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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Views a-foot, by J. Bayard Taylor
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Views a-foot
+
+Author: J. Bayard Taylor
+
+Release Date: March 10, 2004  [eBook #11535]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VIEWS A-FOOT***
+
+
+
+Produced by Maria Paola Andreoni, Carlo Traverso
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+This file was produced from images generously made available by the
+Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr. 
+
+
+
+
+
+                            VIEWS A-FOOT;
+
+                                  OR
+
+                 EUROPE SEEN WITH KNAPSACK AND STAFF.
+
+                                  BY
+
+                          J. BAYARD TAYLOR.
+
+                    WITH A PREFACE BY N.P. WILLIS.
+
+
+                 "Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way,
+                    And merrily hent the stile-a;
+                   A merry heart goes all the day,
+                     Your sad tires in a mile-a."
+
+                                      _Winter's Tale_.
+
+
+
+                            IN TWO PARTS.
+
+                               PART I.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+      Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by
+
+                          WILEY AND PUTNAM,
+
+ in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for
+                  the Southern District of New York.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+BY N.P. WILLIS.
+
+
+The book which follows, requires little or no introduction. It tells its
+own story, and tells it well. The interest in it, which induces the
+writer of this preface to be its usher to the public, is simply that of
+his having chanced to be among the first appreciators of the author's
+talent--an appreciation that has since been so more than justified, that
+the writer is proud to call the author of this book his friend, and
+bespeak attention to the peculiar energies he has displayed in travel
+and authorship. Mr. Taylor's poetical productions while he was still a
+printer's apprentice, made a strong impression on the writer's mind, and
+he gave them their due of praise accordingly in the newspaper of which
+he was then Editor. Some correspondence ensued, and other fine pieces of
+writing strengthened the admiration thus awakened, and when the young
+poet-mechanic came to the city, and modestly announced the bold
+determination of visiting foreign lands--with means, if they could be
+got, but with reliance on manual labor if they could not--the writer,
+understanding the man, and seeing how capable he was of carrying out his
+manly and enthusiastic scheme, and that it would work uncorruptingly for
+the improvement of his mind and character, counselled him to go. He
+went--his book tells how successfully for all his purposes. He has
+returned, after two years' absence, with large knowledge of the world,
+of men and of manners, with a pure, invigorated and healthy mind, having
+passed all this time abroad, and seen and accomplished more than most
+travelers, _at the cost of only $500, and this sum earned on the road_.
+This, in the writer's opinion, is a fine instance of character and
+energy. The book, which records the difficulties and struggles of a
+printer's apprentice achieving this, must be interesting to Americans.
+The pride of the country is in its self-made men.
+
+What Mr. Taylor is, or what he is yet to become, cannot well be touched
+upon here, but that it will yet be written, and on a bright page, is, of
+course, his own confident hope and the writer's confident expectation.
+The book, which is the record of his progress thus far, is now cordially
+commended to the public, and it will be read, perhaps, more
+understandingly after a perusal of the following outline sketch of the
+difficulties the author had to contend with--a letter written in reply
+to a note from the writer asking for some of the particulars of his
+start and progress:
+
+  _To. Mr. Willis_,--
+
+  MY DEAR SIR:--
+
+  Nearly three years ago (in the beginning of 1844) the time for
+  accomplishing my long cherished desire of visiting Europe, seemed to
+  arrive. A cousin, who had long intended going abroad, was to leave
+  in a few months, and although I was then surrounded by the most
+  unfavorable circumstances, I determined to accompany him, at
+  whatever hazard. I had still two years of my apprenticeship to serve
+  out; I was entirely without means, and my project was strongly
+  opposed by my friends, as something too visionary to be
+  practicable. A short time before, Mr.  Griswold advised me to
+  publish a small volume of youthful effusions, a few of which had
+  appeared in Graham's Magazine, which he then edited; the idea struck
+  me, that by so doing, I might, if they should be favorably noticed,
+  obtain a newspaper correspondence which would enable me to make the
+  start.
+
+  The volume was published; a sufficient number was sold among my
+  friends to defray all expenses, and it was charitably noticed by the
+  Philadelphia press. Some literary friends, to whom I confided my
+  design, promised to aid me with their influence. Trusting to this, I
+  made arrangements for leaving the printing-office, which I succeeded
+  in doing, by making a certain compensation for the remainder of my
+  time. I was now fully confident of success, feeling satisfied, that
+  a strong will would always make itself a way. After many
+  applications to different editors and as many disappointments, I
+  finally succeeded, about two weeks before our departure, in making a
+  partial engagement.  Mr. Chandler of the United States Gazette and
+  Mr. Patterson of the Saturday Evening Post, paid me fifty dollars,
+  each, in advance for twelve letters, to be sent from Europe, with
+  the probability of accepting more, if these should be
+  satisfactory. This, with a sum which I received from Mr. Graham for
+  poems published in his Magazine, put me in possession of about a
+  hundred and forty dollars, with which I determined to start,
+  trusting to future remuneration for letters, or if that should fail,
+  to my skill as a compositor, for I supposed I could at the worst,
+  work my way through Europe, like the German hand werker.  Thus, with
+  another companion, we left home, an enthusiastic and hopeful trio.
+
+  I need not trace our wanderings at length. After eight months of
+  suspense, during which time my small means were entirely exhausted,
+  I received a letter from Mr. Patterson, continuing the engagement
+  for the remainder of my stay, with a remittance of one hundred
+  dollars from himself and Mr. Graham. Other remittances, received
+  from time to time, enabled me to stay abroad two years, during which
+  I traveled on foot upwards of three thousand miles in Germany,
+  Switzerland, Italy and France. I was obliged, however, to use the
+  strictest economy--to live on pilgrim fare, and do penance in rain
+  and cold. My means several times entirely failed; but I was always
+  relieved from serious difficulty through unlooked-for friends, or
+  some unexpected turn of fortune. At Rome, owing to the expenses and
+  embarrassments of traveling in Italy, I was obliged to give up my
+  original design of proceeding on foot to Naples and across the
+  peninsula to Otranto, sailing thence to Corfu and making a
+  pedestrian journey through Albania and Greece. But the main object
+  of my pilgrimage is accomplished; I visited the principal places of
+  interest in Europe, enjoyed her grandest scenery and the marvels of
+  ancient and modern art, became familiar with other languages, other
+  customs and other institutions, and returned home, after two years'
+  absence, willing now, with satisfied curiosity, to resume life in
+  America.
+
+  Yours, most sincerely,
+
+  J. BAYARD TAYLOR.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+I.--The Voyage
+
+II.--A Day in Ireland
+
+III.--Ben Lomond and the Highland Lakes
+
+IV.--The Burns' Festival
+
+V.--Walk from Edinburgh over the Border and arrival at London
+
+VI.--Some of the "Sights" of London
+
+VII.--Flight through Belgium
+
+VIII.--The Rhine to Heidelberg
+
+IX.--Scenes in and around Heidelberg
+
+X.--A Walk through the Odenwald
+
+XI.--Scenes in Frankfort--An American Composer--The Poet Freiligrath
+
+XII.--A week among the Students
+
+XIII.--Christmas and New Year in Germany
+
+XIV.--Winter in Frankfort--A Fair, an Inundation and a Fire
+
+XV.--The Dead and the Deaf--Mendelssohn the Composer
+
+XVI.--Journey on Foot from Frankfort to Cassel
+
+XVII.--Adventures among the Hartz
+
+XVIII.--Notes in Leipsic and Dresden
+
+XIX.--Rambles in the Saxon Switzerland
+
+XX.--Scenes in Prague
+
+XXI.--Journey through Eastern Bohemia and Moravia to the Danube
+
+XXII.--Vienna
+
+XXIII.--Up the Danube
+
+XXIV.--The Unknown Student
+
+XXV.--The Austrian Alps
+
+XXVI.--Munich
+
+XXVII.--Through Wurtemberg to Heidelberg
+
+XXVIII.--Freiburg and the Black Forest
+
+XXIX.--People and Places in Eastern Switzerland
+
+XXX.--Passage of the St Gothard and descent into Italy
+
+XXXI.--Milan
+
+XXXII.--Walk from Milan to Genoa
+
+XXXIII.--Scenes in Genoa, Leghorn and Pisa
+
+XXXIV.--Florence and its Galleries
+
+XXXV.--A Pilgrimage to Vallombrosa
+
+XXXVI.--Walk to Siena and Pratolino--Incidents in Florence
+
+XXXVII.--American Art in Florence
+
+XXXVIII.--An Adventure on the Great St. Bernard--Walks around Florence
+
+XXXIX.--Winter Traveling among the Appenines
+
+XL.--Rome
+
+XLI.--Tivoli and the Roman Campagna
+
+XLII.--Tivoli and the Roman Campagna (_continued_)
+
+XLIII.--Pilgrimage to Vaucluse and Journey up the Rhone
+
+XLIV.--Traveling in Burgundy--The Miseries of a Country Diligence
+
+XLV.--Poetical Scenes in Paris
+
+XLVI.--A Glimpse of Normandy
+
+XLVII.--Lockhart, Bernard Barton and Croly--London Chimes and Greenwich
+Fair
+
+XLVIII.--Homeward Bound--Conclusion
+
+
+
+
+TO
+
+FRANK TAYLOR,
+
+THESE RECORDS OF THE PILGRIMAGE,
+
+WHOSE TOILS AND ENJOYMENTS WE HAVE SHARED TOGETHER,
+
+ARE
+
+AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED,
+
+BY
+
+HIS RELATIVE AND FRIEND.
+
+
+
+
+VIEWS A-FOOT.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+THE VOYAGE.
+
+An enthusiastic desire of visiting the Old World haunted me from early
+childhood. I cherished a presentiment, amounting almost to belief, that
+I should one day behold the scenes, among which my fancy had so long
+wandered. The want of means was for a time a serious check to my
+anticipations; but I could not content myself to wait until I had slowly
+accumulated so large a sum as tourists usually spend on their travels.
+It seemed to me that a more humble method of seeing the world would
+place within the power of almost every one, what has hitherto been
+deemed the privilege of the wealthy few. Such a journey, too, offered
+advantages for becoming acquainted with people as well as places--for
+observing more intimately, the effect of government and education, and
+more than all, for the study of human nature, in every condition of
+life. At length I became possessed of a small sum, to be earned by
+letters descriptive of things abroad, and on the 1st of July, 1844, set
+sail for Liverpool, with a relative and friend, whose circumstances were
+somewhat similar to mine. How far the success of the experiment and the
+object of our long pilgrimage were attained, these pages will show.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    LAND AND SEA.
+
+    There are springs that rise in the greenwood's heart,
+      Where its leafy glooms are cast,
+    And the branches droop in the solemn air,
+      Unstirred by the sweeping blast.
+    There are hills that lie in the noontide calm,
+      On the lap of the quiet earth;
+    And, crown'd with gold by the ripened grain,
+      Surround my place of birth.
+
+    Dearer are these to my pining heart,
+      Than the beauty of the deep,
+    When the moonlight falls in a bolt of gold
+      On the waves that heave in sleep.
+    The rustling talk of the clustered leaves
+      That shade a well-known door,
+    Is sweeter far than the booming sound
+      Of the breaking wave before.
+
+    When night on the ocean sinks calmly down,
+      I climb the vessel's prow,
+    Where the foam-wreath glows with its phosphor light,
+      Like a crown on a sea-nymph's brow.
+    Above, through the lattice of rope and spar,
+      The stars in their beauty burn;
+    And the spirit longs to ride their beams,
+      And back to the loved return.
+
+    They say that the sunset is brighter far
+      When it sinks behind the sea;
+    That the stars shine out with a softer fire--
+      Not thus they seem to me.
+    Dearer the flush of the crimson west
+      Through trees that my childhood knew.
+    When the star of love with its silver lamp,
+      Lights the homes of the tried and true!
+
+Could one live on the sense of beauty alone, exempt from the necessity
+of "creature comforts," a sea-voyage would be delightful. To the
+landsman there is sublimity in the wild and ever-varied forms of the
+ocean; they fill his mind with living images of a glory he had only
+dreamed of before. But we would have been willing to forego all this and
+get back the comforts of the shore. At New York we took passage in the
+second cabin of the Oxford, which, as usual in the Liverpool packets,
+consisted of a small space amid-ships, fitted up with rough, temporary
+berths. The communication with the deck is by an open hatchway, which in
+storms is closed down. As the passengers in this cabin furnish their
+own provisions, we made ourselves acquainted with the contents of
+certain storehouses on Pine St. wharf, and purchased a large box of
+provisions, which was stowed away under our narrow berth. The cook, for
+a small compensation, took on himself the charge of preparing them, and
+we made ourselves as comfortable as the close, dark dwelling would
+admit.
+
+As we approached the Banks of Newfoundland, a gale arose, which for two
+days and nights carried us on, careering Mazeppa-like, up hill and down.
+The sea looked truly magnificent, although the sailors told us it was
+nothing at all in comparison with the storms of winter. But we were not
+permitted to pass the Banks, without experiencing one of the calms, for
+which that neighborhood is noted. For three days we lay almost
+motionless on the glassy water, sometimes surrounded by large flocks of
+sea-gulls. The weed brought by the gulf stream, floated around--some
+branches we fished up, were full of beautiful little shells. Once a
+large school of black-fish came around the vessel, and the carpenter
+climbed down on the fore-chains, with a harpoon to strike one. Scarcely
+had he taken his position, when they all darted off in a straight line,
+through the water, and were soon out of sight. He said they smelt the
+harpoon.
+
+We congratulated ourselves on having reached the Banks in seven days, as
+it is considered the longest third-part of the passage. But the hopes of
+reaching Liverpool in twenty days, were soon overthrown. A succession of
+southerly winds drove the vessel as far north as lat. 55 deg., without
+bringing us much nearer our destination. It was extremely cold, for we
+were but five degrees south of the latitude of Greenland, and the long
+northern twilights came on. The last glow of the evening twilight had
+scarcely faded, before the first glimmering of dawn appeared. I found it
+extremely easy to read, at 10 P.M., on the deck.
+
+We had much diversion on board from a company of Iowa Indians, under the
+celebrated chief "White Cloud," who are on a visit to England. They are
+truly a wild enough looking company, and helped not a little to relieve
+the tedium of the passage. The chief was a very grave and dignified
+person, but some of the braves were merry enough. One day we had a
+war-dance on deck, which was a most ludicrous scene. The chief and two
+braves sat upon the deck, beating violently a small drum and howling
+forth their war-song, while the others in full dress, painted in a
+grotesque style, leaped about, brandishing tomahawks and spears, and
+terminating each dance with a terrific yell. Some of the men are very
+fine-looking, but the squaws are all ugly. They occupied part of the
+second cabin, separated only by a board partition from our room. This
+proximity was any thing but agreeable. They kept us awake more than half
+the night, by singing and howling in the most dolorous manner, with the
+accompaniment of slapping their hands violently on their bare breasts.
+We tried an opposition, and a young German student, who was returning
+home after two years' travel in America, made our room ring with the
+chorus from Der Freischutz--but in vain. They _would_ howl and beat
+their breasts, and the pappoose _would_ squall. Any loss of temper is
+therefore not to be wondered at, when I state that I could scarcely turn
+in my berth, much less stretch myself out; my cramped limbs alone drove
+off half the night's slumber.
+
+It was a pleasure, at least, to gaze on their strong athletic frames.
+Their massive chests and powerful limbs put to shame our dwindled
+proportions. One old man, in particular, who seemed the patriarch of the
+band, used to stand for hours on the quarter deck, sublime and
+motionless as a statue of Jupiter. An interesting incident occurred
+during the calm of which I spoke. They began to be fearful we were
+doomed to remain there forever, unless the spirits were invoked for a
+favorable wind. Accordingly the prophet lit his pipe and smoked with
+great deliberation, muttering all the while in a low voice. Then, having
+obtained a bottle of beer from the captain, he poured it solemnly over
+the stern of the vessel into the sea. There were some indications of
+wind at the time, and accordingly the next morning we had a fine breeze,
+which the Iowas attributed solely to the Prophet's incantation and
+Eolus' love of beer.
+
+After a succession of calms and adverse winds, on the 25th we were off
+the Hebrides, and though not within sight of land, the southern winds
+came to us strongly freighted with the "meadow freshness" of the Irish
+bogs, so we could at least _smell_ it. That day the wind became more
+favorable, and the next morning we were all roused out of our berths by
+sunrise, at the long wished-for cry of "land!" Just under the golden
+flood of light that streamed through the morning clouds, lay afar-off
+and indistinct the crags of an island, with the top of a light-house
+visible at one extremity. To the south of it, and barely
+distinguishable, so completely was it blended in hue with the veiling
+cloud, loomed up a lofty mountain. I shall never forget the sight! As we
+drew nearer, the dim and soft outline it first wore, was broken into a
+range of crags, with lofty precipices jutting out to the sea, and
+sloping off inland. The white wall of the light-house shone in the
+morning's light, and the foam of the breakers dashed up at the foot of
+the airy cliffs. It was worth all the troubles of a long voyage, to feel
+the glorious excitement which this herald of new scenes and new
+adventures created. The light-house was on Tory Island, on the
+north-western coast of Ireland. The Captain decided on taking the North
+Channel, for, although rarely done, it was in our case nearer, and is
+certainly more interesting than the usual route.
+
+We passed the Island of Ennistrahul, near the entrance of Londonderry
+harbor, and at sunset saw in the distance the islands of Islay and Jura,
+off the Scottish coast. Next morning we were close to the promontory of
+Fairhead, a bold, precipitous headland, like some of the Palisades on
+the Hudson; the highlands of the Mull of Cantire were on the opposite
+side of the Channel, and the wind being ahead, we tacked from shore to
+shore, running so near the Irish coast, that we could see the little
+thatched huts, stacks of peat, and even rows of potatoes in the fields.
+It was a panorama: the view extended for miles inland, and the fields of
+different colored grain were spread out before us, a brilliant mosaic.
+Towards evening we passed Ailsa Crag, the sea-bird's home, within sight,
+though about twenty miles distant.
+
+On Sunday, the 28th, we passed the lofty headland of the Mull of
+Galloway and entered the Irish Sea. Here there was an occurrence of an
+impressive nature. A woman, belonging to the steerage, who had been ill
+the whole passage, died the morning before. She appeared to be of a very
+avaricious disposition, though this might indeed have been the result of
+self-denial, practised through filial affection. In the morning she was
+speechless, and while they were endeavoring to persuade her to give up
+her keys to the captain, died. In her pocket were found two parcels,
+containing forty sovereigns, sewed up with the most miserly care. It was
+ascertained she had a widowed mother in the north of Ireland, and
+judging her money could be better applied than to paying for a funeral
+on shore, the captain gave orders for committing the body to the waves.
+It rained drearily as her corpse, covered with starred bunting, was held
+at the gangway while the captain read the funeral service; then one
+plunge was heard, and a white object, flashed up through the dark
+waters, as the ship passed on.
+
+In the afternoon we passed the Isle of Man, having a beautiful view of
+the Calf, with a white stream tumbling down the rocks into the sea; and
+at night saw the sun set behind the mountains of Wales. About midnight,
+the pilot came on board, and soon after sunrise I saw the distant spires
+of Liverpool. The Welsh coast was studded with windmills, all in motion,
+and the harbor spotted with buoys, bells and floating lights. How
+delightful it was to behold the green trees on the banks of the Mersey,
+and to know that in a few hours we should be on land! About 11 o'clock
+we came to anchor in the channel of the Mersey, near the docks, and
+after much noise, bustle and confusion, were transferred, with our
+baggage, to a small steamboat, giving a parting cheer to the Iowas, who
+remained on board. On landing, I stood a moment to observe the scene.
+The baggage-wagons, drawn by horses, mules and donkeys, were
+extraordinary; men were going about crying "_the celebrated Tralorum
+gingerbread!_" which they carried in baskets; and a boy in the
+University dress, with long blue gown and yellow knee-breeches, was
+running to the wharf to look at the Indians.
+
+At last the carts were all loaded, the word was given to start, and
+then, what a scene ensued! Away went the mules, the horses and the
+donkeys; away ran men and women and children, carrying chairs and
+trunks, and boxes and bedding. The wind was blowing, and the dust
+whirled up as they dashed helter-skelter through the gate and started
+off on a hot race, down the dock to the depot. Two wagons came together,
+one of which was overturned, scattering the broken boxes of a Scotch
+family over the pavement; but while the poor woman was crying over her
+loss, the tide swept on, scarcely taking time to glance at the mishap.
+
+Our luggage was "passed" with little trouble; the officer merely opening
+the trunks and pressing his hands on the top. Even some American
+reprints of English works which my companion carried, and feared would
+be taken from him, were passed over without a word. I was agreeably
+surprised at this, as from the accounts of some travellers, I had been
+led to fear horrible things of custom-houses. This over, we took a
+stroll about the city. I was first struck by seeing so many people
+walking in the middle of the streets, and so many gentlemen going about
+with pinks stuck in their button-holes. Then, the houses being all built
+of brown granite or dark brick, gives the town a sombre appearance,
+which the sunshine (when there is any) cannot dispel. Of Liverpool we
+saw little. Before the twilight had wholly faded, we were again tossing
+on the rough waves of the Irish Sea.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+A DAY IN IRELAND.
+
+
+On calling at the steamboat office in Liverpool, to take passage to Port
+Rush, we found that the fare in the fore cabin was but two shillings and
+a half, while in the chief cabin it was six times as much. As I had
+started to make the tour of all Europe with a sum little higher than is
+sometimes given for the mere passage to and fro, there was no
+alternative--the twenty-four hours' discomfort could be more easily
+endured than the expense, and as I expected to encounter many hardships,
+it was best to make a beginning. I had crossed the ocean with tolerable
+comfort for twenty-four dollars, and was determined to try whether
+England, where I had been told it was almost impossible to breathe
+without expense, might not also be seen by one of limited means.
+
+The fore _cabin_ was merely a bare room, with a bench along one side,
+which was occupied by half a dozen Irishmen in knee-breeches and heavy
+brogans. As we passed out of the Clarence Dock at 10 P.M., I went below
+and managed to get a seat on one end of the bench, where I spent the
+night in sleepless misery. The Irish bestowed themselves about the floor
+as they best could, for there was no light, and very soon the Morphean
+deepness of their breathing gave token of blissful unconsciousness.
+
+The next morning was misty and rainy, but I preferred walking the deck
+and drying myself occasionally beside the chimney, to sitting in the
+dismal room below. We passed the Isle of Man, and through the whole
+forenoon were tossed about very disagreeably in the North Channel. In
+the afternoon we stopped at Larne, a little antiquated village, not far
+from Belfast, at the head of a crooked arm of the sea. There is an old
+ivy-grown tower near, and high green mountains rise up around. After
+leaving it, we had a beautiful panoramic view of the northern coast.
+Many of the precipices are of the same formation as the Causeway;
+Fairhead, a promontory of this kind, is grand in the extreme. The
+perpendicular face of fluted rock is about three hundred feet in height,
+and towering up sublimely from the water, seemed almost to overhang our
+heads.
+
+My companion compared it to Niagara Falls petrified; and I think the
+simile very striking. It is like a cataract falling in huge waves, in
+some places leaping out from a projecting rock, in others descending in
+an unbroken sheet.
+
+We passed the Giant's Causeway after dark, and about eleven o'clock
+reached the harbor of Port Rush, where, after stumbling up a strange old
+street, in the dark, we found a little inn, and soon forgot the Irish
+Coast and everything else.
+
+In the morning when we arose it was raining, with little prospect of
+fair weather, but having expected nothing better, we set out on foot for
+the Causeway. The rain, however, soon came down in torrents, and we were
+obliged to take shelter in a cabin by the road-side. The whole house
+consisted of one room, with bare walls and roof, and earthen floor,
+while a window of three or four panes supplied the light. A fire of peat
+was burning on the hearth, and their breakfast, of potatoes alone, stood
+on the table. The occupants received us with rude but genuine
+hospitality, giving us the only seats in the room to sit upon; except a
+rickety bedstead that stood in one corner and a small table, there was
+no other furniture in the house. The man appeared rather intelligent,
+and although he complained of the hardness of their lot, had no sympathy
+with O'Connell or the Repeal movement.
+
+We left this miserable hut, as soon as it ceased raining--and, though
+there were many cabins along the road, few were better than this. At
+length, after passing the walls of an old church, in the midst of older
+tombs, we saw the roofless towers of Dunluce Castle, on the sea-shore.
+It stands on an isolated rook, rising perpendicularly two hundred feet
+above the sea, and connected with the cliffs of the mainland by a narrow
+arch of masonry. On the summit of the cliffs were the remains of the
+buildings where the ancient lords kept their vassals. An old man, who
+takes care of it for Lord Antrim, on whose property it is situated,
+showed us the way down to the castle. We walked across the narrow arch,
+entered the ruined hall, and looked down on the roaring sea below. It
+still rained, the wind swept furiously through the decaying arches of
+the banqueting hall and waved the long grass on the desolate
+battlements. Far below, the sea foamed white on the breakers and sent up
+an unceasing boom. It was the most mournful and desolate picture I ever
+beheld. There were some low dungeons yet entire, and rude stairways,
+where, by stooping down, I could ascend nearly to the top of one of the
+towers, and look out on the wild scenery of the coast.
+
+Going back, I found a way down the cliff, to the mouth of a cavern in
+the rock, which extends under the whole castle to the sea. Sliding down
+a heap of sand and stones, I stood under an arch eighty feet high; in
+front the breakers dashed into the entrance, flinging the spray half-way
+to the roof, while the sound rang up through the arches like thunder. It
+seemed to me the haunt of the old Norsemen's sea-gods!
+
+We left the road near Dunluce and walked along the smooth beach to the
+cliffs that surround the Causeway. Here we obtained a guide, and
+descended to one of the caves which can be entered from the shore.
+Opposite the entrance a bare rock called Sea Gull Isle, rises out of the
+sea like a church steeple. The roof at first was low, but we shortly
+came to a branch that opened on the sea, where the arch was forty-six
+feet in height. The breakers dashed far into the cave, and flocks of
+sea-birds circled round its mouth. The sound of a gun was like a
+deafening peal of thunder, crashing from arch to arch till it rolled out
+of the cavern.
+
+On the top of the hill a splendid hotel is erected for visitors to the
+Causeway; after passing this we descended to the base of the cliffs,
+which are here upwards of four hundred feet high, and soon began to
+find, in the columnar formation of the rocks, indications of our
+approach. The guide pointed out some columns which appeared to have been
+melted and run together, from which Sir Humphrey Davy attributed the
+formation of the Causeway to the action of fire. Near this is the
+Giant's Well, a spring of the purest water, the bottom formed by three
+perfect hexagons, and the sides of regular columns. One of us observing
+that no giant had ever drunk from it, the old man answered--"Perhaps
+not: but it was made by a giant--God Almighty!"
+
+From the well, the Causeway commences--a mass of columns, from
+triangular to octagonal, lying in compact forms, and extending into the
+sea. I was somewhat disappointed at first, having supposed the Causeway
+to be of great height, but I found the Giant's Loom, which is the
+highest part of it, to be but about fifty feet from the water. The
+singular appearance of the columns and the many strange forms which they
+assume, render it nevertheless, an object of the greatest interest.
+Walking out on the rocks we came to the Ladies' Chair, the seat, back,
+sides and footstool, being all regularly formed by the broken columns.
+The guide said that any lady who would take three drinks from the
+Giant's Well, then sit in this chair and think of any gentleman for whom
+she had a preference, would be married before a twelvemonth. I asked him
+if it would answer as well for gentlemen, for by a wonderful coincidence
+we had each drank three times at the well! He said it would, and thought
+he was confirming his statement.
+
+A cluster of columns about half-way up the cliff is called the Giant's
+Organ--from its very striking resemblance to that instrument, and a
+single rock, worn by the waves into the shape of a rude seat, is his
+chair. A mile or two further along the coast, two cliffs project from
+the range, leaving a vast semicircular space between, which, from its
+resemblance to the old Roman theatres, was appropriated for that purpose
+by the Giant. Halfway down the crags are two or three pinnacles of rock,
+called the Chimneys, and the stumps of several others can be seen,
+which, it is said, were shot off by a vessel belonging to the Spanish
+Armada, in mistake for the towers of Dunluce Castle. The vessel was
+afterwards wrecked in the bay below, which has ever since been called
+Spanish Bay, and in calm weather the wreck may be still seen. Many of
+the columns of the Causeway have been carried off and sold as pillars
+for mantels--and though a notice is put up threatening any one with the
+rigor of the law, depredations are occasionally made.
+
+Returning, we left the road at Dunluce, and took a path which led along
+the summit of the cliffs. The twilight was gathering, and the wind blew
+with perfect fury, which, combined with the black and stormy sky, gave
+the coast an air of extreme wildness. All at once, as we followed the
+winding path, the crags appeared to open before us, disclosing a yawning
+chasm, down which a large stream, falling in an unbroken sheet, was lost
+in the gloom below. Witnessed in a calm day, there may perhaps be
+nothing striking about it, but coming upon us at once, through the gloom
+of twilight, with the sea thundering below and a scowling sky above, it
+was absolutely startling.
+
+The path at last wound, with many a steep and slippery bend, down the
+almost perpendicular crags, to the shore, at the foot of a giant
+isolated rock, having a natural arch through it, eighty feet in height.
+We followed the narrow strip of beach, having the bare crags on one side
+and a line of foaming breakers on the other. It soon grew dark; a
+furious storm came up and swept like a hurricane along the shore. I then
+understood what Horne means by "the lengthening javelins of the blast,"
+for every drop seemed to strike with the force of an arrow, and our
+clothes were soon pierced in every part.
+
+Then we went up among the sand hills, and lost each other in the
+darkness, when, after stumbling about among the gullies for half an
+hour, shouting for my companions, I found the road and heard my call
+answered; but it happened to be two Irishmen, who came up and said--"And
+is it another gintleman ye're callin' for? we heard some one cryin', and
+didn't know but somebody might be kilt."
+
+Finally, about eleven o'clock we all arrived at the inn, dripping with
+rain, and before a warm fire concluded the adventures of our day in
+Ireland.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+BEN LOMOND AND THE HIGHLAND LAKES.
+
+
+The steamboat Londonderry called the next day at Port Rush, and we left
+in her for Greenock. We ran down the Irish coast, past Dunluce Castle
+and the Causeway; the Giant's organ was very plainly visible, and the
+winds were strong enough to have sounded a storm-song upon it. Farther
+on we had a distant view of Carrick-a-Rede, a precipitous rock,
+separated by a yawning chasm from the shore, frequented by the catchers
+of sea-birds. A narrow swinging bridge, which is only passable in calm
+weather, crosses this chasm, 200 feet above the water.
+
+The deck of the steamer was crowded with Irish, and certainly gave no
+very favorable impression of the condition of the peasantry of Ireland.
+On many of their countenances there was scarcely a mark of
+intelligence--they were a most brutalized and degraded company of
+beings. Many of them were in a beastly state of intoxication, which,
+from the contents of some of their pockets, was not likely to decrease.
+As evening drew on, two or three began singing and the others collected
+in groups around them. One of them who sang with great spirit, was
+loudly applauded, and poured forth song after song, of the most rude and
+unrefined character.
+
+We took a deck passage for three shillings, in preference to paying
+twenty for the cabin, and having secured a vacant place near the
+chimney, kept it during the whole passage. The waves were as rough in
+the Channel as I ever saw them in the Atlantic, and our boat was tossed
+about like a plaything. By keeping still we escaped sickness, but we
+could not avoid the sight of the miserable beings who filled the deck.
+Many of them spoke in the Irish tongue, and our German friend (the
+student whom I have already mentioned) noticed in many of the words a
+resemblance to his mother tongue. I procured a bowl of soup from the
+steward, but as I was not able to eat it, I gave it to an old man whose
+hungry look and wistful eyes convinced me it would not be lost on him.
+He swallowed it with ravenous avidity, together with a crust of bread,
+which was all I had to give him, and seemed for the time as happy and
+cheerful as if all his earthly wants were satisfied.
+
+We passed by the foot of Goat Fell, a lofty mountain on the island of
+Arran, and sped on through the darkness past the hills of Bute, till we
+entered the Clyde. We arrived at Greenock at one o'clock at night, and
+walking at random through its silent streets, met a policeman, whom we
+asked to show us where we might find lodgings. He took my cousin and
+myself to the house of a poor widow, who had a spare bed which she let
+to strangers, and then conducted our comrade and the German to another
+lodging-place.
+
+An Irish strolling musician, who was on board the Dumbarton boat,
+commenced playing soon after we left Greenock, and, to my surprise,
+struck at once into "Hail Columbia." Then he gave "the Exile of Erin,"
+with the most touching sweetness; and I noticed that always after
+playing any air that was desired of him, he would invariably return to
+the sad lament, which I never heard executed with more feeling. It might
+have been the mild, soft air of the morning, or some peculiar mood of
+mind that influenced me, but I have been far less affected by music
+which would be considered immeasurably superior to his. I had been
+thinking of America, and going up to the old man, I quietly bade him
+play "Home." It thrilled with a painful delight that almost brought
+tears to my eyes. My companion started as the sweet melody arose, and
+turned towards me, his face kindling with emotion.
+
+Dumbarton Rock rose higher and higher as we went up the Clyde, and
+before we arrived at the town I hailed the dim outline of Ben Lomond,
+rising far off among the highlands. The town is at the head of a small
+inlet, a short distance from the rock, which was once surrounded by
+water. We went immediately to the Castle. The rock is nearly 500 feet
+high, and from its position and great strength as a fortress, has been
+called the Gibraltar of Scotland. The top is surrounded with
+battlements, and the armory and barracks stand in a cleft between the
+two peaks. We passed down a green lane, around the rock, and entered the
+castle on the south side. A soldier conducted us through a narrow cleft,
+overhung with crags, to the summit. Here, from the remains of a round
+building, called Wallace's Tower, from its having been used as a
+look-out station by that chieftain, we had a beautiful view of the whole
+of Leven Vale to Loch Lomond, Ben Lomond and the Highlands, and on the
+other hand, the Clyde and the Isle of Bute. In the soft and still
+balminess of the morning, it was a lovely picture. In the armory, I
+lifted the sword of Wallace, a two-handed weapon, five feet in length.
+We were also shown a Lochaber battle-axe, from Bannockburn, and several
+ancient claymores.
+
+We lingered long upon the summit before we forsook the stern fortress
+for the sweet vale spread out before us. It was indeed a glorious walk,
+from Dumbarton to Loch Lomond, through this enchanting valley. The air
+was mild and clear; a few light clouds occasionally crossing the sun,
+chequered the hills with sun and shade. I have as yet seen nothing that
+in pastoral beauty can compare with its glassy winding stream, its mossy
+old woods, and guarding hills--and the ivy-grown, castellated towers
+embosomed in its forests, or standing on the banks of the Leven--the
+purest of rivers. At a little village called Renton, is a monument to
+Smollett, but the inhabitants seem to neglect his memory, as one of the
+tablets on the pedestal is broken and half fallen away. Further up the
+vale a farmer showed us an old mansion in the midst of a group of trees
+on the bank of the Leven, which he said belonged to Smollett--or
+Roderick Random, as he called him. Two or three old pear trees were
+still standing where the garden had formerly been, under which he was
+accustomed to play in his childhood.
+
+At the head of Leven Vale, we set off in the steamer "Water Witch" over
+the crystal waters of Loch Lomond, passing Inch Murrin, the deer-park of
+the Duke of Montrose, and Inch Caillach,
+
+    ----"where gray pines wave
+    Their shadows o'er Clan Alpine's grave."
+
+Under the clear sky and golden light of the declining sun, we entered
+the Highlands, and heard on every side names we had learned long ago in
+the lays of Scott. Here were Glen Fruin and Bannochar, Ross Dhu and the
+pass of Beal-ma-na. Further still, we passed Rob Roy's rock, where the
+lake is locked in by lofty mountains. The cone-like peak of Ben Lomond
+rises far above on the right, Ben Voirlich stands in front, and the
+jagged crest of Ben Arthur looks over the shoulders of the western
+hills. A Scotchman on board pointed out to us the remarkable places, and
+related many interesting legends. Above Inversnaid, where there is a
+beautiful waterfall, leaping over the rock and glancing out from the
+overhanging birches, we passed McFarland's Island, concerning the origin
+of which name, he gave a history. A nephew of one of the old Earls of
+Lennox, the ruins of whose castle we saw on Inch Murrin, having murdered
+his uncle's cook in a quarrel, was obliged to flee for his life.
+Returning after many years, he built a castle upon this island, which
+was always after named, on account of his exile, _Far-land_. On a
+precipitous point above Inversnaid, are two caves in the rock; one near
+the water is called Rob Roy's, though the guides generally call it
+Bruce's also, to avoid trouble, as the real Bruce's Cave is high up the
+hill. It is so called, because Bruce hid there one night, from the
+pursuit of his enemies. It is related that a mountain goat, who used
+this probably for a sleeping place, entered, trod on his mantle, and
+aroused him. Thinking his enemies were upon him, he sprang up, and saw
+the silly animal before him. In token of gratitude for this agreeable
+surprise, when he became king, a law was passed, declaring goats free
+throughout all Scotland--unpunishable for whatever trespass they might
+commit, and the legend further says, that not having been repealed, it
+continues in force at the present day.
+
+On the opposite shore of the lake is a large rock, called "Bull's Rock,"
+having a door in the side, with a stairway cut through the interior to a
+pulpit on the top, from which the pastor at Arroquhar preaches a monthly
+discourse. The Gaelic legend of the rock is, that it once stood near the
+summit of the mountain above, and was very nearly balanced on the edge
+of a precipice. Two wild bulls, fighting violently, dashed with great
+force against the rock, which, being thrown from its balance, was
+tumbled down the side of the mountain, till it reached its present
+position. The Scot was speaking with great bitterness of the betrayal of
+Wallace, when I asked him if it was still considered an insult to turn a
+loaf of bread bottom upwards in the presence of a Montieth. "Indeed it
+is, sir," said he, "I have often done it myself."
+
+Until last May, travellers were taken no higher up the lake than Rob
+Roy's Cave, but another boat having commenced running, they can now go
+beyond Loch Lomond, two miles up Glen Falloch, to the Inn of Inverarnan,
+thereby visiting some of the finest scenery in that part of the
+Highlands. It was ludicrous, however, to see the steamboat on a river
+scarcely wider than herself, in a little valley, hemmed in completely
+with lofty mountains. She went on, however, pushing aside the thickets
+which lined both banks, and I almost began to think she was going to
+take the shore for it, when we came to a place widened out for her to be
+turned around in; here we jumped ashore in a green meadow, on which the
+cool mist was beginning to descend.
+
+When we arose in the morning, at 4 o'clock, to return with the boat, the
+sun was already shining upon the westward hills, scarcely a cloud was in
+the sky, and the air was pure and cool. To our great delight Ben Lomond
+was unshrouded, and we were told that a more favorable day for the
+ascent had not occurred for two months. We left the boat at Rowardennan,
+an inn at the southern base of Ben Lomond. After breakfasting on Loch
+Lomond trout, I stole out to the shore while my companions were
+preparing for the ascent, and made a hasty sketch of the lake.
+
+We purposed descending on the northern side and crossing the Highlands
+to Loch Katrine; though it was represented as difficult and dangerous by
+the guide who wished to accompany us, we determined to run the risk of
+being enveloped in a cloud on the summit, and so set out alone, the path
+appearing plain before us. We had no difficulty in following it up the
+lesser heights, around the base. It wound on, over rock and bog, among
+the heather and broom with which the mountain is covered, sometimes
+running up a steep acclivity, and then winding zigzag round a rocky
+ascent. The rains two days before, had made the bogs damp and muddy, but
+with this exception, we had little trouble for some time. Ben Lomond is
+a doubly formed mountain. For about three-fourths of the way there is a
+continued ascent, when it is suddenly terminated by a large barren
+plain, from one end of which the summit shoots up abruptly, forming at
+the north side, a precipice 500 feet high. As we approached the summit
+of the first part of the mountain, the way became very steep and
+toilsome; but the prospect, which had before been only on the south
+side, began to open on the east, and we saw suddenly spread out below
+us, the vale of Menteith, with "far Loch Ard and Aberfoil" in the
+centre, and the huge front of Benvenue filling up the picture. Taking
+courage from this, we hurried on. The heather had become stunted and
+dwarfish, and the ground was covered with short brown grass. The
+mountain sheep, which we saw looking at us from the rock above, had worn
+so many paths along the side, that we could not tell which to take, but
+pushed on in the direction of the summit, till thinking it must be near
+at hand, we found a mile and a half of plain before us, with the top of
+Ben Lomond at the farther end. The plain was full of wet moss, crossed
+in all directions by deep ravines or gullies worn in it by the mountain
+rains, and the wind swept across with a tempest-like force.
+
+I met, near the base, a young gentleman from Edinburgh, who had left
+Rowardennan before us, and we commenced ascending together. It was hard
+work, but neither liked to stop, so we climbed up to the first resting
+place, and found the path leading along the brink of a precipice. We
+soon attained the summit, and climbing up a little mound of earth and
+stones, I saw the half of Scotland at a glance. The clouds hung just
+above the mountain tops, which rose all around like the waves of a
+mighty sea. On every side--near and far--stood their misty summits, but
+Ben Lomond was the monarch of them all. Loch Lomond lay unrolled under
+my feet like a beautiful map, and just opposite, Loch Long thrust its
+head from between the feet of the crowded hills, to catch a glimpse of
+the giant. We could see from Ben Nevis to Ayr--from Edinburgh to Staffa.
+Stirling and Edinburgh Castles would have been visible, but that the
+clouds hung low in the valley of the Forth and hid them from our sight.
+
+The view from Ben Lomond is nearly twice as extensive as that from
+Catskill, being uninterrupted on every side, but it wants the glorious
+forest scenery, clear, blue sky, and active, rejoicing character of the
+latter. We stayed about two hours upon the summit, taking refuge behind
+the cairn, when the wind blew strong. I found the smallest of flowers
+under a rock, and brought it away as a memento. In the middle of the
+precipice there is a narrow ravine or rather cleft in the rock, to the
+bottom, from whence the mountain slopes regularly but steeply down to
+the valley. At the bottom we stopped to awake the echoes, which were
+repeated four times; our German companion sang the Hunter's Chorus,
+which resounded magnificently through this Highland hall. We drank from
+the river Forth, which starts from a spring at the foot of the rock, and
+then commenced descending. This was also toilsome enough. The mountain
+was quite wet and covered with loose stones, which, dislodged by our
+feet, went rattling down the side, oftentimes to the danger of the
+foremost ones; and when we had run or rather slid down the three miles,
+to the bottom, our knees trembled so as scarcely to support us.
+
+Here, at a cottage on the farm of Coman, we procured some oat cakes and
+milk for dinner, from an old Scotch woman, who pointed out the direction
+of Loch Katrine, six miles distant; there was no road, nor indeed a
+solitary dwelling between. The hills were bare of trees, covered with
+scraggy bushes and rough heath, which in some places was so thick we
+could scarcely drag our feet through. Added to this, the ground was
+covered with a kind of moss that retained the moisture like a sponge, so
+that our boots ere long became thoroughly soaked. Several considerable
+streams were rushing down the side, and many of the wild breed of black
+Highland cattle were grazing around. After climbing up and down one or
+two heights, occasionally startling the moorcock and ptarmigan from
+their heathery coverts, we saw the valley of Loch Con; while in the
+middle of the plain on the top of the mountain we had ascended, was a
+sheet of water which we took to be Loch Ackill. Two or three wild fowl
+swimming on its surface were the only living things in sight. The peaks
+around shut it out from all view of the world; a single decayed tree
+leaned over it from a mossy rock, which gave the whole scene an air of
+the most desolate wildness. I forget the name of the lake; but we
+learned afterwards that the Highlanders consider it the abode of the
+fairies, or "men of peace," and that it is still superstitiously shunned
+by them after nightfall.
+
+From the next mountain we saw Loch Ackill and Loch Katrine below, but a
+wet and weary descent had yet to be made. I was about throwing off my
+knapsack on a rock, to take a sketch of Loch Katrine, which appeared
+very beautiful from this point, when we discerned a cavalcade of ponies
+winding along the path from Inversnaid, to the head of the lake, and
+hastened down to take the boat when they should arrive. Our haste turned
+out to be unnecessary, however, for they had to wait for their luggage,
+which was long in coming. Two boatmen then offered to take us for two
+shillings and sixpence each, with the privilege of stopping at Ellen's
+Isle; the regular fare being two shillings. We got in, when, after
+exchanging a few words in Gaelic, one of them called to the travellers,
+of whom there were a number, to come and take passage at two
+shillings--then at one and sixpence, and finally concluded by requesting
+them all to step on board the shilling boat! At length, having secured
+nine at this reduced price, we pushed off; one of the passengers took
+the helm, and the boat glided merrily over the clear water.
+
+It appears there is some opposition among the boatmen this summer, which
+is all the better for travelers. They are a bold race, and still
+preserve many of the characteristics of the clan from which they sprung.
+One of ours, who had a chieftain-like look, was a MacGregor, related to
+Rob Roy. The fourth descendant in a direct line, now inhabits the Rob
+Roy mansion, at Glengyle, a valley at the head of the lake. A small
+steamboat was put upon Loch Katrine a short time ago, but the boatmen,
+jealous of this new invasion of their privilege, one night towed her out
+to the middle of the lake and there sunk her.
+
+Near the point of Brianchoil is a very small island with a few trees
+upon it, of which the boatman related a story that was new to me. He
+said an eccentric individual, many years ago, built his house upon
+it--but it was soon beaten down by the winds and waves. Having built it
+up with like fortune several times, he at last desisted, saying, "bought
+wisdom was the best;" since when it has been called the Island of
+Wisdom. On the shore below, the boatman showed us his cottage. The whole
+family were out at the door to witness our progress; he hoisted a flag,
+and when we came opposite, they exchanged shouts in Gaelic. As our men
+resumed their oars again, we assisted in giving three cheers, which made
+the echoes of Benvenue ring again. Some one observed his dog, looking
+after us from a projecting rock, when he called out to him, "go home,
+you brute!" We asked him why he did not speak Gaelic also to his dog.
+
+"Very few dogs, indeed," said he, "understand Gaelic, but they all
+understand English. And we therefore all use English when speaking to
+our dogs; indeed, I know some persons, who know nothing of English, that
+speak it to their dogs!"
+
+They then sang, in a rude manner, a Gaelic song. The only word I could
+distinguish was Inch Caillach, the burying place of Clan Alpine. They
+told us it was the answer of a Highland girl to a foreign lord, who
+wished to make her his bride. Perhaps, like the American Indian, she
+would not leave the graves of her fathers. As we drew near the eastern
+end of the lake, the scenery became far more beautiful. The Trosachs
+opened before us. Ben Ledi looked down over the "forehead bare" of Ben
+An, and, as we turned a rocky point, Ellen's Isle rose up in front. It
+is a beautiful little turquoise in the silver setting of Loch Katrine.
+The northern side alone is accessible, all the others being rocky and
+perpendicular, and thickly grown with trees. We rounded the island to
+the little bay, bordered by the silver strand, above which is the rock
+from which Fitz-James wound his horn, and shot under an ancient oak
+which flung its long grey arms over the water; we here found a flight of
+rocky steps, leading to the top, where stood the bower erected by Lady
+Willoughby D'Eresby, to correspond with Scott's description. Two or
+three blackened beams are all that remain of it, having been burned down
+some years ago, by the carelessness of a traveler.
+
+The mountains stand all around, like giants, to "sentinel this enchanted
+land." On leaving the island, we saw the Goblin's Cave, in the side of
+Benvenue, called by the Gaels, "Coirnan-Uriskin." Near it is
+Beal-nam-bo, the pass of cattle, overhung with grey weeping birch trees.
+Here the boatmen stopped to let us hear the fine echo, and the names of
+"Rob Roy," and "Roderick Dhu," were sent back to us apparently as loud
+as they were given. The description of Scott is wonderfully exact,
+though the forest that feathered o'er the sides of Benvenue, has since
+been cut down and sold by the Duke of Montrose. When we reached the end
+of the lake it commenced raining, and we hastened on through the pass of
+Beal-an-Duine, scarcely taking time to glance at the scenery, till Loch
+Achray appeared through the trees, and on its banks the ivy-grown front
+of the inn of Ardcheancrochan, with its unpronounceable name.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE BURNS FESTIVAL.
+
+
+We passed a glorious summer morning on the banks of Loch Katrine. The
+air was pure, fresh and balmy, and the warm sunshine glowed upon forest
+and lake, upon dark crag and purple mountain-top. The lake was a scene
+in fairy-land. Returning over the rugged battle-plain in the jaws of the
+Trosachs, we passed the wild, lonely valley of Glenfinlas and Lanric
+Mead, at the head of Loch Vennachar, rounding the foot of Ben Ledi to
+Coilantogle Ford. We saw the desolate hills of Uam-var over which the
+stag fled from his lair in Glenartney, and keeping on through Callander,
+stopped for the night at a little inn on the banks of the Teith. The
+next day we walked through Doune, over the lowlands to Stirling.
+Crossing Allan Water and the Forth, we climbed Stirling Castle and
+looked on the purple peaks of the Ochill Mountains, the far Grampians,
+and the battle-fields of Bannockburn and Sheriff Muir. Our German
+comrade, feeling little interest in the memory of the poet-ploughman,
+left in the steamboat for Edinburg; we mounted an English coach and rode
+to Falkirk, where we took the cars for Glasgow in order to attend the
+Burns Festival, on the 6th of August.
+
+This was a great day for Scotland--the assembling of all classes to do
+honor to the memory of her peasant-bard. And right fitting was it, too,
+that such a meeting should be hold on the banks of the Doon, the stream
+of which he has sung so sweetly, within sight of the cot where he was
+born, the beautiful monument erected by his countrymen, and more than
+all, beside "Alloway's witch-haunted wall!" One would think old Albyn
+would rise up at the call, and that from the wild hunters of the
+northern hills to the shepherds of the Cheviots, half her honest
+yeomanry would be there, to render gratitude to the memory of the sweet
+bard who was one of them, and who gave their wants and their woes such
+eloquent utterance.
+
+For months before had the proposition been made to hold a meeting on the
+Doon, similar to the Shakspeare Festival on the Avon, and the 10th of
+July was first appointed for the day, but owing to the necessity of
+further time for preparation, it was postponed until the 6th of August.
+The Earl of Eglintoun was chosen Chairman, and Professor Wilson
+Vice-Chairman; in addition to this, all the most eminent British authors
+were invited to attend. A pavilion, capable of containing two thousand
+persons, had been erected near the monument, in a large field, which was
+thrown open to the public. Other preparations were made and the meeting
+was expected to be of the most interesting character.
+
+When we arose it was raining, and I feared that the weather might dampen
+somewhat the pleasures of the day, as it had done to the celebrated
+tournament at Eglintoun Castle. We reached the station in time for the
+first train, and sped in the face of the wind over the plains of
+Ayrshire, which, under such a gloomy sky, looked most desolate. We ran
+some distance along the coast, having a view of the Hills of Arran, and
+reached Ayr about nine o'clock. We came first to the New Bridge, which
+had a triumphal arch in the middle, and the lines, from the "Twa Brigs
+of Ayr:"
+
+    "Will your poor narrow foot-path of a street,
+    Where twa wheel-barrows tremble when they meet,
+    Your ruin'd, formless bulk o' stane and lime,
+    Compare wi' bonnie brigs o' modern time?"
+
+While on the arch of the 'old brig' was the reply:
+
+    "I'll be a brig when ye're a shapeless stane."
+
+As we advanced into the town, the decorations became more frequent. The
+streets were crowded with people carrying banners and wreaths, many of
+the houses were adorned with green boughs and the vessels in the harbor
+hung out all their flags. We saw the Wallace Tower, a high Gothic
+building, having in front a statue of Wallace leaning on his sword, by
+Thom, a native of Ayr, and on our way to the green, where the procession
+was to assemble, passed under the triumphal arch thrown across the
+street opposite the inn where Tarn O'Shanter caroused so long with
+Souter Johnny. Leaving the companies to form on the long meadow
+bordering the shore, we set out for the Doon, three miles distant.
+Beggars were seated at regular distances along the road, uttering the
+most dolorous whinings. Both bridges were decorated in the same manner,
+with miserable looking objects, keeping up, during the whole day, a
+continual lamentation. Persons are prohibited from begging in England
+and Scotland, but I suppose, this being an extraordinary day, license
+was given them as a favor, to beg free. I noticed that the women, with
+their usual kindness of heart, bestowed nearly all the alms which these
+unfortunate objects received. The night before, as I was walking through
+the streets of Glasgow, a young man of the poorer class, very scantily
+dressed, stepped up to me and begged me to listen to him for a moment.
+He spoke hurriedly, and agitatedly, begging me, in God's name, to give
+him something, however little. I gave him what few pence I had with me,
+when he grasped my hand with a quick motion, saying: "Sir, you little
+think how much you have done for me." I was about to inquire more
+particularly into his situation, but he had disappeared among the crowd.
+
+We passed the "cairn where hunters found the murdered bairn," along a
+pleasant road to the Burns cottage, where it was spanned by a
+magnificent triumphal arch of evergreens and flowers. To the disgrace of
+Scotland, this neat little thatched cot, where Burns passed the first
+seven years of his life, is now occupied by somebody, who has stuck up a
+sign over the door, "_licensed to retail spirits, to be drunk on the
+premises_;" and accordingly the rooms were crowded full of people, all
+drinking. There was a fine original portrait of Burns in one room, and
+in the old fashioned kitchen we saw the recess where he was born. The
+hostess looked towards us as if to inquire what we would drink, and I
+hastened away--there was profanity in the thought. But by this time, the
+bell of Old Alloway, which still hangs in its accustomed place, though
+the walls only are left, began tolling, and we obeyed the call. The
+attachment of the people for this bell, is so great, that a short time
+ago, when it was ordered to be removed, the inhabitants rose en masse,
+and prevented it. The ruin, which is close by the road, stands in the
+middle of the church-yard, and the first thing I saw, on going in the
+gate, was the tomb of the father of Burns. I looked in the old window,
+but the interior was filled with rank weeds, and overshadowed by a young
+tree, which had grown nearly to the eaves.
+
+The crowd was now fast gathering in the large field, in the midst of
+which the pavilion was situated. We went down by the beautiful monument
+to Burns, to the "Auld Brig o' Doon," which was spanned by an arch of
+evergreens, containing a representation of Tam O'Shanter and his grey
+mare, pursued by the witches. It had been arranged that the procession
+was to pass over the old and new bridges, and from thence by a temporary
+bridge over the hedge into the field. At this latter place a stand was
+erected for the sons of Burns, the officers of the day, and
+distinguished guests. Here was a beautiful specimen of English
+exclusiveness. The space adjoining the pavilion was fenced around, and
+admittance denied at first to any, except those who had tickets for the
+dinner, which, the price being fifteen shillings, entirely prevented the
+humble laborers, who, more than all, should participate on the occasion,
+from witnessing the review of the procession by the sons of Burns, and
+hearing the eloquent speeches of Professor Wilson and Lord Eglintoun.
+Thus, of the many thousands who were in the field, but a few hundred who
+were crowded between the bridge and the railing around the pavilion,
+enjoyed the interesting spectacle. By good fortune, I obtained a stand,
+where I had an excellent view of the scene. The sons of Burns were in
+the middle of the platform, with Eglintoun on the right, and Wilson on
+their left. Mrs. Begg, sister of the Poet, with her daughters, stood by
+the Countess of Eglintoun. She was a plain, benevolent looking woman,
+dressed in black, and appearing still active and vigorous, though she is
+upwards of eighty years old. She bears some likeness, especially in the
+expression of her eye, to the Poet. Robert Burns, the oldest son,
+appeared to me to have a strong resemblance of his father, and it is
+said he is the only one who remembers his face. He has for a long time
+had an office under Government, in London. The others have but lately
+returned from a residence of twenty years in India. Professor Wilson
+appeared to enter into the spirit of the scene better than any of them.
+He shouted and waved his hat, and, with his fine, broad forehead, his
+long brown locks already mixed with gray, streaming over his shoulders,
+and that eagle eye glancing over the vast assemblage, seemed a real
+Christopher North, yet full of the fire and vigor of youth--"a
+gray-haired, happy boy!"
+
+About half of the procession consisted of lodges of masons, all of whom
+turned out on the occasion, as Burns was one of the fraternity. I was
+most interested in several companies of shepherds, from the hills, with
+their crooks and plaids; a body of archers in Lincoln green, with a
+handsome chief at their head, and some Highlanders in their most
+picturesque of costumes. As one of the companies, which carried a
+mammoth thistle in a box, came near the platform, Wilson snatched a
+branch, regardless of its pricks, and placed it on his coat. After this
+pageant, which could not have been much less than three miles long, had
+passed, a band was stationed on the platform in the centre of the field,
+around which it formed in a circle, and the whole company sang, "Ye
+Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon." Just at this time, a person dressed to
+represent Tam O'Shanter, mounted on a gray mare, issued from a field
+near the Burns Monument and rode along towards Alloway Kirk, from which,
+when he approached it, a whole legion of witches sallied out and
+commenced a hot pursuit. They turned back, however, at the keystone of
+the bridge, the witch with the "cutty sark" holding up in triumph the
+abstracted tail of Maggie. Soon after this the company entered the
+pavilion, and the thousands outside were entertained, as an especial
+favor, by the band of the 87th Regiment, while from the many liquor
+booths around the field, they could enjoy themselves in another way.
+
+We went up to the Monument, which was of more particular interest to us,
+from the relics within, but admission was denied to all. Many persons
+were collected around the gate, some of whom, having come from a great
+distance, were anxious to see it; but the keeper only said, such were
+the orders and he could not disobey them. Among the crowd, a grandson of
+the original Tam O'Shanter was shown to us. He was a raw-looking boy of
+nineteen or twenty, wearing a shepherd's cap and jacket, and muttered
+his disapprobation very decidedly, at not being able to visit the
+Monument.
+
+There were one or two showers during the day, and the sky, all the time,
+was dark and lowering, which was unfavorable for the celebration; but
+all were glad enough that the rain kept aloof till the ceremonies were
+nearly over. The speeches delivered at the dinner, which appeared in the
+papers next morning, are undoubtedly very eloquent. I noticed in the
+remarks of Robert Burns, in reply to Professor Wilson, an acknowledgment
+which the other speakers forgot. He said, "The Sons of Burns have
+grateful hearts, and to the last hour of their existence, they will
+remember the honor that has been paid them this day, by the noble, the
+lovely and the talented, of their native land--by men of genius and
+kindred spirit from our sister land--and lastly, they owe their thanks
+to the inhabitants of the far distant west, a country of a great, free,
+and kindred people! (loud cheers.)" In connexion with this subject, I
+saw an anecdote of the Poet, yesterday, which is not generally known.
+During his connexion with the Excise, he was one day at a party, where
+the health of Pitt, then minister, was proposed, as "his master and
+theirs." He immediately turned down his glass and said, "I will give you
+the health of a far greater and better man--GEORGE WASHINGTON!"
+
+We left the field early and went back through the muddy streets of Ayr.
+The street before the railway office was crowded, and there was so dense
+a mass of people on the steps, that it seemed almost impossible to get
+near. Seeing no other chance, I managed to take my stand on the lowest
+steps, where the pressure of the crowd behind and the working of the
+throng on the steps, raised me off my feet, and in about a quarter of an
+hour carried me, compressed into the smallest possible space, up the
+steps to the door, where the crowd burst in by fits, like water rushing
+out of a bottle. We esteemed ouvselves fortunate in getting room to
+stand in an open car, where, after a two hours' ride through the wind
+and pelting rain, we arrived at Glasgow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+WALK FROM EDINBURG OVER THE BORDER AND ARRIVAL AT LONDON.
+
+
+We left Glasgow on the morning after returning from the Burns Festival,
+taking passage in the open cars for Edinburg, for six shillings. On
+leaving the depot, we plunged into the heart of the hill on which
+Glasgow Cathedral stands and were whisked through darkness and sulphury
+smoke to daylight again. The cars bore us past a spur of the Highlands,
+through a beautiful country where women were at work in the fields, to
+Linlithgow, the birth-place of Queen Mary. The majestic ruins of its
+once-proud palace, stand on a green meadow behind the town. In another
+hour we were walking through Edinburg, admiring its palace-like
+edifices, and stopping every few minutes to gaze up at some lofty
+monument. Really, thought I, we call Baltimore the "Monumental City" for
+its two marble columns, and here is Edinburg with one at every
+street-corner! These, too, not in the midst of glaring red buildings,
+where they seem to have been accidentally dropped, but framed in by
+lofty granite mansions, whose long vistas make an appropriate background
+to the picture.
+
+We looked from Calton Hill on Salisbury Crags and over the Firth of
+Forth, then descended to dark old Holyrood, where the memory of lovely
+Mary lingers like a stray sunbeam in her cold halls, and the fair,
+boyish face of Rizzio looks down from the canvass on the armor of his
+murderer. We threaded the Canongate and climbed to the Castle; and
+finally, after a day and a half's sojourn, buckled on our knapsacks and
+marched out of the Northern Athens. In a short time the tall spire of
+Dalkeith appeared above the green wood, and we saw to the right, perched
+on the steep banks of the Esk, the picturesque cottage of Hawthornden,
+where Drummond once lived in poetic solitude. We made haste to cross the
+dreary waste of the Muirfoot Hills before nightfall, from the highest
+summit of which we took a last view of Edinburg Castle and the Salisbury
+Crags, then blue in the distance. Far to the east were the hills of
+Lammermuir and the country of Mid-Lothian lay before us. It was all
+_Scott_-land. The inn of Torsonce, beside the Gala Water, was our
+resting-place for the night. As we approached Galashiels the next
+morning, where the bed of the silver Gala is nearly emptied by a number
+of dingy manufactories, the hills opened, disclosing the sweet vale of
+the Tweed, guarded by the triple peak of the Eildon, at whose base lay
+nestled the village of Melrose.
+
+I stopped at a bookstore to purchase a view of the Abbey; to my surprise
+nearly half the works were by American authors. There wore Bryant,
+Longfellow, Channing, Emerson, Dana, Ware and many others. The
+bookseller told me he had sold more of Ware's Letters than any other
+book in his store, "and also," to use his own words, "an immense number
+of the great Dr. Channing." I have seen English editions of Percival,
+Willis, Whittier and Mrs. Sigourney, but Bancroft and Prescott are
+classed among the "standard _British_ historians."
+
+Crossing the Gala we ascended a hill on the road to Selkirk, and behold!
+the Tweed ran below, and opposite, in the midst of embowering trees
+planted by the hand of Scott, rose the grey halls of Abbotsford. We went
+down a lane to the banks of the swift stream, but finding no ferry,
+B---- and I, as it looked very shallow, thought we might save a long
+walk by wading across. F---- preferred hunting for a boat; we two set
+out together, with our knapsacks on our backs, and our boots in our
+hands. The current was ice-cold and very swift, and as the bed was
+covered with loose stones, it required the greatest care to stand
+upright. Looking at the bottom, through the rapid water, made my head so
+giddy, I was forced to stop and shut my eyes; my friend, who had firmer
+nerves, went plunging on to a deeper and swifter part, where the
+strength of the current made him stagger very unpleasantly. I called to
+him to return; the next thing I saw, he gave a plunge and went down to
+the shoulder in the cold flood. While he was struggling with a
+frightened expression of face to recover his footing, I leaned on my
+staff and laughed till I was on the point of falling also. To crown our
+mortification, F---- had found a ferry a few yards higher up and was on
+the opposite shore, watching us wade back again, my friend with dripping
+clothes and boots full of water. I could not forgive the pretty Scotch
+damsel who rowed us across, the mischievous lurking smile which told
+that she too had witnessed the adventure.
+
+We found a foot-path on the other side, which led through a young forest
+to Abbotsford. Rude pieces of sculpture, taken from Melrose Abbey, were
+scattered around the gate, some half buried in the earth and overgrown
+with weeds. The niches in the walls were filled with pieces of
+sculpture, and an antique marble greyhound reposed in the middle of the
+court yard. We rang the bell in an outer vestibule, ornamented with
+several pairs of antlers, when a lady appeared, who, from her
+appearance, I have no doubt was Mrs. Ormand, the "Duenna of Abbotsford,"
+so humorously described by D'Arlincourt, in his "Three Kingdoms." She
+ushered us into the entrance hall, which has a magnificent ceiling of
+carved oak and is lighted by lofty stained windows. An effigy of a
+knight in armor stood at either end, one holding a huge two-handed sword
+found on Bosworth Field; the walls were covered with helmets and
+breastplates of the olden time.
+
+Among the curiosities in the Armory are Napoleon's pistols, the
+blunderbuss of Hofer, Rob Roy's purse and gun, and the offering box of
+Queen Mary. Through the folding doors between the dining-room,
+drawing-room and library, is a fine vista, terminated by a niche, in
+which stands Chantrey's bust of Scott. The ceilings are of carved
+Scottish oak and the doors of American cedar. Adjoining the library is
+his study, the walls of which are covered with books; the doors and
+windows are double, to render it quiet and undisturbed. His books and
+inkstand are on the table and his writing-chair stands before it, as if
+he had left them but a moment before. In a little closet adjoining,
+where he kept his private manuscripts, are the clothes he last wore, his
+cane and belt, to which a hammer and small axe are attached, and his
+sword. A narrow staircase led from the study to his sleeping room above,
+by which he could come down at night and work while his family slept.
+The silence about the place is solemn and breathless, as if it waited to
+be broken by his returning footstep. I felt an awe in treading these
+lonely halls, like that which impressed me before the grave of
+Washington--a feeling that hallowed the spot, as if there yet lingered a
+low vibration of the lyre, though the minstrel had departed forever!
+
+Plucking a wild rose that grew near the walls, I left Abbotsford,
+embosomed among the trees, and turned into a green lane that led down to
+Melrose. We went immediately to the Abbey, in the lower part of the
+village, near the Tweed. As I approached the gate, the porteress came
+out, and having scrutinized me rather sharply, asked my name. I told
+her;--"well," she added, "there is a _prospect_ here for you." Thinking
+she alluded to the ruin, I replied: "Yes, the view is certainly very
+fine." "Oh! I don't mean that," she replied, "a young gentleman left a
+prospect here for you!"--whereupon she brought out a spy-glass, which I
+recognized us one that our German comrade had given to me. He had gone
+on, and hoped to meet us at Jedburgh.
+
+Melrose is the finest remaining specimen of Gothic architecture in
+Scotland. Some of the sculptured flowers in the cloister arches are
+remarkably beautiful and delicate, and the two windows--the south and
+east oriels--are of a lightness and grace of execution really
+surprising. We saw the tomb of Michael Scott, of King Alexander II, and
+that of the Douglas, marked with a sword. The heart of Bruce is supposed
+to have been buried beneath the high altar. The chancel is all open to
+the sky, and rooks build their nests among the wild ivy that climbs over
+the crumbling arches. One of these came tamely down and perched upon the
+hand of our fair guide. By a winding stair in one of the towers we
+mounted to the top of the arch and looked down on the grassy floor. I
+sat on the broken pillar, which Scott always used for a seat when he
+visited the Abbey, and read the disinterring of the magic book, in the
+"Lay of the Last Minstrel." I never comprehended its full beauty till
+then: the memory of Melrose will give it a thrilling interest, in the
+future. When we left, I was willing to say, with the Minstrel:
+
+    "Was never scene so sad and fair!"
+
+After seeing the home and favorite haunt of Scott, we felt a wish to
+stand by his grave, but we had Ancrum Moor to pass before night, and the
+Tweed was between us and Dryburgh Abbey. We did not wish to try another
+watery adventure, and therefore walked on to the village of Ancrum,
+where a gate-keeper on the road gave us lodging and good fare, for a
+moderate price. Many of this class practise this double employment, and
+the economical traveller, who looks more to comfort than luxury, will
+not fail to patronize them.
+
+Next morning we took a foot-path over the hills to Jedburgh. From the
+summit there was a lovely view of the valley of the Teviot, with the
+blue Cheviots in the distance. I thought of Pringle's beautiful
+farewell:
+
+    "Our native land, our native vale,
+       A long, a last adieu,
+     farewell to bonny Teviot-dale,
+       And Cheviot's mountains blue!"
+
+The poet was born in the valley below, and one that looks upon its
+beauty cannot wonder how his heart clung to the scenes he was leaving.
+We saw Jedburgh and its majestic old Abbey, and ascended the valley of
+the Jed towards the Cheviots. The hills, covered with woods of a
+richness and even gorgeous beauty of foliage, shut out this lovely glen
+completely from the world. I found myself continually coveting the
+lonely dwellings that were perched on the rocky heights, or nestled,
+like a fairy pavilion, in the lap of a grove. These forests formerly
+furnished the wood for the celebrated Jedwood axe, used in the Border
+forays.
+
+As we continued ascending, the prospect behind us widened, till we
+reached the summit of the Carter Fell, whence there is a view of great
+extent and beauty. The Eildon Hills, though twenty-five miles distant,
+seemed in the foreground of the picture. With a glass, Edinburgh Castle
+might be seen over the dim outline of the Muirfoot Hills. After crossing
+the border, we passed the scene of the encounter between Percy and
+Douglass, celebrated in "Chevy Chase," and at the lonely inn of
+Whitelee, in the valley below, took up our quarters for the night.
+
+Travellers have described the Cheviots as being bleak and uninteresting.
+Although they are bare and brown, to me the scenery was of a character
+of beauty entirely original. They are not rugged and broken like the
+Highlands, but lift their round backs gracefully from the plain, while
+the more distant ranges are clad in many an airy hue. Willis quaintly
+and truly remarks, that travellers only tell you the picture produced in
+their own brain by what they see, otherwise the world would be like a
+pawnbroker's shop, where each traveller wears the cast-off clothes of
+others. Therefore let no one, of a gloomy temperament, journeying over
+the Cheviots in dull November, arraign me for having falsely praised
+their beauty.
+
+I was somewhat amused with seeing a splendid carriage with footmen and
+outriders, crossing the mountain, the glorious landscape full in view,
+containing a richly dressed lady, _fast asleep!_ It is no uncommon thing
+to meet carriages in the Highlands, in which the occupants are
+comfortably reading, while being whirled through the finest scenery. And
+_apropos_ of this subject, my German friend related to me an incident.
+His brother was travelling on the Rhine, and when in the midst of the
+grandest scenes, met a carriage containing an English gentleman and
+lady, both asleep, while on the seat behind was stationed an artist,
+sketching away with all his might. He asked the latter the reason of his
+industry, when he answered, "Oh! my lord wishes to see every night what
+he has passed during the day, and so I sketch as we go along!"
+
+The hills, particularly on the English side, are covered with flocks of
+sheep, and lazy shepherds lay basking in the sun, among the purple
+heather, with their shaggy black dogs beside them. On many of the hills
+are landmarks, by which, when the snow has covered all the trucks, they
+can direct their way. After walking many miles through green valleys,
+down which flowed the Red Water, its very name telling of the conflicts
+which had crimsoned its tide, we came to the moors, and ten miles of
+blacker, drearier waste I never saw. Before entering them we passed the
+pretty little village of Otterburn, near the scene of the battle. I
+brought away a wild flower that grew on soil enriched by the blood of
+the Percys. On the village inn, is their ancient coat of arms, a lion
+rampant, on a field of gold, with the motto, "_Esperance en Dieu_."
+Scarcely a house or a tree enlivened the black waste, and even the road
+was marked on each side by high poles, to direct the traveller in
+winter. We were glad when at length the green fields came again in
+sight, and the little village of Whelpington Knowes, with its old
+ivy-grown church tower, welcomed us after the lonely walk.
+
+As one specimen of the intelligence of this part of England, we saw a
+board conspicuously posted at the commencement of a private road,
+declaring that "all persons travelling this way will be _persecuted_."
+As it led to a _church_, however, there may have been a design in the
+expression.
+
+On the fifth day after leaving Edinburgh, we reached a hill, overlooking
+the valley of the Tyne and the German Ocean, as sunset was reddening in
+the west. A cloud of coal-smoke made us aware of the vicinity of
+Newcastle. On the summit of the hill a large cattle fair was being held,
+and crowds of people were gathered in and around a camp of gaudily
+decorated tents. Fires were kindled here and there, and drinking,
+carousing and horse-racing were flourishing in full vigor.
+
+We set out one morning to hunt the Roman Wall. Passing the fine
+buildings in the centre of the city and the lofty monument to Earl Grey,
+we went towards the western gate and soon came to the ruins of a
+building, about whose origin there could be no doubt. It stood there,
+blackened by the rust of ages, a remnant of power passed away. There was
+no mistaking the massive round tower, with its projecting ornaments,
+such as are often seen in the ruder works of the Romans. On each side a
+fragment of wall remained standing, and there appeared to be a chamber
+in the interior, which was choked up with rubbish. There is another
+tower, much higher, in a public square in another part of the city, a
+portion of which is fitted up as a dwelling for the family which takes
+care of it; but there was such a ridiculous contrast between the
+ivy-grown top, and the handsome modern windows and doors of the lower
+story, that it did not impress me half as much as the other, with all
+its neglect. These are the farthest limits of that power whose mighty
+works I hope hereafter to view at the seat of her grandeur and glory.
+
+I witnessed a scene at Newcastle that cannot soon be forgotten; as it
+showed more plainly than I had before an opportunity of observing, the
+state to which the laboring classes of England are reduced. Hearing
+singing in the street, under my window, one morning, I looked out and
+saw a body of men, apparently of the lower class, but decent and sober
+looking, who were singing in a rude and plaintive strain some ballad,
+the purport of which I could not understand. On making inquiry, I
+discovered it was part of a body of miners, who, about eighteen weeks
+before, in consequence of not being able to support their families with
+the small pittance allowed them, had "struck" for higher wages. This
+their employers refused to give them, and sent to Wales, where they
+obtained workmen at the former price. The houses these laborers had
+occupied were all taken from them, and for eighteen weeks they had no
+other means of subsistence than the casual charity given them for
+singing the story of their wrongs. It made my blood boil to bear those
+tones, wrung from the heart of poverty by the hand of tyranny. The
+ignorance, permitted by the government, causes an unheard amount of
+misery and degradation. We heard afterwards in the streets, another
+company who played on musical instruments. Beneath the proud swell of
+England's martial airs, there sounded to my ears a tone whose gathering
+murmur will make itself heard ere long by the dull cars of Power.
+
+At last at the appointed time, we found ourselves on board the "London
+Merchant," in the muddy Tyne, waiting for the tide to rise high enough
+to permit us to descend the river. There is great competition among the
+steamboats this summer, and the price of passage to London is reduced to
+five and ten shillings. The second cabin, however, is a place of
+tolerable comfort, and as the steward had promised to keep berths for
+us, we engaged passage. Following the windings of the narrow river, we
+passed Sunderland and Tynemouth, where it expands into the German Ocean.
+The water was barely stirred by a gentle wind, and little resembled the
+stormy sea I expected to find it. We glided over the smooth surface,
+watching the blue line of the distant shore till dark, when I went below
+expecting to enjoy a few hours' oblivion. But the faithless steward had
+given up the promised berth to another, and it was only with difficulty
+that I secured a seat by the cabin table, where I dozed half the night
+with my head on my arms. It grew at last too close and wearisome; I
+went up on deck and lay down on the windlass, taking care to balance
+myself well before going to sleep. The earliest light of dawn awoke me
+to a consciousness of damp clothes and bruised limbs. We were in sight
+of the low shore the whole day, sometimes seeing the dim outline of a
+church, or group of trees over the downs or flat beds of sand, which
+border the eastern coast of England. About dark, the red light of the
+Nore was seen, and we hoped before many hours to be in London. The
+lights of Gravesend were passed, but about ten o'clock, as we entered
+the narrow channel of the Thames, we struck another steamboat in the
+darkness, and were obliged to cast anchor for some time. When I went on
+deck in the gray light of morning again, we were gliding up a narrow,
+muddy river, between rows of gloomy buildings, with many vessels lying
+at anchor. It grew lighter, till, as we turned a point, right before, me
+lay a vast crowd of vessels, and in the distance, above the wilderness
+of buildings, stood a dim, gigantic dome in the sky; what a bound my
+heart gave at the sight! And the tall pillar that stood near it--I did
+not need a second glance to recognize the Monument. I knew the majestic
+bridge that spanned the river above; but on the right bank stood a
+cluster of massive buildings, crowned with many a turret, that attracted
+my eye. A crowd of old associations pressed bewilderingly upon the mind,
+to see standing there, grim and dark with many a bloody page of
+England's history--the Tower of London! The morning sky was as yet but
+faintly obscured by the coal-smoke, and in the misty light of coming
+sunrise, all objects seemed grander than their wont. In spite of the
+thrilling interest of the scene, I could not help thinking of Byron's
+ludicrous but most expressive description:
+
+    "A mighty mass of brick and smoke and shipping,
+    Dirty and dusky, but as wide as eye
+    Can reach; with here and there a sail just skipping
+    In sight, then lost amidst the forestry
+    Of masts; a wilderness of steeples peeping
+    On tiptoe through their sea-coal canopy;
+    A huge dun cupola, like a fool's-cap crown
+    On a fool's head,--and there is London town."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+SOME OF THE "SIGHTS" OF LONDON.
+
+
+In the course of time we came to anchor in the stream; skiffs from the
+shore pulled alongside, and after some little quarrelling, we were
+safely deposited in one, with a party who desired to be landed at the
+Tower Stairs. The dark walls frowned above us as we mounted from the
+water and passed into an open square on the outside of the moat. The
+laborers were about commencing work, the fashionable _day_ having just
+closed, but there was still noise and bustle enough in the streets,
+particularly when we reached Whitechapel, part of the great
+thoroughfare, extending through the heart of London to Westminster Abbey
+and the Parliament buildings. Further on, through Leadenhall street and
+Fleet street--what a world! Here come the ever-thronging, ever-rolling
+waves of life, pressing and whirling on in their tumultuous career. Here
+day and night pours the stream of human beings, seeming amid the roar
+and din and clatter of the passing vehicles, like the tide of some great
+combat. How lonely it makes one to stand still and feel that of all the
+mighty throng which divides itself around him, not a being knows or
+cares for him! What knows he too of the thousands who pass him by? How
+many who bear the impress of godlike virtue, or hide beneath a goodly
+countenance a heart black with crime? How many fiery spirits, all
+glowing with hope for the yet unclouded future, or brooding over a
+darkened and desolate past in the agony of despair? There is a sublimity
+in this human Niagara that makes one look on his own race with something
+of awe.
+
+We walked down the Thames, through the narrow streets of Wapping, Over
+the mouth of the Tunnel is a large circular building, with a dome to
+light the entrance below. Paying the fee of a penny, we descended by a
+winding staircase to the bottom, which is seventy-three feet below the
+surface. The carriage-way, still unfinished, will extend further into
+the city. From the bottom the view of the two arches of the Tunnel,
+brilliantly lighted with gas, is very fine; it has a much less heavy and
+gloomy appearance than I expected. As we walked along under the bed of
+the river, two or three girls at one end began playing on the French
+horn and bugle, and the echoes, when not too deep to confuse the melody,
+were remarkably beautiful. Between the arches of the division separating
+the two passages, are shops, occupied by venders of fancy articles,
+views of the Tunnel, engravings, &c. In the middle is a small printing
+press, where, a sheet containing a description of the whole work is
+printed for those who desire it. As I was no stranger to this art, I
+requested the boy to let me print one myself, but he had such a bad
+roller I did not succeed in getting a good impression. The air within is
+somewhat damp, but fresh and agreeably cool, and one can scarcely
+realize in walking along the light passage, that a river is rolling
+above his head. The immense solidity and compactness of the structure
+precludes the danger of accident, each of the sides being arched
+outwards, so that the heaviest pressure only strengthens the whole. It
+will long remain a noble monument of human daring and ingenuity.
+
+St. Paul's is on a scale of grandeur excelling every thing I have yet
+seen. The dome seems to stand in the sky, as you look up to it; the
+distance from which you view it, combined with the atmosphere of London,
+give it a dim, shadowy appearance, that perfectly startles one with its
+immensity. The roof from which the dome springs is itself as high as the
+spires of most other churches--blackened for two hundred years with the
+coal-smoke of London, it stands like a relic of the giant architecture
+of the early world. The interior is what one would expect to behold,
+after viewing the outside. A maze of grand arches on every side,
+encompasses the dome, which you gaze up at, as at the sky; and from
+every pillar and wall look down the marble forms of the dead. There is
+scarcely a vacant niche left in all this mighty hall, so many are the
+statues that meet one on every side. With the exceptions of John Howard,
+Sir Astley Cooper and Wren, whose monument is the church itself, they
+are all to military men. I thought if they had all been removed except
+Howard's, it would better have suited such a temple, and the great soul
+it commemorated.
+
+I never was more impressed with the grandeur of human invention, than
+when ascending the dome. I could with difficulty conceive the means by
+which such a mighty edifice had been lifted into the air. That small
+frame of Sir Christopher Wren must have contained a mind capable of vast
+conceptions. The dome is like the summit of a mountain; so wide is the
+prospect, and so great the pile upon which you stand. London lay beneath
+us, like an ant-hill, with the black insects swarming to and fro in
+their long avenues, the sound of their employments coming up like the
+roar of the sea. A cloud of coal-smoke hung over it, through which many
+a pointed spire was thrust up; sometimes the wind would blow it aside
+for a moment, and the thousands of red roofs would shine out clearer.
+The bridged Thames, covered with craft of all sizes, wound beneath us
+like a ringed and spotted serpent. The scene was like an immense
+circular picture in the blue frame of the hills around.
+
+Continuing our way up Fleet street, which, notwithstanding the gaiety of
+its shops and its constant bustle, has an antique appearance, we came to
+the Temple Bar, the western boundary of the ancient city. In the inside
+of the middle arch, the old gates are still standing. From this point we
+entered the new portion of the city, which wore an air of increasing
+splendor as we advanced. The appearance of the Strand and Trafalgar
+Square is truly magnificent. Fancy every house in Broadway a store, all
+built of light granite, the Park stripped of all its trees and paved
+with granite, and a lofty column in the centre, double the crowd and the
+tumult of business, and you will have some idea of the view.
+
+It was a relief to get into St. James's Park, among the trees and
+flowers again. Here, beautiful winding walks led around little lakes, in
+which were hundreds of water-fowl, swimming. Groups of merry children
+were sporting on the green lawn, enjoying their privilege of roaming
+every where at will, while the older bipeds were confined to the regular
+walks. At the western end stood Buckingham Palace, looking over the
+trees towards St. Paul's; through the grove on the eminence above, the
+towers of St. James's could be seen. But there was a dim building, with
+two lofty square towers, decorated with a profusion of pointed Gothic
+pinnacles, that I looked at with more interest than these appendages of
+royalty. I could not linger long in its vicinity, but going back again
+by the Horse Guards, took the road to _Westminster Abbey_.
+
+We approached by the general entrance, Poet's Corner. I hardly stopped
+to look at the elaborate exterior of Henry VIIth's Chapel, but passed on
+to the door. On entering, the first thing that met my eyes were the
+words, "OH RARE BEN JONSON," under his bust. Near by stood the monuments
+of Spenser and Gay, and a few paces further looked down the sublime
+countenance of Milton. Never was a spot so full of intense interest. The
+light was just dim enough to give it a solemn, religious appearance,
+making the marble forms of poets and philosophers so shadowy and
+impressive, that I felt as if standing in their living presence. Every
+step called up some mind linked with the associations of my childhood.
+There was the gentle feminine countenance of Thompson, and the majestic
+head of Dryden; Addison with his classic features, and Gray, full of the
+fire of lofty thought. In another chamber, I paused long before the
+ashes of Shakspeare; and while looking at the monument of Garrick,
+started to find that I stood upon his grave. What a glorious galaxy of
+genius is here collected--what a constellation of stars whose light is
+immortal! The mind is completely fettered by their spirit. Everything is
+forgotten but the mighty dead, who still "rule us from their urns."
+
+The Chapel of Henry VII., which we next entered, is one of the most
+elaborate specimens of Gothic workmanship in the world. If the first
+idea of the Gothic arch sprung from observing the forms of trees, this
+chapel must resemble the first conceptions of that order, for the fluted
+columns rise up like tall trees, branching out at the top into spreading
+capitals covered with leaves, and supporting arches of the ceiling
+resembling a leafy roof.
+
+The side-chapels are filled with tombs of knightly families, the husband
+and wife lying on their backs on the tombs, with their hands clasped,
+while their children, about the size of dolls, are kneeling around.
+Numberless are the Barons and Earls and Dukes, whose grim effigies stare
+from their tombs. In opposite chapels are the tombs of Mary and
+Elizabeth, and near the former that of Darnley. After having visited
+many of the scenes of her life, it was with no ordinary emotion that I
+stood by the sepulchre of Mary. How differently one looks upon it and
+upon that of the proud Elizabeth!
+
+We descended to the Chapel of Edward the Confessor, within the splendid
+shrine of which repose his ashes. Here we were shown the chair on which
+the English monarchs have been crowned for several hundred years, Under
+the seat is the stone, brought from the Abbey of Scone, whereon the
+Kings of Scotland were crowned. The chair is of oak, carved and hacked
+over with names, and on the bottom some one has recorded his name with
+the fact that, he once slept in it. We sat down and rested in it without
+ceremony. Passing along an aisle leading to the grand hall, we saw the
+tomb of Aymer de Valence, a knight of the Crusades. Near here is the
+hall where the Knights of the order of Bath met. Over each seat their
+dusty banners are still hanging, each with its crest, and their armor is
+rusting upon the wall. It seemed like a banqueting hall of the olden
+time, where the knights had left their seats for a moment vacant.
+Entering the nave, we were lost in the wilderness of sculpture. Here
+stood the forms of Pitt, Fox, Burke, Sheridan and Watts, from the
+chisels of Chantry, Bacon and Westmacott. Further down were Sir Isaac
+Newton and Sir Godfrey Kneller--opposite Andre, and Paoli, the Italian,
+who died here in exile. How can I convey an idea of the scene?
+Notwithstanding all the descriptions I had read, I was totally
+unprepared for the reality, nor could I have anticipated the hushed and
+breathless interest with which I paced the dim aisles, gazing, at every
+step, on the last resting place of some great and familiar name. A place
+so sacred to all who inherit the English tongue, is worthy of a special
+pilgrimage across the deep. To those who are unable to visit it, a
+description may be interesting; but so far does it fall short of the
+scene itself, that if I thought it would induce a few of our wealthy
+idlers, or even those who, like myself, must travel with toil and
+privation to come hither, I would write till the pen dropped from my
+hand.
+
+More than twenty grand halls of the British Museum are devoted to
+antiquities, and include the Elgin Marbles--the spoils of the
+Parthenon--the Fellows Marbles, brought from the ancient city of
+Xanthus, and Sir William Hamilton's collection of Italian antiquities.
+It was painful to see the friezes of the Parthenon, broken and defaced
+as they are, in such a place. Rather let them moulder to dust on the
+ruin from which they were torn, shining through the blue veil of the
+Grecian atmosphere, from the summit of the Acropolis!
+
+The National Gallery, on Trafalgar Square, is open four days in the
+week, to the public. The "Raising of Lazarus," by Sebastian del Piombo,
+is considered the gem of the collection, but my unschooled eyes could
+not view it as such. It is also remarkable for having been transferred
+from wood to canvass, without injury. This delicate operation was
+accomplished by gluing the panel on which it was painted, flat on a
+smooth table, and planing the wood gradually away till the coat of
+hardened paint alone remained. A proper canvass was then prepared,
+covered with a strong cement, and laid on the back of the picture, which
+adhered firmly to it. The owner's nerves must have had a severe trial,
+if he had courage to watch the operation. I was enraptured with
+Murillo's pictures of St. John and the Holy Family. St. John is
+represented as a boy in the woods, fondling a lamb. It is a glorious
+head. The dark curls cluster around his fair brow, and his eyes seem
+already glowing with the fire of future inspiration. There is an
+innocence, a childish sweetness of expression in the countenance, which
+makes one love to gaze upon it. Both of these paintings wore constantly
+surrounded by ladies, and they certainly deserved the preference. In the
+rooms devoted to English artists, there are many of the finest works of
+West, Reynolds, Hogarth and Wilkie.
+
+We spent a day in visiting the _lungs of London_, as the two grand parks
+have been called. From the Strand through the Regent Circus, the centre
+of the fashionable part of the city, we passed to Piccadilly, culling on
+our way to see our old friends, the Iowas. They were at the Egyptian
+Hall, in connexion with Catlin's Indian collection. The old braves knew
+us at once, particularly Blister Feet, who used often to walk a linweon
+deck with me, at sea. Further along Piccadilly is Wellington's mansion
+of Apsley House, and nearly opposite it, in the corner of Hyde Park,
+stands the colossal statue of Achilles, cast from cannon taken at
+Salamanca and Vittoria. The Park resembles an open common, with here and
+there a grove of trees, intersected by carriage roads, it is like
+getting into the country again to be out on its broad, green field, with
+the city seen dimly around through the smoky atmosphere. We walked for a
+mile or two along the shady avenues and over the lawns, having a view of
+the princely terraces and gardens on one hand, and the gentle outline of
+Primrose Hill on the other. Regent's Park itself covers a space of
+nearly four hundred acres!
