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diff --git a/42539-0.txt b/42539-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d88bd0a --- /dev/null +++ b/42539-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9261 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42539 *** + +Transcriber's Note: + + Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have + been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + + Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. + + Listed Errata were corrected. + + Mis-spellings of non-English words were retained as printed. + Readers noted the following: + Grenzbäuden should be Grenbauden + Kellnerinn should be Kellnerin. + + On page 144, the phrase starting "and perhaps for such a" + seems to be missing words. + + + + + A JULY HOLIDAY + IN + SAXONY, BOHEMIA, AND SILESIA. + + + + + [Illustration: Castle] + + + + + A JULY HOLIDAY + IN + SAXONY, BOHEMIA, AND SILESIA. + + BY WALTER WHITE, + + AUTHOR OF "A LONDONER'S WALK TO THE LAND'S END;" + "ON FOOT THROUGH TYROL." + + + "Ne wolde he call upon the Nine; + 'I wote,' he sayde, 'they be but jyltes:' + Ne covet when he wander'd forth + Icarus' wings--ne traytor stiltes." + + _Old Author._ + + + LONDON: + CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. + MDCCCLVII. + + [_The right of Translation is reserved._] + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. + + PAGE + + What the Bookseller said -- A Walk in Frankfort -- What the + Portress said -- Glimpses of Landscapes -- Forest and River + -- Würzburg -- Stein Wine -- View from the Citadel-hill -- A + Change of Bedrooms -- Coming to an Understanding with the + Reader -- Good Night! 1 + + + CHAPTER II. + + Würzburg -- The University -- Red, Green, and Orange Caps + -- The Marienkapelle -- The Market -- The Cathedral -- The + Palace -- Spacious Cellars -- A Professor's Hospitality -- + To Bamberg -- Frost -- Hof -- A Shabby Peace -- The + Arch-Poisoner -- Dear Bread -- A Prime Minister Hanged -- + Altenburg -- The Park -- The Castle -- Reminiscences and + Antiquities -- The Chapel -- The Princes' Vault -- Wends -- + Costumes in the Market-place -- Female Cuirassiers -- More + about the Wends -- Grossen Teich -- The Plateau -- The + Cemetery -- Werdau 11 + + + CHAPTER III. + + Origin of Altenburg -- Prosperous Burghers -- A Princely + Crime -- Hussite Plunderers -- Luther's Visits -- French + Bonfire -- Electress Margaret's Dream -- Kunz von + Kauffungen -- "Don't burn the Fish" -- A Conspiracy -- + Midnight Robbers -- Two Young Princes Stolen -- The Flight + -- The Alarm -- The Köhler -- The Rescue -- Kunz Beheaded + -- The _Triller's_ Reward, and what a famous Author said + concerning it 25 + + + CHAPTER IV. + + Zwickau -- Beer Bridge -- Beer Mount -- The Triller Estate + -- Triller Bierbrauerei -- The Braumeister -- The Beer -- + Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Prinzenraub -- A Friendly + Clerk -- "You will have a Tsigger?" -- Historical Portraits + -- A Good Name for a Brewery -- A Case of Disinterestedness + -- Up the Church Tower -- The Prospect -- Princess + Schwanhildis -- The Fire-god Zwicz -- Luther's Table -- The + Church -- Geysers -- Petrified Beds -- Historical Houses -- + Walk to Oberhaselau -- The Card-players -- The Wagoners 33 + + + CHAPTER V. + + Across the Mulde -- Scenery -- Feet _versus_ Wheels -- + Villages -- English Characteristics -- Timbered Houses -- + Schneeberg -- Stones for Lamps -- The Way Sunday was Kept + -- The Church -- A Wagon-load of Music -- A Surly Host -- + Where the Pepper Grows -- Eybenstock -- Neustädl -- Fir + Forests -- Wildenthal -- Four Sorts of Beer -- Potato + Dumplings -- Up the Auersberg -- Advertisements -- The + School -- The Instrument of Order -- "Look at the + Englishman" -- The Erzgebirge -- The Guard-house -- Into + Bohemia -- Romish Symbols -- Hirschenstand -- Another + Guard-house -- Differences of Race -- Czechs and Germans + -- Shabby Carpentry -- Change of Scenery -- Neudeck -- + Arrive at Carlsbad -- A Glass Boot -- Gossip 43 + + + CHAPTER VI. + + Dr. Fowler's Prescription -- Carlsbad -- "A Matlocky sort + of a Place" -- Springs and Swallows -- Tasting the Water -- + The Cliffs and Terraces -- Comical Signs -- The Wiese and + its Frequenters -- Disease and Health -- The Sprudel: its + Discharge; its Deposit -- The Stoppage -- Volcanic + Phenomena -- Dr. Granville's Observations -- Care's Rest -- + Dreikreuzberg -- View from the Summit -- König Otto's Höhe + -- "Are you here for the Cure?" -- Lenten Diet -- + Hirschsprung -- The Trumpeters -- Two Florins for a Bed 61 + + + CHAPTER VII. + + Departure from Carlsbad -- Dreifaltigkeits-Kirche -- + Engelhaus -- The Castle -- A Melancholy Village -- Up to + the Ruins -- An Imperial Visit -- Bohemian Scenery -- On to + Buchau -- The Inn -- A Crowd of Guests -- Roast Goose -- + Inspiriting Music -- Prompt Waiters -- The Mysterious + Passport -- The Military Adviser -- How he Solved the + Mystery -- A Baron in Spite of Himself -- The Baron's + Footbath -- Lighting the Baron to Bed 77 + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + Dawn -- The Noisy Gooseherd -- Geese, for Home Consumption + and Export -- Still the Baron -- The Ruins of Hartenstein + -- Glimpses of Scenery and Rural Life -- Liebkowitz -- + Lubenz -- Schloss Petersburg -- Big Rooms -- Tipplers and + Drunkards -- Wagoners and Peasants -- A Thrifty Landlord -- + Inquisitorial Book -- Awful Gendarme -- Paternal Government + -- Fidgets -- How it is in Hungary -- Wet Blankets for + Philosophers -- An Unhappy Peasant 86 + + + CHAPTER IX. + + The Village -- The Peasant again -- The Road-mender -- + Among the Czechs -- Czechish Speech and Characteristics -- + Crosses -- Horosedl -- The Old Cook -- More Praise of + England -- The Dinner -- A Journey-Companion -- Famous + Files -- A Mechaniker's Earnings -- Kruschowitz -- Rentsch + -- More Czechish Characteristics -- Neu Straschitz -- A + Word in Season from Old Fuller -- The Mechaniker departs 96 + + + CHAPTER X. + + A Talk with the Landlord -- A Jew's Offer -- A Ride in a + Wagen -- Talk with the Jew -- The Stars -- A Mysterious + Gun-barrel -- An Alarm -- Stony Ammunition -- The Man with + the Gun -- The Jew's opinion of him -- Sunrise -- A Walk -- + The White Hill -- A Fatal Field -- Waking up in the Suburbs + -- Early Breakfasts -- Imperial and Royal Tobacco + -- Milk-folk -- The Gate of Prague -- A Snappish Sentry -- + The Soldiers -- Into the City -- Picturesque Features and + crowding Associations -- The Kleinseite -- The Bridge -- + Palaces -- The Altstadt -- Remarkable Streets -- The + Teinkirche -- The Neustadt -- The Three Hotels 105 + + + CHAPTER XI. + + The Hausknecht -- A Place to Lose Yourself -- + Street-Phenomena -- Book-shops -- Glass-wares -- Cavernous + Beer-houses -- Signs -- Czechish Names -- Ugly Women -- + Swarms of Soldiers -- A Scene on the Bridge -- A Drateñik + -- The Ugly Passport Clerk -- The Suspension-bridge -- The + Islands -- The Slopes of the Laurenzberg -- View over Prague + -- Schools, Palaces, and Poverty -- The Rookery -- The + Hradschin -- The Courts -- The Cathedral -- The Great Tomb + -- The Silver Shrine -- Relics -- A Kissed Portrait -- St. + Wenzel's Chapel -- Big Sigmund -- The Loretto Platz -- The + Old Towers -- The Hill-top and Hill-foot 118 + + + CHAPTER XII. + + The Tandelmarkt -- Old Men and Boys at Rag Fair -- Jews in + Prague -- The Judenstadt -- Schools and Synagogues -- Remote + Antiquity -- Ducal Victims -- Jewish Bravery -- Removal of + Boundary Wires 131 + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + The Jewish Sabbath -- The Old Synagogue -- Traditions + concerning it -- The Gloomy Interior -- The Priests -- The + Worshippers and the Worship -- The Talkers -- The Book of + the Law -- The Rabbi -- The Startling Gun -- A Birth at + Vienna -- Departed Glory 136 + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + The Alte Friedhof -- A Stride into the Past -- The Old + Tombs -- Vegetation and Death -- Haunted Graves -- Ancient + Epitaph -- Rabbi Löw -- His Scholars -- Symbols of the + Tribes -- The Infant's Coffin -- The Playground -- From + Death to Life 141 + + + CHAPTER XV. + + The Kolowratstrasse -- Picolomini's Palace -- The Museum -- + Geological Affluence -- Early Czechish Bibles -- Rare Old + Manuscripts -- Letters of Huss and Ziska -- Tabor Hill -- + Portraits -- Hussite Weapons -- Antiques -- Doubtful + Hussites in the Market-place -- The Glückliche Entbindung + -- A Te Deum -- Two Evening Visits -- Bohemian Hospitality + -- The Gaslit Beer-house 146 + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + Sunday Morning in Prague -- Gay Dresses -- Pleasure-seeking + Citizens -- Service in the Hradschin Cathedral -- Prayers + and Pranks -- Fun in the Organ-loft -- Glorious Music -- A + Spell broken -- Priests and their Robes -- Osculations -- A + Flaunting Procession -- An Old Topographer's Raptures -- + The Schwarzes Ross -- Flight from Prague -- Lobositz -- Lost + in a Swamp -- A Storm -- Up the Milleschauer -- After Dark + -- The Summit -- Mossy Quarters -- The Host's Story 153 + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + Morning on the Milleschauer -- The Brightening Landscape -- + The Mossy Quarters by Daylight -- Delightful Down-hill Walk + -- Lobositz again -- The Steam-boat -- Queer Passengers -- + Sprightly Music -- Romantic Scenery -- Hills and Cliffs -- + Schreckenstein -- How the Musicians paid their Fare -- + Aussig -- The Spürlingstein -- Fairer Landscapes -- Elbe + _versus_ Rhine -- Tetschen -- German Faces -- Women-Waders + -- The Schoolmaster -- Passport again -- Pretty Country -- + Signs of Industry -- Peasants' Diet -- Markersdorf -- + Rustic Cottages -- Gersdorf -- Meistersdorf -- School -- + Trying the Scholars -- Good Results -- A Byeway -- + Ulrichsthal 162 + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + A Hospitable Reception -- A Rustic Household -- The + Mother's Talk -- Pressing Invitations -- A Docile Visitor -- + The Family Room -- Trophies of Industry -- Overheating -- A + Walk in Ulrichsthal -- A Glass Polisher and his Family -- + His Notions -- A Glass Engraver -- His Skill and Ingenuity + -- His Earnings -- A Bohemian's Opinion on English Singing + -- Military Service -- Beetle Pictures -- Glass-making in + Bohemia -- An Englishman's Forget-me-Not -- The Dinner -- + Dessert on the Hill -- An Hour with the Haymakers -- + Magical Kreutzers -- An Evening at the Wirthshaus -- + Singing and Poetry -- A Moonlight Walk -- The Lovers' Test 174 + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + More Hospitality -- Farewells -- Cross Country Walk -- + Steinschönau -- The Playbill -- Hayda -- All Glass-workers + -- Away for the Mountains -- Zwickau -- Gabel -- + Weisskirchen -- A Peasant's Prayer -- Reichenberg -- + Passport again -- Jeschkenpeak -- Reinowitz -- Schlag -- + Neudorf -- A Talk at Grünheid -- Bad Sample of Lancashire + -- Tannwald -- Curious Rocks -- Spinneries -- Populousness + -- Przichowitz -- An Altercation -- Heavy Odds -- The + Englishman Wins -- A Word to the Company 190 + + + CHAPTER XX. + + Stephanshöh -- A Presumptuous Landlord -- Czechs again -- + Stewed Weavers -- Prompt Civilities -- The Iser -- A Quiet + Vale -- Barrande's Opinion of the Czechs -- Rochlitz -- An + offshoot from Tyre -- A Happy Landlord -- A Rustic Guide + -- Hill Paths -- The Grünstein -- Rübezahl's Rose Garden -- + Dreary Fells -- Source of the Elbe -- Solitude and Visitors + -- The Elbfall -- Stony Slopes -- Strange Rocks -- + Rübezahl's Glove -- Knieholz -- Schneegruben -- View into + Silesia -- Tremendous Cliffs -- Basalt in Granite -- The + Landlord's Bazaar -- The Wandering Stone -- A Tragsessel -- + A Desolate Scene -- Rougher Walking -- Musical Surprises -- + Spindlerbaude -- The Mädelstein -- Great Pond and Little + Pond -- The Mittagstein -- The Riesengrund -- The Last + Zigzags -- An Inn in the Clouds 201 + + + CHAPTER XXI. + + Comforts on the Koppe -- Samples of Germany -- Provincial + Peculiarities -- Hilarity -- A Couplet worth remembering + -- Four-bedded Rooms -- View from the Summit -- Contrast of + Scenery -- The Summit itself -- Guides in Costume -- + Moderate Charges -- Unlucky Farmer -- The Descent -- + Schwarzkoppe -- Grenzbäuden -- Hungarian Wine -- The Way to + Adersbach -- Forty Years' Experience 218 + + + CHAPTER XXII. + + The Frontier Guard-house -- A Volunteer Guide -- A Knave -- + Schatzlar -- Bernsdorf -- A Barefoot Philosopher -- A + Weaver's Happiness -- Altendorf -- Queer Beer -- A Short Cut + -- Blunt Manners -- Adersbach -- Singular Rocks -- Gasthaus + zur Felsenstadt -- The Rock City -- The Grand Entrance -- + The Sugarloaf -- The Pulpit -- The Giant's Glove -- The + Gallows -- The Burgomaster -- Lord Brougham's Profile -- + The Breslau Wool-market -- The Shameless Maiden -- The + Silver Spring -- The Waterfall -- A Waterspout -- The + Lightning Stroke 225 + + + CHAPTER XXIII. + + The Echo -- Wonderful Orchestra -- Magical Music -- A _Feu + de joie_ -- The Oration -- The Voices -- Echo and the + Humourist -- Satisfying the Guide -- Exploring the + Labyrinth -- Curious Discoveries -- Speculations of + Geologists -- Bohemia an Inland Sea -- Marble Labyrinth in + Spain -- A Twilight View -- After a' 235 + + + CHAPTER XXIV. + + Baked Chickens -- A Discussion -- Weckelsdorf -- More Rocks + -- The Stone of Tears -- Death's Alley -- Diana's Bath -- + The Minster -- Gang of Coiners -- The Bohdanetskis -- Going + to Church -- Another Silesian View -- Good-bye to Bohemia + -- Schömberg -- Silesian Faces and Costume -- Picturesque + Market-place -- Ueberschar Hills -- Ullersdorf -- An amazed + Weaver -- Liebau -- Cheap Cherries -- The Prussian Simplon + -- Ornamented Houses -- Buchwald -- The Bober -- Dittersbach + -- Schmiedeberg -- Rübezahl's Trick upon Travellers -- + Tourists' Rendezvous -- The Duellists' Successors -- + Erdmannsdorf -- Tyrolese Colony 240 + + + CHAPTER XXV. + + Schnaps and Sausage -- Dresdener upon Berliners -- The + Prince's Castle at Fischbach -- A Home for the Princess + Royal -- Is the Marriage Popular? -- View from the Tower -- + Tradition of the Golden Donkey -- Royal Palace at + Erdmannsdorf -- A Miniature Chatsworth -- The Zillerthal -- + Käse and Brod -- Stohnsdorf -- Famous Beer -- Rischmann's + Cave -- Prophecies -- Warmbrunn 250 + + + CHAPTER XXVI. + + The Three Berliners -- Strong Beer -- Origin of Warmbrunn + -- St. John the Baptist's Day -- Count Schaffgotsch -- A + Benefactor -- A Library -- Something about Warmbrunn -- The + Baths -- Healing Waters -- The Allée -- Visitors -- Russian + Popes -- The Museum -- Trophies -- View of the Mountains -- + The Kynast -- Cunigunda and her Lovers -- Served her right + -- The Two Breslauers -- Oblatt -- The Baths in the + Mountains 256 + + + CHAPTER XXVII. + + Hirschberg -- The Officers' Tomb -- A Night Journey -- + Spiller -- Greifenberg -- Changing Horses -- A Royal Reply + -- A Griffin's Nest -- Lauban -- The Potato Jubilee -- + Görlitz -- Peter and Paul Church -- View from the Tower -- + The Landskrone -- Jacob Böhme -- The Hidden Gold -- A + Theosophist's Writings -- The Tombs -- The Underground + Chapel -- A Church copied from Jerusalem -- The Public + Library -- Loebau -- Herrnhut 262 + + + CHAPTER XXVIII. + + Head-Quarters of the Moravians -- Good Buildings -- Quiet, + Cleanliness, and Order -- A Gottesdienst -- The Church -- + Simplicity -- The Ribbons -- A Requiem -- The Service -- + God's-Field -- The Tombs -- Suggestive Inscriptions -- + Tombs of the Zinzendorfs -- The Pavilion -- The Panorama -- + The Herrnhuters' Work -- An Informing Guide -- No Merry + Voices -- The Heinrichsberg -- Pretty Grounds -- The First + Tree -- An Old Wife's Gossip -- Evening Service -- A + Contrast -- The Sisters' House -- A Stroll at Sunset -- The + Night Watch 269 + + + CHAPTER XXIX. + + About Herrnhut -- Persecutions in Moravia -- A Wandering + Carpenter -- Good Tidings -- Fugitives -- Squatters on the + Hutberg -- Count Zinzendorf's Steward -- The First Tree -- + The First House -- Scoffers -- Origin of the Name -- More + Fugitives -- Foundation of the Union -- Struggles and + Encouragements -- Buildings -- Social Regulations -- Growth + of Trade -- War and Visitors -- Dürninger's Enterprise + -- Population -- Schools -- Settlements -- Missions -- Life + at Herrnhut -- Recreations -- Festivals -- Incidents of War + -- March of Troops -- Praise and Thank-Feasts 279 + + + CHAPTER XXX. + + A Word with the Reader -- From Herrnhut to Dresden -- A + Gloomy City -- The Summer Theatre -- Trip to the Saxon + Switzerland -- Wehlen -- Uttewalde Grund -- The Bastei -- + Hochstein -- The Devil's Kettle -- The Wolfschlucht -- The + Polenzthal -- Schandau -- The Kuhstall -- Great Winterberg + -- The Prebischthor -- Herniskretschen -- Return to Dresden + -- To Berlin -- English and German Railways -- The Royal + Marriage Question -- Speaking English -- A Dreary City -- + Sunday in Berlin -- Kroll's Garden -- Magdeburg -- + Wittenberg -- Hamburg -- A-top of St. Michael's -- A Walk to + Altona -- A Ride to Horn -- A North Sea Voyage -- Narrow + Escape -- Harness and Holidays 291 + + + INDEX 303 + + + + +ERRATA. + + + Page 87, last line, for visitors, read villagers. + " 153, 11 lines from bottom, for H_raba's_, read _Hraba's_. + " 153, 11 lines from bottom, for P_strossischer_, read + _Pstrossischer_. + " 172, last line of text, for Heilen, read Heiles. + + + + +A JULY HOLIDAY + +IN + +SAXONY, BOHEMIA, AND SILESIA. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + What the Bookseller said -- A Walk in Frankfort -- What the + Portress said -- Glimpses of Landscapes -- Forest and River + -- Würzburg -- Stein Wine -- View from the Citadel-hill -- + A Change of Bedrooms -- Coming to an Understanding with the + Reader -- Good Night! + + +"How happens it," I said to a bookseller in the _Zeil_, "that a map of +Bohemia is not to be had in all Frankfort?" + +"How it happens?" he answered, with a knowing smile: "because no one +ever goes to Bohemia." + +He searched and searched, as did a dozen of his fraternity whom I had +previously visited, and found maps in number of Switzerland, Tyrol, +Thuringia, Franconia, Turkey even, and Montenegro; but not the one I +wanted. + +"Such a thing is never asked for," he said, deprecatingly. "Suppose +you go to Franconia instead." + +All at once he bethought himself of an inner closet, and there he +discovered a map of Bohemia; but not a travelling map: an overcrowded +sheet that confused the eye, and promised but little assistance for +the byeways. However, under the circumstances, I took it as better +than none. + +"You will not get the map you want till you arrive at Prague," was the +sort of encouragement I got some twenty-four hours afterwards from a +Bohemian Professor in the Medical School at Würzburg. + +I saw Frankfort under all the charm of a first visit. I perambulated +the narrow streets, and the _Judengasse_, where dwell not a few of the +nine thousand Jewish residents; and stood long enough on the bridge +that bestrides the muddy Main to note the ancient towers, and the bits +of antiquity peeping up here and there in the city and the +Sachsenshausen suburb--contrasted by the modern look of the spacious +quays. And of course I saw the house in which Goethe was born, and +Dannecker's Ariadne, and the Römer, that relic of the olden time, +crowded with reminiscences of the Empire. You may see the whole line +of Emperors in panels round the wainscot of the stately hall on the +first floor; some grim warriors in plate and mail; some in scholar's +gown; some in slashed sleeves and tight hosen, and some in velvet +robes. Here, after the crown had been placed on their heads in the +adjacent cathedral, they went through certain formal ceremonies with +cumbrous pomp and held their festival, as may be read in the vivid +descriptions of Goethe's _Autobiography_. + +Having glanced at the imperial effigies from Conrad down to Francis, +and at the scene from the balcony outside, I dropped half a franc into +the hand of the lady portress, and had crossed the landing, when she +came tripping after me, and, with an air of lofty pity, returned the +coin, requesting me to "give it to a beggar." + +The gentleman in charge of the Ariadne had made me a polite bow for a +similar fee; so I complied with the lady's request, and gave the piece +of silver among five beggars, each of whom favoured me with a blessing +in return. + +At noon, on the 3rd of July, I left Frankfort for Würzburg. The +landscape at first is tame, and you will have to watch closely, in +more senses than one, as the train speeds across, for the scenes and +objects that relieve it. There are glimpses of the Taunus mountains; +of Wilhelmsbad, embowered in a pleasant wood; of Hanau, a dark-red +town, where the dark-red sandstone station is enlivened by Virginian +creeper running gracefully up the columns; and of memorable +battlefields. And of a dark-red mill, in a green grassy hollow, with +its dripping wheel; and in the middle of the garden a globe of fire +that dazzles your eye, and is nothing other than a carboy inverted on +a stake, after the Dutch manner, to serve as a mirror, in which may be +seen a panorama of the neighbourhood. And everywhere women cutting +down the rye, wearing bright red kerchiefs on their heads that rival +the poppies in splendour. + +Beyond Aschaffenburg the country improves. Wooded hills alternate with +lengthy slopes of vines, deep shady coombs, and leafy valleys, where +brooks frolic along in frequent windings, and villages nestle, and +gray church spires shoot above the tree-tops. Then parties of +woodcutters, well armed with axes and wedges, enter the train, and +each man lights his pipe, and they talk of their craft among +themselves in a rustic dialect. And the train dashes into the forest +of Spessart, and under the hills, winding hither and thither between +miles of trees, the remains, as is said, of that great Hercynian +forest which schoolboys read about in their Latin studies. The nursery +of them that overthrew Rome; and one of the haunts of Freedom before +she took refuge in the mountains, and in a certain island of the sea. + +At Lohr, a town prettily situate on the Main, the railway road and +river come near together, and the frequent windings of the stream +brighten the landscape. We saw the steamer labouring upwards on her +two days' trip from Frankfort to Würzburg. Then a village where the +Saal falls in, and more and more vines, and old walls gay with yellow +stonecrop, and on the right the ruin of Karlstadt, and by-and-by +Würzburg comes in sight, and our five hours' journey is over. + +Bavarian art attracts and gratifies your eye as you alight. The +station is an elegant structure in the Pompeiian style, ingeniously +contrived for the purposes of the railway and post-office, and yet to +preserve the architectural character. An impatient traveller might +well beguile the time by admiring the proportions, the colouring, and +the tasteful decorations along the colonnades. The building forms one +side of a square in the newest quarter of the town. + +A curious sign, the _Kleebaum_, caught my eye in the first street, and +I trusted myself beneath it. The _Kellner_ took my knapsack; asked if +"that was all," and led me high up to a small homely-furnished room on +the third floor, in which, however, the quality of cleanliness was not +wanting, and that is what an Englishman cares most about. At dinner I +treated myself to a pint of the Stein wine, for which the +neighbourhood is famous, and am prepared to add my testimony as to its +merits. The bottles have a jolly bacchanalian look about them, being +globes somewhat flattened at the sides, and contain, when honest, a +quart. The cost is from two to three florins a bottle; but a temperate +guest is allowed to drink and pay for the half only, at his pleasure. +With vineyards producing such wine around them, it is little wonder +that the Prince-Bishops were always ready to fight for their good city +of Würzburg. The _Strangers' Book_ followed the dinner as a matter of +course, and when the landlord saw that I signed my name as "from +London," and heard me inquire for the residence of one of the +Professors, he put off his natural manner and became obsequious: a +change that gave me no pleasure. + +There is more of life, more to interest the attention in Würzburg, +than in some places which are much more frequented and talked of. The +streets generally are narrow, and built in picturesque disregard of +straight lines; now widening suddenly for a brief space, now +diminishing and bending away in a new direction. And you saunter +onwards, wondering at the panelled house-fronts with their profuse +ornament: grotesque carvings of animals' heads, of clustering fruits +in bold relief at the intersections; windows with quaint canopies and +curiously-wrought gratings; fanciful door-heads and gables; in short, +a variety of architectural conceits on which your eye will fondly +linger. Now, at a corner, you come upon an ancient turret with conical +roof, now a sculptured fountain, now images of the Virgin or some of +the saints over the doors; and anon huge statues of the Bishops remind +you of the men who built and prayed for Würzburg. So numerous are the +churches erected to perpetuate their memory or adorn their +inheritance, that you need not go many yards whenever you feel +inclined to meditate in a "dim religious light." + +You meet numbers of soldiers, for there is a citadel beyond the river, +and water-bearers with their tall tubs slung on their backs going to +or from the fountains, and now and then a peasant woman with conical +hat and skirts the very opposite of the fashion; and except that +nearly all the women you see are bareheaded, there is nothing else +remarkable in costume. + +Stroll to the river-side; what prodigious piles of firewood at one +side of the quay, and what a busy fleet of barges moored on the other. +The Main here is about as wide as the Thames at Richmond, and is +spanned by a bridge quite in keeping with the city. At either end +stands an arched gateway, with statues niched in the massive masonry, +and saints above the rounded piers. + +Cross the bridge, and mount the citadel-hill on the left bank, and you +will have a surprise. The hill terminates in a craggy precipice, +crowned by the stronghold and its defences, and you look down on +shelfy gardens planted here and there among the rocks; and over the +whole city. The river flows by in a bold curve, cutting off a small +suburb from the main portion of the city, which spreads, +crescent-formed, on the opposite shore. An imposing scene. Thirty-one +towers, spires, domes, and steeples spring from the great masses and +ridges of dark-red lofty roofs, and these are everywhere dotted with +rows of little windows which resemble a half-opened eye. Indeed, the +curved line of the tiles makes the resemblance so complete, that you +can easily fancy the eyes are taking a sly peep at what is going on +below, or winking at the sunbeams, as a prelude to falling asleep for +the night. + +The sun was dropping behind me in the west, and before me lay the +city, looking glorious in the golden light. Row after row of the +sleepy eyes caught the ray with a momentary twinkle; the gilded +weathercocks flashed and glistened, and the reflection falling on the +river made pathways of quivering light across the ripples. + +Presently eight struck from the cathedral, and the clocks of all the +churches followed, each with its own peculiar note. One or two solemn +and sonorous, in imitation of the big bell; others shrill and saucy, +as if they alone had the right to record the march of the silent +footsteps; a few sedate, and one irresolute. Now here, now there, now +yonder, as if the striking never would cease, and suggesting strange +analogies between clocks and the race who wind them up. + +Trees rise here and there among the houses, and form a green belt +round the city, thickest in the gardens of the royal palace, a stately +edifice comprising among its two hundred and eighty-four rooms the +suite in which the Emperors used to lodge when on their way to be +crowned at Frankfort. And beyond the trees begin the vines, acre after +acre to the tops of the whole encircling rim of hills. Broad slopes +teeming with wine and gladness of heart, but looking bald in the +distance from want of trees. One of these hills--the _Köppele_, so +named from a chapel on the summit--is a favourite resort of the +inhabitants, who perhaps find in the view therefrom a sufficient +reward for a long ascent, unrefreshed by shade or rustling leaves. + +Seen from the hill, Würzburg is said to resemble Prague; not without +reason, as I afterwards found. It would be, in my opinion, the more +pleasing picture of the two, were its frame set off and beautified by +patches of forest. + +I kept my seat on the outward angle of a thick wall till the golden +light, sliding slowly up the hills, at last vanished from their brow, +and left the whole valley in shadow. Then I went down and sauntered +about the streets, while the gloom within the porticos and gateways, +behind buttresses and up the narrow alleys, deepened and deepened; and +ended by discovering a stranger willing to talk in a well-lighted +coffee-house. + +On my return to the _Kleebaum_ the _Kellner_ lit two candles, and +conducted me, not to the little room "up three pair," but to the best +bedroom on the first floor. + +What magic in that little item--"from London!" + +Now, gracious reader, suppose we come to an understanding before I +get into bed. You are already aware that I am going to Bohemia, not to +scale snow-crowned mountains, or plunge into awful gorges, for there +are none. The highest summit we shall have to climb together is under +five thousand feet; and there is none of that tremendous and +magnificent scenery which is to be seen in Switzerland and Tyrol. If, +however, you are willing to accompany me to a peculiar country--one +which, like Ireland, is most picturesque around its borders--rich in +memorials of the past and in historical associations, fertile and +industrious, we will journey lovingly together. Now on foot, though +perhaps not so much as usual; now a flight by rail, or a steam-boat +trip, or by diligence or wagon, according as the circumstances befall. +We shall find on the way occasion for discourse, somewhat to observe, +for the people are remarkable, and subjects to read about; improving +the hours as best we may. + +Our next halt shall be at the old Saxon town of Altenburg, where there +is something to be seen and heard of worth remembering; then over the +_Erzgebirge_ to Carlsbad, the bathing-place of kings, and through the +rustic villages to Prague. Then to the _Mittelgebirge_; down the Elbe, +to a scene of rural life and industry; away to the _Riesengebirge_--the +mountains haunted by Rübezahl--and the wonderful rocks of Adersbach. +Then over the frontier into Silesia, to Herrnhut, the head-quarters of +the Moravians, to Dresden and the Saxon Switzerland, Berlin, +Magdeburg, and Hamburg, from whence a voyage across the North Sea will +bring us home again. + +It may be that this scheme is not to your liking. If so, we can part +company here, and you will perhaps never read the completion of that +"Story of the King of Bohemia and his Seven Castles," which Corporal +Trim began for Uncle Toby and never finished. + +And so, good night! + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + Würzburg -- The University -- Red, Green, and Orange Caps + -- The Marienkapelle -- The Market -- The Cathedral -- The + Palace -- Spacious Cellars -- A Professor's Hospitality -- + To Bamberg -- Frost -- Hof -- A Shabby Peace -- The + Arch-Poisoner -- Dear Bread -- A Prime Minister Hanged -- + Altenburg -- The Park -- The Castle -- Reminiscences and + Antiquities -- The Chapel -- The Princes' Vault -- Wends -- + Costumes in the Market-place -- Female Cuirassiers -- More + about the Wends -- Grossen Teich -- The Plateau -- The + Cemetery -- Werdau. + + +Würzburg is now the chief town of the Circle of the Lower Main; it was +once the capital of a principality governed by a line of eighty +bishops, and figures prominently in German history. The University, +founded in 1403, is deservedly famous, having numbered among its +professors many of first-rate abilities: a distinction it still +retains. What with schools, with resources in art and science, +cultivated society, and ample means of recreation, the old city is an +agreeable residence. + +Under the guidance of Professor Kölliker, I visited the botanic +garden, the anatomical museum, and the medical school, which is one of +the best in Europe. The Julius Hospital, a noble institution, founded +by one of the Prince-Bishops, whose statue is erected not far from the +building, affords opportunities for study seldom found in provincial +towns. The students, after the manner of their kind, form themselves +into societies distinguished by the colour of their caps, as you will +soon discover by meeting continually in the streets little groups of +red, green, or orange caps, marking the three divisions. + +Then, while the Professor lectured to his class, I strolled away to +the market-place, and saw how the women, leaving their shoulder-baskets +at the door of the _Marienkapelle_--Mary Chapel--went in and recited a +few prayers, kneeling on the floor. A commendable preparation, I +thought, for the work of buying and selling. The mounds of vegetables +in frequent rows, and numerous baskets of cherries and strawberries, +with heaps of fresh dewy flowers between, the many red kerchiefs and +moving throng, and the wares displayed at the wooden booths, made up +an animated spectacle. Live geese roosting contentedly in shallow +baskets awaiting their sale without an effort to escape, were +remarkable among the enticements of the poultry-market. A few yards +farther were little stalls with rolls of butter, resembling in shape a +ship's topsail-yard, alternating with piles of lumps or rather dabs of +butter, each wrapped in a piece of old newspaper. These were bought by +poor folk. + +The _Marienkapelle_ is a fine specimen of pointed Gothic, with a +graceful spire, which having become dilapidated and unsafe, was +undergoing repair at the time of my visit. The inside is spoiled by +overmuch whitewash, and the outside by an irregular row of petty +shops--an uncouth plinthe--around the base; and this is not the only +church in the city which has its character and fair proportions marred +by such clustering barnacles. + +On the spot where the cathedral now stands rearing its four towers +aloft, St. Killian, an Irish missionary, was martyred more than a +thousand years ago. The lofty arched nave is supported by square +columns, of which the lower portions are hidden by pictures. Marble +statues of the Bishops, with sword and crosier in hand, betokening +their twofold character of priest and warrior, are ranged along the +walls; and the whole interior has a bright and cheerful aspect. + +Of the other churches, I need not say more than that the New Minster +enjoys the honour of possessing St. Killian's bones; that St. Peter's +at Rome is reproduced in the church of St. John; and that St. +Burkhardt's, at the foot of the citadel-hill, is built in the round +style. + +The spacious grounds and gardens of the palace are well laid out. +There are umbrageous avenues, terraces, fountains, paths winding among +flower-beds and away under the trees and through the shrubberies to +nooks of complete solitude. In some parts the plantations are left +untrimmed, and give an air of wildness to the scene. In the rear, +steps lead to the top of the wall, from whence you may look over +greater part of the grounds, and fancy yourself in a region of forest. +The townsfolk have free access; and you meet now and then a solitary +student poring over his book, or groups of strollers, or nursemaids +with troops of children. The palace, which dates from the year 1720, +shows the consequences of neglect. Hohenschwangau has greater +attractions for the royal family than Würzburg; and now, after a view +of the staircase and chapel, there is nothing in the rusty and faded +apartments that once exhibited the magnificence of the Bishops to +detain you. The cellars are large enough to contain 2200 tuns of wine. +What rollicking nights the retainers must have had! + +The Professor proved himself not less hospitable than learned. We +dined together, and he introduced me to one of his colleagues, the +Bohemian mentioned in the second page, who gave me a letter to his +father at Prague. And then, after a sojourn of twenty-four hours, I +departed. + +To see Nuremberg, and journey from thence into Bohemia, across the +_Böhmerwaldgebirge_, had been in my thoughts; but finding on inquiry +that more time would be required for that route than I could spare, I +decided for Saxony. So, away to Bamberg, sixty miles distant, the +starting-place of the Leipzig and Nuremberg trains. There was an hour +to wait, and then in deep twilight on we went for Altenburg. + +Although the night was in July, I shivered with cold. The temperature, +indeed, was remarkable. Three days previously I had seen white frost +between Aix-la-Chapelle and Cologne, and for the first ten nights of +the month frosts occurred all over Germany. At two o'clock we came to +Hof, where there was a change of train, and time to drink a cup of +coffee, doubly acceptable under the circumstances. The country around +is bleak, a region of bare low hills, of unfavourable repute owing to +its cold. A farmer who came into the train told us there was thin ice +on the ponds. Here and there the hollows were filled with a dense +mist, and resembled vast lakes, and the outlook was so cheerless that +I was glad to sleep, till sunrise, with its splendours, woke up our +drowsy party to welcome light and warmth. + +What a change since the former year! Then the war was all the topic +among those who were thrown together while travelling. Now, Sebastopol +and the Crimea seemed clean forgotten, and no one had a word to say +even about the Sick Man at Constantinople. No, all was changed, and +talkers busied their tongues concerning the "shabby peace," as they +called it, the dearness of food, and--William Palmer. The +simple-minded Bavarians could not understand why England should have +been so magnanimous towards her Muscovitish antagonist, until it was +suggested to them that France, having come to the bottom of her purse +notwithstanding all the flourishes to the contrary, the war had to be +ended. + +"And could England have kept on?" + +"Yes, for forty years, if necessary." + +"What a country!" they exclaimed--"what gigantic wealth!" And then +they wondered that peace had not brought lower prices, and talked with +grave faces and timorous forebodings about the dearness of bread. +Scarcely a place did I visit where bread was not dearer than in +London. + +But the arch-poisoner was the prevailing theme; and eager discussions +on the incidents of his trial and execution showed how widespread was +the excitement he had occasioned. Even in little towns I saw _Prozess +gegen William Palmer_ for sale in the booksellers' windows. The +Germans, however, thought theirs the best law, as it inflicts +perpetual imprisonment only, and not death, in cases where the poison +is not discovered in the body of the victim; and they would by no +means agree that to hang a villain out of the way whether or no, was +the preferable alternative. While the talk was going on, some one was +sure to tell of what took place when the news of the execution was +flashed from England. _Palmer is hanged_, was the brief yet fearful +despatch. The clerk who received it, by some strange fatality, read +_Palmer_ as an abbreviation of _Palmerston_; and within an hour all +Germany was startled by the news, and bewildered with speculations as +to the causes which had induced the exemplary English nation to get +rid of their Prime Minister by so summary a process. "_Palmerston +gehänget!