to the speedy settlement of the matter. He received the letter immediately, and at once gave a definite answer. He might easily have said that he must first take some fresh air in the mountains, and would answer in three or four days. The Count has certainly done us a very good service in the affair; but I really do not know how we can reward him.” I forget how the conversation came to deal with the terms “Swell,” “Snob,” and “Cockney,” which were the subject of much discussion. The Chief mentioned a certain diplomat as a “swell,” and observed: “It is really a capital word, but we cannot translate it into German. ‘_Stutzer_,’ perhaps, but that conveys at the same time pompousness and self-importance. ‘Snob’ is something quite different, while it is also very difficult for us to render properly. It denotes a variety of attributes, but principally one-sidedness, narrowness, slavery to local or class prejudices, philistinism. A ‘snob’ is something like our ‘_Pfalbürger_,’ yet not quite. It includes also a petty conception of family interests, political narrow-mindedness, rigid adherence to ideas and habits that have become a second nature. There are also female snobs and very distinguished ones. The feminine half of our Court are snobs. Our two most exalted ladies are snobs. The male element is not snobbish. One may also talk of party snobs--those who in larger political issues cannot emancipate themselves from the rules that govern private conduct--the ‘Progressist snob.’ The cockney again is quite another person. That term applies more particularly to Londoners. There are people there who have never been outside their own walls and streets, never got away from the brick and mortar, who have never seen life anywhere else nor travelled beyond the sound of Bow Bells. We have also Berliners who have never left their city. But Berlin is a small place compared to London, or even Paris, which has also its cockneys, although they are known by another name there. There are hundreds of thousands in London who have never seen anything but London. In such great cities conceptions are formed which permeate