+
+But if London is unsurpassed in splendor, it has also its corresponding
+share of crime. Notwithstanding the large and efficient body of police,
+who do much towards the control of vice, one sees enough of degradation
+and brutality in a short time, to make his heart sick. Even the public
+thorough fares are thronged at night with characters of the lowest
+description, and it is not expedient to go through many of the narrow
+bye-haunts of the old city in the day-time. The police, who are ever on
+the watch, immediately seize and carry off any offender, but from the
+statements of persons who have had an opportunity of observing, as well
+as from my own slight experience, I am convinced that there is an untold
+amount of misery and crime. London is one of the wonders of the world,
+but there is reason to believe it is one of the curses of the world
+also; though, in fact, nothing but an active and unceasing philanthropy
+can prevent any city from becoming so.
+
+_Aug. 22._--I have now been six days in London, and by making good use
+of my feet and eyes, have managed to become familiar with almost every
+object of interest within its precincts. Having a plan mapped out for
+the day, I started from my humble lodgings at the Aldgate Coffee House,
+where I slept off fatigue for a shilling a night, and walked up
+Cheapside or down Whitechapel, as the case might be, hunting out my way
+to churches, halls and theatres. In this way, at a trifling expense, I
+have perhaps seen as much as many who spend here double the time and
+ten times the money. Our whole tour from Liverpool hither, by way of
+Ireland and Scotland, cost us but twenty-five dollars each! although,
+except in one or two cases, we denied ourselves no necessary comfort.
+This shows that the glorious privilege of looking on the scenes of the
+old world need not be confined to people of wealth and leisure. It may
+be enjoyed by all who can occasionally forego a little bodily comfort
+for the sake of mental and spiritual gain. We leave this afternoon for
+Dover. Tomorrow I shall dine in Belgium!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+FLIGHT THROUGH BELGIUM.
+
+
+_Bruges._--On the Continent at last! How strangely look the century-old
+towers, antique monuments, and quaint, narrow streets of the Flemish
+cities! It is an agreeable and yet a painful sense of novelty to stand
+for the first time in the midst of a people whose language and manners
+are different from one's own. The old buildings around, linked with many
+a stirring association of past history, gratify the glowing
+anticipations with which one has looked forward to seeing them, and the
+fancy is busy at work reconciling the _real_ scene with the _ideal_; but
+the want of a communication with the living world about, walls one up
+with a sense of loneliness he could not before have conceived. I envy
+the children in the streets of Bruges their childish language.
+
+Yesterday afternoon we came from London through the green wooded lawns
+and vales of England, to Dover, which we reached at sunset, passing by a
+long tunnel through the lofty Shakspeare Cliff. We had barely time
+before it grew dark to ascend the cliff. The glorious coast view looked
+still wilder in the gathering twilight, which soon hid from our sight
+the dim hills of France. On the cliff opposite frowned the massive
+battlements of the Castle, guarding the town, which lay in a nook of the
+rocks below. As the Ostend boat was to leave at four in the morning, my
+cousin aroused us at three, and we felt our way down stairs in the dark.
+But the landlord was reluctant to part with us; we stamped and shouted
+and rang bells, till the whole house was in an uproar, for the door was
+double-locked, and the steamboat bell began to sound. At last he could
+stand it no longer; we gave a quick utterance to our overflowing wrath,
+and rushed down to the boat but a second or two before it left.
+
+The water of the Channel was smooth as glass and as the sun rose, the
+far chalky cliffs gleamed along the horizon, a belt of fire. I waved a
+good-bye to Old England and then turned to see the spires of Dunkirk,
+which were visible in the distance before us. On the low Belgian coast
+we could see trees and steeples, resembling a mirage over the level
+surface of the sea; at length, about ten o'clock, the square tower of
+Ostend came in sight. The boat passed into a long muddy basin, in which
+many unwieldy, red-sailed Dutch craft were lying, and stopped beside a
+high pier. Here amid the confusion of three languages, an officer came
+on board and took charge of our passports and luggage. As we could not
+get the former for two or three hours, we did not hurry the passing of
+the latter, and went on shore quite unincumbered, for a stroll about the
+city, disregarding the cries of the hackney-coachmen on the pier,
+"_Hotel d'Angleterre_," "_Hotel des Bains!_" and another who called out
+in English, "I recommend you to the Royal Hotel, sir!"
+
+There is little to be seen in Ostend. We wandered through long rows of
+plain yellow houses, trying to read the French and low Dutch signs, and
+at last came out on the wall near the sea. A soldier motioned us back as
+we attempted to ascend it, and muttering some unintelligible words,
+pointed to a narrow street near. Following this out of curiosity, we
+crossed the moat and found ourselves on the great bathing beach. To get
+out of the hands of the servants who immediately surrounded us, we
+jumped into one of the little wagons and were driven out into the surf.
+
+To be certain of fulfilling the railroad regulations, we took our seats
+quarter of an hour before the time. The dark walls of Ostend soon
+vanished and we were whirled rapidly over a country perfectly level, but
+highly fertile and well cultivated. Occasionally there was a ditch or
+row of trees, but otherwise there was no division between the fields,
+and the plain stretched unbroken away into the distance. The twenty
+miles to Bruges we made in forty minutes. The streets of this antique
+city are narrow and crooked, and the pointed, ornamented gables of the
+houses, produce a novel impression on one who has been accustomed to the
+green American forests. Then there was the endless sound of wooden shoes
+clattering over the rough pavements, and people talking in that most
+unmusical of all languages, low Dutch. Walking at random through the
+streets, we came by chance upon the Cathedral of Notre Dame. I shall
+long remember my first impression of the scene within. The lofty gothic
+ceiling arched far above my head and through the stained windows the
+light came but dimly--it was all still, solemn and religious. A few
+worshippers were kneeling in silence before some of the shrines and the
+echo of my tread seemed like a profaning sound. On every side were
+pictures, saints gilded shrines. A few steps removed one from the bustle
+and din of the crowd to the stillness and solemnity of the holy retreat.
+
+We learned from the guide, whom we had engaged because he spoke a few
+words of English, that there was still a _treckshuyt_ line on the
+canals, and that one boat leaves to-night at ten o'clock for Ghent.
+Wishing to try this old Dutch method of travelling, he took us about
+half a mile along the Ghent road to the canal, where a moderate sized
+boat was lying. Our baggage deposited in the plainly furnished cabin, I
+ran back to Bruges, although it was beginning to grow dark, to get a
+sight of the belfry; for Longfellow's lines had been running through my
+head all day:
+
+"In the market place of Bruges, stands the belfry old and brown,
+Thrice consumed and thrice rebuilded, still it watches o'er the town."
+
+And having found the square, brown tower in one corner of the open
+market square, we waited to hear the chimes, which are said to be the
+finest in Europe. They rang out at last with a clear silvery tone, most
+beautifully musical indeed. We then returned to the boat in the
+twilight. We were to leave in about an hour, according to the
+arrangement, but as yet there was no sound to be heard, and we were the
+only tenants. However, trusting to Dutch regularity, we went to sleep in
+the full confidence of awakening in Ghent.
+
+I awoke once in the night and saw the dark branches of trees passing
+before the window, but there was no perceptible sound nor motion; the
+boat glided along like a dream, and we were awakened next morning by its
+striking against the pier at Ghent. After paying three francs for the
+whole night journey, the captain gave us a guide to the railroad
+station, and as we had nearly an hour before the train left, I went to
+see the Cathedral of St. Bavon. After leaving Ghent, the road passes
+through a beautiful country, cultivated like a garden. The Dutch passion
+for flowers is displayed in the gardens around the cottages; even every
+vacant foot of ground along the railway is planted with roses and
+dahlias. At Ghent, the morning being fair, we took seats in the open
+cars. About noon it commenced raining and our situation was soon
+anything but comfortable. My cousin had fortunately a water-proof Indian
+blanket with him, which he had purchased in the "Far West," and by
+wrapping this around all three of us, we kept partly dry. I was much
+amused at the plight of a party of young Englishmen, who were in the
+same car; one of them held a little parasol which just covered his hat,
+and sent the water in streams down on his back and shoulders.
+
+We had a misty view of Liege, through the torrents of rain, and then
+dashed away into the wild, mountain scenery of the Meuse. Steep, rocky
+hills, covered with pine and crowned with ruined towers, hemmed in the
+winding and swollen river, and the wet, cloudy sky seemed to rest like a
+canopy on their summits. Instead of threading their mazy defiles, we
+plunged directly into the mountain's heart, flew over the narrow valley
+on lofty and light-sprung arches, and went again into the darkness. At
+Verviers, our baggage was weighed, examined and transferred, with
+ourselves, to a Prussian train. There was a great deal of disputing on
+the occasion. A lady, who had a dog in a large willow basket, was not
+allowed to retain it, nor would they take it as baggage. The matter was
+finally compromised by their sending the basket, obliging her to carry
+the dog, which was none of the smallest, in her arms! The next station
+bore the sign of the black eagle, and here our passports were obliged to
+be given up. Advancing through long ranges of wooded hills, we saw at
+length, in the dull twilight of a rainy day, the old kingly city of Aix
+la Chapelle on a plain below us. After a scene at the custom-house,
+where our baggage was reclaimed with tickets given at Verviers, we drove
+to the _Hotel du Rhin_, and while warming our shivering limbs and drying
+our damp garments, felt tempted to exclaim with the old Italian author:
+"O! holy and miraculous tavern!"
+
+The Cathedral with its lofty Gothic tower, was built by the emperor
+Otho in the tenth century. It seems at present to be undergoing repairs,
+for a large scaffold shut out the dome. The long hall was dim with
+incense smoke as we entered, and the organ sounded through the high
+arches with an effect that startled me. The windows glowed with the
+forms of kings and saints, and the dusty and mouldering shrines which
+rose around were colored with the light that came through. The music
+pealed out like a triumphal march, sinking at times into a mournful
+strain, as if it celebrated and lamented the heroes who slept below. In
+the stone pavement nearly under my feet was a large square marble slab,
+with words "CAROLO MAGNO." It was like a dream, to stand there on the
+tomb of the mighty warrior, with the lofty arches of the Cathedral
+above, filled with the sound of the divine anthem. I mused above his
+ashes till the music ceased and then left the Cathedral, that nothing
+might break the romantic spell associated with that crumbling pile and
+the dead it covered. I have always revered the memory of Charlemagne. He
+lived in a stern age, but he was in mind and heart a man, and like
+Napoleon, who placed the iron crown which had lain with him centuries in
+the tomb, upon his own brow, he had an Alpine grandeur of mind, which
+the world was forced to acknowledge.
+
+At noon we took the _chars-a-banc_, or second-class carriages, for fear
+of rain, and continued our journey over a plain dotted with villages and
+old chateaux. Two or three miles from Cologne we saw the spires of the
+different churches, conspicuous among which were the unfinished towers
+of the Cathedral, with the enormous crane standing as it did when they
+left off building, two hundred years ago or more. On arriving, we drove
+to the Bonn railway, where finding the last train did not leave for four
+hours, we left our baggage and set out for the Cathedral. Of all Gothic
+buildings, the plan of this is certainly the most stupendous; even ruin
+as it is, it cannot fail to excite surprise and admiration. The King of
+Prussia has undertaken to complete it according to the original plan,
+which was lately found in the possession of a poor man, of whom it was
+purchased for 40,000 florins, but he has not yet finished repairing what
+is already built. The legend concerning this plan may not be known to
+every one. It is related of the inventor of it, that in despair of
+finding any sufficiently great, he was walking one day by the river,
+sketching with his stick upon the sand, when he finally hit upon one
+which pleased him so much that he exclaimed: "This shall be the plan!"
+"I will show you a better one than that!" said a voice suddenly behind
+him, and a certain black gentleman who figures in all German legends
+stood by him, and pulled from his pocket a roll containing the present
+plan of the Cathedral. The architect, amazed at its grandeur, asked an
+explanation of every part. As he knew his soul was to be the price of
+it, he occupied himself while the devil was explaining, in committing
+its proportions carefully to memory. Having done this, he remarked that
+it did not please him and he would not take it. The devil, seeing
+through the cheat, exclaimed in his rage: "You may build your Cathedral
+according to this plan, but you shall never finish it!" This prediction
+seems likely to be verified, for though it was commenced in 1248, and
+built for 250 years, only the choir and nave and one tower to half its
+original height, are finished.
+
+We visited the chapel of the eleven thousand virgins, the walls of which
+are full of curious grated cells, containing their bones, and then
+threaded the narrow streets of Cologne, which are quite dirty enough to
+justify Coleridge's lines:
+
+    "The river Rhine, it is well known
+    Doth wash the city of Cologne;
+    But tell me nymphs, what power divine
+    Shall henceforth wash the river Rhine!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE RHINE TO HEIDELBERG.
+
+
+HEIDELBERG, August 30. Here at last! and a most glorious place it is.
+This is our first morning in our new rooms, and the sun streams warmly
+in the eastern windows, as I write, while the old castle rises through
+the blue vapor on the side of the Kaiser-stuhl. The Neckar rushes on
+below; and the Odenwald, before, me, rejoices with its vineyards in the
+morning light. The bells of the old chapel near us are sounding most
+musically, and a confused sound of voices and the rolling of vehicles
+comes up from the street. It is a place to live in!
+
+I must go back five or six days and take up the record of our
+journeyings at Bonn. We had been looking over Murray's infallible
+"Handbook," and observed that he recommended the "Star" hotel in that
+city, as "the most moderate in its prices of any on the Rhine;" so when
+the train from Cologne arrived and we were surrounded, in the darkness
+and confusion, by porters and valets, I sung out: "_Hotel de l'Etoile
+d'or!_" our baggage and ourselves were transferred to a stylish omnibus,
+and in five minutes we stopped under a brilliantly-lighted archway,
+where Mr. Joseph Schmidt received us with the usual number of smiles and
+bows bestowed upon untitled guests. We were furnished with neat rooms in
+the summit of the house, and then descended to the _salle a manger_. I
+found a folded note by my plate, which I opened--it contained an
+engraving of the front of the hotel, a plan of the city and catalogue of
+its lions, together with a list of the titled personages who have, from
+time to time, honored the "Golden Star" with their custom. Among this
+number were "Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge,
+Prince Albert," etc. Had it not been for fatigue, I should have spent
+an uneasy night, thinking of the heavy bill which was to be presented on
+the morrow. We escaped, however, for seven francs apiece, three of which
+were undoubtedly for the honor of breathing an aristocratic atmosphere.
+
+I was glad when we were really in motion on the swift Rhine, the next
+morning, and nearing the chain of mountains that rose up before us. We
+passed Godesberg on the right, while on our left was the group of the
+seven mountains which extend back from the Drachenfels to the
+Wolkenberg, or Castle of the Clouds. Here we begin to enter the
+enchanted land. The Rhine sweeps around the foot of the Drachenfels,
+while opposite the precipitous rock of Rolandseek, crowned with the
+castle of the faithful knight, looks down upon the beautiful Island of
+Nonnenwerth, the white walls of the convent still gleaming through the
+trees, as they did when the warrior's weary eyes looked upon them for
+the last time. I shall never forget the enthusiasm with which I saw this
+scene in the bright, warm sunlight, the rough crags softened in the haze
+which filled the atmosphere, and the wild mountains springing up in the
+midst of vineyards, and crowned with crumbling towers, filled with the
+memories of a thousand years.
+
+After passing Andernach, we saw in the distance the highlands of the
+middle Rhine, which rise above Coblentz, guarding the entrance to its
+wild scenery, and the mountains of the Moselle. They parted as we
+approached; from the foot shot up the spires of Coblentz, and the
+battlements of Ehrenbreitstein crowning the mountain opposite, grew
+larger and broader. The air was slightly hazy, and the clouds seemed
+laboring among the distant mountains to raise a storm. As we came
+opposite the mouth of the Moselle and under the shadow of the mighty
+fortress, I gazed up with awe at its massive walls. Apart from its
+magnitude and almost impregnable situation on a perpendicular rock, it
+is filled with the recollections of history and hallowed by the voice of
+poetry. The scene went past like a panorama, the bridge of boats opened,
+the city glided behind us and we entered the highlands again.
+
+Above Coblentz almost every mountain has a ruin and a legend. One feels
+everywhere the spirit of the past, and its stirring recollections come
+back upon the mind with irresistible force. I sat upon the deck the
+whole afternoon, as mountains, towns and castles passed by on either
+side, watching them with a feeling of the most enthusiastic enjoyment.
+Every place was familiar to me in memory, and they seemed like friends I
+had long communed with in spirit and now met face to face. The English
+tourists, with whom the deck was covered, seemed interested too, but in
+a different manner. With Murray's Handbook open in their hands, they sat
+and read about the very towns and towers they were passing, scarcely
+lifting their eyes to the real scenes, except now and then, to observe
+that it was "_very nice_."
+
+As we passed Boppart, I sought out the Inn of the "Star," mentioned in
+"Hyperion"; there was a maiden sitting on the steps who might have been
+Paul Flemming's fair boat-woman. The clouds which had here gathered
+among the hills, now came over the river, and the rain cleared the deck
+of its crowd of admiring tourists. As we were approaching Lurlei Berg, I
+did not go below, and so enjoyed some of the finest scenery on the Rhine
+alone. The mountains approach each other at this point, and the Lurlei
+Rock rises up for six hundred feet from the water. This is the haunt of
+the water nymph, Lurlei, whose song charmed the ear of the boatman while
+his barque was dashed to pieces on the rocks below. It is also
+celebrated for its remarkable echo. As we passed between the rocks, a
+guard, who has a little house built on the road-side, blew a flourish on
+his bugle, which was instantly answered by a blast from the rocky
+battlements of Lurlei. The German students have a witty trick with this
+echo: they call out, "Who is the Burgomaster of Oberwesel?" a town just
+above. The echo answers with the last syllable "Esel!" which is the
+German for _ass_.
+
+The sun came out of the cloud as we passed Oberwesel, with its tall
+round tower, and the light shining through the ruined arches of
+Schonberg castle, made broad bars of light and shade in the still misty
+air. A rainbow sprang up out of the Rhine, and lay brightly on the
+mountain side, coloring vineyard and crag, in the most singular beauty,
+while its second reflection faintly arched like a glory above the high
+summits. In the bed of the river were the seven countesses of Schonberg,
+turned into seven rocks for their cruelty and hard-heartedness towards
+the knights whom their beauty had made captive. In front, at a little
+distance was the castle of Pfalz, in the middle of the river, and from
+the heights above Caub frowned the crumbling citadel of Gutenfels.
+Imagine all this, and tell me if it is not a picture whose memory should
+last a life-time!
+
+We came at last to Bingen, the southern gate of the Highlands. Here, on
+an island in the middle of the stream, is the old Mouse tower where
+Bishop Hatto of Mayence was eaten up by the rats for his wicked deeds.
+Passing Rudesheim and Geissenheim, celebrated for their wines, at
+sunset, we watched the varied shore in the growing darkness, till like a
+line of stars across the water, we saw before us the bridge of Mayence.
+
+The next morning I parted from my friends, who were going to Heidelberg
+by way of Mannheim, and set out alone for Frankfort. The cars passed
+through Hochheim, whose wines are celebrated all over the world; there
+is little to interest the traveler till he arrives at Frankfort, whose
+spires are seen rising from groves of trees as he approaches. I left the
+cars, unchallenged for my passport, greatly to my surprise, as it had
+cost me a long walk and five shillings in London, to get the signature
+of the Frankfort Consul. I learned afterwards it was not at all
+necessary. Before leaving America, N.P. Willis had kindly given me a
+letter to his brother, Richard S. Willis, who is now cultivating a
+naturally fine taste for music in Frankfort, and my first care was to
+find the American Consul, in order to learn his residence. I discovered
+at last, from a gentleman who spoke a little French, that the Consul's
+office was in the street _Bellevue_, which street I not only looked for
+through the city, but crossed over the bridge to the suburb of
+Sachsenhausen, and traversed its narrow, dirty alleys three several
+times, but in vain. I was about giving up the search, when I stumbled
+upon the office accidentally. The name of the street had been given to
+me in French and very naturally it was not to be found. Willis received
+me very kindly and introduced me to the amiable German family with whom
+he resides.
+
+After spending a delightful evening with my newly-found friends, I left
+the next morning in the omnibus for Heidelberg. We passed through
+Sachsenhausen and ascended a long hill to the watch-tower, whence there
+is a beautiful view of the Main valley. Four hours' driving over the
+monotonous plain, brought me to Darmstadt. The city wore a gay look,
+left by the recent _fetes_. The monument of the old Duke Ludwig had just
+been erected in the centre of the great square, and the festival
+attendant upon the unveiling of it, which lasted three days, had just
+closed. The city was hung with garlands, and the square filled with the
+pavilions of the royal family and the musicians, of whom there were a
+thousand present, while everywhere were seen red and white flags--the
+colors of Darmstadt. We met wagons decorated with garlands, full of
+pleasant girls, in the odd dress which they have worn for three hundred
+years.
+
+After leaving Darmstadt we entered upon the Bergstrasse, or
+Mountain-way, leading along the foot of the mountain chain which extends
+all the way to Heidelberg on the left, while on the right stretches far
+away the Rhine-plain, across which we saw the dim outline of the
+Donnersberg, in France. The hills are crowned with castles and their
+sides loaded with vines; along the road the rich green foliage of the
+walnut trees arched and nearly met above us. The sun shone warm and
+bright, and every body appeared busy and contented and happy. All we met
+had smiling countenances. In some places we saw whole families sitting
+under the trees shelling the nuts they had beaten down, while others
+were returning from the vineyards, laden with baskets of purple and
+white grapes. The scene seemed to realize all I had read of the
+happiness of the German peasantry, and the pastoral beauty of the German
+plains.
+
+With the passengers in the omnibus I could hold little conversation.
+One, who knew about as much French as I did, asked me where I came from,
+and I shall not soon forget his expression of incredulity, as I
+mentioned America. "Why," said he, "you are white--the Americans are all
+black!"
+
+We passed the ruined castles of Auerback and Starkenburg, and Burg
+Windeck, on the summit of a mountain near Weinheim, formerly one of the
+royal residences of Charlemagne, and finally came to the Heiligenberg or
+Holy Mountain, guarding the entrance into the Odenwald by the valley of
+the Neckar. As we wound around its base to the river, the Kaiserstuhl
+rose before us, with the mighty castle hanging upon its side and
+Heidelberg at its feet. It was a most strikingly beautiful scene, and
+for a moment I felt inclined to assent to the remark of my bad-French
+acquaintance--"America is not beautiful--Heidelberg is beautiful!" The
+sun had just set as we turned the corner of the Holy Mountain and drove
+up the bank of the Neckar; all the chimes of Heidelberg began suddenly
+to ring and a cannon by the riverside was fired off every minute--the
+sound echoing five times distinctly from mountain back to mountain, and
+finally crashing far off, along the distant hills of the Odenwald. It
+was the birthday of the Grand Duke of Baden, and these rejoicings were
+for the closing _fete_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+SCENES IN AND AROUND HEIDELBERG.
+
+
+_Sept. 30._--There is so much to be seen around this beautiful place,
+that I scarcely know where to begin a description of it. I have been
+wandering among the wild paths that lead up and down the mountain side,
+or away into the forests and lonely meadows in the lap of the Odenwald.
+My mind is filled with images of the romantic German scenery, whose real
+beauty is beginning to displace the imaginary picture which I had
+painted with the enthusiastic words of Howitt. I seem to stand now upon
+the Kaiser-stuhl, which rises above Heidelberg, with that magnificent
+landscape around me, from the Black Forest and Strasburg to Mainz, and
+from the Vosges in France to the hills of Spessart in Bavaria. What a
+glorious panorama! and not less rich in associations than in its natural
+beauty. Below me had moved the barbarian hordes of old, the triumphant
+followers of Arminius, and the Cohorts of Rome; and later, full many a
+warlike host bearing the banners of the red cross to the Holy
+Land,--many a knight returning with his vassals from the field, to lay
+at the feet of his lady-love the scarf he had worn in a hundred battles
+and claim the reward of his constancy and devotion. But brighter spirits
+had also toiled below. That plain had witnessed the presence of Luther,
+and a host who strove with him to free the world from the chains of a
+corrupt and oppressive religion. There had also trodden the master
+spirits of German song--the giant twain, with their scarcely less
+harmonious brethren: they, too, had gathered inspiration from those
+scenes--more fervent worship of nature and a deeper love for their
+beautiful fatherland! Oh! what waves of crime and bloodshed have swept
+like the waves of a deluge down the valley of the Rhine! War has laid
+his mailed hand on those desolate towers and ruthlessly torn down what
+time has spared, yet he could not mar the beauty of the shore, nor could
+Time himself hurl down the mountains that guard it. And what if I feel a
+new inspiration on beholding the scene? Now that those ages have swept
+by, like the red waves of a tide of blood, we see not the darkened
+earth, but the golden sands which the flood has left behind. Besides, I
+have come from a new world, where the spirit of man is untrammeled by
+the mouldering shackles of the past, but in its youthful and joyous
+freedom, goes on to make itself a noble memory for the ages that are to
+come!
+
+Then there is the Wolfsbrunnen, which one reaches by a beautiful walk up
+the bank of the Neckar, to a quiet dell in the side of the mountain.
+Through this the roads lead up by rustic mills, always in motion, and
+orchards laden with ripening fruit, to the commencement of the forest,
+where a quaint stone fountain stands, commemorating the abode of a
+sorceress of the olden time, who was torn in pieces by a wolf. There is
+a handsome rustic inn here, where every Sunday afternoon a band plays in
+the portico, while hundreds of people are scattered around in the cool
+shadow of the trees, or feeding the splendid trout in the basin formed
+by the little stream. They generally return to the city by another walk
+leading along the mountain side, to the eastern terrace of the castle,
+where they have fine views of the great Rhine plain, terminated by the
+Alsatian hills, stretching along the western horizon like the long
+crested swells on the ocean. We can even see these from the windows of
+our room on the bank of the Neckar; and I often look with interest on
+one sharp peak, for on its side stands the Castle of Trifels, where
+Coeur de Lion was imprisoned by the Duke of Austria, and where Blondel,
+his faithful minstrel, sang the ballad which discovered the retreat of
+the noble captive.
+
+The people of Heidelberg are rich in places of pleasure and amusement.
+From the Carl Platz, an open square at the upper end of the city, two
+paths lead directly up to the castle. By the first walk we ascend a
+flight of steps to the western gate, passing through which, we enter a
+delightful garden, between the outer walls of the Castle, and the huge
+moat which surrounds it. Great linden, oak and beech trees shadow the
+walk, and in secluded nooks, little mountain streams spring from the
+side of the wall into stone basins. There is a tower over the moat on
+the south side, next the mountain, where the portcullis still hangs with
+its sharp teeth as it was last drawn up; on each side stand two grim
+knights guarding the entrance. In one of the wooded walks is an old tree
+brought from America in the year 1618. It is of the kind called _arbor
+vitae_, and uncommonly tall and slender for one of this species; yet it
+does not seem to thrive well in a foreign soil. I noticed that persons
+had cut many slips off the lower branches, and I would have been tempted
+to do the same myself if there had been any I could reach. In the curve
+of the mountain is a handsome pavilion, surrounded with beds of flowers
+and fountains; here all classes meet together in the afternoon to sit
+with their refreshments in the shade, while frequently a fine band of
+music gives them their invariable recreation. All this, with the scenery
+around them, leaves nothing unfinished to their present enjoyment. The
+Germans enjoy life under all circumstances, and in this way they make
+themselves much happier than we, who have far greater means of being so.
+
+At the end of the terrace built for the princess Elizabeth, of England,
+is one of the round towers, which was split in twain by the French. Half
+has fallen entirely away, and the other semicircular shell which joins
+the terrace and part of the Castle buildings, clings firmly together,
+although part of its foundation is gone, so that its outer ends actually
+hang in the air. Some idea of the strength of the castle may be obtained
+when I state that the walls of this tower are twenty-two feet thick, and
+that a staircase has been made through them to the top, where one can
+sit under the lindens growing upon it, or look down from the end on the
+city below with the pleasant consciousness that the great mass upon
+which he stands is only prevented from crashing down with him by the
+solidity of its masonry. On one side, joining the garden, the statue of
+the Archduke Louis, in his breastplate and flowing beard, looks out from
+among the ivy.
+
+There is little to be seen about the Castle except the walls themselves.
+The guide conducted us through passages, in which were heaped many of
+the enormous cannon balls which it had received in sieges, to some
+chambers in the foundation. This was the oldest part of the Castle,
+built in the thirteenth century. We also visited the chapel, which is in
+a tolerable state of preservation. A kind of narrow bridge crosses it,
+over which we walked, looking down on the empty pulpit and deserted
+shrines. We then went into the cellar to see the celebrated Tun. In a
+large vault are kept several enormous hogsheads, one of which is three
+hundred years old, but they are nothing in comparison with the tun,
+which itself fills a whole vault. It is as high as a common two story
+house; on the top is a platform upon which the people used to dance
+after it was filled, to which one ascends by two flights of steps. I
+forgot exactly how many casks it holds, but I believe eight hundred. It
+has been empty for fifty years.
+
+We are very pleasantly situated here. My friends, who arrived a day
+before me, hired three rooms (with the assistance of a courier) in a
+large house on the banks of the Neckar. We pay for them, with
+attendance, thirty florins--about twelve dollars--a month, and Frau Dr.
+Grosch, our polite and talkative landlady, gives us a student's
+breakfast--coffee and biscuit--for about seven cents apiece. We are
+often much amused to hear her endeavors to make us understand. As if to
+convey her meaning plainer, she raises both thumbs and forefingers to
+her mouth and pulls out the words like a long string; her tongue goes so
+fast that it keeps my mind always on a painful stretch to comprehend an
+idea here and there. Dr. S----, from whom we take lessons in German, has
+kindly consented to our dining with his family for the sake of practice
+in speaking. We have taken several long walks with them along the banks
+of the Neckar, but I should be puzzled to repeat any of the
+conversations that took place. The language, however, is fast growing
+more familiar, since _women_ are the principal teachers.
+
+Opposite my window rises the Heiligenberg, on the other side of the
+Neckar. The lower part of it is rich with vineyards, and many cottages
+stand embosomed in shrubbery among them. Sometimes we see groups of
+maidens standing under the grape arbors, and every morning the peasant
+women go toiling up the steep paths with baskets on their heads, to
+labor among the vines. On the Neckar below us, the fishermen glide about
+in their boats, sink their square nets fastened to a long pole, and haul
+them up with the glittering fish, of which the stream is full. I often
+lean out of the window late at night, when the mountains above are
+wrapped in dusky obscurity, and listen to the low, musical ripple of the
+river. It tells to my excited fancy a knightly legend of the old German
+time. Then comes the bell, rung for closing the inns, breaking the spell
+with its deep clang, which vibrates far away on the night air, till it
+has roused all the echoes of the Odenwald. I then shut the window, turn
+into the narrow box which the Germans call a bed, and in a few minutes
+am wandering in America. Half way up the Heiligenberg runs a beautiful
+walk, dividing the vineyards from the forest above. This is called the
+Philosopher's Way, because it was the favorite ramble of the old
+Professors of the University. It can be reached by a toilsome, winding
+path among the vines, called the Snake-way, and when one has ascended to
+it he is well rewarded by the lovely view. In the evening, when the sun
+has got behind the mountain, it is delightful to sit on the stone steps
+and watch the golden light creeping up the side of the Kaiser-stuhl,
+till at last twilight begins to darken in the valley and a mantle of
+mist gathers above the Neckar.
+
+We ascended the mountain a few days ago. There is a path which leads up
+through the forest, but we took the shortest way, directly up the side,
+though it was at an angle of nearly fifty degrees. It was hard enough
+work, scrambling through the thick broom and heather, and over stumps
+and stones. In one of the stone-heaps I dislodged a large orange-colored
+salamander, seven or eight inches long. They are sometimes found on
+these mountains, as well as a very large kind of lizard, called the
+_eidechse_, which the Germans say is perfectly harmless, and if one
+whistles or plays a pipe, will come and play around him. The view from
+the top reminded me of that from Catskill Mountain House, but is on a
+smaller scale. The mountains stretch off sideways, confining the view to
+but half the horizon, and in the middle of the picture the Hudson is
+well represented by the lengthened windings of the "abounding Rhine."
+Nestled at the base below us, was the little village of Handschuhheim,
+one of the oldest in this part of Germany. The castle of its former
+lords has nearly all fallen down, but the massive solidity of the walls
+which yet stand, proves its antiquity. A few years ago, a part of the
+outer walls which was remarked to have a hollow sound, was taken down,
+when there fell from a deep niche built therein, a skeleton, clad in a
+suit of the old German armor. We followed a road through the woods to
+the peak on which stand the ruins of St. Michael's chapel, which was
+built in the tenth century and inhabited for a long time by a sect of
+white monks. There is now but a single tower remaining, and all around
+is grown over with tall bushes and weeds. It had a wild and romantic
+look, and I sat on a rock and sketched at it, till it grew dark, when we
+got down the mountain the best way we could.
+
+We lately visited the great University Library. You walk through one
+hall after another, filled with books of all kinds, from the monkish
+manuscript of the middle ages, to the most elegant print of the present
+day. There is something to me more impressive in a library like this
+than a solemn Cathedral. I think involuntarily of the hundreds of mighty
+spirits who speak from these three hundred thousand volumes--of the
+toils and privations with which genius has ever struggled, and of his
+glorious reward. As in a church, one feels as it were, the presence of
+God; not because the place has been hallowed by his worship, but because
+all around stand the inspirations of his spirit, breathed through the
+mind of genius, to men. And if the mortal remains of saints and heroes
+do not repose within its walls, the great and good of the whole earth
+are there, speaking their counsels to the searcher for truth, with
+voices whose last reverberation will die away only when the globe falls
+into ruin.
+
+A few nights ago there was a wedding of peasants across the river. In
+order to celebrate it particularly, the guests went to the house where
+it was given, by torchlight. The night was quite dark, and the bright
+red torches glowed on the surface of the Neckar, as the two couriers
+galloped along the banks to the bridegroom's house. Here, after much
+shouting and confusion, the procession was arranged, the two riders
+started back again with their torches, and the wagons containing the
+guests followed after with their flickering lights glancing on the
+water, till they disappeared around the foot of the mountain. The
+choosing of Conscripts also took place lately. The law requires one
+person out of every hundred to become a soldier, and this, in the city
+of Heidelberg, amounts to nearly 150. It was a sad spectacle. The young
+men, or rather boys, who were chosen, went about the city with cockades
+fastened on their hats, shouting and singing, many of them quite
+intoxicated. I could not help pitying them because of the dismal,
+mechanical life they are doomed to follow. Many were rough, ignorant
+peasants, to whom nearly any kind of life would be agreeable; but there
+were some whose countenances spoke otherwise, and I thought
+involuntarily, that their drunken gaiety was only affected to conceal
+their real feelings with regard to the lot which had fallen upon them.
+
+We are gradually becoming accustomed to the German style of living,
+which is very different from our own. Their cookery is new to us, but
+is, nevertheless, good. We have every day a different kind of soup, so I
+have supposed they keep a regular list of three hundred and sixty-five,
+one for every day in the year! Then we have potatoes "done up" in oil
+and vinegar, veal flavored with orange peel, barley pudding, and all
+sorts of pancakes, boiled artichokes, and always rye bread, in loaves a
+yard long! Nevertheless, we thrive on such diet, and I have rarely
+enjoyed more sound and refreshing sleep than in their narrow and
+coffin-like beds, uncomfortable as they seem. Many of the German customs
+are amusing. We never see oxen working here, but always cows, sometimes
+a single one in a cart, and sometimes two fastened together by a yoke
+across their horns. The women labor constantly in the fields; from our
+window we can hear the nut-brown maidens singing their cheerful songs
+among the vineyards on the mountain side. Their costume, too, is odd
+enough. Below the light-fitting vest they wear such a number of short
+skirts, one above another, that it reminds one of an animated hogshead,
+with a head and shoulders starting out from the top. I have heard it
+gravely asserted that the wealth of a German damsel may be known by
+counting the number of her "kirtles." An acquaintance of mine remarked,
+that it would be an excellent costume for falling down a precipice!
+
+We have just returned from a second visit to Frankfort, where the great
+annual fair filled the streets with noise and bustle. On our way back,
+we stopped at the village of Zwingenberg, which lies at the foot of the
+Melibochus, for the purpose of visiting some of the scenery of the
+Odenwald. Passing the night at the inn there, we slept with one bed
+under and two above, and started early in the morning to climb up the
+side of the Melibochus. After a long walk through the forests, which
+were beginning to change their summer foliage for a brighter garment, we
+reached the summit and ascended the stone tower which stands upon it.
+This view gives one a better idea of the Odenwald, than that from the
+Kaiser-stuhl at Heidelberg. In the soft autumn atmosphere it looked even
+more beautiful. After an hour in that heaven of uplifted thought, into
+which we step from the mountain-top, our minds went with the path
+downward to earth, and we descended the eastern side into the wild
+region which contains the _Felsenmeer_, or Sea of Rocks.
+
+We met on the way a student from Fulda--a fine specimen of that
+free-spirited class, and a man whose smothered aspiration was betrayed
+in the flashing of his eye, as he spoke of the present painful and
+oppressed condition of Germany. We talked so busily together that
+without noticing the path, which had been bringing us on, up hill and
+down, through forest and over rock, we came at last to a halt in a
+valley among the mountains. Making inquiries there, we found we had gone
+wrong, and must ascend by a different path the mountain we had just come
+down. Near the summit of this, in a wild pine wood, was the
+Felsenmeer--a great collection of rocks heaped together like pebbles on
+the sea shore, and worn and rounded as if by the action of water: so
+much do they resemble waves, that one standing at the bottom and looking
+up, cannot resist the idea, that they will flow down upon him. It must
+have been a mighty tide whose receding waves left these masses piled up
+together! The same formation continues at intervals, to the foot, of the
+mountains. It reminded me of a _glacier_ of rocks instead of ice. A
+little higher up, lies a massive block of granite called the "Giant's
+Column." It is thirty-two feet long and three to four feet in diameter,
+and still bears the mark of the chisel. When or by whom it was made,
+remains a mystery. Some have supposed it was intended to be erected for
+the worship of the Sun, by the wild Teutonic tribes who inhabited this
+forest; it is more probably the work of the Romans. A project was once
+started, to erect it as a monument on the battle-field of Leipsic, but
+it was found too difficult to carry into execution.
+
+After dining at the little village of Reichelsdorf in the valley below,
+where the merry landlord charged my friend two kreutzers less than
+myself because he was not so tall, we visited the Castle of Schonberg,
+and joined the Bergstrasse again. We walked the rest of the way here;
+long before we arrived, the moon shone down on us over the mountains,
+and when we turned around the foot of the Heiligenberg, the mist
+descending in the valley of the Neckar, rested like a light cloud on the
+church spires.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+A WALK THROUGH THE ODENWALD.
+
+
+B---- and I are now comfortably settled in Frankfort, having, with Mr.
+Willis's kind assistance, obtained lodgings with the amiable family,
+with whom he has resided for more than two years. My cousin remains in
+Heidelberg to attend the winter course of lectures at the University.
+
+Having forwarded our baggage by the omnibus, we came hither on foot,
+through the heart of the Odenwald, a region full of interest, yet little
+visited by travellers. Dr. S---- and his family walked with us three or
+four miles of the way, and on a hill above Ziegelhausen, with a splendid
+view behind us, through the mountain-door, out of which the Neckar
+enters on the Rhine-plain, we parted. This was a first, and I must
+confess, a somewhat embarrassing experience in German leave-taking.
+After bidding adieu three or four times, we started to go up the
+mountain and they down it, but at every second step we had to turn
+around to acknowledge the waving of hands and handkerchiefs, which
+continued so long that I was glad when we were out of sight of each
+other. We descended on the other side into a wild and romantic valley,
+whose meadows were of the brightest green; a little brook which wound
+through them, put now and then its "silvery shoulder" to the wheel of a
+rustic mill. By the road-side two or three wild-looking gipsies sat
+around a fire, with some goats feeding near them.
+
+Passing through this valley and the little village of Schonau, we
+commenced ascending one of the loftiest ranges of the Odenwald. The side
+of the mountain was covered with a thick pine forest. There was no wind
+to wake its solemn anthem; all was calm and majestic, and even awful.
+The trees rose all around like the pillars of a vast Cathedral, whose
+long arched aisles vanished far below in the deepening gloom.
+
+    "Nature with folded hands seemed there,
+    Kneeling at her evening prayer,"
+
+for twilight had already begun to gather. We went on and up and ever
+higher, like the youth in "Excelsior;" the beech and dwarf oak took the
+place of the pine, and at last we arrived at a cleared summit whose long
+brown grass waved desolately in the dim light of evening. A faint glow
+still lingered over the forest-hills, but down in the valley the dusky
+shades hid every vestige of life, though its sounds came up softened
+through the long space. When we reached the top a bright planet stood
+like a diamond over the brow of the eastern hill, and the sound of a
+twilight bell came up clearly and sonorously on the cool damp air. The
+white veil of mist slowly descended down the mountain side, but the
+peaks rose above it like the wrecks of a world, floating in space. We
+made our way in the dusk down the long path, to the rude little dorf of
+Elsbach. I asked at the first inn for lodging, where we were ushered
+into a great room, in which a number of girls who had been at work in
+the fields, were assembled. They were all dressed in men's jackets, and
+short gowns, and some had their hair streaming down their back. The
+landlord's daughter, however, was a beautiful girl, whose modest,
+delicate features contrasted greatly with the coarse faces of the
+others. I thought of Uhland's beautiful little poem of "The Landlady's
+Daughter," as I looked on her. In the room hung two or three pair of
+antlers, and they told us deer were still plenty in the forests.
+
+When we left the village the next morning, we again commenced ascending.
+Over the whole valley and halfway up the mountain, lay a thick white
+frost, almost like snow, which contrasted with the green trees and
+bushes scattered over the meadows, produced the most singular effect. We
+plucked blackberries ready iced from the bushes by the road-side, and
+went on in the cold, for the sun shone only on the top of the opposite
+mountain, into another valley, down which rushed the rapid Ulver. At a
+little village which bears the beautiful name _Anteschonmattenwag_, we
+took a foot-path directly over a steep mountain to the village of
+Finkenbach. Near the top I found two wild-looking children, cutting
+grass with knives, both of whom I prevailed upon for a few kreutzers to
+stand and let me sketch them. From the summit the view on the other side
+was very striking. The hills were nearly every one covered with wood,
+and not a dwelling in sight. It reminded me of our forest scenery at
+home. The principal difference is, that our trees are two or three times
+the size of theirs.
+
+At length, after scaling another mountain, we reached a wide, elevated
+plain, in the middle of which stood the old dorf of Beerfelden. It was
+then crowded with people, on account of a great cattle-fair being held
+there. All the farmers of the neighborhood were assembled, clad in the
+ancient country costume--broad cocked hats and blue frocks. An orchard
+near the town was filled with cattle and horses, and near by, in the
+shade, a number of pedlars had arranged their wares. The cheerful
+looking country people touched their hats to us as we passed. This
+custom of greeting travellers, universal in Germany, is very expressive
+of their social, friendly manners. Among the mountains, we frequently
+met groups of children, who sang together their simple ballads as we
+passed by.
+
+From Beerfelden we passed down the valley of the Mimling to Erbach, the
+principal city in the Odenwald, and there stopped a short time to view
+the Rittersaal in the old family castle of the Counts of Erbach. An
+officer, who stood at the gates, conducted us to the door, where we were
+received by a noble-looking, gray-headed steward. He took us into the
+Rittersaal at once, which was like stepping back three hundred years.
+The stained windows of the lofty Gothic hall, let in a subdued light
+which fell on the forms of kings and knights, clad in the armor they
+wore during life. On the left as we entered, were mail-covered figures
+of John and Cosmo do Medici; further on stood the Emperor Maximilian,
+and by his side the celebrated dwarf who was served up in a pie at one
+of the imperial feasts. His armor was most delicate and beautiful, but
+small as it was, General Thumb would have had room in it. Gustavus
+Adolphus and Wallenstein looked down from the neighboring pedestals,
+while at the other end stood Goetz von Berlichingen and Albert of
+Brunswick. Guarding the door were Hans, the robber-knight of Nuremberg,
+and another from the Thuringian forest. The steward told me that the
+iron hand of Goetz was in possession of the family, but not shown to
+strangers; he pointed out, however, the buckles on the armor, by which
+it was fastened. Adjoining the hall is an antique chapel, filled with
+rude old tombs, and containing the sarcophagus of Count Eginhard of
+Denmark, who lived about the tenth century. There were also monkish
+garments five hundred years old hanging up in it.
+
+The collection of antiquities is large and interesting; but it is said
+that the old Count obtained some of them in rather a questionable
+manner. Among other incidents, they say that when in Rome he visited the
+Pope, taking with him an old servant who accompanied him in all his
+travels, and was the accomplice in most of his antiquarian thefts. In
+one of the outer halls, among the curiosities, was an antique shield of
+great value. The servant was left in this hall while the Count had his
+audience, and in a short time this shield was missed. The servant who
+wore a long cloak, was missed also; orders were given to close the gates
+and search every body, but it was too late--the thief was gone.
+
+Leaving Erbach we found out the direction of Snellert, the Castle of the
+Wild Huntsman, and took a road that led us for two or three hours along
+the top of a mountain ridge. Through the openings in the pine and larch
+forests, we had glimpses of the hills of Spessart, beyond the Main. When
+we finally left the by-road we had chosen it was quite dark, and we
+missed the way altogether among the lanes and meadows. We came at last
+to a full stop at the house of a farmer, who guided us by a foot path
+over the fields to a small village. On entering the only inn, kept by
+the Burgomaster, the people finding we were Americans, regarded us with
+a curiosity quite uncomfortable. They crowded around the door, watching
+every motion, and gazed in through the windows. The wild huntsman
+himself could scarcely have made a greater sensation. The news of our
+arrival seemed to have spread very fast, for the next morning when we
+stopped at a prune orchard some distance from the village to buy some
+fruit, the farmer cried out from a tree, "they are the Americans; give
+them as many as they want for nothing!"
+
+With the Burgomaster's little son for a guide, we went back a mile or
+two of our route to Snellert, which we had passed the night before, and
+after losing ourselves two or three times in the woods, arrived at last
+at the top of the mountain, where the ruins of the castle stand. The
+walls are nearly level with the ground. The interest of a visit rests
+entirely on the romantic legend, and the wild view over the hills
+around, particularly that in front, where on the opposite mountain are
+the ruins of Rodenstein, to which the wild Huntsman was wont to ride at
+midnight--where he now rides no more. The echoes of Rodenstein are no
+longer awakened by the sound of his bugle, and the hoofs of his demon
+steed clanging on the battlements. But the hills around are wild enough,
+and the roar of the pine forests deep enough to have inspired the simple
+peasants with the romantic tradition.
+
+Stopping for dinner at the town of Rheinheim, we met an old man, who, on
+learning we were Americans, walked with us as far as the next village.
+He had a daughter in America and was highly gratified to meet any one
+from the country of her adoption. He made me promise to visit her, if I
+ever should go to St. Louis, and say that I had walked with her father
+from Rheinheim to Zwangenburg. To satisfy his fears that I might forget
+it, I took down his name and that of his daughter. He shook me warmly by
+the hand at parting, and was evidently made happier for that day.
+
+We reached Darmstadt just in time to take a seat in the omnibus for
+Frankfort. Among the passengers were a Bavarian family, on their way to
+Bremen, to ship from thence to Texas. I endeavored to discourage the man
+from choosing such a country as his home, by telling him of its heats
+and pestilences, but he was too full of hope to be shaken in his
+purpose. I would have added that it was a slave-land, but I thought on
+our own country's curse, and was silent. The wife was not so sanguine;
+she seemed to mourn in secret at leaving her beautiful fatherland. It
+was saddening to think how lonely they would feel in that far home, and
+how they would long, with true German devotion, to look again on the
+green vintage-hills of their forsaken country. As night drew on, the
+little girl crept over to her father for his accustomed evening kiss,
+and then sank back to sleep in a corner of the wagon. The boy, in the
+artless confidence of childhood, laid his head on my breast, weary with
+the day's travel, and soon slept also. Thus we drove on in the dark,
+till at length the lights of Frankfort glimmered on the breast of the
+rapid Main, as we passed over the bridge, and when we stopped near the
+Cathedral, I delivered up my little charge and sent my sympathy with the
+wanderers on their lonely way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+SCENES IN FRANKFORT--AN AMERICAN COMPOSER--THE POET FREILIGRATH.
+
+
+_Dec. 4._--This is a genuine old German city. Founded by Charlemagne,
+afterwards a rallying point of the Crusaders, and for a long time the
+capital of the German empire, it has no lack of interesting historical
+recollections, and notwithstanding it is fast becoming modernized, one
+is every where reminded of the Past. The Cathedral, old as the days of
+Peter the Hermit, the grotesque street of the Jews, the many quaint,
+antiquated dwellings and the mouldering watch-towers on the hills
+around, give it a more interesting character than any German city I have
+yet seen. The house we dwell in, on the Markt Platz, is more than two
+hundred years old; directly opposite is a great castellated building,
+gloomy with the weight of six centuries, and a few steps to the left
+brings me to the square of the Roemerberg, where the Emperors were
+crowned, in a corner of which is a curiously ornamented house, formerly
+the residence of Luther. There are legends innumerable connected with
+all these buildings, and even yet discoveries are frequently made in old
+houses, of secret chambers and staircases. When you add to all this, the
+German love of ghost stories, and, indeed, their general belief in
+spirits, the lover of romance could not desire a more agreeable
+residence.
+
+I often look out on the singular scene below my window. On both sides of
+the street, leaving barely room to enter the houses, sit the market
+women, with their baskets of vegetables and fruit. The middle of the
+street is filled with women buying, and every cart or carriage that
+comes along, has to force its way through the crowd, sometimes rolling
+against and overturning the baskets on the side, when for a few minutes
+there is a Babel of unintelligible sounds. The country women in their
+jackets and short gowns go backwards and forwards with great loads on
+their heads, sometimes nearly as high as themselves. It is a most
+singular scene, and so varied that one never tires of looking upon it.
+These women sit here from sunrise till sunset, day after day, for years.
+They have little furnaces for cooking and for warmth in winter, and when
+it rains they sit in large wooden boxes. One or two policemen are
+generally on the ground in the morning to prevent disputing about their
+places, which often gives rise to interesting scenes. Perhaps this kind
+of life in the open air is conducive to longevity; for certainly there
+is no country on earth that has as many old women. Many of them look
+like walking machines made of leather; and to judge from what I see in
+the streets here, I should think they work till they die.
+
+On the 21st of October a most interesting fete took place. The
+magnificent monument of Goethe, modelled by the sculptor Schwanthaler,
+at Munich, and cast in bronze, was unveiled. It arrived a few days
+before, and was received with much ceremony and erected in the destined
+spot, an open square in the western part of the city, planted with
+acacia trees. I went there at ten o'clock, and found the square already
+full of people. Seats had been erected around the monument for ladies,
+the singers and musicians. A company of soldiers was stationed to keep
+an entrance for the procession, which at length arrived with music and
+banners, and entered the enclosure. A song for the occasion was sung by
+the choir; it swelled up gradually, and with such perfect harmony and
+unity, that it seemed like some glorious instrument touched by a single
+hand. Then a poetical address was delivered; after which four young men
+took their stand at the corners of the monument; the drums and trumpets
+gave a flourish, and the mantle fell. The noble figure seemed to rise
+out of the earth, and thus amid shoutings and the triumphal peal of the
+band, the form of Goethe greeted the city of his birth. He is
+represented as leaning on the trunk of a tree, holding in his right hand
+a roll of parchment, and in his left a wreath. The pedestal, which is
+also of bronze, contains bas reliefs, representing scenes from Faust,
+Wilhelm Meister and Egmont. In the evening Goethe's house, in a street
+near, was illuminated by arches of lamps between the windows, and hung
+with wreaths of flowers. Four pillars of colored lamps lighted the
+statue. At nine o'clock the choir of singers came again in a procession,
+with colored lanterns, on poles, and after singing two or three songs,
+the statue was exhibited in the red glare of the Bengal light. The trees
+and houses around the square were covered with the glow, which streamed
+in broad sheets up against the dark sky.
+
+Within the walls the greater part of Frankfort is built in the old
+German style--the houses six or seven stones high, and every story
+projecting out over the other, so that those living in the upper part
+can nearly shake hands out of the windows. At the corners figures of men
+are often seen, holding up the story above on their shoulders and making
+horrible faces at the weight. When I state that in all these narrow
+streets which constitute the greater part of the city, there are no
+sidewalks, the windows of the lower stories with an iron grating
+extending a foot or so into the street, which is only wide enough for
+one cart to pass along, you can have some idea of the facility of
+walking through them, to say nothing of the piles of wood, and
+market-women with baskets of vegetables which one is continually
+stumbling over. Even in the wider streets, I have always to look before
+and behind to keep out of the way of the fiacres; the people here get so
+accustomed to it, that they leave barely room for them to pass, and the
+carriages go dashing by at a nearness which sometimes makes me shudder.
+
+As I walked across the Main, and looked down at the swift stream on its
+way from the distant Thuringian forest to join the Rhine, I thought of
+the time when Schiller stood there in the days of his early struggles,
+an exile from his native land, and looking over the bridge, said in the
+loneliness of his heart, "That water flows not so deep as my
+sufferings!" In the middle, on an iron ornament, stands the golden cock
+at which Goethe used to marvel when a boy. Perhaps you have not heard
+the legend connected with this. The bridge was built several hundred
+years ago, with such strength and solidity that it will stand many
+hundred yet. The architect had contracted to build it within a certain
+time, but as it drew near, without any prospect of fulfilment, the devil
+appeared to him and promised to finish it, on condition of having the
+first soul that passed over it. This was agreed upon end the devil
+performed his part of the bargain. The artist, however, on the day
+appointed, drove a cook across before he suffered any one to pass over
+it. His majesty stationed himself under the middle arch of the bridge,
+awaiting his prey; but enraged at the cheat, he tore the unfortunate
+fowl in pieces and broke two holes in the arch, saying they should never
+be built up again. The golden cock was erected on the bridge as a token
+of the event, but the devil has perhaps lost some of his power in these
+latter days, for the holes were filled up about thirty years ago.
+
+From the hills on the Darmstadt road, I had a view of the country
+around--the fields were white and bare, and the dark Tannus, with the
+broad patches of snow on his sides, looked grim and shadowy through the
+dim atmosphere. It was like the landscape of a dream--dark, strange and
+silent. The whole of last month we saw the sun but two or three days,
+the sky being almost continually covered with a gloomy fog. England and
+Germany seem to have exchanged climates this year, for in the former
+country we had delightfully clear weather.
+
+I have seen the banker Rothschild several times driving about the city.
+This one--Anselmo, the most celebrated of the brothers--holds a mortgage
+on the city of Jerusalem. He rides about in style, with officers
+attending his carriage. He is a little bald-headed man, with marked
+Jewish features, and is said not to deceive his looks. At any rate, his
+reputation is none of the best, either with Jews or Christians. A
+caricature was published some time ago, in which he is represented as
+giving a beggar woman by the way-side, a kreutzer--the smallest German
+coin. She is made to exclaim, "God reward you, a thousand fold!" He
+immediately replies, after reckoning up in his head: "How much have I
+then?--sixteen florins and forty kreutzers!"
+
+I have lately heard one of the most perfectly beautiful creations that
+ever emanated from the soul of genius--the opera of Fidelio. I have
+caught faint glimpses of that rich world of fancy and feeling, to which
+music is the golden door. Surrendering myself to the grasp of
+Beethoven's powerful conception, I read in sounds far more expressive
+than words, the almost despairing agony of the strong-hearted, but
+still tender and womanly Fidelio--the ecstatic joy of the wasted
+prisoner, when he rose from his hard couch in the dungeon, seeming to
+fuel, in his maniac brain, the presentiment of a bright being who would
+come to unbind his chains--and. the sobbing and wailing, almost-human,
+which came from the orchestra, when they dug his grave, by the dim
+lantern's light. When it was done, the murderer stole into the dungeon,
+to gloat on the agonies of his victim, ere he gave the death-blow. Then,
+while the prisoner is waked to reason by that sight, and Fidelio throws
+herself before the uplifted dagger, rescuing her husband with the
+courage which love gives to a woman's heart, the storm of feeling which
+has been gathering in the music, swells to a height beyond which it
+seemed impossible for the soul to pass. My nerves were thrilled till I
+could bear no more. A mist seemed to come before my eyes and I scarcely
+knew what followed, till the rescued kneeled together and poured forth
+in the closing hymn the painful fullness of their joy. I dreaded the
+sound of voices after the close, and the walk home amid the harsh
+rattling of vehicles on the rough streets. For days afterwards my brain
+was filled with a mingled and confused sense of melody, like the
+half-remembered music of a dream.
+
+Why should such magnificent creations of art be denied the new world?
+There is certainly enthusiasm and refinement of feeling enough at home
+to appreciate them, were the proper direction given to the popular
+taste. What country possesses more advantages to foster the growth of
+such an art, than ours? Why should not the composer gain mighty
+conceptions from the grandeur of our mountain scenery, from the howling
+of the storm through our giant forests, from the eternal thunder of
+Niagara? All these collateral influences, which more or less tend to the
+development and expansion of genius, are characteristics of our country;
+and a taste for musical compositions of a refined and lofty character,
+would soon give birth to creators.
+
+Fortunately for our country, this missing star in the crown of her
+growing glory, will probably soon be replaced. Richard S. Willis, with
+whom we have lived in delightful companionship, since coming here, has
+been for more than two years studying and preparing himself for the
+higher branches of composition. The musical talent he displayed while
+at college, and the success following the publication of a set of
+beautiful waltzes he there composed, led him to choose this most
+difficult but lofty path; the result justifies his early promise and
+gives the most sanguine anticipations for the future. He studied the
+first two years here under Schnyder von Wartensee, a distinguished Swiss
+composer; and his exercises have met with the warmest approval from
+Mendelsohn, at present the first German composer, and Rinck, the
+celebrated organist. The enormous labor and application required to go
+through the preparatory studies alone, would make it seem almost
+impossible for one with the restless energy of the American character,
+to undertake it; but as this very energy gives genius its greatest
+power, we may now trust with confidence that Willis, since he has nearly
+completed his studies, will win himself and his country honor in the
+difficult path he has chosen.
+
+One evening, after sunset, we took a stroll around the promenades. The
+swans were still floating on the little lake, and the American poplar
+beside it, was in its full autumn livery. As we made the circuit of the
+walks, guns were firing far and near, celebrating the opening of the
+vintage the next day, and rockets went glittering and sparkling up into
+the dark air. Notwithstanding the late hour and lowering sky, the walks
+were full of people and we strolled about with them till it grew quite
+dark, watching the fire-works which arose from the gardens around.
+
+The next day, we went into the Frankfort wood. Willis and his
+brother-in-law, Charles F. Dennett, of Boston, Dr. Dix and another young
+gentleman from the same city, formed the party--six Americans in all; we
+walked over the Main and through the dirty suburbs of Sachsenhausen,
+where we met many peasants laden with the first day's vintage, and
+crowds of people coming down from the vineyards. As we ascended the
+hill, the sound of firing was heard in every direction, and from many
+vineyards arose the smoke of fires where groups of merry children were
+collecting and burning the rubbish. We became lost among the winding
+paths of the pine forest, so that by the time we came out upon the
+eminence overlooking the valley of the Main, it was quite dark. From
+every side, far and near, rockets of all sizes and colors darted high
+up into the sky. Sometimes a flight of the most brilliant crimson and
+gold lights rushed up together, then again by some farm-house in the
+meadow, the vintagers would burn a Roman candle, throwing its powerful
+white light on the gardens and fields around. We stopped under a garden
+wall, by which a laughing company were assembled in the smoke and red
+blaze, and watched several comets go hissing and glancing far above us.
+The cracking of ammunition still continued, and when we came again upon
+the bridge, the city opposite was lighted as if illuminated. The full
+moon had just risen, softening and mellowing the beautiful scene, while
+beyond, over the tower of Frankfort, rose and fell the meteors that
+heralded the vintage.
+
+Since I have been in Frankfort, an event has occurred, which shows very
+distinctly the principles at work in Germany, and gives us some
+foreboding of the future. Ferdinand Freiligrath, the first living poet
+with the exception of Uhland, has within a few weeks published a volume
+of poems entitled, "My Confession of Faith, or Poems for the Times." It
+contains some thrilling appeals to the free spirit of the German people,
+setting forth the injustice under which they labor, in simple but
+powerful language, and with the most forcible illustrations, adapted to
+the comprehension of everyone. Viewed as a work of genius alone, it is
+strikingly powerful and original: but when we consider the effect it is
+producing among the people--the strength it will add to the rising tide
+of opposition to every form of tyranny, it has a still higher interest.
+Freiligrath had three or four years before, received a pension of three
+hundred thalers from the King of Prussia, soon after his accession to
+the throne: he ceased to draw this about a year ago, stating in the
+preface to his volume that it was accepted in the belief the King would
+adhere to his promise of giving the people a new constitution, but that
+now since free spirit which characterises these men, who come from
+among the people, shows plainly the tendency of the times; and it is
+only the great strength with which tyranny here has environed himself,
+and the almost lethargic _slowness_ of the Germans, which has prevented
+a change ere this.
+
+In this volume of Freiligrath's, among other things, is a translation of
+Bryant's magnificent poem "The Winds," and Burns's "A man's a man for a'
+that;" and I have translated one of his, as a specimen of the spirit in
+which they are written:
+
+    FREEDOM AND RIGHT.
+
+    Oh! think not she rests in the grave's chilly slumber
+      Nor sheds o'er the present her glorious light,
+    Since Tyranny's shackles the free soul incumber
+      And traitors accusing, deny to us Right!
+    No: whether to exile the sworn ones are wending,
+    Or weary of power that crushed them unending,
+    In dungeons have perished, their veins madly rending,[*]
+      Yet Freedom still liveth, and with her, the Right!
+                                            Freedom and Right!
+
+    A single defeat can confuse us no longer:
+      It adds to the combat's last gathering might,
+    It bids us but doubly to struggle, and stronger
+      To raise up our battle-cry--"Freedom and Right!"
+    For the Twain know a union forever abiding,
+    Together in Truth and in majesty striding;
+    Where Right is, already the free are residing
+      And ever, where dwell the free, governeth Right!
+                                            Freedom and Right!
+
+    And this is a trust: never made, us at present,
+      The glad pair from battle to battle their flight;
+    Never breathed through the soul of the down-trodden peasant,
+      Their spirit so deeply its promptings of light!
+    They sweep o'er the earth with a tempest-like token;
+    From strand unto strand words of thunder are spoken:
+    Already the serf finds his manacles broken,
+      And those of the negro are falling from sight
+                                            Freedom and Right!
+
+    Yes, every where wide is their war-banner waving.
+      On the armies of Wrong their revenge to requite;
+    The strength of Oppression they boldly are braving
+      And at last they will conquer, resistless in might!
+    Oh, God! what a glorious wreath then appearing
+    Will blend every leaf in the banner they're bearing--The
+    olive of Greece and the shamrock of Erin,
+      And the oak-bough of Germany, greenest in light!
+                                            Freedom and Right!
+
+    And many who suffered, are now calmly sleeping,
+      The slumber of freemen, borne down by the fight;
+    While the Twain o'er their graves still a bright watch are keeping,
+      Whom we bless for their memories--Freedom and Right!
+    Meanwhile lift your glasses! to those who have striven!
+    And striving with bold hearts, to misery were driven!
+    Who fought for the Right and but Wrong then were given!
+      To Right, the immortal--to Freedom through Right!
+                                            Freedom through Right!
+
+[Footnote *: This allusion is to Weidig, who, imprisoned for years at
+Darmstadt on account of his political principles, finally committed
+suicide by cutting his throat with the glass of his prison-window.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+A WEEK AMONG THE STUDENTS.
+
+
+Receiving a letter from my cousin one bright December morning, the idea
+of visiting him struck me, and so, within an hour, B---- and I were on
+our way to Heidelberg. It was delightful weather; the air was mild as
+the early days of spring, the pine forests around wore a softer green,
+and though the sun was but a hand's breadth high, even at noon, it was
+quite warm on the open road. We stopped for the night at Bensheim; the
+next morning was as dark as a cloudy day in the north can be, wearing a
+heavy gloom I never saw elsewhere. The wind blew the snow down from the
+summits upon us, but being warm from walking, we did not heed it. The
+mountains looked higher than in summer, and the old castles more grim
+and frowning. From the hard roads and freezing wind, my feet became very
+sore, and after limping along in excruciating pain for a league or two,
+I filled my boots with brandy, which deadened the wounds so much, that I
+was enabled to go on in a kind of trot, which I kept up, only stopping
+ten minutes to dinner, till we reached Heidelberg.
+
+The same evening there was to be a general _commers_, or meeting of the
+societies among the students, and I determined not to omit witnessing
+one of the most interesting and characteristic features of student-life.
+So borrowing a cap and coat, I looked the student well enough to pass
+for one of them, though the former article was somewhat of the
+_Philister_ form. Baader, a young poet of some note, and president of
+the "Palatia" Society, having promised to take us there, we met at
+eight o'clock at an inn frequented by the students, and went to the
+rendezvous, near the Markt Platz.
+
+A confused sound of voices came from the inn, as we drew near; groups of
+students were standing around the door. In the entry we saw the Red
+Fisherman, one of the most conspicuous characters about the University.
+He is a small, stout man, with bare neck and breast, red hair, whence
+his name, and a strange mixture of roughness and benevolence in his
+countenance. He has saved many persons at the risk of his own life, from
+drowning in the Neckar, and on that account is leniently dealt with by
+the faculty whenever he is arrested for assisting the students in any of
+their unlawful proceedings. Entering the room I could scarcely see at
+first, on account of the smoke that ascended from a hundred pipes. All
+was noise and confusion. Near the door sat some half dozen musicians who
+were getting their instruments ready for action, and the long room was
+filled with tables, all of which seemed to be full and the students were
+still pressing in. The tables were covered with great stone jugs and
+long beer glasses; the students were talking and shouting and
+drinking.--One who appeared to have the arrangement of the meeting,
+found seats for us together, and having made a slight acquaintance with
+those sitting next us, we felt more at liberty to witness their
+proceedings. They were all talking in a sociable, friendly way, and I
+saw no one who appeared to be intoxicated. The beer was a weak mixture,
+which I should think would make one fall over from its _weight_ before
+it would intoxicate him. Those sitting near me drank but little, and
+that principally to make or return compliments. One or two at the other
+end of the table were more boisterous, and more than one glass was
+overturned on the legs below it. Leaves containing the songs for the
+evening lay at each seat, and at the head, where the President sat, were
+two swords crossed, with which he occasionally struck upon the table to
+preserve order. Our President was a fine, romantic-looking young man,
+dressed in the old German costume, which is far handsomer than the
+modern. I never saw in any company of young men, so many handsome, manly
+countenances. If their faces were any index of their characters, there
+were many noble, free souls among them. Nearly opposite to me sat a
+young poet, whose dark eyes flashed with feeling as he spoke to those
+near him. After some time passed in talking and drinking together,
+varied by an occasional air from the musicians, the President beat order
+with the sword, and the whole company joined in one of their glorious
+songs, to a melody at the same time joyous and solemn. Swelled by so
+many manly voices it rose up like a hymn of triumph--all other sounds
+were stilled. Three times during the singing all rose up, clashed their
+glasses together around the tables and drank to their Fatherland, a
+health and blessing to the patriot, and honor to those who struggle in
+the cause of freedom, at the close thundering out their motto:
+
+    "Fearless in strife, to the banner still true!"
+
+After this song the same order as before was continued, except that
+students from the different societies made short speeches, accompanied
+by some toast or sentiment. One spoke of Germany--predicting that all
+her dissensions would be overcome, and she would rise up at last, like a
+phoenix among the nations of Europe; and at the close gave 'strong,
+united, regenerated Germany!' Instantly all sprang to their feet, and
+clashing the glasses together, gave a thundering "_hoch!_" This
+enthusiasm for their country is one of the strongest characteristics of
+the German students; they have ever been first in the field for her
+freedom, and on them mainly depends her future redemption.
+
+Cloths were passed around, the tables wiped off, and preparations made
+to sing the "_Landsfather_" or consecration song. This is one of the
+most important and solemn of their ceremonies, since by performing it
+the new students are made _burschen_, and the bands of brotherhood
+continually kept fresh and sacred. All became still a moment, then they
+commenced the lofty song:
+
+    "Silent bending, each one lending
+      To the solemn tones his ear,
+    Hark, the song of songs is sounding--
+    Back from joyful choir resounding,
+      Hear it, German brothers, hear!
+
+    "German proudly, raise it loudly,
+      Singing of your fatherland--
+    Fatherland! thou land of story,
+    To the altars of thy glory
+      Consecrate us, sword in hand!
+
+    "Take the beaker, pleasure seeker,
+      With thy country's drink brimmed o'er!
+    In thy left the sword is blinking.
+    Pierce it through the cap, while drinking
+      To thy Fatherland once more!"
+
+With the first line of the last stanza, the Presidents sitting at the
+head of the table, take their glasses in their right hands, and at the
+third line, the sword in their left, at the end striking their glasses
+together and drinking.
+
+    "In left hand gleaming, thou art beaming,
+      Sword from all dishonour free!
+    Thus I pierce the cap, while swearing,
+    It in honor ever wearing,
+      I a valiant Bursch will be!"
+
+They clash their swords together till the third line is sung, when each
+takes his cap, and piercing the point of the sword through the crown,
+draws it down to the guard. Leaving their caps on the swords, the
+Presidents stand behind the two next students, who go through the same
+ceremony, receiving the swords at the appropriate time, and giving it
+back loaded with their caps also. This ceremony is going on at every
+table at the same time. These two stanzas are repeated for every pair of
+students, till all have gone through with it, and the Presidents have
+arrived at the bottom of the table, with their swords strung full of
+caps. Here they exchange swords, while all sing:
+
+    "Come thou bright sword, now made holy,
+      Of free men the weapon free;
+    Bring it solemnly and slowly,
+      Heavy with pierced caps, to me!
+    From its burden now divest it;
+      Brothers be ye covered all,
+      And till our next festival,
+    Hallowed and unspotted rest it!
+
+    "Up, ye feast companions! ever
+      Honor ye our holy band!
+    And with heart and soul endeavor
+      E'er as high-souled men to stand!
+    Up to feast, ye men united!
+      Worthy be your fathers' fame,
+      And the sword may no one claim,
+    Who to honor is not plighted!"
+
+Then each President, taking a cap of his sword, reached it to the
+student opposite, and they crossed their swords, the ends resting on the
+two students' heads, while they sang the next stanza:
+
+    "So take it back; thy head I now will cover
+      And stretch the bright sword over.
+    Live also then this Bursche, hoch!
+      Wherever we may meet him,
+      Will we, as Brother greet him--
+    Live also this, our Brother, hoch!"
+
+This ceremony was repeated till all the caps were given back, and they
+then concluded with the following:
+
+    "Rest, the Bursehen-feast is over,
+      Hallowed sword and thou art free!
+    Each one strive a valiant lover
+      Of his fatherland to be!
+    Hail to him, who, glory-haunted,
+      Follows still his fathers bold;
+      And the sword may no one hold
+    But the noble and undaunted!"
+
+The Landsfather being over, the students were less orderly; the smoking
+and drinking began again and we left, as it was already eleven o'clock,
+glad to breathe the pure cold air.
+
+In the University I heard Gervinus, who was formerly professor in
+Gottingen, but was obliged to leave on account of his liberal
+principles. He is much liked by the students and his lectures are very
+well attended. They had this winter a torchlight procession in honor of
+him. He is a stout, round-faced man, speaks very fast, and makes them
+laugh continually with his witty remarks. In the room I saw a son of
+Ruckert, the poet, with a face strikingly like his father's. The next
+evening I went to hear Schlosser, the great historian. Among his pupils
+are the two princes of Baden, who are now at the University. He came
+hurriedly in, threw down his portfolio and began instantly to speak. He
+is an old, gray-headed man, but still active and full of energy. The
+Germans find him exceedingly difficult to understand, as he is said to
+use the English construction almost entirely; for this reason, perhaps,
+I understood him quite easily. He lectures on the French Revolution, but
+is engaged in writing a Universal History, the first numbers of which
+are published.
+
+Two or three days after, we heard that a duel was to take place at
+Neuenheim, on the opposite side of the Neckur, where the students have a
+house hired for that purpose. In order to witness the spectacle, we
+started immediately with two or three students. Along the road were
+stationed old women, at intervals, as guards, to give notice of the
+approach of the police, and from these we learned that one duel had
+already been fought, and they were preparing for the other. The Red
+Fisherman was busy in an outer room grinding the swords, which are made
+as sharp as razors. In the large room some forty or fifty students were
+walking about, while the parties were preparing. This was done by taking
+off the coat and vest and binding a great thick leather garment on,
+which reached from the breast to the knees, completely protecting the
+body. They then put on a leather glove reaching nearly to the shoulder,
+tied a thick cravat around the throat, and drew on a cap with a large
+vizor. This done, they were walked about the room a short time, the
+seconds holding out their arms to strengthen them; their faces all this
+time betrayed considerable anxiety.
+
+All being ready, the seconds took their stations immediately behind
+them, each armed with a sword, and gave the words: "_ready--bind your
+weapons--loose!_" They instantly sprang at each other, exchanged two or
+three blows, when the seconds cried "halt!" and struck their swords up.
+Twenty-four rounds of this kind ended the duel, without either being
+hurt, though the cap of one of them was cut through and his forehead
+grazed. All their duels do not end so fortunately, however, as the
+frightful scars on the faces of many of those present, testified. It is
+a gratification to know that but a small portion of the students keep up
+this barbarous custom. The great body is opposed to it; in Heidelberg,
+four societies, comprising more than one half the students, have been
+formed against it. A strong desire for such a reform seems to prevail,
+and the custom will probably be totally discontinued in a short time.
+
+This view of the student-life was very interesting to me; it appeared in
+a much better light than I had been accustomed to view it. Their
+peculiar customs, except duelling and drinking, of course, may be the
+better tolerated when we consider their effect on the liberty of
+Germany. It is principally through them that a free spirit is kept
+alive; they have ever been foremost to rise up for their Fatherland, and
+bravest in its defence. And though many of their customs have so often
+been held up to ridicule, among no other class can one find warmer,
+truer or braver hearts.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR IN GERMANY.
+
+
+_Jan. 2, 1845._--I have lately been computing how much my travels have
+cost me up to the present time, and how long I can remain abroad to
+continue the pilgrimage, with my present expectations. The result has
+been most encouraging to my plan. Before leaving home, I wrote to
+several gentlemen who had visited Europe, requesting the probable
+expense of travel and residence abroad. They sent different accounts; E.
+Joy Morris said I must calculate to spend at least $1500 a year; another
+suggested $1000, and the most moderate of all, said that it was
+_impossible_ to live in Europe a year on less than $500. Now, six months
+have elapsed since I left home--six months of greater pleasure and
+profit than any _year_ of my former life--and my expenses, in full,
+amount to $130! This, however, nearly exhausts the limited sum with
+which I started, but through the kindness of the editorial friends who
+have been publishing my sketches of travel, I trust to receive a
+remittance shortly. Printing is a business attended with so little
+profit here, as there are already so many workmen, that it is almost
+useless for a stranger to apply. Besides, after a tough grapple, I am
+just beginning to master the language, and it seems so necessary to
+devote every minute to study, that I would rather undergo some
+privation, than neglect turning these fleeting hours into gold, for the
+miser Memory to stow away in the treasure-vaults of the mind.
+
+We have lately witnessed the most beautiful and interesting of all
+German festivals--Christmas. This is here peculiarly celebrated. About
+the commencement of December, the Christmarkt or fair, was opened in the
+Roemerberg, and has continued to the present time. The booths, decorated
+with green boughs, were filled with toys of various kinds, among which
+during the first days the figure of St. Nicholas was conspicuous. There
+were bunches of wax candles to illuminate the Christmas tree,
+gingerbread with printed mottos in poetry, beautiful little earthenware,
+basket-work, and a wilderness of playthings. The 5th of December, being
+Nicholas evening, the booths were lighted up, and the square was filled
+with boys, running from one stand to another, all shouting and talking
+together in the most joyous confusion. Nurses were going around,
+carrying the smaller children in their arms, and parents bought presents
+decorated with sprigs of pine and carried them away. Some of the shops
+had beautiful toys, as for instance, a whole grocery store in miniature,
+with barrels, boxes and drawers, all filled with sweetmeats, a kitchen
+with a stove and all suitable utensils, which could really be used, and
+sets of dishes of the most diminutive patterns. All was a scene of
+activity and joyous feeling.
+
+Many of the tables had bundles of rods with gilded bands, which were to
+be used that evening by the persons who represented St. Nicholas. In the
+family with whom we reside, one of our German friends dressed himself
+very comically, with a mask, fur robe and long tapering cap. He came in
+with a bunch of rods and a sack, and a broom for a sceptre. After we all
+had received our share of the beating, he threw the contents of his bag
+on the table, and while we were scrambling for the nuts and apples, gave
+us many smart raps over the fingers. In many families the children are
+made to say, "I thank you, Herr Nicolaus," and the rods are hung up in
+the room till Christmas to keep them in good behavior. This was only a
+forerunner of the Christ-kindchen's coming. The Nicolaus is the
+punishing spirit, the Christ-kindchen the rewarding one.
+
+When this time was over, we all began preparing secretly our presents
+for Christmas. Every day there were consultations about the things which
+should be obtained. It was so arranged that all should interchange
+presents, but nobody must know beforehand what he would receive. What
+pleasure there was in all these secret purchases and preparations!
+Scarcely anything was thought or spoken of but Christmas, and every day
+the consultations became more numerous and secret. The trees were bought
+sometime beforehand, but as we were to witness the festival for the
+first time, we were not allowed to see them prepared, in order that the
+effect might be as great as possible. The market in the Roeinerberg
+Square grew constantly larger and more brilliant. Every night it was lit
+up with lamps and thronged with people. Quite a forest sprang up in the
+street before our door. The old stone house opposite, with the traces of
+so many centuries on its dark face, seemed to stand in the midst of a
+garden. It was a pleasure to go out every evening and see the children
+rushing to and fro, shouting and seeking out toys from the booths, and
+talking all the time of the Christmas that was so near. The poor people
+went by with their little presents hid under their cloaks, lest their
+children might see them; every heart was glad and every countenance wore
+a smile of secret pleasure.
+
+Finally the day before Christmas arrived. The streets were so full I
+could scarce make my way through, and the sale of trees went on more
+rapidly than ever. These wore commonly branches of pine or fir, set
+upright in a little miniature garden of moss. When the lamps were
+lighted at night, our street had the appearance of an illuminated
+garden. We were prohibited from entering the rooms up stairs in which
+the grand ceremony was to take place, being obliged to take our seats in
+those arranged for the guests, and wait with impatience the hour when
+Christ-kindchen should call. Several relations of the family came, and
+what was more agreeable, they brought with them five or six children. I
+was anxious to see how they would view the ceremony. Finally, in the
+middle of an interesting conversation, we heard the bell ringing up
+stairs. We all started up, and made for the door. I ran up the steps
+with the children at my heels, and at the top met a blaze of light
+coming from the open door, that dazzled me. In each room stood a great
+table, on which the presents were arranged, amid flowers and wreaths.
+From the centre, rose the beautiful Christmas tree covered with wax
+tapers to the very top, which made it nearly as light as day, while
+every bough was hung with sweetmeats and gilded nuts. The children ran
+shouting around the table, hunting their presents, while the older
+persons had theirs pointed out to them. I had qui'e a little library of
+German authors as my share; and many of the others received quite
+valuable gifts.
+
+But how beautiful was the heart-felt joy that shone on every
+countenance! As each one discovered he embraced the givers, and all was
+a scene of the purest feelings. It is a glorious feast, this Christmas
+time! What a chorus from happy hearts went up on that evening to Heaven!
+Full of poetry and feeling and glad associations, it is here anticipated
+with joy, and leaves a pleasant memory behind it. We may laugh at such
+simple festivals at home, and prefer to shake ourselves loose from every
+shackle that bears the rust of the Past, but we would certainly be
+happier if some of these beautiful old customs were better honored. They
+renew the bond of feeling between families and friends, and strengthen
+their kindly sympathy; even life-long friends require occasions of this
+kind to freshen the wreath that binds them together.
+
+New Year's Eve is also favored with a peculiar celebration in Germany.
+Every body remains up and makes himself merry till midnight. The
+Christmas trees are again lighted, and while the tapers are burning
+down, the family play for articles which they have purchased and hung on
+the boughs. It is so arranged that each one shall win as much as he
+gives, which change of articles makes much amusement. One of the ladies
+rejoiced in the possession of a red silk handkerchief and a cake of
+soap, while a cup and saucer and a pair of scissors fell to my lot! As
+midnight drew near, it was louder in the streets, and companies of
+people, some of them singing in chorus, passed by on their way to the
+Zeil. Finally three-quarters struck, the windows were opened and every
+one waited anxiously for the clock to strike. At the first sound, such a
+cry arose as one may imagine, when thirty or forty thousand persons all
+set their lungs going at once. Every body in the house, in the street,
+over the whole city, shouted, _"Prosst Neu Jahr?"_ In families, all the
+members embrace each other, with wishes of happiness for the new year.
+Then the windows are thrown open, and they cry to their neighbors or
+those passing by.
+
+After we had exchanged congratulations, Dennett, B---- and I set out for
+the Zeil. The streets were full of people, shouting to one another and
+to those standing at the open windows. We failed not to cry, _"Prosst
+Neu Jahr!"_ wherever we saw a damsel at the window, and the words came
+back to us more musically than we sent them. Along the Zeil the
+spectacle was most singular. The great wide street was filled with
+companies of men, marching up and down, while from the mass rang up one
+deafening, unending shout, that seemed to pierce the black sky above.
+The whole scene looked stranger and wilder from the flickering light of
+the swinging lamps, and I could not help thinking it must resemble a
+night in Paris during the French Revolution. We joined the crowd and
+used our lungs as well as any of them. For some time after we returned
+home, companies passed by, singing "with us 'tis ever so!" but at three
+o'clock all was again silent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+WINTER IN FRANKFORT--A FAIR, AN INUNDATION AND A FIRE.
+
+
+After New Year, the Main, just above the city, and the lakes in the
+promenades, were frozen over. The ice was tried by the police, and
+having been found of sufficient thickness, to the great joy of the
+schoolboys, permission was given to skate. The lakes were soon covered
+with merry skaters, and every afternoon the banks were crowded with
+spectators. It was a lively sight to see two or three hundred persons
+darting about, turning and crossing like a flock of crows, while, by
+means of arm-chairs mounted on runners, the ladies were enabled to join
+in the sport, and whirl around among them. Some of the broad meadows
+near the city, which were covered with water, were the resort of the
+schools. I went there often in my walks, and always found two or three
+schools, with the teachers, all skating together, and playing their
+winter games on the ice. I have often seen them on the meadows along the
+Main; the teachers generally made quite as much noise as the scholars in
+their sports.
+
+In the Art Institute I saw the picture of "Huss before the Council of
+Constance," by the painter Lessing. It contains upwards of twenty
+figures. The artist has shown the greatest skill in the expression and
+grouping of these. Bishops and Cardinals in their splendid robes are
+seated around a table, covered with parchment folios, and before them
+stands Huss alone. His face, pale and thin with long imprisonment, he
+has lain one hand on his breast, while with the other he has grasped one
+of the volumes on the table; there is an air of majesty, of heavenly
+serenity on his lofty forehead and calm eye. One feels instinctively
+that he has truth on his side. There can be no deception, no falsehood
+in those noble features. The three Italian cardinals before him appear
+to be full of passionate rage; the bishop in front, who holds the
+imperial pass given to Huss, looks on with an expression of scorn, and
+the priests around have an air of mingled curiosity and hatred. There is
+one, however, in whose mild features and tearful eye is expressed
+sympathy and pity for the prisoner. It is said this picture has had a
+great effect upon Catholics who have seen it, in softening the bigotry
+with which they regarded the early reformers; and if so, it is a
+triumphant proof how much art can effect in the cause of truth and
+humanity. I was much interested in a cast of the statue of St. George,
+by the old Italian sculptor Donatello. It is a figure full of youth and
+energy, with a countenance that seems to breathe. Donatello was the
+teacher of Michael Angelo, and when the young sculptor was about setting
+off for Rome, he showed him the statue, his favorite work. Michael gazed
+at it long and intensely, and at length, on parting, said to Donatello,
+"It wants but one thing." The artist pondered long over this expression,
+for he could not imagine in what could fail the matchless figure. At
+length, after many years, Michael Angelo, in the noon of his renown,
+visited the death-bed of his old master. Donatello begged to know,
+before he died, what was wanting to his St. George. Angelo answered,
+"_the gift of speech!_" and a smile of triumph lighted the old man's
+face, as he closed his eyes forever.
+
+The Eschernheim Tower, at the entrance of one of the city gates, is
+universally admired by strangers, on account of its picturesque
+appearance, overgrown with ivy and terminated by the little pointed
+turrets, which one sees so often in Germany, on buildings three or four
+centuries old. There are five other watch towers of similar form, which
+stand on different sides of the city, at the distance of a mile or two,
+and generally upon an eminence overlooking the country. They were
+erected several centuries ago, to discern from afar the approach of an
+enemy, and protect the caravans of merchants, which at that time
+travelled from city to city, from the attacks of robbers. The
+Eschernheim Tower is interesting from another circumstance, which,
+whether true or not, is universally believed. When Frankfort was under
+the sway of a prince, a Swiss hunter, for some civil offence, was
+condemned to die. He begged his life from the prince, who granted it
+only on condition that he should fire the figure 9 with his rifle
+through the vane of this tower. He agreed, and did it; and at the
+present lime, one can distinguish a rude 9 on the vane, as if cut with
+bullets, while two or three marks at the side appear to be from shots
+that failed.
+
+The promise of spring which lately visited us, was not destined for
+fulfilment. Shortly afterwards it grew cold again, with a succession of
+snows and sharp northerly winds. Such weather at the commencement of
+spring is not uncommon at home; but here they say there has not been
+such a winter known for 150 years. In the north of Prussia many persons
+have been starved to death on account of provisions becoming scarce.
+Among the Hartz also, the suffering is very great. We saw something of
+the misery even here. It was painful to walk through the streets and see
+so many faces bearing plainly the marks of want, so many pale,
+hollow-eyed creatures, with suffering written on every feature. We were
+assailed with petitions for help which could not be relieved, though it
+pained and saddened the heart to deny. The women, too, labor like
+brutes, day after day. Many of them appear cheerful and contented, and
+are no doubt, tolerably happy, for the Germans have all true, warm
+hearts, and are faithful to one another, as far as poverty will permit;
+but one cannot see old, gray-headed women, carrying loads on their heads
+as heavy as themselves, exposed to all kinds of weather and working from
+morning till night, without pity and indignation.
+
+So unusually severe has been the weather, that the deer and hares in the
+mountains near, came nearly starved and tamed down by hunger, into the
+villages to hunt food. The people fed them everyday, and also carried
+grain into the fields for the partridges and pheasants, who flew up to
+them like domestic fowls. The poor ravens made me really sorry; some lay
+dead in the fields and many came into the city perfectly tame, flying
+along the Main with wings hardly strong enough to boar up their skeleton
+bodies. The storks came at the usual time, but went back again. I hope
+the year's blessing has not departed with them, according to the old
+German superstition.
+
+_March 26._--We have hopes of spring at last. Three days ago the rain
+began and has continued with little intermission till now. The air is
+warm, the snow goes fast, and every thing seems to announce that the
+long winter is breaking up. The Main rises fast, and goes by the city
+like an arrow, whirling large masses of ice upon the banks. The hills
+around are coming out from under the snow, and the lilac-buds in the
+promenades begin to expand for the second time.
+
+The Fair has now commenced in earnest, and it is a most singular and
+interesting sight. The open squares are filled with booths, leaving
+narrow streets between them, across which canvas is spread. Every booth
+is open and filled with a dazzling display of wares of all kinds.
+Merchants assemble from all parts of Europe. The Bohemians come with
+their gorgeous crystal ware; the Nuremborgers with their toys, quaint
+and fanciful as the old city itself; men from the Thuringian forest,
+with minerals and canes, and traders from Berlin, Vienna, Paris and
+Switzerland, with dry goods and wares of all kinds. Near the Exchange
+are two or three companies of Tyrolese, who attract much of my
+attention. Their costume is exceedingly picturesque. The men have all
+splendid manly figures, and honor and bravery are written on their
+countenances. One of the girls is a really handsome mountain maiden, and
+with her pointed, broad-brimmed black hat, as romantic looking as one
+could desire. The musicians have arrived, and we are entertained the
+whole day long by wandering bands, some of whom play finely. The best,
+which is also the favorite company, is from Saxony, called "The Mountain
+Boys." They are now playing in our street, and while I write, one of the
+beautiful choruses from Norma comes up through the din of the crowd. In
+fact, music is heard over the whole city, and the throngs that fill
+every street with all sorts of faces and dresses, somewhat relieve the
+monotony that was beginning to make Frankfort tiresome.
