After a delightful drive, we returned to the chateau, passing under the ramparts of the garden, which, lying on the slope of the hill, are banked up in such a manner as to form a succession of nearly level terraces. These are laid out in parterres, ornamented with statues and fragments, &c. In the centre of these, a circular wooden tower rises to a great height, forming a conspicuous object from all the neighbouring country, over which the gallery on its summit commands a most extensive view. The walls of this tower are of open work, and, as well as the winding staircase within, are said to be a _chêf d’œuvre_ of carpentry. As it was growing late, I was obliged to decline my host’s invitation to visit his farm in the valley below; and having, with the assistance of one of his young pages, saddled my horse, I took leave, and returned to Strytem highly pleased with my excursion. A few days afterwards the Marquis sent me a bundle of papers containing the history of Gaesbeke and its counts; but being unable from want of leisure to copy any of it, I can only remember that the chateau was built about the middle of the thirteenth century by one of the Counts of Brabant, of whom it long continued to be the principal residence. Of the present proprietor I could learn little except what was imparted by himself during our ride, in substance as follows:--Paul Acornati Visconti, an Italian by birth, inherits Gaesbeke in right of his mother, and by the father’s side is of the celebrated family of Visconti of Milan. Early in life he entered the Austrian army, and served as lieutenant and captain of Hungarian hussars during the Seven Years’ War. At the peace of 1763, finding himself free, and in possession of a princely fortune, he gave himself up to his vagabond propensities, and passed his time in wandering over Europe, &c. &c. In this way he ran over all Germany, France, and much of Russia and Poland; traversed Denmark, Sweden, and Lapland as far as the North Cape. Either Dr Clarke or Acerbi mentions meeting him at Tornea, or having heard of him there. He then visited the British Islands, where he remained some time (I think he told me he had been twelve times to England), extending his wanderings to the remotest corners of Ireland, the Highlands of Scotland, and the Western Isles. Here (in England) he became acquainted with many of our celebrated characters--civil, military, and literary--of whose intimacy he was not a little proud. He was delighted with England and its inhabitants, but his fondness for both yielded to the unaccountable mania with which he was subsequently seized for Turkey, the Turks, their manners, their institutions, and everything belonging to them; and after a prolonged residence amongst them, only returned to his own country when the management of his extensive estates in Italy and the Pays Bas imperatively required his presence. What his religious sentiments might have been I know not, but in