_" ejaculated one after another, with a chuckle. + +At seven o'clock we arrived at Altenburg. A night in a railway train +is not the best preparation for a day of sight-seeing. However, after +the restorative of a wash and breakfast at the _Bayerische Hof_, the +first hotel that presented itself, I crossed the road to the grounds +belonging to the castle. By a bold undulating slope, laid out as an +English park, you mount to a plateau, where a well-kept garden +contrasts agreeably with the tall avenues and grouped masses of +foliage. Small pleasure-houses stand here and there among the trees, +and you see a pavilion built in the style of a Greek temple. A little +farther, and there are the ducal opera-house, the orangery, and the +stables--a handsome range of buildings. And beyond is the Little +Forest--_Wäldchen_--enclosed by a wall, where, among the stately +trees, you may see two, the Princes' Oaks--_Prinzeneichen_--so named +from an interesting event in Saxon history, of which we shall perhaps +have some particulars by-and-by. The plateau, moreover, commands views +of a fertile and well-wooded country all broken up by low hills, the +lowest slopes of the Ore mountains--_Erzgebirge_--which show their +dark swelling outlines far away in the south. + +You descend suddenly into a gap, which isolates an eminence--the hill +of Stirling in miniature--terminating in a porphyry cliff, crowned by +the castle. A convenient ascent brings you into an irregular +court-yard, shut in on opposite sides by the oldest and newest parts +of the building. Architecture of the thirteenth century mated +curiously with that of the eighteenth; and both occupying the site of +what was already a fortress in the tenth. The castle owes its present +form to the Dukes Friedrich the Second and Third, who, in 1744, +completed their thirty-eight years of alterations. + +The place is a strange medley. Gray, weatherbeaten walls, with square +towers and jutting turrets, intruded on by modern masonry--Neptune in +his cockle-shell car in the midst of a fountain, and sentries pacing +up and down, and soldiers lounging about their shabby-looking +quarters--grim passages, and uncomfortable chambers. The Austrian +arms, which you may yet see cut in the stone over a doorway, mark the +granary built by the Electress Margaret for stores of corn, in order +that, when grain became dear, she might save the townsfolk from +hunger. A little farther and you come to the _Mantelthurm_, a round +tower, with walls seven yards thick, commonly called the _Bottle_, +from the form of its slated roof. It has two ugly chambers, which +were used as dungeons up to 1641, after which it did duty as a +magazine; and now the lower part is a cinder-hole. Adjoining is the +_Jünkerei_--once the pages' quarters--in which are certain official +apartments and the armoury. The Imperialists plundered the castle, +during the Thirty Years' War, of most of its treasures and +curiosities; and later, many specimens of mediæval armour were carried +off to Coburg, leaving little besides objects which have an intimate +relation with Saxon history. Weapons old and new, banners, garments, +paraphernalia used in ducal funerals, and many things which belonged +to persons connected with the Robbery of the Princes (_Prinzenraub_). +In recent times a museum of antiquities has been added: articles of +furniture, books, and other rarities which perpetuate the memory of +eminent individuals--urns and other funereal remains dug up in the +neighbourhood--ethnographical specimens chiefly from Australia and the +Sunda Islands--and a collection of china, presented by the Minister +Baron von Lindenau. + +The palace, or modern portion of the castle, dates from 1706. The +castellan will conduct you through the throne-room, the great hall, +where hang life-size pictures of the dukes on horseback by whom the +place was built, and paintings of historical scenes, and other +apartments bright with gilding and hung with elegant draperies. + +The church, built in the old German style, on the spot once occupied +by the castle chapel, contains banners, and paintings, and numerous +monuments and tablets to the memory of the princely personages buried +beneath, and some admirable specimens of oak carving. To read their +names as you pass along is a lesson in Saxon genealogy. Among them is +that of the Electress Margaret, whose remains, after a rest of more +than three centuries, were removed to the Princes' Vault, the door to +which, studded with iron stars, you may see in the nave. But, in 1846, +Duke Joseph caused the old tomb to be cleared out and repaired, and +honouring the memory of her whose name is yet revered in Saxony, had +her coffin restored to its former place with solemn ceremony. + +From the balconies or the tower you have a good view of the town lying +beneath on a steep hill-slope, with its large ponds, and many ups and +downs. And all around lie fields, and gardens, and rich pastures, +bearing fruitful testimony to the good husbandry of the Wends. + +The main approach to the castle is by a road winding with an easy +slope up the steep side of the hill. Its upper extremity is crowned by +a gateway in the Romanesque style, and where its lower end sinks to +the level of the road stand two obelisks--pyramids as they are +called--bearing on their pedestals a statue of Hercules and Minerva. + +The streets were full of life and bustle, for it was market day, and +the Wends coming into the town from all quarters increased the novelty +of the sight by their singular costume. The men wear a flat cloth cap, +a short tight jacket drawn into plaits behind, and decorated in front +with as many buttons as may be seen on the breast of a Paddingtonian +page, loose baggy breeches, and tight boots up to the knee. You will, +perhaps, think it a misfortune that the breeches are not longer, for +all below is spindle-shanky, in somewhat ludicrous contrast with the +amplitude above, and the broad, big foot. How such a foot finds its +way through so narrow a boot-leg is not easy to guess. The men are +generally tall, with oval faces of a quiet, honest expression. + +But the women!--they are something to wonder at. Most of them are +bareheaded: some wear a close plain cap, which throws out their round +chubby faces in full relief; some display a curiously padded blue +horseshoe, kept in place by a belt that hides the ears, from which two +red streamers hang down their back; and others content themselves with +a ribbon, tying their hair behind in a flat wide bow. Their gown is +long in the sleeves and short in the skirt--short as a Highlander's +kilt, which it very much resembles, and is in most instances of a +carpet-like texture. Plum-colour, blue, pink, and green, dotted with +bright flowers or crossed by stripes, are the prevailing patterns; +their gay tints relieving the sombre blue and black of the men. The +skirt is made to fit pretty closely, much more so, indeed, than the +men's breeches, and as it descends no lower than the knee, you can see +that if Nature is niggard to the men she is generous to the women. +Such an exhibition of well-developed legs in blue worsted stockings I +never before witnessed. + +Some of the younger ones had put on their summer stockings of white +cotton, and, with bodice and skirt of different patterns, went +strutting about apparently well pleased with themselves. But they +have another peculiarity besides the kilt: they all, young and old, +wear a species of cuirass, secured at the waist and rising to their +chin. I judged it to be made of light wood, covered with black stuff. +It gives them a grotesque appearance when looked at from the front or +sideways; suggesting an idea of human turtles, or descendants of a +race of Amazons. Some sat at their stalls with their chin resting on +it, or face half hidden behind; and many times did I notice the +breastplate pushed down to make room for the mouth to open when the +wearer wished to speak--the pushings down being not less frequent than +the shrugs of ladies in other places to keep their silly bonnets on. +Even little girls wear the cuirass, and very remarkable objects they +are. + +The spacious area of the market-place, enclosed by antique houses, was +thronged. Wendish women sitting in long rows behind their baskets of +cherries and heaps of vegetables; others arriving with fresh supplies +on low wheelbarrows, their white legs twinkling everywhere in the +sunshine. And many more who had come to buy roving busily from one +wooden booth to another among all sorts of wares--books, ironmongery, +jewelry, cakes and confectionery, coarse gray crockery, tubs and +buckets, deep trays and kneading troughs chopped from one block; but +the drapers and haberdashers, with their stores of gaudy kerchiefs and +gay tartans and piles of stockings, attracted the most numerous +customers. There was a brisk sale of sausages and bread--large, flat, +round loaves (weighing 12lb. English) of black rye bread, at one +groschen the pound, which was considered dear. + +The men wandered about among the scythes, rakes, and wooden shovels, +or the stalls of pipes and cutlery, or gathered round the ricketty +wagons laden with small sacks of grain and meal which were continually +arriving, led by one of the tribe in dusty boots. And all the while +the townsfolk came crowding in to make their weekly purchases till +there was scarcely room to move. + +Such a scene is to me far more interesting than a picture-gallery. I +went to and fro in the throng hearkening with pleasure to the various +voices, watching the buying and selling, and noting the honest, +cheerful faces of many of the women. Then escaping, I could survey the +whole market-place from the rising ground at its upper end, and +contemplate at leisure the living picture, framed by houses and shops +in the olden style, among which, on one side, rises the ancient +_Rathhaus_. It was built in 1562 with the stones of a church given to +the corporation by Duke Johann, whose portrait you may see hanging in +the hall inside among electors and dukes, and their wives; and, ever +since, it has been used for weddings, dances, and religious meetings, +as well as for the grave business of the council and police. Opposite +the entrance, the date 1770, inserted with black pebbles into the +paving, marks the spot where the last beheading took place under +authority of the council. + +The Wends are the descendants of a Sclavonic tribe, which, according +to ethnologists, migrated from the shores of the Adriatic more than a +thousand years ago, carrying in their name (_Wend_ or _Wand_) a proof +of having once lived by the sea. They are remarkable for the tenacity +of their adherence to ancient habits and customs, which may, perhaps, +account for their still being a distinct people among the Germans by +whom they are surrounded. And they are not less remarkable for +honesty, health, and an amount of agricultural skill, which +distinguishes them from their neighbours. They are clever and +successful in rearing cattle; they get on, and save money; and the +women have the reputation of being most excellent nurses. The Bohemian +peasant on the farther side of the mountains used, if he does not now, +when his children were born, to stretch them out, sometimes at the end +of a pole, towards the country of the Wends, that the infant might +grow up as able and lucky as they. One of their immemorial practices, +still kept up, is to talk to their bees, and tell them of all +household incidents, and especially of a death in the family. Their +number is two hundred thousand, all within the limits of Lusatia. + +A much-frequented promenade is the dam of the Great Pond--_Grossen +Teich_--on the southern side of the town, which, planted with +chestnuts and limes, forms a series of green and shady alleys, with a +pleasant prospect across gardens and meadows to the village of +Altendorf. Swans glide about on the surface of the water, which covers +sixteen acres, and a gondola plies to a small wooded island in the +centre, resorted to by lovers and picnic parties. A short distance +northwards lies the Little Pond, bordered by rows of poplars, and +three other ponds in different parts of the town are also made to +contribute to its attractions. + +Another pleasure-ground is the "Plateau," on an eminence between the +railway station and the road to Leipzig, from which you may wander +through shady alleys to the old ruin of Alexisburg. The cemetery, on a +hill to the west of the town, is worth a visit for a sight of some of +the tombs, among which appears the entrance to the new Princes' Vault, +constructed in 1837, in the form of a small chapel, lighted by +richly-stained glass windows, through the floor of which the coffins +are lowered to the vault beneath. On St. John's Day the cemetery is +thronged by the townsfolk, decorating the graves of their departed +friends with flowers. + +After a visit to all these places, and a peep into the two churches in +which Luther once preached--the Bartholomäikirche and the +Brüderkirche--I travelled on to Zwickau, and as there is little to be +seen on the way besides fields, low hills, and the tall-chimneyed, +smoking, stocking-weaving town of Werdau, we will glance at an +interesting event in Saxon history incidentally alluded to in the +foregoing pages. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + Origin of Altenburg -- Prosperous Burghers -- A Princely + Crime -- Hussite Plunderers -- Luther's Visits -- French + Bonfire -- Electress Margaret's Dream -- Kunz von + Kauffungen -- "Don't burn the Fish" -- A Conspiracy -- + Midnight Robbers -- Two Young Princes Stolen -- The Flight + -- The Alarm -- The Köhler -- The Rescue -- Kunz Beheaded + -- The _Triller's_ Reward, and what a famous Author said + concerning it. + + +Wends had long peopled the Pleissengau when King Henry I.--the Fowler, +as his contemporaries named him--conquered it during one of his many +inroads among his neighbours, and made it part of the _Osterland_ +early in the tenth century. The newly-won territory was soon settled +by German colonists, who, finding an ancient fortification on the +summit of a bluff, rocky hill, called it _alte Burg_, whence the +present name of the town and principality of Altenburg. Henry, or his +successor, Otho, built a castle on the hill, no portion of which, or +of the one which replaced it, now remains. The town is first mentioned +in a document of the year 986. Its story is the old one: family feud, +rapine and revenge, chivalry and heroism, intermingled with quaint and +quiet glimpses of social life, characteristic of the "dark ages." +Earliest among its possessors were the Hohenstaufens; latest are the +Hildburghausens. At one time it was imperial; at another independent; +now pledged or given away by an emperor; now held by a duke. In 1286 +its prosperity was such that the burghers went carried in sedan-chairs +to the council-house, and their wives walked to church festivals on +carpets spread before them in the street. + +Six years later Friedrich the Bitted quarrelled with Adolf von Nassau +for having pledged Altenburg to King Wenzel of Bohemia; whereupon +Adolf invited Friedrich to a Christmas feast, and while he sat at +table employed a ruffian to murder him, as the speediest way of +settling the dispute. The blow, however, fell on the wrist of a +burgher of Freiberg who rushed between, and lost his hand in +preventing the crime. Friedrich escaped, changed his dress, and, under +cover of night, fled the city; but, having gained a battle in the +interval, he returned as ruler in 1307. The scene of this malignant +assault is supposed to have been a house in the market-place. + +Then came a succession of Friedrichs: the Earnest, the Strong, the +Warlike, the Quarrelsome, the Mild, and such like. It was in 1430, +during the lifetime of the last mentioned, that those fierce +Reformers, the Hussites, came across the mountains and made an inroad +into the principality. They chose Three-Kings' Day for their attack on +the town, which was abandoned to them by the inhabitants, who fled to +neighbouring villages, or took refuge in the castle; and, having burnt +and plundered to the satisfaction of their cupidity or their +conscience during four days, they left the place to recover as best it +might. + +The same Elector, Friedrich the Mild, married the Austrian Princess +Margaret--fit wife for such a prince, if we may judge from her +endeavours to prevent bread becoming too dear for the townsfolk. + +Luther was in Altenburg from the 3rd to the 9th of January, 1519, to +hold a conference with Karl von Miltitz, the papal legate. The two met +in the house of George Spalatin, who became a firm friend of the great +Reformer. Luther visited the town also when on his famous journey to +Worms, and on several occasions afterwards. + +The council-house was the scene of a religious conference from +October, 1568, to March of the following year. The parties in presence +were--the theologians of Electoral Saxony on the one hand, of Ducal +Saxony on the other; and among the subjects mooted they discussed the +questions, "Whether good works were needful for salvation?" and, +"Whether man can co-operate in the attainment of his own salvation?" +and with the usual result; for the disputants separated without coming +to a decision. + +The old town suffered from the disasters and commotions of the +Peasants' War. The Imperialists quartered themselves upon it after the +fatal battle of Lützen. The troubles of the Seven Years' War fell upon +it, and of the campaigns that ended in the downfall of Napoleon. In +1810, the French commissioners seized a quantity of English +manufactures in possession of resident merchants, and made a great +bonfire therewith in the market-place. In 1813, the Emperors of +Austria and Russia and the King of Prussia visited the town, and in +the same year it afforded quarters to 671 generals, 46,617 officers, +and 472,399 ordinary troops. + +Now we must go back for awhile to the year 1455, the times of +Friedrich the Mild. On the night of the 6th of July in that year the +Electress Margaret, his wife, dreamt that two young oaks, growing in a +forest near the castle, were torn up by a wild boar. Herein her +maternal heart foreboded danger to the two princes Ernest and Albert, +both still in their boyhood. The times were indeed disquieting, what +with Hussite wars, territorial quarrels, and the ominous foretokens of +the coming Reformation. Mild as Friedrich was, he, too, had had some +fighting with his brother, Duke Wilhelm, about their lands. Among his +officers was a certain Conrad, or, as he was commonly called, Kunz von +Kauffungen, formerly captain of the castle, who, through +disappointment, had come to entertain two causes of quarrel against +his master. One was that, having been sent to surprise and capture +Gera, he was taken himself, and only recovered his liberty by payment +of four thousand florins ransom. Of this sum Kunz claimed +reimbursement from the Elector, and met with denial. The second was, a +demand for the restoration of estates of which he had been granted +temporary possession, but which, defying legal authorities, he refused +to give up until the coveted four thousand florins should be once more +in his pocket. Chafing under his twofold grievance, he broke out into +threats of reprisal, to which Friedrich answered jocularly, "Don't +burn the fish in the ponds." + +Baffled and exasperated, Kunz devised a scheme for bringing the +question to a speedy issue: persuaded Hans Schwalbe, one of the +scullions at the castle, into his interest; concerted measures with +his brother Dietrich von Kauffungen, Wilhelm von Mosen, and others, +thirty-seven altogether, and watched his opportunity. + +Treacherous Schwalbe failed not in the service required of him, and +gave information of the Elector's absence: called away by affairs to +Leipzig. Whereupon Kunz and his confederates, mounting to horse, rode +to Altenburg, and halted under cover of a wood--where now the +pleasure-ground is laid out at the foot of the castle--between eleven +and twelve in the night of the 7th of July. Finding all quiet, he sent +his body-servant, Hans Schweinitz, forward to fix a rope ladder, with +Schwalbe's help, at a window above the steepest side of the rock, and, +following with Mosen, the two climbed up and got into the castle. Once +in, they hastened to the chamber of the young princes, and each +seizing one, made their way to the gate. But, instead of Albert, the +little Count Barby had been picked up. Kunz was no sooner aware of the +mistake, than, giving Ernest, whom he carried, into Mosen's arms, he +hurried back with the terrified count, and brought out Albert. +Quicker, however, than the robbery was the spread of an alarm. The +Electress, apprehensive, perhaps, because of her dream on the previous +night, appeared at a window, imploring Kunz to restore her children, +and promising to intercede with the Elector in favour of his demands. +Her entreaties and lamentations fell on deaf ears; Mosen had already +made good his retreat, and Kunz speedily followed him through the +gate, which was easily opened, there being but a single invalid on +guard. The time was singularly favourable for the success of the plot, +as nearly all the residents and functionaries were enjoying +themselves at a feast given by the Chancellor in the town. + +The alarm-bell began to ring. Mosen and the others galloped off with +their prize, and Kunz, mounting his horse with young Albert before +him, and attended by Schweinitz, lost no time in making for the +frontier. If Isenburg could be reached before the pursuers came up, +the game would be in his own hands. On they went in the dim night +through the Rabensteiner Forest, along rugged and darksome ways, where +they wandered from the track, their horses stumbled or floundered in +miry holes, forced to choose the wildest and least-frequented routes, +for dogs were barking and alarm-bells ringing in all the villages, +warning honest folk that knaves were abroad. The dewy morning dawned, +birds twittered among the branches, the sun arose, daylight streamed +into the forests, and still the fugitives urged their panting horses +onwards. A few hours later the young prince, worn out by want of rest +and the increasing heat, complained of thirst; whereupon Kunz, though +still a half-score miles from the Bohemian frontier, halted not far +from the village of Elterlein, and crept about in the wood to pluck +berries for the boy's refreshment. While the captain was thus +occupied, a certain charcoal-burner--George Schmidt by name--at work +near the spot, attracted by the glint of armour between the trees, +approached the halting-place, made suspicious, perhaps, by the +alarm-bells. To his surprise, he saw horses showing marks of hasty +travel, and a fair-haired boy well attired, who said at once, "I am +the young prince. They have stolen me." No sooner spoken than the +_Köhler_, running up to Kunz, who was still stooping over the +berries, felled him with a blow of the stout pole which he used in +tending his fires. A shout brought up a gang of his comrades, sturdy +fellows with long hair and grimy faces, who promptly laid hold of Kunz +and Schweinitz, bound their hands, and carried them off for safe +keeping to the neighbouring monastery of Grünhain. Thither also was +the young Albert borne in friendly arms, and from thence, on the +following day, an escort, among whom went the _Köhler_, conducted him +back to his weeping mother--a real triumphal procession by the time +they arrived at Altenburg. + +Mosen and his troop, meanwhile, had betaken themselves to a +hiding-place not far from the castle of Stein, on the right bank of +the Mulde, about half way towards the frontier. While some made good +their retreat to secret quarters, the principals concealed themselves +with Prince Ernest in a rocky cave screened by trees, waiting for a +favourable opportunity to renew their flight. But hearing, while on +their look-out, sundry passers-by talk of the capture of unlucky Kunz, +they sent a messenger to Friedrich von Schonburg at Hartenstein, +offering to deliver up the prince on condition that they should be +left free to depart unmolested. The condition was granted: they gave +up their captive, and were seen no more in all the province; and +Schonburg conveyed Ernest to Chemnitz, where he was received by his +father the Elector. + +Unlucky Kunz having been carefully escorted to Freiberg, was there +beheaded on the 14th of July--an example to knightly kidnappers. On +the next day the _Köhler's_ homely gaberdine and the garments of the +princes were hung up in the church at Ebersdorf, not far from the +scene of the rescue. As for the _Köhler_ himself, he had but to speak +his wishes, for the Electress, in the joy of her heart at the +restoration of her sons, could not sufficiently reward the man who had +saved the younger. "I worried them right well"--(_wohl getrillt_)--he +said, when recounting how he had laid about him with his pole at the +time of the rescue; and ever afterwards was he known as the _Triller_. +His wishes were modest enough;--a little bit of land, and liberty to +hunt and cut wood in the forest--and amply were they gratified. + +Such is in brief the story of the _Prinzenraub_, as it happened four +hundred years ago--a memorable event in Saxon history. A walled-up +window in the castle at Altenburg, on the side towards the Pauritzer +Pond, is said to indicate the place where in the former building the +robbers entered. The Princes' Oaks still flourish; and the cave in +which Ernest was hidden is still known as the _Prinzenhöhle_. And our +own history is involved in the event, for from that same Ernest +descends the Consort of our Queen. + +To most English readers the _Prinzenraub_ was an unknown story until a +few years ago, when Thomas Carlyle published it from his vigorous pen +in the _Westminster Review_, where all the circumstances are brought +before us in the very vividness of life. "Were I touring in those +parts, I would go and see," says the author, referring to the rumour +that the estate bestowed on the _Triller_ remained still in possession +of his posterity. By inquiry at Altenburg, I learned that this estate +lay in the neighbourhood of Zwickau, so, as I also was bound for the +Bohemian frontier, I did go and see on the way. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + Zwickau -- Beer Bridge -- Beer Mount -- The Triller Estate + -- Triller Bierbrauerei -- The Braumeister -- The Beer -- + Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Prinzenraub -- A Friendly + Clerk -- "You will have a Tsigger?" -- Historical Portraits + -- A Good Name for a Brewery -- A Case of Disinterestedness + -- Up the Church Tower -- The Prospect -- Princess + Schwanhildis -- The Fire-god Zwicz -- Luther's Table -- The + Church -- Geysers -- Petrified Beds -- Historical Houses -- + Walk to Oberhaselau -- The Card-players -- The Wagoners. + + +The dark roofs of a few dull streets, a lofty old church tower, the +tall chimneys, and clouds of steam and smoke of a busy suburb, rising +amid orchards, gardens, and hop-grounds in the pleasant and +thickly-wooded valley of the Mulde, are the features presented by +Zwickau as you approach it from the terminus. There needs no long +research to discover that the _Prinzenraub_ is a household word among +the people: hanging on the wall in the hotel you may see engravings of +the _Prinzenhöhle_, the castle of Stein, the monastery at Grünhain, +and other places incidental to the robbery; and the waiters are ready +to tell you that the Triller estate lies near Eckersbach, about half +an hour's walk to the east of the town. + +On my way thither I crossed the Mulde, a lively stream, flowing +between steep slopes of trees, broken here and there by a red +fern-fringed cliff. A Saxon liking--one which the Anglo-Saxon has not +forgotten--is betrayed in the name of the bridge--Beer Bridge; it +leads to Beer Mount, which conceals within its cool and dark interior +countless barrels of the national beverage. While walking up the +hollow road that winds round the hill, you see on one side the +entrances to the deeply excavated cellars, on the other a tavern, +overshadowed by linden-trees, offering refreshing temptations to the +thirsty visitor. + +The road presently rising across open fields brings you in sight of a +pile of huge bright-red brick buildings, erected on the farther side +of a deep, narrow dell, contrasting well with the green of a cherry +orchard and woods in the rear. There lies the _Triller_ estate. Times +are changed; and where the sinewy _Köhler_ tilled his field and reared +his family, now stands a brewery--_Triller Bierbrauerei_. The wakeful +genius of trade has taken possession, and finds in the patriotic +sentiment inspired by the history of the place a handsome source of +profit. + +I addressed myself to the _Braumeister_--_Brewmaster_--who on hearing +that one of England's foremost authors had published the story of the +_Prinzenraub_, manifested a praiseworthy readiness to satisfy my +curiosity. The estate had long been out of the hands of the _Triller_ +family, so long that he could not remember the time--perhaps fifty +years. But the _Trillers_ were not extinct: one was living at +Freiberg, and two others elsewhere in Saxony. The place now belongs to +a company, under whose management _Triller_ beer has become famous in +all the country round; and not undeservedly, as I from experience am +prepared to affirm. There is a large garden, with paths winding among +the trees, and open places bestrewn with tables and chairs enough for +the innumerable guests who quench their thirst at the brewery. + +As we strolled about the premises, the _Braumeister_ called my +attention to a writing over the main entrance-- + + _Dulcius ex ipso fonte bibuntur aquæ_, + +remarking that he had never known a visitor disposed to quarrel with +it. Then, abandoning his laconic phrases, he told me how the four +hundredth anniversary of the _Prinzenraub_ had been celebrated on the +8th of July, 1855. It was a day to be remembered in all the places +made historic by the event. From Schedewitz, on the farther side of +Zwickau, a long procession had walked to the Brewery, under triumphal +arches erected on the way. First came a troop of Coalers, in forest +garb, then friends of the company on foot and in wagons, and bands of +music; altogether eight hundred persons, and among them the three +_Trillers_. Airs were played and songs sung that made all the fire of +patriotism glow again; and so earnestly did the multitude enter into +the spirit of the celebration, that--a merry twinkle gleamed in the +_Braumeister's_ eye as he told it--"They drank a hundred eimers of +beer. There they are: look at them," he added, pointing to an +engraving of the whole procession--the _Trillerzug_, as he called it. + +A similar festival was held at Altenburg, Hartenstein, and Grünhain on +the same day, to the entire satisfaction of all concerned, and the +reinvigoration of Saxon loyalty. + +I was seated at one of the tables with a tankard of beer before me, +when a young man came up, looked at me inquisitively, and said, "E +shmall Eng-lish speak"--meaning, "I speak a little English." + +I felicitated him on his acquirements, when he proceeded to tell me +that he was one of the clerks employed in the counting-house, and +having heard of my arrival from the _Braumeister_, could not resist +the desire of speaking with an Englishman. Moreover, he would like to +show me certain things which I had not yet seen, and he said, "If you +pleasure in _Prinzenraub_ find, so is glad to me." + +We were friends in a moment. He led me first to the counting-house, +and showed me the bust of Herr Ebert, who, as chief proprietor, had +headed the procession in the former year, but was since deceased, +saying, "We very, very sorry; every man love him. Ah! he was so good." +Then running up-stairs to a large whitewashed apartment--one of the +drinking-rooms used when guests are driven in-doors by bad +weather--where a few portraits hung on the walls, he cried, "Here is +something to see. But wait--you will have a tsigger?" + +"With pleasure," I answered, "if it's good to drink." + +"No, not drink," he replied. "What you call him?--to shmoke." + +The room echoed with my laugh, and he prolonged it, as I rejoined, +"Oh! you mean a cigar! No, thank you. Tobacco is one of the things I +abhor." + +"What you call him?" he exclaimed, in amazement--"cigar! Then what for +a teacher is mine. But he is a German." + +Our friendly relations were in no way deranged by my dislike of a +"tsigger;" and we turned to the portraits, which comprised some of the +personages involved in the _Prinzenraub_. The brave old _Triller_ is +represented in the costume of the period--a stalwart fellow, with +ample black beard, bare legs, broad-brimmed hat, and loose frock tied +by a belt round the waist. In one hand he grasps his pole, with the +other supports the prince, who wearing red hosen and peaked red boots, +looks up to him with tearful eye. Kunz appears lying down in the +background, looking half-stunned and miserable. There are two +miniatures--of the _Triller_ and his wife--apparently very old, +believed to be likenesses. In the excitement occasioned by the four +hundredth anniversary, a poor shoemaker, hearing it talked of, came to +the brewery with the paintings in his hand, and sold the two for a +shilling. Besides these there are seven or eight other portraits, +among which the features of Kunz impress you favourably. He has dark +curly hair, a high forehead, a clear bright eye, moustache and pointed +beard; the whole appearance and expression reminding you of Sir Philip +Sidney. + +What with fluent German and broken English the young clerk worked +himself into enthusiasm, and showed me everything that had the +remotest connexion with the subject, ending with a book containing the +latest history of the _Prinzenraub_, and engravings of its incidents. +Nor could he think of letting me depart till I had seen the whole +premises, and the enormous cellars. + +"The _Triller_ is a good name for the brewery," he said, as we paced +between the furlongs of barrels. + +On my return to the town I found out the ancient dame who keeps the +key of the church tower, and as she unlocked the door offered her a +small silver coin. "No! no! no!" she exclaimed, "that is too much. A +_Dreier_ (halfpenny) is enough for me." A rare instance of +disinterestedness. Once admitted, you find your way alone up to the +topmost chamber, where dwells a woman with two or three children. She +was winding up from the street below her daily supply of water when I +entered out of breath with the ascent of so many steps, and paused in +her task to conduct me to the platform, a height of about two hundred +feet, from which the steeple springs one hundred and fifty feet +higher. Wide and remarkable is the prospect: the rows of poplars which +border the roads leading on all sides from the town divide the +landscape into segments with stiff lines that produce a singular +effect as they diminish gradually in thickness and vanish in the +distance. Plenty of wood all around, merging towards the south into +the vast fir forest which there darkens the long swells and rounded +summits of the _Erzgebirge_: a region of contrasts, with its abounding +fertility and unpicturesque foundries and mining-works. The town +appears to better advantage from above than below, for the many green +spots in the rear of the houses come into the view, and you see +gleaming curves of the Mulde, and a great pond as at Altenburg, and +the remains of the old walls, and the ditches, now in part changed +into a garden promenade. + +The mind becomes interested as well as the eye. You may grow dreamy +over the fabulous adventures of the fair Princess Schwanhildis, in +whose adventures, as implied in hoary tradition, the place originated; +and if you desire proof, is it not found in the three swans, still +borne in the town arms? Or you may revert to the sixth century only, +when the Wends had a colony here, and worshipped Zwicz, one of their +Sclavish fire-gods in the _Aue_, or meadow--whence the present name, +Zwickau. Or you may remember that Luther often mounted the tower to +gaze on the widespread view; and imagine him contemplating the scenes +on which your eye now rests--a brief pause in his mighty work of +rescuing Europe from the toils of priestcraft. A clumsy table yet +remaining on the platform, though tottering and fallen on one side +with age and weakness, is called "Luther's table;" the great Reformer +having, as is said, once sat by it to eat. But the sentiment which +such a relic should inspire is weakened by the inference that as the +Zwickauers take no pains to preserve it from the weather, they at +least are sceptical concerning its merits. + +And the church itself. It is the largest, the finest specimen of +Gothic, and has the biggest bell, in all Saxony, and excepting two +towers in Dresden, is the highest. It dates from the eleventh century, +and has been more than once restored. The interior well repays a +visit. The slender, eight-sided pillars of the nave, the rare carvings +of the bench-ends, and others about the choir and confessional, and in +the sacristy, the high altar, by Wohlgemuth, of Nuremberg, the only +one remaining of twenty-five which formerly stood around the walls, +raise your admiration of art. If curious in such matters, you may see +a splinter of the true cross--a relic from Popish times--still +preserved. There are some good paintings, of which one by Lucas +Cranach the Younger represents Jesus as "Children's Friend." It was +painted at the cost of a burgomaster in honour of his wife's memory. + +For one with time at discretion, Zwickau and the neighbourhood would +yield a few days of enjoyable exploration. A remarkable instance of +volcanic action is to be seen between Planitz and Niederkainsdorf, +which has existed from time immemorial. Steam is continually bursting +up from the coal strata beneath, of so high a temperature that the +ground is always green even in the hardest winters. An attempt was +made, a few years ago, to utilize the heat by establishing a +forcing-garden on the spot; and in the adjacent forests there are +land-slips, produced by disturbances of the strata, which are +described as romantic in their effects. The valley of the Mulde offers +much pleasing scenery; the castle of Stein and the _Prinzenhöhle_ are +within half a day's walk; and somewhat farther are the singular rocks +at Greifenstein, a pile as of huge beds petrified. The legend runs +that a princess, having married while her betrothed, whom she had +promised never to forget, was absent, the fairies, exercising their +right of punishment, turned her and all her household gear into stone, +and the beds remain to commemorate the perfidy. There are, besides, +baths and mineral springs at the village of Oberkainsdorf, and at +Hohensteiner Bad; and curious old carvings in the castle of +Schönfels; and, if you incline to geology, the coal measures abound in +fossil plants and shells, while of minerals there is no stint. + +The town has attractions of another sort: early-printed books, rare +manuscripts, original letters by Luther and other Reformers, in the +Library; the _Rathhaus_, on the front of which, over the door, you may +see the three swans; and, among the archives, more letters by Luther +and Melancthon. There are portraits of the two, by Cranach, in the +neighbouring castle of Planitz. The house, No. 22, in the +market-place, is that in which Luther lodged in 1522; Melancthon +sojourned in No. 444, in the _Burggasse_; and No. 576, in the +_Schergasse_, is where Napoleon had his quarters in 1812. + +It was evening when I slung on my knapsack and began my walk in +earnest. A short stage at the outset is no bad preparation for the +work to follow. The road runs between the noisy factories, past +vitriol works, smelting furnaces, and, thick with dust, is, for the +first three or four miles, far from pleasant. At length the busy +district is left behind, the trees bordering the highway look greener, +and the river, separated but by a narrow strip of meadow, is near +enough for its rippling to be heard. Excepting a miner now and then, +wearing his short leathern hinder-apron, and a general shabbiness of +dress, the people I met might have been mistaken for English, so +marked is the similarity of form and feature. Transported suddenly to +any of the roads leading out of Birmingham, no one would have imagined +them to be foreigners. + +About three hours, at an easy pace, brought me to a wayside +public-house near Oberhaselau, where I halted for the night. There +were sundry rustic folk among the guests, one of whom told me, while I +ate my supper, that he had taken part in the _Prinzenraub_ +celebration, along with hundreds of foresters and villagers, at a +_Wirthshaus_ built on the spot where the _Triller's_ cabin stood--a +day to be remembered as long as he lived. He had, moreover, seen the +_Triller's_ gaberdine hanging in the monastery at Ebersdorf. + +Later in the evening came in three men of dignified appearance, who +sat down at a card-table in one corner, to a game of what might be +described as three-handed whist. Gustel, the maid, showed them much +deference, and placed before each a quart-glass of beer. They were, +she whispered to me, the _Actuarius_ of the village, and the Inspector +and Doctor. From time to time, during the game, they broke out into a +rattling peal of laughter, as one of them threw a set of dice on the +table and handed round a few extra cards. I requested permission to +look at the cause of merriment, and, to my amazement, discovered that +both cards and dice were disgustingly obscene, out of all character +with the respectable appearance of their possessors. + +Before the game was over, some six or eight wagoners, who had arrived +with their teams, spread bundles of straw on the floor, pulled off +their boots with a ponderous boot-jack chained to the door-post, and, +stretching themselves on their lair, soon united in a discord of +snores. