dictated by torture. One thing is quite clear, they did not form into any fixed bands, and their secret intercourse was carried on through the medium of signs, which were scratched or cut on striking places, such as inns, walls, doors, &c. These signs were partly primitive German personal tokens, which, as house-marks, may still be found on the gables of old buildings, but partly also in rogues' marks. Above all, there was the characteristic sign of the Strollers, the arrow, once the signal announcing enmity; the direction of his arrow shows the way which the marker has taken; small perpendicular strokes on it, often with ciphers above, give probably the number of persons. These signs are to be found sometimes still on the trees and walls of the high-roads, and it betokens now, as it did then, to the members of the band, that the initiated has passed that way with his followers. In addition to the indigenous rovers came also foreign ones; as in the middle ages, a stream of Italian adventurers again flowed through Germany. Together with the German player rose the cry of the Italian orvietan (Venice treacle) vendor, and side by side with the Bohemian bear were the camels of Pisa. The marvellous Venetian remedies and the harlequin jacket, mask, and felt cap of the Italian fool wandered over the Alps, and were added as new fooleries to our old stock. The Italian, Garzoni, has given a lively picture of the proceedings of these strollers in his book, 'Piazza Universale,' a description of all the arts and handicrafts of his time. His work was translated in 1641, into German by Matthäus Merian, under the title of 'General Theatre of all Arts, Professions, and Handicrafts.' The description of the Italian portrays also in its chief features the condition of Western Germany after the war. The following extract is given according to Merian's German translation:--