+
+We have an ever-varied and interesting scene from our window. Besides
+the motley crowd of passers-by, there are booths and tables stationed
+thick below. One man in particular is busily engaged in selling his
+store of blacking in the auction style, in a manner that would do credit
+to a real Down-caster. He has flaming certificates exhibited, and
+prefaces his calls to buy with a high-sounding description of his
+wonderful qualities. He has a bench in front, where he tests on the
+shoes of his customers, or if none of those are disposed to try it, he
+rubs it on his own, which shine like mirrors. So he rattles on with
+amazing fluency in French, German and Italian, and this, with his black
+beard and moustache and his polite, graceful manner, keeps a crowd of
+customers around him, so that the wonderful blacking goes off as fast as
+he can supply it.
+
+_April 6._--Old Winter's gales are shut close behind us, and the sun
+looks down with his summer countenance. The air, after the long cold
+rain, is like that of Paradise. All things are gay and bright, and
+everybody is in motion. Spring commenced with yesterday in earnest, and
+lo! before night the roads were all dry and fine as if there had been no
+rain for a month; and the gardeners dug and planted in ground which,
+eight days before, was covered with snow!
+
+After having lived through the longest winter here, for one hundred and
+fifty years, we were destined to witness the greatest flood for sixty,
+and little lower than any within the last three hundred years. On the
+28th of March, the river overflooded the high pier along the Main, and
+rising higher and higher, began to come into the gates and alleys.
+Before night the whole bank was covered and the water intruded into some
+of the booths in the Romerberg. When I went there the next morning, it
+was a sorrowful sight. Persons were inside the gate with boats; so
+rapidly had it risen, that many of the merchants had no time to move
+their wares, and must suffer great damage. They were busy rescuing what
+property could bo seized in the haste, and constructing passages into
+the houses which were surrounded. No one seemed to think of buying or
+selling, but only on the best method to escape the danger. Along the
+Main it was still worse. From the measure, it had risen seventeen feet
+above its usual level, and the arches of the bridge were filled nearly
+to the top. At the Upper-Main gate, every thing was flooded--houses,
+gardens, workshops, &c.; the water had even overrun the meadows above
+and attacked the city from behind, so that a part of the beautiful
+promenades lay deep under water. On the other side, we could see houses
+standing in it up to the roof. It came up through the sewers into the
+middle of Frankfort; a large body of men were kept at work constructing
+slight bridges to walk on, and transporting boats to places where they
+were needed. This was all done at the expense of the city; the greatest
+readiness was everywhere manifested to render all possible assistance.
+In the Fischergasse, I saw them taking provisions to the people in
+boats; one man even fastened a loaf of bread to the end of a broomstick
+and reached it across the narrow street from an upper story window, to
+the neighbor opposite. News came that Hausen, a village towards the
+Taunus, about two miles distant, was quite under water, and that the
+people clung to the roofs and cried for help; but it was fortunately
+false. About noon, cannon shots were heard, and twenty boats were sent
+out from the city.
+
+In the afternoon I ascended the tower of the Cathedral, which commands a
+wide view of the valley, up and down. Just above the city the whole
+plain was like a small lake--between two and three miles wide. A row of
+new-built houses stretched into it like a long promontory, and in the
+middle, like an island, stood a country-seat with large out-buildings.
+The river sent a long arm out below, that reached up through the meadows
+behind the city, as if to clasp it all and bear it away together. A
+heavy storm was raging along the whole extent of the Taunus; but a
+rainbow stood in the eastern sky. I thought of its promise, and hoped,
+for the sake of the hundreds of poor people who were suffering by the
+waters, that it might herald their fall.
+
+We afterwards went over to Sachsenhausen, which was, if possible, in a
+still more unfortunate condition. The water had penetrated the passages
+and sewers, and from these leaped and rushed up into the streets, as out
+of a fountain. The houses next to the Main, which were first filled,
+poured torrents out of the doors and windows into the street below.
+These people were nearly all poor, and could ill afford the loss of time
+and damage of property it occasioned them. The stream was filled with
+wood and boards, and even whole roofs, with the tiles on, went floating
+down. The bridge was crowded with people; one saw everywhere mournful
+countenances, and heard lamentations over the catastrophe. After sunset,
+a great cloud, filling half the sky, hung above; the reflection of its
+glowing crimson tint, joined to the brown hue of the water, made it seem
+like a river of fire.
+
+What a difference a little sunshine makes! I could have forgotten the
+season the next day, but for the bare trees and swelling Main, as I
+threaded my way through the hundreds of people who thronged its banks.
+It was that soft warmth that comes with the first spring days, relaxing
+the body and casting a dreamy hue over the mind. I leaned over the
+bridge in the full enjoyment of it, and listening to the roaring of the
+water under the arches, forgot every thing else for a time. It was
+amusing to walk up and down the pier and look at the countenances
+passing by, while the phantasy was ever ready, weaving a tale for all.
+My favorite Tyrolese were there, and I saw a Greek leaning over the
+stone balustrade, wearing the red cap and white frock, and with the long
+dark hair and fiery eye of the Orient. I could not but wonder, as he
+looked at the dim hills of the Odenwald, along the eastern horizon,
+whether they called up in his mind the purple isles of his native
+Archipelago.
+
+The general character of a nation is plainly stamped on the countenances
+of its people. One who notices the faces in the streets, can soon
+distinguish, by the glance he gives in going by, the Englishman or the
+Frenchman from the German, and the Christian from the Jew. Not less
+striking is the difference of expression between the Germans themselves;
+and in places where all classes of people are drawn together, it is
+interesting to observe how accurately these distinctions are drawn. The
+boys have generally handsome, intelligent faces, and like all boys, they
+are full of life and spirit, for they know nothing of the laws by which
+their country is chained down, and would not care for them, if they did.
+But with the exception of the students, who _talk_, at least, of Liberty
+and Right, the young men lose this spirit and at last settle down into
+the calm, cautious, _lethargic_ citizen. One distinguishes an Englishman
+and I should think an American, also, in this respect, very easily; the
+former, moreover, by a certain cold stateliness and reserve. There is
+something, however, about a Jew, whether English or German, which marks
+him from all others. However different their faces, there is a family
+character which runs through the whole of them. It lays principally in
+their high cheek-bones, prominent nose and thin, compressed lips; which,
+especially in elderly men, gives a peculiar miserly expression that is
+unmistakeable. I regret to say, one looks almost in vain, in Germany,
+for a handsome female countenance. Here and there, perhaps, is a woman
+with regular features, but that intellectual expression, which gives
+such a charm to the most common face, is wanting. I have seen more
+beautiful women in one night, in a public assembly in America, than
+during the seven months I have been on the Continent. Some of the young
+Jewesses, in Frankfort, are considered handsome, but their features soon
+become too strongly marked. In a public walk the number of positively
+ugly faces is really astonishing.
+
+About ten o'clock that night, I heard a noise of persons running in the
+street, and going to the Romerberg, found the water had risen, all at
+once, much higher, and was still rapidly increasing. People were setting
+up torches and lengthening the rafts, which had been already formed. The
+lower part of the city was a real Venice--the streets were full of boats
+and people could even row about in their own houses; though it was not
+quite so bad as the flood in Georgia, where they went _up stairs to bed_
+in boats! I went to the bridge. Persons were calling around--"The water!
+the water! it rises continually!" The river rushed through the arches,
+foaming and dashing with a noise like thunder, and the red light of the
+torches along the shore cost a flickering glare on the troubled waves.
+It was then twenty-one feet above its usual level. Men were busy all
+around, carrying boats and ladders to the places most threatened, or
+emptying cellars into which it was penetrating. The sudden swelling was
+occasioned by the coming down of the floods from the mountains of
+Spessart.
+
+Part of the upper quay cracked next morning and threatened to fall in,
+and one of the projecting piers of the bridge sunk away from the main
+body three or four inches. In Sachsenhausen the desolation occasioned by
+the flood is absolutely frightful; several houses have fallen into total
+ruin. All business was stopped for the day; the Exchange was even shut
+up. As the city depends almost entirely on pumps for its supply of
+water, and these were filled with the flood, we have been drinking the
+muddy current of the Main ever since. The damage to goods is very great.
+The fair was stopped at once, and the loss in this respect alone, must
+be several millions of florins. The water began to fall on the 1st, and
+has now sunk about ten feet, so that most of the houses are again
+released, though in a bad condition.
+
+Yesterday afternoon, as I was sitting in my room, writing, I heard all
+at once an explosion like a cannon in the street, followed by loud and
+continued screams. Looking out the window, I saw the people rushing by
+with goods in their arms, some wringing their hands and crying, others
+running in all directions. Imagining that it was nothing less than the
+tumbling down of one of the old houses, we ran down and saw a store a
+few doors distant in flames. The windows were bursting and flying out,
+and the mingled mass of smoke and red flame reached half way across the
+street. We learned afterwards it was occasioned by the explosion of a
+jar of naphtha, which instantly enveloped the whole room in fire, the
+people barely escaping in time. The persons who had booths near were
+standing still in despair, while the flames were beginning to touch
+their property. A few butchers who first came up, did almost everything.
+A fire engine arrived soon, but it was ten minutes before it began to
+play, and by that time the flames were coming out of the upper stories.
+Then the supply of water soon failed, and though another engine came up
+shortly after, it was sometime before it could be put in order, so that
+by the time they got fairly to work, the fire had made its way nearly
+through the house. The water was first brought in barrels drawn by
+horses, till some officer came and opened the fire plug. The police were
+busy at work seizing those who came by and setting them to work; and as
+the alarm had drawn a great many together, they at last began to effect
+something. All the military are obliged to bo out, and the officers
+appeared eager to use their authority while they could, for every one
+was ordering and commanding, till all was a scene of perfect confusion
+and uproar. I could not help laughing heartily, so ludicrous did the
+scene appear. There were little, miserable engines, not much bigger than
+a hand-cart, and looking as if they had not been used for half a
+century, the horses running backwards and forwards, dragging barrels
+which were emptied into tubs, after which the water was finally dipped
+up in buckets, and emptied into the engines! These machines can only
+play into the second or third story, after which the hose was taken up
+in the houses on the opposite side of the street, and made to play
+across. After four hours the fire was overcome, the house being
+thoroughly burnt out; it happened to have double fire walls, which
+prevented those adjoining from catching easily.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE DEAD AND THE DEAF--MENDELSSOHN THE COMPOSER.
+
+
+It is now a luxury to breathe. These spring days are the perfection of
+delightful weather. Imagine the delicious temperature of our Indian
+summer joined to the life and freshness of spring, add to this a sky of
+the purest azure, and a breeze filled with the odor of violets,--the
+most exquisite of all perfumes--and you have some idea of it. The
+meadows are beginning to bloom, and I have already heard the larks
+singing high up in the sky. Those sacred birds, the storks, have
+returned and taken possession of their old nests on the chimney-tops;
+they are sometimes seen walking about in the fields, with a very grave
+and serious air, as if conscious of the estimation in which they are
+held. Everybody is out in the open air; the woods, although they still
+look wintry, are filled with people, and the boatmen on the Main are
+busy ferrying gay parties across. The spring has been so long in coming,
+that all are determined to enjoy it well, while it lasts.
+
+We visited the cemetery a few days ago. The dead-house, where corpses
+are placed in the hope of resuscitation, is an appendage to cemeteries
+found only in Germany. We were shown into a narrow chamber, on each side
+of which were six cells, into which one could distinctly see, by means
+of a large plate of glass. In each of these is a bier for the body,
+directly above which hangs a cord, having on the end ten thimbles, which
+are put upon the fingers of the corpse, so that the slightest motion
+strikes a bell in the watchman's room. Lamps are lighted at night, and
+in winter the rooms are warmed. In the watchman's chamber stands a clock
+with a dial-plate of twenty-four hours, and opposite every hour is a
+little plate, which can only be moved two minutes before it strikes. If
+then the watchman has slept or neglected his duty at that time, he
+cannot move it afterwards, and his neglect, is seen by the
+superintendent. In such a case, he is severely lined, and for the second
+or third offence, dismissed. There are other rooms adjoining, containing
+beds, baths, galvanic battery, &c. Nevertheless, they say there has been
+no resuscitation during the fifteen years it has been established.
+
+We afterwards went to the end of the cemetery to see the bas-reliefs of
+Thorwaldsen, in the vault of the Bethmann family. They are three in
+number, representing the death of a son of the present banker, Moritz
+von Bethmann, who was drowned in the Arno about fourteen years ago. The
+middle one represents the young man drooping in his chair, the beautiful
+Greek Angel of Death standing at his back, with one arm over his
+shoulder, while his younger brother is sustaining him, and receiving the
+wreath that drops from his sinking hand. The young woman who showed us
+these, told us of Thorwaldsen's visit to Frankfort, about three years
+ugo. She described him as a beautiful and venerable old man, with long
+white locks hanging over his shoulders, still vigorous and active for
+his years. There seems to have been much resemblance between him and
+Dannecker--not only in personal appearance and character, but, in the
+simple and classical beauty of their works.
+
+The cemetery contains many other monuments; with the exception of one or
+two by Launitz, and an exquisite Death Angel in sandstone, from a young
+Frankfort sculptor, they are not remarkable. The common tomb-stone is a
+white wooden cross; opposite the entrance is a perfect forest of them,
+involuntarily reminding one of a company of ghosts, with outstretched
+arms. These contain the names of the deceased with mottoes, some of
+which are beautiful and touching, as for instance: "_Through darkness
+unto light_;" "_Weep not for her; she is not dead, but sleepeth_"
+"_Slumber sweet!_" etc. The graves are neatly bordered with grass, and
+planted with flowers, and many of the crosses have withered wreathes
+hanging upon them. In summer it is a beautiful place; in fact, the very
+name of cemetery in German--_Friedhuf_ or Court of Peace--takes away the
+idea of death; the beautiful figure of the youth, with his inverted
+torch, makes one think of the grave only us a place of repose.
+
+On our way back we stopped at the Institute for the Deaf; for by the
+new method of teaching they are no longer dumb. It is a handsome
+building in the gardens skirting the city. We applied, and on learning
+we were strangers, they gave us permission to enter. On finding we were
+Americans, the instructress immediately spoke of Dr. Howe, who had
+visited the Institute a year or two before, and was much pleased to find
+that Mr. Dennett was acquainted with him. She took us into a room where
+about fifteen small children were assembled, and addressing one of the
+girls, said in a distinct tone: "These gentlemen are from America; the
+deaf children there speak with their fingers--canst thou speak so?" To
+which the child answered distinctly, but with some effort: "No, we speak
+with our mouths." She then spoke to several others with the same
+success; one of the boys in particular, articulated with astonishing
+success. It was interesting to watch their countenances, which were
+alive with eager attention, and to see the apparent efforts they made to
+utter the words. They spoke in a monotonous tone, slowly and
+deliberately, but their voices had a strange, sepulchral sound, which
+was at first unpleasant to the ear. I put one or two questions to a
+little boy, which he answered quite readily; as I was a foreigner, this
+was the best test that could be given of the success of the method. We
+conversed afterwards with the director, who received us kindly, and
+appointed a day for us to come and witness the system more fully. He
+spoke of Dr. Howe and Horace Mann, of Boston, and seemed to take a great
+interest in the introduction of his system in America.
+
+We went again at the appointed time, and as their drawing teacher was
+there, we had an opportunity of looking over their sketches, which were
+excellent. The director showed us the manner of teaching them, with a
+looking-glass, in which they were shown the different positions of the
+organs of the mouth, and afterwards made to feel the vibrations of the
+throat and breast, produced by the sound. He took one of the youngest
+scholars, covered her eyes, and placing her hand upon his throat,
+articulated the second sound of A. She followed him, making the sound
+softer or louder as he did. All the consonants were made distinctly, by
+placing her hand before his mouth. Their exercises in reading, speaking
+with one another, and writing from dictation, succeeded perfectly. He
+treated them all like his own children, and sought by jesting and
+playing, to make the exercise appear as sport. They call him father and
+appear to be much attached to him.
+
+One of the pupils, about fourteen years old, interested me through his
+history. lie and his sister were found in Sachsenhausen, by a Frankfort
+merchant, in a horrible condition. Their mother had died about two years
+and a half before, and during all that time their father had neglected
+them till they were near dead through privation and filth. The boy was
+placed in this Institute, and the girl in that of the Orphans. He soon
+began to show a talent for modelling figures, and for some time he has
+been taking lessons of the sculptor Launitz. I saw a beautiful copy of a
+bas-relief of Thorwaldsen which he made, as well as an original, very
+interesting, from its illustration of his history. It was in two parts;
+the first represented himself and his sister, kneeling in misery before
+a ruined family altar, by which an angel was standing, who took him by
+one hand, while with the other he pointed to his benefactor, standing
+near. The other represented the two kneeling in gratitude before a
+restored altar, on which was the anchor of Hope. From above streamed
+down a light, where two angels were rejoicing over their happiness. For
+a boy of fourteen, deprived of one of the most valuable senses, and
+taken from such a horrible condition of life, it is a surprising work
+and gives brilliant hopes for his future.
+
+We went lately into the Roemerberg, to see the Kaisersaal and the other
+rooms formerly used by the old Emperors of Germany, and their Senates.
+The former is now in the process of restoration. The ceiling is in the
+gorgeous illuminated style of the middle ages; along each side arc rows
+of niches for the portraits of the Emperors, which have been painted by
+the best artists in Berlin, Dresden, Vienna and Munich. It is remarkable
+that the number of the old niches in the hall should exactly correspond
+with the number of the German Emperors, so that the portrait of the
+Emperor Francis of Austria, who was the last, will close the long rank
+coming down from Charlemagne. The pictures, or at least such of them as
+are already finished, are kept in another room; they give one a good
+idea of the changing styles of royal costumes, from the steel shirt and
+helmet to the jewelled diadem and velvet robe. I looked with interest on
+a painting of Frederic Barbarossa, by Leasing, and mused over the
+popular tradition that he sits with his paladins in a mountain cave
+under the Castle of Kyffhauser, ready to come forth and assist his
+Fatherland in the hour of need. There was the sturdy form of Maximilian;
+the martial Conrad; and Ottos, Siegfrieds and Sigismunds in plenty--many
+of whom moved a nation in their day, but are now dust and forgotten.
+
+I yesterday visited Mendelssohn, the celebrated composer. Having heard
+rame of his music this winter, particularly that magnificent creation,
+the "Walpurgisnacht," I wished to obtain his autograph before leaving,
+and sent a note for that purpose. He sent a kind note in answer, adding
+a chorus out of the Walpurgisnacht from his own hand. After this, I
+could not repress the desire of speaking with him. lie received me with
+true German cordiality, and on learning I was an American, spoke of
+having been invited to attend a musical festival in New York. He invited
+me to call on him if he happened to bo in Leipsic or Dresden when we
+should pass through, and spoke particularly of the fine music there. I
+have rarely seen a man whose countenance bears so plainly the stamp of
+genius. He has a glorious dark eye, and Byron's expression of a "dome of
+thought," could never be more appropriately applied than to his lofty
+and intellectual forehead, the marble whiteness and polish of which arc
+heightened by the raven hue of his hair. He is about forty years of age,
+in the noon of his fame and the full maturity of his genius. Already as
+a boy of fourteen he composed an opera, which was played with much
+success at Berlin; he is now the first living composer of Germany. Moses
+Mendelssohn, the celebrated Jewish philosopher, was his grandfather; and
+his father, now living, is accustomed to say that in his youth he was
+spoken of as the son of the great Mendelssohn; now he is known as the
+father of the great Mendelssohn!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+JOURNEY ON FOOT FROM FRANKFORT TO CASSEL.
+
+
+The day for leaving Frankfort came at last, and I bade adieu to the
+gloomy, antique, but still quaint and pleasant city. I felt like leaving
+a second home, so much had the memories of many delightful hours spent
+there attached me to it: I shall long retain the recollection of its
+dark old streets, its massive, devil-haunted bridge and the ponderous
+cathedral, telling of the times of the Crusaders. I toiled up the long
+hill on the road to Friedberg, and from the tower at the top took a last
+look at the distant city, with a heart heavier than the knapsack whose
+unaccustomed weight rested uneasily on my shoulders. Being
+alone--starting out into the wide world, where us yet I know no one,--I
+felt much deeper what it was to find friends in a strange land. But such
+is the wanderer's lot.
+
+We had determined on making the complete tour of Germany on foot, and in
+order to vary it somewhat, my friend and I proposed taking different
+routes from Frankfort to Leipsic. He choose a circuitous course, by way
+of Nuremberg and the Thuringian forests; while I, whose fancy had been
+running wild with Goethe's witches, preferred looking on the gloom and
+grandeur of the rugged Hartz. We both left Frankfort on the 23d of
+April, each bearing a letter of introduction to the same person in
+Leipsic, where we agreed to meet in fourteen days. As we were obliged to
+travel as cheaply as possible, I started with but seventynine florins,
+(a florin is forty cents American) well knowing that if I took more, I
+should, in all probability, spend proportionally more also. Thus, armed
+with my passport, properly _vised_, a knapsack weighing fifteen pounds
+and a cane from the Kentucky Mammoth Cave, I began my lonely walk
+through Northern Germany. The warm weather of the week before had
+brought out the foliage of the willows and other early trees--violets
+and cowslips were springing up in the meadows. Keeping along the foot of
+the Taunus, I passed over great, broad hills, which were brown with the
+spring ploughing, and by sunset reached Friedberg--a, largo city, on the
+summit of a hill. The next morning, after sketching its old, baronial
+castle, I crossed the meadows to Nauheim, to see the salt springs there.
+They are fifteen in number; the water, which is very warm, rushes up
+with such force as to leap several feet above the earth. The buildings
+made for evaporation are nearly two miles in length; a walk along the
+top gives a delightful view of the surrounding valleys. After reaching
+the _chaussee_ again, I was hailed by a wandering journeyman, or
+_handwerker_, as they are called, who wanted company. As I had concluded
+to accept all offers of this kind, we trudged along together very
+pleasantly, He was from Holstein, on the borders of Denmark and was just
+returning home, after an absence of six years, having escaped from
+Switzerland after the late battle of Luzerne, which he had witnessed. He
+had his knapsack and tools fastened on two wheels, which he drew after
+him quite conveniently. I could not help laughing at the adroit manner
+in which he begged his way along, through every village. He would ask me
+to go on and wait for him at the other end; after a few minutes he
+followed, with a handful of small copper money, which he said he had
+_fought for_,--the handworker's term for _begged._
+
+We passed over long ranges of hills, with an occasional view of the
+Vogelsgebirge, or Bird's Mountains, far to the cast. I knew at length,
+by the pointed summits of the hills, that we were approaching Giessen
+and the valley of the Lahn. Finally, two sharp peaks appeared in the
+distance, each crowned with a picturesque fortress, while the spires of
+Giessen rose from the valley below. Parting from my companion, I passed
+through the city without stopping, for it was the time of the university
+vacation, and Dr. Liebeg, the world-renowned chemist, whom I desired to
+see, was absent.
+
+Crossing a hill or two, I came down into the valley of the Lahn, which
+flows through meadows of the brightest green, with redroofed cottages
+nestled among gardens and orchards upon its banks. The women here wear
+a remarkable costume, consisting of a red boddice with white sleeves,
+and a dozen skirts, one above another, reaching only to the knees. I
+slept again at a little village among the hills, and started early for
+Marburg. The meadows were of the purest emerald, through which the
+stream wound its way, with even borders, covered to the water's edge
+with grass so smooth and velvety, that a fairy might have danced along
+on it for miles without stumbling over an uneven tuft. This valley is
+one of the finest districts in Germany. I thought, as I saw the peaceful
+inhabitants at work in their fields, I had most probably, on the
+battle-field of Brandywine, walked over the bones of some of their
+ancestors, whom a despotic prince had torn from their happy homes, to
+die in a distant land, fighting against the cause of freedom.
+
+I now entered directly into the heart of Hesse Cassel. The country
+resembled a collection of hills thrown together in confusion--sometimes
+a wide plain left between them, sometimes a clustre of wooded peaks, and
+here and there a single pointed summit rising above the rest. The
+vallies were green as ever, the hill-sides freshly ploughed and the
+forests beginning to be colored by the tender foliage of the larch and
+birch. I walked two or three hours at a "stretch," and then, when I
+could find a dry, shady bank, I would rest for half an hour and finish
+some hastily sketched landscape, or lay at full length, with my head on
+my knapsack, and peruse the countenances of those passing by. The
+observation which every traveller excites, soon ceases to be
+embarrassing. It was at first extremely unpleasant; but I am now so
+hardened, that the strange, magnetic influence of the human eye, which
+we cannot avoid feeling, passes by me as harmlessly as if turned aside
+by invisible mail.
+
+During the day several showers came by, but as none of them penetrated
+further than my blouse, I kept on, and reached about sunset a little
+village in the valley. I chose a small inn, which had an air of neatness
+about it, and on going in, the tidy landlady's "be you welcome," as she
+brought a pair of slippers for my swollen feet, made me feel quite at
+home. After being furnished with eggs, milk, butter and bread, for
+supper, which I ate while listening to an animated discussion between
+the village schoolmaster and some farmers, I was ushered into a clean,
+sanded bedroom, and soon forgot all fatigue. For this, with breakfast in
+the morning, the bill was six and a half groschen--about sixteen cents!
+Tin air was freshened by the rain and I journeyed over the hills at a
+rapid rate. Stopping for dinner at the large village of Wabern, a boy at
+the inn asked me if I was going to America? I said no, I came from
+there. He then asked me many silly questions, after which he ran out and
+told the people of the village. When I set out again, the children
+pointed at me and cried: "see there! he is from America!" and the men
+took off their hats and bowed!
+
+The sky was stormy, which added to the gloom of the hills around, though
+some of the distant ranges lay in mingled light and shade--the softest
+alternation of purple and brown. There were many isolated, rocky hills,
+two of which interested me, through their attendant legends. One is said
+to have been the scene of a battle between the Romans and Germans,
+where, after a long conflict the rock opened and swallowed up the
+former. The other, which is crowned with a rocky wall, so like a ruined
+fortress, as at a distance to be universally mistaken for one, tradition
+says is the death-place of Charlemagne, who still walks around its
+summit every night, clad in complete armor. On ascending a hill late in
+the afternoon, I saw at a great distance the statue of Hercules, which
+stands on the Wilhelmshohe, near Cassel. Night set in with a dreary
+rain, and I stopped at an inn about five miles short of the city. While
+tea was preparing a company of students came in and asked for a separate
+room. Seeing I was alone, they invited me up with them. They seemed much
+interested in America, and leaving the table gradually, formed a ring
+around me, where I had enough to do to talk with them all at once. When
+the omnibus came along, the most of them went with it to Cassel; but
+five remained and persuaded me to set out with them on foot. They
+insisted on carrying my knapsack the whole way, through the rain and
+darkness, and when I had passed the city gate with them, unchallenged,
+conducted me to the comfortable hotel, "_Zur Krone_."
+
+It is a pleasant thing to wake up in the morning in a strange city.
+Every thing is new; you walk around it for the first time in the full
+enjoyment of the novelty, or the not less agreeable feeling of surprise,
+if it is different from your anticipations. Two of my friends of the
+previous night called for me in the morning, to show me around the city,
+and the first impression, made in such agreeable company, prepossessed
+me very favorably. I shall not, however, take up time in describing its
+many sights, particularly the Frederick's Platz, where the statue of
+Frederick the Second, who sold ten thousand of his subjects to England,
+has been re-erected, after having lain for years in a stable where it
+was thrown by the French.
+
+I was much interested in young Carl K----, one of my new acquaintances.
+His generous and unceasing kindness first won my esteem, and I found on
+nearer acquaintance, the qualities of his mind equal those of his heart.
+I saw many beautiful poems of his which were of remarkable merit,
+considering his youth, and thought I could read in his dark, dreamy eye,
+the unconscious presentiment of a power he does not yet possess. He
+seemed as one I had known for years.
+
+He, with a brother student, accompanied me in the afternoon, to
+Wilhelmshohe, the summer residence of the Prince, on the side of a range
+of mountains three miles west of the city. The road leads in a direct
+line to the summit of the mountain, which is thirteen hundred feet in
+height, surmounted by a great structure, called the Giant's Castle, on
+the summit of which is a pyramid ninety-six feet high, supporting a
+statue of Hercules, copied after the Farnese, and thirty-one feet in
+height. By a gradual ascent through beautiful woods, we reached the
+princely residence, a magnificent mansion standing on a natural terrace
+of the mountain. Near it is a little theatre built by Jerome Buonaparte,
+in which he himself used to play. We looked into the green house in
+passing, where the floral splendor of every zone was combined. There
+were lofty halls, with glass roofs, where the orange grew to a great
+tree, and one could sit in myrtle bowers, with the brilliant bloom of
+the tropics around him. It was the only thing there I was guilty of
+coveting.
+
+The greatest curiosity is the water-works, which are perhaps unequalled
+in the world. The Giant's Castle on the summit contains an immense tank
+in which water is kept for the purpose; but unfortunately, at the time
+I was there, the pipes, which had been frozen through the winter, were
+not in condition to play. From the summit an inclined plane of masonry
+descends the mountain nine hundred feet, broken every one hundred and
+fifty feet by perpendicular descents. These are the Cascades, down which
+the water first rushes from the tank. After being again collected in a
+great basin at the bottom, it passes into an aqueduct, built like a
+Roman ruin, and goes over beautiful arches through the forest, where it
+falls in one sheet down a deep precipice. When it has descended several
+other beautiful falls, made in exact imitation of nature, it is finally
+collected and forms the great fountain, which rises twelve inches in
+diameter from the middle of a lake to the height of one hundred and
+ninety feet! We descended by lovely walks through the forest to the
+Lowenburg, built as the ruin of a knightly castle, and fitted out in
+every respect to correspond with descriptions of a fortress in the olden
+time, with moat, drawbridge, chapel and garden of pyramidal trees.
+Farther below, are a few small houses, inhabited by the descendants of
+the Hessians who fell in America, supported here at the Prince's
+expense!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+ADVENTURES AMONG THE HARTZ.
+
+
+On taking leave of Carl at the gate over the Gottingen road, I felt
+tempted to bestow a malediction upon traveling, from its merciless
+breaking of all links, as soon as formed. It was painful to think we
+should meet no more. The tears started into his eyes, and feeling a mist
+gathering over mine, I gave his hand a parting pressure, turned my back
+upon Cassel and started up the long mountain, at a desperate rate. On
+the summit I passed out of Hesse into Hanover, and began to descend the
+remaining six miles. The road went down by many windings, but I
+shortened the way considerably by a foot-path through a mossy old
+forest. The hills bordering the Weser are covered with wood, through
+which I saw the little red-roofed city of Munden, at the bottom. I
+stopped there for the night, and next morning walked around the place.
+It is one of the old German cities that have not yet felt the effect of
+the changing spirit of the age. It is still walled, though the towers
+are falling to ruin. The streets are narrow, crooked, and full of ugly
+old houses, and to stand in the little square before the public
+buildings, one would think himself born in the sixteenth century. Just
+below the city the Werra and Fulda unito and form the Weser. The
+triangular point has been made into a public walk, and the little
+steamboat was lying at anchor near, waiting to start for Bremen.
+
+In the afternoon I got into the omnibus for Gottingen. The ride over the
+wild, dreary, monotonous hills was not at all interesting. There were
+two other passengers inside, one of whom, a grave, elderly man, took a
+great interest in America, but the conversation was principally on his
+side, for I had been taken with a fever in Munden. I lay crouched up in
+the corner of the vehicle, trying to keep off the chills which
+constantly came over me, and wishing only for Gottingen, that I might
+obtain medicine and a bed. We reached it at last, and I got out with my
+knapsack and walked wearily through half a dozen streets till I saw an
+inn. But on entering, I found it so dark and dirty and unfriendly, that
+I immediately went out again and hired the first pleasant looking boy I
+met, to take me to a good hotel. He conducted me to the first one in the
+city. I felt a trepidation of pocket, but my throbbing head plead more
+powerfully, so I ordered a comfortable room and a physician. The host,
+Herr Wilhelm, sent for Professor Trefurt, of the University, who told me
+I had over-exerted myself in walking. He made a second call the next
+day, when, as he was retiring, I inquired the amount of his fee. He
+begged to be excused and politely bowed himself out. I inquired the
+meaning of this of Herr Wilhelm, who said it was customary for
+travellers to leave what they chose for the physician, as there was no
+regular fee. He added, moreover, that twenty groschen, or about sixty
+cents, was sufficient for the two visits!
+
+I stayed in Gottingen two dull, dreary, miserable days, without getting
+much better. I took but one short walk through the city, in which I saw
+the outsides of a few old churches and got a hard fall on the pavement.
+Thinking that the _cause_ of my illness might perhaps become its _cure_,
+I resolved to go on rather than remain in the melancholy--in spite of
+its black-eyed maidens, melancholy--Gottingen. On the afternoon of the
+second day, I took the post to Nordheim, about twelve miles distant. The
+Gottingen valley, down which we drove, is green and beautiful, and the
+trees seem to have come out all at once. we were not within sight of the
+Hartz, but the mountains along the Weser were visible on the left. The
+roads were extremely muddy from the late rains, so that I proceeded but
+slowly.
+
+A blue range along the horizon told me of the Hartz, as I passed;
+although there were some fine side-glimpses through the hills, I did not
+see much of them till I reached Osterode, about twelve miles further.
+Here the country begins to assume a different aspect. The city lies in a
+narrow valley, and as the road goes down a steep hill towards it, one
+sees on each side many quarries of gypsum, and in front the gloomy pine
+mountains are piled one above another in real Alpine style. But alas!
+the city, though it looks exceedingly romantic from above, is one of
+the dirtiest I ever saw. I stopped at Herzberg, six miles farther, for
+the night. The scenery was very striking; and its effect was much
+heightened by a sky full of black clouds, which sent down a hail-storm
+as they passed over. The hills are covered with pine, fir and larch. The
+latter tree, in its first foliage, is most delicate and beautiful. Every
+bough is like a long ostrich plume, and when one of them stands among
+the dark pines, it seems so light and airy that the wind might carry it
+away. Just opposite Herzberg, the Hartz stands in its gloomy and
+mysterious grandeur, and I went to sleep with the pleasant thought that
+an hour's walk on the morrow would shut me up in its deep recesses.
+
+The next morning I entered them. The road led up a narrow mountain
+valley, down which a stream was rushing--on all sides were magnificent
+forests of pine. It was glorious to look down their long aisles, dim and
+silent, with a floor of thick green moss. There was just room enough for
+the road and the wild stream which wound its way zigzag between the
+hills, affording the most beautiful mountain-view along the whole route.
+As I ascended, the mountains became rougher and wilder, and in the shady
+hollows were still drifts of snow. Enjoying every thing very much, I
+walked on without taking notice of the road, and on reaching a wild,
+rocky chasm called the "Schlucht," was obliged to turn aside and take a
+footpath over a high mountain to Andreasberg, a town built on a summit
+two thousand feet above the sea. It is inhabited almost entirely by the
+workmen in the mines.
+
+The way from Andreasberg to the Brocken leads along the Rehberger
+Graben, which carry water about six miles for the oreworks. After going
+through a thick pine wood, I came out on the mountain-side, where rough
+crags overhung the way above, and through the tops of the trees I had
+glimpses into the gorge below. It was scenery of the wildest character.
+Directly opposite rose a mountain wall, dark and stern through the
+gloomy sky; far below the little stream of the Oder foamed over the
+rocks with a continual roar, and one or two white cloud-wreaths were
+curling up from the forests.
+
+I followed the water-ditch around every projection of the mountain,
+still ascending higher amid the same wild scenery, till at length I
+reached the Oderteich, a great dam, in a kind of valley formed by some
+mountain peaks on the side of the Brocken. It has a breastwork of
+granite, very firm, and furnishes a continual supply of water for the
+works. It began to rain soon, and I took a foot-path which went winding
+up through the pine wood. The storm still increased, till everything was
+cloud and rain, so I was obliged to stop about five o'clock at
+Oderbruch, a toll-house and tavern on the side of the Brocken, on the
+boundary between Brunswick and Hanover--the second highest inhabited
+house in the Hartz. The Brocken was invisible through the storm and the
+weather forboded a difficult ascent. The night was cold, but by a warm
+fire I let the winds howl and the rain beat. When I awoke the next
+morning, we were in clouds. They were thick on every side, hiding what
+little view there was through the openings of the forest. After
+breakfast, however, they were somewhat thinner, and I concluded to start
+for the Brocken. It is not the usual way for travellers who ascend,
+being not only a bad road but difficult to find, as I soon discovered.
+The clouds gathered around again after I set out, and I was obliged to
+walk in a storm of mingled rain and snow. The snow lay several feet deep
+in the forests, and the path was, in many places, quite drifted over.
+The white cloud-masses were whirled past by the wind, continually
+enveloping me and shutting out every view. During the winter the path
+had become, in ninny places, the bed of a mountain torrent, so that I
+was obliged sometimes to wade kneedeep in snow, and sometimes to walk
+over the wet, spongy moss, crawling under the long, dripping branches of
+the stunted pines. After a long time of such dreary travelling, I came
+to two rocks called the Stag Horns, standing on a little peak. The
+storm, now all snow, blew more violently than ever, and the path became
+lost under the deep drifts.
+
+Comforting myself with the assurance that if I could not find it, I
+could at least make my way back, I began searching, and after some time,
+came upon it again. Here the forest ceased; the way led on large stones
+over a marshy ascending plain, but what was above, or on either side, I
+could not see. It was solitude of the most awful kind. There was nothing
+but the storm, which had already wet me through, and the bleak gray
+waste of rocks. It grew sleeper and steeper; I could barely trace the
+path by the rocks which were worn, and the snow threatened soon to cover
+these. Added to this, although the walking and fresh mountain air had
+removed my illness, I was still weak from the effects of it, and the
+consequences of a much longer exposure to the storm were greatly to be
+feared. I was wondering if the wind increased at the same rate, how much
+longer it would be before I should be carried off, when suddenly
+something loomed up above me through the storm. A few steps more and I
+stood beside the Brocken House, on the very summit of the mountain! The
+mariner, who has been floating for days on a wreck at sea, could
+scarcely be more rejoiced at a friendly sail, than I was on entering the
+low building. Two large Alpine dogs in the passage, as I walked in,
+dripping with wet, gave notice to the inmates, and I was soon ushered
+into a warm room, where I changed my soaked garments for dry ones, and
+sat down by the fire with feelings of comfort not easily imagined. The
+old landlord was quite surprised, on hearing the path by which I came,
+that I found the way at all. The summit was wrapped in the thickest
+cloud, and he gave me no hope for several hours of any prospect at all,
+so I sat down and looked over the Stranger's Album.
+
+I saw but two names from the United States--B.F. Atkins, of Boston, and
+C.A. Hay, from York, Pa. There were a great many long-winded German
+poems--among them, one by Schelling, the philosopher. Some of them spoke
+of having seen the "Spectre of the Brocken." I inquired of the landlord
+about the phenomenon; he says in winter it is frequently seen, in summer
+more seldom. The cause is very simple. It is always seen at sunrise,
+when the eastern side of the Brocken is free from clouds, and at the
+same time, the mist rises from the valley on the opposite side. The
+shadow of every thing on the Brocken is then thrown in grand proportions
+upon the mist, and is seen surrounded with a luminous halo. It is
+somewhat singular that such a spectacle can be seen upon the Brocken
+alone, but this is probably accounted for by the formation of the
+mountain, which collects the mist at just such a distance from the
+summit as to render the shadow visible.
+
+Soon after dinner the storm subsided and the clouds separated a little.
+I could see down through the rifts on the plains of Brunswick, and
+sometimes, when they opened a little more, the mountains below us to the
+east and the adjoining plains, as far as Magdeburg. It was like looking
+on the earth from another planet, or from some point in the air which
+had no connection, with it; our station was completely surrounded by
+clouds, rolling in great masses around us, now and then giving glimpses
+through their openings of the blue plains, dotted with cities and
+villages, far below. At one time when they were tolerably well
+separated, I ascended the tower, fifty feet high, standing near the
+Brocken House. The view on three sides was quite clear, and I can easily
+imagine what a magnificent prospect it must be in fine weather. The
+Brocken is only about four thousand feet high, nearly the same as the
+loftiest peak of the Catskill, but being the highest mountain in
+Northern Germany, it commands a more extensive prospect. Imagine a
+circle described with a radius of a hundred miles, comprising thirty
+cities, two or three hundred villages and one whole mountain district!
+We could see Brunswick and Magdeburg, and beyond them the great plain
+which extends to the North Sea in one direction and to Berlin in the
+other, while directly below us lay the dark mountains of the Hartz, with
+little villages in their sequestered valleys. It was but a few moments I
+could look on this scene--in an instant the clouds swept together again
+and completely hid it. In accordance with a custom of the mountain, one
+of the girls made me a "Brocken nosegay," of heather, lichens and moss.
+I gave her a few pfennings and stowed it away carefully in a corner of
+my knapsack.
+
+I now began descending the east side, by a good road over fields of bare
+rock and through large forests of pine. Two or three bare brown peaks
+rose opposite with an air of the wildest sublimity, and in many places
+through the forest towered lofty crags. This is the way by which Goethe
+brings Faust up the Brocken, and the scenery is graphically described in
+that part of the poem. At the foot of the mountain is the little village
+of Schiercke, the highest in the Hartz. Here I took a narrow path
+through the woods, and after following a tediously long road over the
+hills, reached Elbingerode, where I spent the night, and left the next
+morning for Blankenburg. I happened to take the wrong road, however, and
+went through Rubeland, a little village in the valley of the Bode. There
+are many iron works here, and two celebrated caves, called "Baumann's
+Hohle," and "Biel's Hohle." I kept on through the gray, rocky hills to
+Huttenrode, where I inquired the way to the Rosstrappe, but was directed
+wrong, and after walking nearly two hours in a heavy rain, arrived at
+Ludwigshutte, on the Bode, in one of the wildest and loneliest corners
+of the Hartz. I dried my wet clothes at a little inn, ate a dinner of
+bread and milk, and learning that I was just as far from the Rosstrappe
+as ever, and that the way was impossible to find alone, I hunted up a
+guide.
+
+We went over the mountains through a fine old forest, for about two
+hours, and came out on the brow of a hill near the end of the Hartz,
+with a beautiful view of the country below and around. Passing the
+little inn, the path led through thick bushes along the summit, over a
+narrow ledge of rocks that seemed to stretch out into the air, for on
+either side the foot of the precipice vanished in the depth below.
+
+Arrived at last at the end, I looked around me. What a spectacle! I was
+standing on the end of a line of precipice which ran out from the
+mountain like a wall for several hundred feet--the hills around rising
+up perpendicularly from the gorge below, where the Bode pressed into a
+narrow channel foamed its way through. Sharp masses of gray rock rose up
+in many places from the main body like pillars, with trees clinging to
+the clefts, and although the defile was near seven hundred feet deep,
+the summits, in one place, were very near to one another. Near the point
+at which I stood, which was secured by a railing, was an impression in
+the rock like the hoof of a giant horse, from which the place takes its
+name. It is very distinct and perfect, and nearly two feet in length.
+
+I went back to the little inn and sat down to rest and chat awhile with
+the talkative landlady. Notwithstanding her horrible Prussian dialect, I
+was much amused with the budget of wonders, which she keeps for the
+information of travelers. Among other things, she related to me the
+legend of the Rosstrappe, which I give in her own words: "A great many
+hundred years ago, when there were plenty of giants through the world,
+there was a certain beautiful princess, who was very much loved by one
+of them. Now, although the parents of this princess were afraid of the
+giant, and wanted her to marry him, she herself hated him, because she
+was in love with a brave knight. But, you see, the brave knight could do
+nothing against the great giant, and so a day was appointed for the
+wedding of the princess. When they were married, the giant had a great
+feast and he and all his servants got drunk. So the princess mounted his
+black horse and rode away over the mountains, till she reached this
+valley. She stood on that square rock which you see there opposite to
+us, and when she saw her knight on this side, where we are, she danced
+for joy, and the rock is called the _Tanzplatz_, to this very day. But
+when the giant found she had gone, he followed her as fast as he might;
+then a holy bishop, who saw the princess, blessed the feet of her horse,
+and she jumped on it across to this side, where his fore feet made two
+marks in the rock, though there is only one left now. You should not
+laugh at this, for if there were giants then, there must have been very
+big horses too, as one can see from the hoofmark, and the valley was
+narrower then than it is now. My dear man, who is very old now, (you see
+him through the bushes, there, digging,) says it was so when he was a
+child, and that the old people living then, told him there were once
+four just such hoof-tracks, on the _Tanzplatz_, where the horse stood
+before he jumped over. And we cannot doubt the words of the good old
+people, for there were many strange things then, we all know, which the
+dear Lord does not let happen now. But I must tell you, lieber Herr,
+that the giant tried to jump after her and fell away down into the
+valley, where they say he lives yet in the shape of a big black dog,
+guarding the crown of the princess, which fell off as she was going
+over. But this part of the story is perhaps not true, as nobody, that I
+ever heard of, has seen either the black dog or the crown!"
+
+After listening to similar gossip for a while, I descended the
+mountain-side, a short distance to the Bulowshohe. This is a rocky shaft
+that shoots, upward from the mountain, having from its top a glorious
+view through the door which the Bode makes in passing out of the Hartz.
+I could see at a great distance the towers of Magdeburg, and further,
+the vast plain stretching away like a sea towards Berlin. From Thale,
+the village below, where the air was warmer than in the Hartz and the
+fruit-trees already in blossom, it was four hours' walk to Halberstadt,
+by a most tiresome road over long ranges of hills, all ploughed and
+planted, and extending as far as the eye could reach, without a single
+fence or hedge. It is pleasant to look over scenes where nature is so
+free and unshackled; but the _people_, alas! wear the fetters. The
+setting sun, which lighted up the old Brocken and his snowy top, showed
+me also Halberstadt, the end of my Hartz journey; but its deceitful
+towers fled as I approached, and I was half dead with fatigue on
+arriving there.
+
+The ghostly, dark and echoing castle of an inn (the Black Eagle) where I
+stopped, was enough to inspire a lonely traveller, like myself, with
+unpleasant fancies. It looked heavy and massive enough to have been a
+stout baron's stronghold in some former century; the taciturn landlord
+and his wife, who, with a solemn servant girl, were the only tenants,
+had grown into perfect keeping with its gloomy character. When I groped
+my way under the heavy, arched portal into the guests' room--a large,
+lofty, cheerless hall--all was dark, and I could barely perceive, by the
+little light which came through two deep-set windows, the inmates of the
+house, sitting on opposite sides of the room. After some delay, the
+hostess brought a light. I entreated her to bring me something
+_instantly_ for supper, and in half an hour she placed a mixture on the
+table, the like of which I never wish to taste again. She called it
+_beer-soup_! I found, on examination, it was _beer_, boiled with meat,
+and seasoned strongly with pepper and salt! My hunger disappeared, and
+pleading fatigue as an excuse for want of appetite, I left the table.
+When I was ready to retire, the landlady, who had been sitting silently
+in a dark corner, called the solemn servant girl, who took up a dim
+lamp, and bade me follow her to the "sleeping chamber." Taking up my
+knapsack and staff, I stumbled down the steps into the arched gateway;
+before me was a long, damp, deserted court-yard, across which the girl
+took her way. I followed her with some astonishment, imagining where the
+sleeping chamber could be, when she stopped at a small, one-story
+building, standing alone in the yard. Opening the door with a rusty key,
+she led me into a bare room, a few feet square, opening into another,
+equally bare, with the exception of a rough bed. "Certainly," said I, "I
+am not to sleep here!" "Yes," she answered, "this is the sleeping
+chamber," at the same time setting down the light and disappearing. I
+examined the place--it smelt mouldy, and the walls were cold and damp;
+there had been a window at the head of the bed, but it was walled up,
+and that at the foot was also closed to within a few inches of the top.
+The bed was course and dirty; and on turning down the ragged covers, I
+saw with horror, a dark brown stain near the pillow, like that of blood!
+For a moment I hesitated whether to steal out of the inn, and seek
+another lodging, late as it was; at last, overcoming my fears, I threw
+my clothes into a heap, and lay down, placing my heavy staff at the head
+of the bed. Persons passed up and down the courtyard several times, the
+light of their lamps streaming through the narrow aperture up against
+the ceiling, and I distinctly heard voices, which seemed to be near the
+door. Twice did I sit up in bed, breathless, with my hand on the cane,
+in the most intense anxiety; but fatigue finally overcame suspicion, and
+I sank into a deep sleep, from which I was gladly awakened by daylight.
+In reality, there may have been no cause for my fears--I may have
+wronged the lonely innkeepers by them; but certainly no place or
+circumstances ever seemed to me more appropriate to a deed of robbery or
+crime. I left immediately, and when a turn in the street hid the
+ill-omened front of the inn, I began to breathe with my usual freedom.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+NOTES IN LEIPSIC AND DRESDEN.
+
+
+_Leipsic, May 8._--I have now been nearly two days in this wide-famed
+city, and the more I see of it the better I like it. It is a pleasant,
+friendly town, old enough to be interesting, and new enough to be
+comfortable. There in much active business life, through which it is
+fast increasing in size and beauty. Its publishing establishments are
+the largest in the world, and its annual fairs attended by people from
+all parts of Europe. This is much for a city to accomplish, situated
+alone in the middle of a great plain, with no natural charms of scenery
+or treasures of art to attract strangers. The energy and enterprise of
+its merchants have accomplished all this, and it now stands, in
+importance, among the first cities of Europe.
+
+The bad weather obliged me to take the railroad at Halberstadt, to keep
+the appointment with my friend, in this city. I left at six for
+Magdeburg, and after two hours' ride over a dull, tiresome plain, rode
+along under the mounds and fortifications by the side of the Elbe, and
+entered the old town. It was very cold, and the streets were muddy, so I
+contented myself with looking at the Broadway, (_der breite Weg_,) the
+Cathedral and one or two curious old churches, and in walking along the
+parapet leading to the fortress, which has a view of the winding Elbe.
+The Citadel was interesting from having been the prison in which Baron
+Trenck was confined, whose narrative I read years ago, when quite a
+child.
+
+We were soon on the road to Leipsic. The way was over one great,
+uninterrupted plain--a more monotonous country, even, than Belgium. Two
+of the passengers in the car with me were much annoyed at being taken by
+the railway agents for Poles. Their movements were strictly watched by
+the gens d'arme at every station we passed, and they were not even
+allowed to sit together! At Kothen a branch track went off to Berlin. We
+passed by Halle without being able to see anything of it or its
+University, and arrived here in four hours after leaving Magdeburg.
+
+On my first walk around the city, yesterday morning, I passed the
+_Augustus Platz_--a broad green lawn, on which front the University and
+several other public buildings. A chain of beautiful promenades
+encircles the city, on the site of its old fortifications. Following
+their course through walks shaded by large trees and bordered with
+flowering shrubs, I passed a small but chaste monument to Sebastian
+Bach, the composer, which was erected almost entirely at the private
+cost of Mendelssohn, and stands opposite the building in which Bach once
+directed the choirs. As I was standing beside it, a glorious choral,
+swelled by a hundred voices, came through the open windows, like a
+tribute to the genius of the great master.
+
+Having found my friend we went together to the _Stern Warte_, or
+Observatory, which gives a fine view of the country around the city, and
+in particular the battle field. The Castellan who is stationed there, is
+well acquainted with the localities, and pointed out the position of the
+hostile armies. It was one of the most bloody and hard-fought battles
+which history records. The army of Napoleon stretched like a semicircle
+around the southern and eastern sides of the city, and the plain beyond
+was occupied by the allies, whose forces met together here.
+Schwarzenberg, with his Austrians, came from Dresden; Blucher, from
+Halle, with the Emperor Alexander. Their forces amounted to three
+hundred thousand, while those of Napoleon ranked at one hundred and
+ninety-two thousand men. It must have been a terrific scene. Four days
+raged the battle, and the meeting of half a million of men in deadly
+conflict was accompanied by the thunder of sixteen hundred cannon. The
+small rivers which flow through Leipsic were swollen with blood, and the
+vast plain was strewed with more than fifty thousand dead. It is
+difficult to conceive of such slaughter, while looking at the quiet and
+tranquil landscape below. It seemed more like a legend of past ages,
+when ignorance and passion led men to murder and destroy, than an event
+which the last half century witnessed. For the sake of humanity it is
+to be hoped that the world will never see such another.
+
+There are some lovely walks around Leipsic. We went yesterday afternoon
+with a few friends to the Rosenthal, a beautiful meadow, bordered by
+forests of the German oak, very few of whose Druid trunks have been left
+standing. There are Swiss cottages embowered in the foliage, where every
+afternoon the social citizens assemble to drink their coffee enjoy a few
+hours' escape from the noisy and dusty streets, One can walk for miles
+along these lovely paths by the side of the velvet meadows, or the banks
+of some shaded stream. We visited the little village of Golis, a short
+distance off, where, in the second story of a little white house, hangs
+the sign: "Schiller's Room." Some of the Leipsic literati have built a
+stone arch over the entrance, with the inscription above: "Here dwelt
+Schiller in 1795, and wrote his Hymn to Joy." Every where through
+Germany the remembrances of Schiller are sacred. In every city where he
+lived, they show his dwelling. They know and reverence the mighty spirit
+who has been among them. The little room where he conceived that sublime
+poem is hallowed as if by the presence of unseen spirits.
+
+I was anxious to see the spot where Poniatowsky fell. We returned over
+the plain to the city and passed in at the gate by which the Cossacks
+entered, pursuing the flying French. Crossing the lower part, we came to
+the little river Elster, in whose waves the gallant prince sank. The
+stone bridge by which we crossed was blown up by the French, to cut off
+pursuit. Napoleon had given orders that it should not be blown up till
+the Poles had all passed over, as the river, though narrow, is quite
+deep, and the banks are steep. Nevertheless, his officers did not wait,
+and the Poles, thus exposed to the fire of the enemy, were obliged to
+plunge into the stream to join the French army, which had begun the
+retreat towards Frankfort. Poniatowsky, severely wounded, made his way
+through a garden near and escaped on horseback into the water. He became
+entangled among the fugitives and sank. By walking a little distance
+along the road towards Frankfort, we could see the spot where his body
+was taken out of the river; it is now marked by a square stone, covered
+with the names of his countrymen who have visited it. We returned
+through the narrow arched way, by which Napoleon fled when the battle
+was lost.
+
+Another interesting place in Leipsic is Auerback's Cellar, which, it is
+said, contains an old manuscript history of Faust, from which Goethe
+derived the first idea of his poem. He used to frequent this cellar, and
+one of his scenes in "Faust" is laid in it. We looked down the arched
+passage; not wishing to purchase any wine, we could find no pretence for
+entering. The streets are full of book stores and one half the business
+of the inhabitants appears to consist in printing, paper-making and
+binding. The publishers have a handsome Exchange of their own, and
+during the Fairs, the amount of business transacted is enormous. The
+establishment of Brockhaus is contained in an immense building,
+adjoining which stands his dwelling, in the midst of magnificent
+gardens. That of Tauchnitz is not less celebrated. His edition of the
+classics, in particular, are the best that have ever been made; and he
+has lately commenced publishing a number of English works, in a cheap
+form. Otto Wigand, who has also a large establishment, has begun to
+issue translations of American works. He has already published Prescott
+and Bancroft, and I believe intends giving out shortly, translations
+from some of our poets and novelists. I became acquainted at the Museum,
+with a young German author who had been some time in America, and was
+well versed in our literature. He is now engaged in translating American
+works, one of which--Hoffman's "Wild Scenes of the Forest and
+Prairie"--will soon appear. In no place in Germany have I found more
+knowledge of our country, her men and her institutions, than in Leipsic,
+and as yet I have seen few that would be preferable as a place of
+residence. Its attractions lie not in its scenery, but in the social and
+intellectual character of its inhabitants.
+
+_May 11._--At last in this "Florence of the Elbe," as the Saxons have
+christened it. Exclusive of its glorious galleries of art, which are
+scarcely surpassed by any in Europe, Dresden charms one by the natural
+beauty of its environs. It stands in a curve of the Elbe, in the midst
+of green meadows, gardens and fine old woods, with the hills of Saxony
+sweeping around like an amphitheatre, and the craggy peaks of the
+Highlands looking at it from afar. The domes and spires at a distance
+give it a rich Italian look, which is heightened by the white villas,
+embowered in trees, gleaming on the hills around. In the streets there
+is no bustle of business--nothing of the din and confusion of traffic
+which mark most cities; it seems like a place for study and quiet
+enjoyment.
+
+The railroad brought us in three hours from Leipsic, over the eighty
+miles of plain that intervene. We came from the station through the
+_Neustadt_, passing the Japanese Palace and the equestrian statue of
+Augustus the Strong, The magnificent bridge over the Elbe was so much
+injured by the late inundation as to be impassable; we worn obliged to
+go some distance up the river bank and cross on a bridge of boats. Next
+morning my first search was for the picture gallery. We set off at
+random, and after passing the Church of Our Lady, with its lofty dome of
+solid stone, which withstood the heaviest bombs during the war with
+Frederick the Great, came to an open square, one side of which was
+occupied by an old, brown, red-roofed building, which I at once
+recognized, from pictures, as the object of our search.
+
+I have just taken a last look at the gallery this morning, and left it
+with real regret; for, during the two visits, Raphael's heavenly picture
+of the Madonna and child had so grown into my love and admiration, that
+it was painful to think I should never see it again. There are many more
+which clung so strongly to my imagination, gratifying in the highest
+degree the love for the Beautiful, that I left them with sadness, and
+the thought that I would now only have the memory. I can see the
+inspired eye and god-like brow of the Jesus-child, as if I were still
+standing before the picture, and the sweet, holy countenance of the
+Madonna still looks upon me. Yet, though this picture is a miracle of
+art, the first glance filled me with disappointment. It has somewhat
+faded, during the three hundred years that have rolled away since the
+hand of Raphael worked on the canvass, and the glass with which it is
+covered for better preservation, injures the effect. After I had gazed
+on it awhile, every thought of this vanished. The figure of the virgin
+seemed to soar in the air, and it was difficult to think the clouds were
+not in motion. An aerial lightness clothes her form, and it is
+perfectly natural for such a figure to stand among the clouds. Two
+divine cherubs look up from below, and in her arms sits the sacred
+child. Those two faces beam from the picture like those of angels. The
+wild, prophetic eye and lofty brow of the young Jesus chains one like a
+spell. There is something more than mortal in its expression--something
+in the infant face which indicates a power mightier than the proudest
+manhood. There is no glory around the head; but the spirit which shines
+from those features, marks his divinity. In the sweet face of the mother
+there speaks a sorrowful foreboding mixed with its tenderness, as if she
+knew the world into which the Saviour was born, and foresaw the path in
+which he was to tread. It is a picture which one can scarce look upon
+without tears.
+
+There are in the same room six pictures by Correggio, which are said to
+be among his best works; one of them his celebrated Magdalen. There is
+also Correggio's "Holy Night," or the virgin with the shepherds in the
+manger, in which all the light comes from the body of the child. The
+surprise of the shepherds is most beautifully expressed. In one of the
+halls there is a picture by Van der Werff, in which the touching story
+of Hagar is told more feelingly than words could do it. The young
+Ishmael is represented full of grief at parting with Isaac, who, in
+childish unconsciousness of what has taken place, draws in sport the
+corner of his mother's mantle around him, and smiles at the tears of his
+lost playmate. Nothing can come nearer real flesh and blood than the two
+portraits of Raphael Mengs, painted by himself when quite young. You
+almost think the artist has in sport crept behind the frame, and wishes
+to make you believe he is a picture. It would be impossible to speak of
+half the gems of art contained in this unrivalled collection. There are
+twelve large halls, containing in all nearly two thousand pictures.
+
+The plain, south of Dresden, was the scene of the hard-fought battle
+between Napoleon and the allied armies, in 1813. On the heights above
+the little village of Racknitz, Moreau was shot on the second day of the
+battle. We took a foot-path through the meadows, shaded by cherry trees
+in bloom, and reached the spot after an hour's walk. The monument is
+simple--a square block of granite, surmounted by a helmet and sword,
+with the inscription: "_The hero Moreau fell here by the side of
+Alexander, August 17th, 1813_." I gathered, as a memorial, a few leaves
+of the oak which shades it.
+
+By applying an hour before the appointed time, we obtained admission to
+the Royal Library. It contains three hundred thousand volumes--among
+them the most complete collection of historical works in existence. Each
+hall is devoted to a history of a separate country, and one large room
+is filled with that of Saxony alone. There is a large number of rare and
+curious manuscripts, among which are old Greek works of the seventh and
+eighth centuries; a Koran which once belonged to the Sultan Bajazet; the
+handwriting of Luther and Melancthon; a manuscript volume with pen and
+ink sketches, by Albert Durer, and the earliest works after the
+invention of printing. Among these latter was a book published by Faust
+and Schaeffer, at Mayence, in 1457. There were also Mexican manuscripts,
+written on the Aloe leaf, and many illuminated monkish volumes of the
+middle ages.
+
+We were fortunate in seeing the _Grune Gewolbe_, or Green Gallery, a
+collection of jewels and costly articles, unsurpassed in Europe. The
+entrance is only granted to six persons at a time, who pay a fee of two
+thalers. The customary way is to employ a _Lohnbedienter_, who goes
+around from one hotel to another, till he has collected the number, when
+he brings them together and conducts them to the person in the palace,
+who has charge of the treasures. As our visit happened to be during the
+Pentecost holidays, when every body in Dresden goes to the mountains,
+there was some difficulty in effecting this, but after two mornings
+spent in hunting up curious travelers, the servant finally conducted us
+in triumph to the palace. The first hall into which we were ushered,
+contained works in bronze. They were all small, and chosen with regard
+to their artistical value. Some by John of Bologna were exceedingly
+fine, as was also a group in iron, _cut_ out of a single block; perhaps
+the only successful attempt in this branch. The next room contained
+statues, and vases covered with reliefs, in ivory. The most remarkable
+work was the fall of Lucifer and his angels, containing ninety-two
+figures in all, carved out of a single piece of ivory sixteen inches
+high! It was the work of an Italian monk, and cost him many years of
+hard labor. There were two tables of mosaic-work, that would not be out
+of place in the fabled halls of the eastern genii, so much did they
+exceed my former ideas of human skill. The tops were of jasper, and each
+had a border of fruit and flowers, in which every color was represented
+by some precious stone, all with the utmost delicacy and truth to
+nature! It is impossible to conceive the splendid effect it produced.
+Besides some fine pictures on gold by Raphael Mengs, there was a
+Madonna, the largest specimen of enamel painting in existence.
+
+However costly the contents of these halls, they were only an
+introduction to those which followed. Each one exceeded the other in
+splendor and costliness. The walls were covered to the ceiling with rows
+of goblets, vases, &c., of polished jasper, agate and lapiz lazuli.
+Splendid mosaic tables stood around, with caskets of the most exquisite
+silver and gold work upon them, and vessels of solid silver, some of
+them weighing six hundred pounds were placed at the foot of the columns.
+We were shown two goblets, each prized at six thousand thalers, made of
+gold and precious stones; also the great pearl called the Spanish Dwarf,
+nearly as large as a pullet's egg; globes and vases cut entirely out of
+the mountain crystal; magnificent Nuremberg watches and clocks, and a
+great number of figures, made ingeniously of rough pearls and diamonds.
+The officer showed us a hen's egg of silver. There was apparently
+nothing remarkable about it, but by unscrewing, it came apart, and
+disclosed the yelk of gold. This again opened and a golden chicken was
+seen; by touching a spring, a little diamond crown came from the inside,
+and the crown being again taken apart, out dropped a valuable diamond
+ring! The seventh hall contains the coronation robes of Augustus II., of
+Poland, and many costly specimens of carving in wood, A cherry stone is
+shown in a glass case, which has one hundred and twenty-five faces, all
+perfectly finished, carved upon it! The next room we entered sent back a
+glare of splendor that perfectly dazzled us. It was all gold, diamond,
+ruby and sapphire! Every case sent out such a glow and glitter that it
+seemed like a cage of imprisoned lightnings. Wherever the eye turned it
+was met by a blaze of broken rainbows. They were there by hundreds, and
+every gem was a fortune. Whole cases of swords, with hilts and scabbards
+of solid gold, studded with gems; the great two-handed coronation sword
+of the German emperors; daggers covered with brilliants and rubies;
+diamond buttons, chains and orders, necklaces and bracelets of pearl and
+emerald, and the order of the Golden Fleece made in gems of every kind.
+We were also shown the largest known onyx, nearly seven inches long and
+four inches broad! One of the most remarkable works is the throne and
+court of Aurungzebe, the Indian king, by Dinglinger, a celebrated
+goldsmith of the last century. It contains one hundred and thirty-two
+figures, all of enamelled gold, and each one most perfectly and
+elaborately finished. It was purchased by Prince Augustus for
+fifty-eight thousand thalers,[**] which was not a high sum, considering
+that the making of it occupied Dinglinger and thirteen workmen for seven
+years!
+
+It is almost impossible to estimate the value of the treasures these
+halls contain. That of the gold and jewels alone must bo many millions
+of dollars, and the amount of labor expended on these toys of royalty is
+incredible. As monuments of patient and untiring toil, they are
+interesting: but it is sad to think how much labor and skill and energy
+have been wasted, in producing things which are useless to the world,
+and only of secondary importance as works of art. Perhaps, however, if
+men could be diverted by such play-things from more dangerous games, it
+would be all the better.
+
+[Footnote **: A Prussian or Saxon thaler is about 70 cts.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+RAMBLES IN THE SAXON SWITZERLAND.
+
+
+After four days' sojourn in Dresden we shouldered our knapsacks, not to
+be laid down again till we reached Prague. We were elated with the
+prospect of getting among the hills again, and we heeded not the
+frequent showers which had dampened the enjoyment of the Pentecost
+holidays, to the good citizens of Dresden, and might spoil our own. So
+we trudged gaily along the road to Pillnitz and waved an adieu to the
+domes behind us as the forest shut them out from view. After two hours'
+walk the road led down to the Elbe, where we crossed in a ferry-boat to
+Pillnitz, the seat of a handsome palace and gardens, belonging to the
+King of Saxony. He happened to be there at the time, on an afternoon
+excursion from Dresden; as we had seen him before, in the latter place,
+we passed directly on, only pausing to admire the flower-beds in the
+palace court. The King is a tall, benevolent looking man, and is
+apparently much liked by his people. As far as I have yet seen, Saxony
+is a prosperous and happy country. The people are noted all over Germany
+for their honest, social character, which is written on their cheerful,
+open countenances. On our entrance into the Saxon Switzerland, at
+Pillnitz, we were delighted with the neatness and home-like appearance
+of every thing. Every body greeted us; if we asked for information, they
+gave it cheerfully. The villages were all pleasant and clean and the
+meadows fresh and blooming. I felt half tempted to say, in the words of
+an old ballad, which I believe Longfellow has translated:
+
+    "The fairest kingdom on this earth,
+    It is the Saxon land!"
+
+Going along the left bank of the Elbe, we passed over meadows purple
+with the tri-colored violet, which we have at home in gardens, and every
+little bank was bright with cowslips. At length the path led down into a
+cleft or ravine filled with trees, whose tops were on a level with the
+country around. This is a peculiar feature of Saxon scenery. The country
+contains many of these clefts, some of which are several hundred feet
+deep, having walls of perpendicular rock, in whose crevices the mountain
+pine roots itself and grows to a tolerable height without any apparent
+soil to keep it alive. We descended by a foot-path into this ravine,
+called the Liebethaler Grund. It is wider than many of the others,
+having room enough for a considerable stream and several mills. The
+sides are of sandstone rock, quite perpendicular. As we proceeded, it
+grew narrower and deeper, while the trees covering its sides and edges
+nearly shut out the sky. An hour's walk brought us to the end, where we
+ascended gradually to the upper level again.
+
+After passing the night at the little village of Uttewalde, a short
+distance further, we set out early in the morning for the Bastei, a
+lofty precipice on the Elbe. The way led us directly through the
+Uttewalder Grund, the most remarkable of all these chasms. We went down
+by steps into its depths, which in the early morning were very cold.
+Water dripped from the rocks, which but a few feet apart, rose far above
+us, and a little rill made its way along the bottom, into which the sun
+has never shone. Heavy masses of rock, which had tumbled down from the
+sides lay in the way, and tall pine trees sprung from every cleft. In
+one place the defile is only four feet wide, and a large mass of rock,
+fallen from above, has lodged near the bottom, making an arch across,
+under which the traveller has to creep. After going under two or three
+arches of this kind, the defile widened and an arrow cut upon a rock
+directed us to a side path, which branched off from this into a
+mountain. Here the stone masses immediately assumed another form. They
+projected out like shelves sometimes as much as twenty feet from the
+straight side, and hung over the way, looking as if they might break off
+every moment. I felt glad when we had passed under them. Then as we
+ascended higher, we saw pillars of rock separated entirely from the side
+and rising a hundred feet in height, with trees growing on their
+summits. They stood there gray and limeworn, like the ruins of a Titan
+temple.
+
+The path finally led us out into the forest and through the clustering
+pine trees, to the summit of the Bastei. An inn has been erected in the
+woods and an iron balustrade placed around the rock. Protected by this,
+we advanced to the end of the precipice and looked down to the swift
+Elbe, more than seven hundred feet below! Opposite through the blue
+mists of morning, rose Konigstein, crowned with an impregnable fortress,
+and the crags of Lilienstein, with a fine forest around their base,
+frowned from the left bank. On both sides were horrible precipices of
+gray rock, with rugged trees hanging from the crevices. A hill rising up
+from one side of the Bastei, terminates suddenly a short distance from
+it, in on abrupt precipice. In the intervening space stand three or four
+of those rock-columns, several hundred feet high, with their tops nearly
+on a level with the Bastei. A wooden bridge has been made across from
+one to the other, over which the traveller passes, looking on the trees
+and rocks far below him, to the mountain, where a steep zigzag path
+takes him to the Elbe below.
+
+We crossed the Elbe for the fourth time at the foot of the Bastei, and
+walked along its right bank towards Konigstein. The injury caused by the
+inundation was everywhere apparent. The receding flood had left a
+deposit of sand, in many places several feet deep on the rich meadows,
+so that the labor of years will be requisite to remove it and restore
+the land to an arable condition. Even the farm-houses on the hillside,
+some distance from the river, had been reached, and the long grass hung
+in the highest branches of the fruit trees. The people wore at work
+trying to repair their injuries, but it will fall heavily upon the
+poorer classes.
+
+The mountain of Konigstein is twelve hundred feet high. A precipice,
+varying from one to three hundred feet in height, runs entirely around
+the summit, which is flat, and a mile and a half in circumference. This
+has been turned into a fortress, whose natural advantages make it
+entirely impregnable. During the Thirty Years' War and the late war with
+Napoleon, it was the only place in Saxony unoccupied by the enemy. Hence
+is it used as a depository for the archives and royal treasures, in
+times of danger. By giving up our passports at the door, we received
+permission to enter; the officer called a guide to take us around the
+battlements. There is quite a little village on the summit, with
+gardens, fields, and a wood of considerable size. The only entrance is
+by a road cut through the rock, which is strongly guarded. A well seven
+hundred feet deep supplies the fortress with water, and there are
+storehouses sufficient to hold supplies for many years. The view from
+the ramparts is glorious--it takes in the whole of the Saxon Highlands,
+as far as the lofty Schneeberg in Bohemia. On the other side the eye
+follows the windings of the Elbe, as far as the spires of Dresden.
+Lilienstein, a mountain of exactly similar formation, but somewhat
+higher, stands directly opposite. On walking around, the guide pointed
+out a little square tower standing on the brink of a precipice, with a
+ledge, about two feet wide, running around it, just below the windows.
+He said during the reign of Augustus the Strong, a baron attached to his
+court, rose in his sleep after a night of revelry, and stepping out the
+window, stretched himself at full length along the ledge. A guard
+fortunately observed his situation and informed Augustus of it, who had
+him bound and secured with cords, and then awakened by music. It was a
+good lesson, and one which no doubt sobered him for the future.
+
+Passing through the little city of Konigstein, we walked on to Schandau,
+the capital of the Saxon Switzerland, situated on the left bank. It had
+sustained great damage from the flood, the whole place having been
+literally under water. Here we turned up a narrow valley which led to
+the Kuhstall, some eight miles distant. The sides, as usual, were of
+steep gray rock, but wide enough apart to give room to some lovely
+meadows, with here and there a rustic cottage. The mountain maidens, in
+their bright red dresses, with a fanciful scarf bound around the head,
+made a romantic addition to the scene. There were some quiet secluded
+nooks, where the light of day stole in dimly through the thick foliage
+above and the wild stream rushed less boisterously over the rocks. We
+sat down to rest in one of these cool retreats, and made the glen ring
+with a cheer for America. The echoes repeated the name as if they had
+heard it for the first time, and I gave them a strict injunction to
+give it back to the next countryman who should pass by.
+
+As we advanced further into the hills the way became darker and wilder.
+We heard the sound of falling water in a little dell on one side, and
+going nearer, saw a picturesque fall of about fifteen feet. Great masses
+of black rock were piled together, over which the mountain-stream fell
+in a snowy sheet. The pines above and around grew so thick and close,
+that not a sunbeam could enter, and a kind of mysterious twilight
+pervaded the spot. In Greece it would have been chosen for an oracle. I
+have seen, somewhere, a picture of the Spirit of Poetry, sitting beside
+just such a cataract, and truly the nymph could choose no more
+appropriate dwelling. But alas for sentiment! while we were admiring its
+picturesque beauty, we did not notice a man who came from a hut near by
+and went up behind the rocks. All at once there was a roar of water, and
+a real torrent came pouring down. I looked up, and lo! there he stood,
+with a gate in his hand which had held the water imprisoned, looking
+down at us to observe the effect, I motioned him to shut it up again,
+and he ran down to us, lest he should lose his fee for the "sight!"
+
+Our road now left the valley and ascended through a forest to the
+Kuhstall, which we came upon at once. It is a remarkable natural arch,
+through a rocky wall or rampart, one hundred and fifty feet thick. Going
+through, we came at the other end to the edge of a very deep precipice,
+while the rock towered precipitously far above. Below lay a deep
+circular valley, two miles in diameter, and surrounded on every side by
+ranges of crags, such as we saw on the Bastei. It was entirely covered
+with a pine forest, and there only appeared to be two or three narrow
+defiles which gave it a communication with the world. The top of the
+Kuhstall can be reached by a path which runs up through a split in the
+rock, directly to the summit. It is just wide enough for one person to
+squeeze himself through; pieces of wood have been fastened in as steps,
+and the rocks in many places close completely above. The place derives
+its name from having been used by the mountaineers as a hiding-place for
+their cattle in time of war.
+
+Next morning we descended by another crevice in the rock to the lonely
+valley, which we crossed, and climbed the Little Winterberg on the
+opposite side. There is a wide and rugged view from a little tower on a
+precipitous rock near the summit, erected to commemorate the escape of
+Prince Augustus of Saxony, who, being pursued by a mad stag, rescued
+himself on the very brink, by a lucky blow. Among the many wild valleys
+that lay between the hills, we saw scarcely one without the peculiar
+rocky formation which gives to Saxon scenery its most interesting
+character. They resemble the remains of some mighty work of art, rather
+than one of the thousand varied forms in which Nature delights to clothe
+herself.
+
+The Great Winterberg, which is reached by another hour's walk along an
+elevated ridge, is the highest of the mountains, celebrated for the
+grand view from its summit. We found the handsome Swiss hotel recently
+built there, full of tourists who had come to enjoy the scone, but the
+morning clouds hid every thing. We ascended the tower, and looking
+between them as they rolled by, caught glimpses of the broad landscape
+below. The Giant's Mountains in Silesia were hidden by the mist, but
+sometimes when the wind freshened, we could see beyond the Elbe into
+Bohemian Switzerland, where the long Schneeberg rose conspicuous above
+the smaller mountains. Leaving the other travellers to wait at their
+leisure for clearer weather, we set off for the Prebisehthor, in company
+with two or three students from the Polytechnic School in Dresden. An
+hour's walk over high hills, whose forest clothing had been swept off by
+fire a few years before, brought us to it.
+
+The Prebisehthor is a natural arch, ninety feet high, in a wall of rock
+which projects at right angles from the precipitous side of the
+mountain. A narrow path leads over the top of the arch to the end of the
+rock, where, protected by a railing, the traveller seems to hang in the
+air. The valley is far below him--mountains rise up on either side--and
+only the narrow bridge connects him with the earth. We descended by a
+wooden staircase to the bottom of the arch, near which a rustic inn is
+built against the rock, and thence into the valley below, which we
+followed through rude lonely scenery, to Hirnischkretschen (!) on the
+Elbe.
+
+Crossing the river again for the sixth and last time, we followed the
+right bank to Neidergrund, the first Austrian village. Here our
+passports were vised for Prague, and we were allowed to proceed without
+any examination of baggage. I noticed a manifest change in our fellow
+travelers the moment we crossed the border. They appeared anxious and
+careful; if we happened to speak of the state of the country, they
+always looked around to see if anybody was near, and if we even passed a
+workman on the road, quickly changed to some other subject. They spoke
+much of the jealous strictness of the government, and from what I heard
+from Austrians themselves, there may have been ground for their
+cautiousness.
+
+We walked seven or eight miles along the bank of the Elbe, to Tetschen,
+there left our companions and took the road to Teplitz. The scenery was
+very picturesque; it must be delightful to float down the swift current
+in a boat, as we saw several merry companies do. The river is just small
+enough and the banks near enough together, to render such a mode of
+travelling delightful, and the strength of the current would carry one
+to Dresden in a day.
+
+I was pleasantly disappointed on entering Bohemia. Instead of a dull,
+uninteresting country, as I expected, it is a land full of the most
+lovely scenery. There is every thing which can gratify the eye--high
+blue mountains, valleys of the sweetest pastoral look and romantic old
+ruins. The very name of Bohemia is associated with wild and wonderful
+legends, of the rude barbaric ages. Even the chivalric tales of the
+feudal times of Germany grow tame beside these earlier and darker
+histories. The fallen fortresses of the Rhine, or the robber-castles of
+the Odenwald had not for me so exciting an interest as the shapeless
+ruins cumbering these lonely mountains. The civilized Saxon race was
+left behind; I saw around me the features and heard the language of one
+of those rude Sclavonic tribes, whose original home was on the vast
+steppes of Central Asia. I have rarely enjoyed traveling more than our
+first two days' journey towards Prague. The range of the Erzgebirge ran
+along on our right; the snow still lay in patches upon it, but the
+valleys between, with their little clusters of white cottages, were
+green and beautiful. About six miles before reaching Teplitz, we passed
+Kulm, the great battle-field, which in a measure decided the fate of
+Napoleon. He sent Vandamme with 40,000 men to attack the allies before
+they could unite their forces, and thus effect their complete
+destruction. Only the almost despairing bravery of the Russian guards
+under Ostermann, who held him in check till the allied troops united,
+prevented Napoleon's design. At the junction of the roads, where the
+fighting was hottest, the Austrians have erected a monument to one of
+their generals. Not far from it is that of Prussia, simple and tasteful.
+A woody hill near, with the little village of Kulm at its foot, was the
+station occupied by Vandamme at the commencement of the battle. There is
+now a beautiful chapel on its summit, which can be seen far and wide. A
+little distance further, the Emperor of Russia has erected a third
+monument to the memory of the Russians who fell. Four lions rest on the
+base of the pedestal, and on the top of the shaft, forty-five feet high,
+Victory is represented as engraving the date, "Aug. 30, 1813," on a
+shield. The dark, pine-covered mountains on the right, overlook the
+whole field and the valley of Teplitz; Napoleon rode along their crests
+several days after the battle, to witness the scene of his defeat.
+
+Teplitz lies in a lovely valley, several miles wide, bounded by the
+Bohemian mountains on one side, and the Erzgebirge on the other. One
+straggling peak near is crowned with a picturesque ruin, at whose foot
+the spacious bath-buildings lie half hidden in foliage. As we went down
+the principal street, I noticed nearly every house was a hotel; we
+learned afterwards that in summer the usual average of visitors is five
+thousand. The waters resemble those of the celebrated Carlsbad; they are
+warm and particularly efficacious in rheumatism and diseases of like
+character. After leaving Teplitz, the road turned to the east, towards a
+lofty mountain, which we had seen the morning before. The peasants as
+they passed by, saluted us with "Christ greet you!"
+
+We stopped for the night at the foot of the peak called the
+Milleschauer, and must have ascended nearly 2,000 feet, for we had a
+wide view the next morning, although the mists and clouds hid the half
+of it. The weather being so unfavorable, we concluded not to ascend,
+and taking leave of the Jena student who came there for that purpose,
+descended through green fields and orchards snowy with blossoms, to
+Lobositz, on the Elbe. Here we reached the plains again, where every
+thing wore the luxuriance of summer; it was a pleasant change from the
+dark and rough scenery we left. The road passed through Theresienstadt,
+the fortress of Northern Bohemia. The little city is surrounded by a
+double wall and moat, which can be filled with water, rendering it
+almost impossible to be taken. In the morning we were ferried over the
+Moldau, and after journeying nearly all day across barren, elevated
+plains, saw late in the afternoon the sixty-seven spires of Prague below
+us! The dark clouds which hung over the hills, gave us little time to
+look upon the singular scene; and we were soon comfortably settled in
+the half-barbaric, half-Asiatic city, with a pleasant prospect of seeing
+its wonders on the morrow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+SCENES IN PRAGUE.
+
+
+_Prague._--I feel as if out of the world, in this strange, fantastic,
+yet beautiful old city. We have been rambling all morning through its
+winding streets, stopping sometimes at a church to see the dusty tombs
+and shrines, or to hear the fine music which accompanies the morning
+mass. I have seen no city yet that so forcibly reminds one of the past,
+and makes him forget everything but the associations connected with the
+scenes around him. The language adds to the illusion. Three-fourths of
+the people in the streets speak Bohemian and many of the signs are
+written in the same tongue, which is not at all like German. The palace
+of the Bohemian kings still looks down on the city from the western
+heights, and their tombs stand in the Cathedral of the holy Johannes.
+When one has climbed up the stone steps lending to the fortress, there
+is a glorious prospect before him. Prague, with its spires and towers,
+lies in the valley below, through which curves the Moldau with its green
+islands, disappearing among the hills which enclose the city on every
+side. The fantastic Byzantine architecture of many of the churches and
+towers, gives the city a peculiar oriental appearance; it seems to have
+been transported from the hills of Syria. Its streets are full of
+palaces, fallen and dwelt in now by the poorer classes. Its famous
+University, which once boasted forty thousand students, has long since
+ceased to exist. In a word, it is, like Venice, a fallen city; though as
+in Venice, the improving spirit of the age is beginning to give it a
+little life, and to send a quicker stream through its narrow and winding
+arteries. The railroad, which, joining that to Brunn, shall bring it in
+connection with Vienna, will be finished this year; in anticipation of
+the increased business which will arise from this, speculators are
+building enormous hotels in the suburbs and tearing down the old
+buildings to give place to more splendid edifices. These operations, and
+the chain bridge which spans the Moldau towards the southern end of the
+city, are the only things which look modern--every thing else is old,
+strange and solemn.
+
+Having found out first a few of the locations, we hunted our way with
+difficulty through its labyrinths, seeking out every place of note or
+interest. Reaching the bridge at last, we concluded to cross over and
+ascend to the Hradschin--the palace of the Bohemian kings. The bridge
+was commenced in 1357, and was one hundred and fifty years in building.
+That was the way the old Germans did their work, and they made a
+structure which will last a thousand years longer. Every pier is
+surmounted with groups of saints and martyrs, all so worn and
+time-beaten, that there is little left of their beauty, if they ever had
+any. The most important of them, at least to Bohemians, is that of the
+holy "Johannes of Nepomuck," now considered as the patron-saint of the
+land. He was a priest many centuries ago, whom one of the kings threw
+from the bridge into the Moldau, because he refused to reveal to him
+what the queen confessed. The legend says the body swam for some time on
+the river, with five stars around its head. The 16th of May, the day
+before we arrived, was that set apart for his particular honor; the
+statue on the bridge was covered with an arch of green boughs and
+flowers, and the shrine lighted with burning tapers. A railing was
+erected around it, near which numbers of the believers were kneeling,
+and a priest stood in the inside. The bridge was covered with
+passers-by, who all took their hats off till they had passed. Had it
+been a place of public worship, the act would have been natural and
+appropriate, but to uncover before a statue seemed to us too much like
+idolatry, and we ventured over without doing it. A few years ago it
+might have been dangerous, but now we only met with scowling looks.
+There are many such shrines and statues through the city, and I noticed
+that the people always took off their hats and crossed themselves in
+passing. On the hill above the western end of the city, stands a chapel
+on the spot where the Bavarians put an end to Protestantism in Bohemia
+_by the sword_, and the deluded peasantry of the land make pilgrimages
+to this spot, as if it were rendered holy by an act over which Religion
+weeps!
+
+Ascending the broad flight of steps to the Hradschin, I paused a moment
+to look at the scene below. A slight blue haze hung over the clustering
+towers, and the city looked dim through it, like a city seen in a dream.
+It was well that it should so appear, for not less dim and misty are the
+memories that haunt its walls. There was no need of a magician's wand to
+bid that light cloud shadow forth the forms of other times. They came
+uncalled for, even by fancy. Far, far back in the past, I saw the
+warrior-princess who founded the kingly city--the renowned Libussa,
+whose prowess and talent inspired the women of Bohemia to rise at her
+death and storm the land that their sex might rule where it obeyed
+before. On the mountain opposite once stood the palace of the bloody
+Wlaska, who reigned with her Amazon band for seven years over half
+Bohemia. Those streets below had echoed with the fiery words of Huss,
+and the castle of his follower--the blind Ziska, who met and defeated
+the armies of the German Empire--moulders on the mountain above. Many a
+year of war and tempest has passed over the scene. The hills around have
+borne the armies of Wallenstein and Frederic the Great; the war-cry of
+Bavaria, Sweden and Poland has echoed in the valley, and the red glare
+of the midnight cannon or the flames of burning palaces have often
+gleamed along the "blood-dyed waters" of the Moldau!
+
+But this was a day-dream. The throng of people coming up the steps waked
+me out of it. We turned and followed them through several spacious
+courts, till we arrived at the Cathedral, which is magnificent in the
+extreme. The dark Gothic pillars, whose arches unite high above, are
+surrounded with gilded monuments and shrines, and the side chapels are
+rich in elaborate decorations. A priest was speaking from a pulpit in
+the centre, in the Bohemian language, which not being the most
+intelligible, I went to the other end to see the shrine of the holy
+Johannes of Nepomuck. It stands at the end of one of the side aisles and
+is composed of a mass of gorgeous silver ornaments. At a little
+distance, on each side, hang four massive lamps of silver, constantly
+burning. The pyramid of statues, of the same precious metal, has at
+each corner a richly carved urn, three feet high, with a crimson lamp
+burning at the top. Above, four silver angels, the size of life, are
+suspended in the air, holding up the corners of a splendid drapery of
+crimson and gold. If these figures were melted down and distributed
+among the poor and miserable people who inhabit Bohemia, they would then
+be angels indeed, bringing happiness and blessing to many a ruined home-
+altar. In the same chapel is the splendid burial-place of the Bohemian
+kings, of gilded marble and alabaster. Numberless tombs, covered with
+elaborate ornamental work, fill the edifice. It gives one a singular
+feeling to stand at one end and look down the lofty hall, dim with
+incense smoke and dark with the weight of many centuries.
+
+On the way down again, we stepped into the St. Nicholas Church, which
+was built by the Jesuits. The interior has a rich effect, being all of
+brown and gold. The massive pillars are made to resemble reddish-brown
+marble, with gilded capitals, and the statues at the base are profusely
+ornamented in the same style. The music chained me there a long time.
+There was a grand organ, assisted by a full orchestra and large choir of
+singers. It was placed above, and at every sound of the priest's bell,
+the flourish of trumpets and deep roll of the drums filled the dome with
+a burst of quivering sound, while the giant pipes of the organ breathed
+out their full harmony and the very air shook under the peal. It was
+like a triumphal strain; the soul became filled with thoughts of power
+and glory--every sense was changed into one dim, indistinct emotion of
+rapture, which held the spirit as if spell-bound. I could almost forgive
+the Jesuits the superstition and bigotry they have planted in the minds
+of men, for the indescribable enjoyment that music gave. When it ceased,
+we went out to the world again, and the recollection of it seems now
+like a dream--but a dream whose influence will last longer than many a
+more palpable reality.
+
+Not far from this place is the palace of Wallenstein, in the same
+condition as when he inhabited it, and still in the possession of his
+descendants. It is a plain, large building, having beautiful gardens
+attached to it, which are open to the public. We went through the
+courtyard, threaded a passage with a roof of rough stalactitic rock, and
+entered the garden where a revolving fountain was casting up its
+glittering arches. Among the flowers at the other end of the garden
+there is a remarkable fountain. It is but a single jet of water which
+rises from the middle of a broad basin of woven wire, but by some means
+it sustains a hollow gilded ball, sometimes for many minutes at a time.
+When the ball drops, the sloping sides of the basin convey it directly
+to the fountain again, and it is carried up to dance a while longer on
+the top of the jet. I watched it once, thus supported on the water, for
+full fifteen minutes.