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + Across the Mulde -- Scenery -- Feet _versus_ Wheels -- + Villages -- English Characteristics -- Timbered Houses -- + Schneeberg -- Stones for Lamps -- The Way Sunday was Kept + -- The Church -- A Wagon-load of Music -- A Surly Host -- + Where the Pepper Grows -- Eybenstock -- Neustädl -- Fir + Forests -- Wildenthal -- Four Sorts of Beer -- Potato + Dumplings -- Up the Auersberg -- Advertisements -- The + School -- The Instrument of Order -- "Look at the + Englishman" -- The Erzgebirge -- The Guard-house -- Into + Bohemia -- Romish Symbols -- Hirschenstand -- Another + Guard-house -- Differences of Race -- Czechs and Germans -- + Shabby Carpentry -- Change of Scenery -- Neudeck -- Arrive + at Carlsbad -- A Glass Boot -- Gossip. + + +The road crosses the Mulde near Oberhaselau, and, winding onwards +between broad, undulating fields, and through patches of forest, rises +gradually, though with frequent ups and downs, into a region more and +more hilly. A bareness of aspect increases on the landscape as you +advance, in contrast with which the stripes and squares of cultivation +on the slopes appear of shining greenness. The views grow wider. They +are peculiar and striking, though deficient in beauty, for the range +of the _Erzgebirge_, as the name indicates, hides its wealth +underground, and makes up by store of mineral treasure for poverty of +surface. Yet, is there not a charm in the tamest of mountain scenery? +It animated me as I walked along on that bright sunshiny morning. +Though the river was far out of sight, were there not a few ponds +gleaming in the hollows? while little brooks ran tinkling down their +unseen channels, and fountains began to appear at the wayside with a +ceaseless sound of bubbling and splashing that fell gratefully on the +ear; and the breeze made a gladsome rustling among the birches that +flung their graceful shadows across the dusty road. Nature is kind to +him who goes on foot, and makes him aware of beauties and delights +never discovered to the traveller on wheels. + +There are signs of a numerous population: church spires and villages +in the distance--among them Reichenbach and its ruined castle--and in +little valleys which branch off here and there, teeming with foliage, +snug cottages thickly nestled; and as your eye wanders along the +broken line of tree-tops, it sees many wavy columns of smoke betraying +the site of rural homes scattered beneath. And you begin to notice +something unfamiliar in the dress of the people who inhabit them: blue +and red petticoats are frequent, and scarcely a man but wears the +straight tight-legged boots up to the knee, all black and brightly +polished; for the groups I met were on their way to church. The honest +English style of countenance still prevails; and another English +characteristic may be seen, if you look for it, in the decayed and +illegible condition of the finger-posts. + +If the landscape be not picturesque, many of the houses are, with +their timbers, forming zigzags, angles, squares, diamonds, and other +fanciful conceits. Some old and gray, assimilating in colour to the +weather-stained masonry; some painted black in strong relief upon a +pale-red wall. While pausing to examine the details, you will not fail +to admire the taste and skill of the builders of three centuries ago, +who knew how to impart beauty even to the humblest habitations. Now +and then you come upon a house of which the upper storey, faced with +slates, appears as if supported by arches and pilasters fashioned in +the wall beneath; and specimens of these several kinds of architecture +gratify the eye in all the hill-country of Saxony. + +Schneeberg, lying in a valley backed by a dark slope of firs, has a +singularly gloomy aspect, which disappears as you descend the hill. It +was eleven on Sunday morning when I entered the town. Because summer +had come, the street lamps were all taken down; but that the chains +and ropes might not hang idle, the lamplighter had tied a big stone or +large brick, by no means ornamental, to the end of every one. A +military band was playing in the market-place; a few shops were open; +and a man hurrying from corner to corner was posting up bills of plays +to be acted in the evening--a little comedy, followed by a piece in +five acts. The prices were, for the first places, 6d., the second, +3d., the third, 2d., which would hardly exclude even the poorest. So, +in Saxony, as elsewhere on the Continent, not only Papists but +Protestants are willing to recreate themselves with music and the +theatre on a Sunday. A half-dozen postilions, who were strutting about +in the full blaze of bright-yellow coats, yellow-banded hats, +jack-boots, and with a bugle slung from the shoulder, seemed as proud +of their dress as the peacocky drum-major did of his. + +I ordered a steak at the _Fürstenhaus_. "Will you have it +through-broiled or English-broiled?" asked the waiter, and looked a +little surprised at my preference of the former. When the band stopped +playing, numbers of the listeners came into the dining-room for a +_Halbe_ of beer, and sat down to play at cards. + +The church, a spacious edifice, crowns the height above the +market-place. After walking twice round it, I discovered a small door +in an angle, which being unfastened gave me admittance. The interior, +with its worn and uneven brick floor, has somewhat of a neglected +look, not unusual in Protestant churches; but there are a few good +paintings, and the altar-piece, representing the Crucifixion, shows +the hand of a master. I was quite alone, and could explore as I +pleased. The altar rises to a great height, adorned with statues, and +crowned by figures of angels. Near it two or three tall crucifixes +lean against the wall; the font, and a lectern upborne by an angel +stand in the centre of the nave, and everywhere are signs of the +Lutheran form of worship. Here and there, constructed with an apparent +disregard of order, are glazed galleries, pews, and closets, and +others that resemble large cages--ugly excrescences, which mar the +fair proportions of the lofty nave. The gallery is fronted by a thick +breastwork of masonry, bearing a heavy coping, and the brick floor is +in many places worn completely through, and the loose lumps are strewn +about. The view from the tower, commanding miles of the mountain +range, more than repays the trouble of the ascent. + +There are three services on the Sunday. From six to seven, and from +eight to half-past nine in the morning, and from one to two in the +afternoon. The rest of the day is free; but not for work, as in other +countries. Haymaking, as I was informed, is the only Sunday work +permitted by the law of Saxony. The Sunday school is well attended, +and is not confined to religious subjects, for writing, arithmetic, +and drawing are taught. + +While trudging up the hill beyond the town, I passed one of the +springless country wagons, crammed with a military band, the fiddles +and big bass viol hanging behind, on the way to amuse the folk at +Stein with music. They undertake a similar expedition every Sunday in +fine weather to one or other of the surrounding villages. + +I met with two novel experiences during the afternoon. One was, that +to sit down in the church at Neustädl is a penance, for the pews are +so narrow that you have to lift up the hinged seat before you can +enter. The other, a few miles farther on the way, was of a surly +_Wirth_, dwelling under the sign of the _Weisses Lamm_ (White Lamb), +whom I begged to draw me a glass of beer cool from the cellar. Instead +of complying, he filled the measure from a can which had been standing +two or three hours on the dresser in all the suffocating heat of the +stove, and placed it before me with a grunt. I ventured to remind him, +with good-humoured words, that lukewarm beer was not acceptable to a +thirsty wayfarer on a hot day; whereupon he retorted, snarling more +like a wolf than a lamb, "Either drink that, or go and get other +where the pepper grows"--_wo der Pfeffer wächst_. + +The old sinner availed himself of a form of speech much used among the +Germans to denote a place of intensely high temperature, and +sulphureous withal, in which pepper, being so very pungent a product, +may be supposed to grow. + +"Suppose you go first," I answered, "and see if there be any left." +And turning away, I shut the door upon the snarl which he snarled +after me, and went on to Eybenstock, where cool beer in plenty was +forthcoming as soon as asked for. + +I told the hostess of my adventure with old Surly. "Just like him," +she replied, laughing merrily; "nobody ever goes to the _White Lamb_ +that can help it. You didn't see any one besides him in the room, I'll +engage." True enough, I did not. + +A long, steep acclivity rises between Schneeberg and Eybenstock, from +which you look down into deep, dark gulfs of fir forest, and away to +hills swelling higher and higher in the distance--all alike sombre. So +that when you come to a green vale, with its little hay-fields watered +by a noisy brook, streaked in places with foam, it appears lovely by +contrast. The road makes long curves and zigzags to avoid the heights, +but the old track through the trees still remains, and shortens the +distance at the expense of a little exertion in climbing. + +The wildness increases beyond Eybenstock. The forest descends upon the +road, and you walk for an hour at a stretch under the shade of firs, +with beech and birch sparsely intermingled, and here and there a +stately pine springing from a mighty base to a height far above the +rest, the topmost branches edged with gold by the declining sunbeams. + +Emerging from the grateful shade, we come to Wildenthal, a little +green hollow at the foot of the Auersberg, enclosing a saw-mill, a +school, a few cottages, fields and gardens, and an inn, _Gasthaus zum +Ross_. Great slopes of firs rising on every side shut it out, as it +were, from the rest of the world. The aged hostess at the _Gasthaus_ +bustled about with surprising alacrity to answer the calls of her +rustic guests for beer. "_Einfach_," cried one; another, "_Weisses_;" +"_Lager_," broke in a voice from among the party of card-players, +accompanied by a rapping of the pewter tankard-lid; "_Bayerisches_," +shouted others from the ninepin-alley outside; and she, with her ready +"_Gleich_"--directly--appeasing their impatience. + +Of these four kinds of beer, the first--literally Simple--is +equivalent to our small-beer, and is much in request by a certain +class of topers from its low price, and because they can drink it the +whole day without fear of becoming stupid before the evening. The +second--White--is very foamy, and has somewhat the lively flavour of +ginger-beer: after standing some time in the glass a shake round +revives its briskness. The third--Store-beer--is of sufficient +strength to bear a year's keeping; and the fourth--Bavarian--is of a +similar quality. The last two were the most to my liking. + +There was greater choice of beer than of viands; and the half-bent old +dame thought fit to apologise because she could give me nothing for +supper but omelettes and _Klese_; the latter a sort of dumpling made +of potatoes and a sprinkling of wheaten flour. "If she had only +known," and so forth. However, I found them palatable, and ate +heartily, and therein she took comfort. Many times did I eat of such +dumplings afterwards, for the relish for them is not confined to +Saxony. Under the name of _Knädeln_, or _Kipfeln_, they are a standing +dish among the Bohemians. To hundreds of families in the _Erzgebirge_ +they are the only variety--but without the wheaten flour--in a +perpetual potato diet: rarely can they get even the sour black bread +of the country, and in the years of the potato disease famine and +misery desolated many a hearth. + +The guests went away early, and then, as twilight fell, nothing +disturbed the stillness of the vale save the murmur of running water +and the whisper of the breeze among the slopes of firs, inviting to a +contemplative stroll. + +I rose on the morrow soon after the sun, and scrambled up the +Auersberg. It was really a scramble, for I pushed at a venture into +the forest, aiming direct for the summit. How the grass and the +diminutive black-eared rye glistened with dewdrops! Early as it was, +the saw-mill had begun its busy clatter, and here and there on the +hills the woodcutters' strokes sounded in the calm morning air. Once +under the trees all signs of a track disappeared; and there were +slopes slippery with decayed vegetation; little swamps richly carpeted +with exquisite mosses; dense patches of bilberry, teeming with berries +as purple ripe as when Kunz plucked in another part of the forest but +a few miles distant. And after all, owing to the tower on the top +having fallen down, and the trees having grown up, the view is +limited to a narrow opening on either side, where an avenue, now +rarely used, affords an easy though tedious ascent. A square block of +stone stands near the remains of the tower, dedicated to an upper +forest-master, who had fulfilled fifty years of service, by his +friends and subordinates. However, there is such a charm in the wild, +lonely forest, that one need not regret half an hour's exertion in +scrambling up a steep hill under its shadow. + +I amused myself during breakfast with the _Erzgebirgischer Anzeiger_, +a small quarto newspaper, published at Schneeberg thrice a week; the +price twelve _neugroschen_ (about fifteen pence) per quarter. Beer and +amusements occupied a large space among the advertisements; for every +village and every _Wirthshaus_ in the forest, of any notoriety, +promised music or dancing on Sundays, sometimes both; and fortunate +was the one that could announce the military band. Double _Lager_ +beer, a penny the pot, was offered in abundance sufficient to satisfy +the thirstiest. "Stewed meat and fresh sausages next Friday," is the +inducement held out by one ambitious little alehouse: and an +enterprising refectioner declares, "In my garden it gives fine +weather." And, as the _Dresdner Anzeiger_ shows, they do similar +things in the metropolis. A coffee-house keeper, "up four steps," +says: "My most honoured sir, I permit myself the freedom to invite you +to a cup of coffee next Sunday afternoon at three o'clock." Certain +young men publish their sentiments concerning their hostess, beginning +with + + "Angels until now have led thee," + +and so on. A fortunate husband and father thanks Madame Krändel for +the "happy _Entbindung_" of his wife, and publishes his wife's maiden +name. Parents announce the death of a child, and invite their friends +to "quiet sympathy." A stray Berlin paper makes it clear that a like +practice prevails in the capital of Prussia. But most amusing of all +was the advertisement, in French and English, of the landlord of the +_Golden Star_, at Bonn. Here it is: + + "De cet hôtel la renommée + Promet sans exagération + Que vous y trouverez + Le comble de la perfection. + Le luxe de la salle à manger + Surpassera même votre idée." + + "By all visitors of the Rhine + Known as one of the most fine + And best conducted models + Of all Continental hotels. + The dining-room allowed to be + A grand pattern of luxury." + +Which does not say much for the bard of Bonn. Besides these there was +the _Illustrated Village Barber_, a paper published at Leipzig, full +of humorous cuts, over which the rustics chuckled not a little.[A] + +Wildenthal has no church; the people, therefore, are dependent on +Eybenstock, three miles distant, for sermons, baptisms, marriages, and +burials; but, in common with other villages, it has a good +schoolhouse. Hearing the sound of voices as I passed, I went in, and +had a talk with the master, who was a model of politeness. He had +about a hundred scholars, of both sexes, in a room well-lighted and +ventilated, with a spelling-frame, and black music board, ruled for +four parts, and other appliances of education placed along the walls. +Threepence a week--two and a half _neugroschen_--is the highest rate +paid at country schools; but there are two lower rates to suit folk of +scanty means, and the very poorest pay nothing. The children attend +school from the age of six up to fourteen, with no vacations except a +fortnight at each of the three rural ingatherings--haymaking, harvest, +and potato-digging. The hours of attendance are from seven to ten in +the forenoon, one to four in the afternoon. + +"Yes, they are pretty good children," said the master, in reply to my +inquiry; "I have not much trouble to keep them in order; but, in case +of need, here is a little instrument (_kleines Instrument_) which +comes to my aid;" and he produced a small birch from a secret place +behind his desk. + +A general nudging went through the school, and quick, sly looks from +one to the other, at sight of the interwoven twigs. "Ha! ha!" cried +the master, "you see they recognise it. However, 'tis very seldom +called for." + +Then, mounting his rostrum, he said: "Now, children, tell me--which is +the most famous country in the world?" + +"_Eng-land!_" from all the hundred voices. + +"Is it a most highly renowned country?" + +"_Ja--ja--ja!_" + +"And how is the chief city named?" + +"_Lundun_"--the _u_ sounded as in full. + +"And when Saxony wants factories, and steam-engines, and +spinning-machinery, and railways, who is it sends them hither, or +comes over and makes them?" + +"_Eng-land!_" again, and with enthusiasm. + +"Good. Now, children, look at the _Herr_ standing here by my +side--look at him, I say, for he comes from that famous +country--_Eng-land!_" + +It was a trial to my courage to become thus unexpectedly the object +for all eyes, and feeling bound to say something in return for the +master's compliment, I replied that, "If England did do so much for +Saxony, it was only paying back in another form the prowess and vigour +which the Saxons long time ago had carried into England. Moreover, in +Saxony all children could read; but in England there were many boys +and girls who could not read." + +"Is it possible!" exclaimed the master, holding up his hands. "How can +that be?" + +"It is part of our liberty. Any one in England is perfectly free to be +ignorant if he likes it best." + +"Remarkable!" answered the dominie; and he inquired concerning the +amount of salary paid to schoolmasters in England. His own appeared +very small in comparison; but were it not that bread was unusually +dear, and firewood five dollars the _Klafter_--notwithstanding the +vast forests--he was quite content, and could live in comfort. + +Beyond Wildenthal, the ascent is almost continuous: now the road +traverses a clearing where the new undergrowth hides the many +scattered stumps; now a grassy slope thickly bestrewn with wild +flowers; now a great breadth of forest, where boulders peer out +between the stems, and brooks flow noisily, and long bunches of hairy +moss hang from the branches, and the new shoots of the firs, tipped +with amber and gold, glisten and glow in the light of the morning sun. + +Ever deeper into the hills; the solitude interrupted now and then by a +gang of charcoal-burners with their wagons, or an aristocratic +carriage, or an humble chaise, speeding on its way from Carlsbad. Or +the sound of the axe echoes through the wood, followed by the crash of +a falling tree. And always the wind murmurs among the trees, swelling +at times to a fitful roar. + +I saw a stone-breaker at work, afflicted with a huge goitre. He earns +a dollar and a half per week, and complains sadly of the dearness of +bread, and the hardness of the blue granite. + +Gradually the tall forest gives place to scrubby-looking firs, stony +patches, rough with hardy heath, offering a wild and dreary prospect. +Presently a square stone, standing by the road, exhibits on one side +_K. Sachsen_ (Kingdom of Saxony), on the other _K. Boehmen_, and +passing this you are in Bohemia. Near it is the guard-house, where two +soldiers are always on the watch. One of them asked me if my knapsack +contained anything for duty, accepted my negative without demur, and +invited me to sit down and have a chat on the turfy seat by the side +of the door. It was a pleasure to see a new face, for their life was +very monotonous, looking out, from noon of one day to noon of the +next, for honest folk and smugglers, suffering none to pass +unquestioned. They were not much troubled with contrabandists, for +these free-traders shun the highway, and cross the frontier by secret +paths in lonely parts of the mountains. + +The summit here forms a table-land some three thousand feet above the +sea-level, with a prospect by no means cheering; limited by the +stunted firs, except towards the south-west, where a few black, +dreary-looking undulations terminate the view. The road, however, soon +begins to descend to a less inhospitable region, and presently makes a +sudden dip, for the slope of the _Erzgebirge_, long and gradual +towards Saxony, is abrupt on the Bohemian side. The other mountain +ranges present a similar formation. Then we come to tall trees, and +grassy glades, stony clearings, and acres of bilberries. A little +farther, and the sight of a crucifix, bearing a gilt Christ, by the +wayside, and of miserable wooden cottages, roofed with shingles, +convinces you that the frontier is really crossed. A valley opens +where haymakers are busy; the men wearing the straight tight boots, +the women barefoot, and with a kerchief pinned hood-fashion under the +chin. "_Gelobt sei Jesus Christus_"--Praised be Jesus Christ--salute +the children as you pass, and some of them stand still with an +expectant look. Then posts, and a toll-bar, painted in the diagonal +stripes of black and yellow, which symbolise imperial Austria. The bar +is kept down, but sufficiently high above the ground for a man to walk +under it without ducking. Having passed this you are in +Hirschenstand--the first Bohemian village. + +"Perhaps you come out of Saxony?" said a man, stepping from a house +that had a double eagle above the door, and holding out his hand for +my passport. + +He was very civil, and also very positive in his assurance that he +could not grant me a _visa_ for Prague; only for Carlsbad, and he +wished me a pleasant journey. A few yards farther I turned into the +inn to dine, and at once met with characteristic specimens of the two +races who inhabit Bohemia. There was the German, with a round, flat, +hairy face, stolid in expression, and somewhat sluggish in movement, +and by his side the Czech, or Stock-Bohemian, whose oval countenance, +high intellectual forehead, arched eyebrows, clear olive complexion, +unrelieved by moustache or whisker, presented a marked contrast; the +Sclavonian, bright-eyed and animated; the Teuton, dull and heavy. Yet +the latter is gaining upon his lively neighbour. The German population +is every year increasing, and the Czechish language is spoken within a +narrower circle. The contrast between the two races will be something +for observation during our walk, and with another noticeable +difference when we approach the frontier of Silesia. + +There was something peculiar in the room as well as in the guests; at +one side a tall clock, and very tall candlesticks; in the middle a +chopping-block, bearing a heap of sausage-meat; a washing-tub and +copper-pans in one corner, and on the opposite side a species of +bagatelle-board, on which the ball is expected to find its way into +the holes between long palisades of little wires: an exciting game; +for even the slow German was quickened as he watched the constant +repulsions of the little globe hovering round the highest number only +to fail of entering. + +Here, too, were the tall wooden chairs which are seldom seen beyond +the Austrian frontier. It made me smile to renew acquaintance with the +lanky, spider-legged things. Not the most comfortable contrivance for +dispelling weariness, as you would perhaps think, reader, were you to +see one. They are, however, very cheap; not more than thirty-five +kreutzers apiece, made of pine, and a florin when of hard wood. Both +curiosities in their way. + +Hirschenstand will hardly prepossess you in favour of Bohemian +villages, for its houses are shabby boarded structures, put up with a +wonderful disregard of order and neatness--windows all awry, the +chimney anyhow, and the fit of the door a scandal to carpentry. And +the cottages scattered about the valley, and for some distance along +the road, preserve the family likeness strongly marked. They would +have a touch of the picturesque with far projecting eaves, but the +roofs are not made to overhang. You might easily fancy that the land +had not yet recovered from the effects of the exterminating Hussite +wars, out of which arose the proverb, "Scarce as Bohemian villages." + +But Carlsbad is nearly seven hours distant, and we must hasten +onwards. The road still descends: the prospect opens over forests far +broader than on the Saxon side: valleys branch off, and the scenery +improves. Rocks choke the brooks, and burst out from the slopes; rows +of ash, lime, and cherry-trees, bordering the road, succeed to the +firs, and large whitewashed houses with tall roofs to the shabby +cottages. Then iron works; and little needle factories driven by a +mere spoutful of water rattling and buzzing merrily as grasshoppers. + +Then Neudeck, where a high rock overtops the houses, and projects into +the street, having the appearance, when first seen, of an ancient +tower. We shall see similar strange-looking rocks, from time to time, +on the hill-side, as if to prepare us for rocky scenes of wonderful +character in a subsequent part of our travel. A high steep hill close +to the town is cut up with zigzags, by which the devout may ascend +from station to station to the Calvary on the top, from whence the +view, at all events, will repay the trouble. The road was made, and +the stations and chapel were built, at the cost of an ancient maiden +lady, who a few years ago expended 27,000 dollars in the purchase of +the hill for the good of her soul. + +Now the road descends through a vale between broad fields of wheat and +potatoes, to the smoky porcelain manufacturing town of Alt, where your +eye will, perhaps, be attracted by a few pretty faces among the women, +set off by a pink, blue, or green jacket, and petticoat of a different +colour. But for the most part the women have a dowdy appearance, of +which the Czechs, as we shall by-and-by see, exhibit the dowdiest +examples. + +Still the road descends towards the black group of hills which +encircle Carlsbad. It was nearly dark when I crossed the bridge and +entered the celebrated watering-place. At first I thought every house +an inn, for every front carries a sign--somewhat puzzling to a belated +stranger. At length the _Gasthof zum Morgenstern_ opened its door to +receive me; much to my comfort, for I was very tired, having walked +altogether thirty miles. Great was my enjoyment of rest. At supper the +landlord brought the beer in a large boot-shaped glass, and placed it +before me with the chuckling remark that he liked his guests to be +able to say they had one time in their lives drunk out of a boot. + +His wife, who appeared to be as good-humoured as she was +good-looking, amused me with her gossip. Her especial delight was to +laugh at the peculiarities of her guests, and their mistakes in +speaking German. One, a bilious Greek, had come down one morning with +his hand to his head complaining of _Fuss-schmerz_--foot-ache. The +Saxons, she said, could not cook, or make good butter, and were ready +to drink a quart of any kind of brown fluid, and believe it to be +coffee. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[A] In Saxony there are published 220 newspapers; in Austria, 271; in +Bavaria, 178. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + Dr. Fowler's Prescription -- Carlsbad -- "A Matlocky sort + of a Place" -- Springs and Swallows -- Tasting the Water -- + The Cliffs and Terraces -- Comical Signs -- The Wiese and + its Frequenters -- Disease and Health -- The Sprudel: its + Discharge; its Deposit -- The Stoppage -- Volcanic + Phenomena -- Dr. Granville's Observations -- Care's Rest -- + Dreikreuzberg -- View from the Summit -- König Otto's Höhe + -- "Are you here for the Cure?" -- Lenten Diet -- + Hirschsprung -- The Trumpeters -- Two Florins for a Bed. + + +"To lie abed till you are done enough," says Dr. Fowler, of Salisbury, +"is the way to promote health and long life;" and he justifies his +assertion by living to the age of ninety, with promise of adding yet +somewhat to the number. Remembering this, I let duty and inclination +have their way the next morning, and the market-women in front of the +inn had nearly sold off their baskets of flowers and vegetables before +I set out to explore the wonders of Carlsbad. + +"It's a Matlocky sort of a place!" cried a young lady, as I passed an +elegant party, who were sauntering about the pleasant grounds behind +the _Theresienbrunn_--"it's a Matlocky sort of a place!" And a merry +laugh followed the iteration of her ingenious adjective. That it is +not altogether inappropriate is apparent as soon as you arrive on the +upper terrace and overlook a small town, lying deep between hills on +either side of the Teple, a shallow and sharply-curved stream. + +All the springs but two are on the left bank, a few yards from the +water's edge. There is a little architectural display in the buildings +by which they are covered: a domed roof, supported on columns, or a +square, temple-like structure, flanked by colonnades. The water flows +into a cavity, more or less deeply sunk below the surface, surrounded +by stone steps, on which sit the nimble lasses, priestesses of health, +who every morning from six to ten are busily employed in dispensing +the exhaustless medicine. A few vase-like cups stand ready for use; +but numbers of the visitors bring their own glass, carried as a +bouquet in the hand, of tasteful Bohemian manufacture, striped with +purple or ruby, and some of the purest white. All are made of the same +size--to contain six ounces--and a few have a species of dial +attached, by which to keep count of the number of doses swallowed. The +visitors, having their glasses filled at the fountain, walk up or down +the colonnade, or along the paths of the pleasure-ground, listening to +music, or form little groups for a morning gossip, and sip and chat +alternately till the glasses are emptied. The rule is to wait a +quarter-hour between each refilling, so that a patient condemned to a +dozen glasses dissipates three hours in the watery task. The number +imbibed depends on the complaint and constitution: in some instances +four glasses are taken; in others, from twenty to forty. + +I tasted each spring as I came to it, and felt no inclination to +repeat the experiment. The temperature of the _Theresienbrunn_ is 134 +deg., of the _Mühlbrunn_ 138 deg., of the _Neubrunn_ 144 deg., in +itself a cause of dislike, especially in hot weather, and much more so +when combined with a disagreeable bitter, and a flavour which I can +only compare to a faint impression of the odour of a dissecting-room. +No wonder some of the drinkers shudder as they swallow their volcanic +physic! But more about the waters after we have seen the _Sprudel_. + +In some places the cliff comes so near to the stream that there is no +more than room for a colonnade, or narrow road, and here and there the +path, stopped by a projecting rock, is carried round the rear of the +obstacle by little intricate zigzags. And every minute you come to +some ramifications of the narrow lanes, which here, so limited and +valuable is the space, serve the purpose of streets, and afford ready +access to the heights above. The houses rise tier over tier, in short +rows, or perched singly on curious platforms excavated from the rock, +in situations where back windows would be useless. The topmost +dwellers have thus an opportunity to amuse their idleness by a +bird's-eye view of what their neighbours are doing below. From May to +September the influx of visitors is so great that every house is full +of inmates. + +As every house has its sign or designation, ingenuity has been not a +little taxed to avoid repetitions. One ambitious proprietor writes up +_At the King of England_; another, contenting himself with his native +tongue, has _König von England_; a third, _English House_. A little +farther, and you see _Captain Cook_; _The Comet_; _The Aurora_; and +many varieties of Rings, Spoons, and Musical Instruments. +_Israelitisch Restauration_ notifies the tribes of a dining-room; here +_The Admiral_, there _The Corporal_, yonder _The Pasha_ claims +attention; and in a steep street leading towards Prague I saw _The A B +C_. And here and there a doll in a glass-case fixed to the wall, +representing St. Anne--a favourite saint of the Bohemians--looks down +on the sauntering visitors. + +Continuing up the left bank you enter the market-place, where the +indications of life and business multiply, and a throng are sipping +around the _Marktbrunn_. This spring burst up from under the +paving-stones in 1838; a temple was built over it, and ever since it +has served as a temple of ease to some of the more crowded springs. A +little farther, and you come to the _Wiese_, or meadow, which retains +no more of grass than Hatton-garden does of gravelled paths and +flower-beds: a row of houses and shops on one side, on the other a +line of wooden booths concealing the river, and all between planted +with trees which shelter an irregular regiment of chairs and tables. +Here is the place where visitors most do congregate, pacing leisurely +to and fro, or lounging on the chairs in front of the cafés, gossiping +over the newspapers, or trifling around the stalls and shop windows. + +A remarkable throng, truly! Some with an air highly dignified and +aristocratic; but the greater part somewhat grotesque in appearance. +Graceful ladies with those ungraceful sprawling bonnets not uncommon +in Germany; men, lanky and angular, and short and round, and square +and awkward, wearing astonishing wide-awakes. Such a variety of loose, +baggy trousers, magnificent waistcoats, and gauzy gowns, that look +impalpable almost as a cloud! Here comes a Polish Jew with manifest +signs of having remained unclean beyond more than one evening; here a +Czechish count, who has not forgotten his military paces; here a +spectacled professor, with boots turned up peak-wise, and toes turned +broadly out; here a group of Hebrews glittering with jewelry; and here +a miscellaneous crowd from all the countries of Europe, but Germans +the most numerous. Of English very few. There is nothing stiff or +formal about them; to make things pleasant seems to be a tacit +understanding, for disease has brought them all to one common level. +All are animated by the hope of cure, and find therein an inspiration +towards gaiety. + +But who shall be gay in an hospital, among sallow, haggard faces, +sunken eyes, and ghastly features? Some you see who, preyed upon by +disease for years, have well-nigh lost all faith in the smiler who +lingers so long at the bottom of the box; some afflicted by +hypochondriasis appear to wonder that the sun should shine, that +others can be happy while they themselves are so miserable. The lively +fiddles, and twanging harps, and jingling tambourines--the Tyrolese +minstrels--the glib conjuror, all fail to bring a flash of joy back to +their deadened eye; to win for mirth one responsive thrill. I have +never been more thankfully sensible of the blessing of robust health, +than while strolling on the _Wiese_ at Carlsbad. + +What with its many stalls and shops, the _Wiese_ resembles a bazaar. +All sorts of trifles and knick-knacks tempt the visitor, and entice +money from the purse. Among queer-looking toys you see WINDSOR SOAP +labelled in good, honest English; pipes, ribands, and pocket-books, +fans, satchels, and jewelry, among specimens of _Sprudelstein_, and +crystals and minerals, from the surrounding hills. Money-changers +abound; and polyglot placards--English, French, German, Czechish, +Hungarian--everywhere meet the eye. And not only here, but all over +the town, brisk signs of business and prosperity are apparent. But to +quote the gossip of my hostess, "many in Carlsbad have to endure +hunger during the winter." The place is then deserted, for the season +lasts only from May to September. + +Turn into a short _Gasse_ from the market-place, cross the +foot-bridge, and you will see a Geyser without the fatigue of a voyage +to Iceland. It is the far-famed _Sprudel_, or Bubbler. At one end of a +colonnade open to the river on the right bank, a living column of +water springs perpetually from the ground. Through an orifice in the +centre of a basin about three feet deep, the water leaps and plays +with a noise of gurgling, splashing, and bubbling, to a height of six +or eight feet, and throwing off clouds of steam. Now it forms a column +with palm-leafed capital--now a number of jets tumbling over in +graceful curves--now broken, fan-like masses, all throbbing and +dancing in obedience to the vigorous pulsations under ground. There is +something fascinating in the sight. Allowing for the artificial +elevation of the floor, the whole height of the jet is about twelve +feet; and so has it leaped for ages, and with but one interruption +since its fabulous discovery in the fourteenth century. + +The _Sprudel_ is the hottest of the springs, scalding hot, in fact, +marking a temperature of 167 deg. Fahrenheit: hence the attendant +Naiads--here a couple of strong-armed women--make use of a cup fixed +to one end of a staff for filling the glasses. When a visitor +approaches, the staff is held out to receive the glass; and after a +plunge into the steaming jet, is handed back to the expectant drinker, +who, taking his glass from the cup, swallows the contents at +pleasure--if he can. The drinkers were but few when I came up, for ten +o'clock was nigh; stragglers, who having arrived late, were sipping +their last glasses--some not without a shudder. While the dose cooled, +they examined the heads of walking-sticks, snuff-boxes, seals, and +other specimens of _Sprudelstein_, on sale at a stall; or the +time-tables and advertisement photographs hanging about the colonnade. +The Naiads, in the interval, emptied ladles full of the water into +stone-bottles, which a man rapidly corked in a noisy machine. + +The waste water flows away along a wooden shoot to the river, where it +sends small light wreaths of steam floating about on the surface. But +I saw nothing at all like what has been often described as a cloud of +steam perpetually hovering above the _Sprudel_, visible from afar. +Regarded near at hand, or from a distance, there is no cloud visible +in July, whatever may be the case in the cool months. + +The quantity of water poured out every day by the _Sprudel_ alone is +estimated at two million gallons. Multiplied by 365, it becomes truly +amazing. In this quantity, as shown by Gilbert, a German chemist, ten +thousand tons of Glauber salt, and fifteen thousand tons of carbonate +of soda are thrown up in a year. And this has been going on from +immemorial ages, the waters depositing calcareous matter in their +outflow, which has slowly formed a crust over the vast boiling +reservoir beneath. And on this crust Carlsbad is built. + +The constituents of all the springs, as proved by analyses, are +identical with those of the _Sprudel_--soda in the form of carbonate, +Glauber salt, and common salt; carbonic acid gas, and traces of iron +and iodine. Bitumen is also found in a notable quantity, and a +peculiar soapy substance, a species of animal matter, the cause, +perhaps, of the cadaverous flavour already mentioned. The water, which +when first caught is bright and clear, becomes turbid if left to cool, +and throws down a pale-brown sediment. Ehrenberg, the celebrated +microscopist of Berlin, who has examined specimens of this sediment +under his microscope, declares it to be composed of fossil animalcules +inconceivably minute; these animalcules being a portion of the +material out of which Nature builds up the solid strata of the globe. +Some patients have feared to drink the water because of the concreting +property; but the medical authorities assure that in this respect it +produces no injurious effect on the animal economy. Shopkeepers turn +it to profit, and offer you fruits, flowers, plants, and other +objects, petrified by the _Sprudel_ water. + +The roof of the colonnade above the spring is discoloured by the +ascending steam; and standing on the bridge you can see how the wall +is incrusted with calcareous matter, as, also, the big hump swelling +up from the bed of the stream--a smooth ochreous coat, brightened in +places by amber, in others darkened into a rich brown, or dyed with +shades of green. This concretion is the _Sprudelstein_, or +Sprudel-stone, noticed above; firm and hard in texture, and +susceptible of a beautiful polish. A portion of the waste water is +led into an adjoining building, where it undergoes evaporation to +obtain the constituent salts in a dry state for exportation. From the +other shoot, as it falls into the river, supplies are constantly +dipped by the townsfolk, who use it to cook their eggs, to scald pork +and poultry, and other purposes. All day long you may see women +filling and carrying away on their shoulders big bucketfuls of the +steaming water. Notwithstanding this constant inflow of hot water, the +Teple appears to agree with fish, for I saw numbers swimming about in +good condition but a short distance lower down. As a stream, it adds +little to the salubrity of Carlsbad, for it is shallow, sluggish in +places, and tainted by noisome drainage. Another cause of offence to +the nostrils exists in what is so often complained of on the +Continent, the obtrusive situation of the _latrinæ_ at the principal +springs. Only in England are such matters properly cared for. + +In 1809, and for ten years thereafter, the _Sprudel_ ceased to flow, +and the water broke through at a spot some fifty feet distant, to +which the name _Hygieas Quelle_ was given. Here it continued to play +till 1819, when it reappeared at the former source, and from that date +there has been no interruption in the copious discharge of the +_Sprudel_. The underground action is at times so powerful as to rend +the crust and form new openings, and these, if large, have to be +stopped, to prevent the loss of the springs. The yellow hump mentioned +as swelling up from the river's bed, is nothing but a thick mass of +masonry, braced together by iron bars, covering a great rent through +which the waters once boiled up from below. Similar outbreaks +occurred in 1713, and again fourteen years later, when attempts were +made to ascertain the depth of the great subterranean reservoir by +splicing poles together to a length of one hundred and eighty feet, +but neither bottom nor wall could be touched in any direction. The +hills around are of granite, containing mica and pyrites, and one of +them, the _Hirschsprung_, is said to be the source of all the Carlsbad +springs. Their bases come near together, and it is easy to imagine a +huge cavern formed between them descending deep down into the bowels +of the earth. + +As regards the efficacy of the Carlsbad waters, let us hear Dr. +Granville, an authority on the subject: "They exert their principal +sanative action," he says, "1st, on all chronic affections which +depend on debility of the digestive organs, accompanied by the +accumulation of improper secretions; 2ndly, on all obstructions, +particularly of the abdomen, which, as Becher, the oracle of Carlsbad, +observes, they resolve and disperse; 3rdly, on the acrimony of the +blood, which they correct, alter, evacuate, or drive towards the +extremities and the surface of the body; 4thly, on calculous and +gravelly deposits; 5thly, on many occult and serious disorders, the +nature of which is not readily ascertained until after the partial use +of the waters, such as tic doloreux, spasms, rheumatisms, and gout." + +As if here were not virtues sufficient, the Doctor proceeds: "My own +experience warrants me in commending the Carlsbad waters in all +obstinate cases of induration, tumefaction, tenderness, and sluggish +action of the liver; in imperfect or suppressed gout; in paralysis, +dependent on the stomach, and not fulness of blood in the head; in +cases of tic and nervous disorders; finally, in obstructions of the +glands of the mesentery, and distended state of the splenetic +vessels." The effect on stones in the bladder is almost magical, so +promptly are they polished, reduced, rendered friable, and expelled, +leaving the patient a happy example of perfect cure. + +"It is the despondent," to quote once more from the Doctor, "the +dejected, misanthropic, fidgetty, pusillanimous, irritable, +outrageous, morose, sulky, weak-minded, whimsical, and often +despairing hypochondriac--for he is all these, and each in turn--made +so by continued indigestion, by obstinate and unremitting gout, by +affections of the nerves of sympathy and of the gastric region, and by +other equally active causes, that Carlsbad seems pre-eminently to +favour." After reading this, the wonder is, not that the visitors +number from five to six thousand in the course of the season, but that +they are not ten times as many. + +The Doctor finds nothing nauseous in the taste of the water. "Once +arrived in the stomach," he says, "it produces an exhilarating +sensation, which spreads itself to the intestinal canal generally." To +him I leave the responsibility of this statement; for, preferring to +let well alone, I sipped by spoonfuls only, and can therefore bring no +testimony from my own experience. The practice of drinking the waters +has almost set aside the once exclusive practice of bathing; but baths +are always to be had, as well of mud and vapour as of the water of the +springs. + +Now, after this stroll through the town, let us take a wider survey. +As we follow the street down the right bank, we see parties setting +off in carriages for excursions to the neighbourhood, and rows of +vehicles in the open places ticketed, _Return to Marienbad_, _to +Eger_, _to Töplitz_, _to Zwickau_, and the like, and drivers on the +alert for what your London cab-driver calls "a job." A short distance +beyond the _Morgenstern_ a path zigzags gradually up the hill and +brings you soon under the shade of trees, and to many little nooks and +sheltered seats contrived for delightful repose. One remote bower, +apparently but little frequented, is inscribed, _Care's Rest: make +thyself happy_. A little farther, and crossing a carriage-road, we +come to a temple where you may have another rest, and enjoy at the +same time the opening panorama. From hence the paths zigzag onwards to +the top of the _Dreikreuzberg_--Three-Cross Hill--by easy shady +slopes, which even a short-winded patient may ascend, while those with +strong legs may shorten the distance by the steep cut-offs. An +agreeable surprise awaits you at the top: a large, well-kept garden, +gay and fragrant with flowers, surrounded by arbours of clipped fir, +and a graceful screen of trees, while at one side stands a spacious +_Restauration_--all clean and cheerful of aspect. From an elevated +platform, or from the arched recesses on the terrace in front of the +garden, you see all Carlsbad and the hilly region around. + +Now you see how singularly crooked is the narrow valley in which the +town is built; how the white houses gleam from the steep green sides +of the farther hills, and straggle away to the wooded hollow at the +head of the valley, from whence the river issues in a shining curve. +In and out flows the stream past the church, past the springs and +public buildings, cutting the town in two, on its way to fall into the +Eger. Your eye takes in the life of the streets, the goings to and +fro, but on a reduced scale--such tiny men and women, and little +carriages! 'Tis as if one were looking into Lilliput. Opposite rises +the precipitous rocky hill, the Hirschsprung, to the craggy summit of +which we shall climb by-and-by; and beyond it, ridgy summits, away to +the gloomy expanse of the _Schlaggenwald_. Many are the paths that +penetrate the rearward valleys, and white roads curving along the +hill-sides high above Carlsbad, and far up the distant slopes. +Altogether the view is striking, and somewhat romantic; yet in the +eyes of the Germans fresh from their flat, uninteresting country, it +is "_wunderschön_"--an epithet which they never tire of heaping on the +landscape. + +From the garden a path leads along the ridge to a higher elevation, +where the three tall crosses, seen for miles around, spring from a +rocky knoll at the rear of a small semicircular opening, enclosed by +firs, prettily intermingled with beech and birch. Heath and yellow +broom grow from crevices in the rocks, and the wild thyme, crushed by +your foot, fills the air with aromatic sweetness, for the spot is left +to the nurture of the winds and the rain. It commands the same view as +from the garden; but with a wider scope, and the town lying at a +greater depth. + +The path still curving along the ridge brings you presently to _König +Otto's Höhe_--King Otto's Height--the highest point of the hill. This +is also an untrimmed spot, with two or three seats, and a fluted +granite column, surmounted by a globe and star, rising in the midst. +You now look over some of the nearer hills, and get fresh peeps into +the valleys, discovering topographical secrets. Raised high into the +region of cooling breezes, yet easily accessible, it is a pleasant +place for quiet recreation. + +I took the shortest way down from Otto's Height, crossing the rough +declivity and the fields that stretch far up the lower slope of the +hill, and made a circuit to Findlater's monument at the upper +extremity of Carlsbad. From the eminence on which it is erected you +get a new prospect of the town, and up the valley of umbrageous +retreats much resorted to by visitors on sultry afternoons. + +On my way back to the _Morgenstern_ I had another look at the +_Sprudel_. The place was now deserted; the Naiads had departed; the +stall-keeper had locked her glazed doors and withdrawn; and there was +nothing near to subdue the vivid rushing sound of the water. So to +remain till evening, when a few anxious patients would appear to quaff +new draughts of health. + +The inn was in all the bustle of dinner, after the manner of a _table +d'hôte_, but without its formality--twenty little tables instead of a +single large one. By this arrangement the guests formed small parties, +and ate and chatted at pleasure. Many came in who were not lodgers in +the house--among them a countess, from Moravia, to whom no more +attention was paid, nor did she appear to expect it, than to the +others. The absence of stiffness was, indeed, an agreeable +characteristic of the company, who were mostly Germans. + +"Are you here for the cure?" said an old gentleman who sat opposite +me, and looked at my tankard of beer and salad with an air of +surprise. "Are you not afraid?" + +My answer reassured him. Visitors who come to drink the waters are +required by medical authority to conform to a simple regimen. To eat +no salad, fruit, or vegetables--to drink no beer or wine--to eat no +bread. The exceptional cases are rare; hence the provision consists +but of sundry preparations of meat, decanters of water, pudding +resembling boiled pound-cake, and baskets of small rolls. The latter, +made of wheaten flour, are not recognised as bread, but come under the +common term, _Semmel_--the simmel of which we read in descriptions of +lordly banquets in our Plantagenet days. The term bread is confined to +the large brown and black loaves made of rye meal, the staple of +household diet in Bohemia; and to Carlsbad patients this is forbidden. +So Nature always goes on vindicating her simple laws, convincing +mankind, in spite of themselves, of the wholesome effects of fresh +air, daily exercise, plain food, and spring water; and mankind, +returned to crowded cities and artificial pleasures, go on forgetting +a lesson which is as old as the hills. + +In the afternoon I mounted to the top of the _Hirschsprung_, and +passed two or three hours on the jutting crags which overlook the town +and a wide expanse of rolling fields and meadows towards Saxony. +Stairs and fenced platforms on the outermost points enable you to +survey in full security. The conformation of the crags is not unlike +that which prevails in the Saxon Switzerland. Here and there tablets +in the rock record the visits of royal personages, and on the topmost, +surmounted by a cross, is an inscription in Russian, and the name of +Czar Peter, who included among his exploits that of riding up the +_Hirschsprung_ on horseback in 1711. + +You cannot be long in Carlsbad without hearing a flourish of trumpets +from the top of the Watch-tower, announcing the arrival of visitors. +No sooner do the trumpeters spy a carriage approaching from their +lofty station, than they begin to sound, and, in proportion to the +appearance of the vehicle, so do they measure out their blast--most +wind for the proudest. While I was looking down, a sudden note, +unusually prolonged, woke up the drowsy echoes, for rattling down the +zigzagged highway from Prague came his unenviable majesty, Otho of +Greece, to undergo a course of the _Sprudel_--at least, so said the +newspapers. Not till he had alighted at the hotel did the trumpeters +cease their salute, for kings can pay well; but let a dusty-footed +wayfarer, with knapsack on shoulder, come into the town, and not a +breath will they spare to give him welcome. + +At six in the evening--having surveyed Carlsbad from within and +without, and from the highest points on either side--I started to walk +to Buchau, a village about ten miles off--an easy distance before +nightfall. The _Morgenstern_ charged me two florins for my bed, and +less than two florins for all my diet--supper, breakfast, and dinner; +which, in one of the dearest watering-places in Europe, was letting me +off on reasonable terms. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + Departure from Carlsbad -- Dreifaltigkeits-Kirche -- + Engelhaus -- The Castle -- A Melancholy Village -- Up to + the Ruins -- An Imperial Visit -- Bohemian Scenery -- On to + Buchau -- The Inn -- A Crowd of Guests -- Roast Goose -- + Inspiriting Music -- Prompt Waiters -- The Mysterious + Passport -- The Military Adviser -- How he Solved the + Mystery -- A Baron in Spite of Himself -- The Baron's + Footbath -- Lighting the Baron to Bed. + + +Some years ago Carlsbad was scarcely accessible by vehicles coming +from the interior, so abrupt was the declivity of its western hill. +Now the difficulty is overcome by the zigzags of an excellent road, +such as Austrian engineers know well how to construct. The shortest +way out of the town for one on foot is up a street painfully steep, +which brings you at once to an elevation, whence there is a view of +the hills and hollows at the head of the valley. The zigzags are long, +and there are no cut-offs, whereby you lose sight but slowly of the +Valley of Springs. + +Once past the brow and a view opens over a hilly landscape in the +opposite direction, repeating the characteristics of Bohemian +scenery--large unfenced fields, with clumps of firs and patches of +forest on the highest swells, and the road, in long undulations, +running between rows of birch and mountain-ash. There is a monotony +about it, varied only by the difference of crops, the rise and fall of +the ground, or rags of mist which, after a shower, hang about the dark +sides of distant hills. By-and-by the ruined castle of Engelhaus, +crowning a conical hill, peers up on the left, higher and higher as +you advance, till at length it stands out a huge mass, looking grimly +down on a village beneath. + +But now a low building on the right attracts your attention. It is a +small, low, triangular church--_Dreifaltigkeits-Kirche_--in a narrow +graveyard, where the few mounds and the low wooden crosses that mark +them are scarcely to be seen for tall grass and weeds. The interior, +so far as I could see through a chink in the rusty, unpainted door, +contains nothing remarkable except a rude altar, and a small gallery +in each angle. A chapel and arcades are built against two sides of the +enclosing wall, and four life-size figures of apostolic aspect sit, +recline, and kneel in front of a half-length figure, bearing a +crucifix, placed in a recess. They seemed fit guardians of a place +which wears an appearance of neglect. + +A little farther and there is a byeway, leading across the fields to +Engelhaus, about a quarter-mile distant, and a very Irish-looking +village it is; squalid and filthy, built in what, to a stranger, +appears a total disregard of the fitness of things. Here and there the +noise of a loom--a noise which denotes a poverty-stricken +existence--sounded from some of the cottages, and the aspect of the +villagers is quite in keeping with their environment. And yet a +wandering musician, who carried a trestle to rest his organ on, was +trying to coax a few _Kreutzers_ out of their pockets by airs most +unmelodious; as if the worst kind of music were good enough for folk +so deficient in a sense of propriety. The inside of the houses is no +better than the outside. Seeing a pale, damp-browed weaver at a +window, I stopped to put a question. He opened the casement, and out +rushed a stream of air so hot, stifling, and malodorous as fully +accounted for his abject looks, and made me content with the briefest +answer. + +A steep path, completed in one place by a wooden stair, leads you up +and along the precipitous side of the hill to the principal entrance +of the castle, an old weatherbeaten arch bestriding the whole of the +narrow way. Here a few tall trees form the commencement of an avenue, +which the young trees planted farther on will one day complete, and +increase the charm of the ancient remains. The path skirting the bold +crags passes an old tower, and enters a court which, since the visit +of the Emperor and Empress in 1854, is called the _Kaiserplatz_. Three +young trees, supported by stakes painted black and yellow, and blue +and white, are growing up into memorials of the incident, and +dwarf-firs, set in the turfy slope, form the initials F i E--_Francis +Joseph, Elizabeth_. A small pool in one corner reflects the +dilapidated walls; the mountain-ash, trailing grasses, and harebells +grow from the crevices, trembling in the breeze; and the place, cool, +green, and sequestered, is one where you would like to sit musing on a +summer afternoon. + +The steep and uneven ground adds much to the picturesque effect of the +ruin. You make your way from court to court by sudden abrupt ascents +and descents, protected in places by a fence--now under a broken +arch, now creeping into a vault, now traversing a roofless hall, +climbing the fragment of a stair, or pacing round the base of the +mighty keep. Loose stones lie about, bits of walls peer through the +soil, or, concealed beneath, form grassy hummocks, showing how great +have been the ravages of time and other foes. Here and there stands a +portion of wall on the very brink of the precipice, and a railing +stretched from one to the other enables you to contemplate the +prospect in safety. The appearance of the country is such that the +hill appears to be in the centre of a great, slightly-hollowed basin, +which has a dark and distant rim. The basin is everywhere heaving with +undulations, patched and striped with firs and the lines of trees +along the highways, while a few ponds gleam in some of the deepest +hollows. A few widely scattered cottages, or the white walls of a +farmstead, dot the green surface of the fields; and such is the +general character of the scenery all the way from the _Erzgebirge_ to +Prague--indeed, all the central region of Bohemia. One league, with +small differences, is but a repetition of the other. + +I prowled so long about the ruins, enjoying the lusty breeze that +shook the branches merrily and roared through the crevices, that long +shadows crept over the landscape, raising the highest points into bold +relief, and veiling the remoter scenes before I descended. The sun, +fallen below the Saxon mountains, lit up an immense crescent of angry +clouds with a lurid glare, from which the twilight caught a touch of +awfulness. The ponds shone with unearthly lustre for a few moments, +and then lay cold and gray, and there seemed something spectral in the +thin lines of firs as they rose against the glare. + +I returned to the road, and found the last two or three miles solitary +enough, for not a soul did I meet, and the way lay through a forest +where the only light was a faint streak overhead. It was near ten +o'clock when I came to Buchau--a village of low houses built round a +great square--in which stood some twenty or thirty laden wagons. The +appearance of things at _The Sun_ was not encouraging: a dozen +wagoners in blue gaberdines lay stretched on straw in the +sitting-room, leaving but a small corner of the floor vacant, where +sat the host, who made many apologies for having to turn me away. I +walked across the square, and tried _Der Herrnhaus_, and on opening +the door met with a rare surprise. The large room was crowded with +some threescore guests, including a few soldiers, seated at narrow +tables along the sides and across the middle, every man with his +tankard of beer before him. In one corner a party of gipsies played +wild and lively music, making the room echo again with the sounds of +flageolet, violin, and bass, and electrifying the company with their +wizard harmonies. Some, unable to contain themselves, chanted a few +bars of the inspiriting measure; others beat time with hands or feet, +and joined in a whoop at the emphatic passages; and all the while a +gruff outpouring of talk struggled with the bass for the mastery. +There was a clatter of knives and forks, a rattling of pewter-lids by +impatient tipplers, and hasty cries for pieces of bread. And over all +hung a cloud of smoke, rolling broader and deeper as the puffs and +swirls went up from fifty pipes. + +This scene bursting upon me all at once made me stand for a minute in +doubtful astonishment, half dazzled by the sudden light, and half +choked by the reeking atmosphere, while I looked round to discover +the trencher-capped _Wirth_. If _The Sun_ had no room, what was to be +hoped for here? However, the landlord, after a consultation with his +wife, assured me of a chamber to myself; and placing a chair at the +only vacant end of one of the tables, professed himself ready to +supply "anything" for supper. He rung the changes on beef, veal, and +sausage, with interpolation of roast goose. The meats were good, but +the goose was prime; he could recommend that "_vom Herzen_," and he +laid his hand on his heart as he said it. So I accepted roast goose; +and presently a smoking dish of the savoury bird was set before me, +with cucumber salad and rye bread. The landlord had not overpraised +his Bohemian cookery, for he gave me a most relishing supper. + +As my eyes became accustomed to the smoky atmosphere, the forms and +features of the company came out more distinct than at first. Among +the wagoners and rustics who made up the greater number, I saw two or +three heads of a superior cast--unmistakable Czechish heads--in marked +contrast to the rest. A gentleman with his wife and brother, +travelling to their estates, preferred quarters in the _Herrnhaus_ to +a midnight stage, and sat eating their supper, apparently not less +pleased with their entertainment than I was. By their side sat half a +dozen tramping shoemakers, each busy with a plate of roast goose; and +next to them, in the narrow space between the stove and the wall, lay +a woman and her two children, sleeping on straw. The musicians came +round for a largesse, and, reanimated by success, played a few tunes +by way of finish, which made sitting still almost impossible. Every +one seemed inclined to spring up and dance; and the host and his +servants ran to and fro quicker than ever, under the new excitement. +No sooner was a tankard emptied, than, following the custom of the +country, it was caught up by one of the nimble attendants and +refilled, without any asking leave or any demur, except on the part of +one of the guests. Trencher-cap would by no means believe that I could +be satisfied with a single measure, and I had to compromise for a +glass of wine, which, when brought, he assured me proudly was genuine +'34 _Adelsberger_. Whether or no, it was very good. + +Presently he asked for a sight of my passport, that his son might +enter my name with those of the other travellers. I spread the +document before him on the table; he bent down and examined it +curiously, as an antiquary over a wormeaten manuscript, but with a +look of utter bewilderment, for he had never before seen an English +passport. He turned it upside down, sideways, aslant, back to front, +every way, in short, in his endeavour to discover a meaning in it; but +in vain. He caught eagerly at the British Minister's eagle, and the +German _visas_, yet found nothing to enlighten him therein. His son +then took a turn in the examination; still with no better result; and +the two looked at one another in blank hopelessness. + +Presently the father, recollecting himself, beckoned secretly to one +of the soldiers, who came to help solve the mystery. Taking the +passport, he held it at arm's length, turned it every way as the +_Wirth_ had done before, brought it close to his eyes; but could make +nothing of it. Then, as if to assist his wit, he hooked one finger on +the end of his nose, spread the mysterious document on the table, and +pointing to the first paragraph, which, as tourists know, stands +printed in good round hand, he began to read at all hazards: + +"_Vill--Vill--Vill--yam. Ja, ja. Villyam._ Ah! that's English!" Then +he attacked the second word--"_Fre--Fre--Fre--Fredrich. Ja, ja._ That +is English!" + +The next word, _Earl_, looked awkward, so, skipping that, he went on +with many flourishes of his forefinger, "_Cla--ren--don. Ja, ja. +Clarendon._ That's English!" + +Encouraged by success, he made a dash at the following word, +"_Baron_," and stopped suddenly short, hooked his finger once more on +his nose, stood for a minute as if in deep study, then repeating +slowly, "_Villyam Fredrich Clarendon, Baron_," he gave the passport +back into the landlord's hands, and said in a whisper, pointing slily +to me, "He's a Baron." + +Hereupon the son, with nimble pen, entered me in the book as "_Villyam +Fredrich Clarendon, Baron_." + +"You have made a pretty mistake," I interposed. "See, that's my name, +written lower down, quite away from the titles of our Foreign +Minister." But it was in vain that I spoke, and argued, and protested, +the opposite party would not be convinced, and Trencher-cap, folding +up the passport, looked at me with that expression which very knowing +folk are apt to assume, and said, as he replaced it in my hand, "_Ja, +ja._ We are used to that sort of thing. You wish not to travel in your +real name. Yes, yes, we know. _Herr Baron_, I give you back your +passport." + +I reiterated my protest, and vehemently; but all in vain. "_Herr +Baron_" I had to remain for all the rest of the evening. Trencher-cap +made a bow every time he addressed me, and went among his guests, +telling them he had caged an English Baron. One and another came and +sat near me for awhile, and talked with so much of deference, that at +last I felt quite ashamed of myself--as if I were an accomplice in a +hoax. The talk, however, was very barren; the only items of real +information it brought forth were, that a good many needles were made +in the neighbourhood, and that Buchau could muster ninety-nine master +shoemakers. + +So it went on till eleven o'clock, when mine host, approaching with +another bow, said, "_Herr Baron_, are you quite sure that it is a cold +foot-bath you want?" + +"Quite." + +"I told the maid so," he replied; "but she says she cannot believe +that a _Herr Baron_ will have cold water, and thinks it should be +lukewarm." + +Satisfied on this point, he summoned the incredulous maid to light me +to bed. She stooped low with what was meant for a curtsey, and would +on no account turn her face from me, but went backwards up the stairs, +holding the candle low, and begging me at every step not to stumble. + +"Verily," thought I, "the whole household joins in the conspiracy." + +She carried the candlestick delicately, as if it were of silver and +not mere iron, placed it on a little deal table in the bedroom with a +ceremonious air, made another low curtsey, and retreated to the door. + +Then, with one hand on the latch, she said, after a momentary pause, +"_Herr Baron_, I wish you a good night;" and withdrew, leaving me +alone to sleep as best I might under the burden of an unexpected +title. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + Dawn -- The Noisy Gooseherd -- Geese, for Home Consumption + and Export -- Still the Baron -- The Ruins of Hartenstein + -- Glimpses of Scenery and Rural Life -- Liebkowitz -- + Lubenz -- Schloss Petersburg -- Big Rooms -- Tipplers and + Drunkards -- Wagoners and Peasants -- A Thrifty Landlord -- + Inquisitorial Book -- Awful Gendarme -- Paternal Government + -- Fidgets -- How it is in Hungary -- Wet Blankets for + Philosophers -- An Unhappy Peasant. + + +Neither nightmare nor anything else disturbed me till the wagoners, +hooking on their teams amid noisy shouts, filed off in two directions +from the square, at the earliest peep of dawn. The quiet that returned +on their departure was ere long broken by a succession of wild and +discordant cries, which, being puzzled to account for by ear, I got +out of bed and used my eyes. The gooseherd stood in the middle of the +square, calling his flock together from all quarters, with a voice, as +it seemed to me, more expressive of alarm and anger than of +invitation. However, the geese understood it, and they came waddling +and quacking forth from every gateway and lane, and the narrow +openings between the houses, till some hundreds were gathered round +the herd, who, waving his long rod, kept up his cries till the last +straggler had come up, and then drove them out to the dewy pasture +beyond the village. A singular effect was produced by the multitude +of long necks, and the awkward movements of the snow-white mass, +accompanied as they were by a ceaseless rise and fall of the quacking +chorus. Such a sight is common in Bohemia; for your Bohemian has a +lively relish for roast goose, regarding it as a national dish; and +mindful of his neighbours, he breeds numbers of the savoury fowl for +their enjoyment. Walk over the _Erzgebirge_ in September, and you will +meet thousands of geese in a flock, waddling slowly on their way to +Leipzig, and the fulfilment of their destiny in German stomachs, at +the rate of about three leagues a day. + +I doubted not that when the landlord had a fair look at me by +daylight, he would recall the title conferred amid the smoke and +excitement of the evening before. But, no! he met me at the foot of +the stair with the same profound bow; hoped _Herr Baron_ had slept +well; and would _Herr Baron_ take breakfast; all my remonstrances to +the contrary notwithstanding. I drank my coffee with a suspicion that +the sounding honour would have to be paid for; but I did the worthy +man injustice, for when summoned to receive payment, he brought his +slate and piece of chalk, and writing down the several items, made the +sum total not quite a florin. Not often is a Baron created on such +very reasonable terms. + +Even after I left his door, the host continued his attentions: he +would go with me to the edge of the village, and point out the way to +the castle, and the shortest way back to the main road. He must tell +me, too, that the church was dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel; +and of a spring not far off, known among the villagers as the "iron +spring." Then, as we shook hands and parted, he made another low bow, +and hoped I would recommend all my friends to seek for entertainment +under his sign. It would be ungracious not to comply with his wish; so +should any of my friends have the patience or courage to read these +pages, and an inclination to visit Buchau, I hereby counsel them to +tarry at the _Herrnhaus_. + +The castle, or rather the ruin, rises on the summit of a rounded hill +about a mile from the village. There is but little in them to charm +either the eye or the fancy, for their name and place recall nothing +that lingers in the memory. A few words suffice to tell that here once +stood the castle of Hartenstein, otherwise Hungerberg, sheltering +knights as lawless as any reiving Johnstone, till King George +Podiebrad, intolerant of their wild ways, rooted them out in 1468, and +knocked their stronghold to pieces. He showed them the less mercy, +from having had, the year before, to lay siege for twelve weeks to a +castle near Raudnitz, held by conspirators who set him at defiance. +Engelhaus, as is believed, felt the first touch of ruin some fifty +years later. + +Nevertheless, the half-hour spent in the excursion is not time lost, +for the spiral path that winds round the hill is well-nigh hidden by +wild flowers--a right royal carpet, and perfumed withal, swept by all +the breezes. And then there is always the view while you scramble +about among the broken walls and bits of towers, getting peeps at +parts of the landscape framed by a shattered window. It is something +to note how unvarying is the scenery: hills shaped like barn roofs; +the same undulations; vast fields; a few ponds; dark masses of firs, +lacking somewhat of cheerfulness notwithstanding the sunshine; and +the village in the midst of all, an irregular patch of gray and white. +Far as eye can reach it is the same, and so shall we find it all the +way to Prague. + +The wind increased mightily while I was on the hill, and as it swept +coldly over the broad slopes of grain and clover, the whole landscape +seemed to become a great, green, rippling sea. + +My recollections of this day include--a flock of geese grazing on a +bit of common about every league; men leading oxen by a strip of hide +to pasture on the roadside grass; women cutting fodder in nooks and +corners; shepherds, whose booted legs gave them anything but a +pastoral appearance; rows of cherry-trees, and the guards in straw +huts keeping watch over the fruit; and miles of road irksomely +straight between plum-trees. + +Here and there you come to a homestead or _Gasthaus_, surrounded by a +high and thick whitewashed wall, with one or more arched gateways, as +if the inmates could not give up the mediæval habit of living within a +fortress. On approaching Liebkowitz, the pale colour of the land +changes to a warm red, and fields of peas which seem endless, and +small plantations of hops, diversify the surface, and contrast with +the village, where the clean white pillars of the gateways, the red +roofs, topped here and there with a purple ball, engage your eye. + +At Lubenz, where the main road, with its bordering of tall poles and +telegraphic wire turns aside to the Saatzer Circle, I struck into the +direct route for Prague, and keeping on at an easy pace, getting a +passing view of Schloss Petersburg on the right--a factory-like +building--I came at eventide to the _Gasthof zum Rose_ at Willenz. + +There is many a chapel in England smaller than the common room at the +_Rose_, and the same may be said of nearly every roadside inn at which +I stayed. Large as the rooms are, it is sometimes difficult to find a +seat among the numerous guests; and on Sundays especially they are +overcrowded. Here in one corner stood the stove enclosed by a dresser, +on which all the preparations for cooking were carried on; and, in the +opposite corner, the bar behind a wooden fence, running up to the +ceiling. Bread, smoked sausage, _schnaps_, and liqueurs, are served +from the bar; beer is fetched directly from the cellar. + +The host was thrifty, and kept his four daughters busy in waiting on +customers. The eldest presided at the stove, and the other three went +continually to and fro, refilling the tankards of beer-drinkers, or +dealing out delicacies from the bar. Comely damsels they were, dressed +in purple bodices, and pink skirts that trailed on the floor in all +the amplitude prescribed by the milliners at Paris. I could not fail +to be struck by the frequency of their visits to the cellar to supply +the demands of about twenty men, who, seated at one of the tables, +appeared to have been making a day of it. Tankard after tankard was +swallowed with marvellous rapidity, and still the cry was "more." For +the first time, in my few trips to the Continent, I saw drunkards, and +these were not the only sots that came before me during the present +journey: all, however, within Bohemia. + +Casual customers would now and then drop in, call for beer, drink a +small quantity, and leave the tankard standing on the table and go +away for half an hour, then return, take another gulp, and so on. One +of the tables was covered by these drink-and-come-again tankards, and +though all alike in appearance, I noticed that every man knew his own +again. Among these bibbers by instalments the landlord was +conspicuous, for he took a gulp from his tankard every five minutes, +and never left it a moment empty. + +Now and then slouched in a troop of dusty-booted wagoners, who drank a +cup of coffee, and went slouching forth to their wearisome journey. At +times a half-dozen peasants strode noisily in, and refreshed +themselves with a draught of beer for their walk home; and sausage and +little broils were in constant request. The host rubbed his hands, and +well he might, for trade was brisk; and when he brought me a baked +chicken--which, by the way, is another favourite dish in Bohemia--for +my supper, and heard my praise of his beer, he told me that he brewed +his own beer and grew his own hops. "You will see two big pockets of +hops on the landing when you go to bed," he added, with the look of an +innkeeper thoroughly self-satisfied. And then he sat down and gave his +two sons a writing-lesson. + +After supper, one of the pink-robed damsels placed a wooden +candlestick, nearly a yard in height, on the table, and brought the +inevitable book--that miscellaneous collection of travellers' +autographs, kept for the edification of the Imperial police. More +inquisitorial than any I had yet seen, this book contained three +columns, in one of which I had to note whether I was married or +single; "Catholic or other beliefed;" acquainted with any one in any +of the places I intended to visit, or not! + +Having entered the required particulars, the damsel leaning over the +page the while, I asked her what use would be made of them? + +"The gendarme comes to look at the book," she answered, "and if he +found the columns empty, so would he blame my father sorely, and wake +you up with loud noise to ask the reason. Ah! sometimes he comes +before bedtime; sometimes not till midnight, when all folk are asleep. +Then must doors be opened and questions answered; and if he discovers +some one in bed whose name is not yet in the book, then he makes great +outcry, and my father must pay a fine, and the stranger must to the +guard-house if he have not good passport. Truly, the law is strong +over the book." + +Happy land! Paternal government is so careful of the governed, so +anxious to encourage sedentary virtues, that no one is allowed to go +more than four hours, about twelve miles, from home without a passport +or ticket of residence (_Heimathschein_); and should any one not quite +so tame as his fellows wish to overpass the prescribed limit, paternal +government not unfrequently keeps him waiting three days for the +precious permit, or refuses it altogether. In a town which we shall +come to by-and-by, I saw a poor woman, who begged leave to visit one +of her children some fifteen miles distant, turned away with an +uncompromising denial. Think of this, my countrymen!--Islanders free +to jaunt or journey whithersoever ye will: be ye mighty or mean--even +ticket-of-leave holders. + +Whatever the cause, the regulations concerning passports are in +Bohemia very rigorous. It may be that the people have not forgotten +they once had a king of their own, or that a remarkable intellectual +movement is taking place among the Czechs, or that a simmering up of +Protestantism has become chronic within the ring of mountains; +whatever the cause, the pressure of authority's heaviest hand is +manifest. For my own part--to mention a little thing among great +things--I was more fidgetted about my passport in Bohemia than ever +anywhere else. + +It is worse in Hungary. In that province the burden of oppression is +felt to a degree inconceivable by an Englishman. Passports for France +or England were peremptorily refused to Hungarians of whatever degree +during the year 1855; and in 1856, when the rigour was somewhat +relaxed, leave was granted for three months only. And should any one +be known to have paid a visit to Kossuth while in London, even though +he might believe the exile to be a better orator than ruler, he would +find the discipline of imprisonment awaiting him on his return _home_. +Think of Albert Smith, or any other enterprising tourist, having to +ask Lord Clarendon's permission to steam up the Rhine, ascend Mont +Blanc, or travel anywhither! 'Tis well the Magyars are not a hopeless +race. + +The members of the Hungarian Academy at Pesth are not allowed to hold +their weekly meetings unless an Imperial Commissioner be present to +watch the proceedings, and stop the discussion of forbidden subjects. +Not a word must be spoken concerning politics, or liberty in any form. +History is tolerated only when she discourses of antiquities--urns, +buildings, dress and manners, philology, or art. Science even must +wear fetters, and preserve herself demure and orthodox. A speculative +philosopher might as well attempt to utter high treason, as to read a +paper demonstrating by geological proofs the countless ages of the +earth's existence, or to quote a chapter from the _Vestiges of +Creation_. This work is included among the prohibited books, of which +a list is sent to the Academy once a week. One copy of the _Times_--a +solitary feather from Liberty's wing--finds its way into Pesth: a rare +indulgence for the Englishman who reads it. Imagine Sir Richard Mayne +sitting at meetings of the Royal Society, with power to stop Sir +Roderick Murchison in his Silurian evidences; or the Rev. Baden Powell +in his speculations and inferences concerning the _Unity of Worlds_; +or the utterance of Professor Faraday's opinions concerning +gravitation; and telling them they shall not read Hugh Miller's +_Testimony of the Rocks_! + +But to return. Among those who dropped in was a tall, grizzly peasant, +who presently began a talk with me about what he called his sad +condition. His lot was a hard one, because the country was kept down; +and hoping for better times would be vain while France and England +maintained their alliance. All who felt themselves aggrieved--and +their number was great--saw no prospect of redress but in a new +outbreak of strife between those two nations; let that only come, and +from the Rhine to the Vistula all would be in revolution, wrong would +be punished, and the right prevail. He knew many a peasant who was of +the same way of thinking. + +Not being able to flatter him with hopes of a rupture between the Lion +and the Cock, I suggested his taking the matter into his own hands, +and making the best of present circumstances. Thrift and diligence +would do him more good than a revolution. Whereupon he told me how he +lived; how hard he worked to cultivate his plot of ground; how rarely +he ate anything besides bread and potatoes; and as for beer, it was +never seen under his roof. + +"Do you think it fair, then," I rejoined, "to sit here drinking? Why +not carry home a measure of beer, and let your wife share it?" + +He made no answer; but rose from his seat, shook me by the hand, and +walked heavily away. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + The Village -- The Peasant again -- The Road-mender -- + Among the Czechs -- Czechish Speech and Characteristics -- + Crosses -- Horosedl -- The Old Cook -- More Praise of + England -- The Dinner -- A Journey-Companion -- Famous + Files -- A Mechaniker's Earnings -- Kruschowitz -- Rentsch + -- More Czechish Characteristics -- Neu Straschitz -- A + Word in Season from Old Fuller -- The Mechaniker departs. + + +A hilly site, gardens, orchards, and green slopes, houses scattered at +random among chestnuts and elders, and a general suspicion of Czechish +carelessness, give to Willenz a touch of the picturesque: at least, +when seen as I saw it, with the morning dew yet glistening on thatch, +and flowers, and branches. Cherry-trees form a continuous avenue up +the hill beyond, and here and there huts of fir branches were built +against a stem, to shelter the guard set to watch the ripened fruit, +and gatherers were busy aloft. You may pluck a cherry now and then +with impunity; but not from the trees marked by a wisp of straw +twisted round a conspicuous branch, for of those the fruit is sold, +and the watchman eyes them jealously. + +Coming to the brow of the hill, I saw what seemed a giant standing on +a high bank above the road. It was the grizzly peasant magnified +through a thin haze. As soon as he saw me he came plunging down the +bank, gave me a cheerful "_Gut' Morgen_," seized my hand, and said, "I +have been waiting long to see you. I talk gladly with such as you, and +could not let you go without asking whether you will come back this +way. If so, then pray come to my house for a night. It is not far from +Schloss Petersburg. We will make you comfortable." + +To return by the same road was no part of my plan, and when I told him +so, the old man's countenance fell; he pressed my hand tighter, and +cried, with a tone of disappointment, "Is it true? Ah! my wife will be +so sorry. I told her what you said, and she wanted to see you as much +as I." + +As there was no help for it, we had another talk, he all the while +holding my hand as if fearful I should escape. The burden of his +discourse was "a good time coming," mingled, however, with a dread +that when it came it would not be half so desirable as the good old +times, and between the past and future his life was a torment. + +"Whether you shall be miserable or not," I answered, "depends more on +yourself than on the rulers of Bohemia. Why should a man grumble who +has a house, and food, and land to cultivate? Only carry your +enjoyments home instead of consuming them by the way, and cheerfulness +will be there to gladden your wife as well as you." + +"Yes; but in the old times----" + +I bade him good-bye, and pursued my walk. Turning round just over the +brow of the hill, I saw him still in the same spot, gazing after me. +"Farewell, good friend!" he shouted, and strode away. + +Half an hour later I came to a road-mender, who told me he earned +twenty kreutzers a day, and was quite content therewith. He had a wife +and child; never ate meat or drank beer; lived mostly on potatoes, and +was, nevertheless, strong and healthy, and by no means inclined to +quarrel with his lot. The road was a constant source of employment; +and if at times bad weather kept him at home for a day or two, his pay +went on all the same. + +I mentioned my interview with the old peasant. "Ah!" he answered, +laughing, "it is always so. No grumbler like a _Bauer_. All the world +knows that peasants think everybody better off than themselves"--and +down came his hammer with crashing force on a lump of granite. Wayside +philosophy clearly had the best of it, and heartily approved the fable +of the _Mountain of Miseries_ which I narrated. + +Every mile brings us more and more among the Czechs. Oval faces and +arched eyebrows become more numerous, and women's talk sounds shrill +and shrewish, as if angry or quarrelsome, as is remarked of the women +in Caernarvonshire; and yet it is nothing more than friendly +conversation. To a stranger the language sounds as unmusical as it is +difficult; and to learn it--you may as well hope to master Chinese. +Czechish names and handbills appear on the walls; the names of +villages, with the usual topographical particulars, are written up in +German and Czechish, of which behold a specimen: + + [Illustration: + + Ort und Gemeinde. _Misto á Obec._ + Horzowitz. + Bezirk Jechnitz. _Okres Jesenice._ + Kreis Saaz. _Krái Zatéc._ + Königr. Böhm. _Kral: Ceské._] + +In some of the villages no one but the landlord of the best inn can +speak German, and you have only your eyes by which to study the +natives and their ways. For my own part, my Czechish vocabulary being +foolishly short, I could not ask the villagers why they preferred +sluttishness to tidiness, though I longed to do so. It comprised three +words only: _Piwo_, _Chleb_, _Máslo_--Beer, Bread, Butter. + +Crosses are frequent, erected at the corners where bye-roads branch +off. Not the huge wooden things you see in Tyrol; but light iron +crucifixes, graceful in form and brightly gilt, and mounted on a stone +pedestal. Nearly all have been set up by private individuals to +commemorate some family event: _By the married Pair_, you may read on +one; _Dedicated to the Honour of God, by two Sisters_, on another; _In +Memory of my Daughter, by Peter Schmidt, Bauer_, on a third--all +apparently from some pious motive. + +While eating a crust under the pretentious sign, _Stadt Carlsbad_, at +Horosedl, I saw how the dowager hostess practised her domestic +economy. She was preparing dinner for the family, after her manner, +drawing her hand repeatedly across her nose, for the stove was hot and +the day sultry. She sliced cucumbers with an instrument resembling a +plane, sprinkled the slices with salt, then squeezed them well between +her hands, and exposed them to the sun in a shallow basket, one of +five or six which, woven almost as close and water-tight as +calabashes, served her as dishes. Then she grated a lump of hard brown +dough, and used the coarse grains to thicken the soup--a substitute +for vermicelli common among the peasantry. + +The hostess, meanwhile, chatted with me and set the table. She +professed to admire the English, and thought it an honour that an +Englishman had once slept a night in her house, "although he had to +look into a book for all he wanted to say." She coincided entirely in +the Saxon schoolmaster's opinion, that all best things came from +England. + +As the clock struck eleven in came half a dozen serving men and +maidens, and sat down to dinner with the master and mistress. The +dowager supplied them with soup, beef, a mountain of potato-dumplings, +and cucumber salad, and ate her portion apart with undoubting +appetite. An old beggar crept in and stood hat in hand imploring +charity for God's sake! She scolded him for his intrusion, and then +gave him a smoking hot dumpling and a word of sympathy, which he +received and acknowledged with humble thanks and the sign of the +cross. + +It is a relief along this part of the road to see frequent hop +plantations, and here and there rocks as richly red as the crimson +cliffs of Sidmouth, while at rarer intervals a pale mass of sandstone +on a distant hill-slope puts on the appearance of an enormous +antediluvian fossil. I was pacing briskly along, enjoying a fresh +breeze that had sprung up, when I heard a voice behind me: "_Ach!_ at +last. I saw you from far, and said to myself, Perhaps that is a +journey-companion--let me overtake him." + +Immediately a man, who walked as if he enjoyed the exercise, and wore +what looked like his Sunday suit, came up to my side, and proposed to +join company, so as to shorten the way with talk. We soon got through +the preliminaries, and started topics enough to last all the rest of +the day. The stranger notified himself as a _Mechaniker_ from Neudeck, +going to Prague on business for his master. He, too, had much to say +in praise of England. He had once worked with an Englishman, a certain +James, or _Ya-mes_, as he pronounced it, and had ever since held him +in the highest esteem and admiration. "That was a man!" he exclaimed; +"if all Englishmen are the same, no wonder their nation is so great." + +English files also were not less praiseworthy--a fact of which +Sheffield ought to be proud, seeing that her handicraft has often been +reproached of late. "To dance," said the _Mechaniker_, "is not more +pleasure than to file with an English file. How it bites, and lasts so +long! Even an old one that has been thrown away for months is better +than a German file. One is honest steel--the other is too much like +lead." Some folk will, perhaps, feel surprised by this scrap of +experimental testimony in favour of Hallamshire. + +We talked about wages. The _Mechaniker's_ earnings were six hundred +florins a year; a small sum, as it seems, to English notions for a +skilled workman in machinery--one held in high consideration by his +master. Ordinary workmen get one-third less; he was, therefore, well +content, and told me he could spare something for the savings bank, +but not so much as formerly, owing to the increased price of +provisions. + +So with sundry discourse we came to Kruschowitz, where we dined, +looking out on thick belts of fruit-trees, that embower the village, +and relieve the pale green of little plantations of acacias that show +here and there among the bright-red roofs. Most of the houses exhibit +the Czechish style, which shuns height and dispenses with an upper +story. Then we went on at an after-dinner pace to Rentsch, where, +striking into the old road to Prague, now but little frequented, we +shortened the distance by four or five miles. All Czechish now, both +to eye and ear. A difference is perceptible in the fields, the +implements, sheds, and vehicles; they are not so neat or workmanlike +in appearance as in the German districts, and yet the broad crops of +wheat, already turning yellow, betoken glad abundance. + +Now we found pleasant footpaths through the beech-woods that border +the road, and enjoyed the cool shade and the sound of rustling leaves. +The men we met had a slouching gait, and the women, wearing coarse, +baggy cotton stockings, and flimsy cotton gowns, and shabby kerchiefs +on their heads, were unmistakable dowdies--an appearance which has +come to be considered essentially Celtic. However, they failed not to +salute us with their "_dobrýtro_" (good day) as we passed. + +The aspect of Neu Straschitz, the next village on our way, shows how +we are getting into the heart of the country--the land of the Czechs. +Wide streets, which make the low whitewashed houses look still lower +than they are; a great, uneven square, patched here and there with +ragged grass, bestrewn with rough logs of timber, ornamented at one +side by a row of saplings, unhappy looking, as if pining for the rank +of trees; on the other by a statue of St. John Nepomuk. Very lifeless! +No merry noise of children in summer evening gambols; no fathers and +mothers chatting in the cool lengthening shadows. The only living +creatures are a man, a woman, and a dog, all three as far apart as +possible. There is nothing stirring even around the _Bezirksamt_ or +the church. + +Glazed windows are few: an opening in the wall, with a hinged shutter, +suffices for most of the houses. And for door they have a big archway +closed by heavy wooden gates, looking very inhospitable. Here and +there one of these gates stands a little open, and you may get a peep +at the interior, a square court, enclosed by stable, barn, and +dwelling, heaped with manure and ugly rubbish. No notion here, you +will say, of the fitness of things. Look at the wagon--a basket on +wheels--the wheelbarrow, the rakes, huddled away anyhow, as if they +were just as well in one place as another. Perhaps they are. Quaint +old Fuller says of the Devonshire cotters of his day, "Vain it is for +any to search their houses, being a work beneath the pains of a +sheriff, and above the power of any constable." You will, perhaps, say +the same here. Look in-doors! the same slovenliness prevails. The room +would be just as comfortable, or rather uncomfortable, if chairs and +table changed places; if the higgledy-piggledy at one end were +shifted to the other. The condition of the utensils is by no means +unimpeachable; and repelled by the pervading odour, you will not be +less thankful than proud that your lot is not cast among the Czechs. + +The inn is an exception, and has the appearance of being too good for +the village. The _Kellnerinn_ told us we could have as many bedrooms +as we chose, for they were all empty. I was content with my day's +walk, about twenty-five miles; but the _Mechaniker_, impatient to +arrive at Prague, resolved to travel two hours farther; so, after he +had finished his tankard of beer, we shook hands, and he went on +alone, the _Kellnerinn_ assuring him as he departed that he would find +good sleeping quarters almost every half-hour. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + A Talk with the Landlord -- A Jew's Offer -- A Ride in a + Wagen -- Talk with the Jew -- The Stars -- A Mysterious + Gun-barrel -- An Alarm -- Stony Ammunition -- The Man with + the Gun -- The Jew's opinion of him -- Sunrise -- A Walk -- + The White Hill -- A Fatal Field -- Waking up in the Suburbs + -- Early Breakfasts -- Imperial and Royal Tobacco -- + Milk-folk -- The Gate of Prague -- A Snappish Sentry -- The + Soldiers -- Into the City -- Picturesque Features and + crowding Associations -- The Kleinseite -- The Bridge -- + Palaces -- The Altstadt -- Remarkable Streets -- The + Teinkirche -- The Neustadt -- The Three Hotels. + + +The landlord came in a few minutes afterwards, and, to encourage me to +tell him all he wished to know about myself, declared himself a +German. That he should ever have been so stupid as to tempt fortune at +Neu Straschitz was a mistake haunting and vexing him continually. A +living was not to be got in such a miserable village, and among such +miserable people, and he meant to migrate as soon as he could find +some one more stupid than himself to take the inn off his hands. + +I had seen two or three German names in the street, and asked him if +they were of long standing. "Not very." And he went on to say that the +Stock-Bohemians, as the Czechs are called, are perpetually encroached +on, pressed within narrower limits by the German element. Though a +good deal was said about Czechish vigour and intellectuality, some +folk thought that the language would at no distant day cease to be +spoken. As for the character of the Czechs, there was scarcely a +German who did not believe them to be sly, false, double-faced. And +what says the proverb?--Dirt is the offspring of Lying and Idleness. +For his part, he knew the Czechs were dirty, but he didn't quite know +whether, in other respects, they were worse than their neighbours. Any +way, he rather liked the thought of removing from among them. + +After all this, mine host thought he had a fair claim on me for a +sight of an English gold coin, and answers to all his questions +concerning England. I was doing my best to satisfy him, when the +_Kellnerinn_ called my attention to a _Herr_ who was going to start +with his _Wagen_ in the course of the evening for Prague; and she +suggested, very disinterestedly as it seemed to me, that the +opportunity was too good to be lost. + +_Wagen_ is as comprehensive a word as our "conveyance:" the _Herr_ +looked like a man who might be going to Prague in a carriage, so, as +he promised plenty of room, and asked no more than a florin for the +twenty miles, I accepted his offer. Having yet business to settle, he +went out, and promised to call for me at nine o'clock. He had no +sooner left the room, than the landlord said, "He is a Jew; but you +need not be afraid of him. He is a very honest fellow, and comes here +often." + +I saw no reason to be afraid, and when the Jew came back at the +appointed hour was ready to accompany him. He led the way to a back +street, where we waited in front of one of the low, undemonstrative +houses. Presently the big gate swung back, and out came the +_Wagen_--one of the four-wheeled basket wagons, drawn by a single +horse pulling awkwardly at one side of the heavy pole. I had imagined +something a little better than that; however, as the wagon was half +full of new hay, with a comfortable back-cushion of clover, I +scrambled in on one side while the Jew did the same on the other, and +the driver, a Czech, perched himself uncomfortably on a bar in front. + +The wagon was just wide enough for two; and, what with the elastic +sides and soft hay, there was no painful jolting. The west shone +gloriously with the golden arch of sunset as we drove out of the +village and entered on a bad road winding across the open fields; and +Twilight came on so softly that you might have fancied Day was +lingering to lend her his palest rays. The Jew was disposed to talk, +and betrayed no little curiosity on the subject of travelling. Was it +not very irksome to be away from home? was it not very expensive? and +how much money did one need to carry? was there no danger? and so +forth. But what interested him most was the question as to the money: +he returned to it again and again. + +Next, he had much to ask concerning London--the sort of business +transacted in the great city--the rate of profit--in short, he put me +through a whole social and commercial catechism, from which he drew a +conclusion that London would not be an undesirable place of residence. + +So it went on, interrupted only by his saying a few words now and then +to the driver in Czechish, until my turn came, and I opened my +questioning about Prague. The Jew, however, was readier in asking +questions than in answering; indeed, he was stingy in reply, as if +words were worth a florin the dozen. + +As the stars brightened the night became cold, and set me shivering. +The Jew brought two cloaks out of a bag, and, wrapped in one of these, +I lay on my back looking up at the sky, thinking of home-scenes and +home-friends as my eye wandered from one bright spot to another; and +solemn was the impression made on me by the sight of the glorious +handiwork. + + "For the bright firmament + Shoots forth no flame + So silent, but is eloquent + In speaking the Creator's name." + +I could not fail to note that astronomers have reason for telling us +that meteoric phenomena are more common on any night than would be +believed by those not accustomed to observe the heavens, for I saw +twelve shooting-stars within two hours. + +As we went on, the lights in the public-houses became fewer, and ere +long disappeared, and the silence was only disturbed by the fitful +barking of dogs in the distance, and the slow noise of the wheels. Our +horse dropped into a walk, and the driver off to sleep, and I was +still gazing at the stars when I heard footsteps near the side of the +wagon. Turning my eyes, without rising, I saw the top of a gun-barrel +about two yards off, apparently resting on some one's shoulder. The +sound of the footsteps woke the driver, who immediately began to +quicken the horse's pace, but very cautiously, as if to avoid +suspicion. The Jew seemed uneasy, and muttered a word or two in a low +tone; the whip was used, the horse broke into a trot, but the +gun-barrel was not left behind; I could still see it in the same +place, keeping pace with the wagon. + +What did it mean? One time I fancied that perhaps the hay on which I +lay so innocently was but a disguise for something contraband, whereof +a cunning gendarme had gotten scent. Then I remembered the landlord's +desire to see a gold coin, and the Jew's curiosity as to the amount +and quality of a traveller's money, and a faint suspicion of having +fallen into a trap did occur to me. Meanwhile the horse trotted in +earnest; the gun-barrel was left in the rear; then the whip was plied +vigorously; the Jew spoke energetically; the driver jumped from his +perch, picked up two big stones, threw them into the wagon, and drove +quickly on again. + +"There is one for you, and one for me," said the Jew to me, in a loud +whisper. + +"What do you mean?" I asked. + +"The stones," he replied; "one for you, and one for me, if we are +attacked." + +"Attacked or not, we are three to one, and one of the three is an +Englishman." + +The Jew did not answer, for the footsteps were again heard approaching +at a run, and soon the gun-barrel appeared once more abreast of the +wagon. The driver kept the horse up to his speed, the Jew fumbled +about with his feet for the big stones, and the chase--if such it +could be called--continued for about ten minutes. + +All at once the gun-barrel darted from the road-side towards the +wagon. I immediately sat up, and found myself face to face, and but a +few inches apart, with the bearer of the weapon--a wild-looking +fellow, wearing a slouched cap and hunting-jacket. A faint exclamation +of surprise escaped him, and, whether it was that he saw two persons +in the wagon, besides the driver, or that we did not look worth his +trouble, I know not, but he gradually dropped behind, and we lost +sight of the gun-barrel. + +A minute passed. "Now," said the Jew, "we are rid of him." + +But scarcely had he spoken, than a shrill whistle sounded afar through +the silence of the night, followed after a short interval by a whistle +at a distance from the road. + +"Quick! quick!" was now the word to the driver. "He is calling his +comrades: they will be down upon us. Quick! quick!" + +The Czech seemed well inclined to obey; the pace was quickened into a +gallop, and, in about a quarter-hour, we came to a village, where, +stopping in front of the inn, he filled the rack with clover from the +wagon, and gave the horse to feed. + +The place with its littery appendages looked unked, lying half in deep +shadow; the door was fast, and not a light shone from the windows, +cheating my hope of a cup of coffee. The Jew now sat up, talked for +awhile vehemently with the driver, then said, turning to me, "We have +had an escape. That fellow meant nothing good--nothing good--nothing +good. A real bad fellow!" + +"Was he a robber?" + +"Perhaps worse. He meant nothing good. We are well out of it. I hope +we shall not see him again." + +We did not; and by-and-by, as we went on again, and I lay looking up +at the stars, they seemed to grow dim, then twinkle strangely, and at +last they disappeared. It may be that I slept, for when next I looked +at the sky it was flecked by streams of rosy tints, the fields were +covered with dew as a veil, and, by the timid chirping of birds, and +other signs, the eye might note the preparations for lifting the veil +at the approach of the sun. My sheltering cloak, my hair and eyebrows, +were thickly covered with dew, cold as the brightening dawn. The Jew, +similarly bepearled, lay sleeping soundly, the Czech nodded on his +perch, and the horse, taking advantage of the slumber, was moving only +at a sober walk. + +It was not yet five when I alighted about three miles from Prague, to +get warm by walking the remaining distance. The Jew took his florin +with much demonstration of thanks, horse and driver roused up, and the +wagon was soon out of sight. + +A few minutes brought me to the _Weissenberg_--White Hill--a +battle-field not less fatal than famous. The road is bordered by ample +rows of trees; woods thick with foliage clothe the neighbouring +hollows and acclivities, and on the left, sloping gently upwards, with +here and there a break, rises the hill. Here, then, was the scene of +which I had often read, where Frederick of the Palatinate, who had +married a princess of England, daughter of James I., lost the crown of +Bohemia. Not long had he worn it--indeed, some of his contemporaries +called him the Winter King--when he was forced to flee, with his wife +and children, among them the infant Rupert, who afterwards won renown +as chief of the Cavaliers in England. Treachery, as late researches +show, aided the combined forces of Ferdinand of Austria and Maximilian +of Bavaria, and from that day Bohemia ceased to be an independent +monarchy, and became a province of the Austrian Empire, a loss yet +mourned by many, who join in the poet's lament: + + "Ach Gott! die Weissenberger Schlacht + Erreicht wohl Ostrolenka's Trauer, + Und die darauf erfolgt die Racht, + Hat trübere als Sibiriens Schauer." + +Terrible, indeed, was the _night_ that followed! And when one reads of +Ferdinand's faithlessness and cruelty, his murderous vengeance on the +chiefest of the conquered people, the wonder is not that Bohemia +should have revolted, but that she did not reconquer her birthright. + +Thoughts of the past came crowding through my mind as I paced across +the ground, and presently pursued my walk. I was approaching a city +remarkable in itself, and in its historical associations, but for the +moment my attention was drawn to immediate objects. As I went on down +the now continuous descent, the tops of towers and spires came into +view in the distance below, and on either hand appeared indications +that a metropolis was not far off. Early folk were opening the booths, +shops, and public-houses, which, scattered among the trees, presented +ere long an unbroken line on both sides of the road. Cooling drinks +were set out on tables, and many a shutter invited the passer-by to +_Beer_ and _Brandy_, in various phrase. Now stalls covered with +cherries and currants alternate with piles of bread, hard-boiled eggs, +cheese, and smoked sausages; and working people stop to eat their +earliest breakfast. Every few yards sits a woman with a basket of +fresh, tempting _Semmel_--fancy bread, as we should call it--most of +the little loaves thickly sprinkled with poppy-seeds, dear to the +native palate. And here and there stands what looks like a roomy +sentry-box, painted yellow, and adorned with the Austrian blazon--an +_Imperial and Royal Booth for the sale of Tobacco_. + +Already the road is alive with vehicles, for from every lane and +byepath speed dog-carts, or little wagons on two wheels, or large +wagons on four wheels, all laden with tin cans of milk for the city. +How the dogs pant, and the horses snort! for the driver, and his or +her two or three companions, keep the animals at full speed, sparing +neither lash nor voice. Long before they come into sight you can hear +their shrill chatter, mingled with merry laughter, and, as they burst +into view, a shout from all the others adds excitement to the race, +and away they go, each trying to be first. + +Half a mile farther, and I overtake many of them at the turn of the +road, where the women are sitting on the bank, putting on stockings +and shoes. Some remount the wagons; others walk quietly onwards, +showing a neat ankle and clean white leg to the morning sun. Now the +city wall frowns towards you, and, once round the turn, there is the +gate--_Reichsthor_--a few soldiers hanging about, and many persons +passing to and fro, while the curious towers of the Strahow monastery, +where Rupert was born, peer above trees and vine-slopes on the right. +I passed through the gloomy arch unchallenged by any of the guards, +and had got some distance down the steep street, when a man made me +aware that shouts in the rear were intended for me. I turned: a +soldier, who had come a few yards from the cavern-like gate, was +making very peremptory use of his voice, and, as soon as I saw him, +he beckoned with angry gestures. I retraced my steps, but at too slow +a pace to satisfy the Imperial functionary, for he turned again and +again, each time with the same impatient gesture. No sooner did I come +within earshot, than he cried, snappishly, "Why did you not give me +your passport?" + +"For two reasons," I answered, with a laugh; "this is my first visit +to Prague, and I have not yet learnt your regulations; and secondly, +why did you let me go by without asking me for it?" + +The lounging group of soldiers laughed as this was spoken, and my +questioner having led the way to his darksome den, built at the elbow +of the arch so as to command both approaches, took my passport and +gave me the official receipt without further parley. + +As I emerged again into the sunshine, one of the soldiers said, "Do +you know what? When any one goes away into the city without stopping +at the guard-house, he must always come back to the gate where he +entered, and give up his passport." + +I thanked him for his information, and took my way once more down the +street. It was just six o'clock: all the shops were open; working +people thronged the footways; heavy teams toiled slowly up the hill +towards the gate; the milk-folk hurried down with noisy clatter, while +men wearing glazed hats and a canvas uniform swept the streets. Signs +of early rising everywhere. + +The peculiar features of the city multiply as you advance. High on the +left, its cathedral tower springing above the rest, appears the +Hradschin--an imposing mass of building in the factory style of +architecture, stretching, as one might guess, for half a mile along +the bold eminence, commanding the country for miles around. You can +count four hundred windows. There, as every one knows, the Thirty +Years' War began, by certain angry Bohemian nobles pitching two +Imperial commissioners and their secretary out of one of the windows. +Little did the haughty ejectors think of the consequences of their +exploit--that before thirty years were over, 30,000 villages and more +than a million men would be destroyed by war! + +Being very hungry, I was fain to drink a draught of milk and eat one +of the poppy-seeded loaves at the door of one of the little shops, +looking round all the while on curious gables, panelled fronts, +ancient gateways, more numerous as we descend. Lower down, we are in +the oldest part of the city, among the palaces of the great nobles +whose names figure in history--Kollowrat, Lobkowitz, Wallenstein, and +others. Massive edifices, whereby your eye and steps are alike +arrested. And on every side are narrow lanes and courts, some nothing +but a steep stair, and these, winding in and out, increase the charm +of the ornamented architecture, and produce wonderful bits of +perspective. Such effects of light and shade, and glorious touches of +colour! + +Then a church crowded with carvings; old women sitting on the steps, +young women and matrons going in to the early mass, of which, as the +doors swing to and fro, you hear the loud notes of the organ. Then a +square, and tall obelisk, and arcaded houses; and turning a corner +there rises the bridge tower, strikingly picturesque. As my eye caught +sight of its graceful roof and slender finials, I could not repress an +exclamation of surprise and pleasure. Then through the narrow arch, +and we are on the ancient bridge, looking down on the broad stream of +the Moldau, flowing with noisy rush through the sixteen arches built +600 years ago; at houses, palaces, and churches rising one above +another in the _Kleinseite_ through which we have just passed, and in +the _Altstadt_ on the opposite side; at the mosaic pavement; at the +gigantic statues which terminate every pier, noteworthy saints from +the Bohemian calendar, chiefest among them St. John Nepomuk, who with +his crescentic belt of five large ruby stars might be taken for +another Orion. In no city that I have yet seen have I felt so much +pleasure, or such varied emotions, as during my walk into Prague. + +Then we pass under the equally picturesque bridge tower of the +_Altstadt_, and enter narrow streets lined with good shops, and full +of bustle; and after many puzzling ins and outs, we emerge into the +spacious area of the Ring--a lively scene, people crossing in all +directions, or sauntering under the arcades; here and there sentries +pacing up and down, and small parties of soldiers, in gay uniforms, +marching away to beat of drum. And above the farther houses there +shoot up the two towers of the _Teinkirche_--one of the most famous +churches in Prague--which were built by George Podiebrad. The church +itself is screened by the houses; but, whenever you see those graceful +towers, you recognise the site of the edifice which was one of the +strongholds of Hussite preachers, and where Tycho Brahe lies buried. + +More narrow streets; across the end of a market-place, and passing +under the arch of the ancient Powder Tower, we enter the broad streets +of the _Neustadt_. The Bohemian professor at Würzburg had recommended +me to lodge at the _Blaue Stern_, so to the _Blue Star_ I went, and +asked for a room. + +"Quite full," said the _Kellner_, at the same time surveying me +inquisitively from head to foot. + +Two doors off was another hotel, where the answer, accompanied by a +similar inquisition, was, "Nothing empty." + +A third replied, "Perhaps, to-morrow." + +I began to fancy that my not having been in bed all night--boots still +dusty, and a few stalks of hay clinging to my coat--might have +something to do with these denials. However, hotels are thickly +grouped in this quarter of the city, and not many yards farther the +_Schwarzes Ross_, in the _Kolowrat-strasse_, gave me quarters as +comfortable as could be wished. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + The Hausknecht -- A Place to Lose Yourself -- + Street-Phenomena -- Book-shops -- Glass-wares -- Cavernous + Beer-houses -- Signs -- Czechish Names -- Ugly Women -- + Swarms of Soldiers -- A Scene on the Bridge -- A Drateñik + -- The Ugly Passport Clerk -- The Suspension-bridge -- The + Islands -- The Slopes of the Laurenzberg -- View over + Prague -- Schools, Palaces, and Poverty -- The Rookery -- + The Hradschin -- The Courts -- The Cathedral -- The Great + Tomb -- The Silver Shrine -- Relics -- A Kissed Portrait -- + St. Wenzel's Chapel -- Big Sigmund -- The Loretto Platz -- + The Old Towers -- The Hill-top and Hill-foot. + + +I had not been many minutes in my room when the _Hausknecht_--the +German boots--brought me a printed form, in which, besides the +inevitable particulars, I had to state the probable duration of my +stay in Prague. For three days' residence the police authorities +charge nothing, but if you enter on a fourth day you must pay two +florins for a permit to reside. I escaped the tax by not having more +than three days to spare. + +The day was all before me, and I made haste to + + "go lose myself, + And wander up and down and view the city." + +Losing one's-self is not difficult in Prague--easier, indeed, than in +any city I have yet visited; for the _Altstadt_ so abounds in queer +nooks and corners, narrow streets and lanes all crooked and angular, +running hither and thither in such unexpected directions, or coming +to a sudden stop, as completely to puzzle a stranger. Even my organ +of locality well-nigh failed me in the intricate maze. + +Among all these zigzags you discover the leading thoroughfares only by +the busy appearance, the continuous stream of citizens going and +coming, straggling all across the narrow roadway, now darting aside to +escape a passing carriage, or slowly giving place to a long lumbering +dray that rolls past with deafening rumble, the horses clattering on +shoes with tall calkins that put you in mind of pattens. Here, too, +are the best shops, displaying attractive wares behind coarse and +uneven panes. The booksellers' windows exhibit a good variety of +standard books, of maps and engravings, denoting the existence of a +wholesome love of literature; very different from what is to be seen +in the southern states of the empire. Some shops display none but +Czechish books, and if you glance over the title-pages, you will +discover that topography of their own country, and descriptions of the +beautiful city _Praha_--as they call Prague--are favourite subjects +with the Czechs. + +There is no uniformity. Next door to a cabinet-maker's, whose +large-paned window exhibits a variety of tasteful furniture, you will +see a cavern-like grocery without any window, and the wares all in +seeming confusion. Next, beyond, is a shop resplendent with Bohemian +glass, elegant forms in ruby, gold, and azure, each one a triumph of +art and industry. England is a generous customer for these fragile +articles, as may be seen any day in some of the best shops in London. +Then comes a sullen-looking front, with grim grated window, showing no +wares, and looking as if it had not cared about customers since the +days of King George Podiebrad. Then a smirking coffee-house, with +muslin curtains and touches of gilding. A little farther, and there is +a great open arch, running far to the rear--a beer-house--the space +between the street and the bar filled with tables bearing brown loaves +cut in quarters, _Semmel_, and corpulent sausages. Turn which way you +will, you find an endless diversity. + +"_Glück auf!_" writes up a little trader. "_Here are best Coals. +Radnitzer Coal._" People who live on the upper floors hang a small +wooden cruciform sign from their windows by a long string, low enough +to catch the eye and strike the heads of those walking beneath; and on +these dangling crosses, when they are not spinning round in the wind, +you may read that a Dentist, Shoemaker, or Teacher aloft in his garret +would be happy to supply your wants on reasonable terms. + +Judging from the number of queer-looking names over the doors, Prague +must be the head-quarters of the Czechs, and yet one meets +comparatively few examples of the fine intellectual brow and handsome +features of which I had seen noble specimens in the villages. Most of +the faces struck me as of a very common cast; and as for the gentle +sex, never have I seen so many ugly women as in Prague. Those of the +working classes are very dowdies, not to say slatterns, in many cases; +and the rows of market-women squatting by their baskets resemble so +many feather-beds tied round the middle, in a flimsy cotton dress, and +crowned by a red or yellow kerchief pinned under the chin. Even among +the graceful and gaily-dressed ladies I saw but very few pretty faces. +Perhaps I expected too much, or it might be, as I was told, that all +the pretty women had gone away to the watering-places! + +Surprising to a stranger is the number of soldiers, sauntering among +the other pedestrians, in uniforms blue, green, gray, or white; or +marching in short files at a brisk pace behind a corporal. Not once +did I take a walk in Prague without seeing three or four of these +little troops stepping out towards one or other quarter of the +compass. What is there to be kept down that can need such an imposing +force? At all events, it heightens the picturesque effect of the +streets. + +Stand for half an hour on the bridge and you will see, while noting +that scarcely any besides boys and priests take off their hats to St. +John of the five stars, how great is the proportion which the army and +the church bear to the rest of the inhabitants. At times the black and +the coloured uniforms appear to have the best of it. All besides may +be divided into two classes--the well-dressed and the shabby--for +nothing appears between the two. There are, however, but few of those +very miserable objects such as haunt the streets of large towns in +England. + +Now a man hurries past carrying a tall circular basket filled with +piled-up dinners in round dishes; now another wheeling bundles of +coloured glass rods; now another with a barrow-load of bread, and many +a slice will you see sold for a noonday repast. Then comes a troop of +lawless-looking street-musicians; then beggars grinding out squeaky +music from tinkered organs; then a girl carrying a coffin, painted +black and yellow, under her arm, which bears a cross on its gabled +lid. And now and then, among all these, your eye is arrested by a +singular, wild-looking figure, whom you will think the strangest of +all. He has lank black hair hanging to his shoulders from under a +fluffy, round-crowned, broad-brimmed hat--of the fashion still worn by +a few old Quakers in out-of-the-way places. He disdains a shirt, and +wears a tight jacket and hosen of whitey-brown serge. He goes +barefoot, walking with long, stealthy strides, looking, so you guess, +furtively around. On his shoulder he carries a coil of fine iron wire, +and in his hand a broken red pan or stone pitcher. Wild, however, and +out of place as he looks, he is only a Wallachian plying his honest +calling. He is a _Drateñik_--or _Drahtbinder_ (Wirebinder), as the +Germans call it--going about to mend broken pans and pitchers by +binding the fractures together with wire; a task which he performs +with neatness and dexterity. + +I went to the _Polizeidirection_ to reclaim my passport. About a dozen +persons were waiting. To some who looked poor and timid the clerk +spoke roughly, assuming beforehand a something "not regular." One +might fancy that his ungracious occupation had told upon his looks, +for he was the ugliest man I ever saw, and, unlike the women, who gave +themselves airs in the streets, he seemed to be aware of Nature's +unkindness towards him. When my turn came, he asked, "Where are you +going?" + +"To the _Riesengebirge_." + +"_So!_ But we can't sign a passport for the mountains. You must tell +us the name of some town." + +"Make it Landeshut, if you will; or any frontier town in Silesia." + +"Can't do that. We must have some town on this side the mountains." + +"I don't yet know which of three routes I shall take. Say some town +nearest to the mountains. Does it make any difference?" + +"_Schön!_ You can come back here when your mind is made up." And with +this rejoinder, Ugly turned away to consider a timid lady's request +for permission to go a journey of fifteen miles. + +There was time enough, so I strolled away to the +suspension-bridge--_Kaiser Franzens Brücke_--which, more than 1400 +feet long, crosses the Moldau and the _Schützen Insel_, a short +distance above the stone bridge. The view midway will make you linger. +On the right bank, _Franzens-quai_, stretching from one bridge to the +other, forms a spacious esplanade, in the centre of which, surrounded +by gardens, rises the monument erected by the Estates of Bohemia to +the honour of Francis I. Beyond and on either side the towers and +palaces are seen in a new aspect, differently grouped from our early +morning view. Those of the _Kleinseite_, backed by the leafy slopes of +the _Laurenzberg_, while immediately beneath your eye rests on the +green sward and shady groves of three or four islands. The river +rushing past to the dam makes a lively ripple, imparting a sense of +coolness enjoyed by the visitors who throng the islands during the +summer season. The _Sophien Insel_, named after the Archduchess +Sophie, the emperor's mother, with its pleasure-grounds, +dancing-floors, orchestras, refreshment-rooms, and baths, is the chief +resort, especially on Sundays. The large ball-room was the scene of +noisy public meetings in '48; the Sclave Congress was held there, +followed by a Sclavonic costume ball. These islands are a pleasing +feature in the view, and, with their shady bowers and the noise of the +water mingling with strains of music, contrast agreeably with the +matter-of-fact of the city. The _Schützen Insel_ is resorted to by +rifle companies, and you may hear a brisk succession of shots from the +practice that appears to be always going on. + +During the outbreak of June, 1848, the floor of the bridge was taken +up, and the passage across completely interrupted for some weeks by +the military. And it was to Prince Windischgratz's demonstrations +during the same month that the inhabitants were indebted for an +extension of their handsome quay. An old water-tower, and sundry +ricketty wooden mills that stood at the end of the stone bridge, were +set on fire by a shell from the prince's artillery, and the space +cleared by the flames was taken into the newly-formed area. + +Passing from the bridge through the _Aujezder Thor_, you come to the +pleasant slopes and gardens of the _Laurenzberg_, a hill that +overlooks the city and country around. Winding paths agreeably shaded +lead upwards, until you are stopped on the summit by massive +fortifications; the great "Bread-wall," or "Hunger-wall"--for it is +known by both names--which Karl IV. built all round the city five +hundred years ago to give work to the citizens in a season of +distress. From a buttress which projects clear of the trees, that +cover all the hill-side with a broad mass of foliage, you have a wide +prospect. Greater part of the city from the Jews' quarter to the +Wissehrad lies beneath the eye as a panorama. The Moldau--breaking +from between low hills, with here and there a _Kahn_ floating, or a +long, narrow raft drifting to the gap in the dam--flows past in a +grand curve between towers and palaces, wretched hovels and stately +churches, and onwards round the hills below to join the Elbe. The +islands are open as a map, and you see the puffs of smoke from the +rifles on the _Schützen Insel_. It is a striking but disappointing +view, for notwithstanding the ancient gables and various towers that +shoot aloft, the city has somewhat the aspect of a collection of +factories, so monotonous are the long lines of white, many-windowed +wall, bearing their long slopes of bright red roof. Street after +street stretching away, all of the same character, and scattering on +the outskirts into a tame country, cruelly disappoint your +expectations of the picturesque. Here and there are large patches of +green among houses, and rows of poplars shooting up. Yet, after all, +there is something in the view which makes you linger. In some of its +architectural forms and features it partly realizes your mental +pictures of the East, and your imagination flies back to the remote +days when the Czechs left their far-away home towards the sunrise, and +wandered on till their leader, looking down from the hills on the +valley of the Moldau, determined that here should be the seat of his +empire. I sat for an hour on the rough coping of the buttress looking +down on the scene, while the leaves rustled cheerfully in a cooling +breeze, and the sunbeams glistened and flashed from a thousand +windows, and gilded weathercocks, and the lively ripples of the muddy +stream. + +If inclined for a quiet stroll, you may wander among the trees and +rocks on the crown of the hill, or visit the church of St. Lawrence, +from whom the hill takes its name. From the highest summit, in very +favourable weather, it is possible to see _St. Georgsberg_, near +Raudnitz, and peaks of the _Mittelgebirge_ and _Riesengebirge_--mountains +on the Saxon and Silesian frontier. + +On coming down from the hill, I prowled for awhile about the +_Kleinseite_, where, besides the antiquities and rare old palaces, you +are struck by the number of schools and institutions for education. +Strange groupings indeed in this quarter of the city! Palaces as rich +in treasures of art and literature as in historical associations, side +by side with miserable hovels and narrow, crooked streets, where +poverty lurks in rags and squalor. Little bits of architecture, that +are a delight to look on, catch your eye in unexpected places, peering +out in some instances from among things that delight not the eye. But +the schools are close by, and innovation creeps slowly on though few +perceive it. + +You may mount to the Hradschin by some of these byeways, where you +will see how many windows have inner gratings, and how here and there +the prison-like aspect is relieved by plants and flowers that screen +the iron bars; and by these signs may you know where honest poverty +dwells. In the _Hohler Weg_ and _Neue Welt_ you have specimens of the +Rookery of Prague. At length, after many ins and outs and bits of +steep stair, you find yourself on the terrace in front of the +Hradschin, and you will be tempted to pause on the steps and survey +the view across the house-tops. + +The mass of buildings here is large enough, and shelters inhabitants +enough to form a town. It includes a royal fortress--the archbishop's +residence--a nunnery and monastery, a penal reformatory, besides +lodgings of the official functionaries. + +A considerable portion of the huge pile is now used as barracks for +infantry and cavalry, and things military abound within its courts. +There are sentries on duty, and soldiers off duty lounging about the +guard-house, while their muskets lean against a rail painted black and +yellow. But you pass unchallenged, and while crossing the quadrangle +may see the word SALVE in large characters in the pavement. + +In the third court you come to the cathedral, an unfinished edifice +dedicated to St. Vitus, still showing marks of Hussite mischief, and +of the Great Frederick's cannon-balls. It covers the site of a church +built in 930 in honour of the same saint by Wenzel the Holy--he who +planted the first vineyard in Bohemia, on the eastern slope of the +Hradschin hill. The foundation-stone of the present structure was laid +by Charles IV., during the lifetime of his father John; and although +the building went on for forty-two years, it was never completed. In +1673 Leopold I. made an attempt to finish it according to the original +plan; but he did nothing more than build a few columns in different +styles, which stood in the fore-court until 1842, when they were +pulled down, as the beginning of a new effort for completing the +structure. Stimulated by the zeal of Canon Pesina, a Prague Cathedral +Building Union was founded, with Count Francis Thun for chief; and +preparations were made for the work, and for raising a million florins +to pay for it, when the troubles of 1848--fatal to so many hopes and +noble purposes--put a stop to the proceedings. + +If the outside disappoint you by sundry additions and contradictory +ornaments, which spoil the pure effect of the original Gothic, you +will find cause enough for astonishment inside. At the western end of +the nave stands the richly-carved mausoleum, erected in 1589 by Kollin +of Nuremberg, at the cost of Rudolf II. It is of Carrara marble, and +in magnitude and beauty of sculpture may well vie with Maximilian's +tomb in the Court Church at Innsbruck. Royal dust is plentiful in the +vault beneath, for therein lie, besides Rudolf himself, Charles IV. +and his four wives, Wenzel IV., Ladislaus Posthumus, George von +Podiebrad, Ferdinand I. and his wife Anna, Maximilian II., and the +Archduchess Maria Amelia, who was buried in 1804. From admiring the +manifold carvings, which show the touch of the true artist, you will +perhaps look next at the tomb of St. John Nepomuk, on the right near +the altar. Surely no other saint, or living bishop, even in this age +of testimonials, ever had such a service of plate presented to him as +that! It is a small mountain of silver. On high, silver angels hold a +canopy over a silver shrine, which, borne aloft by angels, life size, +contains the martyr's body in a crystal coffin, set off by shining +statues, glittering ornaments, bas-reliefs, and tall candlesticks, all +alike made of silver. If current testimony may be relied on, there are +nearly two tons of the precious metal therein dedicated to the holy +Johannes. No wonder that you see the saint's statue on so many bridges +in Bohemia, and even for a few miles beyond the frontiers. + +The curiosities of the church are more than can be examined in a brief +visit. There are twelve chapels ranged about the nave--the last fitted +up as an oratory for the Imperial family. In one of them you may see +the foot of a candlestick, which, according to tradition, was one of +those made for Solomon's Temple, from whence it was conveyed to Rome, +and afterwards to Milan, where Wladislaus I. seized the precious +relic, and he brought it to Prague. At all events, the workmanship +shows signs of great antiquity. And near the western end there hangs a +"true image"--a head of Christ, the holy placid features showing a +trace of sadness, the eyes looking at you with an earnest, though +pitying expression. It is a remarkable specimen of early art; much +venerated by the devout, who would soon obliterate it by kisses were +it not protected by glass. A moustachioed man came up, and, taking off +his hat, pressed his lips upon the sacred mouth while I was still +looking at the painting. + +Frescoes bordered by gems adorn the walls of St. Wenzel's chapel; and +here are preserved the saint's helmet and coat of mail, a brass ring +to which he clung when he fell murdered by his brother's hand, and +other relics. Here also the Bohemian regalia are kept in rigorous +security under seven locks: St. Wenzel's sword is among them, and with +this, after his coronation, the monarch creates knights of St. +Wenzel's order. + +The verger gives you his cut-and-dry description; but, as he may omit +to tell you a little bit of history, it would be well to remember that +in this chapel the Archduke Ferdinand was chosen King of Bohemia in +1526, whereby the kingdom has ever since belonged to the house of +Hapsburg. + +Further concerning statues, lamps, tombs, and paintings, and the +organ, with its 2831 pipes, the treasure-chamber, where, among other +things, are sixteen leaves of St. Mark's Gospel in the hand of the +Evangelist--the rest said to be at Venice--the trinary chapel, and +the seven bells in the tower, among which "Big Sigmund" weighs +thirteen tons, and the octagon chapel, and the pulpit in the +fore-court, may be read in guide-books. + +Go next to the _Loretto Platz_, and look at the palace which once +belonged to Count Czernin, and at the Loretto chapel--an exact copy of +the far-famed Holy House in Popedom. Or perhaps you will take more +interest in remembering that in a house near this chapel Tycho Brahe +made the observations from which he and Kepler produced the _Tabulæ +Rudolphinæ_--a work well known to astronomers; perpetuating in its +title the name of their munificent patron. + +As old engravings testify, the Hradschin once looked picturesque when +its twenty-two high-roofed towers were all standing. Of these only +four remain; and in the Black Tower you may see fearsome specimens of +mediæval dungeons. If those grim walls could speak, the fate would be +known of some of Bohemia's worthiest, who, within a year after the +battle of the White Hill, suddenly disappeared from among their +families and friends, and were never more heard of. + +You may end your exploration by crossing to the opposite side of the +hill, and taking a view of the great range of buildings from the +_Staubbrücke_, which crosses the _Hirschgraben_, and commands a +prospect over the north-western environs of the city, and of the +contrasts between the palace on the hill-top and the frowsy haunts at +the foot. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + The Tandelmarkt -- Old Men and Boys at Rag Fair -- Jews in + Prague -- The Judenstadt -- Schools and Synagogues -- + Remote Antiquity -- Ducal Victims -- Jewish Bravery -- + Removal of Boundary Wires. + + +From the Hradschin, with its imperial associations, living and dead, +to an Old Clothes Market, is a change over which you may laugh or +lament, according to your mood. If you have seen Rag Fair in London, +you can form a weak notion of what I saw in the _Tandelmarkt_ at +Prague on my return to the _Altstadt_ from the palatial hill. For, +besides the difference of architecture, which heightens the general +effect, foreign Jews, whether in consequence of shabbier clothes or +dirtier habits, have always a more picturesque appearance than their +brethren in England. + +What a gabble! accompanied by gesticulations so violent that you would +think the traders were coming to blows. Old men bent by age, of +venerable aspect and beard patriarchal, stand chaffering as eagerly +for cast-off garments as if they had Methuselah's years before them in +which to enjoy the proceeds. "It is naught," argues the buyer; and the +graybeards whine over their frippery, and turn it about, and display +it to the best advantage, and reply in a tone that extorts at last the +reluctant coins from the customer's pocket. + +Look at the boys! How they ply nimbly hither and thither, picking up +stray bargains: adepts already in the craft of their grandsires. Look +at their fathers! No whining in their traffic: but hard altercation, +in which patient subterfuge proves more than a match for vehemence. +Here and there, however, a cunning Czech, by sharp practice with his +tongue, and a timely exhibition of his money, succeeds in carrying off +a blouse or hosen on his own terms; and the Hebrew, while pouching the +coins, sends after him low mutterings, which forebode ill to the next +customer. + +As you wander among the stalls, and push between the busy groups, +noting how much of the merchandise appears utterly worthless, you will +find cause enough for laughter and for lamentation. + +According to the census of 1850, the number of Jews in Prague is about +nine thousand, of whom nearly eight thousand are natives. Besides +these, there are many resident in some of the neighbouring villages; +but the number is less now than formerly. Daily perambulations of the +city with the old, familiar, dingy bag on shoulder, in quest of "clo," +and the trade of the _Tandelmarkt_, are the resources to which most +betake themselves. + +The place assigned for their residence, known as the _Judenstadt_ +(altered of late years to _Josefstadt_), is a few acres of the +_Altstadt_, lying between the _Grosser Ring_ and the river: by far the +most densely populated part of Prague. It is crowded with houses: +traversed by narrow streets not remarkable for cleanliness, and has +altogether an uninviting aspect. Your sanitary reformer would here +find a strong case of overcrowding: two or three families in one +room, and a dozen, and, in some instances, more than twenty owners for +a single house. The number of faces of men, women, and children at the +windows, and the many comers and goers along the devious ways and in +and out of the darksome passages, leave you no reason to doubt the +fact. And in these miserable tenements dwell some of the chiefest men +of the community--men appointed to places of trust and honour, who sit +in the old Jewish council-house, and officiate in the synagogue. + +But even here the ancient complexion and character are changing. New +and commodious houses built in a few places are a standing reproach to +the rest of the neighbourhood, and to the partisans of dirt. And while +prying about you will hear the voices of children in sundry schools, +where the teachers talk and work as if they were in earnest. Nor is +spiritual culture neglected, for you will see some four or five +synagogues, and a _Temple of the Reformed Israelitish God's-worship_. + +In Prague, the manners and customs of the Jews are said to retain more +of their primeval characteristics than in any other place out of Asia; +the chief cause being the bitter persecutions to which the race, as +everywhere else, were subjected. Some accounts assign their first +settlement here to the fabulous ages of history, and make it +seventy-two years earlier than that of the Czechs, or in the year 462 +of the present era. And the tradition runs, that on the ground now +occupied by the _Judenstadt_, and on part of the _Kleinseite_, the +first buildings were erected. + +In the early days the Jews lived in whatever quarter of the city +suited them best; but, in consequence of many corrupt practices, Duke +Spitignew II. banished them all from Bohemia in 1059. Eight years +later, Duke Wratislaw II., moved to pity, granted leave for their +return, though not on compassionate conditions. Besides doubling their +former amount of yearly tax, they were to pay an annual fine of two +hundred silver marks, to purchase twelve houses near the river in the +_Kleinseite_ for their residence, and to wear a yellow cloak as a +distinguishing garment. Their number was never to exceed one thousand; +but in a few years it had grown to five thousand, whereupon the +surplus were banished; and, to check smuggling among the remainder, +they were removed from the _Kleinseite_ to their present quarters. + +The yellow cloak having fallen into disuse, Ferdinand II. revived the +regulation with sharp severity in 1561. From the Second Ferdinand (in +1627) the Jews obtained important privileges, in consideration of a +yearly gift of forty thousand gulden: liberty to choose their own +magistrates and judges, to establish schools, and multiply in numbers +without limit. In 1648 they took a valiant part in the defence of +Prague against the Swedes, and the banner won by their bravery is +still preserved in the old synagogue. In 1745 they were once more +banished, but had permission to return the following year. Joseph II. +placed them on an equality with other citizens, and allowed them to +buy land, and dress as they pleased. + +In the good old times, whenever any turbulence occurred in Prague, it +was always made the excuse for plundering or persecution of the Jews; +and in this particular their history accords with that of their +brethren in all other cities of Europe. They did but barely escape in +the memorable '48. Their town once had nine gates, which were shut at +nightfall; and subsequently, wires stretched across the streets, +marked the boundary between Hebrew and Christian: these were removed +in the year last mentioned, and have not since been replaced. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + The Jewish Sabbath -- The Old Synagogue -- Traditions + concerning it -- The Gloomy Interior -- The Priests -- The + Worshippers and the Worship -- The Talkers -- The Book of + the Law -- The Rabbi -- The Startling Gun -- A Birth at + Vienna -- Departed Glory. + + +My second day in Prague being a Saturday, I went to see the Jews at +worship in their synagogue. The _Josefstadt_ was comparatively quiet; +but few persons in the streets, and those dressed in their best; the +boys carrying prayer-books, and the men with what looked like an apron +rolled up under their arm. On entering the synagogue, I found that the +apron was a white scarf (_talis_), with blue striped ends, which each +man put on across his shoulders before taking his seat. + +But first, a few words about the building itself. On approaching it +along the narrow _Beleles-gasse_, you are struck at once by its +appearance of great antiquity--visibly the most ancient among +buildings decrepit with age. It is sunk low in the ground, down a +flight of some ten or twelve steps, as if the first builders, +worshipping in fear, had sought concealment. Of architectural display +there is none. Walls blackened by the dust and storms of centuries, +with two or three narrow-pointed windows, looking so much more like a +bride-well than a temple of the living God, that not till I had seen +the steady procession of men and boys to the door could I believe it +to be really the synagogue. + +No wonder that its foundation is referred back to days ere Europe had +a history. One tradition says, that no sooner was the Temple at +Jerusalem destroyed, than angels immediately set about building this +synagogue on the bank of the Moldau. According to another, certain +people digging in a hill which once covered the spot, came upon a +portion of a wall, and, continuing their excavation, cleared away the +hill, and found a synagogue built already to their hands. And, as +before mentioned, there is the tradition which dates it seventy-two +years earlier than the arrival of the Czechs. + +It was a remarkable sight that met my eyes as I descended into the +building. If the outside conveys an impression of extreme age, much +more does the inside. The deep-sunk floor, the dim light, the walls +and ceiling as black as age and smoke can make them, are the features +of a dungeon rather than of a place of thanksgiving. The height, owing +to the low level of the floor, appears to be greater than the length, +and, looking up, you can easily believe that cleansing has never been +attempted since the first prayer was offered. Old-fashioned brass +chandeliers hang from the ceiling, and here and there a brazen shield +on the wall. The _almemmar_, or rostrum, occupies the centre of the +floor, and in the narrow space on either side and at one end are the +seats and stools for the congregation, with numerous reading-stands +crowded between. These stands have a shabby, makeshift look, no two +being alike in height or pattern, as if each man had constructed his +own. Hence a general look of disorder as well as of dinginess. + +The doorkeeper requested me to keep my cap on; and I saw that all +present sat covered. Even the officiating priests wore their hats, and +in dress and appearance were in no way different from the hearers. +Every man had his _talis_ on, and was continually fidgetting and +shrugging to keep it on his shoulders, and his Hebrew prayer-book from +slipping off the stand. The priests walked restlessly up and down the +_almemmar_, but whether they were praying or exhorting I could not +tell, for all sounded alike to me--a glib and noisy gabble. And all +the while the men on the darksome seats under the gallery kept up a +murmur of talk in twos and threes, in a way that sounded very much +like a discussion of questions left unfinished on the _Tandelmarkt_. +Now and then a "Hush! Hush!" was impatiently ejaculated by one of the +devout who sat near with eyes fixed on his book; but the back seats +took no heed, and, though in the temple, ceased not to talk of +merchandise. Very few were they who maintained a fixed attention; a +ceaseless rocking of the body to and fro, as, with half-closed eyes, +they went through their recitations, distinguished them from the rest. + +Now and then the priests paused in their uneasy walk, drew together, +and had a little bit of quiet talk among themselves, seasoned by a +pinch of snuff all round. Then they separated, and one, pacing from +side to side, gave repeated utterance to a short phrase, in a wailing, +sing-song tone, while the others went behind the veil, and presently +came forth again, one bearing what at first sight looked like a thick +double roll surmounted by two silver candlesticks. It was the Book of +the Law; and no sooner did the bearers appear than a cry of joy was +set up by the whole assembly. A shabby wrapper and the silver +ornaments were taken off, and then the sacred parchment was seen wound +on two cylinders, so that as a portion was read from one it might be +rolled up on the other. + +The scroll was laid on the table with some formal ceremony, and the +priests, unrolling a part, began to read, but in such a snuffling tone +and careless manner as indicated but little reverence. After each one +had snuffled in turn, the old rabbi, wearing a long gown and fur cap, +was assisted on to the _almemmar_, and, bending low over the scroll, +he read a few passages solemnly and impressively, though in a voice +weak and tremulous with age: audible to all, for the talkers under the +gallery held their peace. His task finished, he was led back to his +seat: the roll was wound up, and, with the wrapper and ornaments +replaced, was returned to its place behind the veil. + +The monotonous murmur was renewed: one of the priests commenced a +recitation, but he had scarcely opened his lips than the report of a +cannon boomed loudly from the Hradschin, startling all within hearing, +and making the streets echo again. + +"Ah!" cried the talkers, "that's for the empress. Is it prince or +princess this time?" + +The priest halted in his recitation as the thunderous shocks +succeeded--one, two, three, and so on, up to twenty-five--when, after +another pause of listening expectation, "Ah!" cried the talkers +again, "'tis only a princess;" and they took up once more the thread +of their murmur. + +Then followed more gabbling and snuffling from the rostrum; and, as I +listened and looked round from face to face, noting the expression, +something like sadness came over me; for were not those slovenly +utterances a hopeless lamentation over the glory that had departed? +Was it clean gone for ever? Did no trace remain of that solemn and +gorgeous ceremonial, instituted when the glory came down and filled +the house in the presence of the king, and of the Levites and singers +"arrayed in white linen, having cymbals, and psalteries, and harps;" +and of the people? When the king prayed, "Now therefore arise, O Lord +God, into Thy resting-place, Thou, and the ark of Thy strength: let +Thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let Thy saints +rejoice in goodness." + +An hour passed, and still the recitations and murmur went on. I had +seen enough, and thought, as I stepped forth into the daylight, that +the cry, "His blood be on us, and on our children!" had been fearfully +avenged. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + The Alte Friedhof -- A Stride into the Past -- The Old + Tombs -- Vegetation and Death -- Haunted Graves -- Ancient + Epitaph -- Rabbi Löw -- His Scholars -- Symbols of the + Tribes -- The Infant's Coffin -- The Playground -- From + Death to Life. + + +The old synagogue and old Jewish burial-ground (_Alte Friedhof_) are +but a few yards apart. On my way from one to the other I passed sundry +groups, chiefly women, talking with animation about the interesting +event signalized from the Hradschin. And more than one expressed a +wish that a prince and not a princess had been born to the House of +Hapsburg. + +The angle of a wall, overtopped within by foliage, marks the site of +the burial-ground. The doorkeeper unlocked the gate, and, passing in, +I felt as if, instead of merely stepping across a threshold, a long +stride had been taken back into the Past. The living world is all shut +out, and you are alone with the dead--the dead of long ago. + +_Beth Chaim_, or the House of Life, is the name in Hebrew; but there +is no life save that of gnarly elder-trees, gooseberry-bushes, and +creeping weeds that struggle up into a wild maze from among the +overcrowded tombs and gravestones. The stones, thick and massive, are +so incredibly numerous, that they are wedged and jammed together in +most extraordinary confusion. Some lean on one side; some forwards, +some backwards, and many would fall outright were they not propped up +by others standing near. Hence all sorts of curious holes and corners, +in which grow choking weeds and coarse grass, hiding the inscriptions, +and producing a strange impression of neglect and decay. + +With this impression comes a sense of the mysterious, heightened by +the nature of the ground, which, irregular in outline and very uneven, +confines your view to but a small portion at once. Though the +enclosure takes up about one-twelfth of the _Judenstadt_, your idea +becomes one of a succession of patches of tangled foliage drooping +over mouldering tombs. Now the path mounts a broken slope; now dips +into a narrow way between the walls of encroaching streets and houses; +now enters a widening area, where the fragrant blossoms and branches +of the elders droop gracefully over the ancient memorials--or comes to +an end in some out-of-the-way nook. Thus you are led on pace by pace, +always wondering what will appear at the next turn. + +And there is something mysterious in the associations of the place. +Tales are told of ghosts that haunt the tombs; unhappy spirits +bringing terror and doom to the living, or goblins playing gruesome +tricks. And again in its antiquity: anticipating by a hundred years +the building of Prague, as proved by a date on a tombstone. No wonder +that the ground is heaped high, and full of ups and downs! Thousands +of Jews have turned to dust beneath the surface. + +Something, however, must be deducted from its antiquity. If, as +careful investigation gives reason to believe, the old synagogue was +built in the thirteenth century, we may suppose the opening of the +burial-ground to have taken place within the same period. The notion +arose from misreading the stone, whereby one thousand was subtracted +from the date. The inscriptions are in the Hebrew character, and, for +the most part, deeply cut. The stone in question is inscribed: + +_In Elul (August) the 22nd day: lamentation ... was the ornament of +our head snatched away. Sara, whose memory stands in high praise, +wife of Joseph Katz, died. She was modest; and reached out her hand to +the poor. Her speech was mild and agreeable, without shame or vice. +Her desire was after the house of the Creator. She gave herself up to +whatsoever is holy, and continued steadfast. She trained up her +children according to the law of God._ + +One of the most remarkable tombs is that of Rabbi Löw (or Lyon)--a +handsome temple-formed sarcophagus, distinguished by a sculptured +lion, and the beauty of its workmanship. The rabbi himself was a +remarkable man in his day; eminent for nobleness of mind and great +learning; and it is recorded of him that he was honoured by a visit +from the Emperor Rudolf II. in his own house. He lies here in good +company; for on both sides of his tomb extends a row of gravestones, +thirty-three in number, marking the resting-place of thirty-three of +his favourite scholars; and not far off a taller stone shows the grave +of his son-in-law. + +On many of the slabs you will see curious devices deeply cut, and +figures resembling a coat-of-arms. These indicate the tribe, or +family or name of the deceased. There lies one of the house of Aaron, +as shown by the two hands; a pitcher denotes the tribe of Levi; and +Israel is signified by a bunch of grapes. The name _Fischeles_ or +_Karpeles_ is symbolised by a fish; Lyon by the royal quadruped; and +_Hahn_ by a domestic fowl; and so forth. + +All these and many other noteworthy objects will you see while +wandering about this mortal wilderness; and the doorkeeper, if in the +mood, will tell you many a legend, and point out the tombs of Simeon +the Just, and Anna Schmiedes, concerning whom something might be said +should the humour serve. No burials have been permitted since the +reign of Joseph II.; and from that date, except that the path is +clean, the whole place appears to have been abandoned to the influence +of the seasons. Many of the stones are broken; here and there the +slabs of the tombs are crumbled away, leaving large holes through +which you may look and see green stains and patches of dark mould. In +a dry spot at the foot of a wall I saw a bundle nailed up within rough +staves of fir; it was a still-born infant in its coffin; and perhaps +for such a little hole may still be dug in the ancient ground. + +Notwithstanding that the backs of a few old houses look down on the +graves, they fit in with the scene, and your impression of deep +loneliness remains undisturbed, except in one corner, where the +surface is clear and level. It is used at times as a playground for +the children, whose voices you hear from the open windows of the +schoolroom that encloses one side. Painter and poet might alike make a +picture of childhood, full of mirth and happiness, playing in the +sunshine; and in the background, all too near, the haunted tombs of +their forefathers. + +A few years ago the Jews, finding their quarter much too small for +commodious or decent habitation, petitioned the authorities for leave +to widen their boundaries, and in answer were recommended to destroy +their venerable _Friedhof_, and build houses upon the ground. No +willingness has yet been manifested to adopt the recommendation. + +As on entering, so on departing, are you aware of a strange +impression; from the field of death, from silence and solitude, you +pass at once to the noisy life of the streets, and the spell wrought +upon you by the brief saunter where sits + + "The Shadow cloak'd from head to foot + Who keeps the keys of all the creeds," + +is broken with a shock. And by-and-by, when in the noisier +thoroughfares, vague fancies will come to you of having had a +sepulchral dream. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + The Kolowratstrasse -- Picolomini's Palace -- The Museum -- + Geological Affluence -- Early Czechish Bibles -- Rare Old + Manuscripts -- Letters of Huss and Ziska -- Tabor Hill -- + Portraits -- Hussite Weapons -- Antiques -- Doubtful + Hussites in the Market-place -- The Glückliche Entbindung + -- A Te Deum -- Two Evening Visits -- Bohemian Hospitality + -- The Gaslit Beer-house. + + +The _Kolowratstrasse_ is one of the finest streets in Prague. It is +broad, straight, and well paved; contains the best hotels, the most +elegant coffee-houses, the handsomest shops, and a palace or two. It +was always known as the _Graben_; for here once flowed the ditch +separating the _Alt_ and _Neustadt_, and _Graben_ it still remains, +the folkname prevailing over that of the Imperial minister after whom +it was named some twenty years ago. + +One of the palaces formerly belonged to Wallenstein's opponent, Count +Octavio Picolomini; the other now contains the Bohemian Museum, which, +an honour to the city, is a praiseworthy example of the intellectual +movement among the natives. The Museum Company, formed in 1818, to +collect works of art, natural productions of the country, curiosities, +and antiquities, appointed a committee in 1830 to promote a scientific +cultivation of the Czechish language and literature, and to create a +section of archæology and natural history. Under the designation +_Matice ceská_ (Bohemian Mother), a fund was established and +vigorously maintained, out of which the desired objects were +accomplished; particularly as regards the literature. To call Palacky +into activity--a historian of whom Bohemia is justly proud--was no +trifling achievement. Up to 1847 the collections were kept in the +Sternberg Palace at the Hradschin; but in that year they were removed +to their present more convenient and accessible quarters. + +Later in the day I went to the Museum: I wished to see with what sort +of carnal weapons the Hussites had gained so many victories over their +fellow-countrymen. First you enter the department of geology and +mineralogy, the richest and most important of the whole collection. +The specimens are well arranged, and among them you may see minerals +and fossils which give a special interest to the geology of Bohemia. + +Concerning these fossils, the late Dean of Westminster says, in his +_Bridgewater Treatise_: "The finest example of vegetable remains I +have ever witnessed, is that of the coal mines of Bohemia. The most +elaborate imitations of living foliage upon the painted ceilings of +Italian palaces bear no comparison with the beauteous profusion of +extinct vegetable forms with which the galleries of these instructive +coal-mines are overhung. The roof is covered as with a canopy of +gorgeous tapestry, enriched with festoons of most graceful foliage, +flung in wild, irregular profusion over every portion of its surface. +The effect is heightened by the contrast of the coal-black colour of +these vegetables with the light groundwork of the rock to which they +are attached. The spectator feels himself transported, as if by +enchantment, into the forests of another world; he beholds trees of +forms and characters now unknown upon the surface of the earth, +presented to his senses almost in the beauty and vigour of their +primeval life; their scaly stems and bending branches, with their +delicate apparatus of foliage, are all spread before him, little +impaired by the lapse of countless ages, and bearing faithful records +of extinct systems of vegetation, which began and terminated in times +of which these relics are the infallible historians." + +If you care but little for botany and zoology, with plants, fossils, +and creatures from before the Flood, the attendant will lead you at +once to the archæological department, and uncover the glass-cases +containing rare old manuscripts. Among them are a poem of the ninth +century about Libussa, a somewhat mythical Queen of Bohemia, from whom +Palacky has cleared away the fable; the _Niebelungenlied_ in Czechish; +a Latin Lexicon with Bohemian gloss, date 1102; seven editions of the +Bible in Czechish, all translated before Luther's, show how the +Bohemians profited by the reading of Wycliffe's books which were sent +to them from England; and a remarkable hymn-book, written at the cost +of different guilds, each of whom ornamented their portion with +exquisite paintings in miniature; specimens of the earliest +representations of musical notes; and the first book printed in +Bohemia, _Historia Trojanska_, 1468. + +You will look with interest at the letters by Huss, and the challenge +which he hung up on the gate of the University, declaring his +religious opinions, and his readiness to maintain them by argument +against all comers: Latin documents, in a stiff, formal hand. Equally +stiff is a letter written by Ziska, dated from the Hussite camp at +Tabor; but there is a world of suggestion in those hard characters. +That rusty leaf sets your memory recalling the events of five hundred +years ago: the journey of Huss to face the wicked Council, and +martyrdom at Constance, under a safe-conduct granted by the Emperor +Sigismund, requiring all men to let the valiant preacher go and come, +and tarry freely and unharmed;--the furious outbreak of the +Protestants at the accursed condemnation of their teacher to the +flames;--their sanguinary battles, and fiery zeal, and avowed +determination to root out their enemies, whereby for eighteen years +the land was laid waste with fire and sword, and the name of Hussite +became a very terror:--and their redoubtable leader, Ziska the +one-eyed, standing out from among them in bold relief, a captain most +resolute and skilful, the instrument of righteous vengeance upon the +execrable Sigismund; who, though he lost that single flashing eye of +his, yet never lost a battle, nor the confidence of his followers. We +see him amidst his rough and ready fighting men in the camp, on the +heights to which, in the pride of their hearts, they gave a name from +Scripture; and where they quenched their thirst in the water of +Jordan, exulting, + + "What hill is like to Tabor hill in beauty and in fame?" + +From the letter you turn to look at a portrait of the warrior. It is a +miserable painting, very much in the signboard style, yet you can mark +the breadth of shoulder beneath the gleaming corslet, the oval face, +aquiline nose, large bright eye, and lofty forehead, shaded by thick, +black, curling hair, and picture to yourself a proper hero. There is +another and a better portrait in the Strahow monastery, and by noting +the best points of each you will improve your idea, though perhaps not +to full satisfaction. The attendant, moreover, will call your +attention to a portrait of Huss, whose features express but little of +the intellectual qualities and the steadfastness by which he was +characterized. + +A few paces farther, and there are the weapons with which the Hussites +fought and won battles in the name of the Lord. Flails, shields, and +firelocks of a very primitive construction. And such flails! The short +swinging arm is hung by strong iron staples to the end of a stout +staff, about six feet in length, and is braced up in iron bands, which +bristle with projecting points, the better to make an impression on an +enemy's skull. Truly a formidable weapon! Try the weight. The arm must +be strong that would wield it with effect; and mighty must have been +the motive that sent whole ranks armed therewith rushing to the +onslaught as to a threshing-floor. Looking at these things, you +realize somewhat of the shock and storm of the events in which they +were employed. + +Besides the stacks of weapons, the room contains in glass-cases round +the walls numerous ivory carvings of singular merit and rarity, and +other curiosities with which you may divert your thoughts. And in a +neighbouring apartment there hangs an engraved view of Prague as it +stood a few years before the fatal day of the White Hill, well worth +inspection. The Hradschin and Wyssehrad, at opposite ends of the city, +look really picturesque crowned with numerous towers. + +Walking afterwards through the markets, and seeing the dowdies +sitting by their stalls under large red umbrellas, and the number of +shabby men loitering about, I wondered if they were indeed the +descendants of those who, under Ziska's command, had wielded the +flails. However, in 1848, the men proved that the fighting-blood still +circulated in their veins. + +The authorities had lost no time, and on every corner placards were +posted, announcing in loyal terms the "_glückliche Entbindung_" of the +empress; but though crowds stopped to read, I saw no manifestations of +joy. Great was the concourse, too, in the _Grosser Ring_, where a _Te +Deum_ was offered with pomp and ceremony in presence of the city +militia: close ranks of green uniforms interposed between priests and +people. + +The letter of the Würzburg professor opened for me the hospitable +doors of a pleasant house on a hill-slope beyond the city. Father, +mother, and the two daughters joined in showing kindness to one who +came to them with credentials from son and brother. The young ladies +spoke English fluently, and while we sauntered between odorous +flower-beds and under drooping cherry-trees, they took pleasure in +exercising their acquirement. Then we had tea in a pretty +garden-house, all open to the breeze and quivering sunbeams and +rustling vespers of the leaves. A Bohemian tea--cutlets, potatoes, +salad, cheese, and butter, bottled beer, _Toleranz_, and the fragrant +beverage itself poured from a real teapot. _Toleranz_ was something +new to me: it is a pungent, relishing preparation, in which +horseradish is a principal ingredient, and at your first taste you +will think it appropriately named. + +It was while chatting over this delightful repast that I was told all +the pretty women had left Prague for the watering-places. Two at +least were left behind. The conversation of the Czechish servants who +waited on us, heard at a short distance, sounded like a screechy +quarrel; and on my remarking that I had noticed similar discords +during a ramble in Wales, one of the young ladies replied, in +explanation, "Our friends often think we are scolding our servants, +when all the while we are speaking to them in a quiet, natural tone. +Your ear is deceived. There is nothing but good-humour among them." + +It was late each evening when I walked back across the fields to the +city; just the hour, as it seemed, when the great arched beer-vaults +in the _Rossmarkt_ were in their prime. There was something striking +in the long gas-lit vista viewed from the entrance, every table +crowded with tipplers, dimly seen through tobacco-smoke; waiters +flitting to and fro with tankards; the damsel at the sausage-stall +trying to serve a dozen customers at once; while high above the +rumbling, rattling din, sounded the liveliest strains of music. I sat +for awhile on an upturned barrel watching the scene. Here workmen and +labourers, and those of lower degree, the proletaires of Prague, were +enjoying their evening--making merry after the toils of the day. These +were the folk who would fight whether or no in 1848; whose +bullet-marks are yet to be seen on many of the houses. Either the beer +was strong, or they drank too deeply, for many staggered into the +street, and went reeling homewards; conquered more hopelessly by their +own hand than by Prince Windischgratz's bombardment. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + Sunday Morning in Prague -- Gay Dresses -- Pleasure-seeking + Citizens -- Service in the Hradschin Cathedral -- Prayers + and Pranks -- Fun in the Organ-loft -- Glorious Music -- A + Spell broken -- Priests and their Robes -- Osculations -- A + Flaunting Procession -- An Old Topographer's Raptures -- + The Schwarzes Ross -- Flight from Prague -- Lobositz -- + Lost in a Swamp -- A Storm -- Up the Milleschauer -- After + Dark -- The Summit -- Mossy Quarters -- The Host's Story. + + +The streets were alive before the lazy hours approached on Sunday +morning. Here and there the walls covered with handbills, red, blue, +green, and yellow, presented a gay appearance. The Summer Theatre, in +which you sit under the open sky and see plays acted by daylight, was +open--_Jubelfest!_ ran the announcements: _Health and Prosperity to +the House of Hapsburg_. Music and a ball on the Sophia Island--music +on the Shooting Island--music at _Hraba's_ Railway Garden--music at +the _Pstrossischer_ Garden--music at Podol--music at Wrssowitz--music +at the _Fliedermühle_--a military band at Bubencz--in short, music +everywhere. And everywhere "_Pilsen beer, in Ice_." And so the streets +were alive at an early hour with citizens going to an early mass that +longer time might remain for pleasure, or starting for some of the +neighbouring villages, or for the White Hill, where a saint's festival +was to be celebrated--all dressed in their Sunday clothes, and looking +as if they had made up their minds for a holiday. + +The morning is bright and the breeze playful, and the sober colours +having all chosen to stay at home, there are none but the gayest tints +abroad in the sunshine. Pink appears to be the favourite. Pink skirts, +pink scarfs, pink ribands, pink bonnets; but no lack of all besides, +and more than make up the rainbow. Not a work-a-day dowdy to be seen. +Here come father, mother, and half a dozen children, the sire carrying +a basket, and one or two of the youngsters a havresack, all eager with +anticipated pleasure. Here half a dozen sweethearts going to make a +day of it. Here a troop of lads nimble of foot, noisy in talk, and +proud of their orange and purple decorations in waistcoat and necktie, +while now and then a _Fiaker_ trots past laden with a party who prefer +a holiday on wheels; and always there come the eternal soldiers, rank +and file, or tramping at liberty. + +The spectacle is animated in the spacious area of the _Grosser Ring_, +where the gay throngs mingle and traverse from all directions; +entering or leaving the _Teinkirche_, where service is performed in +the Czechish tongue. Striking is the contrast between them and a group +of sunburnt haymakers squatted in the centre, men and women in rustic +garments, gazing wonderingly around from amid many-coloured bundles, +piles of scythes, and scattered sickles. They look half amazed at +finding themselves in a great city, and as if fearful of ever finding +their way out again. + +All this and much more did I see while on my way to hear the service +in the metropolitan church on the Hradschin. The steep stair-flights +which, avoiding the narrow, crooked streets, lead directly up to the +palace, were all a-blaze with shining silks and satins, the wearers +of which were mounting slowly upwards on dainty feet in the full glare +of the hot sun. Already nearly every seat in the church was filled, +and as the service went on the aisles were thronged, the women on one +side, the men on the other, though with exceptions. The opportunity +was favourable for seeing something of the better class of citizens, +for of such the congregation appeared chiefly to be. Again I looked +for pretty faces along the variegated aisle, and though there was no +dearth of grace and animation, I was forced to believe that the +beauties had not yet returned from the watering-places. Meanwhile the +service went on; three robed priests officiated at the altar, the +little bell tinkled, the host was lifted up, every head was bowed, and +incense floated around the cross, while the boys set to feed the +censers pulled one another's hair on the sly, and played pranks in +their corner. + +I crept quietly up to the organ-loft when the time for music was near, +and saw seedy men take their post at the bellows, and in the front +seat of the gallery a row of young men and boys tuning up their +fiddles. The great height prevents the twang and scrape from being +heard below, and affords, moreover, opportunity for fun, for as they +screw and twang they reach across and tweak ears, or prod a cheek with +the end of a bow, or bend down and tell some joke which well-nigh +chokes them with suppressed laughter. At last the signal is given, and +as if by one impulse they strike into a symphony, in which the organ +joins at times with a sonorous note. I crept down to the aisle to +listen. The harmonies, at first timid, grew gradually in volume and +power, till at length they swelled into glorious music that filled the +whole place, and held every ear entranced. Then the organ broke out +with an exulting response, and all the echoes of the lofty roof and +soaring arches repeated the sound, until there came a sudden pause, in +which you presently heard the faintest of tones, like a plaintive +wail, from the stringed instruments. Then strength came once more to +the trembling notes, and again the strains which angels might have +stayed to hearken to floated through the air. + +Where could such music come from? I felt constrained to go up again to +the organ-loft. There sat the same boys carrying on their sports +during the rests and pauses--the same seedy men at the bellows--earthly +hands producing heavenly music which held the listeners spell-bound. + +For me the illusion was over, and I felt curious to see what sort of +men they were who in stately robes had gone through the ceremonial at +the altar. Surely they would exhibit signs of spiritual life. I placed +myself close to the door by which they would have to pass to the +sacristy, and observed them as they withdrew. They were men of +sluggish feature, lit by no gleam of spirituality, and walked as if +released from a wearisome duty. And the robes which seemed rich and +costly in the distance, showed faded and shabby near at hand--unworthy +attire for priests of a church that boasts a silver shrine. Here, +thought I, we must not look for the Beauty of Holiness. + +Many a kiss did I see imprinted on the sacred picture of Christ as the +congregation departed; and then, as they streamed forth and dispersed +in groups in many directions, I hastened forwards to catch the view +of the many-coloured procession as it descended the great stair, +flaunting in the sun between the gray old houses. + +While crossing the ancient bridge for the last time, my impression was +strengthened that from thence you get the best view of Prague--a view +which conceals the damaging features seen from the hills. "Oh! it is a +ravishing prospect!" exclaims an old topographer; "your eye knows not +whether it shall repose on the mighty colossus of stone which appears +to bid defiance to the broad Moldau stream, or whether it shall +pasture on that romantic slope, from the summit of which the huge +imperial fortress, and the highly-famed cathedral church, together +with many palaces and churches, shine down upon you. Surprise, wonder, +and bewilderment overcome him who for the first time turns hither and +thither to look at the sight." If your raptures rise not to this lofty +pitch, you will hardly fail, even at your last view, to sympathise +with the antiquated narrator's enthusiasm. + +The _Schwarzes Ross_ has a worthy reputation, and deserves it, for the +entertainment is good, the plenishing clean, and the beer excellent. +Dinner is served, after the Carlsbad manner, at twenty or more small +tables--an arrangement which favours conversation; and after the soup +has disappeared, the host enters with his best coat on--a plump man, +whose appearance does honour to his own viands--and he makes a solemn +bow to every table. I had the happiness of catching his eye on three +successive days. + +It was not by enchantment--though it seemed like it--but by steam, +that, four hours later, having lost the way, I was trudging about in +swampy meadows at the foot of the _Milleschauer_. My mind was confused +with pictures of Prague, with glimpses of the journey, and, unawares, +I had wandered from the track. At two miles from the city our train +was entered by two soldiers, one of whom stood guard at the carriage +door, while the other went from passenger to passenger demanding +passports, that he might inspect the visas. This done, the +_Podiebrad_--so the locomotive was named--hurried us past fruitful +slopes, orchards, and poppy-fields; past bends of the river; between +hills that come together in one place and form a glen, where tunnels +pierce the projecting crags; across a broad plain, till at Raudnitz we +saw the Elbe, and peaks and ridges in the distance, indicating our +approach to the mountains. At Theresienstadt we stopped twenty minutes +for the passing of the train from Dresden, there being but a single +line of rails, beguiling the time by looking at the rafts on the +river, and the broken line of hills. Then to Lobositz, where the folk +appeared less wise than at Prague, for the flour-mill and +chicory-factory were rattling and roaring in full work. + +I left my knapsack at the _Gasthof zum Fürst Schwarzenberg_, and +started for the _Milleschauer_. Half an hour along the Töplitz road, +bordered all the way by fruit-trees, and you come in sight of the +mountain--a huge cone, two thousand seven hundred feet in height, one +of the highest points of the _Mittelgebirge_. At the village of +Wellemin you leave the road for an obscure track across uneven slopes; +and here it was that, keeping too faithfully to the left, according to +direction, I lost the way. + +I was trying back, when a fierce squall swept up from the west. The +sky grew dark, the rain fell in torrents, the mountain disappeared +shrouded in gloom, and from the woods that clothe its sides from base +to cope, tormented by the cold wind, there came a roar as of the sea +in a storm. I took shelter behind a thick-stemmed willow, and waited; +but twilight crept on before the growl ceased. There were paths enough +to choose from, too many, in fact, as there commonly are round the +base of minor hills; however, by dint of making way upwards, through +dripping copse and plashy glades, I came at last to a single track, +completely hidden by the woods. + +It was part of a great spiral winding round the cone--now rising, now +falling, but reaching always a higher elevation. The clouds still hung +overhead; the sun had set, and under the trees I could see but a few +yards ahead. I stopped at times to listen for some companionable +sound, but heard only the heavy drip-drip from the leaves, and +melancholy sighs among the branches. A little higher, and there, in +the beds of moss around the roots, gleamed the tiny lanterns of swarms +of glowworms--more than ever I had seen before--and the way felt less +lonely with the pale green rays in view. Moreover, holding my watch +near one of the tiny lanterns, it was possible to see the +hour--half-past nine. Farther on I came to a little wagon standing in +a gap, and then the path became exceedingly steep and hard to climb, +and scarcely discernible in the increasing darkness. Steeper and +steeper grew the path, and with it the prospect of a bivouac, when the +trees thinned away, and a dark barrier stopped further advance. It was +a rough stone wall, along which I felt my way, and coming presently +to a door, kicked upon it vigorously. A dog barked. Footsteps +approached, and a man's voice asked: + +"Who's there?" + +"An Englishman." + +"Good," replied the voice; and forthwith the bolt was shot, and the +door opened. A man, whom I could scarcely see in the darkness, took my +arm and led me down a short steep path, and round a corner into a +small gloomy room, dimly lighted by a single lamp. Presently he +brought another lamp, and then I saw that the seeming gloom was an +effect of colour only, for the low apartment was lined with dark brown +moss; a settee, thickly covered with the same production, ran from end +to end along each side; and overhead you saw, resting on unhewn +rafters, the rough underside of a mossy roof. + +To find such a sylvan retreat, comfortably warmed, too, by a stove, +was an agreeable surprise. I stretched myself on the soft and springy +couch, while the man went away to get my supper. He soon returned with +a savoury cutlet and a pitcher of good beer; and while I enjoyed the +cheer with an appetite sharpened by exercise, he sat down to talk. The +place, he said, belonged to him. It comprised a group of huts, all +built of poles and moss, in which he had often lodged sixty guests at +once. There were a few sitting-rooms and many bedrooms, a garden, a +dancing-floor, an oratory, a poultry-yard, pigeon-house, and other +benevolent contrivances, as I should be able to see in the morning. +The wagon which I had seen at the foot of the steep belonged to him. +It was hard work for a horse to drag it up heavily laden; but harder +still to carry the stores from thence on one's shoulder to the summit. +He came up in May with his first load, and set to work to repair +roofs, walls, and fences, to renew the moss and dry the beds, and then +stayed till October busy with guests, who arrived by tens or twenties +every day, chiefly from Töplitz, about ten miles distant. The voices +we heard from time to time in an adjoining hut were those of a party +of four, who had come from the fashionable spa to see the sun set, and +had been disappointed by the storm. Perhaps sunrise would repay them. +They and I were, as it happened, the only guests this night, so the +host had time to talk without interruption. + +Supper over, he went before me with a lantern through the cold night +wind to a hut some yards distant, where, with a friendly "_Gute +Nacht_," he left me. What a snug little mossy chamber! At one end two +beds--thick piles of moss with plenty of blankets, and sheets as clean +as pure water and mountain breezes can make them. At the other, two +washstands, a looking-glass, and little window. I had it all to +myself, and was soon sound asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + Morning on the Milleschauer -- The Brightening Landscape -- + The Mossy Quarters by Daylight -- Delightful Down-hill Walk + -- Lobositz again -- The Steam-boat -- Queer Passengers -- + Sprightly Music -- Romantic Scenery -- Hills and Cliffs -- + Schreckenstein -- How the Musicians paid their Fare -- + Aussig -- The Spürlingstein -- Fairer Landscapes -- Elbe + versus Rhine -- Tetschen -- German Faces -- Women-Waders -- + The Schoolmaster -- Passport again -- Pretty Country -- + Signs of Industry -- Peasants' Diet -- Markersdorf -- + Rustic Cottages -- Gersdorf -- Meistersdorf -- School -- + Trying the Scholars -- Good Results -- A Byeway -- + Ulrichsthal. + + +Sunrise! a bell rings loudly to waken the sleepers; and the host cries +"_Frisch auf!