+
+There is another part of Prague which is not less interesting, though
+much less poetical--the Jews' City. In our rambles we got into it before
+we were aware, but hurried immediately out of it again, perfectly
+satisfied with one visit. We came first into a dark, narrow street,
+whose sides were lined with booths of old clothes and second-hand
+articles. A sharp featured old woman thrust a coat before my face,
+exclaiming, "Herr, buy a fine coat!" Instantly a man assailed me on the
+other side, "Here are vests! pantaloons! shirts!" I broke loose from
+them and ran on, but it only became worse. One seized me by the arm,
+crying, "_Lieber_ Herr, buy some stockings!" and another grasped my
+coat: "Hats, Herr! hats! _buy something, or sell me something!_" I
+rushed desperately on, shouting "no! no!" with all my might, and finally
+got safe through. My friend having escaped their clutches also, we
+hunted the way to the old Jewish cemetery. This stands in the middle of
+the city, and has not been used for a hundred years. We could find no
+entrance, but by climbing upon the ruins of an old house near, I could
+look over the wall. A cold shudder crept over me, to think that warm,
+joyous Life, as I then felt it, should grow chill and pass back to clay
+in such a foul charnel-house. Large mounds of earth, covered with black,
+decaying grave-stones, which were almost hidden under the weeds and rank
+grass, filled the inclosure. A few dark, crooked alder-trees grew among
+the crumbling tombs, and gave the scene an air of gloom and desolation,
+almost fearful. The dust of many a generation lies under these
+mouldering stones; they now scarcely occupy a thought in the minds of
+the living; and yet the present race toils and seeks for wealth alone,
+that it may pass away and leave nothing behind--not even a memory for
+that which will follow it!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+JOURNEY THROUGH EASTERN BOHEMIA AND MORAVIA TO THE DANUBE.
+
+
+Our road the first two days after leaving Prague led across broad,
+elevated plains, across which a cold wind came direct from the summits
+of the Riesengebirge, far to our left. Were it not for the pleasant view
+we had of the rich valley of the Upper Elbe, which afforded a delightful
+relief to the monotony of the hills around us, the journey would have
+been exceedingly tiresome. The snow still glistened on the distant
+mountains; but when the sun shone out, the broad valley below, clad in
+the luxuriance of summer, and extending for at least fifty miles with
+its woods, meadows and white villages, looked like a real Paradise. The
+long ridges over which we travelled extend for nearly a hundred and
+fifty miles--from the Elbe almost to the Danube. The soil is not
+fertile, the inhabitants are exceedingly poor, and from our own
+experience, the climate must be unhealthy. In winter the country is
+exposed to the full sweep of the northern winds, and in summer the sun
+shines down on it with unbroken force. There are few streams running
+through it, and the highest part, which divides the waters of the Baltic
+from those of the Black Sea is filled for a long distance with marshes
+and standing pools, whose exhalations must inevitably subject the
+inhabitants to disease. This was perceptible in their sallow, sickly
+countenances; many of the women are afflicted with the _goitre_, or
+swelling of the throat; I noticed that towards evening they always
+carefully muffled up their faces. According to their own statements, the
+people suffer much from the cold in winter, as the few forests the
+country affords are in possession of the noblemen to whom the land
+belongs, and they are not willing to let them be cut down. The dominions
+of these petty despots are marked along the road with as much precision
+as the boundaries of an empire; we saw sometimes their stalely castles
+at a distance, forming quite a contrast to the poor scattering villages
+of the peasants.
+
+At Kollin, the road, which had been running eastward in the direction of
+Olmutz, turned to the south, and we took leave of the Elbe, after
+tracing back his course from Magdeburg nearly to his home in the
+mountains of Silesia. The country was barren and monotonous, but a
+bright sunshine made it look somewhat cheerful. We passed, every few
+paces, some shrine or statue by the roadside. This had struck me,
+immediately on crossing the border, in the Saxon Switzerland--it seemed
+as if the boundary of Saxony was that of Protestantism. But here in the
+heart of Bohemia, the extent to which this image worship is carried,
+exceeds anything I had imagined. There is something pleasing as well as
+poetical in the idea of a shrine by the wayside, where the weary
+traveller can rest, and raise his heart in thankfulness to the Power
+that protects him; it was no doubt a pious spirit that placed them
+there; but the people appear to pay the reverence to the picture which
+they should give to its spiritual image, and the pictures themselves are
+so shocking and ghastly, they seem better calculated to excite horror
+than reverence. It was really repulsive to look on images of the Saviour
+covered with blood, and generally with swords sticking in different
+parts of the body. The Almighty is represented as an old man, wearing a
+Bishop's mitre, and the image of the Virgin is always drest in a gay
+silk robe, with beads and other ornaments. From the miserable painting,
+the faces often had an expression that would have been exceedingly
+ludicrous, if the shock given to our feelings of reverence were not
+predominant. The poor, degraded peasants always uncovered or crossed
+themselves when passing by these shrines, but it appeared to be rather
+the effect of habit than any good impulse, for the Bohemians are noted
+all over Germany for their dishonesty; we learned by experience they
+deserve it. It is not to be wondered at either; for a people so poor and
+miserable and oppressed will soon learn to take advantage of all who
+appear better off than themselves. They had one custom which was
+touching and beautiful. At the sound of the church bell, as it rung the
+morning, noon and evening chimes, every one uncovered, and repeated to
+himself a prayer. Often, as we rested at noon on a bank by the roadside,
+that voice spoke out from the house of worship and every one heeded its
+tone. Would that to this innate spirit of reverence were added the light
+of Knowledge, which a tyrannical government denies them!
+
+The third night of our journey we stopped at the little village of
+Stecken, and the next morning, after three hours' walk over the ridgy
+heights, reached the old Moravian city of Iglau, built on a hill. It
+happened to be _Corpus Christi_ day, and the peasants of the
+neighborhood were hastening there in their gayest dresses. The young
+women wore a crimson scarf around the head, with long fringed and
+embroidered ends hanging over the shoulders, or falling in one smooth
+fold from the back of the head. They were attired in black velvet vests,
+with full white sleeves and skirts of some gay color, which were short
+enough to show to advantage their red stockings and polished
+shoe-buckles. Many of them were not deficient in personal beauty--there
+was a gipsy-like wildness in their eyes, that combined with their rich
+hair and graceful costume, reminded me of the Italian maidens. The towns
+too, with their open squares and arched passages, have quite a southern
+look; but the damp, gloomy weather was enough to dispel any illusion of
+this kind.
+
+In the neighborhood of Iglau, and, in fact, through the whole of
+Bohemia, we saw some of the strangest teams that could well be imagined.
+I thought the Frankfort milkwomen with their donkeys and hearse-like
+carts, were comical objects enough, but they bear no comparison with
+these Bohemian turn-outs. Dogs--for economy's sake, perhaps--generally
+supply the place of oxen or horses, and it is no uncommon thing to see
+three large mastiffs abreast, harnessed to a country-cart. A donkey and
+a cow together, are sometimes met with, and one man, going to the
+festival at Iglau, had his wife and children in a little wagon, drawn by
+a dog and a donkey. These two, however, did not work well together; the
+dog would bite his lazy companion, and the man's time was constantly
+employed in whipping him off the donkey, and in whipping the donkey away
+from the side of the road. Once I saw a wagon drawn by a dog, with a
+woman pushing behind, while a man, doubtless her lord and master, sat
+comfortably within, smoking his pipe with the greatest complacency! The
+very climax of all was a woman and a dog harnessed _together_, taking a
+load of country produce to market! I hope, for the honor of the country,
+it was not emblematic of woman's condition there. But as we saw hundreds
+of them breaking stone along the road, and occupied at other laborious
+and not less menial labor, there is too much reason to fear that it is
+so.
+
+As we approached Iglau, we heard cannon firing; the crowd increased, and
+following the road, we came to an open square, where a large number were
+already assembled; shrines were erected around it, hung with pictures
+and pine boughs, and a long procession of children was passing down the
+side as we entered. We went towards the middle, where Neptune and his
+Tritons poured the water from their urns into two fountains, and stopped
+to observe the scene. The procession came on, headed by a large body of
+priests, in white robes, with banners and crosses. They stopped before
+the principal shrine, in front of the Rathhaus, and began a solemn
+religious ceremony. The whole crowd of not less than ten thousand
+persons, stood silent and uncovered, and the deep voice of the
+officiating priest was heard over the whole square. At times the
+multitude sang responses, and I could mark the sound, swelling and
+rolling up like a mighty wave, till it broke and slowly sank down again
+to the deepest stillness. The effect was marred by the rough voice of
+the officers commanding the soldiery, and the volleys of musquetry which
+were occasionally discharged. It degraded the solemnity of the pageant
+to the level of a military parade.
+
+In the afternoon we were overtaken by a travelling _handwerker_, on his
+way to Vienna, who joined company with us. We walked several miles
+together, talking on various matters, without his having the least
+suspicion we were not Germans. He had been at Trieste, and at length
+began speaking of the great beauty of the American vessels there. "Yes,"
+said I, "_our_ vessels are admired all over the world." He stared at me
+without comprehending;--"_your_ vessels?" "Our country's," I replied;
+"we are Americans!" I can see still his look of incredulous astonishment
+and hear the amazed tone with which he cried: "_You_ Americans--it is
+impossible!" We convinced him nevertheless, to his great joy, for all
+through Germany there is a curiosity to see our countrymen and a kindly
+feeling towards them. "I shall write down in my book," said he, "so that
+I shall never forget it, that I once travelled with two Americans!" We
+stopped together for the night at the only inn in a large, beggarly
+village, where we obtained a frugal supper with difficulty, for a
+regiment of Polish lancers was quartered there for the night, and the
+pretty _Kellnerin_ was so busy in waiting on the officers that she had
+no eye for wandering journeymen, as she took us to be. She even told us
+the beds were all occupied and we must sleep on the floor. Just then the
+landlord came by. "Is it possible, Herr Landlord," asked our new
+companion, "that there is no bed here for us? Have the goodness to look
+again, for we are not in the habit of sleeping on the floor, like dogs!"
+This speech had its effect, for the _Kellnerin_ was commanded to find us
+beds. She came back unwillingly after a time and reported that _two_,
+only, were vacant. As a German bed is only a yard wide, we pushed these
+two together, but they were still too small for three persons, and I had
+a severe cold in the morning, from sleeping crouched up against the damp
+wall.
+
+The next day we passed the dividing ridge which separates the waters of
+the Elbe from the Danube, and in the evening arrived at Znaim, the
+capital of Moravia. It is built on a steep hill looking down on the
+valley of the Thaya, whose waters mingle with the Danube near Pressburg.
+The old castle on the height near, was formerly the residence of the
+Moravian monarchs, and traces of the ancient walls and battlements of
+the city are still to be seen. The handwerker took us to the inn
+frequented by his craft--the leather-curriers--and we conversed together
+till bed-time. While telling me of the oppressive laws of Austria, the
+degrading vassalage of the peasants and the horrors of the conscription
+system, he paused as in deep thought, and looking at me with a
+suppressed sigh, said: "Is it not true, America is free?" I told him of
+our country and her institutions, adding that though we were not yet as
+free as we hoped and wished to be, we enjoyed far more liberty than any
+country in the world. "Ah!" said he, "it is hard to leave one's
+fatherland oppressed as it is, but I wish I could go to America!"
+
+We left next morning at eight o'clock, after having done full justice
+to the beds of the "Golden Stag," and taken leave of Florian Francke,
+the honest and hearty old landlord. Znaim appears to great advantage
+from the Vienna road; the wind which blew with fury against our backs,
+would not permit us to look long at it, but pushed us on towards the
+Austrian border. In the course of three hours we were obliged to stop at
+a little village; it blew a perfect hurricane and the rain began to soak
+through our garments. Here we stayed three hours among the wagoners who
+stopped on account of the weather. One miserable, drunken wretch, whom
+one would not wish to look at more than once, distinguished himself by
+insulting those around him, and devouring like a beast, large quantities
+of food. When the reckoning was given him, he declared he had already
+paid, and the waiter denying it, he said, "Stop, I will show you
+something!" pulled out his passport and pointed to the name--"Baron von
+Reitzenstein." It availed nothing; he had fallen so low that his title
+inspired no respect, and when we left the inn they were still
+endeavoring to get their money and threatening him with a summary
+proceeding if the demand was not complied with.
+
+Next morning the sky was clear and a glorious day opened before us. The
+country became more beautiful as we approached the Danube; the hills
+were covered with vineyards, just in the tender green of their first
+leaves, and the rich valleys lay in Sabbath stillness in the warm
+sunshine. Sometimes from an eminence we could see far and wide over the
+garden-like slopes, where little white villages shone among the
+blossoming fruit-trees. A chain of blue hills rose in front, which I
+knew almost instinctively stood by the Danube; when we climbed to the
+last height and began to descend to the valley, where the river was
+still hidden by luxuriant groves, I saw far to the southwest, a range of
+faint, silvery summits, rising through the dim ether like an airy
+vision. There was no mistaking those snowy mountains. My heart bounded
+with a sudden thrill of rapturous excitement at this first view of _the
+Alps!_ They were at a great distance, and their outline was almost
+blended with the blue drapery of air which clothed them. I gazed till my
+vision became dim and I could no longer trace their airy lines. They
+called up images blended with the grandest events in the world's
+history. I thought of the glorious spirits who have looked upon them and
+trodden their rugged sides--of the storms in which they veil their
+countenances, and the avalanches they hurl thundering to the valleys--of
+the voices of great deeds, which have echoed from their crags over the
+wide earth--and of the ages which have broken, like the waves of a
+mighty sea, upon their everlasting summits!
+
+As we descended, the hills and forests shut out this sublime vision, and
+I looked to the wood-clothed mountains opposite and tried to catch a
+glimpse of the current that rolled at their feet. We here entered upon a
+rich plain, about ten miles in diameter, which lay between a backward
+sweep of the hills and a curve of the Danube. It was covered with the
+richest grain; every thing wore the luxuriance of summer, and we seemed
+to have changed seasons since leaving the dreary hills of Bohemia.
+Continuing over the plain, we had on our left the fields of Wagram and
+Essling, the scene of two of Napoleon's blood-bought victories. The
+outposts of the Carpathians skirted the horizon--that great mountain
+range which stretches through Hungary to the borders of Russia.
+
+At length the road came to the river's side, and we crossed on wooden
+bridges over two or three arms of the Danube, all of which together were
+little wider than the Schuylkill at Philadelphia. When we crossed the
+last bridge, we came to a kind of island covered with groves of the
+silver ash. Crowds of people filled the cool walks; booths of
+refreshment stood by the roadside, and music was everywhere heard. The
+road finally terminated in a circle, where beautiful alleys radiated
+into the groves; from the opposite side a broad street lined with
+stately buildings extended into the heart of the city, and through this
+avenue, filled with crowds of carriages and people on their way to those
+delightful walks, we entered Vienna!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+VIENNA.
+
+
+_May 31._--I have at last seen the thousand wonders of this great
+capital--this German Paris--this connecting link between the
+civilization of Europe and the barbaric magnificence of the East. It
+looks familiar to be in a city again, whose streets are thronged with
+people, and resound with the din and bustle of business. It reminds me
+of the never-ending crowds of London, or the life and tumult of our
+scarcely less active New York. Although the end may be sordid for which
+so many are laboring, yet the very sight of so much activity is
+gratifying. It is peculiarly so to an American. After residing in a
+foreign land for some time, the peculiarities of our nation are more
+easily noticed; I find in my countrymen abroad a vein of restless
+energy--a love for exciting action--which to many of our good German
+friends is perfectly incomprehensible. It might have been this which
+gave at once a favorable impression of Vienna.
+
+The morning of our arrival we sallied out from our lodgings in the
+Leopoldstadt, to explore the world before us. Entering the broad
+Praterstrasse, we passed down to the little arm of the Danube, which
+separates this part of the new city from the old. A row of magnificent
+coffee-houses occupy the bank, and numbers of persons were taking their
+breakfasts in the shady porticoes. The Ferdinand's Bridge, which crosses
+the stream, was filled with people; in the motley crowd we saw the
+dark-eyed Greek, and Turks in their turbans and flowing robes. Little
+brown Hungarian boys were going around, selling bunches of lilies, and
+Italians with baskets of oranges stood by the side-walk. The throng
+became greater as we penetrated into the old city. The streets were
+filled with carts and carriages, and as there are no side-pavements, it
+required constant attention to keep out of their way. Splendid shops,
+fitted up with great taste, occupied the whole of the lower stories, and
+goods of all kinds hung beneath the canvass awnings in front of them.
+Almost every store or shop was dedicated to some particular person or
+place, which was represented on a large panel by the door. The number of
+these paintings added much to the splendor of the scene; I was gratified
+to find, among the images of kings and dukes, one dedicated "_to the
+American_," with an Indian chief in full costume.
+
+The _Altstadt_, or old city, which contains about sixty thousand
+inhabitants, is completely separated from the suburbs, whose population,
+taking the whole extent within the outer barrier, numbers nearly half a
+million. It is situated on a small arm of the Danube, and encompassed by
+a series of public promenades, gardens and walks, varying from a quarter
+to half a mile in length, called the Glacis. This formerly belonged to
+the fortifications of the city, but as the suburbs grew up so rapidly on
+all sides, it was changed appropriately to a public walk. The city is
+still surrounded with a massive wall and a deep wide moat; but since it
+was taken by Napoleon in 1809, the moat has been changed into a garden,
+with a beautiful carriage road along the bottom, around the whole city.
+It is a beautiful sight, to stand on the summit of the wall and look
+over the broad Glacis, with its shady roads branching in every
+direction, and filled with inexhaustible streams of people. The
+Vorstaedte, or new cities, stretch in a circle around, beyond this; all
+the finest buildings front on the Glacis, among which the splendid
+Vienna Theatre and the church of San Carlo Borromeo are conspicuous. The
+mountains of the Vienna Forest bound the view, with here and there a
+stately castle on their woody summits. I was reminded of London as seen
+from Regent's Park, and truly this part of Vienna can well compare with
+it. On penetrating into the suburbs, the resemblance is at an end. Many
+of the public thoroughfares are still unpaved, and in dry weather one is
+almost choked by the clouds of fine dust. A furious wind blows from the
+mountains, sweeping the streets almost constantly and filling the eyes
+and ears with it, making the city an unhealthy residence for strangers.
+
+There is no lack of places for pleasure or amusement. Beside the
+numberless walks of the Glacis, there are the Imperial Gardens, with
+their cool shades and flowers and fountains; the Augarten, laid out and
+opened to the public by the Emperor Joseph: and the Prater, the largest
+and most beautiful of all. It lies on an island formed by the arms of
+the Danube, and is between two and three miles square. From the circle
+at the end of the Praterstrasse, broad carriage-ways extend through its
+forests of oak and silver ash, and over its verdant lawns to the
+principal stream, which bounds it on the north. These roads are lined
+with stately horse chesnuts, whose branches unite and form a dense
+canopy, completely shutting out the sun. Every afternoon the beauty and
+nobility of Vienna whirl through the cool groves in their gay equipages,
+while the sidewalks are thronged with pedestrians, and the numberless
+tables and seats with which every house of refreshment is surrounded,
+are filled with merry guests. Here, on Sundays and holidays, the people
+repair in thousands. The woods are full of tame deer, which run
+perfectly free over the whole Prater. I saw several in one of the lawns,
+lying down in the grass, with a number of children playing around or
+sitting beside them. It is delightful to walk there in the cool of the
+evening, when the paths are crowded, and everybody is enjoying the
+release from the dusty city. It is this free, social life which renders
+Vienna so attractive to foreigners and draws yearly thousands of
+visitors from all parts of Europe.
+
+St. Stephen's Cathedral, in the centre of the old city, is one of the
+finest specimens of Gothic architecture in Germany. Its unrivalled
+tower, which rises to the height of four hundred and twenty-eight feet,
+is visible from every part of Vienna. It is entirely of stone, most
+elaborately ornamented, and is supposed to be the strongest in Europe.
+If the tower was finished, it might rival any church in Europe in
+richness and brilliancy of appearance. The inside is solemn and grand;
+but the effect is injured by the number of small chapels and shrines. In
+one of these rests, the remains of Prince Eugene of Savoy, "_der edle
+Ritter_," known in a ballad to every man, woman and child in Germany.
+
+The Belvidere Gallery fills thirty-five halls, and contains three
+thousand pictures! It is absolutely bewildering to walk through such
+vast collections; you can do no more than glance at each painting, and
+hurry by face after face, and figure after figure, on which you would
+willingly gaze for hours and inhale the atmosphere of beauty that
+surrounds them. Then after you leave, the brain is filled with their
+forms--radiant spirit-faces look upon you, and you see constantly, in
+fancy, the calm brow of a Madonna, the sweet young face of a child, or
+the blending of divine with mortal beauty in an angel's countenance. I
+endeavor, if possible, always to make several visits--to study those
+pictures which cling _first_ to the memory, and pass over those which
+make little or no impression. It is better to have a few images fresh
+and enduring, than a confused and indistinct memory of many.
+
+From the number of Madonnas in every European gallery, it would almost
+seem that the old artists painted nothing else. The subject is one which
+requires the highest genius to do it justice, and it is therefore
+unpleasant to see so many still, inexpressive faces of the virgin and
+child, particularly by the Dutch artists, who clothe their figures
+sometimes in the stiff costume of their own time. Raphael and Murillo
+appear to me to be almost the only painters who have expressed what,
+perhaps, was above the power of other masters--the combined love and
+reverence of the mother, and the divine expression in the face of the
+child, prophetic of his mission and godlike power.
+
+There were many glorious old paintings in the second story, which is
+entirely taken up with pictures; two or three of the halls were devoted
+to selected works from modern artists. Two of these I would give every
+thing I have to possess. One of them is a winter scene, representing the
+portico of an old Gothic church. At the base of one of the pillars a
+woman is seated in the snow, half-benumbed, clasping an infant to her
+breast, while immediately in front stands a boy of perhaps seven or
+eight years, his little hands folded in prayer, while the chill wind
+tosses the long curls from his forehead. There is something so pure and
+holy in the expression of his childish countenance, so much feeling in
+the lip and sorrowful eye, that it moves one almost to tears to look
+upon it. I turned back half a dozen times from the other pictures to
+view it again, and blessed the artist in my heart for the lesson he
+gave. The other is by a young Italian painter, whose name I have
+forgotten, but who, if he never painted anything else, is worthy a high
+place among the artists of his country. It represents some scene from
+the history of Venice. On an open piazza, a noble prisoner, wasted and
+pale from long confinement, has just had an interview with his children.
+He reaches his arm toward them as if for the last time, while a savage
+keeper drags him away. A lovely little girl kneels at the feet of the
+Doge, but there is no compassion in his stern features, and it is easy
+to see that her father is doomed.
+
+The Lower Belvidere, separated from the Upper by a large garden, laid
+out in the style of that at Versailles, contains the celebrated
+_Ambraser Sammlung_, a collection of armor. In the first hall I noticed
+the complete armor of the Emperor Maximilian, for man and horse--the
+armor of Charles V., and Prince Moritz of Saxony, while the walls were
+filled with figures of German nobles and knights, in the suits they wore
+in life. There is also the armor of the great "Baver of Trient," trabant
+of the Archduke Ferdinand. He was nearly nine feet in stature, and his
+spear, though not equal to Satan's, in Paradise Lost, would still make a
+tree of tolerable dimensions.
+
+In the second hall we saw weapons taken from the Turkish army who
+besieged Vienna, with the horse-tail standards of the Grand Vizier, Kara
+Mustapha. The most interesting article was the battle-axe of the
+unfortunate Montezuma, which was probably given to the Emperor Charles
+V., by Cortez. It is a plain instrument of dark colored stone, about
+three feet long.
+
+We also visited the _Burgerliche Zeughaus_, a collection of arms and
+weapons, belonging to the citizens of Vienna. It contains sixteen
+thousand weapons and suits of armor, including those plundered from the
+Turks, when John Sobieski conquered them and relieved Vienna from the
+siege. Besides a great number of sabres, lances and horsetails, there is
+the blood-red banner of the Grand Vizier, as well as his skull and
+shroud, which is covered with sentences from the Koran. On his return to
+Belgrade, after the defeat at Vienna, the Sultan sent him a bow-string,
+and he was accordingly strangled. The Austrians having taken Belgrade
+some time after, they opened his grave and carried off his skull and
+shroud, as well as the bow-string, as relics. Another large and richly
+embroidered banner, which hung in a broad sheet from the ceiling, was
+far more interesting to me. It had once waved from the vessels of the
+Knights of Malta, and had, perhaps, on the prow of the Grand Master's
+ship, led that romantic band to battle against the Infidel.
+
+A large number of peasants and common soldiers were admitted to view the
+armory at the same time. The grave _custode_ who showed us the
+curiosities, explaining every thing in phrases known by heart for years
+and making the same starts of admiration whenever he came to any thing
+peculiarly remarkable, singled us out as the two persons most worthy of
+attention. Accordingly his remarks were directed entirely to us, and his
+humble countrymen might as well have been invisible, for the notice he
+took of them. On passing out, we gave him a coin worth about fifteen
+cents, which happened to be so much more than the others gave him, that,
+bowing graciously, he invited us to write our names in the album for
+strangers. While we were doing this, a poor handwerker lingered behind,
+apparently for the same object, whom he scornfully dismissed, shaking
+the fifteen cent piece in his hand, and saying: "The album is not for
+such as you--it is for noble gentlemen!"
+
+On our way through the city, we often noticed a house on the southern
+side of St. Stephen's Platz, dedicated to "the Iron Stick." In a niche
+by the window, stood what appeared to be the limb of a tree, completely
+filled with nails, which were driven in so thick that no part of the
+original wood is visible. We learned afterwards the legend concerning
+it. The Vienna Forest is said to have extended, several hundred years
+ago, to this place. A locksmith's apprentice was enabled, by the devil's
+help, to make the iron bars and padlock which confine the limb in its
+place; every locksmith's apprentice who came to Vienna after that, drove
+a nail into it, till finally there was room for no more. It is a
+singular legend, and whoever may have placed the limb there originally,
+there it has remained for two or three hundred years at least.
+
+We spent two or three hours delightfully one evening in listening to
+Strauss's band. We went about sunset to the Odeon, a new building in the
+Leopoldstadt. It has a refreshment hall nearly five hundred feet long,
+with a handsome fresco ceiling and glass doors opening into a garden
+walk of the same length. Both the hall and garden were filled with
+tables, where the people seated themselves as they came, and conversed
+sociably over their coffee and wine. The orchestra was placed in a
+little ornamental temple in the garden, in front of which I stationed
+myself, for I was anxious to see the world's waltz-king, whose magic
+tones can set the heels of half Christendom in motion. After the band
+had finished tuning their instruments, a middle-sized, handsome man
+stepped forward with long strides, with a violin in one hand and bow in
+the other, and began waving the latter up and down, like a magician
+summoning his spirits. As if he had waved the sound out of his bow, the
+tones leaped forth from the instruments, and guided by his eye and hand,
+fell into a merry measure. The accuracy with which every instrument
+performed its part, was truly marvellous. He could not have struck the
+measure or the harmony more certainly from the keys of his own piano,
+than from that large band. The sounds struggled forth, so perfect and
+distinct, that one almost expected to see them embodied, whirling in
+wild dance around him. Sometimes the air was so exquisitely light and
+bounding, the feet could scarcely keep on the earth; then it sank into a
+mournful lament, with a sobbing tremulousness, and died away in a
+long-breathed sigh. Strauss seemed to feel the music in every limb. He
+would wave his fiddle-bow awhile, then commence playing with desperate
+energy, moving his whole body to the measure, till the sweat rolled from
+his brow. A book was lying on the stand before him, but he made no use
+of it. He often glanced around with a kind of half-triumphant smile at
+the restless crowd, whose feet could scarcely be restrained from
+bounding to the magic measure. It was the horn of Oberon realized. The
+composition of the music displayed great talent, but its charm consisted
+more in the exquisite combination of the different instruments, and the
+perfect, the wonderful exactness with which each performed its part--a
+piece of art of the most elaborate and refined character.
+
+The company, which consisted of several hundred, appeared to be full of
+enjoyment. They sat under the trees in the calm, cool twilight, with the
+stars twinkling above, and talked and laughed sociably together between
+the pauses of the music, or strolled up and down the lighted alleys. We
+walked up and down with them, and thought how much we should enjoy such
+a scene at home, where the faces around us would be those of friends,
+and the language our mother tongue!
+
+We went a long way through the suburbs one bright afternoon, to a little
+cemetery about a mile from the city, to find the grave of Beethoven. On
+ringing at the gate a girl admitted us into the grounds, in which are
+many monuments of noble families who have vaults there. I passed up the
+narrow walk, reading the inscriptions, till I came to the tomb of Franz
+Clement, a young composer, who died two or three years ago. On turning
+again, my eye fell instantly on the word "BEETHOVEN," in golden letters,
+on a tombstone of gray marble. A simple gilded lyre decorated the
+pedestal, above which was a serpent encircling a butterfly--the emblem
+of resurrection to eternal life. Here then, mouldered the remains of
+that restless spirit, who seemed to have strayed to earth from another
+clime, from such a height did he draw his glorious conceptions. The
+perfection he sought for here in vain, he has now attained in a world
+where the soul is freed from the bars which bind it in this. There were
+no flowers planted around the tomb by those who revered his genius; only
+one wreath, withered and dead, lay among the grass, as if left long ago
+by some solitary pilgrim, and a few wild buttercups hung with their
+bright blossoms over the slab. It might have been wrong, but I could not
+resist the temptation to steal one or two, while the old grave-digger
+was busy preparing a new tenement. I thought that other buds would open
+in a few days, but those I took would be treasured many a year as sacred
+relics. A few paces off is the grave of Schubert, the composer, whose
+beautiful songs are heard all over Germany.
+
+It would employ one a week to visit all the rich collections of art in
+Vienna. They are all open to the public on certain days of the week, and
+we have been kept constantly in motion, running from one part of the
+city to another, in order to arrive at some gallery at the appointed
+time. Tickets, which have to be procured often in quite different parts
+of the city, are necessary for admittance to many; on applying after
+much trouble and search, we frequently found we came at the wrong hour,
+and must leave without effecting our object. We employed no guide, but
+preferred finding every thing ourselves. We made a list every morning,
+of the collections open during the day, and employed the rest of the
+time in visiting the churches and public gardens, or rambling through
+the suburbs.
+
+We visited the Imperial Library a day or two ago. The hall is 245 feet
+long, with a magnificent dome in the centre, under which stands the
+statue of Charles V., of Carrara marble, surrounded by twelve other
+monarchs of the house of Hapsburg. The walls are of variegated marble,
+richly ornamented with gold, and the ceiling and dome are covered with
+brilliant fresco paintings. The library numbers 300,000 volumes, and
+16,000 manuscripts, which are kept in walnut cases, gilded and adorned
+with medallions. The rich and harmonious effect of the whole cannot
+easily be imagined. It is exceedingly appropriate that a hall of such
+splendor, should be used to hold a library. The pomp of a palace may
+seem hollow and vain, for it is but the dwelling of a man; but no
+building can be too magnificent for the hundreds of great and immortal
+spirits to dwell in, who have visited earth during thirty centuries.
+
+Among other curiosities preserved in the collection, we were shown a
+brass plate, containing one of the records of the Roman Senate, made 180
+years before Christ, Greek manuscripts of the fifth and sixth centuries,
+and a volume of Psalms, printed on parchment, in the year 1457, by Faust
+and Schaeffer, the inventors of printing. There were also Mexican
+manuscripts, presented by Cortez; the prayer-book of Hildegard, wife of
+Charlemagne, in letters of gold; the signature of San Carlo Borromeo,
+and a Greek testament of the thirteenth century, which had been used by
+Erasmus in making his translation and contains notes in his own hand.
+The most interesting article was the "Jerusalem Delivered" of Tasso, in
+the poet's own hand, with his erasions and corrections.
+
+We also visited the Cabinet of Natural History, which is open twice a
+week "to all _respectably dressed_ persons," as the notice at the door
+says. But Heaven forbid that I should attempt to describe what we saw
+there. The Mineral Cabinet had a greater interest to me, inasmuch as it
+called up the recollections of many a school-boy ramble over the hills
+and into all kinds of quarries, far and near. It is said to be the most
+perfect collection in existence. I was pleased to find many old
+acquaintances there, from the mines of Pennsylvania; Massachusetts and
+New York were also very well represented. I had no idea before, that the
+mineral wealth of Austria was so great. Besides the iron and lead mines
+among the hills of Styria and the quicksilver of Idria, there is no
+small amount of gold and silver found, and the Carpathian mountains are
+rich in jasper, opal and lapiz lazuli. The largest opal ever found, was
+in this collection. It weighs thirty-four ounces and looks like a
+condensed rainbow.
+
+In passing the palace, we saw several persons entering the basement
+story under the Library, and had the curiosity to follow them. By so
+doing, we saw the splendid equipages of the house of Austria. There must
+have been near a hundred carriages and sleds, of every shape and style,
+from the heavy, square vehicle of the last century to the most light and
+elegant conveyance of the present day. One clumsy, but magnificent
+machine, of crimson and gold, was pointed out as being a hundred and
+fifty years old. The misery we witnessed in starving Bohemia, formed a
+striking contrast to all this splendor.
+
+Beside the Imperial Picture Gallery, there are several belonging to
+princes and noblemen in Vienna, which are scarcely less valuable. The
+most important of these is that of Prince Liechtenstein, which we
+visited yesterday. We applied to the porter's lodge for admittance to
+the gallery, but he refused to open it for two persons; as we did not
+wish a long walk for nothing, we concluded to wait for other visitors.
+Presently a gentleman and lady came and inquired if the gallery was
+open. We told him it would probably be opened now, although the porter
+required a larger number, and he went to ask. After a short time he
+returned, saying: "He will come immediately; I thought best to put the
+number a little higher, and so I told him there were _six_ of us!"
+Having little artistic knowledge of paintings, I judge of them according
+to the effect they produce upon me--in proportion as they gratify the
+innate love for the beautiful and the true. I have been therefore
+disappointed in some painters whose names are widely known, and
+surprised again to find works of great beauty by others of smaller fame.
+Judging by such a standard, I should say that "Cupid sleeping in the
+lap of Venus," by Correggio, is the glory of this collection. The
+beautiful limbs of the boy-god droop in the repose of slumber, as his
+head rests on his mother's knee, and there is a smile lingering around
+his half-parted lips, as if he was dreaming new triumphs. The face is
+not that of the wicked, mischief-loving child, but rather a sweet
+cherub, bringing a blessing to all he visits. The figure of the goddess
+is exquisite. Her countenance, unearthly in its loveliness, expresses
+the tenderness of a young mother, as she sits with one finger pressed on
+her rosy lip, watching his slumber. It is a picture which "stings the
+brain with beauty."
+
+The chapel of St. Augustine contains one of the best works of
+Canova--the monument of the Grand Duchess, Maria Christina, of
+Sachsen-Teschen. It is a pyramid of gray marble, twenty-eight feet high,
+with an opening in the side, representing the entrance to a sepulchre. A
+female figure personating Virtue bears in an urn to the grave, the ashes
+of the departed, attended by two children with torches. The figure of
+Compassion follows, leading an aged beggar to the tomb of his
+benefactor, and a little child with its hands folded. On the lower step
+rests a mourning Genius beside a sleeping lion, and a bas-relief on the
+pyramid above represents an angel carrying Christina's image, surrounded
+with the emblem of eternity, to Heaven. A spirit of deep sorrow, which
+is touchingly portrayed in the countenance of the old man, pervades the
+whole group. While we looked at it, the organ breathed out a slow,
+mournful strain, which harmonized so fully with the expression of the
+figures, that we seemed to be listening to the requiem of the one they
+mourned. The combined effect of music and sculpture, thus united in
+their deep pathos, was such, that I could have sat down and wept. It was
+not from sadness at the death of a benevolent though unknown
+individual,--but the feeling of grief, of perfect, unmingled sorrow, so
+powerfully represented, came to the heart like an echo of its own
+emotion, and carried it away with irresistible influence. Travellers
+have described the same feeling while listening to the Miserere in the
+Sistine Chapel, at Rome. Canova could not have chiseled the monument
+without tears.
+
+One of the most interesting objects in Vienna, is the Imperial Armory.
+We were admitted through tickets previously procured from the Armory
+Direction; as there was already one large company within, we were told
+to wait in the court till our turn came. Around the wall on the inside,
+is suspended the enormous chain which the Turks stretched across the
+Danube at Buda, in the year 1529, to obstruct the navigation. It has
+eight thousand links and is nearly a mile in length. The court is filled
+with cannon of all shapes and sizes, many of which were conquered from
+other nations. I saw a great many which were cast during the French
+Revolution, with the words "_Liberte! Egalite!_" upon them, and a number
+of others bearing the simple letter "N."
+
+Finally the first company came down and the forty or fifty persons who
+had collected during the interval, were admitted. The Armory runs around
+a hollow square, and must be at least a quarter of a mile in length. We
+were all taken into a circular hall, made entirely of weapons, to
+represent the four quarters of the globe. Here the crusty old guide who
+admitted us, rapped with his stick on the shield of an old knight who
+stood near, to keep silence, and then addressed us: "When I speak every
+one must be silent. No one can write or draw anything. No one shall
+touch anything, or go to look at anything else, before I have done
+speaking. Otherwise, they shall be taken immediately into the street
+again!" Thus in every hall he rapped and scolded, driving the women to
+one side with his stick and the men to the other, till we were nearly
+through, when the thought of the coming fee made him a little more
+polite. He had a regular set of descriptions by heart, which he went
+through with a great flourish, pointing particularly to the common
+military caps of the late Emperors of Prussia and Austria, as "treasures
+beyond all price to the nation!" Whereupon, the crowd of common people
+gazed reverently on the shabby beavers, and I verily believe, would have
+devoutly kissed them, had the glass covering been removed. I happened to
+be next to a tall, dignified young man, who looked on all this with a
+displeasure almost amounting to contempt. Seeing I was a foreigner, he
+spoke, in a low tone, bitterly of the Austrian government. "You are not
+then an Austrian?" I asked. "No, thank God!" was the reply: "but I have
+seen enough of Austrian tyranny. I am a Pole!"
+
+The first wing contains banners used in the French Revolution, and
+liberty trees with the red cap; the armor of Rudolph of Hapsburg,
+Maximilian I., the Emperor Charles V., and the hat, sword and order of
+Marshal Schwarzenberg. Some of the halls represent a fortification, with
+walls, ditches and embankments, made of muskets and swords. A long room
+in the second wing contains an encampment, in which twelve or fifteen
+large tents are formed in like manner. Along the sides are grouped old
+Austrian banners, standards taken from the French, and horsetails and
+flags captured from the Turks. "They make a great boast," said the Pole,
+"of a half dozen French colors, but let them go to the Hospital des
+Invalides, in Paris, and they will find _hundreds_ of the best banners
+of Austria!" They also exhibited the armor of a dwarf king of Bohemia
+and Hungary, who died, a gray-headed old man, in his twentieth year; the
+sword of Marlborough; the coat of Gustavus Adolphus, pierced in the
+breast and back with the bullet which killed him at Lutzen; the armor of
+the old Bohemian princess Libussa, and that of the amazon Wlaska, with a
+steel visor made to fit the features of her face. The last wing was the
+most remarkable. Here we saw the helm and breastplate of Attila, king of
+the Huns, which once glanced at the head of his myriads of wild hordes,
+before the walls of Rome; the armor of Count Stahremberg, who commanded
+Vienna during the Turkish siege in 1529, and the holy banner of Mahomet,
+taken at that time from the Grand Vizier, together with the steel
+harness of John Sobieski of Poland, who rescued Vienna from the Turkish
+troops under Kara Mustapha; the hat, sword and breastplate of Godfrey of
+Bouillon, the Crusader-king of Jerusalem, with the banners of the cross
+the Crusaders had borne to Palestine, and the standard they captured
+from the Turks on the walls of the Holy City! I felt all my boyish
+enthusiasm for the romantic age of the Crusaders revive, as I looked on
+the torn and mouldering banners which once waved on the hills of Judea,
+or perhaps followed the sword of the Lion Heart through the fight on the
+field of Ascalon! What tales could they not tell, those old standards,
+cut and shivered by spear and lance! What brave hands have carried them
+through the storm of battle, what dying eyes have looked upwards to the
+cross on their folds, as the last prayer was breathed for the rescue of
+the Holy Sepulchre!
+
+I must now close the catalogue. This morning we shall look upon Vienna
+for the last time. Our knapsacks are repacked, and the passports
+(precious documents!) vised for Munich. The getting of this vise,
+however, caused a comical scene at the Police Office, yesterday. We
+entered the Inspector's Hall and took our stand quietly among the crowd
+of persons who were gathered around a railing which separated them from
+the main office. One of the clerks came up, scowling at us, and asked in
+a rough tone, "What do you want here?" We handed him our tickets of
+sojourn (for when a traveler spends more than twenty-four hours in a
+German city, he must take out a permission and pay for it) with the
+request that he would give us our passports. He glanced over the
+tickets, came back and with constrained politeness asked us to step
+within the railing. Here we were introduced to the Chief Inspector.
+"Desire Herr---- to come here," said he to a servant; then turning to
+us, "I am happy to see the gentlemen in Vienna." An officer immediately
+came up, who addressed us in fluent English. "You may speak in your
+native tongue," said the Inspector:--"excuse our neglect; from the
+facility with which you speak German, we supposed you were natives of
+Austria!" Our passports were signed at once and given us with a gracious
+bow, accompanied by the hope that we would visit Vienna again before
+long. All this, of course, was perfectly unintelligible to the wondering
+crowd outside the railing. Seeing however, the honors we were receiving,
+they crowded back and respectfully made room for us to pass out. I kept
+a grave face till we reached the bottom of the stairs, when I gave way
+to restrained laughter in a manner that shocked the dignity of the
+guard, who looked savagely at me over his forest of moustache. I would
+nevertheless have felt grateful for the attention we received as
+Americans, were it not for our uncourteous reception as suspected
+Austrians.
+
+We have just been exercising the risible muscles again, though from a
+very different cause, and one which, according to common custom, ought
+to draw forth symptoms of a lachrymose nature. This morning B----
+suggested an examination of our funds, for we had neglected keeping a
+strict account, and what with being cheated in Bohemia and tempted by
+the amusements of Vienna, there was an apparent dwindling away. So we
+emptied our pockets and purses, counted up the contents, and found we
+had just ten florins, or four dollars apiece. The thought of our
+situation, away in the heart of Austria, five hundred miles from our
+Frankfort home, seems irresistibly laughable. By allowing twenty days
+for the journey, we shall have half a florin a day, to travel on. This
+is a homoeopathic allowance, indeed, but we have concluded to try it. So
+now adieu, Vienna! In two hours we shall be among the hills again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+UP THE DANUBE.
+
+
+We passed out of Vienna in the face of one of the strongest winds it was
+ever my lot to encounter. It swept across the plain with such force that
+it was almost impossible to advance till we got under the lee of a range
+of hills. About two miles from the barrier we passed Schoenbrunn, the
+Austrian Versailles. It was built by the Empress Maria Theresa, and was
+the residence of Napoleon in 1809, when Vienna was in the hands of the
+French. Later, in 1832, the Duke of Reichstadt died in the same room
+which his father once occupied. Behind the palace is a magnificent
+garden, at the foot of a hill covered with rich forests and crowned with
+an open pillared hall, 300 feet long, called the _Gloriette_. The
+colossal eagle which surmounts it, can be seen a great distance.
+
+The lovely valley in which Schoenbrunn lies, follows the course of the
+little river Vienna into the heart of that mountain region lying between
+the Styrian Alps and the Danube, and called the Vienna Forest. Into this
+our road led, between hills covered with wood, with here and there a
+lovely green meadow, where herds of cattle were grazing. The third day
+we came to the Danube again at Melk, a little city built under the edge
+of a steep hill, on whose summit stands the palace-like abbey of the
+Benedictine Monks. The old friars must have had a merry life of it, for
+the wine-cellar of the abbey furnished the French army 50,000 measures
+for several days in succession. The shores of the Danube here are
+extremely beautiful. The valley where it spreads out, is filled with
+groves, but where the hills approach the stream, its banks are rocky and
+precipitous, like the Rhine. Although not so picturesque as the latter
+river, the scenery of the Danube is on a grander scale. On the south
+side the mountains bend down to it with a majestic sweep, and there
+must be delightful glances into the valleys that lie between, in passing
+down the current.
+
+But we soon left the river, and journeyed on through the enchanting
+inland vales. To give an idea of the glorious enjoyment of traveling
+through such scenes, let me copy a leaf out of my journal, written as we
+rested at noon on the top of a lofty hill:--"Here, while the delightful
+mountain breeze that comes fresh from the Alps cools my forehead, and
+the pines around are sighing their eternal anthem, I seize a few moments
+to tell what a paradise is around me. I have felt an elevation of mind
+and spirit, a perfect rapture from morning till night, since we left
+Vienna. It is the brightest and balmiest June weather; an ever fresh
+breeze sings through the trees and waves the ripening grain on the
+verdant meadows and hill-slopes. The air is filled with bird-music. The
+larks sing above us out of sight, the bullfinch wakes his notes in the
+grove, and at eve the nightingale pours forth her thrilling strain. The
+meadows are literally covered with flowers--beautiful purple salvias,
+pinks such as we have at home in our gardens and glowing buttercups,
+color the banks of every stream. I never saw richer or more luxuriant
+foliage. Magnificent forests clothe the hills, and the villages are
+imbedded in fruit trees, shrubbery and flowers. Sometimes we go for
+miles through some enchanting valley, lying like a paradise between the
+mountains, while the distant, white Alps look on it from afar; sometimes
+over swelling ranges of hills, where we can see to the right the valley
+of the Danube, threaded by his silver current and dotted with white
+cottages and glittering spires, and farther beyond, the blue mountains
+of the Bohemian Forest. To the left, the range of the Styrian Alps
+stretches along the sky, summit above summit, the farther ones robed in
+perpetual snow. I could never tire gazing on those glorious hills. They
+fill the soul with a conception of sublimity, such as one feels when
+listening to triumphal music. They seem like the marble domes of a
+mighty range of temples, where earth worships her Maker with an
+organ-anthem of storms!
+
+"There is a _luxury_ in traveling here. We walk all day through such
+scenes, resting often in the shade of the fruit trees which line the
+road, or on a mossy bank by the side of some cool forest. Sometimes for
+enjoyment as well as variety, we make our dining-place by a clear spring
+instead of within a smoky tavern; and our simple meals have a relish an
+epicure could never attain. Away with your railroads and steamboats and
+mail-coaches, or keep them for those who have no eye but for the sordid
+interests of life! With my knapsack and pilgrim-staff, I ask not their
+aid. If a mind and soul full of rapture with beauty, a frame in glowing
+and vigorous health, and slumbers unbroken even by dreams, are blessings
+any one would attain, let him pedestrianize it through Lower Austria!"
+
+I have never been so strongly and constantly reminded of America, as
+during this journey. Perhaps the balmy season, the same in which I last
+looked upon the dear scenes of home, may have its effect; but there is
+besides a richness in the forests and waving fields of grain, a wild
+luxuriance over every landscape, which I have seen nowhere else in
+Europe. The large farm houses, buried in orchards, scattered over the
+valleys, add to the effect. Everything seems to speak of happiness and
+prosperity.
+
+We were met one morning by a band of wandering Bohemian gipsies--the
+first of the kind I ever saw. A young woman with a small child in her
+arms came directly up to me, and looking full in my face with her wild
+black eyes, said, without any preface: "Yes, he too has met with sorrow
+and trouble already, and will still have more. But he is not false--he
+is true and sincere, and will also meet with good luck!" She said she
+could tell me three numbers with which I should buy a lottery ticket and
+win a great prize. I told her I would have nothing to do with the
+lottery, and would buy no ticket, but she persisted, saying: "Has he a
+twenty kreutzer piece?--will he give it? Lay it in his hand and make a
+cross over it, and I will reveal the numbers!" On my refusal, she became
+angry, and left me, saying: "Let him take care--the third day something
+will happen to him!" An old, wrinkled hag made the same proposition to
+my companion with no better success. They reminded me strikingly of our
+Indians; their complexion is a dark brown, and their eyes and hair are
+black as night. These belonged to a small tribe who wander through the
+forests of Bohemia, and support themselves by cheating and stealing.
+
+We stopped the fourth night at Enns, a small city on the river of the
+same name, which divides Upper from Lower Austria. After leaving the
+beautiful little village where we passed the night before, the road
+ascended one of those long ranges of hills, which stretch off from the
+Danube towards the Alps. We walked for miles over the broad and uneven
+summit, enjoying the enchanting view which opened on both sides. If we
+looked to the right, we could trace the windings of the Danube for
+twenty miles, his current filled with green, wooded islands; white
+cities lie at the foot of the hills, which, covered to the summit with
+grain fields and vineyards, extended back one behind another, till the
+farthest were lost in the distance. I was glad we had taken the way from
+Vienna to Linz by land, for from the heights we had a view of the whole
+course of the Danube, enjoying besides, the beauty of the inland vales
+and the far-off Styrian Alps. From the hills we passed over we could see
+the snowy range as far as the Alps of Salzburg--some of them seemed
+robed to the very base in their white mantles. In the morning the
+glaciers on their summit glittered like stars; it was the first time I
+saw the sun reflected at a hundred miles' distance!
+
+On descending we came into a garden-like plain, over which rose the
+towers of Enns, built by the ransom money paid to Austria for the
+deliverance of the Lion-hearted Richard. The country legends say that
+St. Florian was thrown into the river by the Romans in the third
+century, with a millstone around his neck, which, however, held him
+above the water like cork, until he had finished preaching them a
+sermon. In the villages we often saw his imago painted on the houses, in
+the act of pouring a pail of water on a burning building, with the
+inscription beneath--"Oh, holy Florian, pray for us!" This was supposed
+to be a charm against fire. In Upper Austria, it is customary to erect a
+shrine on the road, wherever an accident has happened, with a painting
+and description of it, and an admonition to all passers-by to pray for
+the soul of the unfortunate person. On one of them, for instance, was a
+cart with a wild ox, which a man was holding by the horns; a woman
+kneeling by the wheels appeared to be drawing a little girl by the feet
+from under it, and the inscription stated: "By calling on Jesus, Mary
+and Joseph, the girl was happily rescued." Many of the shrines had
+images which the people no doubt, in their ignorance and simplicity,
+considered holy, but they were to us impious and almost blasphemous.
+
+From Enns a morning's walk brought us to Linz. The peasant girls in
+their broad straw hats were weeding the young wheat, looking as cheerful
+and contented as the larks that sung above them. A mile or two from Linz
+we passed one or two of the round towers belonging to the new
+fortifications of the city. As walls have grown out of fashion, Duke
+Maximilian substituted an invention of his own. The city is surrounded
+by thirty two towers, one to three miles distant from it, and so placed
+that they form a complete line of communication and defence. They are
+sunk in the earth, surrounded with a ditch and embankments, and each is
+capable of containing ten cannon and three hundred men. The pointed
+roofs of these towers are seen on all the hills around. We were obliged
+to give up our passports at the barrier, the officer telling us to call
+for them in three hours at the City Police Office; we spent the
+intervening time very agreeably in rambling through this gay,
+cheerful-looking town. With its gilded spires and ornamented houses,
+with their green lattice blinds, it reminds one strongly of Italy, or at
+least, of what Italy is said to be. It has now quite an active and
+business-like aspect, occasioned by the steamboat and railroad lines
+which connect it with Vienna, Prague, Ratisbon and Salzburg. Although we
+had not exceeded our daily allowance by more than a few kreutzers, we
+found that twenty days would be hardly sufficient to accomplish the
+journey, and our funds must therefore be replenished. Accordingly I
+wrote from Linz to Frankfort, directing a small sum to be forwarded to
+Munich, which city we hoped to reach in eight days.
+
+We took the horse cars at Linz for Lambach, seventeen miles on the way
+towards Gmunden. The mountains were covered with clouds as we approached
+them, and the storms they had been brewing for two or three days began
+to march down on the plain. They had nearly reached us, when we crossed
+the Traun and arrived at Lambach, a small city built upon a hill. We
+left the next day at noon, and on ascending the hill after crossing the
+Traun, had an opportunity of seeing the portrait on the Traunstein, of
+which the old landlord told us. I saw it at the first glance--certainly
+it is a most remarkable freak of nature. The rough back of the mountain
+forms the exact profile of the human countenance, as if regularly hewn
+out of the rock. What is still more singular, it is said to be a correct
+portrait of the unfortunate Louis XVI. The landlord said it was
+immediately recognized by all Frenchmen. The road followed the course of
+the Traun, whose green waters roared at the bottom of the glen below us;
+we walked for several miles through a fine forest, through whose
+openings we caught glimpses of the mountains we longed to reach.
+
+The river roared at last somewhat louder, and on looking down the bank,
+I saw rocks and rapids, and a few houses built on the edge of the
+stream. Thinking it must be near the fall, we went down the path, and
+lo! on crossing a little wooden bridge, the whole affair burst in sight!
+Judge of our surprise at finding a fall of fifteen feet, after we had
+been led to expect a tremendous leap of forty or fifty, with all the
+accompaniment of rocks and precipices. Of course the whole descent of
+the river at the place was much greater, and there were some romantic
+cascades over the rocks which blocked its course. Its greatest beauty
+consisted in the color of the water--the brilliant green of the waves
+being broken into foam of the most dazzling white--and the great force
+with which it is thrown below.
+
+The Traunstein grew higher as we approached, presenting the same profile
+till we had nearly reached Gmunden. From the green upland meadows above
+the town, the view of the mountain range was glorious, and I could
+easily conceive the effect of the Unknown Student's appeal to the people
+to fight for those free hills. I think it is Howitt who relates the
+incident--one of the most romantic in German history. Count Pappenheim
+led his forces here in the year 1626, to suppress a revolution of the
+people of the whole Salzburg region, who had risen against an invasion
+of their rights by the Austrian government. The battle which took place
+on these meadows was about being decided in favor of the oppressors,
+when a young man, clad as a student, suddenly appeared and addressed the
+people, pointing to the Alps above them and the sweet lake below, and
+asking if that land should not be free. The effect was electrical; they
+returned to the charge and drove back the troops of Pappenheim, who were
+about taking to flight, when the unknown leader fell, mortally wounded.
+This struck a sudden panic through his followers, and the Austrians
+turning again, gained a complete victory. But the name of the brave
+student is unknown, his deed unsung by his country's bards, and almost
+forgotten.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE UNKNOWN STUDENT.
+
+
+    Ha! spears on Gmunden's meadows green,
+      And banners on the wood-crowned height!
+    Rank after rank, their helmets' sheen
+      Sends back the morning light!
+    Where late the mountain maiden sang,
+    The battle-trumpet's brazen clang
+      Vibrates along the air;
+    And wild dragoons wheel o'er the plain.
+    Trampling to earth the yellow grain,
+    From which no more the merry swain
+      His harvest sheaves shall bear.
+
+    The eagle, in his sweep at morn,
+      To meet the monarch-sun on high,
+    Heard the unwonted warrior's horn
+      Peal faintly up the sky!
+    He saw the foemen, moving slow
+    In serried legions, far below,
+      Against that peasant-band,
+    Who dared to break the tyrant's thrall
+    And by the sword of Austria fall,
+    Or keep the ancient Right of all,
+      Held by their mountain-land;
+
+    They came to meet that mail-clad host
+      From glen and wood and ripening field;
+    A brave, stout arm, each man could boast--
+      A soul, unused to yield!
+    They met: a shout, prolonged and loud,
+    Went hovering upward with the cloud
+      That closed around them dun;
+    Blade upon blade unceasing clashed,
+    Spears in the onset shivering crashed,
+    And the red glare of cannon flashed
+      Athwart the smoky sun!
+
+    The mountain warriors wavered back,
+      Borne down by myriads of the foe,
+    Like pines before the torrent's track
+      When spring has warmed the snow.
+    Shall Faith and Freedom vainly call,
+    And Gmunden's warrior-herdsmen fall
+      On the red field in vain?
+    No! from the throng that back retired,
+    A student boy sprang forth inspired,
+    And while his words their bosoms fired,
+      Led on the charge again!
+
+    "And thus your free arms would ye give
+      So tamely to a tyrant's band,
+    And with the hearts of vassals live
+      In this, your chainless land?
+    The emerald lake is spread below,
+    And tower above, the hills of snow--
+      Here, field and forest lie;
+    This land, so glorious and so free--
+    Say, shall it crushed and trodden be?
+    Say, would ye rather bend the knee
+      Than for its freedom die?
+
+    "Look! yonder stand in mid-day's glare
+      The everlasting Alps of snow,
+    And from their peaks a purer air
+      Breathes o'er the vales below!
+    The Traun his brow is bent in pride--
+    He brooks no craven on his side--
+      Would ye be fettered then?
+    There lifts the Sonnenstein his head,
+    There chafes the Traun his rocky bed
+    And Aurach's lovely vale is spread--
+      Look on them and be men!
+
+    "Let, like a trumpet's sound of fire,
+      _These_ stir your souls to manhood's part--
+    The glory of the Alps inspire
+      Each yet unconquered heart!
+    For, through their unpolluted air
+    Soars fresher up the grateful prayer
+      From freemen, unto God;--
+    A blessing on those mountains old!
+    On to the combat, brethren bold!
+    Strike, that ye free the valleys hold,
+      Where free your fathers trod!"
+
+    And like a mighty storm that tears
+      The icy avalanche from its bed,
+    They rushed against th' opposing spears--
+      The student at their head!
+    The bands of Austria fought in vain;
+    A bloodier harvest heaped the plain
+      At every charge they made;
+    Each herdsman was a hero then--
+    The mountain hunters stood like men,
+    And echoed from the farthest glen
+      The clash of blade on blade!
+
+    The banner in the student's hand
+      Waved triumph from the fight before;
+    What terror seized the conq'ring band?--
+      It fell, to rise no more!
+    And with it died the lofty flame,
+    That from his lips in lightning came
+      And burned upon their own;
+    Dread Pappenheim led back the foe,
+    The mountain peasants yielded slow,
+    And plain above and lake below
+      Were red when evening shone!
+
+    Now many a year has passed away
+      Since battle's blast rolled o'er the plain,
+    The Alps are bright in morning's ray--
+      The Traunstein smiles again.
+    But underneath the flowery sod,
+    By happy peasant children trod,
+      A hero's ashes lay.
+    O'er him no grateful nation wept,
+    Fame, of his deed no record kept,
+    And dull Forgetfulness hath swept
+      His very name away!
+
+    In many a grave, by poets sung,
+      There falls to dust a lofty brow,
+    But he alone, the brave and young,
+      Sleeps there forgotten now.
+    The Alps upon that field look down,
+    Which won his bright and brief renown,
+       Beside the lake's green shore;
+    Still wears the land a tyrant's chain--
+    Still bondmen tread the battle-plain,
+    Culled by his glorious soul in vain
+      To win their rights of yore.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+THE AUSTRIAN ALPS.
+
+
+It was nearly dark when we came to the end of the plain and looked on
+the city at our feet and the lovely lake that lost itself in the
+mountains before us. We were early on board the steamboat next morning,
+with a cloudless sky above us and a snow-crested Alp beckoning on from
+the end of the lake. The water was of the most beautiful green hue, the
+morning light colored the peaks around with purple, and a misty veil
+rolled up the rocks of the Traunstein. We stood on the prow and enjoyed
+to the fullest extent the enchanting scenery. The white houses of
+Gmunden sank down to the water's edge like a flock of ducks; halfway we
+passed castle Ort, on a rock in the lake, whose summit is covered with
+trees.
+
+As we neared the other extremity, the mountains became steeper and
+loftier; there was no path along their wild sides, nor even a fisher's
+hut nestled at their feet, and the snow filled the ravines more than
+half-way from the summit. An hour and a quarter brought us to Ebensee,
+at the head of the lake, where we landed and plodded on towards Ischl,
+following the Traun up a narrow valley, whose mountain walls shut out
+more than half the sky. They are covered with forests, and the country
+is inhabited entirely by the woodmen who fell the mountain pines and
+float the timber rafts down to the Danube. The steeps are marked with
+white lines, where the trees have been rolled, or rather _thrown_ from
+the summit. Often they descend several miles over rooks and precipices,
+where the least deviation from the track would dash them in a thousand
+pieces. This generally takes place in the winter when the sides are
+covered with snow and ice. It must be a dangerous business, for there
+are many crosses by the way-side where the pictures represent persons
+accidentally killed by the trees; an additional painting represents
+them as burning in the flames of purgatory, and the pious traveler is
+requested to pray an Ave or a Paternoster for the repose of their souls.
+
+On we went, up the valley of the Traun, between mountains five and six
+thousand feet high, through scenes constantly changing and constantly
+grand, for three or four hours. Finally the hills opened, disclosing a
+little triangular valley, whose base was formed by a mighty mountain
+covered with clouds. Through the two side angles came the Traun and his
+tributary the Ischl, while the little town of Ischl lay in the centre.
+Within a few years this has become a very fashionable bathing place, and
+the influx of rich visitors, which in the summer sometimes amounts to
+two thousand, has entirely destroyed the primitive simplicity the
+inhabitants originally possessed. From Ischl we took a road through the
+forests to St. Wolfgang, on the lake of the same name. The last part of
+the way led along the banks of the lake, disclosing some delicious
+views. These Alpine lakes surpass any scenery I have yet seen. The water
+is of the most beautiful green, like a sheet of molten beryl, and the
+cloud-piercing mountains that encompass them shut out the sun for nearly
+half the day. St. Wolfgang is a lovely village in a cool and quiet nook
+at the foot of the Schafberg. The houses tire built in the picturesque
+Swiss style, with flat, projecting roofs and ornamented balconies, and
+the people are the very picture of neatness and cheerfulness.
+
+We started next morning to ascend the Schafberg, which is called the
+Righi of the Austrian Switzerland. It is somewhat higher than its Swiss
+namesake, and commands a prospect scarcely less extensive or grand. We
+followed a footpath through the thick forest by the side of a roaring
+torrent. The morning mist still covered the lake, but the white summits
+of the Salzburg and Noric Alps opposite us, rose above it and stood pure
+and bright in the upper air. We passed a little mill and one or two
+cottages, and then wound round one of the lesser heights into a deep
+ravine, down in whose dark shadow we sometimes heard the axe and saw of
+the mountain woodmen. Finally the path disappeared altogether under a
+mass of logs and rocks, which appeared to have been whirled together by
+a sudden flood. We deliberated what to do; the summit rose several
+thousand feet above us, almost precipitously steep, but we did not like
+to turn back, and there was still a hope of meeting with the path again.
+Clambering over the ruins and rubbish we pulled ourselves by the limbs
+of trees up a steep ascent and descended again to the stream. We here
+saw the ravine was closed by a wall of rock and our only chance was to
+cross to the west side of the mountain, where the ascent seemed somewhat
+easier. A couple of mountain maidens whom we fortunately met, carrying
+home grass for their goats, told us the mountain could be ascended on
+that side, by one who could climb _well_--laying a strong emphasis on
+the word. The very doubt implied in this expression was enough to decide
+us; so we began the work. And work it was, too! The side was very steep,
+the trees all leaned downwards, and we slipped at every step on the dry
+leaves and grass. After making a short distance this way with the
+greatest labor, we came to the track of an avalanche, which had swept
+away the trees and earth. Here the rock had been worn rough by torrents,
+but by using both hands and feet, we clomb directly up the side of the
+mountain, sometimes dragging ourselves up by the branches of trees where
+the rocks were smooth. After half an hour of such work we came above the
+forests, on the bare side of the mountain. The summit was far above us
+and so steep that our limbs involuntarily shrunk from the task of
+climbing. The side ran up at an angle of nearly sixty degrees, and the
+least slip threw us flat on our faces. We had to use both hand and foot,
+and were obliged to rest every few minutes to recover breath.
+Crimson-flowered moss and bright blue gentians covered the rocks, and I
+filled my books with blossoms for friends at home.
+
+Up and up, for what seemed an age, we clambered. So steep was it, that
+the least rocky projection hid my friend from sight, as he was coming up
+below me. I let stones roll sometimes, which went down, down, almost
+like a cannonball, till I could see them no more. At length we reached
+the region of dwarf pines, which was even more difficult to pass
+through. Although the mountain was not so steep, this forest, centuries
+old, reached no higher than our breasts, and the trees leaned downwards,
+so that we were obliged to take hold of the tops of those above us, and
+drag ourselves up through the others. Here and there lay large patches
+of snow; we sat down in the glowing June sun, and bathed our hands and
+faces in it. Finally the sky became bluer and broader, the clouds seemed
+nearer, and a few more steps through the bushes brought us to the summit
+of the mountain, on the edge of a precipice a thousand feet deep, whose
+bottom stood in a vast field of snow!
+
+We lay down on the heather, exhausted by five hours' incessant toil, and
+drank in like a refreshing draught, the sublimity of the scene, The
+green lakes of the Salzburg Alps lay far below us, and the whole
+southern horizon was filled with the mighty range of the Styrian and
+Noric Alps, their summits of never-melting snow mingling and blending
+with the clouds. On the other side the mountains of Salzburg lifted
+their ridgy backs from the plains of Bavaria and the Chiem lake lay
+spread out in the blue distance. A line of mist far to the north
+betrayed the path of the Danube, and beyond it we could barely trace the
+outline of the Bohemian mountains. With a glass the spires of Munich,
+one hundred and twenty miles distant, can be seen. It was a view whose
+grandeur I can never forget. In that dome of the cloud we seemed to
+breathe a purer air than that of earth.
+
+After an hour or two, we began to think of descending, as the path was
+yet to be found. The summit, which was a mile or more in length,
+extended farther westward, and by climbing over the dwarf pines for some
+time, we saw a little wooden house above us. It stood near the highest
+part of the peak, and two or three men were engaged in repairing it, as
+a shelter for travelers. They pointed out the path which went down on
+the side toward St. Gilgen, and we began descending. The mountain on
+this side is much less steep, but the descent is fatiguing enough. The
+path led along the side of a glen where mountain goats were grazing, and
+further down we saw cattle feeding on the little spots of verdure which
+lay in the forest. My knees became so weak from this continued descent,
+that they would scarcely support me; but we were three hours, partly
+walking and partly running down, before we reached the bottom. Half an
+hour's walk around the head of the St. Wolfgang See, brought us to the
+little village of St. Gilgen.
+
+The valley of St. Gilgen lies like a little paradise between the
+mountains. Lovely green fields and woods slope gradually from the
+mountain behind, to the still greener lake spread out before it, in
+whose bosom the white Alps are mirrored. Its picturesque cottages
+cluster around the neat church with its lofty spire, and the simple
+inhabitants have countenances as bright and cheerful as the blue sky
+above them. We breathed an air of poetry. The Arcadian simplicity of the
+people, the pastoral beauty of the fields around and the grandeur of the
+mountains which shut it out from the world, realized my ideas of a
+dwelling place, where, with a few kindred spirits, the bliss of Eden
+might almost be restored.
+
+We stopped there two or three hours to relieve our hunger and fatigue.
+My boots had suffered severely in our mountain adventure, and I called
+at a shoemaker's cottage to get them repaired. I sat down and talked for
+half an hour with the family. The man and his wife spoke of the
+delightful scenery around them, and expressed themselves with
+correctness and even elegance. They were much pleased that I admired
+their village so greatly, and related every thing which they supposed
+could interest me. As I rose to go, my head nearly touched the ceiling,
+which was very low. The man exclaimed: "Ach Gott! how tall!" I told him
+the people were all tall in our country; he then asked where I came
+from, and I had no sooner said America, than he threw up his hands and
+uttered an ejaculation of the greatest surprise. His wife observed that
+"it was wonderful how far man was permitted to travel." They wished me a
+prosperous journey and a safe return home.
+
+St. Gilgen was also interesting to me from that beautiful chapter in
+"Hyperion"--"Footsteps of Angels,"--and on passing the church on my way
+back to the inn, I entered the graveyard mentioned in it. The green turf
+grows thickly over the rows of mounds, with here and there a rose
+planted by the hand of affection, and the white crosses were hung with
+wreaths, some of which had been freshly laid on. Behind the church,
+under the shade of a tree, stood a small chapel,--I opened the
+unfastened door, and entered. The afternoon sun shone through the side
+window, and all was still around. A little shrine, adorned with flowers,
+stood at the other end, and there were two tablets on the wall, to
+persons who slumbered beneath, I approached these and read on one of
+them with feelings not easily described: "Look not mournfully into the
+past--it comes not again; wisely improve the present--it is thine; and
+go forward to meet the shadowy future, without fear, and with a manly
+heart!" This then was the spot where Paul Flemming came in loneliness
+and sorrow to muse over what he had lost, and these were the words whose
+truth and eloquence strengthened and consoled him, "as if the unknown
+tenant of the grave had opened his lips of dust and spoken those words
+of consolation his soul needed." I sat down and mused a long time, for
+there was something in the silent holiness of the spot, that impressed
+me more than I could well describe.
+
+We reached a little village on the Fuschel See, the same evening, and
+set off the next morning for Salzburg. The day was hot and we walked
+slowly, so that it was not till two o'clock that we saw the castellated
+rocks on the side of the Gaissberg, guarding the entrance to the valley
+of Salzburg. A short distance further, the whole glorious panorama was
+spread out below us. From the height on which we stood, we looked
+directly on the summit of the Capuchin Mountain, which hid part of the
+city from sight; the double peak of the Staufen rose opposite, and a
+heavy storm was raging along the Alpine heights around it, while the
+lovely valley lay in sunshine below, threaded by the bright current of
+the Salza. As we descended and passed around the foot of the hill, the
+Untersberg came in sight, whose broad summits lift themselves seven
+thousand feet above the plain. The legend says that Charlemagne and his
+warriors sit in its subterraneous caverns in complete armor, and that
+they will arise and come forth again, when Germany recovers her former
+power and glory.
+
+I wish I could convey in words some idea of the elevation of spirit
+experienced while looking on these eternal mountains. They fill the soul
+with a sensation of power and grandeur which frees it awhile from the
+cramps and fetters of common life. It rises and expands to the level of
+their sublimity, till its thoughts stand solemnly aloft, like their
+summits, piercing the free heaven. Their dazzling and imperishable
+beauty is to the mind an image of its own enduring existence. When I
+stand upon some snowy summit--the invisible apex of that mighty
+pyramid--there seems a majesty in my weak will which might defy the
+elements. This sense of power, inspired by a silent sympathy with the
+forms of nature, is beautifully described--as shown in the free,
+unconscious instincts of childhood--by the poet Uhland, in his ballad of
+the "Mountain Boy." I have attempted a translation.
+
+    THE MOUNTAIN BOY.
+
+    A herd-boy on the mountain's brow,
+    I see the castles all below.
+    The sunbeam here is earliest cast
+    And by my side it lingers last--
+       I am the boy of the mountain!
+
+    The mother-house of streams is here--
+    I drink them in their cradles clear;
+    From out the rock they foam below,
+    I spring to catch them as they go!
+       I am the boy of the mountain!
+
+    To me belongs the mountain's bound,
+    Where gathering tempests march around;
+    But though from north and south they shout,
+    Above them still my song rings out--
+       "I am the boy of the mountain!"
+
+    Below me clouds and thunders move;
+    I stand amid the blue above.
+    I shout to them with fearless breast:
+    "Go, leave my father's house in rest!"
+       I am the boy of the mountain!
+
+    And when the loud bell shakes the spires
+    And flame aloft the signal-fires,
+    I go below and join the throng
+    And swing my sword and sing my song:
+       "I am the boy of the mountain!"
+
+Salzburg lies on both sides of the Salza, hemmed in on either hand by
+precipitous mountains. A large fortress overlooks it on the south, from
+the summit of a perpendicular rock, against which the houses in that
+part of the city arc built. The streets are narrow and crooked, but the
+newer part contains many open squares, adorned with handsome fountains.
+The variety of costume among the people, is very interesting. The
+inhabitants of the salt district have a peculiar dress; the women wear
+round fur caps, with little wings of gauze at the side. I saw other
+women with headdresses of gold or silver filagree, something in shape
+like a Roman helmet, with a projection at the back of the head, a foot
+long. The most interesting objects in Salzburg to us, were the house of
+Mozart, in which the composer was born, and the monument lately erected
+to him. The St. Peter's Church, near by, contains the tomb of Haydn, the
+great composer, and the Church of St. Sebastian, that of the renowned
+Paracelsus, who was also a native of Salzburg.
+
+Two or three hours sufficed to see every thing of interest in the city.
+We had intended lo go further through the Alps, to the beautiful vales
+of the Tyrol, but our time was getting short, our boots, which are the
+pedestrian's _sole_ dependence, began to show symptoms of wearing out,
+and our expenses among the lakes and mountains of Upper Austria, left us
+but two florins apiece, so we reluctantly turned our backs upon the
+snowy hills and set out for Munich, ninety miles distant. After passing
+the night at Saalbruck, on the banks of the stream which separates the
+two kingdoms, we entered Bavaria next morning. I could not help feeling
+glad to leave Austria, although within her bounds I had passed scones
+whose beauty will long haunt me, and met with many honest friendly
+hearts among her people. We noticed a change as soon as we had crossed
+the border. The roads were neater and handsomer, and the country people
+greeted us in going by, with a friendly cheerfulness that made us feel
+half at home. The houses are built in the picturesque Swiss fashion,
+their balconies often ornamented with curious figures, carved in wood.
+Many of them, where they are situated remote from a church, have a
+little bell on the roof which they ring for morning and evening prayers;
+we often heard these simple monitors sounding from the cottages as we
+passed by.
+
+The next night we stopped at the little village of Stein, famous in
+former times for its robber-knight, Hans von Stein. The ruins of his
+castle stand on the rock above, and the caverns hewn in the sides of the
+precipice, where he used to confine his prisoners, are still visible.
+Walking on through a pleasant, well-cultivated country, we came to
+Wasserburg, on the Inn. The situation of the city is peculiar. The Inn
+has gradually worn his channel deeper in the sandy soil, so that he now
+flows at the bottom of a glen, a hundred feet below the plains around.
+Wasserburg lies in a basin, formed by the change of the current, which
+flows around it like a horseshoe, leaving only a narrow neck of land
+which connects it with the country above.
+
+We left the little village where we were quartered for the night and
+took a foot path which led across the country to the field of
+Hohenlinden, about six miles distant. The name had been familiar to me
+from childhood, and my love for Campbell, with the recollection of the
+school-exhibitions where "On Linden when the sun was low" had been so
+often declaimed, induced me to make the excursion to it. We traversed a
+large forest, belonging to the King of Bavaria, and came out on a plain
+covered with grain fields and bounded on the right by a semi-circle of
+low hills. Over the fields, about two miles distant, a tall,
+minaret-like spire rose from a small cluster of houses, and this was
+Hohenlinden! To tell the truth, I had been expecting something more. The
+"hills of blood-stained snow" are very small hills indeed, and the
+"Isar, rolling rapidly," is several miles off; it was the spot, however,
+and we recited Campbell's poem, of course, and brought away a few wild
+flowers as memorials. There is no monument or any other token of the
+battle, and the people seem to endeavor to forget the scene of Moreau's
+victory and their defeat.
+
+From a hill twelve miles off we had our first view of the spires of
+Munich, looking like distant ships over the sea-like plain. They kept in
+sight till we arrived at eight o'clock in the evening, after a walk of
+more than thirty miles. We crossed the rapid Isar on three bridges,
+entered the magnificent Isar Gate, and were soon comfortably quartered
+in the heart of Munich.
+
+Entering the city without knowing a single soul within it, we made
+within a few minutes an agreeable acquaintance. After we passed the
+Isar Gate, we began looking for a decent inn, for the day's walk was
+very fatiguing. Presently a young man, who had been watching us for some
+time, came up and said, if we would allow him, he would conduct us to a
+good lodging-place. Finding we were strangers, he expressed the greatest
+regret that he had not time to go with us every day around the city. Our
+surprise and delight at the splendor of Munich, he said, would more than
+repay him for the trouble. In his anxiety to show us something, he took
+us some distance out of the way, (although it was growing dark and we
+were very tired,) to see the Palace and the Theatre, with its front of
+rich frescoes.
+
+END OF PART I.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+        VIEWS A-FOOT; OR EUROPE SEEN WITH KNAPSACK AND STAFF.
+
+                         BY J. BAYARD TAYLOR.
+
+                    WITH A PREFACE BY N.P. WILLIS.
+
+
+
+                 "Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way,
+                    And merrily hent the stile-a;
+                   A merry heart goes all the day,
+                     Your sad tires in a mile-a."
+
+                                      _Winter's Tale._
+
+
+
+                            IN TWO PARTS.
+
+                               PART II.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+MUNICH.
+
+
+_June 14._--I thought I had seen every thing in Vienna that could excite
+admiration or gratify fancy; here I have my former sensations to live
+over again, in an augmented degree. It is well I was at first somewhat
+prepared by our previous travel, otherwise the glare and splendor of
+wealth and art in this German Athens might blind me to the beauties of
+the cities we shall yet visit. I have been walking in a dream where the
+fairy tales of boyhood were realized, and the golden and jeweled halls
+of the Eastern genii rose glittering around me--"a vision of the brain
+no more." All I had conceived of oriental magnificence, all descriptions
+of the splendor of kingly halls and palaces, fall far short of what I
+here see. Where shall I begin to describe the crowd of splendid edifices
+that line its streets, or how give an idea of the profusion of paintings
+and statues--of marble, jasper and gold?
+
+Art has done every thing for Munich. It lies on a large, flat plain,
+sixteen hundred feet above the sea, and continually exposed to the cold
+winds from the Alps. At the beginning of the present century it was but
+a third-rate city, and was rarely visited by foreigners. Since that time
+its population and limits have been doubled, and magnificent edifices in
+every style of architecture erected, rendering it scarcely secondary in
+this respect to any capital in Europe. Every art that wealth or taste
+could devise, seems to have been spent in its decoration. Broad,
+spacious streets and squares have been laid out, churches, halls and
+colleges erected, and schools of painting and sculpture established,
+which draw artists from all parts of the world. All this was principally
+brought about by the taste of the present king, Ludwig I., who began
+twenty or thirty years ago, when he was Crown Prince, to collect the
+best German artists around him and form plans for the execution of his
+grand design. He can boast of having done more for the arts than any
+other living monarch, and if he had accomplished it all without
+oppressing his people, he would deserve an immortality of fame.
+
+Now, if you have nothing else to do, let us take a stroll down the
+Ludwigstrasse. As we pass the Theatiner Church, with its dome and
+towers, the broad street opens before us, stretching away to the north,
+between rows of magnificent buildings. Just at this southern end, is the
+_Schlusshalle_, an open temple of white marble terminating the avenue.
+To the right of us extend the arcades, with the trees of the Royal
+Garden peeping above them; on the left is the spacious concert building
+of the Odeon, and the palace of the Duke of Leuchtenberg, son of Eugene
+Beauharnois. Passing through a row of palace-like private buildings, we
+come to the Army Department, on the right--a neat and tasteful building
+of white sandstone. Beside it stands the Library, which possesses the
+first special claim on our admiration. With its splendid front of five
+hundred and eighteen feet, the yellowish brown cement with which the
+body is covered, making an agreeable contrast with the dark red
+window-arches and cornices, and the statues of Homer, Hippocrates,
+Thucydides and Aristotle guarding the portal, is it not a worthy
+receptacle for the treasures of ancient and modern lore which its halls
+contain?
+
+Nearly opposite stands the Institute for the Blind, a plain but large
+building of dark red brick, covered with cement, and further, the
+Ludwig's Kirche, or Church of St. Louis. How lightly the two square
+towers of gray marble lift their network of sculpture! And what a novel
+and beautiful effect is produced by uniting the Byzantine style of
+architecture to the form of the Latin cross! Over the arched portal
+stand marble statues by Schwanthaler, and the roof of brilliant tiles
+worked into mosaic, looks like a rich Turkey carpet covering the whole.
+We must enter to get an idea of the splendor of this church. Instead of
+the pointed arch which one would expect to see meeting above his head,
+the lofty pillars on each side bear an unbroken semicircular vault,
+which is painted a brilliant blue, and spangled with silver stars. These
+pillars, and the little arches above, which spring from them, are
+painted in an arabesque style with gold and brilliant colors, and each
+side-chapel is a perfect casket of richness and elegance. The windows
+are of silvered glass, through which the light glimmers softly on the
+splendor within. The whole end of the church behind the high altar, is
+taken up with Cornelius's celebrated fresco painting of the "Last
+Judgment,"--the largest painting in the world--and the circular dome in
+the centre of the cross contains groups of martyrs, prophets, saints and
+kings, painted in fresco on a ground of gold. The work of Cornelius has
+been greatly praised for sublimity of design and beauty of execution, by
+many acknowledged judges; I was disappointed in it, but the fault lay
+most probably in me and not in the painting. The richness and elegance
+of the church took me all "aback;" it was so entirely different from
+anything I had seen, that it was difficult to decide whether I was most
+charmed by its novelty or its beauty. Still, as a building designed to
+excite feelings of worship, it seems to me inappropriate. A vast, dim
+Cathedral would be far preferable; the devout, humble heart cannot feel
+at home amid such glare and brightness.
+
+As we leave the church and walk further on, the street expands suddenly
+into a broad square. One side is formed by the new University building
+and the other by the Royal Seminary, both displaying in their
+architecture new forms of the graceful Byzantine school, which the
+architects of Munich have adapted in a striking manner to so many varied
+purposes. On each side stands a splendid colossal fountain of bronze,
+throwing up a great mass of water, which falls in a triple cataract to
+the marble basin below. A short distance beyond this square the
+Ludwigstrasse terminates. It is said the end will be closed by a
+magnificent gate, on a style to correspond with the unequalled avenue to
+which it will give entrance. To one standing at the southern end, it
+would form a proper termination to the grand vista. Before we leave,
+turn around and glance back, down this street, which extends for half a
+mile between such buildings as we have just viewed, and tell me if it is
+not something of which a city and a king may boast, to have created all
+this within less than twenty years!
+
+We went one morning to see the collection of paintings formerly
+belonging to Eugene Beauharnois, who was brother-in-law to the present
+king of Bavaria, in the palace of his son, the Duke of Leuchtenberg. The
+first hall contains works principally by French artists, among which are
+two by Gerard--a beautiful portrait of Josephine, and the blind
+Belisarius carrying his dead companion. The boy's head lies on the old
+man's shoulder; but for the livid paleness of his limbs, he would seem
+to be only asleep, while a deep and settled sorrow marks the venerable
+features of the unfortunate Emperor. In the middle of the room are six
+pieces of statuary, among which Canova's world-renowned group of the
+Graces at once attracts the eye. There is also a kneeling Magdalen,
+lovely in her woe, by the same sculptor, and a very touching work of
+Schadow, representing a shepherd boy tenderly binding his sash around a
+lamb which he has accidentally wounded with his arrow.
+
+We have since seen in the St. Michael's Church, the monument to Eugene
+Beauharnois, from the chisel of Thorwaldsen. The noble, manly figure of
+the son of Josephine is represented in the Roman mantle, with his helmet
+and sword lying on the ground by him. On one side sits History, writing
+on a tablet; on the other, stand the two brother-angels, Death and
+Immortality. They lean lovingly together, with arms around each other,
+but the sweet countenance of Death has a cast of sorrow, as he stands
+with inverted torch and a wreath of poppies among his clustering locks.
+Immortality, crowned with never-fading flowers, looks upwards with a
+smile of triumph, and holds in one hand his blazing torch. It is a
+beautiful idea, and Thorwaldsen has made the marble eloquent with
+feeling.
+
+The inside of the square formed by the Arcades and the New Residence, is
+filled with noble old trees, which in summer make a leafy roof over the
+pleasant walks. In the middle, stands a grotto, ornamented with rough
+pebbles and shells, and only needing a fountain to make it a perfect
+hall of Neptune. Passing through the northern Arcade, one comes into the
+magnificent park, called the English Garden, which extends more than
+four miles along the bank of the Isar, several branches of whose milky
+current wander through it, and form one or two pretty cascades. It is a
+beautiful alternation of forest and meadow, and has all the richness and
+garden-like luxuriance of English scenery. Winding walks lead along the
+Isar, or through the wood of venerable oaks, and sometimes a lawn of
+half a mile in length, with a picturesque temple at its further end,
+comes in sight through the trees. I was better pleased with this park
+than with the Prater in Vienna. Its paths are always filled with persons
+enjoying the change from the dusty streets to its quiet and cool
+retirement.
+
+The New Residence is not only one of the wonders of Munich, but of the
+world. Although commenced in 1826 and carried on constantly since that
+time by a number of architects, sculptors and painters, it is not yet
+finished; if art were not inexhaustible it would be difficult to imagine
+what more could be added. The north side of the Max Joseph Platz is
+taken up by its front of four hundred and thirty feet, which was nine
+years in building, under the direction of the architect Klenze. The
+exterior is copied after the Palazzo Pitti, in Florence. The building is
+of light brown sandstone, and combines an elegance and even splendor,
+with the most chaste and classic style. The northern front, which faces
+on the Royal Garden, is now nearly finished. It has the enormous length
+of eight hundred feet; in the middle is a portico of ten Ionic columns;
+instead of supporting a triangular facade, each pillar stands separate
+and bears a marble statue from the chisel of Schwanthaler.
+
+The interior of the building does not disappoint the promise of the
+outside. It is open every afternoon in the absence of the king, for the
+inspection of visitors; fortunately for us, his majesty is at present on
+a journey through his provinces on the Rhine. We went early to the
+waiting hall, where several travelers were already assembled, and at
+four o'clock, were admitted into the newer part of the palace,
+containing the throne hall, ballroom, etc. On entering the first hall,
+designed for the lackeys and royal servants, we were all obliged to
+thrust our feet into cloth slippers to walk over the polished mosaic
+floor. The walls are of scagliola marble and the ceilings ornamented
+brilliantly in fresco. The second hall, also for servants, gives tokens
+of increasing splendor in the richer decorations of the walls and the
+more elaborate mosaic of the floor. We next entered the receiving
+saloon, in which the Court Marshal receives the guests. The ceiling is
+of arabesque sculpture, profusely painted and gilded. Passing through a
+little cabinet, we entered the great dancing saloon. Its floor is the
+richest mosaic of wood of different colors, the sides are of polished
+scagliola marble, and the ceiling a dazzling mixture of sculpture,
+painting and gold. At one end is a gallery for the orchestra, supported
+by six columns of variegated marble, above which are six dancing nymphs,
+painted so beautifully that they appear like living creatures. Every
+decoration which could be devised has been used to heighten its
+splendor, and the artists appear to have made free use of the Arabian
+Nights in forming the plan.
+
+We entered next two smaller rooms containing the portraits of beautiful
+women, principally from the German nobility. I gave the preference to
+the daughter of Marco Bozzaris, now maid of honor to the Queen of
+Greece. She had a wild dark eye, a beautiful proud lip, and her rich
+black hair rolled in glossy waves down her neck from under the red
+Grecian cap stuck jauntily on the side of her head. She wore a scarf and
+close-fitting vest embroidered with gold, and there was a free, lofty
+spirit in her countenance worthy the name she bore. These pictures form
+a gallery of beauty, whose equal cannot easily be found.
+
+Returning to the dancing hall, we entered the dining saloon, also called
+the Hall of Charlemagne. Each wall has two magnificent fresco paintings
+of very large size, representing some event in the life of the great
+emperor, beginning with his anointing at St. Deny's as a boy of twelve
+years, and ending with his coronation by Leo III. A second dining
+saloon, the Hall of Barbarossa, adjoins the first. It has also eight
+frescoes as the former, representing the principal events in the life of
+Frederic Barbarossa. Then comes a _third_, called the Hapsburg Hall,
+with four grand paintings from the life of Rudolph of Hapsburg, and a
+triumphal procession along the frieze, showing the improvement in the
+arts and sciences which was accomplished under his reign. The drawing,
+composition and rich tone of coloring of these glorious frescoes, are
+scarcely excelled by any in existence.
+
+Finally we entered the Hall of the Throne. Here the encaustic
+decoration, so plentifully employed in the other rooms, is dropped, and
+an effect even more brilliant obtained by the united use of marble and
+gold. Picture a long hall with a floor of polished marble, on each side
+twelve columns of white marble with gilded capitals, between which stand
+colossal statues of gold. At the other end is the throne of gold and
+crimson, with gorgeous hangings of crimson velvet. The twelve statues in
+the hall are called the "Wittlesbach Ancestors," and represent renowned
+members of the house of Wittlesbach from which the present family of
+Bavaria is descended. They were cast in bronze by Stiglmaier, after the
+models of Schwanthaler, and then completely covered with a coating of
+gold, so that they resemble solid golden statues. The value of the
+precious metal on each one is about $3,000, as they arc nine feet in
+height! What would the politicians who made such an outcry about the new
+papering of the President's House, say to such a palace as this?
+
+Going back to the starting point, we went to the other wing of the
+edifice and joined the party who came to visit the apartments of the
+king. Here we were led through two or three rooms, appropriated to the
+servants, with all the splendor of marble doors, floors of mosaic, and
+frescoed ceilings. From these we entered the king's dwelling. The
+entrance halls are decorated with paintings of the Argonauts and
+illustrations of the Hymns of Hesiod, after drawings by Schwanthaler.
+Then came the Service Hall, containing frescoes illustrating Homer, by
+Schnorr, and the Throne Hall, with Schwanthaler's bas-reliefs of the
+songs of Pindar, on a ground of gold. The throne stands under a splendid
+crimson canopy. The Dining Room with its floor of polished wood is
+filled with illustrations of the songs of Anacreon. To these follow the
+Dressing Room, with twenty-seven illustrations of the Comedies of
+Aristophanes, and the sleeping chamber with frescoes after the poems of
+Theocritus, and two beautiful bas-reliefs representing angels bearing
+children to Heaven. It is no wonder the King writes poetry, when he
+breathes, eats, and even sleeps in an atmosphere of it.
+
+We were shown the rooms for the private parties of the Court, the
+school-room, with scenes from the life of the Ancient Greeks, and then
+conducted down the marble staircases to the lower story, which is to
+contain Schnorr's magnificent frescoes of the Nibelungen Lied--the old
+German Iliad. Two halls are at present finished; the first has the
+figure of the author, Heinrich von Ofterdingen, and those of
+Chriemhilde, Brunhilde, Siegfried and the other personages of the poem;
+and the second, called the Marriage Hall, contains the marriage of
+Chriemhilde and Siegfried, and the triumphal entry of Siegfried into
+Worms.
+
+Adjoining the new residence on the east, is the Royal Chapel, lately
+finished in the Byzantine style, under the direction of Klenze. To enter
+it, is like stepping into a casket of jewels. The sides are formed by a
+double range of arches, the windows being so far back as to be almost
+out of sight, so that the eye falls on nothing but painting and gold.
+The lower row of arches is of alternate green and purple marble,
+beautifully polished; but the upper, as well as the small chancel behind
+the high altar, is entirely covered with fresco paintings on a ground of
+gold! The richness and splendor of the whole church is absolutely
+incredible. Even after one has seen the Ludwig's Kirche and the
+Residence itself, it excites astonishment. I was surprised, however, to
+find at this age, a painting on the wall behind the altar, representing
+the Almighty. It seems as if man's presumption has no end. The simple
+altar of Athens, with its inscription "_to the Unknown God_," was more
+truly reverent than this. As I sat down awhile under one of the arches,
+a poor woman came in, carrying a heavy basket, and going to the steps
+which led up to the altar, knelt down and prayed, spreading her arms out
+in the form of a cross. Then, after stooping and kissing the first step,
+she dragged herself with her knees upon it, and commenced praying again
+with outspread arms. This she continued till she had climbed them all,
+which occupied some time; then, as if she had fulfilled a vow she turned
+and departed. She was undoubtedly sincere in her piety, but it made me
+sad to look upon such deluded superstition.
+
+We visited yesterday morning the Glyptothek, the finest collection of
+ancient sculpture except that in the British Museum, I have yet seen,
+and perhaps elsewhere unsurpassed, north of the Alps. The building which
+was finished by Klenze, in 1830, has an Ionic portico of white marble,
+with a group of allegorical figures, representing Sculpture and the
+kindred arts. On each side of the portico, there are three niches in the
+front, containing on one side, Pericles, Phidias and Vulcan; on the
+other, Hadrian, Prometheus and Daedalus. The whole building forms a
+hollow square, and is lighted entirely from the inner side. There are in
+all twelve halls, each containing the remains of a particular era in the
+art, and arranged according to time, so that, beginning with the clumsy
+productions of the ancient Egyptians, one passes through the different
+stages of Grecian art, afterwards that of Rome, and finally ends with
+the works of our own times--the almost Grecian perfection of Thorwaldsen
+and Canova. These halls are worthy to hold such treasures, and what more
+could be said of them? The floors are of marble mosaic, the sides of
+green or purple scagliola, and the vaulted ceilings covered with raised
+ornaments on a ground of gold. No two are alike in color and decoration,
+and yet there is a unity of taste and design in the whole, which renders
+the variety delightful.
+
+From the Egyptian Hall, we enter one containing the oldest remains of
+Grecian sculpture, before the artists won power to _mould_ the marble to
+their conceptions. Then follow the celebrated Egina marbles, from the
+temple of Jupiter Panhellenius, on the island of Egina. They formerly
+stood in the two porticoes, the one group representing the fight for the
+body of Laomedon, the other the struggle for the dead Patroclus. The
+parts wanting have been admirably restored by Thorwaldsen. They form
+almost the only existing specimens of the Eginetan school. Passing
+through the Apollo Hall, we enter the large hall of Bacchus, in which
+the progress of the art is distinctly apparent. A satyr, lying asleep on
+a goat-skin which he has thrown over a rock, is believed to be the work
+of Praxiteles. The relaxation of the figure and perfect repose of every
+limb, is wonderful. The countenance has traits of individuality which
+led me to think it might have been a portrait, perhaps of some rude
+country swain.
+
+In the Hall of Niobe, which follows, is one of the most perfect works
+that ever grew into life under a sculptor's chisel. Mutilated as it is,
+without head and arms, I never saw a more expressive figure. Ilioneus,
+the son of Niobe, is represented as kneeling, apparently in the moment
+in which Apollo raises his arrow, and there is an imploring supplication
+in his attitude which is touching in the highest degree. His beautiful
+young limbs seem to shrink involuntarily from the deadly shaft; there is
+an expression of prayer, almost of agony, in the position of his body.
+It should be left untouched. No head could be added, which would equal
+that one pictures to himself, while gazing upon it.
+
+The Pinacothek is a magnificent building of yellow sandstone, five
+hundred and thirty feet long, containing thirteen hundred pictures,
+selected with great care from the whole private collection of the king,
+which amounts to nine thousand. Above the cornice on the southern side,
+stand twenty-five colossal statues of celebrated painters, by
+Schwanthaler. As we approached, the tall bronze door was opened by a
+servant in the Bavarian livery, whose size harmonized so well with the
+giant proportions of the building, that, until I stood beside him and
+could mark the contrast, I did not notice his enormous frame. I saw then
+that he must be near eight feet high, and stout in proportion. He
+reminded me of the great "Baver of Trient," in Vienna. The Pinacothek
+contains the most complete collection of works by old German artists,
+anywhere to be found. There are in the hall of the Spanish masters, half
+a dozen of Murillo's inimitable beggar groups. It was a relief, after
+looking upon the distressingly stiff figures of the old German school,
+to view these fresh, natural countenances. One little black-eyed boy has
+just cut a slice out of a melon and turns with a full mouth to his
+companion, who is busy eating a bunch of grapes. The simple, contented
+expression on the faces of the beggars is admirable. I thought I
+detected in a beautiful child, with dark curly locks, the original of
+his celebrated Infant St. John. I was much interested in two small
+juvenile works of Raphael and his own portrait. The latter was taken
+most probably after he became known as a painter. The calm, serious
+smile which we see on his portrait as a boy, had vanished, and the thin
+features and sunken eye told of intense mental labor.
+
+One of the most remarkable buildings now in the course of erection is
+the Basilica, or Church of St. Bonifacius. It represents another form of
+the Byzantine style, a kind of double edifice, a little like a North
+River steamboat, with a two story cabin on deck. The inside is not yet
+finished, although the artists have been at work on it for six years,
+but we heard many accounts of its splendor, which is said to exceed
+anything that has been yet done in Munich. We visited to-day the
+atelier of Sohwanthaler, which is always open to strangers. The sculptor
+himself was not there, but five or six of his scholars were at work in
+the rooms, building up clay statues after his models and working out
+bas-reliefs in frames. We saw here the original models of the statues on
+the Pinacothek, and the "Wittelsbach Ancestors" in the Throne Hall of
+the palace. I was glad also to find a miniature copy in plaster, of the
+Herrmannsschlacht, or combat of the old German hero, Herrmann, with the
+Romans, from the frieze of the Walhalla, at Ratisbon. It is one of
+Schwanthaler's best works. Herrmann, as the middle figure, is
+represented in fight with the Roman general; behind him the warriors are
+rushing on, and an old bard is striking the chords of his harp to
+inspire them, while women bind up the wounds of the fallen. The Roman
+soldiers on the other side are about turning in confusion to fly. It is
+a lofty and appropriate subject for the portico of a building containing
+the figures of the men who have labored for the glory and elevation of
+their Fatherland.
+
+Our new-found friend came to visit us last evening and learn our
+impressions of Munich. In the course of conversation we surprised him by
+revealing the name of our country. His countenance brightened up and he
+asked us many questions about the state of society in America. In
+return, he told us something more about himself--his story was simple,
+hut it interested me. His father was a merchant, who, having been ruined
+by unlucky transactions, died, leaving a numerous family without the
+means of support. His children were obliged to commence life alone and
+unaided, which, in a country where labor is so cheap, is difficult and
+disheartening. Our friend chose the profession of a machinist, which,
+after encountering great obstacles, he succeeded in learning, and now
+supports himself as a common laborer. But his position in this respect
+prevents him from occupying that station in society for which he is
+intellectually fitted. His own words, uttered with a simple pathos which
+I can never forget, will best describe how painful this must be to a
+sensitive spirit. "I tell you thus frankly my feelings," said he,
+"because I know you will understand me. I could not say this to any of
+my associates, for they would not comprehend it, and they would say I
+am proud, because I cannot bring my soul down to their level. I am poor
+and have but little to subsist upon; but the spirit has needs as well as
+the body, and I feel it a duty and a desire to satisfy them also. When I
+am with any of my common fellow-laborers, what do I gain from them?
+Their leisure hours are spent in drinking and idle amusement, and I
+cannot join them, for I have no sympathy with such things. To mingle
+with those above me, would be impossible. Therefore I am alone--I have
+no associate!"
+
+I have gone into minute, and it may be, tiresome detail, in describing
+some of the edifices of Munich, because it seemed the only way in which
+I could give an idea of their wonderful beauty. It is true that in
+copying after the manner of the daguerreotype, there is danger of
+imitating its _dullness_ also, but I trust to the glitter of gold and
+rich paintings, for a little brightness in the picture. We leave
+to-morrow morning, having received the sum written for, which, to our
+surprise, will be barely sufficient to enable us to reach Heidelberg.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+THROUGH WURTEMBERG TO HEIDELBERG.
+
+
+We left Munich in the morning train for Augsburg. Between the two cities
+extends a vast unbroken plain, exceedingly barren and monotonous. Here
+and there is a little scrubby woodland, and sometimes we passed over a
+muddy stream which came down from the Alps. The land is not more than
+half-cultivated, and the villages are small and poor. We saw many of the
+peasants at their stations, in their gay Sunday dresses; the women wore
+short gowns with laced boddices, of gay colors, and little caps on the
+top of their heads, with streamers of ribbons three feet long. After two
+hours' ride, we saw the tall towers of Augsburg, and alighted on the
+outside of the wall. The deep moat which surrounds the city, is all
+grown over with velvet turf, the towers and bastions are empty and
+desolate, and we passed unchallenged under the gloomy archway.
+Immediately on entering the city, signs of its ancient splendor are
+apparent. The houses are old, many of them with quaint, elaborately
+carved ornaments, and often covered with fresco paintings. These
+generally represent some scene from the Bible history, encircled with
+arabesque borders, and pious maxims in illuminated scrolls. We went into
+the old _Rathhaus_, whose golden hall still speaks of the days of
+Augsburg's pride. I saw in the basement a bronze eagle, weighing sixteen
+tons, with an inscription on the pedestal stating that it was cast in
+1606, and formerly stood on the top of an old public building, since
+torn down. In front of the Rathhaus is a fine bronze fountain, with a
+number of figures of angels and tritons.
+
+The same afternoon, we left Augsburg for Ulm. Long, low ranges of hills,
+running from the Danube, stretched far across the country, and between
+them lay many rich, green valleys. We passed, occasionally, large
+villages, perhaps as old as the times of the crusaders, and looking
+quite pastoral and romantic from the outside; but we were always glad
+when we had gone through them and into the _clean_ country again. The
+afternoon of the second day we came in sight of the fertile plain of the
+Danube; far, far to the right lay the field of Blenheim, where
+Marlborough and the Prince Eugene conquered the united French and
+Bavarian forces and decided the war of the Spanish succession.
+
+We determined to reach Ulm the same evening, although a heavy storm was
+raging along the distant hills of Wurtemberg. The dark mass of the
+mighty Cathedral rose in the distance through the twilight, a perfect
+mountain in comparison with the little houses clustered around its base.
+We reached New Ulm, finally, and passed over the heavy wooden bridge
+into Wurtemberg, unchallenged for passport or baggage. I thought I could
+feel a difference in the atmosphere when I reached the other side--it
+breathed of the freer spirit that ruled through the land. The Danube is
+here a little muddy stream, hardly as large as my native Brandywine, and
+a traveler who sees it at Ulm for the first time would most probably be
+disappointed. It is not until below Vienna, where it receives the Drave
+and Save, that it becomes a river of more than ordinary magnitude.
+
+We entered Ulm, as I have already said. It was after nine o'clock,
+nearly dark, and beginning to rain; we had walked thirty-three miles,
+and being of course tired, we entered the first inn we saw. But, to our
+consternation, it was impossible to get a place--the fair had just
+commenced, and the inn was full to the roof. We must needs hunt another,
+and then another, and yet another, with like fate at each. It grew quite
+dark, the rain increased, and we were unacquainted with the city. I grew
+desperate, and at last, when we had stopped at the _eighth_ inn in vain,
+I told the people we _must_ have lodgings, for it was impossible we
+should walk around in the rain all night. Some of the guests interfering
+in our favor, the hostess finally sent a servant with us to the first
+hotel in the city. I told him on the way we were Americans, strangers in
+Ulm, and not accustomed to sleeping in the streets. "Well," said he, "I
+will go before, and recommend you to the landlord of the Golden Wheel."
+I knew not what magic he used, but in half an hour our weary limbs were
+stretched in delightful repose and we thanked Heaven more gratefully
+than ever before, for the blessing of a good bed.
+
+Next morning we ran about through the booths of the fair, and gazed up
+from all sides at the vast Cathedral. The style is the simplest and
+grandest Gothic; but the tower, which, to harmonize, with the body of
+the church, should be 520 feet high, was left unfinished at the height
+of 234 feet. I could not enough admire the grandeur of proportion in the
+great building. It seemed singular that the little race of animals who
+swarmed around its base, should have the power to conceive or execute
+such a gigantic work.
+
+There is an immense fortification now in progress of erection behind
+Ulm. It leans on the side of the hill which rises from the Danube, and
+must be nearly a mile in length. Hundreds of laborers are at work, and
+from the appearance of the foundations, many years will be required to
+finish it. The lofty mountain-plain which we afterwards passed over, for
+eight or ten miles, divides the waters of the Danube from the Rhine.
+From the heights above Ulm, we bade adieu to the far, misty Alps, till
+we shall see them again in Switzerland. Late in the afternoon, we came
+to a lovely green valley, sunk as it were in the earth. Around us, on
+all sides, stretched the bare, lofty plains; but the valley lay below,
+its steep sides covered with the richest forest. At the bottom flowed
+the Fils. Our road led directly down the side; the glen spread out
+broader as we advanced, and smiling villages stood beside the stream. A
+short distance before reaching Esslingen, we came upon the banks of the
+Neckar, whom we hailed as an old acquaintance, although much smaller
+here in his mountain home than when he sweeps the walls of Heidelberg.
+
+Delightful Wurtemberg! Shall I ever forget thy lovely green vales,
+watered by the classic current of the Neckar, or thy lofty hills covered
+with vineyards and waving forests, and crowned with heavy ruins, that
+tell many a tale of Barbarossa and Duke Ulric and Goetz with the Iron
+Hand! No--were even the Suabian hills less beautiful--were the Suabian
+people less faithful and kind and true, still I would love the land for
+the great spirits it has produced; still would the birth-place of
+Frederick Schiller, of Uhland and Hauff, be sacred. I do not wonder
+Wurtemberg can boast such glorious poets. Its lovely landscapes seem to
+have been made expressly for the cradle of genius; amid no other scenes
+could his infant mind catch a more benign inspiration. Even the common
+people are deeply imbued with a poetic feeling. We saw it in their
+friendly greetings and open, expressive countenances; it is shown in
+their love for their beautiful homes and the rapture and reverence with
+which they speak of their country's bards. No river in the world, equal
+to the Neckar in size, flows for its whole course through more
+delightful scenery, or among kinder and happier people.
+
+After leaving Esslingen, we followed its banks for some time, at the
+foot of an amphitheatre of hills, covered to the very summit, as far as
+the eye could reach, with vineyards. The morning was cloudy, and white
+mist-wreaths hung along the sides. We took a road that led over the top
+of a range, and on arriving at the summit, saw all at once the city of
+Stuttgard, lying beneath our feet. It lay in a basin encircled by
+mountains, with a narrow valley opening to the south-east, and running
+off between the hills to the Neckar. The situation of the city is one of
+wonderful beauty, and even after seeing Salzburg, I could not but be
+charmed with it.
+
+We descended the mountain and entered it. I inquired immediately for the
+monument of Schiller, for there was little else in the city I cared to
+see. We had become tired of running about cities, hunting this or that
+old church or palace, which perhaps was nothing when found. Stuttgard
+has neither galleries, ruins, nor splendid buildings, to interest the
+traveler; but it has Thorwaldsen's statue of Schiller, calling up at the
+same time its shame and its glory. For the poet in his youth was obliged
+to fly from this very same city--from home and friends, to escape the
+persecution of the government on account of the free sentiments
+expressed in his early works. We found the statue, without much
+difficulty. It stands in the Schloss Platz, at the southern end of the
+city, in an unfavorable situation, surrounded by dark old buildings. It
+should rather be placed aloft on a mountain summit, in the pure, free
+air of heaven, braving the storm and the tempest. The figure is fourteen
+feet high and stands on a pedestal of bronze, with bas reliefs on the
+four sides. The head, crowned with a laurel wreath, is inclined as if in
+deep thought, and all the earnest soul is seen in the countenance.
+Thorwaldsen has copied so truly the expression of poetic reverie, that I
+waited, half-expecting he would raise his head and look around him.
+
+As we passed out the eastern gate, the workmen were busy near the city,
+making an embankment for the new railroad to Heilbroun, and we were
+obliged to wade through half a mile of mud. Finally the road turned to
+the left over a mountain, and we walked on in the rain, regardless of
+the touching entreaties of an omnibus-driver, who felt a great concern
+for our health, especially as he had two empty seats. There is a
+peculiarly agreeable sensation in walking in a storm, when the winds
+sweep by and the rain-drops rattle through the trees, and the dark
+clouds roll past just above one's head. It gives a dash of sublimity to
+the most common scene. If the rain did not finally soak through the
+boots, and if one did not lose every romantic feeling in wet garments, I
+would prefer storm to sunshine, for visiting some kinds of scenery. You
+remember, we saw the North Coast of Ireland and the Giant's Causeway in
+stormy weather, at the expense of being completely drenched, it is true;
+but our recollections of that wild day's journey are as vivid as any
+event of our lives--and the name of the Giant's Causeway calls up a
+series of pictures as terribly sublime as any we would wish to behold.
+
+The rain at last did come down a little too hard for comfort, and we
+were quite willing to take shelter when we reached Ludwigsburg. This is
+here called a new city, having been laid out with broad streets and
+spacious squares, about a century ago, and is now about the size of our
+five-year old city of Milwaukie! It is the chief military station of
+Wurtemberg, and has a splendid castle and gardens, belonging to the
+king. A few miles to the eastward is the little village where Schiller
+was born. It is said the house where his parents lived is still
+standing.
+
+It was not the weather _alone_, which prevented our making a pilgrimage
+to it, nor was it _alone_ a peculiar fondness for rain which induced us
+to persist in walking in the storm. Our feeble pockets, if they could
+have raised an audible jingle, would have told another tale. Our scanty
+allowance was dwindling rapidly away, in spite of a desperate system of
+economy. We left Ulm with a florin and a half apiece--about sixty
+cents--to walk to Heidelberg, a distance of 110 miles. It was the
+evening of the third day, and this was almost exhausted. As soon
+therefore as the rain slackened a little, we started again, although the
+roads were very bad. At Betigheim, where we passed the night, the people
+told us of a much nearer and more beautiful road, passing through the
+Zabergau, a region fumed for its fertility and pastoral beauty. At the
+inn we were charged higher than usual for a bed, so that we had but
+thirteen kreutzers to start with in the morning. Our fare that day was a
+little bread and water; we walked steadily on, but owing to the wet
+roads, made only thirty miles.
+
+A more delightful region than the Zabergau I have seldom passed through.
+The fields were full of rich, heavy grain, and the trees had a
+luxuriance of foliage that reminded me of the vale of the Jed, in
+Scotland. Without a single hedge or fence, stood the long sweep of
+hills, covered with waving fields of grain, except where they were steep
+and rocky, and the vineyard terraces rose one above another. Sometimes a
+fine old forest grew along the summit, like a mane waving back from the
+curved neck of a steed, and white villages lay coiled in the valleys
+between. A line of blue mountains always closed the vista, on looking
+down one of these long valleys; occasionally a ruined castle with donjon
+tower, was seen on a mountain at the side, making the picture complete.
+As we lay sometimes on the hillside and looked on one of those sweet
+vales, we were astonished at its Arcadian beauty. The meadows were as
+smooth as a mirror, and there seemed to be scarcely a grass-blade out of
+place. The streams wound through ("_snaked_ themselves through," is the
+German expression,) with a subdued ripple, as if they feared to displace
+a pebble, and the great ash trees which stood here and there, had lined
+each of their leaves as carefully with silver and turned them as
+gracefully to the wind, us if they were making their toilettes for the
+gala-day of nature.
+
+That evening brought us into the dominions of Baden, within five hours'
+walk of Heidelberg. At the humblest inn in an humble village, we found
+a bed which we could barely pay for, leaving a kreutzer or two for
+breakfast. Soon after starting the next morning, the distant Kaiserstuhl
+suddenly emerged from the mist, with the high tower on its summit, where
+nearly ten months before, we sat and looked at the summits of the Vosges
+in France, with all the excitement one feels on entering a foreign land.
+_Now_, the scenery around that same Kaiserstuhl was nearly as familiar
+to us as that of our own homes. Entering the hills again, we knew by the
+blue mountains of the Odenwald, that we were approaching the Neckar. At
+length we reached the last height. The town of Neckargemund lay before
+us on the steep hillside, and the mountains on either side were scarred
+with quarries of the rich red sandstone, so much used in building. The
+blocks are hewn out, high up on the mountain side, and then sent rolling
+and sliding down to the river, where they are laden in boats and floated
+down with the current to the distant cities of the Rhine.
+
+We were rejoiced on turning around the corner of a mountain, to see on
+the opposite side of the river, the road winding up through the forests,
+where last fall our Heidelberg friends accompanied us, as we set out to
+walk to Frankfort, through the Odenwald. Many causes combined to render
+it a glad scene to us. We were going to meet our comrade again, after a
+separation of months; we were bringing an eventful journey to its close;
+and finally, we were weak and worn out from fasting and the labor of
+walking in the rain. A little further we saw Kloster Neuburg, formerly
+an old convent, and remembered how we used to look at it every day from
+the windows of our room on the Neckar; but we shouted aloud, when we saw
+at last the well-known bridge spanning the river, and the glorious old
+castle lifting its shattered towers from the side of the mountain above
+us. I always felt a strong attachment to this matchless ruin, and as I
+beheld it again, with the warm sunshine falling through each broken
+arch, the wild ivy draping its desolate chambers, it seemed to smile on
+me like the face of a friend, and I confessed I had seen many a grander
+scene, but few that would cling to the memory so familiarly.
+
+While we were in Heidelberg, a student was buried by torch-light. This
+is done when particular honor is shown to the memory of the departed
+brother. They assembled at dark in the University Square, each with a
+blazing pine torch three feet long, and formed into a double line.
+Between the files walked at short distances an officer, who, with his
+sword, broad lace collar, and the black and white plumes in his cap,
+looked like a cavalier of the olden time. Persons with torches walked on
+each side of the hearse, and the band played a lament so deeply
+mournful, that the scene, notwithstanding its singularity, was very sad
+and touching. The thick smoke from the torches filled the air, and a
+lurid, red light was cast over the hushed crowds in the streets and
+streamed into the dark alleys. The Hauptstrasse was filled with two
+lines of flame, as the procession passed down it; when they reached the
+extremity of the city, the hearse went on, attended with torch-bearers,
+to the Cemetery, some distance further, and the students turned back,
+running and whirling their torches in mingled confusion. The music
+struck up a merry march, and in the smoke and red glare, they looked
+like a company of mad demons. The presence of death awed them to silence
+for awhile, but as soon as it had left them, they turned relieved to
+revel again and thought no more of the lesson. It gave me a painful
+feeling to see them rushing so wildly and disorderly back. They
+assembled again in the square, and tossing their torches up into the air
+cast them blazing into a pile; while the flame and black smoke rose in a
+column into the air, they sang in solemn chorus, the song "_Gaudeamus
+igitur_," with which they close all public assemblies.
+
+I shall neglect telling how we left Heidelberg, and walked along the
+Bergstrasse again, for the sixth time; how we passed the old Melibochus
+and through the quiet city of Darmstadt; how we watched the blue summits
+of the Taunus rising higher and higher over the plain, as a new land
+rises from the sea, and finally, how we reached at last the old
+watch-tower and looked down on the valley of the Main, clothed in the
+bloom and verdure of summer, with the houses and spires of Frankfort in
+the middle of the well-known panorama. We again took possession of our
+old rooms, and having to wait for a remittance from America, as well as
+a more suitable season for visiting Italy, we sat down to a month's rest
+and study.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+FREIBURG AND THE BLACK FOREST.
+
+
+_Frankfort, July 29, 1845._--It would be ingratitude towards the old
+city in which I have passed so many pleasant and profitable hours, to
+leave it, perhaps forever, without a few words of farewell. How often
+will the old bridge, with its view up the Main, over the houses of
+Oberrad to the far mountains of the Odenwald, rise freshly and
+distinctly in memory, when I shall have been long absent from them! How
+often will I hear in fancy as I now do in reality, the heavy tread of
+passers-by on the rough pavement below, and the deep bell of the
+Cathedral, chiming the swift hours, with a hollow tone that seems to
+warn me, rightly to employ them! Even this old room, with its bare
+walls, little table and chairs, which I have thought and studied in so
+long, that it seems difficult to think and study anywhere else, will
+crowd out of memory images of many a loftier scene. May I but preserve
+for the future the hope and trust which have cheered and sustained me
+here, through the sorrow of absence and the anxiety of uncertain toil!
+It is growing towards midnight and I think of many a night when I sat
+here at this hour, answering the spirit-greeting which friends sent me
+at sunset over the sea. All this has now an end. I must begin a new
+wandering, and perhaps in ten days more I shall have a better place for
+thought, among the mountain-chambers of the everlasting Alps. I look
+forward to the journey with romantic, enthusiastic anticipation, for
+afar in the silvery distance, stand the Coliseum and St. Peter's,
+Vesuvius and the lovely Naples. Farewell, friends who have so long given
+us a home!
+
+_Aug. 9._--The airy, basket-work tower of the Freiburg Minster rises
+before me over the black roofs of the houses, and behind stand the
+gloomy, pine-covered mountains of the Black Forest. Of our walk to
+Heidelberg over the oft-trodden Bergstrasse, I shall say nothing, nor
+how we climbed the Kaiserstuhl again, and danced around on the top of
+the tower for one hour, amid cloud and mist, while there was sunshine
+below in the valley of the Neckar. I left Heidelberg yesterday morning
+in the _stehwagen_ for Carlsruhe. The engine whistled, the train
+started, and although I kept my eyes steadily fixed on the spire of the
+Hauptkirche, three minutes hid it, and all the rest of the city from
+sight. Carlsruhe, the capital of Baden, which we reached in an hour and
+a half, is unanimously pronounced by travelers to be a most dull and
+tiresome city. From a glance I had through one of the gates, I should
+think its reputation was not undeserved. Even its name, in German,
+signifies a place of repose.
+
+I stopped at Kork, on the branch road leading to Strasbourg, to meet a
+German-American about to return to my home in Pennsylvania, where he had
+lived for some time. I inquired according to the direction he had sent
+me to Frankfort, but he was not there; however, an old man, finding who
+I was, said Herr Otto had directed him to go with me to Hesselhurst, a
+village four or five miles off, where he would meet me. So we set off
+immediately over the plain, and reached the village at dusk.
+
+At the little inn, were several of the farmers of the neighborhood, who
+seemed to consider it as something extraordinary to see a real, live,
+native-born American. They overwhelmed me with questions about the state
+of our country, its government, etc. The hostess brought me a supper of
+fried eggs and _wurst_, while they gathered around the table and began a
+real category in the dialect of the country, which is difficult to
+understand. I gave them the best information I could about our mode of
+farming, the different kinds of produce raised, and the prices paid to
+laborers; one honest old man cried out, on my saying I had worked on a
+farm, "Ah! little brother, give me your hand!" which he shook most
+heartily. I told them also something about our government, and the
+militia system, so different from the conscription of Europe, when a
+farmer becoming quite warm in our favor, said to the others with an air
+of the greatest decision: "One American is better than twenty Germans!"
+What particularly amused me, was, that although I spoke German with
+them, they seemed to think I did not understand what they said among
+one another, and therefore commented very freely over my appearance. I
+suppose they had the idea that we were a rude, savage race, for I
+overheard one say: "One sees, nevertheless, that he has been educated!"
+Their honest, unsophisticated mode of expression was very interesting to
+me, and we talked together till a late hour.
+
+My friend arrived at three o'clock the next morning, and after two or
+three hours' talk about _home_, and the friends whom he expected to see
+so much sooner than I, a young farmer drove me in his wagon to
+Offenburg, a small city at the foot of the Black Forest, where I took
+the cars for Freiburg. The scenery between the two places is grand. The
+broad mountains of the Black Forest rear their fronts on the east, and
+the blue lines of the French Vosges meet the clouds on the west. The
+night before, in walking over the plain, I saw distinctly the whole of
+the Strasbourg Minster, whose spire is the highest in Europe, being four
+hundred and ninety feet, or but twenty-five feet lower than the Pyramid
+of Cheops.
+
+I visited the Minster of Freiburg yesterday morning. It is a grand,
+gloomy old pile, dating from the eleventh century--one of the few Gothic
+churches in Germany that have ever been completed. The tower of
+beautiful fretwork, rises to the height of three hundred and ninety-five
+feet, and the body of the church including the choir, is of the same
+length. The interior is solemn and majestic. Windows stained in colors
+that burn, let in a "dim, religious light" which accords very well with
+the dark old pillars and antique shrines. In two of the chapels there
+are some fine altar-pieces by Holbein and one of his scholars; and a
+very large crucifix of silver and ebony, which is kept with great care,
+is said to have been carried with the Crusaders to the Holy Land. This
+morning was the great market-day, and the peasantry of the Black Forest
+came down from the mountains to dispose of their produce. The square
+around the Minster was filled with them, and the singular costume of the
+women gave the scene quite a strange appearance. Many of them wore
+bright red head-dresses and shawls, others had high-crowned hats of
+yellow oil-cloth; the young girls wore their hair in long plaits,
+reaching nearly to their feet. They brought grain, butter and cheese
+and a great deal of fine fruit to sell--I bought some of the wild,
+aromatic plums of the country, at the rate of thirty for a cent.
+
+The railroad has only been open to Freiburg within a few days, and is
+consequently an object of great curiosity to the peasants, many of whom
+never saw the like before. They throng around the station at the
+departure of the train and watch with great interest the operations of
+getting up the steam and starting. One of the scenes that grated most
+harshly on my feelings, was seeing yesterday a company of women employed
+on the unfinished part of the road. They were digging and shoveling away
+in the rain, nearly up to their knees in mud and clay!
+
+I called at the Institute for the Blind, under the direction of Mr.
+Muller. He showed me some beautiful basket and woven work by his pupils;
+the accuracy and skill with which everything was made astonished me.
+They read with amazing facility from the raised type, and by means of
+frames are taught to write with ease and distinctness. In music, that
+great solace of the blind, they most excelled. They sang with an
+expression so true and touching, that it was a delight to listen. The
+system of instruction adopted appears to be most excellent, and gives to
+the blind nearly every advantage which their more fortunate brethren
+enjoy.
+
+I am indebted to Mr. Muller, to whom I was introduced by an acquaintance
+with his friend, Dr. Rivinus, of West Chester, Pa., for many kind
+attentions. He went with us this afternoon to the Jagerhaus, on a
+mountain near, where we had a very fine view of the city and its great
+black Minster, with the plain of the Briesgau, broken only by the
+Kaiserstuhl, a long mountain near the Rhine, whose golden stream
+glittered in the distance. On climbing the Schlossberg, an eminence near
+the city, we met the Grand Duchess Stephanie, a natural daughter of
+Napoleon, as I have heard, and now generally believed to be the mother
+of Caspar Hauser. Through a work lately published, which has since been
+suppressed, the whole history has come to light. Caspar Hauser was the
+lineal descendant of the house of Baden, and heir to the throne. The
+guilt of his imprisonment and murder rests, therefore, upon the present
+reigning family.
+
+A chapel on the Schonberg, the mountain opposite, was pointed out as
+the spot where Louis XV., if I mistake not, usually stood while his army
+besieged Freiburg. A German officer having sent a ball to this chapel
+which struck the wall just above the king's head, the latter sent word
+that if they did not cease firing he would point his cannons at the
+Minster. The citizens thought it best to spare the monarch and save the
+cathedral.
+
+We attended a meeting of the _Walhalla_, or society of the students who
+visit the Freiburg University. They pleased me better than the
+enthusiastic but somewhat unrestrained Burschenschaft of Heidelberg.
+Here, they have abolished duelling; the greatest friendship prevails
+among the students, and they have not that contempt for every thing
+_philister_, or unconnected with their studies, which prevails in other
+universities. Many respectable citizens attend their meetings; to-night
+there was a member of the Chamber of Deputies at Carlsruhe present, who
+delivered two speeches, in which every third word was "freedom!" An
+address was delivered also by a merchant of the city, in which he made a
+play upon the word _spear_, which signifies also in a cant sense,
+_citizen_, find seemed to indicate that both would do their work in the
+good cause. He was loudly applauded. Their song of union was by Charles
+Follen, and the students were much pleased when I told them how he was
+honored and esteemed in America.
+
+After two days, delightfully spent, we shouldered our knapsacks and left
+Freiburg. The beautiful valley, at the mouth of which the city lies,
+runs like an avenue for seven miles directly into the mountains, and
+presents in its loveliness such a contrast to the horrid defile which
+follows, that it almost deserves the name which has been given to a
+little inn at its head--the "Kingdom of Heaven." The mountains of the
+Black Forest enclose it on each side like walls, covered to the summit
+with luxuriant woods, and in some places with those forests of gloomy
+pine which give this region its name. After traversing its whole length,
+just before plunging into the mountain-depths, the traveler rarely meets
+with a finer picture than that which, on looking back, he sees framed
+between the hills at the other end. Freiburg looks around the foot of
+one of the heights, with the spire of her cathedral peeping above the
+top, while the French Vosges grew dim in the far perspective.
+
+The road now enters a wild, narrow valley, which grows smaller as we
+proceed. From Himmelreich, a large rude inn by the side of the green
+meadows, we enter the Hollenthal--that is, from the "Kingdom of Heaven"
+to the "Valley of Hell!" The latter place better deserves its
+appellation than the former. The road winds between precipices of black
+rock, above which the thick foliage shuts out the brightness of day and
+gives a sombre hue to the scene. A torrent foams down the chasm, and in
+one place two mighty pillars interpose to prevent all passage. The
+stream, however, has worn its way through, and the road is hewn in the
+rock by its side. This cleft is the only entrance to a valley three or
+four miles long, which lies in the very heart of the mountains. It is
+inhabited by a few woodmen and their families, and but for the road
+which passes through, would be as perfect a solitude as the Happy Valley
+of Rasselas. At the farther end, a winding road called "The Ascent,"
+leads up the steep mountain to an elevated region of country, thinly
+settled and covered with herds of cattle. The cherries which, in the
+Rhine-plain below, had long gone, were just ripe here. The people spoke
+a most barbarous dialect; they were social and friendly, for everybody
+greeted us, and sometimes, as we sat on a bank by the roadside, those
+who passed by would say "Rest thee!" or "Thrice rest!"
+
+Passing by the Titi Lake, a small body of water which was spread out
+among the hills like a sheet of ink, so deep was its Stygian hue, we
+commenced ascending a mountain. The highest peak of the Schwarzwald, the
+Feldberg, rose not far off, and on arriving at the top of this mountain,
+we saw that a half hour's walk would bring us to its summit. This was
+too great a temptation for my love of climbing heights; so with a look
+at the descending sun to calculate how much time we could spare, we set
+out. There was no path, but we pressed directly up the steep side,
+through bushes and long grass, and in a short time reached the top,
+breathless from such exertion in the thin atmosphere. The pine woods
+shut out the view to the north and east, which is said to be
+magnificent, as the mountain is about five thousand feet high. The
+wild, black peaks of the Black Forest were spread below us, and the sun
+sank through golden mist towards the Alsatian hills. Afar to the south,
+through cloud and storm, we could just trace the white outline of the
+Swiss Alps. The wind swept through the pines around, and bent the long
+yellow grass among which we sat, with a strange, mournful sound, well
+suiting the gloomy and mysterious region. It soon grew cold, the golden
+clouds settled down towards us, and we made haste to descend to the
+village of Lenzkirch before dark.
+
+Next morning we set out early, without waiting to see the trial of
+archery which was to take place among the mountain youths. Their booths
+and targets, gay with banners, stood on a green meadow beside the town.
+We walked through the Black Forest the whole forenoon. It might be owing
+to the many wild stories whose scenes are laid among these hills, but
+with me there was a peculiar feeling of solemnity pervading the whole
+region. The great pine woods are of the very darkest hue of green, and
+down their hoary, moss-floored aisles, daylight seems never to have
+shone. The air was pure and clear, and the sunshine bright, but it
+imparted no gaiety to the scenery: except the little meadows of living
+emerald which lay occasionally in the lap of a dell, the landscape wore
+a solemn and serious air. In a storm, it must be sublime.
+
+About noon, from the top of the last range of hills, we had a glorious
+view. The line of the distant Alps could be faintly traced high in the
+clouds, and all the heights between were plainly visible, from the Lake
+of Constance to the misty Jura, which flanked the Vosges of the west.
+From our lofty station we overlooked half Switzerland, and had the air
+been a little clearer, we could have seen Mont Blanc and the mountains
+of Savoy. I could not help envying the feelings of the Swiss, who, after
+long absence from their native land, first see the Alps from this road.
+If to the emotions with which I then looked on them were added the
+passionate love of home and country which a long absence creates, such
+excess of rapture would be almost too great to be borne.
+
+In the afternoon we crossed the border, and took leave of Germany with
+regret, after near a year's residence within its bounds. Still it was
+pleasant to know we were in a republic once more: the first step we took
+made us aware of the change. There was no policeman to call for our
+passports or search our baggage. It was just dark when we reached the
+hill overlooking the Rhine, on whose steep banks is perched the antique
+town of Schaffhausen. It is still walled in, with towers at regular
+intervals; the streets are wide and spacious, and the houses rendered
+extremely picturesque by the quaint projecting windows. The buildings
+are nearly all old, as we learned by the dates above the doors. At the
+inn, I met with one of the free troopers who marched against Luzerne. He
+was full of spirit, and ready to undertake another such journey. Indeed
+it is the universal opinion that the present condition of things cannot
+last much longer.
+
+We took a walk before breakfast to the Falls of the Rhine, about a mile
+and a half from Schaffhausen. I confess I was somewhat disappointed in
+them, after the glowing descriptions of travelers. The river at this
+place is little more than thirty yards wide, and the body of water,
+although issuing from the Lake of Constance, is not remarkably strong.
+For some distance above, the fall of the water is very rapid, and as it
+finally reaches the spot where, narrowed between rocks, it makes the
+grand plunge, it has acquired a great velocity. Three rocks stand in the
+middle of the current, which thunders against and around their bases,
+but cannot shake them down. These and the rocks in the bed of the
+stream, break the force of the fall, so that it descends to the bottom,
+about fifty feet below, not in one sheet, but shivered into a hundred
+leaps of snowy foam. The precipitous shores, and the tasteful little
+castle which is perched upon the steep just over the boiling spray, add
+much to its beauty, taken as a picture. As a specimen of the
+picturesque, the whole scene is perfect. I should think Trenton Falls,
+in New York, must excel these in wild, startling effect; but there is
+such a scarcity of waterfalls in this land, that the Germans go into
+raptures about them, and will hardly believe that Niagara itself
+possesses more sublimity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+PEOPLE AND PLACES IN EASTERN SWITZERLAND.
+
+
+We left Schaffhausen for Zurich, in mist and rain, and walked for some
+time along the north bank of the Rhine. We could have enjoyed the
+scenery much better, had it not been for the rain, which not only hid
+the mountains from sight, but kept us constantly half soaked. We crossed
+the rapid Rhine at Eglisau, a curious antique village, and then
+continued our way through the forests of Canton Zurich, to Bulach, with
+its groves of lindens--"those tall and stately trees, with velvet down
+upon their shining leaves, and rustic benches placed beneath their
+overhanging eaves."
+
+When we left the little village where the rain obliged us to stop for
+the night, it was clear and delightful. The farmers were out, busy at
+work, their long, straight scythes glancing through the wet grass, while
+the thick pines sparkled with thousands of dewy diamonds. The country
+was so beautiful and cheerful, that we half felt like being in America.
+The farm-houses were scattered over the country in real American style,
+and the glorious valley of the Limmat, bordered on the west by a range
+of woody hills, reminded me of some scenes in my native Pennsylvania.
+The houses were neatly and tastefully built, with little gardens around
+them--and the countenances of the people spoke of intelligence and
+independence. There was the same air of peace and prosperity which
+delighted us in the valleys of Upper Austria, with a look of freedom
+which those had not. The faces of a people are the best index to their
+condition. I could read on their brows a lofty self-respect, a
+consciousness of the liberties they enjoy, which the Germans of the
+laboring class never show. It could not be imagination, for the recent
+occurrences in Switzerland, with the many statements I heard in Germany,
+had prejudiced me somewhat against the land; and these marks of
+prosperity and freedom were as surprising as they were delightful.
+
+As we approached Zurich, the noise of employment from mills, furnaces
+and factories, came to us like familiar sounds, reminding us of the
+bustle of our home cities. The situation of the city is lovely. It lies
+at the head of the lake, and on both sides of the little river Limmat,
+whose clear green waters carry the collected meltings of the Alps to the
+Rhine. Around the lake rise lofty green hills, which, sloping gently
+back, bear on their sides hundreds of pleasant country-houses and farms,
+and the snowy Alpine range extends along the southern sky. The Limmat is
+spanned by a number of bridges, and its swift waters turn many mills
+which are built above them. From these bridges one can look out over the
+blue lake and down the thronged streets of the city on each side, whose
+bright, cheerful houses remind him of Italy.
+
+Zurich can boast of finer promenades than any other city in Switzerland.
+The old battlements are planted with trees and transformed into pleasant
+walks, which being elevated above the city, command views of its
+beautiful environs. A favorite place of resort is the Lindenhof, an
+elevated court-yard, shaded by immense trees. The fountains of water
+under them are always surrounded by washerwomen, and in the morning
+groups of merry school children may be seen tumbling over the grass. The
+teachers take them there in a body for exercise and recreation. The
+Swiss children are beautiful, bright-eyed creatures; there is scarcely
+one who does not exhibit the dawning of an active, energetic spirit. It
+may be partly attributed to the fresh, healthy climate of Switzerland,
+but I am partial enough to republics to believe that the influence of
+the Government under which they live, has also its share in producing
+the effect.
+
+There is a handsome promenade on an elevated bastion which overlooks the
+city and lakes. While enjoying the cool morning breeze and listening to
+the stir of the streets below us, we were also made aware of the social
+and friendly politeness of the people. Those who passed by, on their
+walk around the rampart, greeted us, almost with the familiarity of an
+acquaintance. Simple as was the act, we felt grateful, for it had at
+least the seeming of a friendly interest and a sympathy with the
+loneliness which the stranger sometimes feels. A school-teacher leading
+her troop of merry children on their morning walk around the bastion,
+nodded to us pleasantly and forthwith the whole company of
+chubby-cheeked rogues, looking up at us with a pleasant archness, lisped
+a "_guten morgen_" that made the hearts glad within us. I know of
+nothing that has given me a more sweet and tender delight than the
+greeting of a little child, who, leaving his noisy playmates, ran across
+the street to me, and taking my hand, which he could barely clasp in
+both his soft little ones, looked up in my face with an expression so
+winning and affectionate, that I loved him at once. The happy, honest
+farmers, too, spoke to us cheerfully everywhere. We learned a lesson
+from all this--we felt that not a word of kindness is ever wasted, that
+a simple friendly glance may cheer the spirit and warm the lonely heart,
+and that the slightest deed, prompted by generous sympathy, becomes a
+living joy in the memory of the receiver, which blesses unceasingly him
+who bestowed it.
+
+We left Zurich the same afternoon, to walk to Stafa, where we were told
+the poet Freiligrath resided. The road led along the bank of the lake,
+whose shores sloped gently up from the water, covered with gardens and
+farm-houses, which, with the bolder mountains that rose behind them,
+made a combination of the lovely and grand, on which the eye rested with
+rapture and delight. The sweetest cottages were embowered among the
+orchards, and the whole country bloomed like a garden. The waters of the
+lake are of a pale, transparent green, and so clear that we could see
+its bottom of white pebbles, for some distance. Here and there floated a
+quiet boat on its surface. The opposite hills were covered with a soft
+blue haze, and white villages sat along the shore, "like swans among the
+reeds." Behind, we saw the woody range of the Brunig Alp. The people
+bade us a pleasant good evening; there was a universal air of
+cheerfulness and content on their countenances.
+
+Towards evening, the clouds which hung in the south the whole day,
+dispersed a little and we could see the Dodiberg and the Alps of Glarus.
+As sunset drew on, the broad summits of snow and the clouds which were
+rolled around them, assumed a soft rosy hue, which increased in
+brilliancy as the light of day faded. The rough, icy crags and snowy
+steeps were fused in the warm light and half blended with the bright
+clouds. This blaze, as it were, of the mountains at sunset, is called
+the _Alp-glow_, and exceeds all one's highest conceptions of Alpine
+grandeur. We watched the fading glory till it quite died away, and the
+summits wore a livid, ashy hue, like the mountains of a world wherein
+there was no life. In a few minutes more the dusk of twilight spread
+over the scene, the boatmen glided home over the still lake and the
+herdsmen drove their cattle back from pasture on the slopes and meadows.
+
+On inquiring for Freiligrath at Stafa, we found he had removed to
+Rapperschwyl, some distance further. As it was already late, we waited
+for the steamboat which leaves Zurich every evening. It came along about
+eight o'clock, and a little boat carried us out through rain and
+darkness to meet it, as it came like a fiery-eyed monster over the
+water. We stepped on board the "Republican," and in half an hour were
+brought to the wharf at Rapperschwyl.
+
+There are two small islands in the lake, one of which, with a little
+chapel rising from among its green trees, is Ufnau, the grave of Ulrich
+von Hutten, one of the fathers of the German Reformation. His fiery
+poems have been the source from which many a German bard has derived his
+inspiration, and Freiligrath who now lives in sight of his tomb, has
+published an indignant poem, because an inn with gaming tables has been
+established in the ruins of the castle near Creuznach, where Hutten
+found refuge from his enemies with Franz von Sickingen, brother-in-law
+of "Goetz with the iron Hand." The monks of Einsiedeln, to whom Ufnau
+belongs, have carefully obliterated all traces of his grave, so that the
+exact spot is not known, in order that even a tombstone might be denied
+him who once strove to overturn their order. It matters little to that
+bold spirit whose motto was: "_The die is cast--I have dared it!_"--the
+whole island is his monument, if he need one.
+
+I spent the whole of the morning with Freiligrath, the poet, who was
+lately banished from Germany on account of the liberal principles his
+last volume contains. He lives in a pleasant country-house on the
+Meyerberg, an eminence near Rapperschwyl, overlooking a glorious
+prospect. On leaving Frankfort, R.S. Willis gave me a letter to him, and
+I was glad to meet with a man personally whom I admired so much through
+his writings, and whose boldness in speaking out against the tyranny
+which his country suffers, forms such a noble contrast to the cautious
+slowness of his countrymen. He received me kindly and conversed much
+upon American literature. He is a warm admirer of Bryant and Longfellow,
+and has translated many of their poems into German. He said he had
+received a warm invitation from a colony of Germans in Wisconsin, to
+join them and enjoy that freedom which his native land denies, but that
+his circumstances would not allow it at present. He is perhaps
+thirty-five years of age. His brow is high and noble, and his eyes,
+which are large and of a clear gray, beam with serious, saddened
+thought. His long chesnut hair, uniting with a handsome beard and
+moustache, gives a lion-like dignity to his energetic countenance. His
+talented wife, Ida Freiligrath, who shares his literary labors, and an
+amiable sister, are with him in exile, and he is happier in their
+faithfulness than when he enjoyed the favors of a corrupt king.
+
+We crossed the long bridge from Rapperschwyl, and took the road over the
+mountain opposite, ascending for nearly two hours along the side, with
+glorious views of the Lake of Zurich and the mountains which enclose it.
+The upper and lower ends of the lake were completely hid by the storms,
+which, to our regret, veiled the Alps, but the part below lay spread out
+dim and grand, like a vast picture. It rained almost constantly, and we
+were obliged occasionally to take shelter in the pine forests, whenever
+a heavier cloud passed over. The road was lined with beggars, who
+dropped on their knees in the rain before us, or placed bars across the
+way, and then took them down again, for which they demanded money.
+
+At length we reached the top of the pass. Many pilgrims to Einsiedeln
+had stopped at a little inn there, some of whom came a long distance to
+pay their vows, especially as the next day was the Ascension day of the
+Virgin, whose image there is noted for performing many miracles. Passing
+on, we crossed a wild torrent by an arch called the "Devil's Bridge."
+The lofty, elevated plains were covered with scanty patches of grain
+and potatoes, and the boys tended their goats on the grassy slopes,
+sometimes trilling or _yodling_ an Alpine melody. An hour's walk brought
+us to Einsiedeln, a small town, whose only attraction is the
+Abbey--after Loretto, in Italy, the most celebrated resort for pilgrims
+in Europe.
+
+We entered immediately into the great church. The gorgeous vaulted roof
+and long aisles were dim with the early evening; hundreds of worshippers
+sat around the sides, or kneeled in groups on the broad stone pavements,
+chanting over their Paternosters and Ave Marias in a shrill, monotonous
+tone, while the holy image near the entrance was surrounded by persons,
+many of whom came in the hope of being healed of some disorder under
+which they suffered. I could not distinctly make out the image, for it
+was placed back within the grating, and a strong crimson lamp behind it
+was made to throw the light around, in the form of a glory. Many of the
+pilgrims came a long distance. I saw some in the costume of the Black
+Forest, and others who appeared to be natives of the Italian Cantons;
+and a group of young women wearing conical fur caps, from the forests of
+Bregenz, on the Lake of Constance.
+
+I was astonished at the splendor of this church, situated in a lonely
+and unproductive Alpine valley. The lofty arches of the ceiling, which
+are covered with superb fresco paintings, rest on enormous pillars of
+granite, and every image and shrine is richly ornamented with gold. Some
+of the chapels were filled with the remains of martyrs, and these were
+always surrounded with throngs of believers. The choir was closed by a
+tall iron grating; a single lamp, which swung from the roof, enabled me
+to see through the darkness, that though much more rich in ornaments
+than the body of the church, it was less grand and impressive. The
+frescoes which cover the ceiling, are said to be the finest paintings of
+the kind in Switzerland.
+
+In the morning our starting was delayed by the rain, and we took
+advantage of it to hear mass in the Abbey and enjoy the heavenly music.
+The latter was of the loftiest kind; there was one voice among the
+singers I shall not soon forget. It was like the warble of a bird who
+sings out of very wantonness. On and on it sounded, making its clear,
+radiant sweetness heard above the chant of the choir and the thunder of
+the orchestra. Such a rich, varied and untiring strain of melody I have
+rarely listened to.
+
+When the service ceased, we took a small road leading to Schwytz. We had
+now fairly entered the Alpine region, and our first task was to cross a
+mountain. This having been done, we kept along the back of the ridge
+which bounds the lake of Zug on the south, terminating in the well known
+Rossberg. The scenery became wilder with every step. The luxuriant
+fields of herbage on the mountains were spotted with the picturesque
+_chalets_ of the hunters and Alp-herds; cattle and goats were browsing
+along the declivities, their bells tinkling most musically, and the
+little streams fell in foam down the steeps. We here began to realize
+our anticipations of Swiss scenery. Just on the other side of the range,
+along which we traveled, lay the little lake of Egeri and valley of
+Morgarten, where Tell and his followers overcame the army of the German
+Emperor; near the lake of Lowertz, we found a chapel by the roadside,
+built on the spot where the house of Werner Stauffacher, one of the
+"three men of Grutli," formerly stood. It bears a poetical inscription
+in old German, and a rude painting of the Battle of Morgarten.
+
+As we wound around the lake of Lowertz, we saw the valley lying between
+the Rossberg and the Righi, which latter mountain stood full in view. To
+our regret, and that of all other travelers, the clouds hung low upon
+it, as they had done for a week at least, and there was no prospect of a
+change. The Rossberg, from which we descended, is about four thousand
+feet in height; a dark brown stripe from its very summit to the valley
+below, shows the track of the avalanche which, in 1806, overwhelmed
+Goldau, and laid waste the beautiful vale of Lowertz. We could trace the
+masses of rock and earth as far as the foot of the Righi. Four hundred
+and fifty persons perished by this catastrophe, which was so sudden that
+in five minutes the whole lovely valley was transformed into a desolate
+wilderness. The shock was so great that the lake of Lowertz overflowed
+its banks, and part of the village of Steinen at the upper end was
+destroyed by the waters.
+
+An hour's walk through a blooming Alpine vale brought us to the little
+town of Schwytz, the capital of the Canton. It stands at the foot of a
+rock-mountain, in shape not unlike Gibraltar, but double its height. The
+bare and rugged summits seem to hang directly over the town, but the
+people dwell below without fear, although the warning ruins of Goldau
+are full in sight. A narrow blue line at the end of the valley which
+stretches westward, marks the lake of the Four Cantons. Down this valley
+we hurried, that we might not miss the boat which plies daily, from
+Luzerne to Fluelen. I regretted not being able to visit Luzerne, as I
+had a letter to the distinguished Swiss composer, Schnyder von
+Wartensee, who resides there at present. The place is said to present a
+most desolate appearance, being avoided by travelers, and even by
+artisans, so that business of all kinds has almost entirely ceased.
+
+At the little town of Brunnen, on the lake, we awaited the coming of the
+steamboat. The scenery around it is exceedingly grand. Looking down
+towards Luzerne, we could see the dark mass of Mount Pilatus on one
+side, and on the other the graceful outline of the Righi, still wearing
+his hood of clouds. We put off in a skiff to meet the boat, with two
+Capuchin friars in long brown mantles and cowls, carrying rosaries at
+their girdles.
+
+Nearly opposite Brunnen is the meadow of Grutli, where the union of the
+Swiss patriots took place, and the bond was sealed that enabled them to
+cast off their chains. It is a little green slope on the side of the
+mountain, between the two Cantons of Uri and Unterwalden, surrounded on
+all sides by precipices. A little crystal spring in the centre is
+believed by the common people to have gushed up on the spot where the
+three "linked the hands that made them free." It is also a popular
+belief that they slumber in a rocky cavern near the spot, and that they
+will arise and come forth when the liberties of Switzerland are in
+danger. She stands at present greatly in need of a new triad to restore
+the ancient harmony.
+
+We passed this glorious scene, almost the only green spot on the bleak
+mountain-side, and swept around the base of the Axenberg, at whose foot,
+in a rocky cave, stands the chapel of William Tell. This is built on the
+spot where he leaped from Gessler's boat during the storm. It sits at
+the base of the rock, on the water's edge, and can be seen far over the
+waves. The Alps, whose eternal snows are lifted dazzling to the sky,
+complete the grandeur of a scene so hallowed by the footsteps of
+freedom. The grand and lonely solemnity of the landscape impressed me
+with an awe, like that one feels when standing in a mighty cathedral,
+when the aisles are dim with twilight. And how full of interest to a
+citizen of young and free America is a shrine where the votaries of
+Liberty have turned to gather strength and courage, through the storms
+and convulsions of five hundred years!
+
+We stopped at the village of Fluelen, at the head of the lake, and
+walked on to Altorf, a distance of half a league. Here, in the
+market-place, is a tower said to be built on the spot where the linden
+tree stood, under which the child of Tell was placed, while, about a
+hundred yards distant, is a fountain with Tell's statue, on the spot
+from whence he shot the apple. If these localities are correct, he must
+indeed have been master of the cross-bow. The tower is covered with rude
+paintings of the principal events in the history of Swiss liberty. I
+viewed these scenes with double interest from having read Schiller's
+"Wilhelm Tell," one of the most splendid tragedies ever written. The
+beautiful reply of his boy, when he described to him the condition of
+the "land where there are no mountains," was sounding in my ears during
+the whole day's journey:
+
+    "Father, I'd feel oppressed in that broad land,
+    I'd rather dwell beneath the avalanche!"
+
+The little village of Burglen, whose spire we saw above the forest, in a
+glen near by, was the birth-place of Tell, and the place where his
+dwelling stood, is now marked by a small chapel. In the Schachen, a
+noisy mountain stream that comes down to join the Reuss, he was drowned,
+when an old man, in attempting to rescue a child who had fallen in--a
+death worthy of the hero! We bestowed a blessing on his memory in
+passing, and then followed the banks of the rapid Reuss. Twilight was
+gathering in the deep Alpine glen, and the mountains on each side,
+half-seen through the mist, looked like vast, awful phantoms. Soon they
+darkened to black, indistinct masses; all was silent except the
+deepened roar of the falling floods; dark clouds brooded above us like
+the outspread wings of night, and we were glad, when the little village
+of Amstegg was reached, and the parlor of the inn opened to us a more
+cheerful, if not so romantic scene.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+PASSAGE OF THE ST. GOTHARD AND DESCENT INTO ITALY.
+
+
+Leaving Amstegg, I passed the whole day among snowy, sky-piercing Alps,
+torrents, chasms and clouds! The clouds appeared to be breaking up as we
+set out, and the white top of the Reassberg was now and then visible in
+the sky. Just above the village are the remains of Zwing Uri, the castle
+begun by the tyrant Gessler, for the complete subjugation of the canton.
+Following the Reuss up through a narrow valley, we passed the
+Bristenstock, which lifts its jagged crags nine thousand feet in the
+air, while on the other side stand the snowy summits which lean towards
+the Rhone Glacier and St. Gothard. From the deep glen where the Reuss
+foamed down towards the Lake of the Forest Cantons, the mountains rose
+with a majestic sweep so far into the sky that the brain grew almost
+dizzy in following their outlines. Woods, chalets and slopes of herbage
+covered their bases, where the mountain cattle and goats were browsing,
+while the herd-boys sang their native melodies or woke the ringing
+echoes with the loud, sweet sounds of their wooden horns; higher up, the
+sides were broken into crags and covered with stunted pines; then
+succeeded a belt of bare rock with a little snow lying in the crevices,
+and the summits of dazzling white looked out from the clouds nearly
+three-fourths the height of the zenith. Sometimes when the vale was
+filled with clouds, it was startling to see them parting around a
+solitary summit, apparently isolated in the air at an immense height,
+for the mountain to which it belonged was hidden to the very base!
+
+The road passed from one side of the valley to the other, crossing the
+Reuss on bridges sometimes ninety feet high. After three or four hours
+walking, we reached a frightful pass called the Schollenen. So narrow is
+the defile that before reaching it, the road seemed to enter directly
+into the mountain. Precipices a thousand feet high tower above, and the
+stream roars and boils in the black depth below. The road is a wonder of
+art; it winds around the edge of horrible chasms or is carried on lofty
+arches across, with sometimes a hold apparently so frail that one
+involuntarily shudders. At a place called the Devil's Bridge, the Reuss
+leaps about seventy feet in three or four cascades, sending up
+continually a cloud of spray, while a wind created by the fall, blows
+and whirls around, with a force that nearly lifts one from his feet.
+Wordsworth has described the scene in the following lines:
+
+    "Plunge with the Reuss embrowned by terror's breath,
+    Where danger roofs the narrow walks of Death;
+    By floods that, thundering from their dizzy height,
+    Swell more gigantic on the steadfast sight,
+    Black, drizzling crags, that, beaten by the din,
+    Vibrate, us if a voice complained within,
+    Loose hanging rocks, the Day's blessed eye that hide,
+    And crosses reared to Death on every side!"
+
+Beyond the Devil's Bridge, the mountains which nearly touched before,
+interlock into each other, and a tunnel three hundred and seventy-five
+feet long leads through the rock into the vale of Urseren, surrounded by
+the Upper Alps. The little town of Andermatt lies in the middle of this
+valley, which with the peaks around is covered with short,
+yellowish-brown grass. We met near Amstegg a little Italian boy walking
+home, from Germany, quite alone and without money, for we saw him give
+his last kreutzer to a blind beggar along the road. We therefore took
+him with us, as he was afraid to cross the St. Gothard alone.
+
+After refreshing ourselves at Andermatt, we started, five in number,
+including a German student, for the St. Gothard. Behind the village of
+Hospiz, which stands at the bottom of the valley leading to Realp and
+the Furca pass, the way commences, winding backwards and forwards,
+higher and higher, through a valley covered with rocks, with the mighty
+summits of the Alps around, untenanted save by the chamois and mountain
+eagle. Not a tree was to be seen. The sides of the mountains were
+covered with loose rocks waiting for the next torrent to wash them down,
+and the tops were robed in eternal snow. A thick cloud rolled down over
+us as we went on, following the diminishing brooks to their snowy source
+in the peak of St. Gothard. We cut off the bends of the road by
+footpaths up the rocks, which we ascended in single file, one of the
+Americans _going ahead_ and little Pietro with his staff and bundle
+bringing up the rear. The rarefied air we breathed, seven thousand feet
+above the sea, was like exhilarating gas. We felt no fatigue, but ran
+and shouted and threw snowballs, in the middle of August!
+
+After three hours' walk we reached the two clear and silent lakes which
+send their waters to the Adriatic and the North Sea. Here, as we looked
+down the Italian side, the sky became clear; we saw the top of St.
+Gothard many thousand feet above, and stretching to the south, the
+summits of the mountains which guard the vales of the Ticino and the
+Adda. The former monastery has been turned into an inn; there is,
+however, a kind of church attached, attended by a single monk. It was so
+cold that although late, we determined to descend to the first village.
+The Italian side is very steep, and the road, called the Via Trimola, is
+like a thread dropped down and constantly doubling back upon itself. The
+deep chasms were filled with snow, although exposed to the full force of
+the sun, and for a long distance there was scarcely a sign of
+vegetation.
+
+We thought as we went down, that every step was bringing us nearer to a
+sunnier land--that the glories of Italy, which had so long lain in the
+airy background of the future, would soon spread themselves before us in
+their real or imagined beauty. Reaching at dusk the last height above
+the vale of the Ticino, we saw the little village of Airolo with its
+musical name, lying in a hollow of the mountains. A few minutes of
+leaping, sliding and rolling, took us down the grassy declivity, and we
+found we had descended from the top in an hour and a half, although the
+distance by the road is nine miles! I need not say how glad we were to
+relieve our trembling knees and exhausted limbs.
+
+I have endeavored several times to give some idea of the sublimity of
+the Alps, but words seem almost powerless to measure these mighty
+mountains. No effort of the imagination could possibly equal their real
+grandeur. I wish also to describe the _feelings_ inspired by being
+among them,--feelings which can best be expressed through the warmer
+medium of poetry.
+
+    SONG OF THE ALP.
+    I.
+
+    I sit aloft on my thunder throne,
+    And my voice of dread the nations own
+       As I speak in storm below!
+    The valleys quake with a breathless fear,
+    When I hurl in wrath my icy spear
+       And shake my locks of snow!
+    When the avalanche forth like a tiger leaps,
+      How the vassal-mountains quiver!
+    And the storm that sweeps through the airy deeps
+      Makes the hoary pine-wood shiver!
+    Above them all, in a brighter air,
+    I lift my forehead proud and bare,
+    And the lengthened sweep of my forest-robe
+    Trails down to the low and captured globe,
+    Till its borders touch the dark green wave
+    In whose soundless depths my feet I lave.
+    The winds, unprisoned, around me blow,
+    And terrible tempests whirl the snow;
+    Rocks from their caverned beds are torn,
+    And the blasted forest to heaven is borne;
+    High through the din of the stormy band,
+    Like misty giants the mountains stand,
+    And their thunder-revel o'er-sounds the woe,
+    That cries from the desolate vales below!
+    I part the clouds with my lifted crown,
+    Till the sun-ray slants on the glaciers down,
+    And trembling men, in the valleys pale,
+    Rejoice at the gleam of my icy mail!
+
+    II.
+
+    I wear a crown of the sunbeam's gold,
+    With glacier-gems en my forehead old--
+       A monarch crowned by God!
+    What son of the servile earth may dare
+    Such signs of a regal power to wear,
+       While chained to her darkened sod?
+    I know of a nobler and grander lore
+      Than Time records on his crumbling pages,
+    And the soul of my solitude teaches more
+      Than the gathered deeds of perished ages!
+    For I have ruled since Time began
+    And wear no fetter made by man.
+    I scorn the coward and craven race
+    Who dwell around my mighty base,
+    For they leave the lessons I grandly gave
+    And bend to the yoke of the crouching slave.
+    I shout aloud to the chainless skies;
+    The stream through its falling foam replies,
+    And my voice, like the sound of the surging sea,
+    To the nations thunders: "_I am free!_"
+    I spoke to Tell when a tyrant's hand
+    Lay heavy and hard on his native land,
+    And the spirit whose glory from mine he won
+    Blessed the Alpine dwellers with Freedom's sun!
+    The student-boy on the Gmunden-plain
+    Heard my solemn voice, but he fought in vain;
+    I called from the crags of the Passeir-glen,
+    When the despot stood in my realm again,
+    And Hofer sprang at the proud command
+    And roused the men of the Tyrol land!
+
+    III.
+
+    I struggle up to the dim blue heaven,
+    From the world, far down in whose breast are driven
+        The props of my pillared throne;
+    And the rosy fires of morning glow
+    Like a glorious thought, on my brow of snow,
+        While the vales are dark and lone!
+    Ere twilight summons the first faint star,
+    I seem to the nations who dwell afar
+    Like a shadowy cloud, whose every fold
+    The sunset dyes with its purest gold,
+    And the soul mounts up through that gateway fair
+    To try its wings in a loftier air!
+    The finger of God on my brow is pressed--
+    His spirit beats in my giant breast,
+    And I breathe, as the endless ages roll,
+    His silent words to the eager soul!
+    I prompt the thoughts of the mighty mind,
+    Who leaves his century far behind
+    And speaks from the Future's sun-lit snow
+    To the Present, that sleeps in its gloom below!
+    I stand, unchanged, in creation's youth--
+    A glorious type of Eternal Truth,
+    That, free and pure, from its native skies
+    Shines through Oppression's veil of lies,
+    And lights the world's long-fettered sod
+    With thoughts of Freedom and of God!
+
+When, at night, I looked out of my chamber-window, the silver moon of
+Italy, (for we fancied that her light was softer and that the skies were
+already bluer) hung trembling above the fields of snow that stretched in
+their wintry brilliance along the mountains around. I heard the roar of
+the Ticino and the deepened sound of falling cascades, and thought, if I
+were to take those waters for my guide, to what glorious places they
+would lead me!
+
+We left Airolo early the next morning, to continue our journey down the
+valley of the Ticino. The mists and clouds of Switzerland were exchanged
+for a sky of the purest blue, and we felt, for the first time in ten
+days, uncomfortably warm. The mountains which flank the Alps on this
+side, are still giants--lofty and bare, and covered with snow in many
+places. The limit of the German dialect is on the summit of St. Gothard,
+and the peasants saluted us with a "_buon giorno_" as they passed. This,
+with the clearness of the skies and the warmth of the air, made us feel
+that Italy was growing nearer.
+
+The mountains are covered with forests of dark pine, and many beautiful
+cascades come tumbling over the rocks in their haste to join the Ticino.
+One of these was so strangely beautiful, that I cannot pass it without a
+particular description. We saw it soon after leaving Airolo, on the
+opposite side of the valley. A stream of considerable size comes down
+the mountain, leaping from crag to crag till within forty or fifty feet
+of the bottom, where it is caught in a hollow rock, and flung upwards
+into the air, forming a beautiful arch as it falls out into the valley.
+As it is whirled up thus, feathery curls of spray are constantly driven
+off and seem to wave round it like the fibres on an ostrich plume. The
+sun shining through, gave it a sparry brilliance which was perfectly
+magnificent. If I were an artist, I would give much for such a new form
+of beauty.
+
+On our first day's journey we passed through two terrific mountain
+gorges, almost equalling in grandeur the defile of the "Devil's Bridge."
+The Ticino, in its course to Lago Maggiore has to make a descent of
+nearly three thousand feet, passing through three valleys, which lie
+like terraces, one below the other. In its course from one to the other,
+it has to force its way down in twenty cataracts through a cleft in the
+mountains. The road, constructed with the utmost labor, threads these
+dark chasms, sometimes carried in a tunnel through the rock, sometimes
+passing on arches above the boiling flood. The precipices of bare rock
+rise far above and render the way difficult and dangerous. I here
+noticed another very beautiful effect of the water, perhaps attributable
+to some mineral substance it contained. The spray and foam thrown up in
+the dashing of the vexed current, was of a light, delicate pink,
+although the stream itself was a soft blue; and the contrast of these
+two colors was very remarkable.
+
+As we kept on, however, there was a very perceptible change in the
+scenery. The gloomy pines disappeared and the mountains were covered, in
+their stead, with picturesque chesnut trees, with leaves of a shining
+green. The grass and vegetation was much more luxuriant than on the
+other side of the Alps, and fields of maize and mulberry orchards
+covered the valley. We saw the people busy at work reeling silk in the
+villages. Every mile we advanced made a sensible change in the
+vegetation. The chesnuts were larger, the maize higher, the few
+straggling grape-vines increased into bowers and vineyards, while the
+gardens were filled with plum, pear and fig-trees, and the stands of
+delicious fruit which we saw in the villages, gave us promise of the
+luxuriance that was to come.
+
+The vineyards are much more beautiful than the German fields of stakes.
+The vines are not trimmed, but grow from year to year over a frame
+higher than the head, supported through the whole field on stone
+pillars. They interlace and form a complete leafy screen, while the
+clusters hang below. The light came dimly through the green, transparent
+leaves, and nothing was wanting to make them real bowers of Arcadia.
+Although we were still in Switzerland, the people began to have that
+lazy, indolent look which characterizes the Italians; most of the
+occupations were carried on in the open air, and brown-robed, sandalled
+friars were going about from house to house, collecting money and
+provisions for their support.
+
+We passed Faido and Giornico, near which last village are the remains of
+an old castle, supposed to have been built by the ancient Gauls, and
+stopped for the night at Cresciano, which being entirely Italian, we had
+an opportunity to put in practice the few words we had picked up from
+Pietro. The little fellow parted from us with regret a few hours before,
+at Biasco, where he had relations. The rustic landlord at Cresciano was
+an honest young fellow, who tried to serve us as well as he could, but
+we made some ludicrous mistakes through our ignorance of the language.
+
+Three hours' walk brought us to Bellinzona, the capital of the canton.
+Before reaching it, our road joined that of the Splugen which comes down
+through the valley of Bernardino. From the bridge where the junction
+takes place we had a triple view, whose grandeur took me by surprise,
+even after coming from Switzerland. We stood at the union of three
+valleys--that leading to St. Gothard, terminated by the glaciers of the
+Bernese Oberland, that running off obliquely to the Splugen, and finally
+the broad vale of the Ticino, extending to Lago Maggiore, whose purple
+mountains closed the vista. Each valley was perhaps two miles broad and
+from twenty to thirty long, and the mountains that enclosed them from
+five to seven thousand feet in height, so you may perhaps form some idea
+what a view down three such avenues in this Alpine temple would be.
+Bellinzona is romantically situated, on a slight eminence, with three
+castles to defend it, with those square turreted towers and battlements,
+which remind one involuntarily of the days of the Goths and Vandals.
+
+We left Bellinzona at noon, and saw, soon after, from an eminence, the
+blue line of Lago Maggiore stretched across the bottom of the valley. We
+saw sunset fade away over the lake, but it was clouded, and did not
+realize my ideal of such a scene in Italy. A band of wild Italians
+paraded up and down the village, drawing one of their number in a
+hand-cart. They made a great noise with a drum and trumpet, and were
+received everywhere with shouts of laughter. A great jug of wine was not
+wanting, and the whole seemed to me a very characteristic scene.
+
+We were early awakened at Magadino, at the head of Lago Maggiore, and
+after swallowing a hasty breakfast, went on board the steamboat "San
+Carlo," for Sesto Calende. We got under way at six o'clock, and were
+soon in motion over the crystal mirror. The water is of the most lovely
+green hue, and so transparent that we seemed to bo floating in mid-air.
+Another heaven arched far below us; other chains of mountains joined
+their bases to those which surrounded the lake, and the mirrored
+cascades leaped upward to meet their originals at the surface. It may be
+because I have seen it more recently, that the water of Lago Maggiore
+appears to be the most beautiful in the world. I was delighted with the
+Scotch lakes, and enraptured with the Traunsee and "Zurich's waters,"
+but this last exceeds them both. I am now incapable of any stronger
+feeling, until I see the Egean from the Grecian Isles.
+
+The morning was cloudy, and the white wreaths hung low on the mountains,
+whose rocky sides were covered every where with the rank and luxuriant
+growth of this climate. As we advanced further over this glorious
+mirror, the houses became more Italian-like; the lower stories rested on
+arched passages, and the windows were open, without glass, while in the
+gardens stood the solemn, graceful cypress, and vines, heavy with
+ripening grapes, hung from bough to bough through the mulberry orchards.
+Half-way down, in a broad bay, which receives the waters of a stream
+that comes down with the Simplon, are the celebrated Borromean Islands.
+They are four in number, and seem to float like fairy creations on the
+water, while the lofty hills form a background whose grandeur enhances
+by contrast their exquisite beauty. There was something in the scene
+that reminded me of Claude Melnotte's description of his home, by
+Bulwer, and like the lady of Lyons, I answer readily, "I like the
+picture."
+
+On passing by Isola Madre, we could see the roses in its terraced
+gardens and the broad-leaved aloes clinging to the rocks. Isola Bella,
+the loveliest of them all, as its name denotes, was farther off; it rose
+like a pyramid from the water, terrace above terrace to the summit, and
+its gardens of never fading foliage, with the glorious panorama around,
+might make it a paradise, if life were to be dreamed away. On the
+northern side of the bay lies a large town (I forget its name,) with a
+lofty Romanesque tower, and noble mountains sweep around as if to shut
+out the world from such a scene. The sea was perfectly calm, and groves
+and gardens slept mirrored in the dark green wave, while the Alps rose
+afar through the dim, cloudy air. Towards the other end the hills sink
+lower, and slope off into the plains of Lombardy. Near Arona, on the
+western side, is a large monastery, overlooking the lower part of the
+lake. Beside it, on a hill, is a colossal statue of San Carlo Borromeo,
+who gave his name to the lovely islands above.
+
+After a seven hours' passage, we ran into Sesto Calende, at the foot of
+the lake. Here, passengers and baggage were tumbled promiscuously on
+shore, the latter gathered into the office to be examined, and the
+former left at liberty to ramble about an hour until their passports
+could be signed. We employed the time in trying the flavor of the grapes
+and peaches of Lombardy, and looking at the groups of travelers who had
+come down from the Alps with the annual avalanche at this season. The
+custom house officers were extremely civil and obliging, as they did not
+think necessary to examine our knapsacks, and our passports being soon
+signed, we were at liberty to enter again into the dominions of His
+Majesty of Austria. Our companion, the German, whose feet could carry
+him no further, took a seat on the top of a diligence for Milan; _we_
+left Sesto Calende on foot, and plunged into the cloud of dust which was
+whirling towards the capital of Northern Italy.
+
+Being now really in the "sunny land," we looked on the scenery with a
+deep interest. The first thing that struck me was a resemblance to
+America in the fields of Indian corn, and the rank growth of weeds by
+the roadside. The mulberry trees and hedges, too, looked quite familiar,
+coming as we did, from fenceless and hedgeless Germany. But here the
+resemblance ceased. The people were coarse, ignorant and savage-looking,
+the villages remarkable for nothing except the contrast between splendid
+churches and miserable, dirty houses, while the luxurious palaces and
+grounds of the rich noblemen formed a still greater contrast to the
+poverty of the people. I noticed also that if the latter are as lazy as
+they are said to be, they make their horses work for them, as in a walk
+of a few hours yesterday after noon, we saw two horses drawing heavy
+loads, drop down apparently dead, and several others seemed nearly ready
+to do the same.
+
+We spent the night at the little village of Casina, about sixteen miles
+from Milan, and here made our first experience in the honesty of Italian
+inns. We had taken the precaution to inquire beforehand the price of a
+bed; but it seemed unnecessary and unpleasant, as well as evincing a
+mistrustful spirit, to do the same with every article we asked for, so
+we concluded to leave it to the host's conscience not to overcharge us.
+Imagine our astonishment, however, when at starting, a bill was
+presented to us, in which the smallest articles were set down at three
+or four times their value. We remonstrated, hut to little purpose; the
+fellow knew scarcely any French, and we as little Italian, so rather
+than lose time or temper, we paid what he demanded and went on, leaving
+him to laugh at the successful imposition. The experience was of value
+to us, however, and it may serve as a warning to some future traveler.
+
+About noon, the road turned into a broad and beautiful avenue of
+poplars, down which we saw, at a distance, the triumphal arch
+terminating the Simplon road, which we had followed from Sesto Calende.
+Beyond it rose the slight and airy pinnacle of the Duomo. We passed by
+the exquisite structure, gave up our passports at the gates, traversed
+the broad Piazza d'Armi, and found ourselves at liberty to choose one of
+the dozen streets that led into the heart of the city.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+MILAN.
+
+
+_Aug. 21._--While finding our way at random to the "Pension Suisse,"
+whither we had been directed by a German gentleman, we were agreeably
+impressed with the gaiety and bustle of Milan. The shops and stores are
+all open to the street, so that the city resembles a great bazaar. It
+has an odd look to see blacksmiths, tailors and shoemakers working
+unconcernedly in the open air, with crowds continually passing before
+them. The streets are filled with venders of fruit, who call out the
+names with a long, distressing cry, like that of a person in great
+agony. Organ-grinders parade constantly about and snatches of songs are
+heard among the gay crowd, on every side.
+
+In this lively, noisy Italian city, nearly all there is to see may be
+comprised in four things: the Duomo, the triumphal arch over the
+Simplon, La Scala and the Picture Gallery. The first alone is more
+interesting than many an entire city. We went there yesterday afternoon
+soon after reaching here. It stands in an irregular open place, closely
+hemmed in by houses on two sides, so that it can be seen to advantage
+from only one point. It is a mixture of the Gothic and Romanesque
+styles; the body of the structure is entirely covered with statues and
+richly wrought sculpture, with needle-like spires of white marble rising
+up from every corner. But of the exquisite, airy look of the whole mass,
+although so solid and vast, it is impossible to convey an idea. It
+appears like some fabric of frost-work which winter traces on the
+window-panes. There is a unity of beauty about the whole, which the eye
+takes in with a feeling of perfect and satisfied delight.
+
+Ascending the marble steps which lead to the front, I lifted the folds
+of the heavy curtain and entered. What a glorious aisle! The mighty
+pillars support a magnificent arched ceiling, painted to resemble
+fretwork, and the little light that falls through the small windows
+above, enters tinged with a dim golden hue. A feeling of solemn awe
+comes over one as he steps with a hushed tread along the colored marble
+floor, and measures the massive columns till they blend with the
+gorgeous arches above. There are four rows of these, nearly fifty in
+all, and when I state that they are eight feet in diameter, and sixty or
+seventy in height, some idea may be formed of the grandeur of the
+building. Imagine the Girard College, at Philadelphia, turned into one
+great hall, with four rows of pillars, equal in size to those around it,
+reaching to its roof, and you will have a rough sketch of the interior
+of the Duomo.
+
+In the centre of the cross is a light and beautiful dome; he who will
+stand under this, and look down the broad middle aisle to the entrance,
+has one of the sublimest vistas to be found in the world. The choir has
+three enormous windows, covered with dazzling paintings, and the ceiling
+is of marble and silver. There are gratings under the high altar, by
+looking into which, I could see a dark, lonely chamber below, where one
+or two feeble lamps showed a circle of praying-places. It was probably a
+funeral vault, which persons visited to pray for the repose of their
+friends' souls. The Duomo is not yet entirely finished, the workmen
+being still employed in various parts, but it is said, that when
+completed there will be four thousand statues on the different parts of
+it.
+
+The design of the Duomo is said to be taken from Monte Rosa, one of the
+loftiest peaks of the Alps. Its hundreds of sculptured pinnacles, rising
+from every part of the body of the church, certainly bear a striking
+resemblance to the splintered ice-crags of Savoy. Thus we see how Art,
+mighty and endless in her forms though she be, is in every thing but the
+child of Nature. Her most divine conceptions are but copies of objects
+which we behold every day. The faultless beauty of the Corinthian
+capital--the springing and intermingling arches of the Gothic aisle--the
+pillared portico or the massive and sky-piercing pyramid--are but
+attempts at reproducing, by the studied regularity of Art, the
+ever-varied and ever-beautiful forms of mountain, rock and forest. But
+there is oftentimes a more thrilling sensation of enjoyment produced by
+the creations of man's hand and intellect than the grander effects of
+Nature, existing constantly before our eyes. It would seem as if man
+marvelled more at his own work than at the work of the Power which
+created him.
+
+The streets of Milan abound with priests in their cocked hats and long
+black robes. They all have the same solemn air, and seem to go about
+like beings shut out from all communion with pleasure. No sight lately
+has saddened me so much as to see a bright, beautiful boy, of twelve or
+thirteen years, in those gloomy garments. Poor child! he little knows
+now what he may have to endure. A lonely, cheerless life, where every
+affection must be crushed as unholy, and every pleasure denied as a
+crime! And I knew by his fair brow and tender lip, that he had a warm
+and loving heart. I could not help regarding this class as victims to a
+mistaken idea of religious duty, and if I am not mistaken, I read on
+more than one countenance the traces of passions that burned within. It
+is mournful to see a people oppressed in the name of religion. The
+holiest aspirations of man's nature, instead of lifting him up to a
+nearer view of Christian perfection, are changed into clouds and shut
+out the light of heaven. Immense treasures, wrung drop by drop from the
+credulity of the poor and ignorant, are made use of to pamper the luxury
+of those who profess to be mediators between man and the Deity. The poor
+wretch may perish of starvation on a floor of precious mosaic, which
+perhaps his own pittance has helped to form, while ceilings and shrines
+of inlaid gold mock his dying eye with their useless splendor. Such a
+system of oppression, disguised under the holiest name, can only be
+sustained by the continuance of ignorance and blind superstition.
+Knowledge--Truth--Reason--these are the ramparts which Liberty throws up
+to guard her dominions from the usurpations of oppression and wrong.
+
+We were last night in La Scala. Rossini's opera of William Tell was
+advertised, and as we had visited so lately the scene where that
+glorious historical drama was enacted, we went to see it represented in
+sound. It is a grand subject, which in the hands of a powerful composer,
+might be made very effective, but I must confess I was disappointed in
+the present case. The overture is, however, very beautiful. It begins
+low and mournful, like the lament of the Swiss over their fallen
+liberties. Occasionally a low drum is heard, as if to rouse them to
+action, and meanwhile the lament swells to a cry of despair. The drums
+now wake the land; the horn of Uri is heard pealing forth its summoning
+strain, and the echoes seem to come back from the distant Alps. The
+sound then changes for the roar of battle--the clang of trumpets, drums
+and cymbals. The whole orchestra did their best to represent this combat
+in music, which after lasting a short time, changed into the loud,
+victorious march of the conquerors. But the body of the opera, although
+it had several fine passages, was to me devoid of interest; in fact,
+unworthy the reputation of Rossini.
+
+The theatre is perhaps the largest in the world. The singers are all
+good; in Italy it could not be otherwise, where everybody sings. As I
+write, a party of Italians in the house opposite have been amusing
+themselves with going through the whole opera of "_La fille du
+Regiment_," with the accompaniment of the piano, and they show the
+greatest readiness and correctness in their performance. They have now
+become somewhat boisterous, and appear to be improvising. One young
+gentleman executes trills with amazing skill, and another appears to
+have taken the part of a despairing lover, but the lady has a very
+pretty voice, and warbles on and on, like a nightingale. Occasionally a
+group of listeners in the street below clap them applause, for as the
+windows are always open, the whole neighborhood can enjoy the
+performance.
+
+This forenoon I was in the Picture Gallery. It occupies a part of the
+Library Building, in the Palazzo Cabrera. It is not large, and many of
+the pictures are of no value to anybody but antiquarians; still there
+are some excellent paintings, which render it well worthy a visit. Among
+these, a marriage, by Raphael, is still in a very good state of
+preservation, and there are some fine pictures by Paul Veronese and the
+Caracci. The most admired painting, is "Abraham sending away Hagar," by
+Guercino. I never saw a more touching expression of grief than in the
+face of Hagar. Her eyes are red with weeping, and as she listens in an
+agony of tears to the patriarch's command, she still seems doubting the
+reality of her doom. The countenance of Abraham is venerable and calm,
+and expresses little emotion; but one can read in that of Sarah, as she
+turns away, a feeling of pity for her unfortunate rival.
+
+Next to the Duomo, the most beautiful specimen of architecture in Milan
+is the ARCH OF PEACE, on the north side of the city, at the commencement
+of the Simplon Road. It was the intention of Napoleon to carry the road
+under this arch, across the Piazza d'Armi, and to cut a way for it
+directly into the heart of the city, but the fall of his dynasty
+prevented the execution of this magnificent design, as well as the
+completion of the arch itself. This has been done by the Austrian
+government, according to the original plan; they have inscribed upon it
+the name of Francis I., and changed the bas-reliefs of Lodi and Marengo
+into those of a few fields where their forces had gained the victory. It
+is even said that in many parts which were already finished, they
+altered the splendid Roman profile of Napoleon into the haggard and
+repulsive features of Francis of Austria.
+
+The bronze statues on the top were made by an artist of Bologna, by
+Napoleon's order, and are said to be the finest works of modern times.
+In the centre is the goddess of Peace, in a triumphal car, drawn by six
+horses, while on the corners four angels, mounted, are starting off to
+convey the tidings to the four quarters of the globe. The artist has
+caught the spirit of motion and chained it in these moveless figures.
+One would hardly feel surprised if the goddess, chariot, horses and all,
+were to start off and roll away through the air.
+
+With the rapidity usual to Americans we have already finished seeing
+Milan, and shall start to-morrow morning on a walk to Genoa.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+WALK FROM MILAN TO GENOA.
+
+
+It was finally decided we should leave Milan, so the next morning we
+arose at five o'clock for the first time since leaving Frankfort. The
+Italians had commenced operations at this early hour, but we made our
+way through the streets without attracting quite so much attention as on
+our arrival. Near the gate on the road to Pavia, we passed a long
+colonnade which was certainly as old as the times of the Romans. The
+pillars of marble were quite brown with age, and bound together with
+iron to keep them from falling to pieces. It was a striking contrast to
+see this relic of the past standing in the middle of a crowded
+thoroughfare and surrounded by all the brilliance and display of modern
+trade.
+
+Once fairly out of the city we took the road to Pavia, along the banks
+of the canal, just as the rising sun gilded the marble spire of the
+Duomo. The country was a perfect level, and the canal, which was in many
+places higher than the land through which it passed, served also as a
+means of irrigation for the many rice-fields. The sky grew cloudy and
+dark, and before we reached Pavia gathered to a heavy storm. Torrents of
+rain poured down, accompanied with heavy thunder; we crept under an old
+gateway for shelter, as no house was near. Finally, as it cleared away,
+the square brown towers of the old city rose above the trees, and we
+entered the gate through a fine shaded avenue. Our passports were of
+course demanded, but we were only detained a minute or two. The only
+thing of interest is the University, formerly so celebrated; it has at
+present about eight hundred students.
+
+We have reason to remember the city from another circumstance--the
+singular attention we excited. I doubt if Columbus was an object of
+greater curiosity to the simple natives of the new world, than we three
+Americans were to the good people of Pavia. I know not what part of our
+dress or appearance could have caused it, but we were watched like wild
+animals. If we happened to pause and look at anything in the street,
+there was soon a crowd of attentive observers, and as we passed on,
+every door and window was full of heads. We stopped in the marketplace
+to purchase some bread and fruit for dinner, which increased, if
+possible, the sensation. We saw eyes staring and fingers pointing at us
+from every door and alley. I am generally willing to contribute as much
+as possible to the amusement or entertainment of others, but such
+attention was absolutely embarrassing. There was nothing to do but to
+appear unconscious of it, and we went along with as much nonchalance as
+if the whole town belonged to us.
+
+We crossed the Ticino, on whose banks near Pavia, was fought the first
+great battle between Hannibal and the Romans. On the other side our
+passports were demanded at the Sardinian frontier and our knapsacks
+searched, which having proved satisfactory, we were allowed to enter the
+kingdom. Late in the afternoon we reached the Po, which in winter must
+be quarter of a mile wide, but the summer heats had dried it up to a
+small stream, so that the bridge of boats rested nearly its whole length
+in sand. We sat on the bank in the shade, and looked at the chain of
+hills which rose in the south, following the course of the Po, crowned
+with castles and villages and shining towers. It was here that I first
+began to realize Italian scenery. Although the hills were bare, they lay
+so warm and glowing in the sunshine, and the deep blue sky spread so
+calmly above, that it recalled all my dreams of the fair clime we had
+entered.
+
+We stopped for the night at the little village of Casteggio, which lies
+at the foot of the hills, and next morning resumed our pilgrimage. Here
+a new delight awaited us. The sky was of a heavenly blue, without even
+the shadow of a cloud, and full and fair in the morning sunshine we
+could see the whole range of the Alps, from the blue hills of Friuli,
+which sweep down to Venice and the Adriatic, to the lofty peaks which
+stretch away to Nice and Marseilles! Like a summer cloud, except that
+they were far more dazzling and glorious, lay to the north of us the
+glaciers and untrodden snow-fields of the Bernese Oberland; a little to
+the right we saw the double peak of St. Gothard, where six days before
+we shivered in the region of eternal winter, while far to the north-west
+rose the giant dome of Mount Blanc. Monte Rosa stood near him, not far
+from the Great St. Bernard, and further to the south Mont Cenis guarded
+the entrance from Piedmont into France. I leave you to conceive the
+majesty of such a scene, and you may perhaps imagine, for I cannot
+describe the feelings with which I gazed upon it.
+
+At Tortona, the next post, a great market was being held; the town was
+filled with country people selling their produce, and with venders of
+wares of all kinds. Fruit was very abundant--grapes, ripe figs, peaches
+and melons were abundant, and for a trifle one could purchase a
+sumptuous banquet. On inquiring the road to Novi, the people made us
+understand, after much difficulty, that there was a nearer way across
+the country, which came into the post-road again, and we concluded to
+take it. After two or three hours' walking in a burning sun, where our
+only relief was the sight of the Alps and a view of the battle-field of
+Marengo, which lay just on our right, we came to a stand--the road
+terminated at a large stream, where workmen were busily engaged in
+making a bridge across. We pulled off our boots and waded through, took
+a refreshing bath in the clear waters, and walked on through by-lanes.
+The sides were lined with luxuriant vines, bending under the ripening
+vintage, and we often cooled our thirst with some of the rich bunches.
+
+The large branch of the Po we crossed, came down from the mountains,
+which we were approaching. As we reached the post-road again, they were
+glowing in the last rays of the sun, and the evening vapors that settled
+over the plain concealed the distant Alps, although the snowy top of the
+Jungfrau and her companions the Wetterhorn and Schreckhorn, rose above
+it like the hills of another world. A castle or church of brilliant
+white marble glittered on the summit of one of the mountains near us,
+and as the sun went down without a cloud, the distant summits changed in
+hue to a glowing purple, amounting almost to crimson, which afterwards
+darkened into a deep violet. The western half of the sky was of a pale
+orange, and the eastern a dark red, which blended together in the blue
+of the zenith, that deepened as twilight came on. I know not if it was a
+fair specimen of an Italian sunset, but I must say, without wishing to
+be partial, that though certainly very soft and beautiful, there is no
+comparison with the splendor of such a scene in America. The day-sky of
+Italy better deserves its reputation. Although no clearer than our own,
+it is of a far brighter blue, arching above us like a dome of sapphire
+and seeming to sparkle all over with a kind of crystal transparency.
+
+We stopped the second night at Arquato, a little village among the
+mountains, and after having bargained with the merry landlord for our
+lodgings, in broken Italian, took a last look at the plains of Piedmont
+and the Swiss Alps, in the growing twilight. We gazed out on the
+darkening scene till the sky was studded with stars, and went to rest
+with the exciting thought of seeing Genoa and the Mediterranean on the
+morrow. Next morning we started early, and after walking some distance
+made our breakfast in a grove of chesnuts, on the cool mountain side,
+beside a fresh stream of water. The sky shone like a polished gem, and
+the glossy leaves of the chesnuts gleamed in the morning sun. Here and
+there, on a rocky height, stood the remains of some knightly castle,
+telling of the Goths and Normans who descended through these mountain
+passes to plunder Rome.
+
+As the sun grew high, the heat and dust became intolerable, and this, in
+connection with the attention we raised everywhere, made us somewhat
+tired of foot-traveling in Italy. I verily believe the people took us
+for pilgrims on account of our long white blouses, and had I a scallop
+shell I would certainly have stuck it into my hat to complete the
+appearance. We stopped once to ask a priest the road; when he had told
+us, he shook hands with us and gave us a parting benediction. At the
+common inns, where we stopped, we always met with civil treatment,
+though, indeed, as we only slept in them, there was little chance of
+practising imposition. We bought our simple meals at the baker's and
+grocer's, and ate them in the shade of the grape-bowers, whose rich
+clusters added to the repast. In this manner, we enjoyed Italy at the
+expense of a franc, daily. About noon, after winding about through the
+narrow defiles, the road began ascending. The reflected heat from the
+hills on each side made it like an oven; there was not a breath of air
+stirring; but we all felt, although no one said it, that from the summit
+we could see the Mediterranean, and we pushed on as if life or death
+depended on it. Finally, the highest point came in sight--we redoubled
+our exertions, and a few minutes more brought us to the top, breathless
+with fatigue and expectation. I glanced down the other side--there lay a
+real sea of mountains, all around; the farthest peaks rose up afar and
+dim, crowned with white towers, and between two of them which stood
+apart like the pillars of a gateway, we saw the broad expanse of water
+stretching away to the horizon--
+
+To where the blue of heaven on bluer waves shut down!"
+
+It would have been a thrilling sight to see any ocean, when one has
+rambled thousands of miles among the mountains and vales of the inland,
+but to behold this sea, of all others, was glorious indeed! This sea,
+whose waves wash the feet of Naples, Constantinople and Alexandria, and
+break on the hoary shores where Troy and Tyre and Carthage have
+mouldered away!--whose breast has been furrowed by the keels of a
+hundred nations through more than forty centuries--from the first rude
+voyage of Jason and his Argonauts, to the thunders of Navarino that
+heralded the second birth of Greece! You cannot wonder we grew romantic;
+but short space was left for sentiment in the burning sun, with Genoa to
+be reached before night. The mountain we crossed is called the Bochetta,
+one of the loftiest of the sea-Alps (or Apennines)--the road winds
+steeply down towards the sea, following a broad mountain rivulet, now
+perfectly dried up, as nearly every stream among the mountains is. It
+was a long way to us; the mountains seemed as if they would never unfold
+and let us out on the shore, and our weary limbs did penance enough for
+a multitude of sins. The dusk was beginning to deepen over the bay and
+the purple hues of sunset were dying away from its amphitheatre of
+hills, as we came in sight of the gorgeous city. Half the population
+were out to celebrate a festival, and we made our entry in the triumphal
+procession of some saint.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+SCENES IN GENOA, LEGHORN AND PISA.
+
+
+Have you ever seen some grand painting of a city, rising with its domes
+and towers and palaces from the edge of a glorious bay, shut in by
+mountains--the whole scene clad in those deep, delicious, sunny hues
+which you admire so much in the picture, although they appear unrealized
+in Nature? If so, you can figure to yourself Genoa, as she looked to us
+at sunset, from the battlements west of the city. When we had passed
+through the gloomy gate of the fortress that guards the western
+promontory, the whole scene opened at once on us in all its majesty. It
+looked to me less like a real landscape than a mighty panoramic
+painting. The battlements where we were standing, and the blue mirror of
+the Mediterranean just below, with a few vessels moored near the shore,
+made up the foreground; just in front lay the queenly city, stretching
+out to the eastern point of the bay, like a great meteor---this point,
+crowned with the towers and dome of a cathedral representing the
+nucleus, while the tail gradually widened out and was lost among the
+numberless villas that reached to the top of the mountains behind. A
+mole runs nearly across the mouth of the harbor, with a tall light-house
+at its extremity, leaving only a narrow passage for vessels. As we
+gazed, a purple glow lay on the bosom of the sea, while far beyond the
+city, the eastern half of the mountain crescent around the gulf was
+tinted with the loveliest hue of orange. The impressions which one
+derives from looking on remarkable scenery, depend, for much of their
+effect, on the time and weather. I have been very fortunate in this
+respect in two instances, and shall carry with me through life, two
+glorious pictures of a very different character--the wild sublimity of
+the Brocken in cloud and storm, and the splendor of Genoa in an Italian
+sunset.
+
+Genoa has been called the "city of palaces." and it well deserves the
+appellation. Row above row of magnificent structures rise amid gardens
+along the side of the hills, and many of the streets, though narrow and
+crooked, are lined entirely with the splendid dwellings of the Genoese
+nobles. All these speak of the republic in its days of wealth and power,
+when it could cope successfully with Venice, and Doria could threaten to
+bridle the horses of St. Mark. At present its condition is far
+different; although not so fallen as its rival, it is but a shadow of
+its former self--the life and energy it possessed as a republic, has
+withered away under the grasp of tyranny.
+
+We entered Genoa, as I have already said, in a religious procession. On
+passing the gate we saw from the concourse of people and the many
+banners hanging from the windows or floating across the streets, that it
+was the day of a festa. Before entering the city we reached the
+procession itself, which was one of unusual solemnity. As it was
+impossible in the dense crowd, to pass it, we struggled through till we
+reached a good point for seeing the whole, and slowly moved on with it
+through the city. First went a company of boys in white robes; then
+followed a body of friars, dressed in long black cassocks, and with
+shaven crowns; then a company of soldiers with a band of music; then a
+body of nuns, wrapped from head to foot in blue robes, leaving only a
+small place to see out of--in the dusk they looked very solemn and
+ghost-like, and their low chant had to me something awful and sepulchral
+in it; then followed another company of friars, and after that a great
+number of priests in white and black robes, bearing the statue of the
+saint, with a pyramid of flowers, crosses and blazing wax tapers, while
+companies of soldiery, monks and music brought up the rear. Armed guards
+walked at intervals on each side of the procession, to keep the way
+clear and prevent disturbance; two or three bands played solemn airs,
+alternating with the deep monotonous chanting of the friars. The whole
+scene, dimly lighted by the wax tapers, produced in me a feeling nearly
+akin to fear, as if I were witnessing some ghostly, unearthly spectacle.
+To rites like these, however, which occur every few weeks, the people
+must be well accustomed.
+
+Among the most interesting objects in Genoa, is the Doria palace, fit
+in its splendor for a monarch's residence. It stands in the _Strada
+Nova_, one of the three principal streets, and I believe is still in the
+possession of the family. There are many others through the city,
+scarcely less magnificent, among which that of the Durazzo family may be
+pointed out. The American consulate is in one of these old edifices,
+with a fine court-yard and ceilings covered with frescoes. Mr. Moro, the
+Vice Consul, did us a great kindness, which I feel bound to acknowledge,
+although it will require the disclosure of some private, and perhaps
+uninteresting circumstances. On leaving Frankfort, we converted--for the
+sake of convenience--the greater part of our funds into a draft on a
+Saxon merchant in Leghorn, reserving just enough, as we supposed, to
+take us thither. As in our former case, in Germany, the sum was too
+small, which we found to our dismay on reaching Milan. Notwithstanding
+we had traveled the whole ninety miles from that city to Genoa for three
+francs each, in the hope of having enough, left to enable _one_ at least
+to visit Leghorn, the expenses for a passport in Genoa (more than twenty
+francs) prevented this plan. I went therefore to the Vice Consul to
+ascertain whether the merchant on whom the draft was drawn, had any
+correspondents there, who might advance a portion of it. His secretary
+made many inquiries, but without effect; Mr. Moro then generously
+offered to furnish me with means to reach Leghorn, whence I could easily
+remit a sufficient sum to my two comrades. This put an end to our
+anxiety, (for I must confess we could not help feeling some), and I
+therefore prepared to leave that evening in the "Virgilio."
+
+The feelings with which I look on this lovely land, are fast changing.
+What with the dust and heat, and cheating landlords, and the dull plains
+of Lombardy, my first experience was not very prepossessing. But the
+joyous and romantic anticipation with which I looked forward to
+realizing the dream of my earliest boyhood, is now beginning to be
+surpassed by the exciting reality. Every breath I drew in the city of
+Columbus and Doria, was deeply tinctured with the magic of history and
+romance. It was like entering on a new existence, to look on scenes so
+lovely by nature and so filled with the inspiring memories of old.
+
+    "Italia too, Italia! looking on thee,
+    Full flashes on the soul the light of ages,
+    Since the fierce Carthagenian almost won thee,
+    To the last halo of the chiefs and sages
+    Who glorify thy consecrated pages!
+    Thou wert the throne and grave of empires."
+
+The _Virgilio_ was advertised to leave at six o'clock, and I accordingly
+went out to her in a little boat half an hour beforehand; but we were
+delayed much longer, and I saw sunset again fade over the glorious
+amphitheatre of palaces and mountains, with the same orange glow--the
+same purple and crimson flush, deepening into twilight--as before. An
+old blind man in a skiff, floated around under the bows of the boat on
+the glassy water, singing to the violin a plaintive air that appeared to
+be an evening hymn to the virgin. There was something very touching in
+his venerable countenance, with the sightless eyes turned upward to the
+sunset heaven whose glory he could never more behold.
+
+The lamps were lit on the tower at the end of the mole as we glided out
+on the open sea; I stood on deck and watched the receding lights of the
+city, till they and the mountains above them, were blended with the
+darkened sky. The sea-breeze was fresh and cool, and the stars glittered
+with a frosty clearness, which would have made the night delicious had
+not a slight rolling of the waves obliged me to go below. Here, besides
+being half seasick, I was placed at the mercy of many voracious fleas,
+who obstinately stayed, persisting in keeping me company. This was the
+first time I had suffered from these cannibals, and such were my
+torments, I almost wished some blood-thirsty Italian would come and put
+an end to them with his stiletto.
+
+The first ray of dawn that stole into the cabin sent me on deck. The
+hills of Tuscany lay in front, sharply outlined on the reddening sky;
+near us was the steep and rocky isle of Gorgona; and far to the
+south-west, like a low mist along the water, ran the shores of
+Corsica--the birth place of Columbus and Napoleon![***] As the dawn
+brightened we saw on the southern horizon a cloud-like island, also
+imperishably connected with the name of the latter--the prison-kingdom
+of Elba! North of us extended the rugged mountains of Carrarra--that
+renowned range whence has sprung many a form of almost breathing beauty,
+and where yet slumber, perhaps, in the unhewn marble, the god-like
+shapes of an age of art, more glorious than any the world has ever yet
+beheld!
+
+[Footnote ***: By recent registers found in Corsica, it has been
+determined that this island also gave birth to the discoverer of the new
+world.]
+
+
+The sun rose from behind the Apennines and masts and towers became
+visible through the golden haze, as we approached the shore. On a flat
+space between the sea and the hills, not far from the foot of Montenero,
+stands Leghorn. The harbor is protected by a mole, leaving a narrow
+passage, through which we entered, and after waiting two hours for the
+visit of the health and police officers, we were permitted to go on
+shore. The first thing that struck me, was the fine broad streets; the
+second, the motley character of the population. People were hurrying
+about noisy and bustling--Greeks in their red caps and capotes; grave
+turbaned and bearded Turks; dark Moors; the Corsair-looking natives of
+Tripoli and Tunis, and seamen of nearly every nation. At the hotel where
+I stayed, we had a singular mixture of nations at dinner:--two French,
+two Swiss, one Genoese, one Roman, one American and one Turk--and we
+were waited on by a Tuscan and an Arab! We conversed together in four
+languages, all at once.
+
+To the merchant, Leghorn is of more importance than to the traveler. Its
+extensive trade, not only in the manufactures of Tuscany, but also in
+the productions of the Levant, makes it important to the former, while
+the latter seeks in vain for fine buildings, galleries of art, or in
+interesting historical reminiscences. Through the kind attention of the
+Saxon Consul, to whom I had letters, two or three days went by
+delightfully.
+
+The only place of amusement here in summer is a drive along the sea
+shore, called the Ardenza, which is frequented every evening by all who
+can raise a vehicle. I visited it twice with a German friend. We met one
+evening the Princess Corsini, wife of the Governor of Leghorn, on
+horseback--a young, but not pretty woman. The road leads out along the
+Mediterranean, past an old fortress, to a large establishment for the
+sea bathers, where it ends in a large ring, around which the carriages
+pass and re-pass, until sunset has gone out over the sea, when they
+return to the city in a mad gallop, or as fast as the lean horses can
+draw them.
+
+In driving around, we met two or three carriages of Turks, in one of
+which I saw a woman of Tunis, with a curious gilded head-dress, eighteen
+inches in height.
+
+I saw one night a Turkish funeral. It passed me in one of the outer
+streets, on its way to the Turkish burying ground. Those following the
+coffin, which was covered with a heavy black pall, wore white turbans
+and long white robes--the mourning color of the Turks. Torches were
+borne by attendants, and the whole company passed on at a quick pace.
+Seen thus by night, it had a strange and spectral appearance.
+
+There is another spectacle here which was exceedingly revolting to me.
+The condemned criminals, chained two and two, are kept at work through
+the city, cleaning the streets. They are dressed in coarse garments of a
+dirty red color, with the name of the crime for which they were
+convicted, painted on the back. I shuddered to see so many marked with
+the words--"_omicidio premeditato_." All day they are thus engaged,
+exposed to the scorn and contumely of the crowd, and at night dragged
+away to be incarcerated in damp, unwholesome dungeons, excavated under
+the public thoroughfares.
+
+The employment of criminals in this way is common in Italy. Two days
+after crossing St. Gothard, we saw a company of abject-looking
+creatures, eating their dinner by the road-side, near Bellinzona. One of
+them had a small basket of articles of cotton and linen, and as he rose
+up to offer them to us, I was startled by the clank of fetters. They
+were all employed to labor on the road.
+
+On going down to the wharf in Leghorn, in the morning, two or three days
+ago, I found F---- and B---- just stepping on shore from the steamboat,
+tired enough of the discomforts of the voyage, yet anxious to set out
+for Florence as soon as possible. After we had shaken off the crowd of
+porters, pedlars and vetturini, and taken a hasty breakfast at the _Cafe
+Americano_, we went to the Police Office to get our passports, and had
+the satisfaction of paying two francs for permission to proceed to
+Florence. The weather had changed since the preceding day, and the
+sirocco-wind which blows over from the coast of Africa, filled the
+streets with clouds of dust, which made walking very unpleasant. The
+clear blue sky had vanished, and a leaden cloud hung low on the
+Mediterranean, hiding the shores of Corsica and the rooky isles of
+Gorgona and Capraja.
+
+The country between Leghorn and Pisa, is a flat marsh, intersected in
+several places by canals to carry off the stagnant water which renders
+this district so unhealthy. It is said that the entire plain between the
+mountains of Carrarra and the hills back of Leghorn has been gradually
+formed by the deposits of the Arno and the receding of the
+Mediterranean, which is so shallow along the whole coast, that large
+vessels have to anchor several miles out. As we approached Pisa over the
+level marsh, I could see the dome of the Cathedral and the Leaning Tower
+rising above the gardens and groves which surround it.
+
+Our baggage underwent another examination at the gate, where we were
+again assailed by the vetturini, one of whom hung on us like a leech
+till we reached a hotel, and there was finally no way of shaking him off
+except by engaging him to take us to Florence. The bargain having been
+concluded, we had still a few hours left and set off to hunt the
+Cathedral. We found it on an open square near the outer wall, and quite
+remote from the main part of the town. Emerging from the narrow and
+winding street, one takes in et a glance the Baptistery, the Campo
+Santo, the noble Cathedral and the Leaning Tower--forming altogether a
+view rarely surpassed in Europe for architectural effect. But the square
+is melancholy and deserted, and rank, untrampled grass fills the
+crevices of its marble pavement.
+
+I was surprised at the beauty of the Leaning Tower. Instead of all old,
+black, crumbling fabric, as I always supposed, it is a light, airy,
+elegant structure, of white marble, and its declension, which is
+interesting as a work of art (or accident,) is at the same time pleasing
+from its novelty. There have been many conjectures as to the cause of
+this deviation, which is upwards of fourteen feet from the
+perpendicular; it is now generally believed that the earth having sunk
+when the building was half finished, it was continued by the architects
+in the same angle. The upper gallery, which is smaller than the others,
+shows a very perceptible inclination back towards the perpendicular, as
+if in some degree to counterbalance the deviation of the other part.
+There are eight galleries in all, supported by marble pillars, but the
+inside of the Tower is hollow to the very top.
+
+We ascended by the same stairs which were trodden so often by Galileo in
+going up to make his astronomical observations; in climbing spirally
+around the hollow cylinder in the dark, it was easy to tell on which
+side of the Tower we were, from the proportionate steepness of the
+staircase. There is a fine view from the top, embracing the whole plain
+as far as Leghorn on one side, with its gardens and grain fields spread
+out like a vast map. In a valley of the Carrarrese Mountains to the
+north, we could see the little town of Lucca, much frequented at this
+season on account of its baths; the blue summits of the Appenines shut
+in the view to the east. In walking through the city I noticed two other
+towers, which had nearly as great a deviation from the perpendicular. We
+met a person who had the key of the Baptistery, which he opened for us.
+Two ancient columns covered with rich sculpture form the doorway, and
+the dome is supported by massive pillars of the red marble of Elba. The
+baptismal font is of the purest Parian marble. The most remarkable thing
+was the celebrated musical echo. Our cicerone stationed himself at the
+side of the font and sang a few notes. After a moment's pause they were
+repeated aloft in the dome, but with a sound of divine sweetness--as
+clear and pure as the clang of a crystal bell. Another pause--and we
+heard them again, higher, fainter and sweeter, followed by a dying note,
+as if they were fading far away into heaven. It seemed as if an angel
+lingered in the temple, echoing with his melodious lips the common
+harmonies of earth. Even thus does the music of good deeds, hardly noted
+in our grosser atmosphere, awake a divine echo in the far world of
+spirit.
+
+The Campo Santo, on the north side of the Cathedral, was, until lately,
+the cemetery of the city; the space enclosed within its marble galleries
+is filled to the depth of eight or ten feet, with earth from the Holy
+Land. The vessels which carried the knights of Tuscany to Palestine were
+filled at Joppa, on returning, with this earth as ballast, and on
+arriving at Pisa it was deposited in the Cemetery. It has the peculiar
+property of decomposing all human bodies, in the space of two days. A
+colonnade of marble encloses it, with windows of the most exquisite
+sculpture opening on the inside. They reminded me of the beautiful
+Gothic oriels of Melrose. At each end are two fine, green cypresses,
+which thrive remarkably in the soil of Palestine. The dust of a German
+emperor, among others, rests in this consecrated ground. There are other
+fine churches in Pisa, but the four buildings I have mentioned, are the
+principal objects of interest. The tower where Count Ugolino and his
+sons were starved to death by the citizens of Pisa, who locked them up
+and threw the keys into the Arno, has lately been destroyed.
+
+An Italian gentleman having made a bargain in the meantime with our
+vetturino, we found every thing ready on returning to the hotel. On the
+outside of the town we mounted into the vehicle, a rickety-looking
+concern, and as it commenced raining, I was afraid we would have a bad
+night of it. After a great deal of bargaining, the vetturino agreed to
+take us to Florence that night for five francs a piece, provided one
+person would sit on the outside with the driver. I accordingly mounted
+on front, protected by a blouse and umbrella, for it was beginning to
+rain dismally. The miserable, bare-boned horses were fastened with
+rope-traces, and the vetturino having taken the rope-lines in his hand,
+gave a flourish with his whip; one old horse tumbled nearly to the
+ground, but he jerked him up again and we rattled off.
+
+After riding ten miles in this way, it became so wet and dreary, that I
+was fain to give the driver two francs extra, for the privilege of an
+inside seat. Our Italian companion was agreeable and talkative, but as
+we were still ignorant of the language, I managed to hold a scanty
+conversation with him in French. He seemed delighted to learn that we
+were from America; his polite reserve gave place to a friendly
+familiarity and he was loud in his praises of the Americans. I asked him
+why it was that he and the Italians generally, were so friendly towards
+us. "I hardly know," he answered; "you are so different from any other
+nation; and then, too, you have so much sincerity!"
+
+The Appenines were wreathed and hidden in thick mist, and the prospect
+over the flat cornfields bordering the road was not particularly
+interesting. We had made about one-third of the way as night set in,
+when on ascending a hill soon after dark, F---- happened to look out,
+and saw one of the axles bent and nearly broken off. we were obliged to
+get out and walk through the mud to the next village, when after two
+hours' delay, the vetturino came along with another carriage. Of the
+rest of the way to Florence, I cannot say much. Cramped up in the narrow
+vehicle, we jolted along in the dark, rumbling now and then through some
+silent village, where lamps were burning before the solitary shrines.
+Sometimes a blinding light crossed the road, where we saw the
+tile-makers sitting in the red glare of their kilns, and often the black
+boughs of trees were painted momentarily on the cloudy sky. If the
+jolting carriage had even permitted sleep, the horrid cries of the
+vetturino, urging on his horses, would have prevented it; and I decided,
+while trying to relieve my aching limbs, that three days' walking in sun
+and sand was preferable to one night of such travel.
+
+Finally about four o'clock in the morning the carriage stopped; my
+Italian friend awoke and demanded the cause. "Signor," said the
+vetturino, "we are in Florence!" I blessed the man, and the city too.
+The good-humored officer looked at our passports and passed our baggage
+without examination; we gave the gatekeeper a paul and he admitted us.
+The carriage rolled through the dark, silent streets--passed a public
+square--came out on the Arno--crossed and entered the city again--and
+finally stopped at a hotel. The master of the "Lione Bianco" came down
+in an undress to receive us, and we shut the growing dawn out of our
+rooms to steal that repose from the day which the night had not given.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+FLORENCE AND ITS GALLERIES.
+
+
+_Sept. 11._--Our situation here is as agreeable as we could well desire.
+We have three large and handsomely furnished rooms, in the centre of the
+city, for which we pay Signor Lazzeri, a wealthy goldsmith, ten scudo
+per month--a scudo being a trifle more than an American dollar. We live
+at the _Cafes_ and _Trattone_ very conveniently for twenty-five cents a
+day, enjoying moreover, at our dinner in the Trattoria del Cacciatore,
+the company of several American artists with whom we have become
+acquainted. The day after our arrival we met at the table d'hote of the
+"Lione Bianco," Dr. Boardman of New York, through whose assistance we
+obtained our present lodgings. There are at present ten or twelve
+American artists in Florence, and we promise ourselves much pleasure and
+profit from their acquaintance. B---- and I are so charmed with the
+place and the beautiful Tuscan dialect, that we shall endeavor to spend
+three or four months here. F---- returns to Germany in two weeks, to
+attend the winter term of the University at his favorite Heidelberg.
+
+Our first walk in Florence was to the Royal Gallery--we wished to see
+the "goddess living in stone" without delay. Crossing the neighboring
+_Piazza del Granduca_, we passed Michael Angelo's colossal statue of
+David, and an open gallery containing, besides some antiques, the
+master-piece of John of Bologna. The palace of the _Uffizii_, fronting
+on the Arno, extends along both sides of an avenue running back to the
+Palazzo Vecchio. We entered the portico which passes around under the
+great building, and after ascending three or four flights of steps, came
+into a long hall, filled with paintings and ancient statuary. Towards
+the end of this, a door opened into the Tribune--that celebrated room,
+unsurpassed by any in the world for the number and value of the gems it
+contains. I pushed aside a crimson curtain and stood in the presence of
+the Venus.
+
+It may be considered heresy, but I confess I did not at first go into
+raptures, nor perceive any traces of superhuman beauty. The predominant
+feeling, if I may so express it, was satisfaction; the eye dwells on its
+faultless outline with a gratified sense, that nothing is wanting to
+render it perfect. It is the ideal of a woman's form--a faultless
+standard by which all beauty may be measured, but without striking
+expression, except in the modest and graceful position of the limbs. The
+face, though regular, is not handsome, and the body appears small, being
+but five feet in height, which, I think, is a little below the average
+stature of women. On each side, as if to heighten its elegance by
+contrast with rude and unrefined nature, are the statues of the
+Wrestlers, and the slave listening to the conspiracy of Catiline, called
+also The Whetter.
+
+As if to correspond with the value of the works it holds, the Tribune is
+paved with precious marbles and the ceiling studded with polished
+mother-of-pearl. A dim and subdued light fills the hall, which throws
+over the mind that half-dreamy tone necessary to the full enjoyment of
+such objects. On each side of the Venus de Medici hangs a Venus by
+Titian, the size of life, and painted in that rich and gorgeous style of
+coloring which has been so often and vainly attempted since his time.
+
+Here are six of Raphael's best preserved paintings. I prefer the "St.
+John in the Desert" to any other picture in the Tribune. His glorious
+form, in the fair proportions of ripening boyhood--the grace of his
+attitude, with the arm lifted eloquently on high--the divine inspiration
+which illumines his young features--chain the step irresistibly before
+it. It is one of those triumphs of the pencil which few but Raphael have
+accomplished--the painting of _spirit_ in its loftiest and purest form.
+Near it hangs the Fornarina, which he seems to have painted in as deep a
+love as he entertained for the original. The face is modest and
+beautiful, and filled with an expression of ardent and tender
+attachment. I never tire looking upon either of these two.
+
+Let me not forget, while we are in this peerless hall, to point out
+Guercino's Samian Sybil. It is a glorious work. With her hands clasped
+over her volume, she is looking up with a face full of deep and
+expressive sadness. A picturesque turban is twined around her head, and
+bands of pearls gleam amidst her rich, dark brown tresses. Her face
+bears the softness of dawning womanhood, and nearly answers my ideal of
+female beauty. The same artist has another fine picture here--a sleeping
+Endymion. The mantle has fallen from his shoulders, as he reclines
+asleep, with his head on his hand, and his crook beside him. The silver
+crescent of Dian looks over his shoulder from the sky behind, and no
+wonder if she should become enamored, for a lovelier shepherd has not
+been seen since that of King Admetus went back to drive his chariot in
+the heavens.
+
+The "Drunken Bacchus" of Michael Angelo is greatly admired, and indeed
+it might pass for a relic of the palmiest times of Grecian art. The
+face, amidst its half-vacant, sensual expression, shows traces of its
+immortal origin, and there is still an air of dignity preserved in the
+swagger of his beautiful form. It is, in a word, the ancient idea of _a
+drunken god_. It may be doubted whether the artist's talents might not
+have been employed better than in ennobling intoxication. If he had
+represented Bacchus as he really is--degraded even below the level of
+humanity--it might be more beneficial to the mind, though less beautiful
+to the eye. However, this is a question on which artists and moralists
+cannot agree. Perhaps, too, the rich blood of the Falernian grape
+produced a more godlike delirium than the vulgar brandy which oversets
+the moderns!
+
+At one end of the gallery is a fine copy in marble of the Laocoon, by
+Bandinelli, one of the rivals of Michael Angelo. When it was finished,
+the former boasted it was better than the original, to which Michael
+made the apt reply: "It is foolish for those who walk in the footsteps
+of others, to say they go before them!"
+
+Let us enter the hall of Niobe. One starts back on seeing the many
+figures in the attitude of flight, for they seem at first about to
+spring from their pedestals. At the head of the room stands the
+afflicted mother, bending over the youngest daughter who clings to her
+knees, with an upturned countenance of deep and imploring agony. In
+vain! the shafts of Apollo fall thick, and she will soon be childless.
+No wonder the strength of that woe depicted on her countenance should
+change her into stone. One of her sons--a beautiful, boyish form,--is
+lying on his back, just expiring, with the chill langour of death
+creeping over his limbs. We seem to hear the quick whistling of the
+arrows, and look involuntarily into the air to see the hovering figure
+of the avenging god. In a chamber near is kept the head of a faun, made
+by Michael Angelo, at the age of fourteen, in the garden of Lorenzo de
+Medici, from a piece of marble given him by the workmen.
+
+The portraits of the painters are more than usually interesting. Every
+countenance is full of character. There is the pale, enthusiastic face
+of Raphael, the stern vigor of Titian, the majesty and dignity of
+Leonardo da Vinci, and the fresh beauty of Angelica Kauffmann. I liked
+best the romantic head of Raphael Mengs. In one of the rooms there is a
+portrait of Alfieri, with an autograph sonnet of his own on the back of
+it. The house in which he lived and died, is on the north bank of the
+Arno, near the Ponte Caraja, and his ashes rest in Santa Croce.
+
+Italy still remains the home of art, and it is but just she should keep
+these treasures, though the age that brought them forth has passed away.
+They are her only support now; her people are dependent for their
+subsistence on the glory of the past. The spirits of the old painters,
+living still on their canvass, earn from year to year the bread of an
+indigent and oppressed people. This ought to silence those utilitarians
+at home, who oppose the cultivation of the fine arts, on the ground of
+their being useless luxuries. Let them look to Italy, where a picture by
+Raphael or Correggio is a rich legacy for a whole city. Nothing is
+useless that gratifies that perception of beauty, which is at once the
+most delicate and the most intense of our mental sensations, binding us
+by an unconscious link nearer to nature and to Him, whose every thought
+is born of Beauty, Truth and Love. I envy not the one who looks with a
+cold and indifferent spirit on these immortal creations of the old
+masters--these poems written in marble and on the canvass. They who
+oppose every thing which can refine and spiritualize the nature of man,
+by binding him down to the cares of the work-day world alone, cheat life
+of half its glory.
+
+The eighth of this month was the anniversary of the birth of the Virgin,
+and the celebration, if such it might be called, commenced the evening
+before, It is the custom, and Heaven only knows how it originated, for
+the people of the lower class to go through the streets in a company,
+blowing little penny whistles. We were walking that night in the
+direction of the Duomo, when we met a band of these men, blowing with
+all their might on the shrill whistles, so that the whole neighborhood
+resounded with one continual, piercing, ear-splitting shriek. They
+marched in a kind of quick trot through the streets, followed by a crowd
+of boys, and varying the noise occasionally by shouts and howls of the
+most horrible character. They paraded through all the principal streets
+of the city, which for an hour sent up such an agonizing scream that you
+might have fancied it an enormous monster, expiring in great torment.
+The people seemed to take the whole thing as a matter of course, but it
+was to us a novel manner of ushering in a religious festival.
+
+The sky was clear and blue, as it always is in this Italian paradise,
+when we left Florence a few days ago for Fiesole. In spite of many
+virtuous efforts to rise early, it was nine o'clock before we left the
+Porta San Gallo, with its triumphal arch to the Emperor Francis,
+striding the road to Bologna. We passed through the public walk at this
+end of the city, and followed the road to Fiesole along the dried-up bed
+of a mountain torrent. The dwellings of the Florentine nobility occupy
+the whole slope, surrounded with rich and lovely gardens. The mountain
+and plain are both covered with luxuriant olive orchards, whose foliage
+of silver gray gives the scene the look of a moonlight landscape.
+
+At the base of the mountain of Fiesole we passed one of the summer
+palaces of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and a little distance beyond, took a
+foot-path overshadowed by magnificent cypresses, between whose dark
+trunks we looked down on the lovely Val d'Arno. But I will reserve all
+description of the view till we arrive at the summit.
+
+The modern village of Fiesole occupies the site of an ancient city,
+generally supposed to be of Etrurian origin. Just above, on one of the
+peaks of the mountain, stands the Acropolis, formerly used as a
+fortress, but now untenanted save by a few monks. From the side of its
+walls, beneath the shade of a few cypresses, there is a magnificent view
+of the whole of Val d'Arno, with Florence--the gem of Italy--in the
+centre. Stand with me a moment on the height, and let us gaze on this
+grand panorama, around which the Apennines stretch with a majestic
+sweep, wrapped in a robe of purple air, through which shimmer the villas
+and villages on their sides! The lovely vale lies below us in its garb
+of olive groves, among which beautiful villas are sprinkled as
+plentifully as white anemones in the woods of May. Florence lies in
+front of us, the magnificent cupola of the Duomo crowning its clustered
+palaces. We see the airy tower of the Palazzo Vecchio--the new spire of
+Santa Croce--and the long front of the Palazzo Pitti, with the dark
+foliage of the Boboli Gardens behind. Beyond, far to the south, are the
+summits of the mountains near Siena. We can trace the sandy bed of the
+Arno down the valley till it disappears at the foot of the Lower
+Apennines, which mingle in the distance with the mountains of Carrara.
+
+Galileo was wont to make observations "at evening from the top of
+Fiesole," and the square tower of the old church is still pointed out as
+the spot. Many a night did he ascend to its projecting terrace, and
+watch the stars as they rolled around through the clearest heaven to
+which a philosopher ever looked up.
+
+We passed through an orchard of fig trees, and vines laden with
+beautiful purple and golden clusters, and in a few minutes reached the
+remains of an amphitheatre, in a little nook on the mountain side. This
+was a work of Roman construction, as its form indicates. Three or four
+ranges of seats alone, are laid bare, and these have only been
+discovered within a few years. A few steps further we came to a sort of
+cavern, overhung with wild fig-trees. After creeping in at the entrance,
+we found ourselves in an oval chamber, tall enough to admit of our
+standing upright, and rudely but very strongly built. This was one of
+the dens in which the wild beasts were kept; they were fed by a hole in
+the top, now closed up. This cell communicates with four or five others,
+by apertures broken in the walls. I stepped into one, and could see in
+the dim light, that it was exactly similar to the first, and opened into
+another beyond.
+
+Further down the mountain we found the ancient wall of the city, without
+doubt of Etrurian origin. It is of immense blocks of stone, and extends
+more or less dilapidated around the whole brow of the mountain. In one
+place there stands a solitary gateway, of large stones, which looks as
+if it might have been one of the first attempts at using the principle
+of the arch. These ruins are all gray and ivied, and it startles one to
+think what a history Earth has lived through since their foundations
+were laid!
+
+We sat all the afternoon under the cypress trees and looked down on the
+lovely valley, practising Italian sometimes with two young Florentines
+who came up to enjoy the "_bell'aria_" of Fiesole. Descending as sunset
+drew on, we reached the Porta San Gallo, as the people of Florence were
+issuing forth to their evening promenade.
+
+One of my first visits was to the church of Santa Croce. This is one of
+the oldest in Florence, venerated alike by foreigners and citizens, for
+the illustrious dead whose remains it holds. It is a plain, gloomy pile,
+the front of which is still unfinished, though at the base, one sees
+that it was originally designed to be covered with black marble. On
+entering the door we first saw the tomb of Michael Angelo. Around the
+marble sarcophagus which contains his ashes are three mourning figures,
+representing Sculpture, Painting and Architecture, and his bust stands
+above--a rough, stern countenance, like a man of vast but unrefined
+mind. Further on are the tombs of Alfieri and Machiavelli and the
+colossal cenotaph lately erected to Dante. Opposite reposes Galileo.
+What a world of renown in these few names! It makes one venerate the
+majesty of his race, to stand beside the dust of such lofty spirits.
+
+Dante's monument may be said to be only erected to his memory; he sleeps
+at the place of his exile,
+
+    "Like Scipio, buried by the upbraiding shore!"
+
+It is the work of Ricci, a Florentine artist, and has been placed there
+within a few years. The colossal figure of Poetry weeping over the empty
+urn, might better express the regret of Florence in being deprived of
+his ashes. The figure of Dante himself, seated above, is grand and
+majestic; his head is inclined as if in meditation, and his features
+bear the expression of sublime thought. Were this figure placed there
+alone, on a simple and massive pedestal, it would be more in keeping
+with his fame than the lumbering heaviness of the present monument.
+
+Machiavelli's tomb is adorned with a female figure representing History,
+bearing his portrait. The inscription, which seems to be somewhat
+exaggerated, is: _tanto nomini nullum par elogium_. Near lies Alfieri,
+the "prince of tragedy," as he is called by the Italians. In his life he
+was fond of wandering among the tombs of Santa Croce, and it is said
+that there the first desire and presentiment of his future glory stirred
+within his breast. Now he slumbers among them, not the least honored
+name of that immortal company.
+
+Galileo's tomb is adorned with his bust. His face is calm and dignified,
+and he holds appropriately in his hands, a globe and telescope. Aretino,
+the historian, lies on his tomb with a copy of his works clasped to his
+breast; above that of Lanzi, the historian of painting, there is a
+beautiful fresco of the angel of fame; and opposite to him is the
+scholar Lamio. The most beautiful monument in the church is that of a
+Polish princess, in the transept. She is lying on the bier, her features
+settled in the repose of death, and her thin, pale hands clasped across
+her breast. The countenance wears that half-smile, "so coldly sweet and
+sadly fair," which so often throws a beauty over the face of the dead,
+and the light pall reveals the fixed yet graceful outline of the form.
+
+In that part of the city, which lies on the south bank of the Arno, is
+the palace of the Grand Duke, known by the name of the Palazzo Pitti,
+from a Florentine noble of that name, by whom it was first built. It is
+a very large, imposing pile, preserving an air of lightness in spite of
+the rough, heavy stones of which it is built. It is another example of a
+magnificent failure. The Marquis Strozzi, having built a palace which
+was universally admired for its beauty, (which stands yet, a model of
+chaste and massive elegance,) his rival, the Marquis Pitti, made the
+proud boast that he would build a palace, in the court-yard of which
+could bo placed that of Strozzi. These are actually the dimensions of
+the court-yard; but in building the palace, although he was liberally
+assisted by the Florentine people, he ruined himself, and his
+magnificent residence passed into other hands, while that of Strozzi is
+inhabited by his descendants to this very day.
+
+The gallery of the Palazzo Pitti is one of the finest in Europe. It
+contains six or seven hundred paintings, selected from the best works of
+the Italian masters. By the praiseworthy liberality of the Duke, they
+are open to the public, six hours every day, and the rooms are thronged
+with artists of all nations.
+
+Among Titian's works, there is his celebrated "Bella," a half-length
+figure of a young woman. It is a masterpiece of warm and brilliant
+coloring, without any decided expression. The countenance is that of
+vague, undefined thought, as of one who knew as yet nothing of the
+realities of life. In another room is his Magdalen, a large, voluptuous
+form, with her brown hair falling like a veil over her shoulders and
+breast, but in her upturned countenance one can sooner read a prayer for
+an absent lover than repentance for sins she has committed.
+
+What could excel in beauty the _Madonna della Sedia_ of Raphael? It is
+another of those works of that divine artist, on which we gaze and gaze
+with a never-tiring enjoyment of its angelic beauty. To my eye it is
+faultless; I could not wish a single outline of form, a single shade of
+color changed. Like his unrivalled Madonna in the Dresden Gallery, its
+beauty is spiritual as well as earthly; and while gazing on the glorious
+countenance of the Jesus-child, I feel an impulse I can scarcely
+explain--a longing to tear it from the canvas as if it were a breathing
+form, and clasp it to my heart in a glow of passionate love. What a
+sublime inspiration Raphael must have felt when he painted it! Judging
+from its effect on the beholder, I can conceive of no higher mental
+excitement than that required to create it.
+
+Here are also some of the finest and best preserved pictures of Salvator
+Rosa, and his portrait--a wild head, full of spirit and genius. Besides
+several landscapes in his savage and stormy style, there are two large
+sea-views, in which the atmosphere is of a deep and exquisite softness,
+without impairing the strength and boldness of the composition. "A
+Battle Scene," is terrible. Hundreds of combatants are met in the shock
+and struggle of conflict. Horses, mailed knights, vassals are mixed
+together in wild confusion; banners are waving and lances flashing amid
+the dust and smoke, while the wounded and dying are trodden under foot
+in darkness and blood. I now first begin to comprehend the power and
+sublimity of his genius. From the wildness and gloom of his pictures, he
+might almost be called the Byron of painters.
+
+There is a small group of the "Fates," by Michael Angelo, which is one
+of the best of the few pictures which remain of him. As is well known,
+he disliked the art, saying it was only fit for women. This picture
+shows, however, how much higher he might have gone, had he been so
+inclined. The three weird sisters are ghostly and awful--the one who
+stands behind, holding the distaff, almost frightful. She who stands
+ready to cut the thread as it is spun out, has a slight trace of pity on
+her fixed and unearthly lineaments. It is a faithful embodiment of the
+old Greek idea of the Fates. I have wondered why some artist has not
+attempted the subject in a different way. In the Northern Mythology they
+are represented as wild maidens, armed with swords and mounted on fiery
+coursers. Why might they not also be pictured as angels, with
+countenances of a sublime and mysterious beauty--one all radiant with
+hope and promise of glory, and one with the token of a better future
+mingled with the sadness with which it severs the links of life?
+
+There are many, many other splendid works in this collection, but it is
+unnecessary to mention them. I have only endeavored, by taking a few of
+the best known, to give some idea of them as they appear to me. There
+are hundreds of pictures here, which, though gems in themselves, are by
+masters who are rarely heard of in America, and it would be of little
+interest to go through the Gallery, describing it in guide-book fashion.
+Indeed, to describe galleries, however rich and renowned they may be, is
+in general a work of so much difficulty, that I know not whether the
+writer or the reader is made most tired thereby.
+
+This collection possesses also the celebrated statue of Venus, by
+Canova. She stands in the centre of a little apartment, filled with the
+most delicate and graceful works of painting. Although undoubtedly a
+figure of great beauty, it by no means struck me as possessing that
+exquisite and classic perfection which has been ascribed to it. The
+Venus de Medici far surpasses it. The head is larger in proportion to
+the size of the body, than that of the latter, but has not the same
+modest, virgin expression. The arm wrapped in the robe which she is
+pressing to her breast, is finely executed, but the fingers of the other
+hand are bad--looking, as my friend said, as if the ends were _whittled_
+off! The body is, however, of fine proportions, though, taken as a
+whole, the statue is inferior to many other of Canova's works.
+
+Occupying all the hill back of the Pitti Palace, are the Boboli Gardens,
+three times a week the great resort of the Florentines. They are said to
+be the most beautiful gardens in Italy. Numberless paths, diverging from
+a magnificent amphitheatre in the old Roman style, opposite the
+court-yard, lend either in long flights of steps and terraces, or gentle
+windings among beds sweet with roses, to the summit. Long avenues,
+entirely arched and interwoven with the thick foliage of the laurel,
+which here grows to a tree, stretch along the slopes or wind in the
+woods through thickets of the fragrant bay. Parterres, rich with flowers
+and shrubbery, alternate with delightful groves of the Italian pine,
+acacia and laurel-leaved oak, and along the hillside, gleaming among the
+foliage, are placed statues of marble, some of which are from the
+chisels of Michael Angelo and Bandinelli. In one part there is a little
+sheet of water, with an island of orange-trees in the centre, from which
+a broad avenue of cypresses and statues leads to the very summit of the
+hill.
+
+We often go there to watch the sun set over Florence and the vale of the
+Arno. The palace lies directly below, and a clump of pine-trees on the
+hillside, that stand out in bold relief on the glowing sky, makes the
+foreground to one of the loveliest pictures this side of the Atlantic. I
+saw one afternoon the Grand Duke and his family get into their carriage
+to drive out. One of the little dukes, who seemed a mischievous imp, ran
+out on a projection of the portico, where considerable persuasion had to
+be used to induce him to jump into the arms of his royal papa. I turned
+from these titled infants to watch a group of beautiful American
+children playing, for my attention was drawn to them by the sound of
+familiar words, and I learned afterwards they were the children of the
+sculptor Powers. I contrasted involuntarily the destinies of each;--one
+to the enjoyment and proud energy of freedom, and one to the confining
+and vitiating atmosphere of a court. The merry voices of the latter, as
+they played on the grass, came to my ears most gratefully. There is
+nothing so sweet as to hear one's native tongue in a foreign land from
+the lips of children!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+A PILGRIMAGE TO VALLOMBROSA.
+
+
+A pilgrimage to Vallombrosa!--in sooth it has a romantic sound. The
+phrase calls up images of rosaries, and crosses, and shaven-headed
+friars. Had we lived in the olden days, such things might verily have
+accompanied our journey to that holy monastery. We might then have gone
+barefoot, saying prayers as we toiled along the banks of the Arno and up
+the steep Appenines, as did Benevenuto Cellini, before he poured the
+melted bronze into the mould of his immortal Perseus. But we are
+pilgrims to the shrines of Art and Genius; the dwelling-places of great
+minds are our sanctuaries. The mean dwelling, in which a poet has
+battled down poverty with the ecstacy of his mighty conceptions, and the
+dungeon in which a persecuted philosopher has languished, are to us
+sacred; we turn aside from the palaces of kings and the battle-fields of
+conquerors, to visit them. The famed miracles of San Giovanni Gualberto
+added little, in our eyes, to the interest of Vallombrosa, but there
+were reverence and inspiration in the names of Dante, Milton, and
+Ariosto.
+
+We left Florence early, taking the way that leads from the Porta della
+Croce, up the north bank of the Arno. It was a bright morning, but there
+was a shade of vapor on the hills, which a practised eye might have
+taken as a prognostic of the rain that too soon came on. Fiesole, with
+its tower and Acropolis, stood out brightly from the blue background,
+and the hill of San Miniato lay with its cypress groves in the softest
+morning light. The _Contadini_ were driving into the city in their
+basket wagons, and there were some fair young faces among them, that
+made us think Italian beauty was not altogether in the imagination.
+
+After walking three or four miles, we entered the Appenines, keeping
+along the side of the Arno, whose bed is more than half dried up from
+the long summer heats. The mountain sides were covered with vineyards,
+glowing with their wealth of white and purple grapes, but the summits
+were naked and barren. We passed through the little town of Ponte Sieve,
+at the entrance of a romantic valley, where our view of the Arno was
+made more interesting by the lofty range of the Appenines, amid whose
+forests we could see the white front of the monastery of Vallombrosa.
+But the clouds sank low and hid it from sight, and the rain came on so
+hard that we were obliged to take shelter occasionally in the cottages
+by the wayside. In one of these we made a dinner of the hard, black
+bread of the country, rendered palatable by the addition of mountain
+cheese and some chips of an antique Bologna sausage. We were much amused
+in conversing with the simple hosts and their shy, gipsy-like children,
+one of whom, a dark-eyed, curly-haired boy, bore the name of Raphael. We
+also became acquainted with a shoemaker and his family, who owned a
+little olive orchard and vineyard, which they said produced enough to
+support them. Wishing to know much a family of six consumed in a year,
+we inquired the yield of their property. They answered, twenty small
+barrels of wine, and ten of oil. It was nearly sunset when we reached
+Pellago, and the wet walk and coarse fare we were obliged to take on the
+road, well qualified us to enjoy the excellent supper the pleasant
+landlady gave us.
+
+This little town is among the Appenines, at the foot of the magnificent
+mountain of Vallombrosa. What a blessing it was for Milton, that he saw
+its loveliness before his eyes closed on this beautiful earth, and
+gained from it another hue in which to dip his pencil, when he painted
+the bliss of Eden! I watched the hills all day as we approached them,
+and thought how often his eyes had rested on their outlines, and how he
+had carried their forms in his memory for many a sunless year. The
+banished Dante, too, had trodden them, flying from his ungrateful
+country; and many another, whose genius has made him a beacon in the
+dark sea of the world's history. It is one of those places where the
+enjoyment is all romance, and the blood thrills as we gaze upon it.
+
+We started early next morning, crossed the ravine, and took the
+well-paved way to the monastery along the mountain side. The stones are
+worn smooth by the sleds in which ladies and provisions are conveyed up,
+drawn by the beautiful white Tuscan oxen. The hills are covered with
+luxuriant chesnut and oak trees, of those picturesque forms which they
+only wear in Italy: one wild dell in particular is much resorted to by
+painters for the ready-made foregrounds it supplies. Further on, we
+passed the _Paterno_, a rich farm belonging to the Monks. The vines
+which hung from tree to tree, were almost breaking beneath clusters as
+heavy and rich as those which the children of Israel bore on staves from
+the Promised Land. Of their flavor, we can say, from experience, they
+were worthy to have grown in Paradise. We then entered a deep dell of
+the mountain, where little shepherd girls were sitting on the rocks
+tending their sheep and spinning with their fingers from a distaff, in
+the same manner, doubtless, as the Roman shepherdesses two thousand
+years ago. Gnarled, gray olive trees, centuries old, grew upon the bare
+soil, and a little rill fell in many a tiny cataract down the glen. By a
+mill, in one of the coolest and wildest nooks I ever saw, two of us
+acted the part of water-spirits under one of these, to the great
+astonishment of four peasants, who watched us from a distance.
+
+Beyond, our road led through forests of chesnut and oak, and a broad
+view of mountain and vale lay below us. We asked a peasant boy we met,
+how much land the Monks of Vallombrosa possessed. "_All that you see_!"
+was the reply. The dominion of the good fathers reached once even to the
+gates of Florence. At length, about noon, we emerged from the woods into
+a broad avenue leading across a lawn, at whose extremity stood the
+massivs buildings of the monastery. On a rock that towered above it, was
+the _Paradisino_, beyond which rose the mountain, covered with forests--
+
+    "Shade above shade, a woody theatre.
+    Of stateliest view"--
+
+as Milton describes it. We were met at the entrance by a young monk in
+cowl and cassock, to whom we applied for permission to stay till the
+next day, which was immediately given. Brother Placido (for that was his
+name) then asked us if we would not have dinner. We replied that our
+appetites were none the worse for climbing the mountain; and in half an
+hour sat down to a dinner, the like of which we had not seen for a long
+time. Verily, thought I, it must be a pleasant thing to be a monk, after
+all!--that is, a monk of Vallombrosa.
+
+In the afternoon we walked through a grand pine forest to the western
+brow of the mountain, where a view opened which it would require a
+wonderful power of the imagination for you to see in fancy, as I did in
+reality. From the height where we stood, the view was uninterrupted to
+the Mediterranean, a distance of more than seventy miles; a valley
+watered by a brunch of the Arno swept far to the east, to the mountains
+near the Luke of Thrasymene; northwestwards the hills of Carrara
+bordered the horizon; the space between these wide points was filled
+with mountains and valleys, all steeped in that soft blue mist which
+makes Italian landscapes more like heavenly visions than realities.
+Florence was visible afar off, and the current of the Arno flashed in
+the sun. A cool and almost chilling wind blew constantly over the
+mountain, although the country below basked in summer heat. We lay on
+the rocks, and let our souls luxuriate in the lovely scene till near
+sunset. Brother Placido brought us supper in the evening, with his
+ever-smiling countenance, and we soon after went to our beds in the
+neat, plain chambers, to get rid of the unpleasant coldness.
+
+Next morning it was damp and misty, and thick clouds rolled down the
+forests towards the convent. I set out for the "Little Paradise," taking
+in my way the pretty cascade which falls some fifty feet down the rocks.
+The building is not now as it was when Milton lived here, having been
+rebuilt within a short time. I found no one there, and satisfied my
+curiosity by climbing over the wall and looking in at the windows. A
+little chapel stands in a cleft of the rock below, to mark the
+miraculous escape of St. John Gualberto, founder of the monastery. Being
+one day very closely pursued by the Devil, he took shelter under the
+rock, which immediately became soft and admitted him into it, while the
+fiend, unable to stop, was precipitated over the steep. All this is
+related in a Latin inscription, and we saw a large hollow in the rock
+near, which must have been intended for the imprint left by his sacred
+person.
+
+One of the monks told us another legend, concerning a little chapel
+which stands alone on a wild part of the mountain, above a rough pile of
+crags, called the "Peak of the Devil." "In the time of San Giovanni
+Gualberto, the holy founder of our order," said he, "there was a young
+man, of a noble family in Florence, who was so moved by the words of the
+saintly father, that he forsook the world, wherein he had lived with
+great luxury and dissipation, and became monk. But, after a time, being
+young and tempted again by the pleasures he had renounced, he put off
+the sacred garments. The holy San Giovanni warned him of the terrible
+danger in which he stood, and at length the wicked young man returned.
+It was not a great while, however, before he became dissatisfied, and in
+spite all holy counsel, did the same thing again. But behold what
+happened! As he was walking along the peak where the chapel stands,
+thinking nothing of his great crime, the devil sprang suddenly from
+behind a rock, and catching the young man in his arms, before he could
+escape, carried him with a dreadful noise and a great red flame and
+smoke over the precipice, so that he was never afterwards seen."
+
+The church attached to the monastery is small, but very solemn and
+venerable. I went several times to muse in its still, gloomy aisle, and
+hear the murmuring chant of the Monks, who went through their exercises
+in some of the chapels. At one time I saw them all, in long black
+cassocks, march in solemn order to the chapel of St. John Gualberto,
+where they sang a deep chant, which to me had something awful and
+sepulchral in it. Behind the high altar I saw their black, carved chairs
+of polished oak, with ponderous gilded foliants lying on the rails
+before them. The attendant opened one of these, that we might see the
+manuscript notes, three or four centuries old, from which they sung.
+
+We were much amused in looking through two or three Italian books, which
+were lying in the traveler's room. One of these which our friend Mr.
+Tandy, of Kentucky, read, described the miracles of the patron saint
+with an air of the most ridiculous solemnity. The other was a
+description of the Monastery, its foundation, history, etc. In
+mentioning its great and far-spread renown, the author stated then even
+an English poet, by the name of Milton, had mentioned it in the
+following lines, which I copied verbatim from the book:
+
+    "Thick as autumnal scaves that strow she brooks
+    In vallombrosa, whereth Etruian Jades
+    Stigh over orch d'embrover!"
+
+In looking over the stranger's book, I found among the names of my
+countrymen, that of S. V. Clevenger, the talented and lamented sculptor
+who died at sea on his passage home. There were also the names of Mrs.
+Shelley and the Princess Potemkin, and I saw written on the wall, the
+autograph of Jean Reboul, the celebrated modern French poet. We were so
+delighted with the place we would have stayed another day, but for fear
+of trepassing too much on the lavish and unceasing hospitality of the
+good fathers.
+
+So in the afternoon we shook hands with Brother Placido, and turned our
+backs regretfully upon one of the loneliest and loveliest spots of which
+earth can boast. The sky became gradually clear as we descended, and the
+mist raised itself from the distant mountains. We ran down through the
+same chesnut groves, diverging a little to go through the village of
+Tosi, which is very picturesque when seen from a distance, but extremely
+dirty to one passing through. I stopped in the ravine below to take a
+sketch of the mill and bridge, and as we sat, the line of golden
+sunlight rose higher on the mountains above. On walking down the shady
+side of this glen, we were enraptured with the scenery. A brilliant yet
+mellow glow lay over the whole opposing height, lighting up the houses
+of Tosi and the white cottages half seen among the olives, while the
+mountain of Vallombrosa stretched far heavenward like a sunny painting,
+with only a misty wreath floating and waving around its summit. The
+glossy foliage of the chesnuts was made still brighter by the warm
+light, and the old olives softened down into a silvery gray, whose
+contrast gave the landscape a character of the mellowest beauty. As we
+wound out of the deep glen, the broad valleys and ranges of the
+Appenines lay before us, forests, castles and villages steeped in the
+soft, vapory blue of the Italian atmosphere, and the current of the Arno
+flashing like a golden belt through the middle of the picture.
+
+The sun was nearly down, and the mountains just below him were of a
+deep purple hue, while those that ran out to the eastward wore the most
+aerial shade of blue. A few scattered clouds, floating above, soon put
+on the sunset robe of orange and a band of the same soft color encircled
+the western horizon. It did not reach half way to the zenith, however;
+the sky above was blue, of such a depth and transparency, that to gaze
+upward was like looking into eternity. Then how softly and soothingly
+the twilight came on! How deep a hush sank on the chesnut glades, broken
+only by the song of the cicada, chirping its "good-night carol!" The
+mountains, too, how majestic they stood in their deep purple outlines!
+Sweet, sweet Italy! I can feel now how the soul may cling to thee, since
+thou canst thus gratify its insatiable thirst for the Beautiful. Even
+thy plainest scene is clothed in hues that seem borrowed of heaven! In
+the twilight, more radiant than light, and the stillness, more eloquent
+than music, which sink down over the sunny beauty of thy shores, there
+is a silent, intense poetry that stirs the soul through all its
+impassioned depths. With warm, blissful tears filling the eyes and a
+heart overflowing with its own bright fancies, I wander in the solitude
+and calm of such a time, and love thee as if I were a child of thy soil!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+WALK TO SIENA AND PRATOLINO--INCIDENTS IN FLORENCE.
+
+
+_October 16._--My cousin, being anxious to visit Rome, and reach
+Heidelberg before the commencement of the winter semestre, set out
+towards the end of September, on foot. We accompanied him as far as
+Siena, forty miles distant. As I shall most probably take another road
+to the Eternal City, the present is a good opportunity to say something
+of that romantic old town, so famous throughout Italy for the honesty of
+its inhabitants.
+
+We dined the first day, seventeen miles from Florence, at Tavenella,
+where, for a meagre dinner the hostess had the assurance to ask us seven
+pauls. We told her we would give but four and a half, and by assuming a
+decided manner, with a plentiful use of the word "Signora" she was
+persuaded to be fully satisfied with the latter sum. From a height near,
+we could see the mountains coasting the Mediterranean, and shortly
+after, on descending a long hill, the little town of Poggibonsi lay in
+the warm afternoon light, on an eminence before us. It was soon passed
+with its dusky towers, then Stagia looking desolate in its ruined and
+ivied walls, and following the advice of a peasant, we stopped for the
+night at the inn of Querciola. As we knew something of Italian by this
+time, we thought it best to inquire the price of lodging, before
+entering. The _padrone_ asked if we meant to take supper also. We
+answered in the affirmative; "then," said he, "you will pay half a paul
+(about five emits) apiece for a bed." We passed under the swinging bunch
+of boughs, which in Italy is the universal sign of an inn for the common
+people, and entered the bare, smoky room appropriated to travelers. A
+long table, with well-worn benches, were the only furniture; we threw
+our knapsacks on one end of it and sat down, amusing ourselves while
+supper was preparing, in looking at a number of grotesque charcoal
+drawings on the wall, which the flaring light of our tall iron lamp
+revealed to us. At length the hostess, a kindly-looking woman, with a
+white handkerchief folded gracefully around her head, brought us a dish
+of fried eggs, which, with the coarse black bread of the peasants and a
+basket full of rich grapes, made us an excellent supper. We slept on
+mattresses stuffed with corn husks, placed on square iron frames, which
+are the bedsteads most used in Italy. A brightly-painted caricature of
+some saint or a rough crucifix, trimmed with bay leaves, hung at the
+head of each bed, and under their devout protection we enjoyed a safe
+and unbroken slumber.
+
+Next morning we set out early to complete the remaining ten miles to
+Siena. The only thing of interest on the road, is the ruined wall and
+battlements of Castiglione, circling a high hill and looking as old as
+the days of Etruria. The towers of Siena are seen at some distance, but
+approaching it from this side, the traveler does not perceive its
+romantic situation until he arrives. It stands on a double hill, which
+is very steep on some sides; the hollow between the two peaks is
+occupied by the great public square, ten or fifteen feet lower than the
+rest of the city. We left our knapsacks at a _cafe_ and sought the
+celebrated Cathedral, which stands in the highest part of the town,
+forming with its flat dome and lofty marble tower, an apex to the
+pyramidal mass of buildings.
+
+The interior is rich and elegantly perfect. Every part is of black and
+white marble, in what I should call the _striped_ style, which has a
+singular but agreeable effect. The inside of the dome and the vaulted
+ceilings of the chapels, are of blue, with golden stars; the pavement in
+the centre is so precious a work that it is kept covered with boards and
+only shown once a year. There are some pictures of great value in this
+Cathedral; one of "The Descent of the Dove," is worthy of the best days
+of Italian art. In an adjoining chamber, with frescoed walls, and a
+beautiful tesselated pavement, is the library, consisting of a few huge
+old volumes, which with their brown covers and brazen clasps, look as
+much like a collection of flat leather trunks as any thing else. In the
+centre of the room stands the mutilated group of the Grecian Graces,
+found in digging the foundation of the Cathedral. The figures are still
+beautiful and graceful, with that exquisite curve of outline which is
+such a charm in the antique statues. Canova has only perfected the idea
+in his celebrated group, which is nearly a copy of this.
+
+We strolled through the square and then accompanied our friend to the
+Roman gate, where we took leave of him for six months at least. He felt
+lonely at the thought of walking in Italy without a companion, but was
+cheered by the anticipation of soon reaching Rome. We watched him
+awhile, walking rapidly over the hot plain towards Radicofani, and then,
+turning our faces with much pleasure towards Florence, we commenced the
+return walk. I must not forget to mention the delicious grapes which we
+bought, begged and stole on the way. The whole country is like one
+vineyard--and the people live, in a great measure, on the fruit, during
+this part of the year. Would you not think it highly romantic and
+agreeable to sit in the shade of a cypress grove, beside some old
+weather-beaten statues, looking out over the vales of the Appenines,
+with a pile of white and purple grapes beside you, the like of which can
+scarcely be had in America for love or money, and which had been given
+you by a dark-eyed peasant girl? If so, you may envy us, for such was
+exactly our situation on the morning before reaching Florence.
+
+Being in the Duomo, two or three days ago, I met a German traveler, who
+has walked through Italy thus far, and intends continuing his journey to
+Rome and Naples. His name is Von Raumer. He was well acquainted with the
+present state of America, and I derived much pleasure from his
+intelligent conversation. We concluded to ascend the cupola in company.
+Two black-robed boys led the way; after climbing an infinite number of
+steps, we reached the gallery around the foot of the dome. The glorious
+view of that paradise, the vale of the Arno, shut in on all sides by
+mountains, some bare and desolate, some covered with villas, gardens,
+and groves, lay in soft, hazy light, with the shadows of a few light
+clouds moving slowly across it. They next took us to a gallery on the
+inside of the dome, where we first saw the immensity of its structure.
+Only from a distant view, or in ascending it, can one really measure its
+grandeur. The frescoes, which from below appear the size of life, are
+found to be rough and monstrous daubs; each figure being nearly as many
+fathoms in length as a man is feet. Continuing our ascent, we mounted
+between the inside and outside shells of the dome. It was indeed a bold
+idea for Brunelleschi to raise such a mass in air. The dome of Saint
+Peter's, which is scarcely as large, was not made until a century after,
+and this was, therefore, the first attempt at raising one on so grand a
+scale. It seems still as solid as if just built.
+
+There was a small door in one of the projections of the lantern, which
+the sacristan told us to enter and ascend still higher. Supposing there
+was a fine view to be gained, two priests, who had just come up, entered
+it; the German followed, and I after him. After crawling in at the low
+door, we found ourselves in a hollow pillar, little wider than our
+bodies. Looking up, I saw the German's legs just above my head, while
+the other two were above him, ascending by means of little iron bars
+fastened in the marble. The priests were very much amused, and the
+German said:--"This is the first time I ever learned chimney-sweeping!"
+We emerged at length into a hollow cone, hot and dark, with a rickety
+ladder going up somewhere; we could not see where. The old priest, not
+wishing to trust himself to it, sent his younger brother up, and we
+shouted after him:--"What kind of a view have you?" He climbed up till
+the cone got so narrow he could go no further, and answered back in the
+darkness:--"I see nothing at all!" Shortly after he came down, covered
+with dust and cobwebs, and we all descended the chimney quicker than we
+went up. The old priest considered it a good joke, and laughed till his
+fat sides shook. We asked the sacristan why he sent us up, and he
+answered:--"To see _the construction of the Church_!"
+
+I attended service in the Cathedral one dark, rainy morning, and was
+never before so deeply impressed with the majesty and grandeur of the
+mighty edifice. The thick, cloudy atmosphere darkened still more the
+light which came through the stained windows, and a solemn twilight
+reigned in the long aisles. The mighty dome sprang far aloft, as if it
+enclosed a part of heaven, for the light that struggled through the
+windows around its base, lay in broad bars on the blue, hazy air. I
+would not have been surprised at seeing a cloud float along within it.
+The lofty burst of the organ, that seemed like the pantings of a
+monster, boomed echoing away through dome and nave, with a chiming,
+metallic vibration, that shook the massive pillars which it would defy
+an earthquake to rend. All was wrapped in dusky obscurity, except where,
+in the side-chapels, crowns of tapers were burning around the images.
+One knows not which most to admire, the genius which could conceive, or
+the perseverance which could accomplish such a work, On one side of the
+square, the colossal statue of the architect, glorious old Brunelleschi,
+is most appropriately placed, looking up with pride at his performance.
+
+The sunshine and genial airs of Italy have gone, leaving instead a cold,
+gloomy sky and chilling winds. The autumnal season has fairly commenced,
+and I suppose I must bid adieu to the brightness which made me in love
+with the land. The change has been no less sudden than unpleasant, and
+if, as they say, it will continue all winter with little variation, I
+shall have to seek a clearer climate. In the cold of these European
+winters, there is, as I observed last year in Germany, a dull, damp
+chill, quite different from the bracing, exhilarating frosts of America.
+It stagnates the vital principle and leaves the limbs dull and heavy,
+with a lifeless feeling which can scarcely be overcome by vigorous
+action. At least, such has been my experience.
+
+We lately made an excursion to Pratolino, on the Appenines, to see the
+vintage and the celebrated colossus, by John of Bologna. Leaving
+Florence in the morning, with a cool, fresh wind blowing down from the
+mountains, we began ascending by the road to Bologna. We passed Fiesole
+with its tower and acropolis on the right, ascending slowly, with the
+bold peak of one of the loftiest Appenines on our left. The abundant
+fruit of the olive was beginning to turn brown, and the grapes were all
+gathered in from the vineyards, but we learned from a peasant boy that
+the vintage was not finished at Pratolino.
+
+We finally arrived at an avenue shaded with sycamores, leading to the
+royal park. The vintagers were busy in the fields around, unloading the
+vines of their purple tribute, and many a laugh and jest among the merry
+peasants enlivened the toil. We assisted them in disposing of some fine
+clusters, and then sought the "Colossus of the Appenines." He stands
+above a little lake, at the head of a long mountain-slope, broken with
+clumps of magnificent trees. This remarkable figure, the work of John of
+Bologna, impresses one like a relic of the Titans. He is represented as
+half-kneeling, supporting himself with one hand, while the other is
+pressed upon the head of a dolphin, from which a little stream falls
+into the lake. The height of the figure when erect, would amount to more
+than sixty feet! We measured one of the feet, which is a single piece of
+rock, about eight feet long; from the ground to the top of one knee is
+nearly twenty feet. The limbs are formed of pieces of stone, joined
+together, and the body of stone and brick. His rough hair and eyebrows,
+and the beard, which reached nearly to the ground, are formed of
+stalactites, taken from caves, and fastened together in a dripping and
+crusted mass. These hung also from his limbs and body, and gave him the
+appearance of Winter in his mail of icicles. By climbing up the rocks at
+his back, we entered his body, which contains a small-sized room; it was
+even possible to ascend through his neck and look out at his ear! The
+face is in keeping with the figure--stern and grand, and the architect
+(one can hardly say sculptor) has given to it the majestic air and
+sublimity of the Appenines. But who can build up _an image of the Alp_?
+
+We visited the factory on the estate, where wine and oil are made. The
+men had just brought in a cart load of large wooden vessels, filled with
+grapes, which they were mashing with heavy wooden pestles. When the
+grapes were pretty well reduced to pulp and juice, they emptied them
+into an enormous tub, which they told us would be covered air-tight, and
+left for three or four weeks, after which the wine would be drawn off at
+the bottom. They showed us also a great stone mill for grinding olives;
+this estate of the Grand Duke produces five hundred barrels of wine and
+a hundred and fifty of oil, every year. The former article is the
+universal beverage of the laboring classes in Italy, or I might say of
+all classes; it is, however, the pure blood of the grape, and although
+used in such quantities, one sees little drunkenness--far less than in
+our own land.
+
+Tuscany enjoys at present a more liberal government than any other part
+of Italy, and the people are, in many respects, prosperous and happy.
+The Grand Duke, although enjoying almost absolute privileges, is
+disposed to encourage every measure which may promote the welfare of his
+subjects. The people are, indeed, very heavily taxed, but this is less
+severely felt by them, than it would be by the inhabitants of colder
+climes. The soil produces with little labor all that is necessary for
+their support; though kept constantly in a state of comparative poverty,
+they appear satisfied with their lot, and rarely look further than the
+necessities of the present. In love with the delightful climate, they
+cherish their country, fallen as she is, and are rarely induced to leave
+her. Even the wealthier classes of the Italians travel very little; they
+can learn the manners and habits of foreigners nearly as well in their
+own country as elsewhere, and they prefer their own hills of olive and
+vine to the icy grandeur of the Alps or the rich and garden-like beauty
+of England.
+
+But, although this sweet climate, with its wealth of sunlight and balmy
+airs, may enchant the traveler for awhile and make him wish at times
+that his whole life might be spent amid such scenes, it exercises a most
+enervating influence on those who are born to its enjoyment. It relaxes
+mental and physical energy, and disposes body and mind to dreamy
+inactivity. The Italians, as a race, are indolent and effeminate. Of the
+moral dignity of man they have little conception. Those classes who are
+engaged in active occupation seem even destitute of common honesty,
+practising all kinds of deceits in the most open manner and apparently
+without the least shame. The state of morals is lower than in any other
+country of Europe; what little virtue exists is found among the
+peasants. Many of the most sacred obligations of society are universally
+violated, and as a natural consequence, the people are almost entire
+strangers to that domestic happiness, which constitutes the true
+enjoyment of life.
+
+This dark shadow in the moral atmosphere of Italy hangs like a curse on
+her beautiful soil, weakening the sympathies of citizens of freer lands
+with her fallen condition. I often feel vividly the sentiment which
+Percival puts into the mouth of a Greek in slavery:
+
+    "The spring may here with autumn twine
+    And both combined may rule the year,
+    And fresh-blown flowers and racy wine
+    In frosted clusters still be near--
+    Dearer the wild and snowy hills
+    Where hale and ruddy Freedom smiles."
+
+No people can ever become truly great or free, who are not virtuous. If
+the soul aspires for liberty--pure and perfect liberty--it also aspires
+for everything that is noble in Truth, everything that is holy in
+Virtue. It is greatly to be feared that all those nervous and impatient
+efforts which have been made and are still being made by the Italian
+people to better their condition, will be of little avail, until they
+set up a better standard of principle and make their private actions
+more conformable with their ideas of political independence.
+
+_Oct. 22._--I attended to-day the fall races at the _Cascine_. This is a
+dairy farm of the Grand Duke on the Arno, below the city; part of it,
+shaded with magnificent trees, has been made into a public promenade and
+drive, which extends for three miles down the river. Towards the lower
+end, on a smooth green lawn, is the race-course. To-day was the last of
+the season, for which the best trials had been reserved; on passing out
+the gate at noon, we found a number of carriages and pedestrians going
+the same way. It was the very perfection of autumn temperature, and I do
+not remember to have ever seen so blue hills, so green meadows, so fresh
+air and so bright sunshine combined in one scene before. All that gloom
+and coldness of which I lately complained has vanished.
+
+Traveling increases very much one's capacity for admiration. Every
+beautiful scene appears as beautiful as if it had been the first; and
+although I may have seen a hundred times as lovely a combination of sky
+and landscape, the pleasure which it awakens is never diminished. This
+is one of the greatest blessings we enjoy--the freshness and glory which
+Nature wears to our eyes forever. It shows that the soul never grows
+old--that the eye of age can take in the impression of beauty with the
+same enthusiastic joy that leaped through the heart of childhood.
+
+We found the crowd around the race-course but thin; half the people
+there, and _all_ the horses, appeared to be English. It was a good place
+to observe the beauty of Florence, which however, may be done in a
+short time, as there is not much of it. There is beauty in Italy,
+undoubtedly, but it is either among the peasants or the higher class of
+nobility. I will tell our American women confidentially, for I know they
+have too much sense to be vain of it, that they surpass the rest of the
+world as much in beauty as they do in intelligence and virtue. I saw in
+one of the carriages the wife of Alexander Dumas, the French author. She
+is a large, fair complexioned woman, and is now, from what cause I know
+not, living apart from her husband.
+
+The jockeys paced up and down the fields, preparing their beautiful
+animals for the approaching heat, and as the hour drew nigh the mounted
+dragoons busied themselves in clearing the space. It was a one-mile
+course, to the end of the lawn and back. At last the bugle sounded, and
+off went three steeds like arrows let fly. They passed us, their light
+limbs bounding over the turf, a beautiful dark-brown taking the lead. We
+leaned over the railing and watched them eagerly. The bell rang--they
+reached the other end--we saw them turn and come dashing back, nearer,
+nearer; the crowd began to shout, and in a few seconds the brown one had
+won it by four or five lengths. The fortunate horse was led around in
+triumph, and I saw an English lady, remarkable for her betting
+propensities, come out from the crowd and kiss it in apparent delight.
+
+After an interval, three others took the field--all graceful, spirited
+creatures. This was a more exciting race than the first; they flew past
+us nearly abreast, and the crowd looked after them in anxiety. They
+cleared the course like wild deer, and in a minute or two came back, the
+racer of an English nobleman a short distance ahead. The jockey threw up
+his hand in token of triumph as he approached the goal, and the people
+cheered him. It was a beautiful sight to see those noble animals
+stretching to the utmost of their speed, as they dashed down the grassy
+lawn. The lucky one always showed by his proud and erect carriage, his
+consciousness of success.
+
+Florence is fast becoming modernized. The introduction of gas, and the
+construction of the railroad to Pisa, which is nearly completed, will
+make sad havoc with the air of poetry which still lingers in its silent
+streets. There is scarcely a bridge, a tower, or a street, which is not
+connected with some stirring association. In the Via San Felice, Raphael
+used to paint when a boy; near the Ponte Santa Trinita stands Michael
+Angelo's house, with his pictures, clothes, and painting implements,
+just as he left it three centuries ago; on the south side of the Arno is
+the house of Galileo, and that of Machiavelli stands in an avenue near
+the Ducal Palace. While threading my way through some dark, crooked
+streets in an unfrequented part of the city, I noticed an old,
+untenanted house, bearing a marble tablet above the door. I drew near
+and read:--"In this house of the Alighieri was born the Divine Poet!" It
+was the birth-place of Dante!
+
+_Nov. 1._--Yesterday morning we were apprised of the safe arrival of a
+new scion of the royal family in the world by the ringing of the city
+bells. To-day, to celebrate the event, the shops were closed, and the
+people made a holiday of it. Merry chimes pealed out from every tower,
+and discharges of cannon thundered up from the fortress. In the evening
+the dome of the Cathedral was illuminated, and the lines of cupola,
+lantern, and cross were traced in flame on the dark sky, like a crown of
+burning stars dropped from Heaven on the holy pile. I went in and walked
+down the aisle, listening for awhile to the grand choral, while the
+clustered tapers under the dome quivered and trembled, as if shaken by
+the waves of music which burst continually within its lofty concave.
+
+A few days ago Prince Corsini, Prime Minister of Tuscany, died at an
+advanced age. I saw his body brought in solemn procession by night, with
+torches and tapers, to the church of Santa Trinita. Soldiers followed
+with reversed arms and muffled drums, the band playing a funeral march.
+I forced myself through the crowd into the church, which was hung with
+black and gold, and listened to the long drawn chanting of the priests
+around the bier.
+
+We lately visited the Florentine Museum. Besides the usual collection of
+objects of natural history, there is an anatomical cabinet, very
+celebrated for its preparations in wax. All parts of the human frame are
+represented so wonderfully exact, that students of medicine pursue their
+studies here in summer with the same facility as from real "subjects."
+Every bone, muscle, and nerve in the body is perfectly counterfeited,
+the whole forming a collection as curious as it is useful. One chamber
+is occupied with representations of the plague of Rome, Milan, and
+Florence. They are executed with horrible truth to nature, but I
+regretted afterwards having seen them. There are enough forms of beauty
+and delight in the world on which to employ the eye, without making it
+familiar with scenes which can only be remembered with a shudder.
+
+We derive much pleasure from the society of the American artists who are
+now residing in Florence. At the houses of Powers, and Brown, the
+painter, we spend many delightful evenings in the company of our gifted
+countrymen. They are drawn together by a kindred, social feeling as well
+as by their mutual aims, and form among themselves a society so
+unrestrained, American-like, that the traveler who meets them forgets
+his absence for a time. These noble representatives of our country, all
+of whom possess the true, inborn spirit of republicanism, have made the
+American name known and respected in Florence. Powers, especially, who
+is intimate with many of the principal Italian families, is universally
+esteemed. The Grand Duke has more than once visited his studio and
+expressed the highest admiration of his talents.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+AMERICAN ART IN FLORENCE.
+
+
+I have seen Ibrahim Pacha, the son of old Mehemet Ali, driving in his
+carriage through the streets. He is hero on a visit from Lucca, where he
+has been spending some time on account of his health. He is a man of
+apparently fifty years of age; his countenance wears a stern and almost
+savage look, very consistent with the character he bears and the
+political part he has played. He is rather portly in person, the pale
+olive of his complexion contrasting strongly with a beard perfectly
+white. In common with all his attendants, he wears the high red cap,
+picturesque blue tunic and narrow trowsers of the Egyptians. There is
+scarcely a man of them whose face with its wild, oriental beauty, does
+not show to advantage among us civilized and prosaic Christians.
+
+In Florence, and indeed through all Italy, there is much reason for our
+country to be proud of the high stand her artists are taking. The sons
+of our rude western clime, brought up without other resources than their
+own genius and energy, now fairly rival those, who from their cradle
+upwards have drawn inspiration and ambition from the glorious
+masterpieces of the old painters and sculptors. Wherever our artists are
+known, they never fail to create a respect for American talent, and to
+dissipate the false notions respecting our cultivation and refinement,
+which prevail in Europe. There are now eight or ten of our painters and
+sculptors in Florence, some of whom, I do not hesitate to say, take the
+very first rank among living artists.
+
+I have been highly gratified in visiting the studio of Mr. G.L. Brown,
+who, as a landscape painter, is destined to take a stand second to few,
+since the days of Claude Lorraine. He is now without a rival in
+Florence, or perhaps in Italy, and has youth, genius and a plentiful
+stock of the true poetic enthusiasm for his art, to work for him far
+greater triumphs. His Italian landscapes have that golden mellowness and
+transparency of atmosphere which give such a charm to the real scenes,
+and one would think he used on his pallette, in addition to the more
+substantial colors, condensed air and sunlight and the liquid crystal of
+streams. He has wooed Nature like a lover, and she has not withheld her
+sympathy. She has taught him how to raise and curve her trees, load
+their boughs with foliage, and spread underneath them the broad, cool
+shadows--to pile up the shattered crag, and steep the long mountain
+range in the haze of alluring distance.
+
+He has now nearly finished, a large painting of "Christ Preaching in the
+Wilderness," which is of surprising beauty. You look upon one of the
+fairest scenes of Judea. In front, the rude multitude are grouped on one
+side, in the edge of a magnificent forest; on the other side, towers up
+a rough wall of rock and foliage that stretches back into the distance,
+where some grand blue mountains are piled against the sky, and a
+beautiful stream, winding through the middle of the picture, slides away
+out of the foreground. Just emerging from the shade of one of the
+cliffs, is the benign figure of the Saviour, with the warm light which
+breaks from behind the trees, falling around him as he advances. There
+is a smaller picture of the "Shipwreck of St. Paul," in which he shows
+equal skill in painting a troubled sea and breaking storm. He is one of
+the young artists from whom we have most to hope.
+
+I have been extremely interested in looking over a great number of
+sketches made by Mr. Kellogg, of Cincinnati, during a tour through
+Egypt, Arabia Petraea and Palestine. He visited many places out of the
+general route of travelers, and beside the great number of landscape
+views, brought away many sketches of the characters and costumes of the
+Orient. From some of these he has commenced paintings, which, as his
+genius is equal to his practice, will be of no ordinary value. Indeed,
+some of these must give him at once an established reputation in
+America. In Constantinople, where he resided several months, he enjoyed
+peculiar advantges for the exercise of his art, through the favor and
+influence of Mr. Carr, the American, and Sir Stratford Canning, the
+British Minister. I saw a splendid diamond cup, presented to him by
+Riza Pacha, the late Grand Vizier. The sketches he brought from thence
+and from the valleys of Phrygia and the mountain solitudes of old
+Olympus, are of great interest and value. Among his later paintings, I
+might mention an angel, whose countenance beams with a rapt and glorious
+beauty. A divine light shines through all the features and heightens the
+glow of adoration to an expression all spiritual and immortal. If Mr.
+Kellogg will give us a few more of these heavenly conceptions, we will
+place him on a pedestal, little lower than that of Guido.
+
+Greenough, who has been sometime in Germany, returned lately to
+Florence, where he has a colossal group in progress for the portico of
+the Capitol. I have seen part of it, which is nearly finished in the
+marble. It shows a backwoodsman just triumphing in the struggle with an
+Indian; another group to be added, will represent the wife and child of
+the former. The colossal size of the statues gives a grandeur to the
+action, as if it were a combat of Titans; there is a consciousness of
+power, an expression of lofty disdain in the expansion of the hunter's
+nostril and the proud curve of his lip, that might become a god. The
+spirit of action, of breathing, life-like exertion, so much more
+difficult to infuse into the marble than that of repose, is perfectly
+attained. I will not enter into a more particular description, as it
+will probably be sent to the United States in a year or two. It is a
+magnificent work; the best, unquestionably, that Greenough has yet made.
+The subject, and the grandeur he has given it in the execution, will
+ensure it a much more favorable reception than a false taste gave to his
+Washington.
+
+Mr. C.B. Ives, a young sculptor from Connecticut, has not disappointed
+the high promise he gave before leaving home. I was struck with some of
+his busts in Philadelphia, particularly those of Mrs. Sigourney and
+Joseph R. Chandler, and it has been no common pleasure to visit his
+studio here in Florence, and look on some of his ideal works. He has
+lately made two models, which, when finished in marble, will be works of
+great beauty. They will contribute greatly to his reputation here and in
+America. One of these represents a child of four or five years of age,
+holding in his hand a dead bird, on which he is gazing, with childish
+grief and wonder, that it is so still and drooping. It is a beautiful
+thought; the boy is leaning forward as he sits, holding the lifeless
+playmate close in his hands, his sadness touched with a vague
+expression, as if he could not yet comprehend the idea of death.
+
+The other is of equal excellence, in a different style; it is a bust of
+"Jephthah's daughter," when the consciousness of her doom first flashes
+upon her. The face and bust are beautiful with the bloom of perfect
+girlhood. A simple robe covers her breast, and her rich hair is gathered
+up behind, and bound with a slender fillet. Her head, of the pure
+classical mould, is bent forward, as if weighed down by the shock, and
+there is a heavy drooping in the mouth and eyelids, that denotes a
+sudden and sickening agony. It is not a violent, passionate grief, but a
+deep and almost paralyzing emotion--a shock from which the soul will
+finally rebound, strengthened to make the sacrifice.
+
+Would it not be better for some scores of our rich merchants to lay out
+their money on statues and pictures, instead of balls and spendthrift
+sons? A few such expenditures, properly directed, would do much for the
+advancement of the fine arts. An occasional golden blessing, bestowed on
+genius, might be returned on the giver, in the fame he had assisted in
+creating. There seems, however, to be at present a rapid increase in
+refined taste, and a better appreciation of artistic talent, in our
+country. And as an American, nothing has made me feel prouder than this,
+and the steadily increasing reputation of our artists.
+
+Of these, no one has done more within the last few years, than Powers.
+With a tireless and persevering energy, such as could have belonged to
+few but Americans, he has already gained a name in his art, that
+posterity will pronounce in the same breath with Phidias, Michael Angelo
+and Thorwaldsen. I cannot describe the enjoyment I have derived from
+looking at his matchless works. I should hesitate in giving my own
+imperfect judgment of their excellence, if I had not found it to
+coincide with that of many others who are better versed in the rules of
+art. The sensation which his "Greek Slave" produced in England, has
+doubtless ere this been breezed across the Atlantic, and I see by the
+late American papers that they are growing familiar with his fame. When
+I read a notice seven or eight years ago, of the young sculptor of
+Cincinnati, whose busts exhibited so much evidence of genius, I little
+dreamed I should meet him in Florence, with the experience of years of
+toil added to his early enthusiasm, and every day increasing his renown.
+
+You would like to hear of his statue of Eve, which men of taste
+pronounce one of the finest works of modern times. A more perfect figure
+never filled my eye. I have seen the masterpieces of Thorwaldsen,
+Dannecker and Canova, and the Venus de Medici, but I have seen nothing
+yet that can exceed the beauty of this glorious statue. So completely
+did the first view excite my surprise and delight, and thrill every
+feeling that awakes at the sight of the Beautiful, that my mind dwelt
+intensely on it for days afterwards. This is the Eve of Scripture--the
+Eve of Milton--mother of mankind and fairest of all her race. With the
+full and majestic beauty of ripened womanhood, she wears the purity of a
+world as yet unknown to sin. With the hearing of a queen, there is in
+her countenance the softness and grace of a tender, loving woman;
+
+    "God-like erect, with native honor clad
+    In naked majesty."
+
+She holds the fatal fruit extended in her hand, and her face expresses
+the struggle between conscience, dread and desire. The serpent, whose
+coiled length under the leaves and flowers entirely surrounds her, thus
+forming a beautiful allegorical symbol, is watching her decision from an
+ivied trunk at her side. Her form is said to be fully as perfect as the
+Venus de Medici, and from its greater size, has an air of conscious and
+ennobling dignity. The head is far superior in beauty, and soul speaks
+from every feature of the countenance. I add a few stanzas which the
+contemplation of this statue called forth. Though unworthy the subject,
+they may perhaps faintly shadow the _sentiment_ which Powers has so
+eloquently embodied in marble:
+
+    THE "EVE" OF POWERS.
+
+    A faultless being from the marble sprung,
+         She stands in beauty there!
+    As when the grace of Eden 'round her clung--
+         Fairest, where all was fair!
+
+    Pure, as when first from God's creating hand
+         She came, on man to shine;
+    So seems she now, in living stone to stand--
+         A mortal, yet divine!
+
+    The spark the Grecian from Olympus caught,
+         Left not a loftier trace;
+    The daring of the sculptor's hand has wrought
+         A soul in that sweet face!
+    He won as well the sacred fire from heaven.
+         God-sent, not stolen down,
+    And no Promethean doom for him is given,
+         But ages of renown!
+
+    The soul of beauty breathes around that form
+         A more enchanting spell;
+    There blooms each virgin grace, ere yet the storm
+         On blighted Eden fell!
+    The first desire upon her lovely brow,
+         Raised by an evil power;
+    Doubt, longing, dread, are in her features now--
+         It is the trial-hour!
+
+    How every thought that strives within her breast,
+         In that one glance is shown!
+    Say, can that heart of marble be at rest,
+         Since spirit warms the stone?
+    Will not those limbs, of so divine a mould,
+         Move, when her thought is o'er--
+    When she has yielded to the tempter's hold
+         And Eden blooms no more?
+
+    Art, like a Phoenix, springs from dust again--
+         She cannot pass away!
+    Bound down in gloom, she breaks apart the chain
+         And struggles up today!
+    The flame, first kindled in the ages gone,
+         Has never ceased to burn,
+    And _westward_ now, appears the kindling dawn,
+         Which marks the day's return!
+
+The "Greek Slave" is now in the possession of Mr. Grant, of London, and
+I only saw the clay model. Like the Eve, it is a form that one's eye
+tells him is perfect, unsurpassed; but it is the budding loveliness of a
+girl, instead of the perfected beauty of a woman. In England it has been
+pronounced superior to Canova's works, and indeed _I_ have seen nothing
+of his, that could be placed beside it.
+
+Powers has now nearly finished a most exquisite figure of a fisher-boy,
+standing on the shore, with his net and rudder in one hand, while with
+the other he holds a shell to his ear and listens if it murmur to him of
+a gathering storm. His slight, boyish limbs are full of grace and
+delicacy--you feel that the youthful frame could grow up into nothing
+less than an Apollo. Then the head--how beautiful! Slightly bent on one
+side, with the rim of the shell thrust under his locks, lips gently
+parted, and the face wrought up to the most hushed and breathless
+expression, he listens whether the sound be deeper than its wont. It
+makes you hold your breath and listen, to look at it. Mrs. Jameson
+somewhere remarks that repose or suspended motion, should be always
+chosen for a statue that shall present a perfect, unbroken impression to
+the mind. If this be true, the enjoyment must be much more complete
+where not only the motion, but almost breath and thought are suspended,
+and all the faculties wrought into one hushed and intense sensation. In
+gazing on this exquisite conception, I feel my admiration filled to the
+utmost, without that painful, aching impression, so often left by
+beautiful works. It glides into my vision like a form long missed from
+the gallery of beauty I am forming in my mind, and I gaze on it with an
+ever new and increasing delight.
+
+Now I come to the last and fairest of all--the divine Proserpine. Not
+the form, for it is but a bust rising from a capital of acanthus leaves,
+which curve around the breast and arms and turn gracefully outward, but
+the face, whose modest maiden beauty can find no peer among goddesses or
+mortals. So looked she on the field of Ennae--that "fairer flower," so
+soon to be gathered by "gloomy Dis." A slender crown of green
+wheatblades, showing alike her descent from Ceres and her virgin years,
+circles her head. Truly, if Pygmalion stole his fire to warm such a form
+as this, Jove should have pardoned him. Of Powers' busts it is
+unnecessary for me to speak. He has lately finished a very beautiful one
+of the Princess Demidoff, daughter of Jerome Bonaparte.
+
+We will soon, I hope, have the "Eve" in America. Powers has generously
+refused many advantageous offers for it, that he might finally send it
+home; and his country, therefore, will possess this statue, his first
+ideal work. She may well be proud of the genius and native energy of her
+young artist, and she should repay them by a just and liberal
+encouragement.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+AN ADVENTURE ON THE GREAT ST. BERNARD--WALKS AROUND FLORENCE.
+
+
+_Nov. 9._--A few days ago I received a letter from my cousin at
+Heidelberg, describing his solitary walk from Genoa over the Alps, and
+through the western part of Switzerland. The news of his safe arrival
+dissipated the anxiety we were beginning to feel, on account of his long
+silence, while it proved that our fears concerning the danger of such a
+journey were not altogether groundless. He met with a startling
+adventure on the Great St. Bernard, which will be best described by an
+extract from his own letter:
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Such were my impressions of Rome. But leaving the 'Eternal City,' I
+must hasten on to give you a description of an adventure I met with in
+crossing the Alps, omitting for the present an account of the trip from
+Rome to Genoa, and my lonely walk through Sardinia. When I had crossed
+the mountain range north of Genoa, the plains of Piedmont stretched out
+before me. I could see the snowy sides and summits of the Alps more than
+one hundred miles distant, looking like white, fleecy clouds on a summer
+day. It was a magnificent prospect, and I wonder not that the heart of
+the Swiss soldier, after years of absence in foreign service, beats with
+joy when he again looks on his native mountains.
+
+"As I approached nearer, the weather changed, and dark, gloomy clouds
+enveloped them, so that they seemed to present an impassible barrier to
+the lands beyond them. At Ivrea, I entered the interesting valley of
+Aosta. The whole valley, fifty miles in length, is inhabited by
+miserable looking people, nearly one half of them being afflicted with
+goitre and cretinism. They looked more idiotic and disgusting than any I
+have ever seen, and it was really painful to behold such miserable
+specimens of humanity dwelling amid the grandest scenes of nature.
+Immediately after arriving in the town of Aosta, situated at the upper
+end of the valley, I began, alone, the ascent of the Great St. Bernard.
+It was just noon, and the clouds on the mountains indicated rain. The
+distance from Aosta to the monastery or hospice of St. Bernard, is about
+twenty English miles.
+
+"At one o'clock it commenced raining vary hard, and to gain shelter I
+went into a rude hut; but it was filled with so many of those idiotic
+cretins, lying down on the earthy floor with the dogs and other animals,
+that I was glad to leave them as soon as the storm had abated in some
+degree. I walked rapidly for three hours, when I met a traveler and his
+guide descending the mountain. I asked him in Italian the distance to
+the hospice, and he undertook to answer me in French, but the words did
+not seem to flow very fluently, so I said quickly, observing then that
+he was an Englishman: 'Try some other language, if you please, sir!' He
+replied instantly in his vernacular: 'You have a d--d long walk before
+you, and you'll have to hurry to get to the top before night!' Thanking
+him, we shook hands and hurried on, he downward and I upward. About
+eight miles from the summit, I was directed into the wrong path by an
+ignorant boy who was tending sheep, and went a mile out of the course,
+towards Mont Blanc, before I discovered my mistake. I hurried back into
+the right path again, and soon overtook another boy ascending the
+mountain, who asked me if he might accompany me as he was alone, to
+which I of course answered, yes; but when we began to enter the thick
+clouds that covered the mountains, he became alarmed, and said he would
+go no farther. I tried to encourage him by saying we had only five miles
+more to climb, but, turning quickly, he ran down the path and was soon
+out of sight.
+
+"After a long and most toilsome ascent, spurred on as I was by the storm
+and the approach of night, I saw at last through the clouds a little
+house, which I supposed might be a part of the monastery, but it turned
+out to be only a house of refuge, erected by the monks to take in
+travelers in extreme cases or extraordinary danger. The man who was
+staying there, told me the monastery was a mile and a half further, and
+thinking therefore that I could soon reach it, I started out again,
+although darkness was approaching. In a short time the storm began in
+good earnest, and the cold winds blew with the greatest fury. It grew
+dark very suddenly and I lost sight of the poles which are placed along
+the path to guide the traveler. I then ran on still higher, hoping to
+find them again, but without success. The rain and snow fell thick, and
+although I think I am tolerably courageous, I began to be alarmed, for
+it was impossible to know in what direction I was going. I could hear
+the waterfalls dashing and roaring down the mountain hollows on each
+side of me; in the gloom, the foam and leaping waters resembled
+streaming fires. I thought of turning back to find the little house of
+refuge again, but it seemed quite as dangerous and uncertain as to go
+forward. After the fatigue I had undergone since noon, it would have
+been dangerous to be obliged to stay, out all night in the driving
+storm, which was every minute increasing in coldness and intensity.
+
+"I stopped and shouted aloud, hoping I might be somewhere near the
+monastery, but no answer came--no noise except the storm and the roar of
+the waterfalls. I climbed up the rocks nearly a quarter of a mile
+higher, and shouted again. I listened with anxiety for two or three
+minutes, but hearing no response, I concluded to find a shelter for the
+night under a ledge of rocks. While looking around me, I fancied I heard
+in the distance a noise like the trampling of hoofs over the rocks, and
+thinking travelers might be near, I called aloud for the third time.
+After wailing a moment, a voice came ringing on my ears through the
+clouds, like one from Heaven in response to my own. My heart beat
+quickly; I hurried in the direction from which the sound came, and to my
+joy found two men--servants of the monastery--who were driving their
+mules into shelter. Never in my whole life was I more glad to hear the
+voice of man. These men conducted me to the monastery, one-fourth of a
+mile higher, built by the side of a lake at the summit of the pass,
+while on each side, the mountains, forever covered with snow, tower some
+thousands of feet higher.
+
+"Two or three of the noble St. Bernard dogs barked a welcome as we
+approached, which brought a young monk to the door. I addressed him in
+German, but to my surprise he answered in broken English. He took me
+into a warm room and gave me a suit of clothes, such as are worn by the
+monks, for my dress, as well as my package of papers, were completely
+saturated with rain. I sat down to supper in company with till the monks
+of the Hospice, I in my monkish robe looking like one of the holy order.
+You would have laughed to have seen me in their costume. Indeed, I felt
+almost satisfied to turn monk, as everything seemed so comfortable in
+the warm supper room, with its blazing wood fire, while outside raged
+the storm still more violently. But when I thought of their voluntary
+banishment from the world, up in that high pass of the Alps, and that
+the affection of woman never gladdened their hearts, I was ready to
+renounce my monkish dress next morning, without reluctance.
+
+"In the address book of the monastery, I found Longfellow's 'Excelsior'
+written on a piece of paper and signed 'America.' You remember the
+stanza:
+
+    At break of clay, as heavenward,
+    The pious monks of St. Bernard
+    Uttered the oft-repeated prayer,
+    A voice cried through the startled air:
+                                     Excelsior!
+
+It seemed to add a tenfold interest to the poem, to read it on old St.
+Bernard. In the morning I visited the house where are kept the bodies of
+the travelers, who perish in crossing the mountain. It is filled with
+corpses, ranged in rows, and looking like mummies, for the cold is so
+intense that they will keep for years without decaying, and are often
+recognized and removed by their friends.
+
+"Of my descent to Martigny, my walk down the Rhone, and along the shores
+of Lake Leman, my visit to the prison of Chilian and other wanderings
+across Switzerland, my pleasure in seeing the old river Rhine again, and
+my return to Heidelberg at night, with the bright moon shining on the
+Neckar and the old ruined castle, I can now say no more, nor is it
+necessary, for are not all these things 'written in my book of
+Chronicles,' to be seen by you when we meet again in Paris?
+
+Ever yours, FRANK."
+
+_Dec. 16._--I took a walk lately to the tower of Galileo. In company
+with three friends, I left Florence by the _Porta Romana_, and ascended
+the _Poggie Imperiale_. This beautiful avenue, a mile and a quarter in
+length, leading up a gradual ascent to a villa of the Grand Duke, is
+bordered with splendid cypresses and evergreen oaks, and the grass banks
+are always fresh and green, so that even in winter it calls up a
+remembrance of summer. In fact, winter does not wear the scowl here that
+he has at home; he is robed rather in a threadbare garment of autumn,
+and it is only high up on the mountain tops, out of the reach of his
+enemy, the sun, that he dares to throw it off, and bluster about with
+his storms and scatter down his snow-flakes. The roses still bud and
+bloom in the hedges, the emerald of the meadows is not a whit paler, the
+sun looks down lovingly as yet, and there are only the white helmets of
+some of the Appenines, with the leafless mulberries and vines, to tell
+us that we have changed seasons.
+
+A quarter of an hour's walk, part of it by a path through an olive
+orchard, brought us to the top of a hill, which was surmounted by a
+square, broken, ivied tower, forming part of a storehouse for the
+produce of the estate. We entered, saluted by a dog, and passing through
+a court-yard, in which stood two or three carts full of brown olives,
+found our way to the rickety staircase. I spared my sentiment in going
+up, thinking the steps might have been renewed since Galileo's time, but
+the glorious landscape which opened around us when we reached the top,
+time could not change, and I gazed upon it with interest and emotion, as
+my eye took in those forms which had once been mirrored in the
+philosopher's. Let me endeavor to describe the features of the scene.
+
+Fancy yourself lifted to the summit of a high hill, whose base slopes
+down to the valley of the Arno, and looking northward. Behind you is a
+confusion of hill and valley, growing gradually dimmer away to the
+horizon. Before and below you is a vale, with Florence and her great
+domes and towers in its lap, and across its breadth of five miles the
+mountain of Fiesole. To the west it stretches away unbroken for twenty
+miles, covered thickly with white villas--like a meadow of daisies,
+magnified. A few miles to the east the plain is rounded with mountains,
+between whose interlocking bases we can see the brown current of the
+Arno. Some of their peaks, as well as the mountain of Vallombrosa,
+along the eastern sky, are tipped with snow. Imagine the air filled
+with a thick blue mist, like a semi-transparent veil, which softens
+every thing into dreamy indistinctness, the sunshine falling slantingly
+through this in spots, touching the landscape here and there as with a
+sudden blaze of fire, and you will complete the picture. Does it not
+repay your mental flight across the Atlantic.
+
+One evening, on coming out of the cafe, the moon was shining so brightly
+and clearly, that I involuntarily bent my steps towards the river; I
+walked along the _Lung'Arno_, enjoying the heavenly moonlight--"the
+night of cloudless climes and starry skies!" A purer silver light never
+kissed the brow of Endymion. The brown Arno took into his breast "the
+redundant glory," and rolled down his pebbly bed with a more musical
+ripple; opposite stretched the long mass of buildings--the deep arches
+that rose from the water were filled with black shadow, and the
+irregular fronts of the houses touched with a mellow glow. The arches of
+the upper bridge were in shadow, cutting their dark outline on the
+silvery sweep of the Appenines, far up the stream. A veil of luminous
+gray covered the hill of San Miniato, with its towers and cypress
+groves, and there was a crystal depth in the atmosphere, as if it shone
+with its own light. The whole scene affected me as something too
+glorious to be real--painful from the very intensity of its beauty.
+Three moons ago, at the foot of Vallombrosa, I saw the Appenines flooded
+with the same silvery gush, and thought also, then, that I had seen the
+same moon amid far dearer scenes, but never before the same dreamy and
+sublime glory showered down from her pale orb. Some solitary lights were
+burning along the river, and occasionally a few Italians passed by,
+wrapped in their mantles. I went home to the Piazza del Granduca as the
+light, pouring into the square from behind the old palace, fell over the
+fountain of Neptune and sheathed in silver the back of the colossal god.
+
+Whoever looks on the valley of the Arno from San Miniato, and observes
+the Appenine range, of which Fiesole is one, bounding it on the north,
+will immediately notice to the northwest a double peak rising high above
+all the others. The bare, brown forehead of this, known by the name of
+_Monte Morello_, seemed so provokingly to challenge an ascent, that we
+determined to try it. So we started early, the day before yesterday,
+from the Porta San Gallo, with nothing but the frosty grass and fresh
+air to remind us of the middle of December. Leaving the Prato road, at
+the base of the mountain, we passed Careggi, a favorite farm of Lorenzo
+the Magnificent, and entered a narrow glen where a little brook was
+brawling down its rocky channel. Here and there stood a rustic mill,
+near which women were busy spreading their washed clothes on the grass.
+Following the footpath, we ascended a long eminence to a chapel where
+some boys were amusing themselves with a common country game. They have
+a small wheel, around which they wind a rope, and, running a little
+distance to increase the velocity, let it off with a sudden jerk. On a
+level road it can be thrown upwards of a quarter of a mile.
+
+From the chapel, a gradual ascent along the ridge of a hill brought us
+to the foot of the peak, which rose high before us, covered with bare
+rocks and stunted oaks. The wind blew coldly from a snowy range to the
+north, as we commenced ascending with a good will. A few shepherds were
+leading their flocks along the sides, to browse on the grass and
+withered bushes, and we started up a large hare occasionally from his
+leafy covert. The ascent was very toilsome; I was obliged to stop
+frequently on account of the painful throbbing of my heart, which made
+it difficult to breathe. When the summit was gained, we lay down awhile
+on the leeward side to recover ourselves.
+
+We looked on the great valley of the Arno, perhaps twenty-five miles
+long, and five or six broad, lying like a long elliptical basin sunk
+among the hills. I can liken it to nothing but a vast sea; for a dense,
+blue mist covered the level surface, through which the domes of Florence
+rose up like a craggy island, while the thousands of scattered villas
+resembled ships, with spread sails, afloat on its surface. The sharp,
+cutting wind soon drove us down, with a few hundred bounds, to the path
+again. Three more hungry mortals did not dine at the _Cacciatore_ that
+day.
+
+The chapel of the Medici, which we visited, is of wonderful beauty. The
+walls are entirely encrusted with _pietra dura_ and the most precious
+kinds of marble. The ceiling is covered with gorgeous frescoes by
+Benevenuto, a modern painter. Around the sides, in magnificent
+sarcophagi of marble and jasper, repose the ashes of a few Cosmos and
+Ferdinands. I asked the sacristan for the tomb of Lorenzo the
+Magnificent. "Oh!" said he, "he lived during the republic--he has no
+tomb; these are only for Dukes!" I could not repress a sigh at the
+lavish waste of labor and treasure on this one princely chapel. They
+might have slumbered unnoted, like Lorenzo, if they had done as much for
+their country and Italy.
+
+_December 19._--It is with a heavy heart, that I sit down tonight to
+make my closing note in this lovely city and in the journal which has
+recorded my thoughts and impressions since leaving America. I should
+find it difficult to analyze my emotions, but I know that they oppress
+me painfully. So much rushes at once over the mind and heart--memories
+of what has passed through both, since I made the first note in its
+pages--alternations of hope and anxiety and aspiration, but _never_
+despondency--that it resembles in a manner, the closing of a life. I
+seem almost to have lived through the common term of a life in this
+short period. Much spiritual and mental experience has crowded into a
+short time the sensations of years. Painful though some of it has been,
+it was still welcome. Difficulty and toil give the soul strength to
+crush, in a loftier region, the passions which draw strength only from
+the earth. So long as we listen to the purer promptings within us, there
+is a Power invisible, though not unfelt, who protects us--amid the toil
+and tumult and soiling struggle, there is ever an eye that watches, ever
+a heart that overflows with Infinite and Almighty Love! Let us trust
+then in that Eternal Spirit, who pours out on us his warm and boundless
+blessings, through the channels of so many kindred human hearts!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+WINTER TRAVELING AMONG THE APPENINES.
+
+
+_Valley of the Arno, Dec 22._--It is a glorious morning after our two
+days' walk, through rain and mud, among these stormy Appenines. The
+range of high peaks, among which is the celebrated monastery of
+Camaldoli, lie just before us, their summits dazzling with the new
+fallen snow. The clouds are breaking away, and a few rosy flushes
+announce the approach of the sun. It has rained during the night, and
+the fields are as green and fresh as on a morning in spring.
+
+We left Florence on the 20th, while citizens and strangers were vainly
+striving to catch a glimpse of the Emperor of Russia. He is, from some
+cause, very shy of being seen, in his journeys from place to place,
+using the greatest art and diligence to prevent the time of his
+departure and arrival from being known. On taking leave of Powers, I
+found him expecting the Autocrat, as he had signified his intention of
+visiting his studio; it was a cause of patriotic pride to find that
+crowned heads know and appreciate the genius of our sculptor. The sky
+did not promise much, as we set out; when we had entered the Appenines
+and taken a last look of the lovely valley behind us, and the great dome
+of the city where we had spent four delightful months, it began to rain
+heavily. Determined to conquer the weather at the beginning, we kept on,
+although before many miles were passed, it became too penetrating to be
+agreeable. The mountains grew nearly black under the shadow of the
+clouds, and the storms swept drearily down their passes and defiles,
+till the scenery looked more like the Hartz than Italy. We were obliged
+to stop at Ponte Sieve and dry our saturated garments: when, as the rain
+slackened somewhat, we rounded the foot of the mountain of Vallombrosa,
+above the swollen and noisy Arno, to the little village of Cucina.
+
+We entered the only inn in the place, followed by a crowd of wondering
+boys, for two such travelers had probably never been seen there. They
+made a blazing fire for us in the broad chimney, and after the police of
+the place satisfied themselves that we were not dangerous characters,
+they asked many questions about our country. I excited the sympathy of
+the women greatly in our behalf by telling them we had three thousand
+miles of sea between us and our homes. They exclaimed in the most
+sympathising tones: "_Poverini!_ so far to go!--three thousand miles of
+water!"
+
+The next morning we followed the right bank of the Arno. At Incisa, a
+large town on the river, the narrow pass broadens into a large and
+fertile plain, bordered on the north by the mountains. The snow storms
+were sweeping around their summits the whole day, and I thought of the
+desolate situation of the good monks who had so hospitably entertained
+us three months before. It was weary traveling; but at Levane our
+fatigues were soon forgotten. Two or three peasants were sitting last
+night beside the blazing fire, and we were amused to hear them talking
+about us. I overheard one asking another to converse with us awhile.
+"Why should I speak to them?" said he; "they are not of our
+profession--we are swineherds, and they do not care to talk with us."
+However, his curiosity prevailed at last, and we had a long conversation
+together. It seemed difficult for them to comprehend how there could be
+so much water to cross, without any land, before reaching our country.
+Finding we were going to Rome, I overheard one remark we were pilgrims,
+which seemed to be the general supposition, as there are few
+foot-travelers in Italy. The people said to one another as we passed
+along the road:--"They are making a journey of penance!" Those peasants
+expressed themselves very well for persons of their station, but they
+were remarkably ignorant of everything beyond their own olive orchards
+and vine fields.
+
+_Perugia, Dec. 24._--On leaving Levane, the morning gave a promise, and
+the sun winked at us once or twice through the broken clouds, with a
+watery eye; but our cup was not yet full. After crossing one or two
+shoulders of the range of hills, we descended to the great upland plain
+of Central Italy, watered by the sources of the Arno and the Tiber. The
+scenery is of a remarkable character. The hills appear to have been
+washed and swept by some mighty flood. They are worn into every
+shape--pyramids, castles, towers--standing desolate and brown, in long
+ranges, like the ruins of mountains. The plain is scarred with deep
+gulleys, adding to the look of decay which accords so well with the
+Cyclopean relics of the country.
+
+A storm of hail which rolled away before us, disclosed the city of
+Arezzo, on a hill at the other end of the plain, its heavy cathedral
+crowning the pyramidal mass of buildings. Our first care was to find a
+good trattoria, for hunger spoke louder than sentiment, and then we
+sought the house where Petrarch was born. A young priest showed it to us
+on the summit of the hill. It has not been changed since he lived in it.
+
+On leaving Florence, we determined to pursue the same plan as in
+Germany, of stopping at the inns frequented by the common people. They
+treated us here, as elsewhere, with great kindness and sympathy, and we
+were freed from the outrageous impositions practised at the greater
+hotels. They always built a large fire to dry us, after our day's walk
+in the rain, and placing chairs in the hearth, which was raised several
+feet above the floor, stationed us there, like the giants Gog and Magog,
+while the children, assembled below, gazed up in open-mouthed wonder at
+our elevated greatness. They even invited us to share their simple meals
+with them, and it was amusing to hear their goodhearted exclamations of
+pity at finding we were so far from home. We slept in the great beds
+(for the most of the Italian beds are calculated for a man, wife, and
+four children!) without fear of being assassinated, and only met with
+banditti in dreams.
+
+This is a very unfavorable time of the year for foot-traveling. We were
+obliged to wait three or four weeks in Florence for a remittance from
+America, which not only prevented our leaving as soon as was desirable,
+but, by the additional expense of living, left us much smaller means
+than we required. However, through the kindness of a generous
+countryman, who unhesitatingly loaned us a considerable sum, we were
+enabled to start with thirty dollars each, which, with care and
+economy, will be quite sufficient to take us to Paris, by way of Rome
+and Naples, if these storms do not prevent us from walking. Greece and
+the Orient, which I so ardently hoped to visit, are now out of the
+question. We walked till noon to-day, over the Val di Chiana to
+Camuscia, the last post-station in the Tuscan dominions. On a mountain
+near it is the city of Cortona, still enclosed within its Cyclopean
+walls, built long before the foundation of Rome. Here our patience gave
+way, melted down by the unremitting rains, and while eating dinner we
+made a bargain for a vehicle to bring us to this city. We gave a little
+more than half of what the vetturino demanded, which was still an
+exorbitant price--two scudi each for a ride of thirty miles.
+
+In a short time we were called to take our seats; I beheld with
+consternation a rickety, uncovered, two-wheeled vehicle, to which a
+single lean horse was attached. "What!" said I; "is that the carriage
+you promised?" "You bargained for a _calesino_," said he, "and there it
+is!" adding, moreover, that there was nothing else in the place. So we
+clambered up, thrust our feet among the hay, and the machine rolled off
+with a kind of saw-mill motion, at the rate of five miles an hour.
+
+Soon after, in ascending the mountain of the Spelunca, a sheet of blue
+water was revealed below us--the Lake of Thrasymene! From the eminence
+around which we drove, we looked on the whole of its broad surface and
+the mountains which encompass it. It is a magnificent sheet of water, in
+size and shape somewhat like New York Bay, but the heights around it are
+far higher than the hills of Jersey or Staten Island. Three beautiful
+islands lie in it, near the eastern shore.
+
+While our _calesino_ was stopped at the papal custom-house, I gazed on
+the memorable field below us. A crescent plain, between the mountain and
+the lake, was the arena where two mighty empires met in combat. The
+place seems marked by nature for the scene of some great event. I
+experienced a thrilling emotion, such as no battle plain has excited,
+since, when a schoolboy, I rambled over the field of Brandywine. I
+looked through the long arcades of patriarchal olives, and tried to
+cover the field with the shadows of the Roman and Carthaginian myriads.
+I recalled the shock of meeting legions, the clash of swords and
+bucklers, and the waving standards amid the dust of battle, while stood
+on the mountain amphitheatre, trembling and invisible, the protecting
+deities of Rome.
+
+    "Far other scene is Thrasymene now!"
+
+We rode over the plain, passed through the dark old town of Passignano,
+built on a rocky point by the lake, and dashed along the shore. A dark,
+stormy sky bent over us, and the roused waves broke in foam on the
+rocks. The winds whistled among the bare oak boughs, and shook the
+olives till they twinkled all over. The vetturino whipped our old horse
+into a gallop, and we were borne on in unison with the scene, which
+would have answered for one of Hoffman's wildest stories.
+
+Ascending a long hill, we took a last look in the dusk at Thrasymene,
+and continued our journey among the Appenines. The vetturino was to have
+changed horses at Magione, thirteen miles from Perugia, but there were
+none to be had, and our poor beast was obliged to perform the whole
+journey without rest or food. It grew very dark, and a storm, with
+thunder and lightning, swept among the hills. The clouds were of pitchy
+darkness, and we could see nothing beyond the road, except the lights of
+peasant-cottages trembling through the gloom. Now and then a flash of
+lightning revealed the black masses of the mountains, on which the solid
+sky seemed to rest. The wind and cold rain swept wailing past us, as if
+an evil spirit were abroad on the darkness. Three hours of such
+nocturnal travel brought us here, wet and chilly, as well as our driver,
+but I pitied the poor horse more than him.
+
+When we looked out the window, on awaking, the clustered house-tops of
+the city, and the summits of the mountains near were covered with snow.
+But on walking to the battlements we saw that the valleys below were
+green and untouched. Perugia, for its "pride of place," must endure the
+storms, while the humbler villages below escape them. As the rain
+continues, we have taken seats in a country diligence for Foligno and
+shall depart in a few minutes.
+
+_Dec. 28._--We left Perugia in a close but covered vehicle, and
+descending the mountain, crossed the muddy and rapid Tiber in the
+valley below. All day we rode slowly among the hills; where the ascent
+was steep, two or four large oxen were hitched before the horses. I saw
+little of the scenery, for our Italian companions would not bear the
+windows open. Once, when we stopped, I got out and found we were in the
+region of snow, at the foot of a stormy peak, which towered sublimely
+above. At dusk, we entered Foligno, and were driven to the "Croce
+Bianca"--glad to be thirty miles further on our way to Rome.
+
+After some discussion with a vetturino, who was to leave next morning,
+we made a contract with him for the remainder of the journey, for the
+rain, which fell in torrents, forbade all thought of pedestrianism. At
+five o'clock we rattled out of the gate, and drove by the waning moon
+and morning starlight, down the vale of the Clitumnus. As the dawn stole
+on, I watched eagerly the features of the scene. Instead of a narrow
+glen, as my fancy had pictured, we were in a valley, several miles
+broad, covered with rich orchards and fertile fields. A glorious range
+of mountains bordered it on the north, looking like Alps in their winter
+garments. A rosy flush stole over the snow, which kindled with the
+growing morn, till they shone like clouds that float in the sunrise. The
+Clitumnus, beside us, was the purest of streams. The heavy rains which
+had fallen, had not soiled in the least its limpid crystal.
+
+When it grew light enough, I looked at our companions for the three
+days' journey. The two other inside seats were occupied by a tradesman
+of Trieste, with his wife and child; an old soldier, and a young dragoon
+going to visit his parents after seven years' absence, occupied the
+front part. Persons traveling together in a carriage are not long in
+becoming acquainted--close companionship soon breeds familiarity. Before
+night, I had made a fast friend of the young soldier, learned to bear
+the perverse humor of the child with as much patience as its father, and
+even drawn looks of grim kindness from the crusty old vetturino.
+
+Our mid-day resting place was Spoleto. As there were two hours given us,
+we took a ramble through the city, visited the ruins of its Roman
+theatre and saw the gate erected to commemorate the victory gained here
+over Hannibal, which stopped his triumphal march towards Rome. A great
+part of the afternoon was spent in ascending among the defiles of Monte
+Somma, the highest pass on the road between Ancona and Rome. Assisted by
+two yoke of oxen we slowly toiled up through the snow, the mountains on
+both sides covered with thickets of box and evergreen oaks, among whose
+leafy screens the banditti hide themselves. It is not considered
+dangerous at present, but as the dragoons who used to patrol this pass
+have been sent off to Bologna, to keep down the rebellion, the robbers
+will probably return to their old haunts again. We saw many suspicious
+looking coverts, where they might have hidden.
+
+We slept at Terni and did not see the falls--not exactly on Wordsworth's
+principle of leaving Yarrow "unvisited," but because under the
+circumstances, it was impossible. The vetturino did not arrive there
+till after dark; he was to leave before dawn; the distance was five
+miles, and the roads very bad. Besides, we had seen falls quite as
+grand, which needed only a Byron to make them as renowned--we had been
+told that those of Tivoli, which we shall see, were equally fine. The
+Velino, which we crossed near Terni, was not a large stream--in short,
+we hunted as many reasons as we could find, why the falls need not be
+seen.
+
+Leaving Terni before day, we drove up the long vale towards Narni. The
+roads were frozen hard; the ascent becoming more difficult, the
+vetturino was obliged to stop at a farm-house and get another pair of
+horses, with which, and a handsome young contadino as postillion, we
+reached Narni in a short time. In climbing the hill, we had a view of
+the whole valley of Terni, shut in on all sides by snow-crested
+Appenines, and threaded by the Nar, whose waters flow "with many
+windings, through the vale!"
+
+At Otricoli, while dinner was preparing, I walked around the crumbling
+battlements to look down into the valley and trace the far windings of
+the Tiber. In rambling through the crooked streets, we saw everywhere
+the remains of the splendor which this place boasted in the days of
+Rome. Fragments of fluted pillars stood here and there in the streets;
+large blocks of marble covered with sculpture and inscriptions were
+built into the houses, defaced statues used as door-ornaments, and the
+steppingstone to our rude inn, worn every day by the feet of grooms and
+vetturini, contained some letters of an inscription which may have
+recorded the glory of on emperor.
+
+Traveling with a vetturino, is unquestionably the pleasantest way of
+seeing Italy. The easy rate of the journey allows time for becoming well
+acquainted with the country, and the tourist is freed from the annoyance
+of quarrelling with cheating landlords. A translation of our written
+contract, will best explain this mode of traveling:
+
+  "CARRIAGE" FOR ROME.
+
+  "Our contract is, to be conducted to Rome for the sum of twenty
+  francs each, say 20f. and the _buona mano_, if we are well
+  served. We must have from the vetturino, Giuseppe Nerpiti, supper
+  each night, a free chamber with two beds, and fire, until we shall
+  arrive at Rome.
+
+  "I, Geronymo Sartarelli, steward of the Inn of the White Cross, at
+  Foligno, in testimony of the above contract."
+
+Beyond Otricoli, we passed through some relics of an age anterior to
+Rome. A few soiled masses of masonry, black with age, stood along the
+brow of the mountain, on whose extremity were the ruins of a castle of
+the middle ages. We crossed the Tiber on a bridge built by Augustus
+Caesar, and reached Borghetto as the sun was gilding with its last rays
+the ruined citadel above. As the carriage with its four horses was
+toiling slowly up the hill, we got out and walked before, to gaze on the
+green meadows of the Tiber.
+
+On descending from Narni, I noticed a high, prominent mountain, whose
+ridgy back, somewhat like the profile of a face, reminded me of the
+Traunstein, in Upper Austria. As we approached, its form gradually
+changed, until it stood on the Campagna
+
+    "Like a long-swept wave about to break,
+    That on the curl hangs pausing"--
+
+and by that token of a great bard, I recognized Monte Soracte. The
+dragoon took us by the arms, and away we scampered over the Campagna,
+with one of the loveliest sunsets before us, that ever painted itself on
+my retina. I cannot portray in words the glory that flooded the whole
+western heaven. It was like a sea of melted ruby, amethyst and
+topaz--deep, dazzling and of crystal transparency. The color changed in
+tone every few minutes, till in half an hour it sank away before the
+twilight to a belt of deep orange along the west.
+
+We left Civita Castellana before daylight. The sky was red with dawn as
+we approached Nepi, and we got out to walk, in the clear, frosty air. A
+magnificent Roman aqueduct, part of it a double row of arches, still
+supplies the town with water. There is a deep ravine, appearing as if
+rent in the ground by some convulsion, on the eastern side of the city.
+A clear stream that steals through the arches of the aqueduct, falls in
+a cascade of sixty feet down into the chasm, sending up constant wreaths
+of spray through the evergreen foliage that clothes the rocks. In
+walking over the desolate Campagna, we saw many deep chambers dug in the
+earth, used by the charcoal burners; the air was filled with sulphureous
+exhalations, very offensive to the smell, which rose from the ground in
+many places.
+
+Miles and miles of the dreary waste, covered only with flocks of grazing
+sheep, were passed,--and about noon we reached Baccano, a small post
+station, twenty miles from Rome. A long hill rose before us, and we
+sprang out of the carriage and ran ahead, to see Rome from its summit.
+As we approached the top, the Campagna spread far before and around us,
+level and blue as an ocean. I climbed up a high bank by the roadside,
+and the whole scene came in view. Perhaps eighteen miles distant rose
+the dome of St. Peter's, near the horizon--a small spot on the vast
+plain. Beyond it and further east, were the mountains of Albano--on our
+left Soracte and the Appenines, and a blue line along the west betrayed
+the Mediterranean. There was nothing peculiarly beautiful or sublime in
+the landscape, but few other scenes on earth combine in one glance such
+a myriad of mighty associations, or bewilder the mind with such a crowd
+of confused emotions.
+
+As we approached Rome, the dragoon, with whom we had been walking all
+day, became anxious and impatient. He had not heard from his parents
+for a long time, and knew not if they were living. His desire to be at
+the end of his journey finally became so great, that he hailed a peasant
+who was driving by in a light vehicle, left our slow carriage and went
+out of sight in a gallop.
+
+As we descended to the Tiber in the dusk of evening, the domes and
+spires of Rome came gradually into view, St. Peter's standing like a
+mountain in the midst of them. Crossing the yellow river by the Ponte
+Molle, two miles of road, straight as an arrow, lay before us, with the
+light of the _Porta del Popolo_ at the end. I felt strangely excited as
+the old vehicle rumbled through the arch, and we entered a square with
+fountains and an obelisk of Egyptian granite in the centre. Delivering
+up our passports, we waited until the necessary examinations were made,
+and then went forward. Three streets branch out from the square, the
+middle one of which, leading directly to the Capitol, is the Corso, the
+Roman Broadway. Our vetturino chose that to the left, the Via della
+Scrofa, leading off towards the bridge of St. Angelo. I looked out the
+windows as we drove along, but saw nothing except butcher-shops,
+grocer-stores, etc.--horrible objects for a sentimental traveler!
+
+Being emptied out on the pavement at last, our first care was to find
+rooms; after searching through many streets, with a coarse old Italian
+who spoke like an angel, we arrived at a square where the music of a
+fountain was heard through the dusk and an obelisk cut out some of the
+starlight. At the other end I saw a portico through the darkness, and my
+heart gave a breathless bound on recognizing the _Pantheon_--the
+matchless temple of Ancient Rome! And now while I am writing, I hear the
+gush of the fountain--and if I step to the window, I see the time-worn
+but still glorious edifice.
+
+On returning for our baggage, we met the funeral procession of the
+Princess Altieri. Priests in white and gold carried flaming torches, and
+the coffin, covered with a magnificent golden pall, was borne in a
+splendid hearse, guarded by four priests. As we were settling our
+account with the vetturino, who demanded much more _buona mano_ than we
+were willing to give, the young dragoon returned. He was greatly
+agitated. "I have been at home!" said he, in a voice trembling with
+emotion. I was about to ask him further concerning his family, but he
+kissed and embraced us warmly and hurriedly, saying he had only come to
+say "addio!" and to leave us. I stop writing to ramble through Rome.
+This city of all cities to me--this dream of my boyhood--giant,
+god-like, fallen Rome--is around me, and I revel in a glow of
+anticipation and exciting thought that seems to change my whole state of
+being.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+ROME.
+
+
+_Dec. 29._--One day's walk through Rome--how shall I describe it? The
+Capitol, the Forum, St. Peter's, the Coliseum--what few hours' ramble
+ever took in places so hallowed by poetry, history and art? It was a
+golden leaf in my calendar of life. In thinking over it now, and drawing
+out the threads of recollection from the varied woof of thought I have
+woven to-day, I almost wonder how I dared so much at once; but within
+reach of them all, how was it possible to wait? Let me give a sketch of
+our day's ramble.
+
+Hearing that it was better to visit the ruins by evening or moonlight,
+(alas! there is no moon now) we started out to hunt St. Peter's. Going
+in the direction of the Corso, we passed the ruined front of the
+magnificent Temple of Antoninus, now used as the Papal Custom House. We
+turned to the right on entering the Corso, expecting to have a view of
+the city from the hill at its southern end. It is a magnificent street,
+lined with palaces and splendid edifices of every kind, and always
+filled with crowds of carriages and people. On leaving it, however, we
+became bewildered among the narrow streets--passed through a market of
+vegetables, crowded with beggars and contadini--threaded many by-ways
+between dark old buildings--saw one or two antique fountains and many
+modern churches, and finally arrived at a hill.
+
+We ascended many steps, and then descending a little towards the other
+side, saw suddenly below us the _Roman Forum_! I knew it at once--and
+those three Corinthian columns that stood near us--what could they be
+but the remains of the temple of Jupiter Stator? We stood on the
+Capitoline Hill; at the foot was the Arch of Septimus Severus, brown
+with age and shattered; near it stood the majestic front of the Temple
+of Fortune, its pillars of polished granite glistening in the sun, as if
+they had been erected yesterday, while on the left the rank grass was
+waving from the arches and mighty walls of the Palace of the Caesars! In
+front, ruin upon ruin lined the way for half a mile, where the Coliseum
+towered grandly through the blue morning mist, at the base of the
+Esquiline Hill!
+
+Good heavens, what a scene! Grandeur, such as the world never saw, once
+rose through that blue atmosphere; splendor inconceivable, the spoils of
+a world, the triumphs of a thousand armies had passed over that earth;
+minds which for ages moved the ancient world had thought there, and
+words of power and glory, from the lips of immortal men, had been
+syllabled on that hallowed air. To call back all this on the very spot,
+while the wreck of what once was, rose mouldering and desolate around,
+aroused a sublimity of thought and feeling too powerful for words.
+
+Returning at hazard through the streets, we came suddenly upon the
+column of Trajan, standing in an excavated square below the level of the
+city, amid a number of broken granite columns, which formed part of the
+Forum dedicated to him by Rome, after the conquest of Dacia. The column
+is one hundred and thirty-two feet high, entirely covered with
+bas-reliefs representing his victories, winding about it in a spiral
+line to the top. The number of figures is computed at two thousand five
+hundred, and they were of such excellence that Raphael used many of them
+for his models. They are now much defaced, and the column is surmounted
+by a statue of some saint. The inscription on the pedestal has been
+erased, and the name of Sixtus V. substituted. Nothing can exceed the
+ridiculous vanity of the old popes in thus mutilating the finest
+monuments of ancient art. You cannot look upon any relic of antiquity in
+Rome, but your eyes are assailed by the words "PONTIFEX MAXIMUS," in
+staring modern letters. Even the magnificent bronzes of the Pantheon
+were stripped to make the baldachin under the dome of St. Peter's.
+
+Finding our way back again, we took a fresh start, happily in the right
+direction, and after walking some time, came out on the Tiber, at the
+Bridge of St. Angelo. The river rolled below in his muddy glory, and in
+front, on the opposite bank, stood "the pile which Hadrian retired on
+high"--_now_, the Castle of St. Angelo. Knowing that St. Peter's was to
+he seen from this bridge, I looked about in search of it. There was only
+one dome in sight, large and of beautiful proportions. I said at once,
+"surely _that_ cannot be St. Peter's!" On looking again, however, I saw
+the top of a massive range of building near it, which corresponded so
+nearly with the pictures of the Vatican, that I was unwillingly forced
+to believe the mighty dome was really before me. I recognized it as one
+of those we saw from the Capitol, but it appeared so much smaller when
+viewed from a greater distance, that I was quite deceived. On
+considering we were still three-fourths of a mile from it, and that we
+could see its minutest parts distinctly, the illusion was explained.
+
+Going directly down the _Borgo Vecchio_, towards it, it seemed a long
+time before we arrived at the square of St. Peter's; when at length we
+stood in front with the majestic colonnade sweeping around--the
+fountains on each side sending up their showers of silvery spray--the
+mighty obelisk of Egyptian granite piercing the sky--and beyond, the
+great front and dome of the Cathedral, I confessed my unmingled
+admiration. It recalled to my mind the grandeur of ancient Rome, and
+mighty as her edifices must have been, I doubt if there were many views
+more overpowering than this. The facade of St. Peter's seemed close to
+us, but it was a third of a mile distant, and the people ascending the
+steps dwindled to pigmies.
+
+I passed the obelisk, went up the long ascent, crossed the portico,
+pushed aside the heavy leathern curtain at the entrance, and stood in
+the great nave. I need not describe my feelings at the sight, but I will
+tell the dimensions, and you may then fancy what they were. Before me
+was a marble plain six hundred feet long, and under the cross four
+hundred and seventeen feet wide! One hundred and fifty feet above,
+sprang a glorious arch, dazzling with inlaid gold, and in the centre of
+the cross there were four hundred feet of air between me and the top of
+the dome! The sunbeam, stealing through the lofty window at one end of
+the transept, made a bar of light on the blue air, hazy with incense,
+one-tenth of a mile long, before it fell on the mosaics and gilded
+shrines of the other extremity. The grand cupola alone, including
+lantern and cross, is two hundred and eighty-five feet high, or sixty
+feet higher than the Bunker Hill Monument, and the four immense pillars
+on which it rests are each one hundred and thirty-seven feet in
+circumference! It seems as if human art had outdone itself in producing
+this temple--the grandest which the world ever erected for the worship
+of the Living God! The awe felt in looking up at the giant arch of
+marble and gold, did not humble me; on the contrary, I felt exalted,
+ennobled--beings in the form I wore planned the glorious edifice, and it
+seemed that in godlike power perseverance, they were indeed but "a
+little lower than the angels!" I felt that, if fallen, my race was still
+mighty and immortal.
+
+The Vatican is only open twice a week, on days which are not _festas_;
+most fortunately, to-day happened to be one of these, and we took a
+_run_ through its endless halls. The extent and magnificence of the
+gallery of sculpture is perfectly amazing. The halls, which are filled
+to overflowing with the finest works of ancient art, would, if placed
+side by side, make a row more than two miles in length! You enter at
+once into a hall of marble, with a magnificent arched ceiling, a third
+of a mile long; the sides are covered for a great distance with
+inscriptions of every kind, divided into compartments according to the
+era of the empire to which they refer. One which I examined, appeared to
+be a kind of index of the roads in Italy, with the towns on them; and we
+could decipher on that time-worn block, the very route I had followed
+from Florence hither.
+
+Then came the statues, and here I am bewildered, how to describe them.
+Hundreds upon hundreds of figures--statues of citizens, generals,
+emperors and gods--fauns, satyrs and nymphs--children, cupids and
+tritons--in fact, it seemed inexhaustible. Many of them, too, were forms
+of matchless beauty; there were Venuses and nymphs, born of the loftiest
+dreams of grace; fauns on whose faces shone the very soul of humor, and
+heroes and divinities with an air of majesty worthy the "land of lost
+gods and godlike men!"
+
+I am lost in astonishment at the perfection of art attained by the
+Greeks and Romans. There is scarcely a form of beauty, that has ever met
+my eye, which is not to be found in this gallery. I should almost
+despair of such another blaze of glory on the world, were it not my
+devout belief that what has been done may be done again, and had I not
+faith that the dawn in which we live will bring another day equally
+glorious. And why should not America, with the experience and added
+wisdom which three thousand years have slowly yielded to the old world,
+joined to the giant energy of her youth and freedom, re-bestow on the
+world the divine creations of art? Let Powers answer!
+
+But let us step on to the hemicycle of the Belvidere, and view some
+works greater than any we have yet seen, or even imagined. The adjoining
+gallery is filled with masterpieces of sculpture, but we will keep our
+eyes unwearied and merely glance along the rows. At length we reach a
+circular court with a fountain flinging up its waters in the centre.
+Before us is an open cabinet; there is a beautiful, manly form within,
+but you would not for an instant take it for the Apollo. By the Gorgon
+head it holds aloft, we recognize Canova's Perseus--he has copied the
+form and attitude of the Apollo, but he could not breathe into it the
+same warming fire. It seemed to me particularly lifeless, and I greatly
+preferred his Boxers, who stand on either side of it. One, who has drawn
+back in the attitude of striking, looks as if he could fell an ox with a
+single blow of his powerful arm. The other is a more lithe and agile
+figure, and there is a quick fire in his countenance which might
+overbalance the massive strength of his opponent.
+
+Another cabinet--this is the far-famed Antinous. A countenance of
+perfect Grecian beauty, with a form such as we would imagine for one of
+Homer's heroes. His features are in repose, and there is something in
+their calm, settled expression, strikingly like life.
+
+Now we look on a scene of the deepest physical agony. Mark how every
+muscle of old Laocoon's body is distended to the utmost in the mighty
+struggle! What intensity of pain in the quivering, distorted, features!
+Every nerve, which despair can call into action, is excited in one giant
+effort, and a scream of anguish seems just to have quivered on those
+marble lips. The serpents have rolled their strangling coils around
+father and sons, but terror has taken away the strength of the latter,
+and they make but feeble resistance. After looking with indifference on
+the many casts of this group, I was the more moved by the magnificent
+original. It deserves all the admiration that has been heaped upon it.
+
+I absolutely trembled on approaching the cabinet of the Apollo, I had
+built up in fancy a glorious ideal, drawn from all that bards have sung
+or artists have rhapsodized about its divine beauty. I feared
+disappointment--I dreaded to have my ideal displaced and my faith in the
+power of human genius overthrown by a form less than perfect. However,
+with a feeling of desperate excitement, I entered and looked upon it.
+
+Now what shall I say of it? How make you comprehend its immortal beauty?
+To what shall I liken its glorious perfection of form, or the fire that
+imbues the cold marble with the soul of a god? Not with sculpture, for
+it stands alone and above all other works of art--nor with men, for it
+has a majesty more than human. I gazed on it, lost in wonder and
+joy--joy that I could, at last, take into my mind a faultless ideal of
+godlike, exalted manhood. The figure appears actually to possess a
+spirit, and I looked on it, not as on a piece of marble, but a being of
+loftier mould, and half expected to see him step forward when the arrow
+had reached its mark. I would give worlds to feel one moment the
+sculptor's mental triumph when his work was completed; that one exulting
+thrill must have repaid him for every ill he might have suffered on
+earth! With what divine inspiration has he wrought its faultless lines!
+There is a spirit in every limb which mere toil could not have given. It
+must have been caught in those lofty moments.
+
+    "When each conception was a heavenly guest--a
+    ray of immortality--and stood
+    star-like, around, until they gathered to a god?"
+
+We ran through a series of halls, roofed with golden stars on a deep
+blue, midnight sky, and filled with porphyry vases, black marble gods,
+and mummies. Some of the statues shone with the matchless polish they
+had received from a Theban artisan before Athens was founded, and are,
+apparently, as fresh and perfect as when looked upon by the vassals of
+Sesostris. Notwithstanding their stiff, rough-hewn limbs, there were
+some figures of great beauty, and they gave me a much higher idea of
+Egyptian sculpture. In an adjoining hall, containing colossal busts of
+the gods, is a vase forty-one feet in circumference, of one solid block
+of red porphyry.
+
+The "Transfiguration" is truly called the first picture in the world.
+The same glow of inspiration which created the Belvidere, must have been
+required to paint the Saviour's aerial form. The three figures hover
+above the earth in a blaze of glory, seemingly independent of all
+material laws. The terrified Apostles on the mount, and the wondering
+group below, correspond in the grandeur of their expression to the awe
+and majesty of the scene. The only blemish in the sublime perfection of
+the picture is the introduction of the two small figures on the left
+hand; who, by-the-bye, were Cardinals, inserted there by command. Some
+travelers say the color is all lost, but I was agreeably surprised to
+find it well preserved. It is, undoubtedly, somewhat imperfect in this
+respect, as Raphael died before it was entirely finished; but "take it
+all in all," you may search the world in vain to find its equal.
+
+_January 1, 1846._--New Year's Day in the Eternal City! It will be
+something to say in after years, that I have seen one year open in
+_Rome_--that, while my distant friends were making up for the winter
+without, with good cheer around the merry board, I have walked in
+sunshine by the ruins of the Coliseum, watched the orange groves
+gleaming with golden fruitage in the Farnese gardens, trodden the
+daisied meadow around the sepulchre of Caius Cestius, and mused by the
+graves of Shelley, Keats and Salvator Rosa! The Palace of the Cassars
+looked even more mournful in the pale, slant sunshine, and the yellow
+Tiber, as he flowed through the "marble wilderness," seemed sullenly
+counting up the long centuries during which degenerate slaves have
+trodden his banks. A leaden-colored haze clothed the seven hills, and
+heavy silence reigned among the ruins, for all work was prohibited, and
+the people were gathered in their churches. Rome never appeared so
+desolate and melancholy as to-day.
+
+In the morning I climbed the Quirinal Hill, now called Monte Cavallo,
+from the colossal statues of Castor and Pollux, with their steeds,
+supposed to be the work of Phidias and Praxiteles. They stand on each
+side of an obelisk of Egyptian granite, beside which a strong stream of
+water gushes up into a magnificent bronze basin, found in the old Forum.
+The statues, entirely browned by age, are considered masterpieces of
+Grecian art, and whether or not from the great masters, show in all
+their proportions, the conceptions of lofty genius.
+
+We kept on our way between gardens filled with orange groves, whose
+glowing fruit reminded me of Mignon's beautiful reminiscence--"Im
+dunkeln Laub die Gold Orangen gluhn!" Rome, although subject to cold
+winds from the Appenines, enjoys so mild a climate that oranges and palm
+trees grow in the open air, without protection. Daisies and violets
+bloom the whole winter, in the meadows of never-fading green. The
+basilic of the Lateran equals St. Peter's in splendor, though its size
+is much smaller. The walls are covered with gorgeous hangings of velvet
+embroidered with gold, and before the high altar, which glitters with
+precious stones, are four pillars of gilt bronze, said to be those which
+Augustus made of the spars of Egyptian vessels captured at the battle of
+Actium.
+
+We descended the hill to the Coliseum, and passing under the Arch of
+Constantine, walked along the ancient triumphal way, at the foot of the
+Palatine Hill, which is entirely covered with the ruins of the Caesars'
+Palace. A road, rounding its southern base towards the Tiber, brought us
+to the Temple of Vesta--a beautiful little relic which has been
+singularly spared by the devastations that have overthrown so many
+mightier fabrics. It is of circular form, surrounded by nineteen
+Corinthian columns, thirty-six feet in height; a clumsy tiled roof now
+takes the place of the elegant cornice which once gave the crowning
+charm to its perfect proportions. Close at hand are the remains of the
+temple of Fortuna Virilis, of which some Ionic pillars alone are left,
+and the house of Cola di Rienzi--the last Tribune of Rome.
+
+As we approached the walls, the sepulchre of Caius Cestius came in
+sight--a single solid pyramid, one hundred feet in height. The walls are
+built against it, and the light apex rises far above the massive gate
+beside it, which was erected by Belisarius. But there were other tombs
+at hand, for which we had more sympathy than that of the forgotten
+Roman, and we turned away to look for the graves of Shelley and Keats.
+
+They lie in the Protestant burying ground, on the side of a mound that
+slopes gently up to the old wall of Rome, beside the pyramid of Cestius.
+The meadow around is still verdant and sown thick with daisies, and the
+soft green of the Italian pine mingles with the dark cypress above the
+slumberers. Huge aloes grow in the shade, and the sweet bay and bushes
+of rosemary make the air fresh and fragrant. There is a solemn, mournful
+beauty about the place, green and lonely as it is, beside the tottering
+walls of ancient Rome, that takes away the gloomy associations of death,
+and makes one wish to lie there, too, when his thread shall be spun to
+the end.
+
+We found first the simple head-stone of Keats, alone, in the grassy
+meadow. Its inscription states that on his death-bed, in the bitterness
+of his heart, at the malice of his enemies, be desired these words to be
+written on his tombstone: "_Here lies one whose name was written in
+water_." Not far from him reposes the son of Shelley.
+
+Shelley himself lies at the top of the shaded slope, in a lonely spot by
+the wall, surrounded by tall cypresses. A little hedge of rose and bay
+surrounds his grave, which bears the simple inscription--
+
+    "PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY; _Cor Cordium_."
+
+      "Nothing of him that doth fade,
+      But doth suffer a sea-change
+      Into something rich and strange."
+
+Glorious, but misguided Shelley! He sleeps calmly now in that silent
+nook, and the air around his grave is filled with sighs from those who
+mourn that the bright, erratic star should have been blotted out ere it
+reached the zenith of its mounting fame. I plucked a leaf from the
+fragrant bay, as a token of his fame, and a sprig of cypress from the
+bough that bent lowest over his grave; and passing between tombs shaded
+with blooming roses or covered with unwithered garlands, left the lovely
+spot.
+
+Amid the excitement of continually changing scenes, I have forgotten to
+mention our first visit to the Coliseum. The day after our arrival we
+set out with two English friends, to see it by sunset. Passing by the
+glorious fountain of Trevi, we made our way to the Forum, and from
+thence took the road to the Coliseum, lined on both sides with the
+remains of splendid edifices. The grass-grown ruins of the Palace of the
+Caesars stretched along on our right; on our left we passed in succession
+the granite front of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, the three
+grand arches of the Temple of Peace and the ruins of the Temple of Venus
+and Rome. We went under the ruined triumphal arch of Titus, with broken
+friezes representing the taking of Jerusalem, and the mighty walls of
+the Coliseum gradually rose before us. They grew in grandeur as we
+approached them, and when at length we stood in the centre, with the
+shattered arches and grassy walls rising above and beyond one another,
+far around us, the red light of sunset giving them a soft and melancholy
+beauty, I was fain to confess that another form of grandeur had entered
+my mind, of which I before knew not.
+
+A majesty like that of nature clothes this wonderful edifice. Walls rise
+above walls, and arches above arches, from every side of the grand
+arena, like a sweep of craggy, pinnacled mountains around an oval lake.
+The two outer circles have almost entirely disappeared, torn away by the
+rapacious nobles of Rome, during the middle ages, to build their
+palaces. When entire, and filled with its hundred thousand spectators,
+it must have exceeded any pageant which the world can now produce. No
+wonder it was said--
+
+    "While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand;
+    When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall;
+    And when Rome falls, the world!"
+
+--a prediction, which time has not verified. The world is now going
+forward, prouder than ever, and though we thank Rome for the legacy she
+has left us, we would not wish the dust of her ruin to cumber our path.
+
+While standing in the arena, impressed with the spirit of the scene
+around me, which grew more spectral and melancholy as the dusk of
+evening began to fill up the broken arches, my eye was assailed by the
+shrines ranged around the space, doubtless to remove the pollution of
+paganism. In the middle stands also a cross, with an inscription,
+granting an absolution of forty days to all who kiss it. Now, although a
+simple cross in the centre might be very appropriate, both as a token of
+the heroic devotion of the martyr Telemachus and the triumph of a true
+religion over the barbarities of the Past, this congregation of shrines
+and bloody pictures mars very much the unity of association so necessary
+to the perfect enjoyment of any such scene.
+
+We saw the flush of sunset fade behind the Capitoline Hill, and passed
+homeward by the Forum, as its shattered pillars were growing solemn and
+spectral through the twilight. I intend to visit them often again, and
+"meditate amongst decay." I begin already to grow attached to their
+lonely grandeur. A spirit, almost human, speaks from the desolation, and
+there is something in the voiceless oracles it utters, that strikes an
+answering chord in my own breast.
+
+In the _Via de' Pontefici_, not far distant from the Borghese Palace, we
+saw the Mausoleum of Augustus. It is a large circular structure somewhat
+after the plan of that of Hadrian, but on a much smaller scale. The
+interior has been cleared out, seats erected around the walls, and the
+whole is now a summer theatre, for the amusement of the peasantry and
+tradesmen. What a commentary on greatness! Harlequin playing his pranks
+in the tomb of an Emperor, and the spot which nations approached with
+reverence, resounding with the mirth of beggars and degraded vassals!
+
+I visited lately the studio of a young Philadelphian, Mr. W. B.
+Chambers, who has been here two or three years. In studying the legacies
+of art which the old masters left to their country, he has caught some
+of the genuine poetic inspiration which warmed them. But he is modest as
+talented, and appears to undervalue his works, so long as they do not
+reach his own mental ideal. He chooses principally subjects from the
+Italian peasant-life, which abounds with picturesque and classic beauty.
+His pictures of the shepherd boy of the Albruzzi, and the brown maidens
+of the Campagna are fine illustrations of this class, and the fidelity
+with which he copies nature, is an earnest of his future success.
+
+I was in the studio of Crawford, the sculptor; he has at present
+nothing finished in the marble. There were many casts of his former
+works, which, judging from their appearance in plaster, must be of no
+common excellence--for the sculptor can only be justly judged _in
+marble_. I saw some fine bas-reliefs of classical subjects, and an
+exquisite group of Mercury and Psyche, but his masterpiece is
+undoubtedly the Orpheus. There is a spirit in this figure which
+astonished me. The face is full of the inspiration of the poet, softened
+by the lover's tenderness, and the whole fervor of his soul is expressed
+in the eagerness with which he gazes forward, on stepping past the
+sleeping Cerberus. Crawford is now engaged on the statue of an Indian
+girl, pierced by an arrow, and dying. It is a simple and touching
+figure, and will, I think, be one of his best works.
+
+We are often amused with the groups in the square of the Pantheon, which
+we can see from our chamber-window. Shoemakers and tinkers carry on
+their business along the sunny side, while the venders of oranges and
+roasted chesnuts form a circle around the Egyptian obelisk and fountain.
+Across the end of an opposite street we get a glimpse of the
+vegetable-market, and now and then the shrill voice of a pedlar makes
+its nasal solo audible above the confused chorus. As the beggars choose
+the Corso, St. Peter's, and the ruins for their principal haunts, we are
+now spared the hearing of their lamentations. Every time we go out we
+are assailed with them. "_Maladetta sia la vostra testa_!"--"Curses be
+upon your head!"--said one whom I passed without notice. The priests
+are, however, the greatest beggars. In every church are kept offering
+boxes, for the support of the church or some unknown institution; they
+even go from house to house, imploring support and assistance in the
+name of the Virgin and all the saints, while their bloated, sensual
+countenances and capacious frames tell of anything but fasts and
+privations. Once, as I was sitting among the ruins, I was suddenly
+startled by a loud, rattling sound; turning my head, I saw a figure
+clothed in white from head to foot, with only two small holes for the
+eyes. He held in his hand a money-box, on which was a figure of the
+Virgin, which he held close to my lips, that I might kiss it. This I
+declined doing, but dropped a baiocco into his box, when, making the
+sign of the cross, he silently disappeared.
+
+Our present lodging (Trattoria del Sole) is a good specimen of an
+Italian inn for mechanics and common tradesmen. Passing through the
+front room, which is an eating-place for the common people--with a
+barrel of wine in the corner, and bladders of lard hanging among orange
+boughs in the window--we enter a dark court-yard filled with heavy
+carts, and noisy with the neighing of horses and singing of grooms, for
+the stables occupy part of the house. An open staircase, running all
+around this hollow square, leads to the second, third, and fourth
+stories,
+
+On the second story is the dining-room for the better class of
+travelers, who receive the same provisions as those below for double the
+price, and the additional privilege of giving the waiter two baiocchi.
+The sleeping apartments are in the fourth story, and are named according
+to the fancy of a former landlord, in mottos above each door. Thus, on
+arriving here, the Triester, with his wife and child, more fortunate
+than our first parents, took refuge in "Paradise," while we Americans
+were ushered into the "Chamber of Jove." We have occupied it ever since,
+and find a paul (ten cents) apiece cheap enough for a good bed and a
+window opening on the Pantheon.
+
+Next to the Coliseum, the baths of Caracalla are the grandest remains of
+Rome. The building is a thousand feet square, and its massive walls look
+as if built by a race of giants. These Titan remains are covered with
+green shrubbery, and long, trailing vines sweep over the cornice, and
+wave down like tresses from architrave and arch. In some of its grand
+halls the mosaic pavement is yet entire. The excavations are still
+carried on; from the number of statues already found, this would seem to
+have been one of the most gorgeous edifices of the olden time.
+
+I have been now several days loitering and sketching among the ruins,
+and I feel as if I could willingly wander for months beside these
+mournful relics, and draw inspiration from the lofty yet melancholy lore
+they teach. There is a spirit haunting them, real and undoubted. Every
+shattered column, every broken arch and mouldering wall, but calls up
+more vividly to mind the glory that has passed away. Each lonely pillar
+stands as proudly as if it still helped to bear up the front of a
+glorious temple, and the air seems scarcely to have ceased vibrating
+with the clarions that heralded a conqueror's triumph.
+
+    "--the old majestic trees
+    Stand ghost-like in the Caesar's home,
+      As if their conscious roots were set
+    In the old graves of giant Rome,
+      And drew their sap all kingly yet!"
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "There every mouldering stone beneath
+      Is broken from some mighty thought,
+    And sculptures in the dust still breathe
+      The fire with which their lines were wrought,
+    And sunder'd arch and plundered tomb
+    Still thunder back the echo--'_Rome!_'"
+
+In Rome there is no need that the imagination be excited to call up
+thrilling emotion or poetic reverie--they are forced on the mind by the
+sublime spirit of the scene. The roused bard might here pour forth his
+thoughts in the wildest climaces, and I could believe he felt it all.
+This is like the Italy of my dreams--that golden realm whose image has
+been nearly chased away by the earthly reality. I expected to find a
+land of light and beauty, where every step crushed a flower or displaced
+a sunbeam--whose very air was poetic inspiration, and whose every scene
+filled the soul with romantic feelings. Nothing is left of my picture
+but the far-off mountains, robed in the sapphire veil of the Ausonian
+air, and these ruins, amid whose fallen glory sits triumphant the spirit
+of ancient song.
+
+I have seen the flush of morn and eve rest on the Coliseum; I have seen
+the noon-day sky framed in its broken loopholes, like plates of polished
+sapphire; and last night, as the moon has grown into the zenith, I went
+to view it with her. Around the Forum all was silent and spectral--a
+sentinel challenged us at the Arch of Titus, under which we passed and
+along the Caesar's wall, which lay in black shadow. Dead stillness
+brooded around the Coliseum; the pale, silvery lustre streamed through
+its arches, and over the grassy walls, giving them a look of shadowy
+grandeur which day could not bestow. The scene will remain fresh in my
+memory forever.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+TIVOLI AND THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA.
+
+
+_Jan. 9._--A few days ago we returned from an excursion to Tivoli, one
+of the loveliest spots in Italy. We left the Eternal City by the Gate of
+San Lorenzo, and twenty minutes walk brought us to the bare and bleak
+Campagna, which was spread around us for leagues in every direction.
+Here and there a shepherd-boy in his woolly coat, with his flock of
+browsing sheep, were the only objects that broke its desert-like
+monotony.
+
+At the fourth mile we crossed the rapid Anio, the ancient Teverone,
+formerly the boundary between Latium and the Sabine dominions, and at
+the tenth, came upon some fragments of the old Tibertine way, formed of
+large irregular blocks of basaltic lava. A short distance further, we
+saw across the plain the ruins of the bath of Agrippa, built by the side
+of the Tartarean Lake. The wind, blowing from it, bore us an
+overpowering smell of sulphur; the waters of the little river Solfatara,
+which crosses the road, are of a milky blue color, and carry those of
+the lake into the Anio. A fragment of the old bridge over it still
+remains.
+
+Finding the water quite warm, we determined to have a bath. So we ran
+down the plain, which was covered with a thick coat of sulphur, and
+sounded hollow to our tread, till we reached a convenient place, where
+we threw off our clothes, and plunged in. The warm wave was delightful
+to the skin, but extremely offensive to the smell, and when we came out,
+our mouths and throats were filled with the stifling gas.
+
+It was growing dark as we mounted through the narrow streets of Tivoli,
+but we endeavored to gain some sight of the renowned beauties of the
+spot, before going to rest. From a platform on a brow of the hill, we
+looked down into the defile, at whose bottom the Anio was roaring, and
+caught a sideward glance of the Cascatelles, sending up their spray
+amid the evergreen bushes that fringe the rocks. Above the deep glen
+that curves into the mountain, stands the beautiful temple of the
+Sybil--a building of the most perfect and graceful proportion. It crests
+the "rocky brow" like a fairy dwelling, and looks all the lovelier for
+the wild caverns below. Gazing downward from the bridge, one sees the
+waters of the Anio tumbling into the picturesque grotto of the Sirens;
+around a rugged corner, a cloud of white spray whirls up continually,
+while the boom of a cataract rumbles down the glen. All these we marked
+in the deepening dusk, and then hunted an albergo.
+
+The shrill-voiced hostess gave us a good supper and clean beds; in
+return we diverted the people very much by the relation of our sulphur
+bath. We were awakened in the night by the wind shaking the very soul
+out of our loose casement. I fancied I heard torrents of rain dashing
+against the panes, and groaned in bitterness of spirit on thinking of a
+walk back to Rome in such weather. When morning came, we found it was
+only a hurricane of wind which was strong enough to tear off pieces of
+the old roofs. I saw some capuchins nearly overturned in crossing the
+square, by the wind seizing their white robes.
+
+I had my fingers frozen and my eyes filled with sand, in trying to draw
+the Sybil's temple, and therefore left it to join my companions, who had
+gone down into the glen to see the great cascade. The Anio bursts out of
+a cavern in the mountain-side, and like a prisoner giddy with recovered
+liberty, reels over the edge of a precipice more than two hundred feet
+deep. The bottom is hid in a cloud of boiling spray, that shifts from
+side to side, and driven by the wind, sweeps whistling down the narrow
+pass. It stuns the ear with a perpetual boom, giving a dash of grandeur
+to the enrapturing beauty of the scene. I tried a footpath that appeared
+to lead down to the Cascatelles, but after advancing some distance along
+the side of an almost perpendicular precipice, I came to a corner that
+looked so dangerous, especially as the wind was nearly strong enough to
+carry me off, that it seemed safest to return. We made another vain
+attempt to get down, by creeping along the bed of a torrent, filled with
+briars. The Cascatelles are formed by that part of the Anio, which is
+used in the iron works, made out of the ruins of Mecaenas' villa. They
+gush out from under the ancient arches, and tumble more than a hundred
+feet down the precipice, their white waters gleaming out from the dark
+and feathery foliage. Not far distant are the remains of the villa of
+Horace.
+
+We took the road to Frascati, and walked for miles among cane-swamps and
+over plains covered with sheep. The people we saw, were most degraded
+and ferocious-looking, and there were many I would not willingly meet
+alone after nightfall. Indeed it is still considered quite unsafe to
+venture without the walls of Rome, after dark. The women, with their
+yellow complexions, and the bright red blankets they wear folded around
+the head and shoulders, resemble Indian Squaws.
+
+I lately spent three hours in the Museum of the Capitol, on the summit
+of the sacred hill. In the hall of the Gladiator I noticed an exquisite
+statue of Diana. There is a pure, virgin grace in the classic outlines
+of the figure that keeps the eye long upon it. The face is full of cold,
+majestic dignity, but it is the ideal of a being to be worshipped,
+rather than loved. The Faun of Praxiteles, in the same room, is a
+glorious work; it is the perfect embodiment of that wild, merry race the
+Grecian poets dreamed of. One looks on the Gladiator with a hushed
+breath and an awed spirit. He is dying; the blood flows more slowly from
+the deep wound in his side; his head is sinking downwards, and the arm
+that supports his body becomes more and more nerveless. You feel that a
+dull mist is coming over his vision, and almost wait to see his relaxing
+limbs sink suddenly on his shield. That the rude, barbarian form has a
+soul, may be read in his touchingly expressive countenance. It warms the
+sympathies like reality to look upon it. Yet how many Romans may have
+gazed on this work, moved nearly to tears, who have seen hundreds perish
+in the arena without a pitying emotion! Why is it that Art has a voice
+frequently more powerful than Nature?
+
+How cold it is here! I was forced to run home to-night, nearly at full
+speed, from the Cafe delle _Belle Arti_ through the Corso and the Piazza
+Colonna, to keep warm. The clear, frosty moon threw the shadow of the
+column of Antoninus over me as I passed, and it made me shiver to look
+at the thin, falling sheet of the fountain. Winter is winter
+everywhere, and even the sun of Italy cannot always scorch his icy
+wings.
+
+Two days ago we took a ramble outside the walls. Passing the Coliseum
+and Caracalla's Baths, we reached the tomb of Scipio, a small sepulchral
+vault, near the roadside. The ashes of the warrior were scattered to the
+winds long ago, and his mausoleum is fast falling to decay. The old arch
+over the Appian way is still standing, near the modern _Porta San
+Sebastiano_ through which we entered on the far-famed road. Here and
+there it is quite entire, and we walked over the stones once worn by the
+feet of Virgil and Horace and Cicero. After passing the temple of
+Romulus--a shapeless and ivy-grown ruin--and walking a mile or more
+beyond the walls, we reached the Circus of Caracalla, whose long and
+shattered walls fill the hollow of one of the little dells of the
+Campagna. The original structure must have been of great size and
+splendor, but those twin Vandals--Time and Avarice--have stripped away
+everything but the lofty brick masses, whose nakedness the pitying ivy
+strives to cover.
+
+Further, on a gentle slope, is the tomb of "the wealthiest Roman's
+wife," familiar to every one through Childe Harold's musings. It is a
+round, massive tower, faced with large blocks of marble, and still
+bearing the name of Cecilia Metella. One side is much ruined, and the
+top is overgrown with grass and wild bushes. The wall is about thirty
+feet thick, so that but a small round space is left in the interior,
+which is open to the rain and filled will rubbish. The echoes pronounced
+hollowly after us the name of the dead for whom it was built, but they
+could tell us nothing of her life's history--
+
+    "How lived, how loved, how died she?"
+
+I made a hurried drawing of it, and we then turned to the left, across
+the Campagna, to seek the grotto of Egeria. Before us, across the brown
+plain, extended the Sabine Mountains; in the clear air the houses of
+Tivoli, twenty miles distant, were plainly visible. The giant aqueduct
+stretched in a long line across the Campagna to the mountain of Albano,
+its broken and disjointed arches resembling the vertebrae of some mighty
+monster. With the ruins of temples and tombs strewing the plain for
+miles around it, it might be called the _spine_ to the skeleton of Rome.
+
+We passed many ruins, made beautiful by the clinging ivy, and reached a
+solemn grove of ever-green oak, overlooking a secluded valley. I was
+soon in the meadow, leaping ditches, rustling through cane-brakes, and
+climbing up to mossy arches to find out the fountain of Numa's nymph;
+while my companion, who had less taste for the romantic, looked on
+complacently from the leeward side of the hill. At length we found an
+arched vault in the hill-side, overhung with wild vines, and shaded in
+summer by umbrageous trees that grow on the soil above. At the further
+end a stream of water gushed out from beneath a broken statue, and an
+aperture in the wall revealed a dark cavern behind. This, then, was
+"Egeria's grot." The ground was trampled by the feet of cattle, and the
+taste of the water was anything but pleasant. But it was not for Numa
+and his nymph alone, that I sought it so ardently. The sunbeam of
+another mind lingers on the spot. See how it gilds the ruined and
+neglected fount!
+
+    "The mosses of thy fountain still are sprinkled
+      With thine Elysian water-drops; the face
+    Of thy cave-guarded spring, with years unwrinkled,
+      Reflects the meek-eyed genius of the place,
+    Whose wild, green margin, now no more erase
+      Art's works; no more its sparkling waters sleep,
+    Prisoned in marble; bubbling from the base
+      Of the cleft statue, with a gentle leap,
+    The rill runs o'er, and 'round, fern, flowers and ivy creep,
+      Fantastically tangled."
+
+I tried to creep into the grotto, but it was unpleasantly dark, and no
+nymph appeared to chase away the shadow with her lustrous eyes. The
+whole hill is pierced by subterranean chambers and passages.
+
+I spent another Sunday morning in St. Peter's. High mass was being
+celebrated in one of the side Chapels, and a great number of the
+priesthood were present. The music was simple, solemn, and very
+impressive, and a fine effect was produced by the combination of the
+full, sonorous voices of the priests, and the divine sweetness of that
+band of mutilated unfortunates, who sing here. They sang with a full,
+clear tone, sweet as the first lispings of a child, but it was painful
+to hear that melody, purchased at the expense of manhood.
+
+Near the dome is a bronze statue of St. Peter, which seems to have a
+peculiar atmosphere of sanctity. People say their prayers before it by
+hundreds, and then kiss its toe, which is nearly worn away by the
+application of so many thousand lips. I saw a crowd struggle most
+irreverently to pay their devotion to it. There was a great deal of
+jostling and confusion; some went so far as to thrust the faces of
+others against the toe as they were about to kiss it. What is more
+remarkable, it is an antique statue of Jupiter, taken, I believe, from
+the Pantheon. An English artist, showing it to a friend, just arrived in
+Rome, remarked very wittily that it was the statue of _Jew-Peter_.
+
+I went afterwards to the Villa Borghese, outside the Porta del Popolo.
+The gardens occupy thirty or forty acres, and are always thronged in the
+afternoon with the carriages of the Roman and foreign nobility. In
+summer, it must be a heavenly place; even now, with its musical
+fountains, long avenues, and grassy slopes, crowned with the fan-like
+branches of the Italian pine, it reminds one of the fairy landscapes of
+Boccaccio. We threaded our way through the press of carriages on the
+Pincian hill, and saw the enormous bulk of St. Peter's loom up against
+the sunset sky. I counted forty domes and spires in that part of Rome
+that lay below us--but on what a marble glory looked that sun eighteen
+centuries ago! Modern Rome--it is in comparison, a den of filth, cheats
+and beggars!
+
+Yesterday, while taking a random stroll through the city, I visited the
+church of St. Onofrio, where Tasso is buried. It is not far from St.
+Peter's, on the summit of a lonely hill. The building was closed, but an
+old monk admitted us on application. The interior is quite small, but
+very old, and the floor is covered with the tombs of princes and
+prelates of a past century. Near the end I found a small slab with the
+inscription:
+
+        "TORQUATI TASSI
+             OSSA
+          HIC JACENT."
+
+That was all--but what more was needed? Who knows not the name and fame
+and sufferings of the glorious bard? The pomp of gold and marble are not
+needed to deck the slumber of genius. On the wall, above, hangs an old
+and authentic portrait of him, very similar to the engravings in
+circulation. A crown of laurel encircles the lofty brow, and the eye has
+that wild, mournful expression, which accords so well with the
+mysterious tale of his love and madness.
+
+Owing to the mountain storms, which imposed on us the expense of a
+carriage-journey to Rome, we shall be prevented from going further. One
+great cause of this is the heavy fee required for passports in Italy. In
+most of the Italian cities, the cost of the different vises amounts to
+$4 or $5; a few such visits as these reduce our funds very materially.
+The American Consul's fee is $2, owing to the illiberal course of our
+government, in withholding all salary from her Consuls in Europe. Mr.
+Brown, however, in whose family we spent last evening very pleasantly,
+on our requesting that he would deduct something from the usual fee,
+kindly declined accepting anything. We felt this kindness the more, as
+from the character which some of our late Consuls bear in Italy, we had
+not anticipated it. We shall remember him with deeper gratitude than
+many would suppose, who have never known what it was to be a
+_foreigner_.
+
+To-morrow, therefore, we leave Rome--here is, at last, the limit of our
+wanderings. We have spent much toil and privation to reach here, and
+now, after two weeks' rambling and musing among the mighty relics of
+past glory, we turn our faces homeward. The thrilling hope I cherished
+during the whole pilgrimage--to climb Parnassus and drink from Castaly,
+under the blue heaven of Greece (both far easier than the steep hill and
+hidden fount of poesy, I worship afar off)--to sigh for fallen art,
+beneath the broken friezes of the Parthenon, and look with a pilgrim's
+eye on the isles of Homer and of Sappho--must be given up, unwillingly
+and sorrowfully though it be. These glorious anticipations--among the
+brightest that blessed my boyhood--are slowly wrung from me by stern
+necessity. Even Naples, the lovely Parthenope, where the Mantuan bard
+sleeps on the sunny shore, by the bluest of summer seas, with the
+disinterred Pompeii beyond, and Paestum amid its roses on the lonely
+Calabrian plain--even this, almost within sight of the cross of St.
+Peter's, is barred from me. Farewell then, clime of "fame and eld,"
+since it must be! A pilgrim's blessing for the lore ye have taught him!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+
+_Palo._--The sea is breaking in long swells below the window, and a
+glorious planet shines in the place of the sunset that has died away.
+This is our first resting-place since leaving Rome. We have been walking
+all day over the bare and dreary Campagna, and it is a relief to look at
+last on the broad, blue expanse of the Tyrrhene Sea.
+
+When we emerged from the cool alleys of Rome, and began to climb up and
+down the long, barren swells, the sun beat down on us with an almost
+summer heat. On crossing a ridge near Castel Guido, we took our last
+look of Rome, and saw from the other side the sunshine lying like a
+dazzling belt on the far Mediterranean. The country is one of the most
+wretched that can be imagined. Miles and miles of uncultivated land,
+with scarcely a single habitation, extend on either side of the road,
+and the few shepherds who watch their flocks in the marshy hollows, look
+wild and savage enough for any kind of crime. It made me shudder to see
+every face bearing such a villainous stamp.
+
+_Civita Vecchia, Jan. 1._--We left Palo just after sunrise, and walked
+in the cool of the morning beside the blue Mediterranean. On the right,
+the low outposts of the Appenines rose, bleak and brown, the narrow
+plain between them and the shore resembling a desert, so destitute was
+it of the signs of civilized life. A low, white cloud that hung over the
+sea, afar off, showed us the locality of Sardinia, though the land was
+not visible. The sun shone down warmly, and with the blue sky and bluer
+sea we could easily have imagined a milder season. The barren scenery
+took a new interest in my eyes, when I remembered that I was spending
+amidst it that birth-day which removes me, in the eyes of the world,
+from dependant youth to responsible manhood.
+
+In the afternoon we found a beautiful cove in a curve of the shore, and
+went to bathe in the cold surf. It was very refreshing, but not quite
+equal to the sulphur-bath on the road to Tivoli. The mountains now ran
+closer to the sea, and the road was bordered with thickets of myrtle. I
+stopped often to beat my staff into the bushes, and inhale the fragrance
+that arose from their crushed leaves. The hills were covered with this
+poetical shrub, and any acre of the ground would make the fortune of a
+florist at home.
+
+The sun was sinking in a sky of orange and rose, as Civita Vecchia came
+in sight on a long headland before us. Beyond the sea stretched the dim
+hills of Corsica. We walked nearly an hour in the clear moonlight, by
+the sounding shore, before the gate of the city was reached. We have
+found a tolerable inn, and are now enjoying the pleasures of supper and
+rest.
+
+_Marseilles, Jan. 16._--At length we tread the shore of France--of sunny
+Provence--the last unvisited realm we have to roam through before
+returning home. It is with a feeling of more than common relief that we
+see around us the lively faces and hear the glib tongues of the French.
+It is like an earnest that the "roughing" we have undergone among
+Bohemian boors and Italian savages is well nigh finished, and that,
+henceforth, we shall find civilized sympathy and politeness, if nothing
+more, to make the way smoother. Perhaps the three woful days which
+terminated at half-past two yesterday afternoon, as we passed through
+the narrow strait into the beautiful harbor which Marseilles encloses in
+her sheltering heart, make it still pleasanter. Now, while there is
+time, I must describe those three days, for who could write on the wet
+deck of a steamboat, amid all the sights and smells which a sea voyage
+creates? Description does not flourish when the bones are sore with
+lying on planks, and the body shivering like an aspen leaf with cold.
+
+About the old town of Civita Vecchia there is not much to be said,
+except that it has the same little harbor which Trajan dug for it, and
+is as dirty and disagreeable as a town can well be. We saw nothing
+except a little church, and the prison-yard, full of criminals, where
+the celebrated bandit, Gasparoni, has been now confined for eight years.
+
+The Neapolitan Company's boat, _Mongibello_, was advertised to leave the
+12th, so, after procuring our passports, we went to the office to take
+passage. The official, however, refused to give us tickets for the third
+place, because, forsooth, we were not servants or common laborers! and
+words were wasted in trying to convince him that it would make no
+difference. As the second cabin fare was nearly three times as high, and
+entirely too dear for us, we went to the office of the Tuscan Company,
+whose boat was to leave in two days. Through the influence of an Italian
+gentleman, secretary to Bartolini, the American Consul, whom we met,
+they agreed to take us for forty-five francs, on deck, the price of the
+Neapolitan boat being thirty.
+
+Rather than stay two days longer in the dull town, we went again to the
+latter Company's office and offered them forty-five francs to go that
+day in _their_ boat. This removed the former scruples, and tickets were
+immediately made out. After a plentiful dinner at the albergo, to
+prepare ourselves for the exposure, we filled our pockets with a supply
+of bread, cheese, and figs, for the voyage. We then engaged a boatman,
+who agreed to row us out to the steamer for two pauls, but after he had
+us on board and an oar's length from the quay, he said two pauls
+_apiece_ was his bargain. I instantly refused, and, summoning the best
+Italian I could command, explained our agreement; but he still persisted
+in demanding double price. The dispute soon drew a number of persons to
+the quay, some of whom, being boatmen, sided with him. Finding he had us
+safe in his boat, his manner was exceedingly calm and polite. He
+contradicted me with a "pardon, Signore!" accompanying the words with a
+low bow and a graceful lift of his scarlet cap, and replied to my
+indignant accusations in the softest and most silvery-modulated Roman
+sentences. I found, at last, that if I was in the right, I cut the worse
+figure of the two, and, therefore, put an end to the dispute by desiring
+him to row on at his own price.
+
+The hour of starting was two, but the boat lay quietly in the harbor
+till four, when we glided out on the open sea, and went northward, with
+the blue hills of Corsica far on our left. A gorgeous sunset faded away
+over the water, and the moon rose behind the low mountains of the
+Italian coast. Having found a warm and sheltered place near the chimney,
+I drew my beaver further over my eyes, to keep out the moonlight, and
+lay down on the deck with my knapsack under my head. It was a hard bed,
+indeed; and the first time I attempted to rise, I found myself glued to
+the floor by the pitch which was smeared along the seams of the boards!
+Our fellow-sufferers were a company of Swiss soldiers going home after a
+four years' service under the King of Naples, but they took to their
+situation more easily than we.
+
+Sleep was next to impossible, so I paced the deck occasionally, looking
+out on the moonlit sea and the dim shores on either side. A little after
+midnight we passed between Elba and Corsica. The dark crags of Elba rose
+on our right, and the bold headlands of Napoleon's isle stood opposite,
+at perhaps twenty miles' distance. There was something dreary and
+mysterious in the whole scene, viewed at such a time--the grandeur of
+his career, who was born on one and exiled to the other, gave it a
+strange and thrilling interest.
+
+We made the light-house before the harbor of Leghorn at dawn, and by
+sunrise were anchored within the mole. I sat on the deck the whole day,
+watching the picturesque vessels that skimmed about with their lateen
+sails, and wondering how soon the sailors, on the deck of a Boston brig
+anchored near us, would see my distant country. Leaving at four o'clock,
+we dashed away, along the mountain coast of Carrara, at a rapid rate.
+The wind was strong and cold, but I lay down behind the boiler, and
+though the boards were as hard as ever, slept two or three hours. When I
+awoke at half-past two in the morning, after a short rest, Genoa was
+close at hand. We glided between the two revolving lights on the mole,
+into the harbor, with the amphitheatre on which the superb city sits,
+dark and silent around us. It began raining soon, the engine-fire sank
+down, and as there was no place of shelter, we were shortly wet to the
+skin.
+
+How long those dreary hours seemed, till the dawn came! All was cold and
+rainy and dark, and we waited in a kind of torpid misery for daylight.
+The entire day, I passed sitting in a coil of rope under the stern of
+the cabin, and even the beauties of the glorious city scarce affected
+me. We lay opposite the Doria palace, and the constellation of villas
+and towers still glittered along the hills; but who, with his teeth
+chattering and limbs numb and damp, could feel pleasure in looking on
+Elysium itself?
+
+We got under way again at three o'clock. The rain very soon hid the
+coast from view, and the waves pitched our boat about in a manner not at
+all pleasant. I soon experienced sea-sickness in all its horrors. We had
+accidentally made the acquaintance of one of the Neapolitan sailors, who
+had been in America. He was one of those rough, honest natures I like to
+meet with--their blunt kindness, is better than refined and oily-tongued
+suavity. As we were standing by the chimney, reflecting dolefully how we
+should pass the coming night, he came up and said; "I am in trouble
+about you, poor fellows! I don't think I shall sleep three hours
+to-night, to think of you. I shall tell all the cabin they shall give
+you beds, because they shall see you are gentlemen!" Whether he did so
+or the officers were moved by spontaneous commiseration, we knew not,
+but in half an hour a servant beckoned us into the cabin, and berths
+were given us.
+
+I turned in with a feeling of relief not easily imagined, and forgave
+the fleas willingly, in the comfort of a shelter from the storm. When I
+awoke, it was broad day. A fresh breeze was drying the deck, and the sun
+was half-visible among breaking clouds. We had just passed the Isle of
+the Titan, one of the _Isles des Hyeres_, and the bay of Toulon opened
+on our right. It was a rugged, rocky coast, but the hills of sunny
+Provence rose beyond. The sailor came up with a smile of satisfaction on
+his rough countenance, and said: "You did sleep better, I think; I did
+tell them all!" coupling his assertion with a round curse on the
+officers.
+
+We ran along, beside the brown, bare crags till nearly noon, when we
+reached the eastern point of the Bay of Marseilles. A group of small
+islands, formed of bare rocks, rising in precipices three or four
+hundred feet high, guards the point; on turning into the Gulf, we saw on
+the left the rocky islands of Pomegues, and If, with the castle crowning
+the latter, in which Mirabeau was confined. The ranges of hills which
+rose around the great bay, were spotted and sprinkled over with
+thousands of the country cottages of the Marseilles merchants, called
+_Bastides_; the city itself was hidden from view. We saw apparently the
+whole bay, but there was no crowd of vessels, such as would befit a
+great sea-port; a few spires peeping over a hill, with some
+fortifications, were all that was visible. At length we turned suddenly
+aside and entered a narrow strait, between two forts. Immediately a
+broad harbor opened before us, locked in the very heart of the hills on
+which the city stands. It was covered with vessels of all nations; on
+leaving the boat, we rowed past the "Aristides," bearing the blue cross
+of Greece, and I searched eagerly and found, among the crowded masts,
+the starry banner of America.
+
+I have rambled through all the principal parts of Marseilles, and am
+very favorably impressed with its appearance. Its cleanliness and the
+air of life and business which marks the streets, are the more pleasant
+after coming from the dirty and depopulated Italian cities. The broad
+avenues, lined with trees, which traverse its whole length, must be
+delightful in summer. I am often reminded, by its spacious and crowded
+thoroughfares, of our American cities. Although founded by the Phoceans,
+three thousand years ago, it has scarcely an edifice of greater
+antiquity than three or four centuries, and the tourist must content
+himself with wandering through the narrow streets of the old town,
+observing the Provencal costumes, or strolling among Turks and Moors on
+the _Quai d'Orleans_.
+
+We have been detained here a day longer than was necessary, owing to
+some misunderstanding about the passports. This has not been favorable
+to our reduced circumstances, for we have, now but twenty francs each,
+left, to take us to Paris. Our boots, too, after serving us so long,
+begin to show signs of failing in this hour of adversity. Although we
+are somewhat accustomed to such circumstances, I cannot help shrinking
+when I think of the solitary napoleon and the five hundred miles to be
+passed. Perhaps, however, the coin will do as much as its great
+namesake, and achieve for us a Marengo in the war with fate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+PILGRIMAGE TO VAUCLUSE AND JOURNEY UP THE RHONE.
+
+
+We left Marseilles about nine o'clock, on a dull, rainy morning, for
+Avignon and the Rhone, intending to take in our way the glen of
+Vaucluse. The dirty _faubourgs_ stretch out along the road for a great
+distance, and we trudged through them, past foundries, furnaces and
+manufactories, considerably disheartened with the prospect. We wound
+among the bleak stony hills, continually ascending, for nearly three
+hours. Great numbers of cabarets, frequented by the common people, lined
+the roads, and we met continually trains of heavy laden wagons, drawn by
+large mules. The country is very wild and barren, and would have been
+tiresome, except for the pine groves with their beautiful green foliage.
+We got something to eat with difficulty at an inn, for the people spoke
+nothing but the Provencal dialect, and the place was so cold and
+cheerless we were glad to go out again into the storm. It mattered
+little to us, that we heard the language in which the gay troubadours of
+king Rene sung their songs of love. We thought more of our dripping
+clothes and numb, cold limbs, and would have been glad to hear instead,
+the strong, hearty German tongue, full of warmth and kindly sympathy for
+the stranger. The wind swept drearily among the hills; black, gusty
+clouds covered the sky, and the incessant rain filled the road with
+muddy pools. We looked at the country chateaux, so comfortable in the
+midst of their sheltering poplars, with a sigh, and thought of homes
+afar off, whose doors were never closed to _us_.
+
+This was all forgotten, when we reached Aix, and the hostess of the Cafe
+d'Afrique filled her little stove with fresh coal, and hung our wet
+garments around it, while her daughter, a pale-faced, crippled child,
+smiled kindly on us and tried to talk with us in French. Putting on our
+damp, heavy coats again, B---- and I rambled through the streets, while
+our frugal supper was preparing. We saw the statue of the _Bon Roi
+Rene_, who held at Aix his court of shepherds and troubadours--the dark
+Cathedral of St. Saveur--the ancient walls and battlements, and gazed
+down the valley at the dark, precipitous mass of Mont St. Victor, at
+whose base Marius obtained a splendid victory over the barbarians.
+
+After leaving next morning, we saw at some distance to the south, the
+enormous aqueduct now being erected for the canal from the Rhone to
+Marseilles. The shallow, elevated valleys we passed in the forenoon's
+walk were stony and barren, but covered with large orchards of almond
+trees, the fruit of which forms a considerable article of export. This
+district borders on the desert of the Crau, a vast plain of stones,
+reaching to the mouth of the Rhone and almost entirely uninhabited. We
+caught occasional glimpses of its sea-like waste, between the summits of
+the hills. At length, after threading a high ascent, we saw the valley
+of the Durance suddenly below us. The sun, breaking through the clouds,
+shone on the mountain wall, which stood on the opposite side, touching
+with his glow the bare and rocky precipices that frowned far above the
+stream. Descending to the valley, we followed its course towards the
+Rhone, with the ruins of feudal bourgs crowning the crags above us.
+
+It was dusk, when we reached the village of Senas, tired with the day's
+march. A landlord, standing in his door, on the lookout for customers,
+invited us to enter, in a manner so polite and pressing, we could not
+choose but do so. This is a universal custom with the country
+innkeepers. In a little village which we passed towards evening, there
+was a tavern, with the sign: "_The Mother of Soldiers_." A portly woman,
+whose face beamed with kindness and cheerfulness, stood in the door and
+invited us to stop there for the night. "No, mother!" I answered; "we
+must go much further to-day." "Go, then," said she, "with good luck, my
+children! a pleasant journey!" On entering the inn at Senas, two or
+three bronzed soldiers were sitting by the table. My French vocabulary
+happening to give out in the middle of a consultation about eggs and
+onion-soup, one of them came to my assistance and addressed me in
+German. He was from Fulda, in Hesse Cassel, and had served fifteen years
+in Africa. Two other young soldiers, from the western border of Germany,
+came during the evening, and one of them being partly intoxicated,
+created such a tumult, that a quarrel arose, which ended in his being
+beaten and turned out of the house.
+
+We met, every day, large numbers of recruits in companies of one or two
+hundred, on their way to Marseilles to embark for Algiers. They were
+mostly youths, from sixteen to twenty years of age, and seemed little to
+forebode their probable fate. In looking on their fresh, healthy faces
+and bounding forms, I saw also a dim and ghastly vision of bones
+whitening on the desert, of men perishing with heat and fever, or
+stricken down by the aim of the savage Bedouin.
+
+Leaving next morning at day-break, we walked on before breakfast to
+Orgon, a little village in a corner of the cliffs which border the
+Durance, and crossed the muddy river by a suspension bridge a short
+distance below, to Cavaillon, where the country people were holding a
+great market. From this place a road led across the meadow-land to
+L'Isle, six miles distant. This little town is so named, because it is
+situated on an island formed by the crystal Sorgues, which flows from
+the fountains of Vaucluse. It is a very picturesque and pretty place.
+Great mill-wheels, turning slowly and constantly, stand at intervals in
+the stream, whose grassy banks are now as green as in spring-time. We
+walked along the Sorgues, which is quite as beautiful and worthy to be
+sung as the Clitumnus, to the end of the village, to take the road to
+Vaucluse. Beside its banks stands a dirty, modern "Hotel de Petrarque et
+Laure." Alas, that the names of the most romantic and impassioned lovers
+of all history should be desecrated to a sign-post to allure
+gormandizing tourists!
+
+The bare mountain in whose heart lies the poet's solitude, now rose
+before us, at the foot of the lofty Mont Ventoux, whose summit of snows
+extended beyond. We left the river, and walked over a barren plain,
+across which the wind blew most drearily. The sky was rainy and dark,
+and completed the desolateness of the scene, which in no wise heightened
+our anticipations of the renowned glen. At length we rejoined the
+Sorgues and entered a little green valley running up into the mountain.
+The narrowness of the entrance entirely shut out the wind, and except
+the rolling of the waters over their pebbly bed, all was still and
+lonely and beautiful. The sides of the dell were covered with olive
+trees, and a narrow strip of emerald meadow lay at the bottom. It grew
+more hidden and sequestered as we approached the little village of
+Vaucluse. Here, the mountain towers far above, and precipices of grey
+rock, many hundred feet high, hang over the narrowing glen. On a crag
+over the village are the remains of a castle; the slope below this, now
+rugged and stony, was once graced by the cottage and garden of Petrarch.
+All traces of them have long since vanished, but a simple column,
+bearing the inscription; "A PETRARQUE," stands beside the Sorgues.
+
+We ascended into the defile by a path among the rocks, overshadowed by
+olive and wild fig trees, to the celebrated fountains of Vaucluse. The
+glen seems as if struck into the mountain's depths by one blow of an
+enchanter's wand; and just at the end, where the rod might have rested
+in its downward sweep, is the fathomless well whose overbrimming fulness
+gives birth to the Sorgues. We climbed up over the mossy rocks and sat
+down in the grot, beside the dark, still pool. It was the most absolute
+solitude. The rocks towered above and over us, to the height of six
+hundred feet, and the gray walls of the wild glen below shut out all
+appearance of life. I leaned over the rock and drank of the blue crystal
+that grew gradually darker towards the centre, till it became a mirror,
+and gave back a perfect reflection of the crags above it. There was no
+bubbling--no gushing up from its deep bosom--but the wealth of sparkling
+waters continually welled over, as from a too-full goblet.
+
+It was with actual sorrow that I turned away from the silent spot. I
+never visited a place to which the fancy clung more suddenly and fondly.
+There is something holy in its solitude, making one envy Petrarch the
+years of calm and unsullied enjoyment which blessed him there. As some
+persons, whom we pass as strangers, strike a hidden chord in our
+spirits, compelling a silent sympathy with them, so some landscapes have
+a character of beauty which harmonizes thrillingly with the mood in
+which we look upon them, till we forget admiration in the glow of
+spontaneous attachment. They seem like abodes of the Beautiful, which
+the soul in its wanderings long ago visited, and now recognizes and
+loves as the home of a forgotten dream. It was thus I felt by the
+fountains of Vaucluse; sadly and with weary steps I turned away, leaving
+its loneliness unbroken as before.
+
+We returned over the plain in the wind, under the gloomy sky, passed
+L'Isle at dusk, and after walking an hour with a rain following close
+behind us, stopped at an _auberge_ in Le Thor, where we rested our tired
+frames and broke our long day's fasting. We were greeted in the morning
+with a dismal rain and wet roads, as we began the march. After a time,
+however, it poured down in such torrents, that we were obliged to take
+shelter in a _remise_ by the road, side, where a good woman, who
+addressed us in the unintelligible Provencal, kindled up a blazing fire.
+On climbing a long hill, when the storm had abated, we experienced a
+delightful surprise. Below us lay the broad valley of the Rhone, with
+its meadows looking fresh and spring-like after the rain. The clouds
+were breaking away; clear blue sky was visible over Avignon, and a belt
+of sunlight lay warmly along the mountains of Languedoc. Many villages,
+with their tall, picturesque towers, dotted the landscape, and the
+groves of green olive enlivened the barrenness of winter. Two or three
+hours' walk over the plain, by a road fringed with willows, brought us
+to the gates of Avignon.
+
+We walked around its picturesque turreted wall, and rambled through its
+narrow streets, washed here and there by streams which turn the old
+mill-wheels lazily around. We climbed up to the massive palace, which
+overlooks the city from its craggy seat, attesting the splendor it
+enjoyed, when for thirty years the Papal Court was held there, and the
+gray, weather-beaten, irregular building, resembling a pile of
+precipitous rocks, echoed with the revels of licentious prelates. We
+could not enter to learn the terrible secrets of the Inquisition, here
+unveiled, but we looked up at the tower, from which the captive Rienzi
+was liberated at the intercession of Petrarch.
+
+After leaving Avignon, we took the road up the Rhone for Lyons, turning
+our backs upon the _rainy_ south. We reached the village of Sorgues by
+dusk, and accepted the invitation of an old dame to lodge at her _inn_,
+which proved to be a _blacksmith's shop_! It was nevertheless clean and
+comfortable, and we sat down in one corner, out of the reach of the
+showers of sparks, which flew hissing from a red-hot horseshoe, that the
+smith and his apprentice were hammering. A Piedmontese pedlar, who
+carried the "Song of the Holy St. Philomene" to sell among the peasants,
+came in directly, and bargained for a sleep on some hay, for two sous.
+For a bed in the loft over the shop, we were charged five sous each,
+which, with seven sous for supper, made our expenses for the night about
+eleven cents! Our circumstances demanded the greatest economy, and we
+began to fear whether even this spare allowance would enable us to reach
+Lyons. Owing to a day's delay in Marseilles, we had left that city with
+but fifteen francs each; the incessant storms of winter and the worn-out
+state of our shoes, which were no longer proof against water or mud,
+prolonged our journey considerably, so that by starting before dawn and
+walking till dark, we were only able to make thirty miles a day. We
+could always procure beds for five sous, and as in the country inns one
+is only charged for what he chooses to order, our frugal suppers cost us
+but little. We purchased bread and cheese in the villages, and made our
+breakfasts and dinners on a bank by the roadside, or climbed the rocks
+and sat down by the source of some trickling rill. This simple fare had
+an excellent relish, and although we walked in wet clothes from morning
+till night, often laying down on the damp, cold earth to rest, our
+health was never affected.
+
+It is worth all the toil and privation we have as yet undergone, to
+gain, from actual experience, the blessed knowledge that man always
+retains a kindness and brotherly sympathy towards his fellow--that under
+all the weight of vice and misery which a grinding oppression of soul
+and body brings on the laborers of earth, there still remain many bright
+tokens of a better nature. Among the starving mountaineers of the
+Hartz--the degraded peasantry of Bohemia--the savage _contadini_ of
+Central Italy, or the dwellers on the hills of Provence and beside the
+swift Rhone, we almost invariably found kind, honest hearts, and an
+aspiration for something better, betokening the consciousness that such
+brute-like, obedient existence was not their proper destiny. We found
+few so hardened as to be insensible to a kind look or a friendly word,
+and nothing made us forget we were among strangers so much as the many
+tokens of sympathy which met us when least looked for. A young
+Englishman, who had traveled on foot from Geneva to Rome, enduring many
+privations on account of his reduced circumstances, said to me, while
+speaking on this subject: "A single word of kindness from a stranger
+would make my heart warm and my spirits cheerful, for days afterwards."
+There is not so much evil in man as men would have us believe; and it is
+a happy comfort to know and feel this.
+
+Leaving our little inn before day break next morning, we crossed the
+Sorgues, grown muddy since its infancy at Vaucluse, like many a young
+soul, whose mountain purity goes out into the soiling world and becomes
+sullied forever. The road passed over broad, barren ranges of hills, and
+the landscape was destitute of all interest, till we approached Orange.
+This city is built at the foot of a rocky height, a great square
+projection of which seemed to stand in its midst. As we approached
+nearer, however, arches and lines of cornice could be discerned, and we
+recognized it as the celebrated amphitheatre, one of the grandest Roman
+relics in the south of France.
+
+I stood at the foot of this great fabric, and gazed up at it in
+astonishment. The exterior wall, three hundred and thirty-four feet in
+length, and rising to the height of one hundred and twenty-one feet, is
+still in excellent, preservation, and through its rows of solid arches
+one looks on the broken ranges of seats within. On the crag above, and
+looking as if about to topple down on it, is a massive fragment of the
+fortress of the Princes of Orange, razed by Louis XIV. Passing through
+the city, we came to the beautiful Roman triumphal arch, which to my eye
+is a finer structure than that of Constantino at Rome. It is built of a
+rich yellow marble and highly ornamented with sculptured trophies. From
+the barbaric shields and the letters MARIO, still remaining, it has been
+supposed to commemorate the victory of Marius over the barbarians, near
+Aix. A frieze, running along the top, on each side, shows, although
+broken and much defaced by the weather, the life and action which once
+marked the struggling figures. These Roman ruins, scattered through
+Provence and Languedoc, though inferior in historical interest, equal
+in architectural beauty the greater part of those in the Eternal City
+itself.
+
+The rest of the day the road was monotonous, though varied somewhat by
+the tall crags of Mornas and Mont-dragon, towering over the villages of
+the same name. Night came on as the rock of Pierrelatte, at whose foot
+we were to sleep, appeared in the distance, rising like a Gibraltar from
+the plain, and we only reached it in time to escape the rain that came
+down the valley of the Rhone.
+
+Next day we passed several companies of soldiers on their way to Africa.
+One of them was accompanied by a young girl, apparently the wife of the
+recruit by whose side she was marching. She wore the tight blue jacket
+of the troop, and a red skirt, reaching to the knees, over her soldier
+pantaloons; while her pretty face showed to advantage beneath a small
+military cap. It was a "Fille du Regiment" in real life. Near
+Montelimart, we lost sight of Mont Ventoux, whose gleaming white crest
+had been visible all the way from Vaucluse, and passed along the base of
+a range of hills running near to the river. So went our march, without
+particular incident, till we bivouacked for the night among a company of
+soldiers in the little village of Loriol.
+
+Leaving at six o'clock, wakened by the trumpets which called up the
+soldiery to their day's march, we reached the river Drome at dawn, and
+from the bridge over its rapid current, gazed at the dim, ash-colored
+masses of the Alps of Dauphine, piled along the sky, far up the valley.
+The coming of morn threw a yellow glow along their snowy sides, and
+lighted up, here and there, a flashing glacier. The peasantry were
+already up and at work, and caravans of pack-wagons rumbled along in the
+morning twilight We trudged on with them, and by breakfast-time had made
+some distance of the way to Valence. The road, which does not approach
+the Rhone, is devoid of interest and tiresome, though under a summer
+sky, when the bare vine-hills are latticed over with green, and the
+fruit-trees covered with blossoms and foliage, it might be a scene of
+great beauty.
+
+Valence, which we reached towards noon, is a commonplace city on the
+Rhone; and my only reasons for traversing its dirty streets in
+preference to taking the road, which passes without the walls, were--to
+get something for dinner, and because it _might_ have been the
+birth-place of Aymer de Valence, the valorous Crusader, chronicled in
+"Ivanhoe," whose tomb I had seen in Westminster Abbey. One of the
+streets which was marked "_Rue Bayard_," shows that my valiant
+namesake--the knight without fear and reproach--is still remembered in
+his native province. The ruins of his chateau are still standing among
+the Alps near Grenoble.
+
+In the afternoon we crossed the Isere, a swift, muddy river, which rises
+among the Alps of Dauphine, We saw their icy range, among which is the
+desert solitude of the Grand Chartreuse, far up the valley; but the
+thick atmosphere hid the mighty Mont Blanc, whose cloudy outline, eighty
+miles distant in a "bee line," is visible in fair weather. At Tain, we
+came upon the Rhone again, and walked along the base of the hills which
+contract its current. Here, I should call it beautiful. The scenery has
+a wildness that approaches to that of the Rhine. Rocky, castellated
+heights frown over the rushing waters, which have something of the
+majesty of their "exulting and abounding" rival. Winding around the
+curving hills, the scene is constantly varied, and the little willowed
+islets clasped in the embrace of the stream, mingle a trait of softened
+beauty with its sterner character.
+
+After passing the night at a village on its banks, we left it again at
+St. Vallier, the next morning. At sunset, the spires of Vienne were
+visible, and the lofty Mont Pilas, the snows of whose riven summits feed
+the springs of the Loire on its western side, stretched majestically
+along the opposite bank of the Rhone. In a meadow, near Vienne, stands a
+curious Roman obelisk, seventy-six feet in height. The base is composed
+of four pillars, connected by arches, and the whole structure has a
+barbaric air, compared with the more elegant monuments of Orange and
+Nismes. Vienne, which is mentioned by several of the Roman historians
+under its present name, was the capital of the Allobroges, and I looked
+upon it with a new and strange interest, on calling to mind my
+school-boy days, when I had become familiar with that war-like race, in
+toiling over the pages of Caesar. We walked in the mud and darkness for
+what seemed a great distance, and finally took shelter in a little inn
+at the northern end of the city. Two Belgian soldiers, coming from
+Africa, were already quartered there, and we listened to their tales of
+the Arab and the desert, while supper was preparing.
+
+The morning of the 25th was dull and rainy; the road, very muddy and
+unpleasant, led over the hills, avoiding the westward curve of the
+Rhone, directly towards Lyons. About noon, we came in sight of the broad
+valley in which the Rhone first clasps his Burgundian bride--the Saone,
+and a cloud of impenetrable coal-smoke showed us the location of Lyons.
+A nearer approach revealed a large flat dome, and some ranges of tall
+buildings near the river. We soon entered the suburb of La Guillotiere,
+which has sprung up on the eastern bank of the Rhone. Notwithstanding
+our clothes were like sponges, our boots entirely worn out, and our
+bodies somewhat thin with nine days exposure to the wintry storms in
+walking two hundred and forty miles, we entered Lyons with suspense and
+anxiety. But one franc apiece remained out of the fifteen with which we
+left Marseilles. B---- wrote home some time ago, directing a remittance
+to be forwarded to a merchant at Paris, to whom he had a letter of
+introduction, and in the hope that this had arrived, he determined to
+enclose the letter in a note, stating our circumstances, and requesting
+him to forward a part of the remittance to Lyons. We had then to wait at
+least four days; people are suspicious and mistrustful in cities, and if
+no relief should come, what was to be done?
+
+After wading through the mud of the suburbs, we chose a common-looking
+inn near the river, as the comfort of our stay depended wholly on the
+kindness of our hosts, and we hoped to find more sympathy among the
+laboring classes. We engaged lodgings for four or five days; after
+dinner the letter was dispatched, and we wandered about through the
+dark, dirty city until night. Our landlord, Monsieur Ferrand, was a
+rough, vigorous man, with a gloomy, discontented expression; his words
+were few and blunt; but a certain restlessness of manner, and a secret
+flashing of his cold, forbidding eye betrayed to me some strong hidden
+excitement. Madame Ferrand was kind and talkative, though passionate;
+but the appearance of the place gave me an unfavorable impression, which
+was heightened by the thought that it was now impossible to change our
+lodgings until relief should arrive. When bed-time came, a ladder was
+placed against a sort of high platform along one side of the kitchen; we
+mounted and found a bed, concealed from the view of those below by a
+dusty muslin curtain. We lay there, between heaven and earth--the dirty
+earth of the brick floor and the sooty heaven of the ceiling--listening
+until midnight to the boisterous songs, and loud, angry disputes in the
+room adjoining. Thus ended our first day in Lyons.
+
+Five weary days, each of them containing a month of torturing suspense,
+have since passed. Our lodging-place grew so unpleasant that we
+preferred wandering all day through the misty, muddy, smoky streets,
+taking refuge in the covered bazaars when it rained heavily. The gloom
+of every thing around us, entirely smothered down the lightness of heart
+which made us laugh over our embarrassments at Vienna. When at evening,
+the dull, leaden hue of the clouds seemed to make the air dark and cold
+and heavy, we walked beside the swollen and turbid Rhone, under an
+avenue of leafless trees, the damp soil chilling our feet and striking a
+numbness through our frames, and _then_ I knew what those must feel who
+have _no_ hope in their destitution, and not a friend in all the great
+world, who is not wretched as themselves. I prize the lesson, though the
+price of it is hard.
+
+"This morning," I said to B----, "will terminate our suspense." I felt
+cheerful in spite of myself; and this was like a presentiment of coming
+good luck. To pass the time till the mail arrived we climbed to the
+chapel of _Fourvieres_, whose walls are covered with votive offerings to
+a miraculous picture of the Virgin. But at the precise hour we were at
+the Post Office. What an intensity of suspense can be felt in that
+minute, while the clerk is looking over the letters! And what a
+lightning-like shock of joy when it _did_ come, and was opened with
+eager, trembling hands, revealing the relief we had almost despaired of!
+The city did not seem less gloomy, for that was impossible, but the
+faces of the crowd which had appeared cold and suspicious, were now kind
+and cheerful. we came home to our lodgings with changed feelings, and
+Madame Ferrand must have seen the joy in our faces, for she greeted us
+with an unusual smile.
+
+We leave to-morrow morning for Chalons. I do not feel disposed to
+describe Lyons particularly, although I have become intimately
+acquainted with every part of it, from _Presqu' isle Perrache to Croix
+Rousse_. I know the contents of every shop in the Bazaar, and the
+passage of the Hotel Dieu--the title of every volume in the bookstores
+in the Place Belcour--and the countenance of every boot-block and
+apple-woman on the Quais on both sides of the river. I have walked up
+the Saone to _Pierre Seise_--down the Rhone to his muddy
+marriage--climbed the Heights of _Fourvieres_, and promenaded in the
+_Cours Napoleon_! Why, men have been presented with the freedom of
+cities, when they have had far less cause for such an honor than this!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+TRAVELING IN BURGUNDY--THE MISERIES OF A COUNTRY DILIGENCE.
+
+
+_Paris, Feb. 6, 1840._--Every letter of the date is traced with an
+emotion of joy, for our dreary journey is over. There was a magic in the
+name that revived us during a long journey, and now the thought that it
+is all over--that these walls which enclose us, stand in the heart of
+the gay city--seems almost too joyful to be true. Yesterday I marked
+with the whitest chalk, on the blackest of all tablets to make the
+contrast greater, for I got out of the cramped diligence at the Barriere
+de Charenton, and saw before me in the morning twilight, the immense
+groy mass of Paris. I forgot my numbed and stiffened frame, and every
+other of the thousand disagreeable feelings of diligence traveling, in
+the pleasure which that sight afforded.
+
+We arose in the dark at Lyons, and after bidding adieu to morose
+Monsieur Ferrand, traversed the silent city and found our way in the
+mist and gloom to the steamboat landing on the Saone. The waters were
+swollen much above their usual level, which was favorable for the boat,
+as long as there was room enough left to pass under the bridges. After a
+great deal of bustle we got under way, and were dashing out of Lyons,
+against the swift current, before day-break. We passed _L'Isle Barbe_,
+once a favorite residence of Charlemagne, and now the haunt of the
+Lyonnaise on summer holidays, and going under the suspension bridges
+with levelled chimneys, entered the picturesque hills above, which are
+covered with vineyards nearly to the top; the villages scattered over
+them have those square, pointed towers, which give such a quaintness to
+French country scenery.
+
+The stream being very high, the meadows on both sides were deeply
+overflowed. To avoid the strong current in the centre, our boat ran
+along the banks, pushing aside the alder thickets and poplar shoots; in
+passing the bridges, the pipes were always brought down flat on the
+deck. A little after noon, we passed the large town of Macon, the
+birth-place of the poet Lamartine. The valley of the Saone, no longer
+enclosed among the hills, spread out to several miles in width. Along
+the west lay in sunshine the vine-mountains of Cote d'Or, and among the
+dark clouds in the eastern sky, we could barely distinguish the outline
+of the Jura. The waters were so much swollen as to cover the plain for
+two or three miles. We seemed to be sailing down a lake, with rows of
+trees springing up out of the water, and houses and villages lying like
+islands on its surface. A sunset that promised better weather tinged the
+broad brown flood, as Chalons came in sight, looking like a city built
+along the shore of a lake. We squeezed through the crowd of porters and
+diligence men, declining their kind offers, and hunted quarters to suit
+ourselves.
+
+We left Chalons on the morning of the 1st, in high spirits at the
+thought that there were but little more than two hundred miles between
+us and Paris. In walking over the cold, muddy plain, we passed a family
+of strolling musicians, who were sitting on a heap of stones by the
+roadside. An ill-dressed, ill-natured man and woman, each carrying a
+violin, and a thin, squalid girl, with a tamborine, composed the group.
+Their faces bore that unfeeling stamp, which springs from depravity and
+degradation. When we had walked somewhat more than a mile, we overtook a
+little girl, who was crying bitterly. By her features, from which the
+fresh beauty of childhood had not been worn, and the steel triangle
+which was tied to her belt, we knew she belonged to the family we had
+passed. Her dress was thin and ragged and a pair of wooden shoes but ill
+protected her feet from the sharp cold. I stopped and asked her why she
+cried, but she did not at first answer. However, by questioning, I found
+her unfeeling parents had sent her on without food; she was sobbing with
+hunger and cold. Our pockets were full of bread and cheese which we had
+bought for breakfast, and we gave her half a loaf, which stopped her
+tears at once. She looked up and thanked us, smiling; and sitting down
+on a bank, began to eat as if half famished.
+
+The physiognomy of this region is very singular. It appears as if the
+country had been originally a vast elevated plain, and some great power
+had _scooped_ out, as with a hand, deep circular valleys all over its
+surface. In winding along the high ridges, we often looked down, on
+either side, into such hollows, several miles in diameter, and sometimes
+entirely covered with vineyards. At La Rochepot, a quaint, antique
+village, lying in the bottom of one of these dells, we saw the finest
+ruin of the middle ages that I have met with in France. An American lady
+had spoken to me of it in Rome, and I believe Willis mentions it in his
+"Pencillings," but it is not described in the guide books, nor could we
+learn what feudal lord had ever dwelt in its halls. It covers the summit
+of a stately rock, at whose foot the village is crouched, and the green
+ivy climbs up to the very top of its gray towers.
+
+As the road makes a wide curve around the side of the hill, we descended
+to the village by the nearer foot-path, and passed among its low, old
+houses, with their pointed gables and mossy roofs. The path led close
+along the foot of the rock, and we climbed up to the ruin, and stood in
+its grass-grown courtyard. Only the outer walls and the round towers at
+each corner are left remaining; the inner part has been razed to the
+ground, and where proud barons once marshalled their vassals, the
+villagers now play their holiday games. On one side, several Gothic
+windows are left standing, perfect, though of simple construction, and
+in the towers we saw many fire-places and door-ways of richly cut stone,
+which looked as fresh as if just erected.
+
+We passed the night at Ivry (not the Ivry which gained Henri Quatre his
+kingdom) and then continued our march over roads which I can only
+compare to our country roads in America during the spring thaw. In
+addition to this, the rain commenced early in the morning and continued
+all day, so that we were completely wet the whole time. The plains, too
+high and cold to produce wine, were varied by forests of beech and oak,
+and the population was thinly scattered over them in small villages.
+Travelers generally complain very much of the monotony of this part of
+France, and, with such dreary weather, we could not disagree with them.
+
+As the day wore on, the rain increased, and the sky put on that dull,
+gray cast, which denotes a lengthened storm. We were fain to stop at
+nightfall, but there was no inn near at hand--not even a hovel of a
+_cabaret_ in which to shelter ourselves, and, on enquiring of the
+wagoners, we received the comforting assurance that there was yet a
+league and a half to the nearest stopping place. On, then, we went, with
+the pitiless storm beating in our faces and on our breasts, till there
+was not a dry spot left, except what our knapsacks covered. We could not
+have been more completely saturated if we had been dipped in the Yonne.
+At length, after two hours of slipping and sliding along in the mud and
+wet and darkness, we reached Saulieu, and, by the warm fire, thanked our
+stars that the day's dismal tramp was over.
+
+By good or bad luck (I have not yet decided which) a vehicle was to
+start the next morning for Auxerre, distant sixty miles, and the fare
+being but five francs, we thought it wisest to take places. It was
+always with reluctance that we departed from our usual mode of
+traveling, but, in the present instance, the circumstances absolutely
+compelled it.
+
+Next morning, at sunrise, we took our seats in a large, square vehicle
+on two wheels, calculated for six persons and a driver, with a single
+horse. But, as he was fat and round as an elephant, and started off at a
+brisk pace, and we were well protected from the rain, it was not so bad
+after all, barring the jolts and jarred vertebrae. We drove on, over the
+same dreary expanse of plain and forest, passing through two or three
+towns in the course of the day, and by evening had made somewhat more
+than half our journey. Owing to the slowness of our fresh horse, we were
+jolted about the whole night, and did not arrive at Auxerre until six
+o'clock in the morning. After waiting an hour in a hotel beside the
+rushing Yonne, a lumbering diligence was got ready, and we were given
+places to Paris for seven francs. As the distance is one hundred and ten
+miles, this would be considered cheap, but I should not want to travel
+it again and be paid for doing so. Twelve persons were packed into a box
+not large enough for a cow, and no cabinet-maker ever dove-tailed the
+corners of his bureaus tighter than we did our knees and nether
+extremities. It is my lot to be blessed with abundance of stature, and
+none but tall persons can appreciate the misery of sitting for hours
+with their joints in an immovable vice. The closeness of the
+atmosphere--for the passengers would not permit the windows to be opened
+for fear of taking cold--combined with loss of sleep, made me so drowsy
+that my head was continually falling on my next neighbor, who, being a
+heavy country lady, thrust it indignantly away. I would then try my best
+to keep it up awhile, but it would droop gradually, till the crash of a
+bonnet or a smart bump against some other head would recall me, for a
+moment, to consciousness.
+
+We passed Joigny, on the Yonne, Sens, with its glorious old cathedral,
+and at dusk reached Montercau, on the Seine. This was the scene of one
+of Napoleon's best victories, on his return from Elba. In driving over
+the bridge, I looked down on the swift and swollen current, and hoped
+that its hue might never be darkened again so fearfully as the last
+sixty years have witnessed. No river in Europe has such an association
+connected with it. We think of the Danube, for its majesty, of the
+Rhine, for its wild beauty, but of the Seine--for its blood!
+
+In coming thus to the last famed stream I shall visit in Europe, I might
+say, with Barry Cornwall:
+
+    "We've sailed through banks of green,
+      Where the wild waves fret and quiver;
+    And we've down the Danube been--
+      The dark, deep, thundering river!
+    We've thridded the Elbe and Rhone,
+      The Tiber and blood dyed Seine,
+    And we've been where the blue Garonne
+      Goes laughing to meet the main!"
+
+All that night did we endure squeezing and suffocation, and no morn was
+ever more welcome than that which revealed to us Paris. With matted
+hair, wild, glaring eyes, and dusty and dishevelled habiliments, we
+entered the gay capital, and blessed every stone upon which we placed
+our feet, in the fulness of our joy.
+
+In paying our fare at Auxerre, I was obliged to use a draft on the
+banker, Rougemont de Lowenberg. The ignorant conductor hesitated to
+change this, but permitted us to go, on condition of keeping it until we
+should arrive. Therefore, on getting out of the diligence, after
+forty-eight hours of sleepless and fasting misery, the _facteur_ of the
+office went with me to get it paid, leaving B---- to wait for us. I knew
+nothing of Paris, and this merciless man kept me for three hours at his
+heels, following him on all _his_ errands, before he did mine, in that
+time traversing the whole length of the city, in order to leave a
+_chevre-feuille_ at an aristocratic residence in the Faubourg St.
+Germain. Yet even combined weariness and hunger could not prevent me
+from looking with vivid interest down a long avenue, at the Column of
+the place Vendome, in passing, and gazing up in wonder at the splendid
+portico of the Madeleine. But of anything else I have a very faint
+remembrance. "You can eat breakfast, now, I think," said he, when we
+returned, "we have walked more than four leagues!"
+
+I know we will be excused, that, instead of hurrying away to Notre Dame
+or the Louvre, we sat down quietly to a most complete breakfast. Even
+the most romantic must be forced to confess that admiration does not sit
+well on an empty stomach. Our first walk was to a bath, and then, with
+complexions several shades lighter, and limbs that felt us if lifted by
+invisible wings, we hurried away to the Post Office. I seized the
+welcome missives from my far home, with a beating heart, and hastening
+back, read till the words became indistinct in the twilight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+POETICAL SCENES IN PARIS.
+
+
+What a gay little world in miniature this is! I wonder not that the
+French, with their exuberant gaiety of spirit, should revel in its
+ceaseless tides of pleasure, as if it were an earthly Elysium. I feel
+already the influence of its cheerful atmosphere, and have rarely
+threaded the crowds of a stranger city, with so light a heart as I do
+now daily, on the thronged banks of the Seine. And yet it would be
+difficult to describe wherein consists this agreeable peculiarity. You
+can find streets as dark and crooked and dirty anywhere in Germany, and
+squares and gardens as gay and sunny beyond the Alps, and yet they would
+affect you far differently. You could not, as here, divest yourself of
+every particle of sad or serious thought and be content to gaze for
+hours on the showy scene, without an idea beyond the present moment. It
+must be that the spirit of the croud is _magnetically_ contagious.
+
+The evening of our arrival we walked out past the massive and stately
+_Hotel de Ville_, and took a promenade along the Quais. The shops facing
+the river presented a scene of great splendor. Several of the Quais on
+the north bank of the Seine are occupied almost entirely by jewellers,
+the windows of whose shops, arranged in a style of the greatest taste,
+make a dazzling display. Rows of gold watches and chains are arranged
+across the crystal panes, and heaped in pyramids on long glass slabs;
+cylindrical wheels of wire, hung with jewelled breastpins and earrings,
+turn slowly around by some invisible agency, displaying row after row of
+their glittering treasures.
+
+From the centre of the Pont Neuf, we could see for a long distance up
+and down the river. The different bridges traced on either side a dozen
+starry lines through the dark air, and a continued blaze lighted the
+two shores in their whole length, revealing the outline of the Isle da
+la Cite. I recognized the Palaces of the Louvre and the Tuileries in the
+dusky mass beyond. Eastward, looming against the dark sky, I could
+faintly trace the black towers of Notre Dame, The rushing of the swift
+waters below mingled with the rattling of a thousand carts and
+carriages, and the confusion of a thousand voices, till it seemed like
+some grand nightly festival.
+
+I first saw Notre Dame by moonlight. The shadow of its stupendous front
+was thrown directly towards me, hiding the innumerable lines of the
+ornamental sculpture which cover its tall, square towers. I walked
+forward until the interlacing, Moorish arches between them stood full
+against the moon, and the light, struggling through the quaint openings
+of the tracery, streamed in silver lines down into the shadow. The
+square before it was quite deserted, for it stands on a lonely part of
+the Isle de la Cite, and it looked thus far more majestic and solemn
+than in the glaring daylight.
+
+The great quadrangle of the Tuileries encloses the Place du Carrousel,
+in the centre of which stands a triumphal arch, erected by Napoleon
+after his Italian victories. Standing in the middle of this arch, you
+look through the open passage in the central building of the palace,
+into the Gardens beyond. Further on, in a direct line, the middle avenue
+of the Gardens extends away to the _Place de la Concorde_, where the
+Obelisk of Luxor makes a perpendicular line through your vista; still
+further goes the broad avenue through the Elysian Fields, until afar
+off, the Arc de l'Etoile, _two miles distant_, closes this view through
+the palace doorway.
+
+Let us go through it, and on, to the Place de la Concorde, reserving the
+Gardens for another time. What is there in Europe--nay, in the
+world,--equal to this? In the centre, the mighty obelisk of red granite
+pierces the sky,--on either hand showers of silver spray are thrown up
+from splendid bronze fountains--statues and pillars of gilded bronze
+sweep in a grand circle around the square, and on each side magnificent
+vistas lead the eye off, and combine the distant with the near, to
+complete this unparalleled view! Eastward, beyond the tall trees in the
+garden of the Tuileries, rises the long front of the Palace, with the
+tri-color floating above; westward, in front of us, is the Forest of the
+Elysian Fields, with the arch of triumph nearly a mile and a half
+distant, looking down from the end of the avenue, at the Barriere de
+Neuilly. To the right and left are the marble fronts of the Church of
+the Madeleine and the Chamber of Deputies, the latter on the other side
+of the Seine. Thus the groves and gardens of Paris--the palace of her
+kings--the proud monument of her sons' glory--and the masterpieces of
+modern French architecture are all embraced in this one splendid _coup
+d'oeil_.
+
+Following the motley multitude to the bridge, I crossed and made my way
+to the Hotel des Invalides. Along the esplanade, playful companies of
+children were running and tumbling in their sports over the green turf,
+which was as fresh as a meadow; while, not the least interesting feature
+of the scene, numbers of scarred and disabled veterans, in the livery of
+the Hospital, basked in the sunshine, watching with quiet satisfaction
+the gambols of the second generation they have seen arise. What tales
+could they not tell, those wrinkled and feeble old men! What visions of
+Marengo and Austerlitz and Borodino shift still with a fiery vividness
+through their fading memories! Some may have left a limb on the Lybian
+desert; and the sabre of the Cossack may have scarred the brows of
+others. They witnessed the rising and setting of that great meteor,
+which intoxicated France with such a blaze of power and glory, and now,
+when the recollection of that wonderful period seems almost like a
+stormy dream, they are left to guard the ashes of their ancient General,
+brought back from his exile to rest in the bosom of his own French
+people. It was to me a touching and exciting thing, to look on those
+whose eyes had witnessed the filling up of such a fated leaf in the
+world's history.
+
+Entrance is denied to the tomb of Napoleon until it is finished, which
+will not be for three or four yours yet. I went, however, into the
+"Church of the Banners"--a large chapel, hung with two or three hundred
+flags taken by the armies of the Empire. The greater part of them were
+Austrian and Russian. It appeared to be empty when I entered, but on
+looking around, I saw an old gray-headed soldier kneeling at one side.
+His head was bowed over his hands, and he seemed perfectly absorbed in
+his thoughts. Perhaps the very tattered banners which hung down
+motionless above his head, he might have assisted in conquering. I
+looked a moment on those eloquent trophies, and then noiselessly
+withdrew.
+
+There is at least one solemn spot near Paris; the laughing winds that
+come up from the merry city sink into sighs under the cypress boughs of
+Pere Lachaise. And yet it is not a gloomy place, but full of a serious
+beauty, fitting for a city of the dead. I shall never forget the sunny
+afternoon when I first entered its gate and walked slowly up the hill,
+between rows of tombs, gleaming white amid the heavy foliage, while the
+green turf around them was just beginning to be starred by the opening
+daisies, From the little chapel on its summit I looked back at the blue
+spires of the city, whose roar of life dwindled to a low murmur.
+Countless pyramids, obelisks and urns, rising far and wide above the
+cedars and cypresses, showed the extent of the splendid necropolis,
+which is inhabited by pale, shrouded emigrants from its living sister
+below. The only sad part of the view, was the slope of the hill alloted
+to the poor, where legions of plain black crosses are drawn up into
+solid squares on its side and stand alone gloomy--the advanced guard of
+the army of Death! I mused over the tombs of Moliere and La Fontaine;
+Massena, Mortier and Lefebre; General Foy and Casimir Perier; and
+finally descended to the shrine where Abelard reposes by the side of his
+Heloise. The old sculptured tomb, brought away from the Paraclete, still
+covers their remains, and pious hands (of lovers, perhaps,) keep fresh
+the wreaths of _immortelles_ above their marble effigies.
+
+In the Theatre Francais, I saw Rachel, the actress. She appeared in the
+character of "Virginia," in a tragedy of that name, by the poet Latour.
+Her appearance as she came upon the stage alone, convinced me she would
+not belie her renown. She is rather small in stature, with dark,
+piercing eyes and rich black hair; her lips are full, but delicately
+formed, and her features have a marked yet flexible outline, which
+conveys the minutest shades of expression. Her voice is clear, deep and
+thrilling, and like sonic grand strain of music, there is power and
+meaning in its slightest modulations. Her gestures embody the very
+spirit of the character; she has so perfectly attained that rare harmony
+of thought, sound and action, or rather, that unity of feeling which
+renders them harmonious, that her acting seems the unstudied,
+irrepressible impulse of her soul. With the first sentence she uttered,
+I forgot Rachel. I only saw the innocent Roman girl; I awaited in
+suspense and with a powerful sympathy, the developement of the oft-told
+tragedy. My blood grew warm with indignation when the words of Appius
+roused her to anger, and I could scarcely keep back my tears, when, with
+a voice broken by sobs, she bade farewell to the protecting gods of her
+father's hearth.
+
+Among the bewildering variety of ancient ornaments and implements in the
+Egyptian Gallery of the Louvre, I saw an object of startling interest. A
+fragment of the Iliad, written nearly three thousand years ago! One may
+even dare to conjecture that the torn and half-mouldered slip of
+papyrus, upon which he gazes, may have been taken down from the lips of
+the immortal Chiun. The eyes look on those faded characters, and across
+the great gulf of Time, the soul leaps into the Past, brought into
+shadowy nearness by a mirage of the mind. There, as in the desert,
+images start up, vivid, yet of a vague and dreamy beauty. We see the
+olive groves of Greece--white-robed youths and maidens sit in the shade
+of swaying boughs--and one of them reads aloud, in words that sound like
+the clashing of shields, the deeds of Achilles.
+
+As we step out the western portal of the Tuileries, a beautiful scene
+greets us. We look on the palace garden, fragrant with flowers and
+classic with bronze copies of ancient sculpture. Beyond this, broad
+gravel walks divide the flower-bordered lawns and ranks of marble
+demigods and heroes look down on the joyous crowd. Children troll their
+hoops along the avenues or skip the rope under the clipped lindens,
+whose boughs are now tinged a pale yellow by the bursting buds. The
+swans glide about on a pond in the centre, begging bread of the
+bystanders, who watch a miniature ship which the soft breeze carries
+steadily across. Paris is unseen, but _heard_, on every side; only the
+Column of Luxor and the Arc de Triomphe rise blue and grand above the
+top of the forest. What with the sound of voices, the merry laughter of
+the children and a host of smiling faces, the scene touches a happy
+chord in one's heart, and he mingles with it, lost in pleasant reverie,
+till the sounds fade away with the fading light.
+
+Just below the Baths of the Louvre, there are several floating barges
+belonging to the washer-women, anchored at the foot of the great stone
+staircase leading down to the water. They stand there day after day,
+beating their clothes upon flat boards and rinsing them in the Seine.
+One day there seemed to have been a wedding or some other cause of
+rejoicing among them, for a large number of the youngest were talking in
+great glee on one of the platforms of the staircase, while a handsome,
+German-looking youth stood near, with a guitar slung around his neck. He
+struck up a lively air, and the girls fell into a droll sort of a dance.
+They went at it heavily and roughly enough, but made up in good humor
+what they lacked in grace; the older members of the craft looked up from
+their work with satisfaction and many shouts of applause wore sent down
+to them from the spectators on the Quai and the Pont Neuf. Not content
+with this, they seized on some luckless men who were descending the
+steps, and clasping them with their powerful right arms, spun them
+around like so many tops and sent them whizzing off at a tangent. Loud
+bursts of laughter greeted this performance, and the stout river maidens
+returned to their dance with redoubled spirit.
+
+Yesterday, the famous procession of the "_boeuf gras_" took place for
+the second time, with great splendor. The order of march had been duly
+announced beforehand, and by noon all the streets and squares through
+which it was to pass, were crowded with waiting spectators. Mounted gens
+d'armes rode constantly to and fro, to direct the passage of vehicles
+and keep an open thoroughfare. Thousands of country peasants poured into
+the city, the boys of whom were seen in all directions, blowing
+distressingly through hollow ox-horns. Altogether, the spirit of
+nonsense which animated the crowd, displayed itself very amusingly.
+
+A few mounted guards led the procession, followed by a band of music.
+Then appeared Roman lictors and officers of sacrifice, leading
+Dagobert, the famous bull of Normandy, destined to the honor of being
+slaughtered as the Carnival beef. He trod rather tenderly, finding, no
+doubt, a difference between the meadows of Caen and the pavements of
+Paris, and I thought he would have been willing to forego his gilded
+horns and flowery crown, to get back there again. His weight was said to
+be four thousand pounds, and the bills pompously declared that he had no
+rival in France, except the elephant in the _Jardin des Plantes_.
+
+After him came the farmer by whom he was raised, and M. Roland, the
+butcher of the carnival, followed by a hundred of the same craft,
+dressed as cavaliers of the different ages of France. They made a very
+showy appearance, although the faded velvet and soiled tinsel of their
+mantles were rather too apparent by daylight.
+
+After all these had gone by, came an enormous triumphal car, very
+profusely covered with gilding and ornamental flowers. A fellow with
+long woollen hair and beard, intended to represent Time, acted as
+driver. In the car, under a gilded canopy, reposed a number of persons,
+in blue silk smocks and yellow "fleshtights," said to be Venus, Apollo,
+the Graces, &c. but I endeavored in vain to distinguish one divinity
+from another. However, three children on the back seat, dressed in the
+same style, with the addition of long flaxy ringlets, made very passable
+Cupids. This closed the march; which passed onward towards the Place de
+la Concorde, accompanied by the sounds of music and the shouts of the
+mob. The broad, splendid line of Boulevards, which describe a
+semi-circle around the heart of the city, were crowded, and for the
+whole distance of three miles, it required no slight labor to make one's
+way. People in masks and fancy costumes were continually passing and
+re-passing, and I detected in more than one of the carriages, checks
+rather too fair to suit the slouched hunter's hats which shaded them. It
+seemed as if all Paris was taking a holiday, and resolved to make the
+most of it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+A GLIMPSE OF NORMANDY.
+
+
+After a residence of five weeks, which, in spite of some few troubles,
+passed away quickly and delightfully, I turned my back on Paris. It was
+not regret I experienced on taking my seat in the cars for Versailles,
+but that feeling of reluctance with which we leave places whose
+brightness and gaiety force the mind away from serious toil. Steam,
+however, cuts short all sentiment, and in much less time than it takes
+to bid farewell to a German, we had whizzed past the Place d'Europe,
+through the barrier, and were watching the spires start up from the
+receding city, on the way to St. Cloud.
+
+At Versailles I spent three hours in a hasty walk through the palace,
+which allowed but a bare glance at the gorgeous paintings of Horace
+Vernet. His "Taking of Constantine" has the vivid look of reality. The
+white houses shine in the sun, and from the bleached earth to the blue
+and dazzling sky, there seems to hang a heavy, scorching atmosphere. The
+white smoke of the artillery curls almost visibly off the canvass, and
+the cracked and half-sprung walls look as if about to topple down on the
+besiegers. One series of halls is devoted to the illustration of the
+knightly chronicles of France, from the days of Charlemagne to those of
+Bayard and Gaston de Foix. Among these pictured legends, I looked with
+the deepest interest on that of the noble girl of Orleans. Her
+countenance--the same in all these pictures and in a beautiful statue of
+her, which stands in one of the corridors--is said to be copied from an
+old and well-authenticated portrait. United to the sweetness and purity
+of peasant beauty, she has the lofty brow and inspired expression of a
+prophetess. There is a soft light in her full blue eye that does not
+belong to earth. I wonder not the soldiery deemed her chosen by God to
+lead them to successful battle; had I lived in those times I could have
+followed her consecrated banner to the ends of the earth. In the statue,
+she stands musing, with her head drooping forward, as if the weight of
+the breastplate oppressed her woman's heart; the melancholy soul which
+shines through the marble seems to forebode the fearful winding-up of
+her eventful destiny.
+
+The afternoon was somewhat advanced, by the time I had seen the palace
+and gardens. After a hurried dinner at a restaurant, I shouldered my
+knapsack and took the road to St. Germain. The day was gloomy and
+cheerless, and I should have felt very lonely but for the thought of
+soon reaching England. There is no time of the year more melancholy than
+a cold, cloudy day in March; whatever may be the beauties of pedestrian
+traveling in fairer seasons, my experience dictates that during winter
+storms and March glooms, it had better be dispensed with. However, I
+pushed on to St. Germain, threaded its long streets, looked down from
+the height over its magnificent tract of forest and turned westward down
+the Seine. Owing to the scantiness of villages, I was obliged to walk an
+hour and a half in the wind and darkness, before I reached a solitary
+inn. As I opened the door and asked for lodging, the landlady inquired
+if I had the necessary papers. I answered in the affirmative and was
+admitted. While I was eating supper, they prepared their meal on the
+other end of the small table and sat down together. They fell into the
+error, so common to ignorant persons, of thinking a foreigner could not
+understand them, and began talking quite unconcernedly about me. "Why
+don't he take the railroad?" said the old man: "he must have very little
+money--it would be bad for us if he had none." "Oh!" remarked his son,
+"if he had none, he would not be sitting there so quiet and
+unconcerned." I thought there was some knowledge of human nature in this
+remark. "And besides," added the landlady, "there is no danger for us,
+for we have his passport." Of course I enjoyed this in secret, and
+mentally pardoned their suspicions, when I reflected that the high roads
+between Paris and London are frequented by many imposters, which makes
+the people naturally mistrustful. I walked all the next day through a
+beautiful and richly cultivated country. The early fruit trees were
+bursting into bloom, and the farmers led out their cattle to pasturage
+in the fresh meadows. The scenery must be delightful in summer--worthy
+of all that has been said or sung about lovely Normandy. On the morning
+of the third day, before reaching Rouen, I saw at a distance the remains
+of Chateau Galliard, the favorite castle of Richard Coeur de Lion. Rouen
+breathes everywhere of the ancient times of Normandy. Nothing can be
+more picturesque than its quaint, irregular wooden houses, and the low,
+mossy mills, spanning the clear streams which rush through its streets.
+The Cathedral, with its four towers, rises from among the clustered
+cottages like a giant rook, split by the lightning and worn by the rains
+of centuries is into a thousand fantastic shapes.
+
+Resuming my walk in the afternoon, I climbed the heights west of the
+city, and after passing through a suburb four or five miles in length,
+entered the vale of the Cailly. This is one of the sweetest scenes in
+France. It lies among the woody hills like a Paradise, with its velvet
+meadows and villas and breathing gardens. The grass was starred with
+daisies and if I took a step into the oak and chesnut woods, I trampled
+on thousands of anemones and fragrant daffodils. The upland plain,
+stretching inward from the coast, wears a different character. As I
+ascended, towards evening, and walked over its monotonous swells, I felt
+almost homesick beneath its saddening influence. The sun, hazed over
+with dull clouds, gave out that cold and lifeless light which is more
+lonely than complete darkness. The wind, sweeping dismally over the
+fields, sent clouds of blinding dust down the road, and as it passed
+through the forests, the myriads of fine twigs sent up a sound as deep
+and grand as the roar of a roused ocean. Every chink of the Norman
+cottage where I slept, whistled most drearily, and as I looked out the
+little window of my room, the trees were swaying in the gloom, and long,
+black clouds scudded across the sky. Though my bed was poor and hard, it
+was a sublime sound that cradled me into slumber. Homer might have used
+it as the lullaby of Jove.
+
+My last day on the continent came. I rose early and walked over the
+hills towards Dieppe. The scenery grew more bleak as I approached the
+sea, but the low and sheltered valleys preserved the pastoral look of
+the interior. In the afternoon, as I climbed a long, elevated ridge,
+over which a strong northwester was blowing, I was struck with a
+beautiful rustic church, in one of the dells below me. While admiring
+its neat tower I had gained unconsciously the summit of the hill, and on
+turning suddenly around, lo! there was the glorious old Atlantic
+stretching far before and around me! A shower was sweeping mistily along
+the horizon and I could trace the white line of the breakers that foamed
+at the foot of the cliffs. The scene came over me like a vivid electric
+shock, and I gave an involuntary shout, which might have been heard in
+all the valleys around. After a year and a half of wandering over the
+continent, that gray ocean was something to be revered and loved, for it
+clasped the shores of my native America.
+
+I entered Dieppe in a heavy shower, and after finding an inn suited to
+my means and obtaining a _permis d'embarquement_ from the police office,
+I went out to the battlements and looked again on the sea. The landlord
+promised to call me in time for the boat, but my anxiety waked me
+sooner, and mistaking the strokes of the cathedral bell, I shouldered my
+knapsack and went down to the wharf at one o'clock. No one was stirring
+on board the boat, and I was obliged to pace the silent, gloomy streets
+of the town for two hours. I watched the steamer glide out on the rainy
+channel, and turning into the topmost berth, drew the sliding curtain
+and strove to keep out cold and sea-sickness. But it was unavailing; a
+heavy storm of snow and rain rendered our passage so dreary that I did
+not stir until we were approaching the chain pier of Brighton.
+
+I looked out on the foggy shores of England with a feeling of relief; my
+tongue would now be freed from the difficult bondage of foreign
+languages, and my ears be rejoiced with the music of my own. After two
+hours' delay at the Custom House, I took my seat in an open car for
+London. The day was dull and cold; the sun resembled a milky blotch in
+the midst of a leaden sky. I sat and shivered, as we flew onward, amid
+the rich, cultivated English scenery. At last the fog grew thicker; the
+road was carried over the tops of houses; the familiar dome of St.
+Paul's stood out above the spires; and I was again in London!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+LOCKHART, BERNARD BARTON AND CROLY--LONDON CHIMES AND GREENWICH FAIR.
+
+
+My circumstances, on arriving at London, were again very reduced. A
+franc and a half constituted the whole of my funds. This, joined to the
+knowledge of London expenses, rendered instant exertion necessary, to
+prevent still greater embarrassment. I called on a printer the next
+morning, hoping to procure work, but found, as I had no documents with
+me to show I had served a regular apprenticeship, this would be
+extremely difficult, although workmen were in great demand. Mr. Putnam,
+however, on whom I had previously called, gave me employment for a time
+in his publishing establishment, and thus I was fortunately enabled to
+await the arrival of a remittance from home.
+
+Mrs. Trollope, whom I met in Florence, kindly gave me a letter to
+Murray, the publisher, and I visited him soon after my arrival. In his
+library I saw the original portraits of Byron, Moore, Campbell and the
+other authors who were intimate with him and his father. A day or two
+afterwards I had the good fortune to breakfast with Lockhart and Bernard
+Barton, at the house of the former. Mr. Murray, through whom the
+invitation was given, accompanied me there. As it was late when we
+arrived at Regent's Park, we found them waiting, and sat down
+immediately to breakfast.
+
+I was much pleased with Lockhart's appearance and manners. He has a
+noble, manly countenance--in fact, the handsomest English face I ever
+saw--a quick, dark eye and an ample forehead, shaded by locks which
+show, as yet, but few threads of gray. There is a peculiar charm in his
+rich, soft voice; especially when reciting poetry, it has a clear,
+organ-like vibration, which thrills deliciously on the ear. His
+daughter, who sat at the head of the table, is a most lovely and amiable
+girl.
+
+Bernard Burton, who is now quite an old man, is a very lively and
+sociable Friend. His head is gray and almost bald, but there is still
+plenty of fire in his eyes and life in his limbs. His many kind and
+amiable qualities endear him to a large circle of literary friends. He
+still continues writing, and within the last year has brought out a
+volume of simple, touching "Household Verses." A picture of cheerful and
+contented old age has never been more briefly and beautifully drawn,
+than in the following lines, which he sent me, in answer to my desire to
+possess one of his poems in his own hand:
+
+    STANZAS.
+
+    I feel that I am growing old,
+       Nor wish to hide that truth;
+    Conscious my heart is not more cold
+       Than in my by-gone youth.
+
+    I cannot roam the country round,
+       As I was wont to do;
+    My feet a scantier circle bound,
+       My eyes a narrower view.
+
+    But on my mental vision rise
+       Bright scenes of beauty still:
+    Morn's splendor, evening's glowing skies,
+       Valley, and grove, and hill.
+
+    Nor can infirmities o'erwhelm
+       The purer pleasures brought
+    From the immortal spirit's realm
+       Of feeling and of Thought!
+
+    My heart! let not dismay or doubt
+       In thee an entrance win!
+    Thou _hast_ enjoyed thyself _without_--
+       _Now seek thy joy within_!
+
+During breakfast he related to us a pleasant anecdote of Scott. He once
+wrote to the poet in behalf of a young lady, who wished to have the
+description of Melrose, in the "Lay of the last Minstrel," in the poet's
+own writing. Scott sent it, but added these lines to the conclusion:
+
+    "Then go, and muse with deepest awe
+    On what the writer never saw;
+    Who would not wander 'neath the moon
+    To see what he could see at noon!"
+
+We went afterwards into Lockhart's library, which was full of
+interesting objects. I saw the private diary of Scott, kept until within
+a short time of his death. It was melancholy to trace the gradual
+failing of all his energies in the very wavering of the autograph. In a
+large volume of his correspondence, containing letters from Campbell,
+Wordsworth, Byron, and all the distinguished characters of the age, I
+saw Campbell's "Battle of the Baltic" in his own hand. I was highly
+interested and gratified with the whole visit; the more so, as Mr.
+Lockhart had invited me voluntarily, without previous acquaintance. I
+have since heard him spoken of in the highest terms of esteem.
+
+I went one Sunday to the Church of St. Stephen, to hear Croly, the poet.
+The service, read by a drowsy clerk, was long and monotonous; I sat in a
+side-aisle, looking up at the dome, and listening to the rain which
+dashed in torrents against the windowpanes. At last, a tall, gray-haired
+man came down the passage. He bowed with a sad smile, so full of
+benevolence and resignation, that it went into my heart at once, and I
+gave him an involuntary tribute of sympathy. He has a heavy affliction
+to bear--the death of his gallant son, one of the officers who were
+slain in the late battle of Ferozeshaw. His whole manner betrays the
+tokens of subdued but constant grief.
+
+His sermon was peculiarly finished and appropriate; the language was
+clear and forcible, without that splendor of thought and dazzling
+vividness of imagery which mark "Salathiel." Yet I could not help
+noticing that he delighted to dwell on the spiritualities of religion,
+rather than its outward observances, which he seemed inclined to hurry
+over as lightly as possible. His mild, gray eye and lofty forehead are
+more like the benevolent divine than the poet. I thought of Salathiel,
+and looked at the dignified, sorrowful man before me. The picture of the
+accursed Judean vanished, and his own solemn lines rang on my ear:
+
+             "The mighty grave
+              Wraps lord and slave,
+    Nor pride, nor poverty dares come
+    Within that prison-house, that tomb!"
+
+Whenever I hear them, or think of them again, I shall see, in memory,
+Croly's calm, pale countenance.
+
+    "The chimes, the chimes of Mother-land,
+       Of England, green and old;
+    That out from thane and ivied tower
+       A thousand years have tolled!"
+
+I often thought of Coxe's beautiful ballad, when, after a day spent in
+Waterloo Place, I have listened, on my way homeward, to the chimes of
+Mary-le-bone Chapel, sounding sweetly and clearly above all the din of
+the Strand. There is something in their silvery vibration, which is far
+more expressive than the ordinary tones of a bell. The ear becomes weary
+of a continued toll--the sound of some bells seems to have nothing more
+in it than the ordinary clang of metal--but these simple notes,
+following one another so melodiously, fall on the ear, stunned by the
+ceaseless roar of carriages or the mingled cries of the mob, as gently
+and gratefully as drops of dew. Whether it be morning, and they ring out
+louder and deeper through the mist, or midnight, when the vast ocean of
+being beneath them surges less noisily than its wont, they are alike
+full of melody and poetry. I have often paused, deep in the night, to
+hear those clear tones, dropping down from the darkness, thrilling, with
+their full, tremulous sweetness, the still air of the lighted Strand,
+and winding away through dark, silent lanes and solitary courts, till
+the ear of the care-worn watcher is scarcely stirred with their dying
+vibrations. They seemed like those spirit-voices, which, at such times,
+speak almost audibly to the heart. How delicious it must be, to those
+who dwell within the limits of their sound, to wake from some happy
+dream and hear those chimes blending in with their midnight fancies,
+like the musical echo of the promised bliss. I love these eloquent
+bells, and I think there must be many, living out a life of misery and
+suffering, to whom their tones come with an almost human consolation.
+The natures of the very cockneys, who never go without the horizon of
+their vibrations, is, to my mind, invested with _one_ hue of poetry!
+
+A few days ago, an American friend invited me to accompany him to
+Greenwich Fair. We took a penny steamer from Hungerford Market to London
+Bridge, and jumped into the cars, which go every live minutes. Twelve
+minutes' ride above the chimneys of London and the vegetable-fields of
+Rotherhithe and Deptford brought us to Greenwich, we followed the stream
+of people which was flowing from all parts of the city into the Park.
+
+Here began the merriment. We heard on every side the noise of the
+"scratchers," or, as the venders of these articles denominated
+them--"the fun of the fair." By this is meant a little notched wheel,
+with a piece of wood fastened on it, like a miniature watchman's rattle.
+The "fun" consists in drawing them down the back of any one you pass,
+when they make a sound precisely like that of ripping cloth. The women
+take great delight in this, and as it is only deemed politeness to
+return the compliment, we soon had enough to do. Nobody seemed to take
+the diversion amiss, but it was so irresistibly droll to see a large
+crowd engaged in this singular amusement, that we both burst into hearty
+laughter.
+
+As we began ascending Greenwich Hill, we were assailed with another kind
+of game. The ground was covered with smashed oranges, with which the
+people above and below were stoutly pelting each other. Half a dozen
+heavy ones whizzed uncomfortably near my head as I went up, and I saw
+several persons get the full benefit of a shot on their backs and
+breasts. The young country lads and lasses amused themselves by running
+at full spend down the steep side of a hill. This was, however, a feat
+attended with some risk; for I saw one luckless girl describe an arc of
+a circle, of which her feet was the centre and her body the radius. All
+was noise and nonsense. They ran to and fro under the long, hoary bough
+of the venerable oaks that crest the summit, and clattered down the
+magnificent forest-avenues, whose budding foliage gave them little
+shelter from the passing April showers.
+
+The view from the top is splendid. The stately Thames curves through the
+plain below, which loses itself afar off in the mist; Greenwich, with
+its massive hospital, lies just at one's feet, and in a clear day the
+domes of London skirt the horizon. The wood of the Park is entirely
+oak--the majestic, dignified, English oak--which covers, in picturesque
+clumps, the sides and summits of the two billowy hills. It must be a
+sweet place in summer, when the dark, massive foliage is heavy on every
+mossy arm, and the smooth and curving sward shines with thousands of
+field-flowers.
+
+Owing to the showers, the streets were coated with mud, of a consistence
+as soft and yielding as the most fleecy Persian carpet. Near the gate,
+boys were holding scores of donkeys, which they offered us at threepence
+for a ride of two miles. We walked down towards the river, and came at
+last to a group of tumblers, who with muddy hands and feet were throwing
+somersets in the open street. I recognized them as old acquaintances of
+the Rue St. Antoine and the Champs Elysees; but the little boy who cried
+before, because he did not want to bend his head and foot into a ring,
+like a hoop-snake, had learned his part better by this time, so that he
+went through it all without whimpering and came off with only a fiery
+red face. The exercises of the young gentlemen were of course very
+graceful and classic, and the effect of their _poses_ of strength was
+very much heightened by the muddy foot-marks which they left on each
+other's orange-colored skins.
+
+The avenue of booths was still more diverting. Here under sheets of
+leaky awning, were exposed for sale rows of gilded gingerbread kings and
+queens, and I cannot remember how many men and women held me fast by the
+arms, determined to force me into buying a pound of them. We paused at
+the sign: "SIGNOR URBANI'S GRAND MAGICAL DISPLAY." The title was
+attractive, so we paid the penny admission, and walked behind the dark,
+mysterious curtain. Two bare brick walls, three benches and a little boy
+appeared to us. A sheet hung before us upon which quivered the shadow of
+some terrible head. At my friend's command, the boy (also a spectator)
+put out the light, when the awful and grinning face of a black woman
+became visible. While we were admiring this striking production, thus
+mysteriously revealed, Signor Urbani came in, and seeing no hope of any
+more spectators, went behind the curtain and startled our sensitive
+nerves with six or seven skeleton and devil apparitions, winding up the
+wonderful entertainment with the same black head. We signified our
+entire approbation by due applause and then went out to seek further
+novelties.
+
+The centre of the square was occupied by swings, where some eight or ten
+boat-loads of persons were flying topsy-turvy into the air, making one
+giddy to look at them, and constant fearful shrieks arose from the lady
+swingers, at finding themselves in a horizontal or inverted position,
+high above the ground. One of the machines was like a great wheel, with
+four cars attached, which mounted and descended with their motley
+freight. We got into the boat by way of experiment. The starting motion
+was pleasant, but very soon it flew with a swiftness and to a height
+rather alarming. I began to repent having chosen such a mode of
+amusement, but held on as well as I could, in my uneasy place. Presently
+we mounted till the long beam of our boat was horizontal; at one
+instant, I saw three young ladies below me, with their heads downward,
+like a shadow in the water--the next I was turned heels up, looking at
+thorn as a shadow does at its original. I was fast becoming sea-sick,
+when, after a few minutes of such giddy soaring, the ropes were
+slackened and we all got out, looking somewhat pale, and feeling
+nervous, if nothing else.
+
+There were also many great tents, hung with boughs and lighted with
+innumerable colored lamps, where the people danced their country dances
+in a choking cloud of dry saw-dust. Conjurors and gymnastic performers
+were showing off on conspicuous platforms, and a continual sound of
+drums, cymbals and shrill trumpets called the attention of the crowd to
+some "Wonderful Exhibition"--some infant phenomenon, giant, or
+three-headed pig. A great part of the crowd belonged evidently to the
+very worst part of society, but the watchfulness of the police prevented
+any open disorder. We came away early and in a quarter of an hour were
+in busy London, leaving far behind us the revel and debauch, which was
+prolonged through the whole night.
+
+London has the advantage of one of the most gloomy atmospheres in the
+world. During this opening spring weather, no light and scarcely any
+warmth can penetrate the dull, yellowish-gray mist, which incessantly
+hangs over the city. Sometimes at noon we have for an hour or two a
+sickly gleam of sunshine, but it is soon swallowed up by the smoke and
+drizzling fog. The people carry umbrellas at all times, for the rain
+seems to drop spontaneously out of the very air, without wailing for the
+usual preparation of a gathering cloud. Professor Espy's rules would be
+of little avail here.
+
+A few days ago we had a real fog--a specimen of November weather, as the
+people said. If November wears such a mantle, London, during that sober
+month, must furnish a good idea of the gloom of Hades. The streets wore
+wrapped in a veil of dense mist, of a dirty yellow color, as if the air
+had suddenly grown thick and mouldy. The houses on the opposite sides of
+the street were invisible, and the gas lamps, lighted in the shops,
+burned with a white and ghastly flame. Carriages ran together in the
+streets, and I was kept constantly on the look-out, lest some one should
+come suddenly out of the cloud around me, and we should meet with a
+shock like that of two knights at a tournament. As I stood in the centre
+of Trafalgar Square, with every object invisible around me, it reminded
+me, (hoping the comparison will not be accepted in every particular) of
+Satan resting in the middle of Chaos. The weather sometimes continues
+thus for whole days together.
+
+_April 26._--An hour and a half of land are still allowed us, and then
+we shall set foot on the back of the oak-ribbed leviathan, which will be
+our home until a thousand leagues of blue ocean are crossed. I shall
+hear the old Aldgate clock strike for the last time--I shall take a last
+walk through the Minories and past the Tower yard, and as we glide down
+the Thames, St. Pauls, half-hidden in mist and coal-smoke, will probably
+be my last glimpse of London.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+HOMEWARD BOUND----CONCLUSION.
+
+
+We slid out of St. Katharine's Dock at noon on the appointed day, and
+with a pair of sooty steamboats hitched to our vessel, moved slowly down
+the Thames in mist and drizzling rain. I stayed on the wet deck all
+afternoon, that I might more forcibly and joyously feel we were again in
+motion on the waters and homeward bound! My attention was divided
+between the dreary views of Blackwall, Greenwich and Woolwich, and the
+motley throng of passengers who were to form our ocean society. An
+English family, going out to settle in Canada, were gathered together in
+great distress and anxiety, for the father had gone ashore in London at
+a late hour, and was left behind. When we anchored for the night at
+Gravesend, their fears were quieted by his arrival in a skiff from the
+shore, as he had immediately followed us by railroad.
+
+My cousin and B---- had hastened on from Paris to join me, and a day
+before the sailing of the "Victoria," we took berths in the second
+cabin, for twelve pounds ten shillings each, which in the London line of
+packets, includes coarse but substantial fare for the whole voyage. Our
+funds were insufficient to pay even this; but Captain Morgan, less
+mistrustful than my Norman landlord, generously agreed that the
+remainder of the fare should be paid in America. B---- and I, with two
+young Englishmen, took possession of a State-room of rough boards,
+lighted by a bull's-eye, which in stormy weather leaked so much that our
+trunks swam in water. A narrow mattrass and blanket, with a knapsack for
+a pillow, formed a passable bed. A long entry between the rooms, lighted
+by a feeble swinging lamp, was filled with a board table, around which
+the thirty-two second cabin passengers met to discuss politics and salt
+pork, favorable winds and hard sea-biscuit.
+
+We lay becalmed opposite Sheerness the whole of the second day. At dusk
+a sudden squall came up, which drove us foaming towards the North
+Foreland. When I went on deck in the morning, we had passed Dover and
+Brighton, and the Isle of Wight was rising dim ahead of us. The low
+English coast on our right was bordered by long reaches of dazzling
+chalky sand, which glittered along the calm blue water.
+
+Gliding into the Bay of Portsmouth, we dropped anchor opposite the
+romantic town of Ryde, built on the sloping shore of the green Isle of
+Wight. Eight or nine vessels of the Experimental Squadron were anchored
+near us, and over the houses of Portsmouth, I saw the masts of the
+Victory--the flag-ship in the battle of Trafalgar, on board of which
+Nelson was killed. The wind was not strong enough to permit the passage
+of the Needles, so at midnight we succeeded in wearing back again into
+the channel, around the Isle of Wight. A head wind forced us to tack
+away towards the shore of France. We were twice in sight of the rocky
+coast of Brittany, near Cherbourg, but the misty promontory of Land's
+End was our last glimpse of the old world.
+
+On one of our first days at sea, I caught a curlew, which came flying on
+weary wings towards us, and alighted on one of the boats. Two of his
+brethren, too much exhausted or too timid to do likewise, dropped flat
+on the waves and resigned themselves to their fate without a struggle. I
+slipped up and caught his long, lank legs, while he was resting with
+flagging wings and half-shut eyes. We fed him, though it was difficult
+to get anything down his reed-shaped bill; but he took kindly to our
+force-work, and when we let him loose on the deck, walked about with an
+air quite tame and familiar. He died, however, two days afterwards. A
+French pigeon, which was caught in the rigging, lived and throve during
+the whole of the passage.
+
+A few days afterwards, a heavy storm came on, and we were all sleepless
+and sea-sick, as long as it lasted. Thanks, however, to a beautiful law
+of memory, the recollection of that dismal period soon lost its
+unpleasantness, while the grand forms of beauty the vexed ocean
+presented, will remain forever, as distinct and abiding images. I kept
+on deck as long as I could stand, watching the giant waves over which
+our vessel took her course. They rolled up towards us, thirty or forty
+feet in height--dark gray masses, changing to a beautiful vitriol tint,
+wherever the light struck through their countless and changing crests.
+It was a glorious thing to see our good ship mount slowly up the side of
+one of these watery lulls, till her prow was lifted high in air, then,
+rocking over its brow, plunge with a slight quiver downward, and plough
+up a briny cataract, as she struck the vale. I never before realized the
+terrible sublimity of the sea. And yet it was a pride to see how
+man--strong in his godlike will--could bid defiance to those whelming
+surges, and bravo their wrath unharmed.
+
+We swung up and down on the billows, till we scarcely knew which way to
+stand. The most grave and sober personages suddenly found themselves
+reeling in a very undignified manner, and not a few measured their
+lengths on the slippery decks. Boxes and barrels were affected in like
+manner; everything danced around us. Trunks ran out from under the
+berths; packages leaped down from the shelves; chairs skipped across the
+rooms, and at table, knives, forks and mugs engaged in a general waltz
+and _break down_. One incident of this kind was rather laughable. One
+night, about midnight, the gale, which had been blowing violently,
+suddenly lulled, "as if," to use a sailor's phrase, "it had been chopped
+off!" Instantly the ship gave a tremendous lurch, which was the signal
+for a general breaking loose. Two or three others followed, so violent,
+that for a moment I imagined the vessel had been thrown on her beam
+ends. Trunks, crockery and barrels went banging down from one end of the
+ship to the other. The women in the steerage set up an awful scream, and
+the German emigrants, thinking we were in terrible danger, commenced
+praying with might and main. In the passage near our room stood several
+barrels, filled with broken dishes, which at every lurch went banging
+from side to side, jarring the board partition and making a horrible
+din. I shall not soon forget the Babel which kept our eyes open that
+night.
+
+The 19th of May a calm came on. Our white wings flapped idly on the
+mast, and only the top-gallant sails were bent enough occasionally to
+lug us along at a mile an hour. A barque from Ceylon, making the most of
+the wind, with every rag of canvass set, passed us slowly on the way
+eastward. The sun went down unclouded, and a glorious starry night
+brooded over us. Its clearness and brightness were to me indications of
+America. I longed to be on shore. The forests about home were then
+clothed in the delicate green of their first leaves, and that bland
+weather embraced the sweet earth like a blessing of heaven. The gentle
+breath from out the west seemed made for the odor of violets, and as it
+came to me over the slightly-ruflled deep, I thought how much sweeter it
+were to feel it, while "wasting in wood-paths the voluptuous hours."
+
+Soon afterwards a fresh wind sprung up, which increased rapidly, till
+every sail was bent to the full. Our vessel parted the brine with an
+arrowy glide, the ease and grace of which it is impossible to describe.
+The breeze held on steadily for two or three days, which brought us to
+the southern extremity of the Banks. Here the air felt so sharp and
+chilling, that I was afraid we might be under the lee of an iceberg, but
+in the evening the dull gray mass of clouds lifted themselves from the
+horizon, and the sun set in clear, American beauty away beyond Labrador.
+The next morning we were enveloped in a dense fog, and the wind which
+bore us onward was of a piercing coldness. A sharp look-out was kept on
+the bow, but as we could see but a short distance, it might have been
+dangerous had we met one of the Arctic squadron. At noon it cleared away
+again, and the bank of fog was visible a long time astern, piled along
+the horizon, reminding me of the Alps, as seen from the plains of
+Piedmont.
+
+On the 31st, the fortunate wind which carried us from the Banks, failed
+us about thirty-five miles from Sandy Hook. We lay in the midst of the
+mackerel fishery, with small schooners anchored all around us. Fog,
+dense and impenetrable, weighed on the moveless ocean, like an
+atmosphere of wool. The only incident to break the horrid monotony of
+the day, was the arrival of a pilot, with one or two newspapers,
+detailing the account of the Mexican War. We heard in the afternoon the
+booming of the surf along the low beach of Long Island--hollow and
+faint, like the murmur of a shell. When the mist lifted a little, we
+saw the faint line of breakers along the shore. The Germans gathered on
+deck to sing their old, familiar songs, and their voices blended
+beautifully together in the stillness.
+
+Next morning at sunrise we saw Sandy Hook; at nine o'clock we were
+telegraphed in New York by the station at Coney Island; at eleven the
+steamer "Hercules" met us outside the Hook; and at noon we were gliding
+up the Narrows, with the whole ship's company of four hundred persons on
+deck, gazing on the beautiful shores of Staten Island and agreeing
+almost universally, that it was the most delightful scene they had ever
+looked upon.
+
+And now I close the story of my long wandering, as I began it--with a
+lay written on the deep.
+
+    HOMEWARD BOUND.
+
+
+    Farewell to Europe! Days have come and gone
+    Since misty England set behind the sea.
+    Our ship climbs onward o'er the lifted waves,
+    That gather up in ridges, mountain-high,
+    And like a sea-god, conscious in his power,
+    Buffets the surges. Storm-arousing winds
+    That sweep, unchecked, from frozen Labrador,
+    Make wintry music through the creaking shrouds.
+    Th' horizon's ring, that clasps the dreary view,
+    Lays mistily upon the gray Atlantic's breast.
+    Shut out, at times, by bulk of sparry blue,
+    That, rolling near us, heaves the swaying prow
+    High on its shoulders, to descend again
+    Ploughing a thousand cascades, and around
+    Spreading the frothy foam. These watery gulfs,
+    With storm, and winds far-sweeping, hem us in,
+    Alone upon the waters!
+
+                               Days must pass--
+    Many and weary--between sea and sky.
+    Our eyes, that long e'en now for the fresh green
+    Of sprouting forests, and the far blue stretch
+    Of regal mountains piled along the sky,
+    Must see, for many an eve, the level sun
+    Sheathe, with his latest gold, the heaving brine,
+    By thousand ripples shivered, or Night's pomp
+    Brooding in silence, ebon and profound,
+    Upon the murmuring darkness of the deep,
+    Broken by flashings, that the parted wave
+    Sends white and star-like throujch its bursting foam.
+    Yet not more dear the opening dawn of heaven
+    Poured on the earth in an Italian May,
+    When souls take wings upon the scented air
+    Of starry meadows, and the yearning heart
+    Pains with deep sweetness in the balmy time,
+    Than these gray morns, and days of misty blue,
+    And surges, never-ceasing;--for our prow
+    Points to the sunset like a morning ray,
+    And o'er the waves, and through the sweeping storms,
+    Through day and darkness, rushes ever on,
+    Westward and westward still! What joy can send
+    The spirit thrilling onward with the wind,
+    In untamed exultation, like the thought
+    That fills the Homeward Bound?
+
+                              Country and home!
+    Ah! not the charm of silver-tongued romance,
+    Born of the feudal time, nor whatsoe'er
+    Of dying glory fills the golden realms
+    Of perished song, where heaven-descended Art
+    Still boasts her later triumphs, can compare
+    With that one thought of liberty inherited--
+    Of free life giv'n by fathers who were free,
+    And to be left to children freer still!
+    That pride and consciousness of manhood, caught
+    From boyish musings on the holy graves
+    Of hero-martyrs, and from every form
+    Which virgin Nature, mighty and unchained,
+    Takes in an empire not less proudly so--
+    Inspired in mountain airs, untainted yet
+    By thousand generations' breathing--felt
+    Like a near presence in the awful depths
+    Of unhewn forests, and upon the steep
+    Where giant rivers take their maddening plunge--
+    Has grown impatient of the stifling damps
+    Which hover close on Europe's shackled soil.
+    Content to tread awhile the holy steps
+    Of Art and Genius, sacred through all time,
+    The spirit breathed that dull, oppressive air--
+    Which, freighted with its tyrant-clouds, o'erweighs
+    The upward throb of many a nation's soul--
+    Amid those olden memories, felt the thrall.
+    But kept the birth-right of its freer home,
+    Here, on the world's blue highway, comes again
+    The voice of Freedom, heard amid the roar
+    Of sundered billows, while above the wave
+    Rise visions of the forest and the stream.
+    Like trailing robes the morning mists uproll,
+    Torn by the mountain pines; the flashing rills
+    Shout downward through the hollows of the vales;
+    Down the great river's bosom shining sails
+    Glide with a gradual motion, while from all--
+    Hamlet, and bowered homestead, and proud town--
+    Voices of joy ring up into heaven!
+
+    Yet louder, winds! Urge on our keel, ye waves,
+    Swift as the spirit's yearnings! We would ride
+    With a loud stormy motion o'er your crests,
+    With tempests shouting like a sudden joy--
+    Interpreting our triumph! 'Tis your voice,
+    Ye unchained elements, alone can speak
+    The sympathetic feeling of the free--
+    The arrowy impulse of the Homeward Bound!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Although the narrative of my journey, "with knapsack and staff," is now
+strictly finished, a few more words of explanation seem necessary, to
+describe more fully the method of traveling which we adopted. I add them
+the more willingly, as it is my belief that many, whose circumstances
+are similar to mine, desire to undertake the same romantic journey. Some
+matter-of-fact statements may be to them useful as well as interesting.
+
+We found the pedestrian style not only by far the best way to become
+acquainted with the people and sceneryof a country, but the pleasantest
+mode of traveling. To be sure, the knapsack was, at first, rather heavy,
+our feet were often sore and our limbs weary, but a few days walking
+made a great difference, and after we had traveled two weeks, this
+disappeared altogether. Every morning we rose as fresh and strong as if
+it had been the first day--even after a walk of thirty miles, we felt
+but little fatigue. We enjoyed slumber in its fullest luxury, and our
+spirits were always light and joyous. We made it a rule to pay no regard
+to the weather, unless it was so bad as to render walking unhealthy.
+Often, during the day, we rested for half an hour on the grassy bank,
+or sometimes, if it was warm weather, lay at full length in the shade
+with our knapsacks under our heads. This is a pleasure which none but
+the pedestrian can comprehend.
+
+We always accepted a companion, of whatever kind, while walking--from
+chimney-sweeps to barons. In a strange country one can learn something
+from every peasant, and we neglected no opportunity, not only to obtain
+information, but impart it. We found everywhere great curiosity
+respecting America, and we were always glad to tell them all they wished
+to know. In Germany, we were generally taken for Germans from some part
+of the country where the dialect was a little different, or, if they
+remarked our foreign peculiarities, they supposed we were either Poles,
+Russians, or Swiss. The greatest ignorance in relation to America,
+prevails among the common people. They imagine we are a savage race,
+without intelligence and almost without law. Persons of education, who
+had some slight knowledge of our history, showed a curiosity to know
+something of our political condition. They are taught by the German
+newspapers (which are under a strict censorship in this respect) to look
+only at the evil in our country, and they almost invariably began by
+adverting to Slavery and Repudiation. While we admitted, often with
+shame and mortification, the existence of things so inconsistent with
+true republicanism, we endeavored to make them comprehend the advantages
+enjoyed by the free citizen--the complete equality of birth--which
+places America, despite her sins, far above any other nation on earth. I
+could plainly see, by the kindling eye and half-suppressed sigh, that
+they appreciated a freedom so immeasurably greater than that which they
+enjoyed.
+
+In large cities we always preferred to take the second or third-rate
+hotels, which are generally visited by merchants and persons who travel
+on business; for, with the same comforts as the first rank, they are
+nearly twice as cheap. A traveler, with a guide-book and a good pair of
+eyes, can also dispense with the services of a _courier_, whose duty it
+is to conduct strangers about the city, from one lion to another. We
+chose rather to find out and view the "sights" at our leisure. In small
+villages, where we were often obliged to stop, we chose the best hotels,
+which, particularly in Northern Germany and in Italy, are none too
+good. But if it was a _post_, that is, a town where the post-chaise
+stops to change horses, we usually avoided the post-hotel, where one
+must pay high for having curtains before his windows and a more elegant
+cover on his bed. In the less splendid country inns, we always found
+neat, comfortable lodging, and a pleasant, friendly reception from the
+people. They saluted us on entering, with "Be you welcome," and on
+leaving, wished us a pleasant journey and good fortune. The host, when
+he brought us supper or breakfast, lifted his cap, and wished us a good
+appetite--and when he lighted us to our chambers, left us with "May you
+sleep well!" We generally found honest, friendly people; they delighted
+in telling us about the country around; what ruins there were in the
+neighborhood--and what strange legends were connected with them. The
+only part of Europe where it is unpleasant to travel in this manner, is
+Bohemia. We could rarely find a comfortable inn; the people all spoke an
+unknown language, and were not particularly celebrated for their
+honesty. Beside this, travelers rarely go on foot in those regions; we
+were frequently taken for traveling handworker, and subjected to
+imposition.
+
+With regard to passports, although they were vexatious and often
+expensive, we found little difficulty when we had acquainted ourselves
+with the regulations concerning them. In France and Germany they are
+comparatively little trouble; in Italy they are the traveler's greatest
+annoyance. Americans are treated with less strictness, in this respect,
+than citizens of other nations, and, owing to the absence of rank among
+us, we also enjoy greater advantages of acquaintance and intercourse.
+
+The expenses of traveling in England, although much greater than in our
+own country, may, as we learned by experience, be brought, through
+economy, within the same compass. Indeed, it is my belief, from
+observation, that, with few exceptions, throughout Europe, where a
+traveler enjoys the same comfort and abundance as in America, he must
+pay the same prices. The principal difference is, that he only pays for
+what he gets, so that, if he be content with the necessities of life,
+without its luxuries, the expense is in proportion. I have given, at
+times, through the foregoing chapters, the cost of travel and residence
+in Europe, yet a connected estimate will better show the _minimum_
+expense of a two years' pilgrimage:
+
+    Voyage to Liverpool, in the second cabin . . . . . . . . . . .  $24.00
+    Three weeks' travel in Ireland and Scotland  . . . . . . . . .   25.00
+    A week in London, at three shillings a day . . . . . . . . . .    4.50
+    From London to Heidelberg  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   15.00
+    A month at Heidelberg, and trip to Frankfort . . . . . . . . .   20.00
+    Seven months in Frankfort, at $10 per month  . . . . . . . . .   70.00
+    Fuel, passports, excursions and other expenses . . . . . . . .   30.00
+    Tour through Cassel, the Hartz, Saxony, Austria, Bavaria, etc.   40.00
+    A month in Frankfort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   10.00
+    From Frankfort through Switzerland, and over the Alps
+       to Milan  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   15.00
+    From Milan to Genoa  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      60
+    Expenses from Genoa to Florence  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   14.00
+    Four months in Florence  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   50.00
+    Eight day's journey from Florence to Rome, two weeks in
+       Rome, voyage to Marseilles and journey to Paris . . . . . .   40.00
+    Five weeks in Paris  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   15.00
+    From Paris to London . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    8.00
+    Six weeks in London, at three shillings a day  . . . . . . . .   31.00
+    Passage home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   60.00
+                                                                    ------
+                                                                   $472.00
+
+The cost for places of amusement, guides' fees, and other small
+expenses, not included in this list, increase the sum total to $500, for
+which the tour may be made. Now, having, I hope, established this to the
+reader's satisfaction, I respectfully take leave of him.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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