_" at the door of the hut. I was up as the first rays +from the great luminary streamed across the landscape. Not a cloud +dimmed the sky, and it was a grand sight to see the ruddy light kindle +on all the lower hill-tops, tremble on the tall clumps of forest, and +creep down the slopes, till field after field caught the beams, and +ponds glistened and windows twinkled. And anon the thin veil of mist +was lifted from the valleys, and farms and villages rejoiced in the +new-born day. Every moment the great panorama revealed more and more +of its features, and bits of cliff, and glenlike hollows, ruined +towers, and miles of road emerged from the obscure. + +And while the light strengthened, there stretched towards the west the +mighty shadow of the mountain itself, eclipsing acres of the +landscape, which lay dim between the streaming radiance rushing to an +apex on either side. But the sun mounts apace, and the shadow grows +shorter continually. + +The number of cone-like hills is remarkable, and here and there you +see one of those circular, flat-topped elevations bristling with dark +woods, which characterize much of Bohemian scenery along the Saxon +frontier. While gazing on the singular forms, you may imagine them to +be the crumbling remains of stupendous columns erected by giant hands +in the old primeval ages. + +In the distance you see the Elbe, a long, pale stripe, resembling a +narrow lake, and you wish there were more of it, for the want of water +is a sensible defect in the view. The region is fruitful and well +peopled: had it a few large lakes besides, your eye would roam over it +with the greater pleasure. The expanse is wide. In very clear weather, +so mine host assured me, you can see Prague, and _Schneekoppe_ in the +_Riesengebirge_, each fifty miles distant. + +To enable you to get the view all round clear of the trees a circular +wooden tower is built, from the platform of which you may gaze on far +and near. Immediately beneath you look down into the walled enclosure, +upon the huts, the flower-beds, the potato plot, the sheltering hazel +copse, and all the ins and outs of the place. You see mossy arbours +open to the south, and little nooks where you may recline at ease and +contemplate different points of the view. + +I was glad after awhile to take refuge in one of these nooks, for the +wind blew so strong and keen that my teeth chattered as I walked round +the platform. However, there is steaming coffee ready to fortify you +against the influences which mar the poetry of sunrise. + +The garden, sheltered by its wall and screen of hazel, teems with +flowers, a pleasing sight as you go and come in your explorations. I +surveyed the whole premises from the dairy to the dancing-floor; noted +the inscriptions here and there with which the owner seeks to +conciliate your good opinion; looked at his bazaar, where you may buy +_Recollections of the Milleschauer_, and so round to the little altar +under the bell. Here the inscription runs: + + Frisch auf! + Zur Arbeit dran, + Gott segne meine Plan: + denn + An Gottes Segen + Ist Alles gelegen. + +Two hours passed. I took a farewell view under the broad sunlight, and +then, having to meet a steamer at Lobositz, strode merrily down the +hill. What a pleasant walk that was! Once below the summit, among the +trees, and the temperature was that of a summer morning; and the woods +looked glorious, fringed with light reflected from millions of +raindrops--memorials of the former evening's storm, now become things +of beauty. Beech, birch, and hazel, intermingled with larch and fir, +robe the hill from base to cope, through which the path descends with +continued windings; an ever-shifting aisle, as it seems, overarched by +green leaves, among which you hear the gladsome chirp and warbling of +birds. All the breaks and hollows which appeared so grim and gloomy +the night before, the mouths of yawning caverns, now open as narrow +glades or twinkling bowers, in which a thousand lights dart and quiver +as the cheerful breeze sweeps through, caressing the leaves. Such a +walk favours cheerful meditation, and prepares your heart for cloudy +weather and dreary prospects; and in after days many a thought born +within the wood flits back on the memory. + +It was like having been robbed of something to step out of the woods +upon the rough grassy slopes at the foot of the hill, and presently to +tramp along a hard, beaten road. However, there was the sight of the +lofty cone rising in its forest vesture high into the sunlight for +repayment; and the lively breeze ceased not to blow. + +The ill-favoured clerk at Prague had refused to accredit me beyond +Lobositz, so here at nine o'clock I had to go to the _Bezirksamt_ for +another visa. Again did I request that the name of some place at the +foot of the mountains, or beyond the frontier, might be inserted; but +no! I was going a trip down the Elbe, with intention to disembark at +Tetschen, so for Tetschen the visa was made out, and the clerk, who +was very polite, wished me a pleasant journey. + +I found a number of passengers waiting at the river side, reclining on +the grass or strolling among the trees. Presently came a large flat +boat and conveyed us all to an island, where, by the time we had +assembled on the rude landing stage, the steamer _Germania_ arrived +and took us on board; not without difficulty, for the deck was +literally choked with queer-looking people and rubbishy baggage. What +could such a company be travelling for? Wedged in among them sat a +party of wandering musicians, men and women, with harps, guitars, +fiddles, and flute: the space all too narrow for their movements. +However, as soon as the vessel resumed her course down the rapid +stream they began to play, and kept up a succession of airs that +seemed to convert the exhilarating motion, the breeze and the sunshine +into frolicsome music. + +I got a seat on the top of a heap of bundles, with clear outlook above +the heads of the crowd. It was a delightful voyage, between scenes +growing more and more romantic at every bend of the river. Now we +shoot past scarped hills, split by narrow gullies dark with foliage, +from whence little brooks leap forth to the light; now past sheltered +coombs where rural homesteads nestle, and vines hang on the sunny +slopes; now past variegated cliffs, all ochre and gray, that come near +together, and compel the stream to swerve with boiling eddies and long +trains of impatient ripples; now past fields and meadows where the +retiring hills leave room for fruitful husbandry, and from far your +eye catches the speck of colour--the red or blue petticoats of the +women around the hay-wagons. + +And along the road which skirts the shore there go men and women, +horses and vehicles, and there is always something strange to note in +costume and appearance. And close by runs the railway, its course +marked by the painted wicker balloons hanging aloft on the signal +posts, and the bright colour of the jutting rocks through which the +way is hewn, or by a train dashing past with echoing snort and tail of +cloud. + +The hills crowd closer and higher at every bend. Here and there rises +a cliff forming an imposing palisade of rock; then comes a wild mass +of crags backed by woods that screen a little red-roofed chapel +perched high aloft; then the tower of _Schreckenstein_ comes into +view, crowning a tall, gray buttress, which gives a finishing touch to +the picturesque. + +My attention was diverted from the scenery by a leaf of music held out +by one of the musicians. Who could refuse a fee for such strains as +theirs? Kreutzer after kreutzer, a few small silver coins, and two or +three twopenny bank-notes were dropped into the receptacle, which was +presently emptied into the ready hands of the fluteplayer. He counted, +shook his head, and saying, "Not enough yet!" gave the signal for a +fresh burst. Now came forth music singularly wild and inspiriting--the +reserve, perhaps, for an emergency--and none within hearing could +resist its influence. Had there been room, every one would surely have +danced; as it was, eyes sparkled, heads wagged, and fingers snapped, +keeping time with the measure. There seemed something magical about +the leader, and I could not help fancying that her fiddle began to +speak before the bow had touched the strings. They speak wisely who +bid us go to Bohemia for music. + +The leaf went round once more, and not in vain; but the fluteplayer +still shook his head, whereupon a song and a duet were sung; and then +the flute, brought to a conclusion with his cares, went to the little +crib by the paddle-box and bought tickets for the whole party. + +Then Aussig came into sight, and I soon ceased to wonder whither the +queer-looking crowd were going. It was to Aussig fair. Bundle after +bundle was pulled so rapidly from the heap on which I reclined that I +was quickly brought down to the level of the deck, and a scramble and +hubbub arose easier to be imagined than described. The musicians made +haste to put the leathern covers on their instruments, and along with +her fiddle I saw that the leader buckled up a spare stay-bone and a +few miscellaneous articles of her toilet. The women carried the harps, +and the men huge knapsacks, stuffed with their wives' gear as well as +their own, and with a thick-soled boot staring out from either end. +Once at the landing, a few minutes sufficed to clear the deck, and no +sooner had the vagabonds departed than a boy came with a broom, and +all was presently made clean, as behoved in a vessel bound to Dresden. + +Half an hour's stay gives you time to look at Aussig, to admire its +pleasing environment, its busy boat-builders, and gondola-like +pleasure-boats floating on the stream, and to commend the good quality +of its beer. Among the passengers who came on board were a party of +students, certain of them wearing gowns not larger than a +jacket--which, as some say, betoken learning in proportion. + +Away we went again, and always with fairer landscapes to greet our +eyes. Past great high-prowed barges, towed slowly against the current +by horses; past small barges, towed still more slowly by a dozen or +twenty men. Past the _Spürlingstein_, and bastion-like cliffs, and +hollows, beyond which you catch sight of far-away peaks. Then a +village of timbered houses, the fronts showing broad lines of +chequer-work and quaint gables, and every house standing apart in its +own garden, among hills hung with woods to the water's edge; and rocks +peering out here and there from the shadow of the trees, shutting you +in all round as in a lake. + +The sight of the varied features which open on you, increasing in +beauty at every bend, will suggest frequent comparison. Here among the +hills nature hems the Elbe in with loveliness, as if to prepare the +great river for its long, dreary course from Dresden to the sea. You +see not so many castles, but more variety than on the Rhine; more of +untamed scenery, and less of monotonous vine-slopes; and perhaps you +will incline to agree with those who hold that from Leitmeritz to +Pirna the Elbe excels the far-famed stream that flows past Cologne. + +Beautiful is the view of Tetschen, backed by grand wooded hills; the +river, spanned by a chain-bridge, making a sudden bend; the castle +looking down on the stream from a forward cliff. Though topped by a +spire, the castle will inevitably remind you of a factory; and you +will be constrained to look away from it to the tunnelled cliff +through which the railway passes, and the noisy stream that tumbles in +on the opposite side. + +It had just struck one when I landed. The passport office was shut for +two hours, that the functionaries might have time to dine--a +praiseworthy arrangement, though trying at times to a traveller's +patience. I dined at the _Golden Crown_, at one side of the great +square, and regaled myself with a flask of _Melniker_--a right +generous wine. The inn is the starting place for some twenty coaches +and vans, and, looking round on the numerous guests as they went and +came, it was easy to see you had left the Czechish for the German part +of the population--oval faces for round ones. + +In the centre of the square stands a building, which, in appearance a +pedestal for a big statue, is a little chapel in which mass is said +twice a day. I spent a few minutes in looking at it, then strolled to +the castle garden and the bridge, from whence I saw carts backed axle +deep into the river to receive cotton bales from a barge, and women +loading a boat wading out above their knees with heavy sacks on their +shoulders. Then to the school--a sight that gave me real pleasure, so +spacious is the building, so numerous are the scholars, so earnest the +master in his work. His discourse was that of one who has found his +true vocation: he was seldom cast down, and felt persuaded that it was +a master's own fault if he had no joy in his scholars. After our few +brief words I thought the inscription at the door yet more +appropriate: + + Der Schule Saat reift für Zeit und Ewigkeit.[B] + +At three o'clock I sought out the passport clerk, and found him not a +whit more willing to give a visa for the mountains, or a place over +the border, than his fellows elsewhere. He admitted the argument that +one of the pleasures of travel was an unrestricted choice or change of +route, but "could not" do more; so I looked at my map, and chose +Reichenberg as my next point of departure, and the official stamp and +signature were forthwith applied. But the gentleman discovered an +irregularity, and did not let me depart till it was rectified--that +the leaves containing the visas and the passport were separate sheets. +He fastened them together with a broad seal and a loop of black and +yellow thread, and then wished me a pleasant journey. + +The wish was realized, for the route lies through a pretty country, +the most populous and industrious part of Bohemia. It is heavy uphill +work soon after leaving Tetschen, but the view from the top over the +valley of the Elbe repays the labour, and rivals that from the +_Milleschauer_. A little farther, and the prospect opens in the +opposite direction, across a great wave, as it seems, of cones, +ridges, scars, and rounded heights, sprinkled with spires and +hamlets--a cheerful scene that invites you onwards. + +At every mile you see and hear more and more of the signs of industry. +Men pass you wheeling barrows laden with coloured glass rods--material +for beads and fragile toys, to be manufactured at home in their own +little cottages, keeping up the olden practice. Now you hear the hiss +and whiz of the polishing wheel; now the rattle of looms, and the +croak of stocking-weavers. And at times comes a man pushing before him +a great barrowful of bread--large, flat, brown loaves--on his way to +supply the off hamlets which have no bakery. And now and then old +women creep by, bending under a burden of firewood. Two whom I +overtook told me they walked three miles twice a week to fetch a +bundle of sticks from the forest; and when I asked if they ate meat or +cheese, answered with a "_Gott bewahr!_ never. Nothing but bread and +potatoes." + +At Markersdorf I left the highway for a cross-road, leading through a +succession of hamlets, so close together that you can hardly tell +where one begins and the other ends. Now the signs of labour multiply, +and there is a ceaseless noise of the shuttle and polishing wheel. The +little houses have a very rustic appearance, built of squared logs +black with age, set off by stripes of white clay along all the joints, +and a stripe of green paint around the windows. There is variety in +their architecture: some imitate the Swiss style, with tall roofs and +outside galleries; some exhibit dumpy gables and arched timbers along +the lower story; and pretty they look in the midst of their +poppy-strewn gardens and embowering orchards, watered by little +brooks, which here and there set little mills a-clacking. + +Not a hamlet without its school; and you will see with pleasure how +the importance of the school is recognised. Over the door of one at +Gersdorf I read: + + Den Kleinen will die Schule frommen + O laß sie alle, alle kommen.[C] + +At Meistersdorf, a furlong or two farther, on a little hill that +overlooks miles of country, the school-house is one of the best +buildings in the place. And here again a rhyming couplet, embodying a +benevolent sentiment, crosses the lintel: + + Kommt hier zu mir ihr Kleinen, O kommt mit frommen Sinn + Ich führ den Weg des Heiles euch zu dem Vater hin.[D] + +And the children really are taught. Scarcely a day passed that I did +not stop boys and girls on the highway, and get them to talk about +their school and what they learned. Not one did I meet above the age +of eight who could not read and write, and do a little arithmetic, or +recite the multiplication table, as I fully ascertained by sitting +down on the bank and playing the schoolmaster--not a frowning +one--myself. They answered readily, and wrote words on a scrap of +paper, and seemed pleased to show off what they knew, and still more +pleased at finding a kreutzer in their hand when the questions ended. +In many of the schools the pupils may learn mathematics if they will, +and drawing is taught in all. To this early acquaintance with the +rules of art the Bohemian glass engravers are indebted for a resource +that enables them to make the most of their skill and ingenuity. The +school fees are from one penny to twopence a week. + +A short distance beyond the school I left the village road for a rough +byeway across fields, and after a walk of five hours from Tetschen +came to a row of wooden cottages, or farmsteads, as they might be +called, each standing apart in its own ground, flanked by sheds, and +fortified by a dungheap close to the door. Were it not for overhanging +trees and garden plots they would wear a shabby look. + +Ulrichsthal was my destination; but here was no valley, only a slope. +However, on inquiring at the last but one in the row of cottages, I +found that I was really in Ulrichsthal, and at the very door I wanted. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[B] The school's seed ripens for time and eternity. + +[C] The school will profit the little ones, + O! let them all, all come. + +[D] Come here to me ye little ones, oh, come with pious mind! + I lead you on the way of salvation to the Father. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + A Hospitable Reception -- A Rustic Household -- The + Mother's Talk -- Pressing Invitations -- A Docile Visitor + -- The Family Room -- Trophies of Industry -- Overheating + -- A Walk in Ulrichsthal -- A Glass Polisher and his Family + -- His Notions -- A Glass Engraver -- His Skill and + Ingenuity -- His Earnings -- A Bohemian's Opinion on + English Singing -- Military Service -- Beetle Pictures -- + Glass-making in Bohemia -- An Englishman's Forget-me-Not -- + The Dinner -- Dessert on the Hill -- An Hour with the + Haymakers -- Magical Kreutzers -- An Evening at the + Wirthshaus -- Singing and Poetry -- A Moonlight Walk -- The + Lovers' Test. + + +I once promised a Bohemian glass engraver, who showed me specimens of +his skill under the murky sky of ugly Birmingham, that when the +favourable time came I would find out his native place, and have a +talk with his kinsfolk. The favourable time had come in all ways, for +no sooner did I make myself known to the old man who was summoned to +the door, than he took my hand and said, "Be welcome to my house." +Suiting action to word, he led me into a large, low room, hot as an +oven, where his wife and daughters and a sweetheart sat chatting away +the dusk. At first they were somewhat shy; but when I brought out a +little letter from the son in England, and the eldest daughter, having +lit a candle, read it aloud, the mother, overjoyed at hearing news +from "our Wilhelm," sprang up, gave me a kiss, and cried, "Only +think, an Englishman is come to see us!" Here was an end to the +shyness; and having shaken hands with all the lasses and the +sweetheart, I became as one of the family. + +Of course I would stay all night; they could not think of letting me +go to seek quarters at the public-house, unless, indeed, their own +rustic entertainment would make me uncomfortable; and the entreaties +were accompanied by preparations for supper. Who could resist such +hearty hospitality? Not I; and forthwith an understanding prevailed +that whatever pleased them best would please me best; excepting, that +I should have leave to open one of the casements and sit close to it, +for to me the temperature of the room was unbearable. Besides the heat +from the stove, there was an odour of kine from the cowstall, which +forms one half of the house, separated from the living room only by a +passage. + +We had merry talk while I ate my supper of eggs, coffee, and bread and +butter. "Our Wilhelm" was, however, the mother's favourite topic, and +she returned to it again and again. She must tell me, too, of her +other sons, one in America, another at Pesth; and how that one night +they were all awoke by a loud knocking at the door, and a voice +begging for a night's lodging. How that the stranger would not go +away, but continued to knock and beseech, until all at once the mother +recognised a tone, and cried, "Father, father, open the door! That's +our David's voice. Our David, come home to see us, all the way from +Hungary!" And then the joyful meeting that followed! Her eyes +glistened with tears as she told me this. + +There were two beds in a little slip of a chamber opening from the +principal room, of which the one nearest the window was given up to +me, as I again had to stipulate for an open casement; and the more so, +as notwithstanding the heat, I was expected to bury myself between two +feather-beds, as the custom of the country is; the other was occupied +by the old man. As for mother and daughters, they retreated to some +place overhead, which must have been very like a loft. + +Had I slept well? was the question next morning; and this being +answered in the affirmative, the family resolved by acclamation that I +should stay with them a fortnight at least, nor would they at first +believe that I could only spare them a single day. Could not an +Englishman do anything? What mattered it if I returned to London a +week sooner or later? The theatre at Steinschönau would be opened on +Sunday, and it would be such a nice walk to go and see the play. Why +should I be in a hurry to reach the mountains? Would it not be the +same if I went to the top of all the hills around Ulrichsthal? + +So said the daughters, with much more of the like purport, and to +resist persuasions backed by bright eyes, good looks, and blithesome +voices, was a hard trial for my philosophy. However, I kept my +resolution even when the mother rounded up with, "Only a day! that's +not long enough to taste all my cookery." The good soul had risen +early to make fresh _Semmel_ for breakfast. + +To pacify them, I promised to eat as much as ever I could, and to let +them do whatever they liked with me during the day. Thereupon two of +the damsels put on their broad-brimmed straw hats, shouldered their +rakes, and betook themselves to the hay-field; the youngest, a lassie +of fifteen, apprenticed to a glass engraver, said, "_Leb' wohl_," and +went away to her work; the old man, privileged to be idle through age +and infirmity, crept forth to find a sunshiny bit of grass on which to +have a snooze; the mother began to bustle with pot and pan about the +stove; and the eldest daughter, having put on her hat and a pink +scarf, claimed the right to show me all that was worth seeing in +Ulrichsthal. + +We began with the room itself. Its furniture was simple enough: wooden +walls and ceiling; an uncomfortable wooden seat fixed to the wall +along two sides; a table and a few wooden chairs; and the old man's +polishing-bench, a fixture in one corner. The treadle and crank were +still in place, but motionless; half a dozen wheels and sundry tools +hung on the wall, memorials of the veteran's forty years of industry, +and the bench did duty as dresser and bookshelf. Among the books were +_Schiller's Werken_, in sixteen volumes, belonging to "our Wilhelm." +With that simple machinery, hoarsely whirring day after day all +through the prime of his manhood, had he gained wherewith to buy his +two plots of land, and the comfort of repose in declining age. Here, +in this overheated room, at once workshop, kitchen, and parlour, had +been reared those four comely daughters, and the tall son whom I had +met in England; all strong and hearty, in spite of high temperature +and certain noxious influences arising out of a want of proper decency +in the household economy. "We are used to it," was the answer, when I +expressed my surprise that they could bear to live familiar with +things offensive, and yet fearful of a passing breath from spring and +summer. But this want of perception is not confined to Ulrichsthal; +you cannot help noticing it in many, if not in most, Bohemian +villages, and on the Silesian side of the mountains. + +But the damsel is impatient. We set off towards a row of houses on a +higher part of the slope. Each has its long and narrow piece of land, +an orchard immediately behind the house; then patches of wheat, +barley, poppies, beetroot, grass, and potatoes, cultivated, with few +exceptions, by the several families. But labourers can be hired when +wanted, who are willing to work for one or two florins a week. + +We went into one of the houses. There sat a family grinding and +polishing glass, alternating field-work by a day at the treadles. The +operations were not new to me, but there was novelty to see them +carried on in such a homely way; to see elegant vases, dishes, +goblets, and jugs, fit ornaments for a palace, in the hands of +rustics, or lying about on a rough pine shelf. The father, a tall, +pale-faced man, with a somewhat careworn expression, stopped the noise +of the wheels as soon as he heard of a visitor from London, and talked +about that which he understood best--his business. Full thirty years +had he sat at the bench, training up his children to the work one +after another, but had not realized all the benefits he once hoped +for. The brittle ware came to him in boxes from Prague, forty-five +miles, and, when polished, was sent back in the same way; he having to +bear the loss of whatever was broken while in his hands. "Look here," +he said, showing me a large handsome jug; "my daughter spent a whole +month over that jug, and then, as you see, broke the handle off. So I +must keep it, and lose fifteen florins." To him it was useless: he +could only place it apart with other crippled specimens--memorials of +misfortune. "Ah! if glass would not break, then he would not be poor. +However," he added, "we always get bread. God be thanked! And our bit +of land helps." Cutters and polishers earn about four florins a week. +He thought it good that young men got away to England, for they not +only earned great wages, but escaped the remorseless military service. +"A young man is not safe here: perhaps he works for twelve, eighteen +months, and thinks he will be left quiet for the rest of his term, +when all at once comes a sharp order, and he must away to Italy for a +year or two." + +Then he set his treadle going, to show me that in Bohemia the polisher +holds his glass against the bottom of the wheel, and, consequently, +has the work always under his eye; while, in England, he holds it +against the top of the wheel, and must be always turning it over to +look at the surface. + +Higher up the slope we came to another house, where, instead of the +harsh sound of grinding, we heard but a faint, busy hum. A change came +over Röschen's manner as she entered, and saw a young man sitting at a +lathe; and their greeting, when he looked round, was after the manner +of lovers before a witness. On being told that I had come to see glass +engraving, the young man plied his wheel briskly, and, taking up a +ruby tazza, in a few minutes there stood a deer with branching antlers +on a rough hillock in its centre--a pure white intaglio set in the +red. I had never before seen the process, and was surprised by its +simplicity. All those landscapes, hunting-scenes, pastoral groups, and +whatever else which appear as exquisite carvings in the glass, are +produced by a few tiny copper wheels, or disks. The engraver sits at +a small lathe against a window, with a little rack before him, +containing about a score of the copper disks, varying in size from the +diameter of a halfpenny down to its thickness, all mounted on +spindles, and sharpened on the edge. He paints a rough outline of the +design on the surface of the glass, and, selecting the disk that suits +best, he touches the edge with a drop of oil, inserts it in the +mandril, sets it spinning, and, holding the glass against it from +below, the little wheel eats its way in with astonishing rapidity. The +glass, held lightly in the hands, is shifted about continually, till +all the greater parts of the figure are worked out; then, for the +lesser parts, a smaller disk is used, and at last the finest touches, +such as blades of grass, the tips of antlers, eyebrows, and so forth, +are put in with the smallest. Every minute he holds the glass up +between his eye and the light, watching the development of the design; +now making a broad excavation, now changing the disk every ten +seconds, and giving touches so slight and rapid that the unpractised +eye can scarcely follow them; and in this way he produces effects of +foreshortening, of roundness, and light and shade, which, to an +eye-witness, appear little less than wonderful. + +The work in hand happened to be _tazzi_, and in less than half an hour +I saw deer in various positions roughed out on six of them, and three +completely finished. Then the engraver fetched other specimens of his +skill from up-stairs--a dish with a historical piece in the centre, +and vignettes round the rim--a bowl engirdled by sylvan scenes, where +fauns and satyrs, jolly old Pan and bacchanals, laughed out upon you +from forest bowers and mazy vineyards--all, even to the twinkling +eyes, the untrimmed beards, and delicate tendrils, wrought out by the +copper wheels. + +The merchants at Prague took care that he should never lack work, and, +according to the quality, he could earn from four to eight florins a +week, and save money. Beef cost him 11 kreutzers the pound, veal 10, +and salt 6 kreutzers. His bread was home-made. The lathe was his own: +it cost forty florins; and the house, and the long strip of ground +that sloped away behind, half hidden by the orchard. He did no +field-work, but left that to his mother, who lived with him, and hired +labourers. "It goes better in the house where a woman is," he said, +with a glance at Röschen. + +The cleanliness and order of his own room--workshop though it +was--justified his words. And though old habit would not yet permit +him to sit with open door and window, he did not aggravate summer-heat +by stove-heat, but had a cooking-place in an outer shed. His house had +four rooms, of which two up-stairs, and a loft--all built of wood. The +floor of the room above formed the ceiling, all the joints covered by +a straight sapling split down the middle, resting on joists big and +strong enough to carry a town-hall. Between these massive timbers hung +pictures of saints, a drawing of trees, and a guitar. The engraver +could play and sing, and recreated himself with music in the evenings, +and on Sundays. + +He had heard that the English were fond of music, and thought there +must be plenty of good singing among the working-people; and it +surprised him not a little to be told that the Islanders' love for +sweet sounds went far--far beyond their power of producing them. +"Ah!" interrupted Röschen, "my brother writes that there is no music +in his English workmates' singing." + +The engraver thought it a great privation, and could not well +comprehend how the evenings could pass agreeably without a little +music at home. "And when you are away from home," he went on, "it +seems still better. Like all the young men here, I have been a +soldier, have marched to Bucharest, to Pesth, to Trent, and Innsbruck, +and what should we do on those long marches, and in dull quarters, if +we could not sing?" + +Concerning the military service, he thought it a hardship to be +obliged to serve, whether or no, but compensated by advantages. It +added to a young man's knowledge and experience to march to distant +lands, to see strange scenes, and strange people. You could always +tell the difference between one who had travelled, even as a soldier, +and a stay-at-home; the one had something to talk about, the other had +nothing. Then, the pleasure of coming home again--a pleasure so sweet, +that the thought of marching forth once more could hardly embitter it. +For his part, he had been at home eighteen months, glad to resume his +craft, and for the present saw no prospect of a call to arms. But +there remained yet one year of his term unexpired, and he was liable +at any moment to get an order requiring him to leave everything, and +march. "Who can tell," he said, "how hard it is to go away so +suddenly, to leave the little home, and all friends? Right glad shall +I be when the year is over." + +Röschen looked as if she would be glad too, and, to make me aware of +all the young man's cleverness, she took down the frame of trees from +the wall and put it in my hands. I then saw that what looked like a +coloured drawing was a picture made of insects. The engraver had a +taste for natural history, and with a collection of beetles of all +sizes, black, brown, green, gold, and sapphire, had constructed the +group of trees which, when looked at from the middle of the room, +showed as a highly-finished drawing. You saw here and there a withered +branch shooting from the foliage--it was nothing but the horns and +legs ingeniously placed, and those deep hollows in the trunks, places +where owls may haunt, are produced by an artful arrangement of wings. + +Then Röschen would have him fetch down his trays of moths and +portfolio of drawings. The moths had all been collected in walks about +the neighbourhood, and were carefully preserved and labelled. The +drawings showed the hand of an artist. The engraver had begun to learn +to draw in school at the age of eleven, and had practised ever since, +for without good drawing one could not engrave glass. He spoke of +Röschen's youngest sister as a real genius, who would one day outstrip +all the engravers in Ulrichsthal. + +Bohemia was the first to rival, and soon to excel, Venice in the art +of glass-making. In her vast forests she found exhaustless stores of +fuel and potash, and quartz and lime in her rocks, and produced a +white glass which won universal admiration until about the beginning +of last century, when English manufacturers discovered the process for +making flint-glass with oxyde of lead as an ingredient. There was +nothing superior to this glass, so it has been said, but the diamond, +and the Bohemians, finding their craft in danger, introduced coloured +glass, frosted glass, and pleasing styles of ornament. This practice +they have since kept up. Their works are mostly situate in the great +forests on the Bavarian frontier, where fuel and labour are alike +cheap: the managers are well taught, and have a good knowledge of +chemistry, and by striving always after something new, reproducing at +times long-forgotten Venice patterns, they have achieved a reputation +due more to the taste and elegance displayed in the forms of their +manufactures than to their quality. From the rude forest villages the +articles are sent all across the kingdom to the northern districts, +where, as we have seen, the finishing touches that are to fit them for +stately halls and drawing-rooms, are applied by the hands of humble +cottagers. + +We were about to leave, when the engraver asked if I would not like to +try my hand at the lathe, and, without waiting for an answer, he +brought out a small, plain beaker of thick glass, and begged me to cut +a forget-me-not upon it as a memorial of my visit. The process looked +so easy, that I thought there would be no great risk in an attempt, so +I sat down, spread out my elbows to rest upon the cushions, put my +foot to the treadle, and the glass to the wheel. Whiz--skirr-r-r-r, +and there was a fine white blur which, by a stretch of fancy, might +have been taken for a cloud. Karl--as Röschen called him--took the +beaker, and, leaning across me as I sat, speedily converted the blur +into a rose, and bade me try again. I presented the opposite side, and +this time with better effect, for the result was a very passable +forget-me-not. I have seen many a worse on _A Trifle from Margate_. + +Röschen then said something about meeting in the evening, and we made +haste home, for it was dinner-time. Immediately on arrival she +proceeded to roll out a small piece of dry brown dough into a thin +sheet, which she cut into strips, and these strips, laid three or four +together, and shredded down very thin, produced an imitation of +vermicelli, which was thrown into the soup. + +Now all was ready, and a proud woman was the mother as the soup was +followed by two kinds of meat, stewed and roast--salad, potatoes, and +a cool, slightly acid preserve, made from forest berries. And for +drink there was pale beer from the _Wirthshaus_. She did not fail to +remind me of my promise to "eat a plenty." + +Nor, after we had sipped our coffee, did Röschen fail to remind me of +my morning's surrender, and pointing to the high hill-top, about two +miles off, she said, "I mean to take you up there." So, as my docility +remained unimpaired, we braved the hot sun, and had a very pretty walk +over broken ground, and down into a bosky valley, watered by a noisy +brook, before we reached the hill-foot. Then flowery meads, and +presently the shadow of a forest, where we regaled ourselves with a +second dessert of juicy bilberries and wild strawberries, both growing +in profusion. From a little clearing, not far from the top, we saw +heaving darkly against the blue, the hills of the Saxon Switzerland. +The last bit was steep and pathless; but at length we came out upon a +little hollow platform, the summit of a precipice, from which, the +trees diverging and sinking on either hand, there was a grand view +over the vale we had left, and far away, over field and hamlet, meadow +and coppice, to a wavy line of hills, gray, purple, green, and brown, +blended on the horizon. We sat for an hour; and after scanning the +principal features Röschen pointed out the details, naming every house +and field within a great sweep. Each man's little property lay +distinctly mapped out, and we could see the neighbours and her sisters +working in the sunshine. + +Our way back led us across the hay-field, where the lasses were +bustling to finish in time for some evening's diversion, the nature of +which was a secret. I proposed to help them, threw off my coat, seized +a fork, and flung the hay up to the lass in the wagon quicker than she +could trim it. Röschen took a rake, and had enough to do in gathering +up the heaps which, pitching too vigorously, I sent clean over the +wagon. All at once, as I was stooping, down came a mountain on my +back, and the three lasses, taking advantage of my fall, came piling +heap on heap above me--Pelion upon Ossa--till I was well-nigh +smothered, and they went almost wild with laughter. They sat down to +recover themselves; but when they saw me, after laborious thrust and +heave, come creeping ingloriously out, their jocund mirth broke out +again, and provoked me into a spirit of retaliation. + + "As bees flee hame wi' lades o' treasure, + The minutes wing'd their way wi' pleasure." + +Then we fell to work once more, and when the wagon was laden I showed +to the ragged urchin who was hired to drive, three of the lumbering +old copper coins, bigger than penny-pieces, which pass for kreutzers +in the neighbourhood, and at sight thereof he made the old horse drag +the load home and come back for another in less time than horse had +ever accomplished the task in Ulrichsthal. The second load was the +last: by the time it was all pitched up our shadows grew long, and we +followed it up to the house, where the mother had coffee and _Semmel_ +ready for us. + +Now Röschen, reminding me once more of my promise to be tractable, +revealed the secret. Karl was coming down, and Gottfried--the +sweetheart I had seen the night before--and perhaps another, and then +we were all to go to the _Wirthshaus_, about half an hour's walk. +Presently the young men came in, and the lasses having changed their +rustic garb for holiday gowns and dangling gold ear-drops, we walked +in procession across fields to the rendezvous. A shout of welcome +greeted our arrival from the young fellows already assembled--the +Londoner was duly introduced, and treated by the host with especial +favour, and we all sat down to a table, every man with his tankard of +beer. The cup circulated literally, the custom being that everybody +should drink from everybody's tankard. The lasses took their turn, +though modestly and with discretion, as became them. The talk crackled +merrily for awhile, and when it flagged a small tray bearing a set of +little ninepins which were to be knocked down by a teetotum was placed +on the table. The pins were so contrived that they could be all +erected at once by pulling a string at one end of the tray, and the +game went round not less briskly than the tankards, shouts of laughter +repaying him who set the teetotum a-spinning without molestation to +the pins. Then I proposed a song, and Karl charmed all ears with a +musical ditty: another followed with a harmonious ballad, which had a +chorus for burden, and as the tuneful harmony filled the room I could +not help contrasting it with what would have been heard in a similar +rustic alehouse in England. The ballad led to a talk about poetry, and +one and another recited stanzas of favourite poems, and all seemed +familiar with the best authors, drawing illustrations from Bürger's +_Lenore_, Schiller's _Song of the Bell_, Goethe's _Erl King_, and one +or two ventured upon the _Niebelungenlied_. + +The moon was high in heaven when we broke up, and gently the night +wind swept across the fields laden with the freshness of dew. As we +walked along the narrow paths Gottfried had to undergo a test: his +maiden plucked a large ox-eye daisy, pulled the petals off one by one, +keeping time with a few spoken surmises[E]: + + "_Du liebst mich vom Herzen, + mit Schmerzen, + ein Wenig, + oder gar nicht._" + +The last petal came off with _vom Herzen_, but yet the inquirer was +not quite content. It was all very well to be loved _from the heart_; +but _with pain_ or _grief_ would have been much better. Then nothing +would do but Röschen must try the experiment on me, and reciting and +plucking she went round the frail circlet, and ended with _gar nicht_. +She looked curiously at Karl, and Karl looked as if he were not by +any means dissatisfied that she had got _not at all_ for a +conclusion. + +It was past twelve when we came to our door, and then "farewell" had +to be said, and "adieu till to-morrow;" and so ended for me a day of +rural life that I shall long remember. + +If, reader, you should ever pay a visit of inquiry to the +Ulrichsthalers, I feel assured they will tell you that next to +themselves the best fellow in the world is an Englishman. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[E] Thou lovest me from the heart: + with pain: + a little; + or not at all. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + More Hospitality -- Farewells -- Cross Country Walk -- + Steinschönau -- The Playbill -- Hayda -- All Glass-workers + -- Away for the Mountains -- Zwickau -- Gabel -- + Weisskirchen -- A Peasant's Prayer -- Reichenberg -- + Passport again -- Jeschkenpeak -- Reinowitz -- Schlag -- + Neudorf -- A Talk at Grünheid -- Bad Sample of Lancashire + -- Tannwald -- Curious Rocks -- Spinneries -- Populousness + -- Przichowitz -- An Altercation -- Heavy Odds -- The + Englishman Wins -- A Word to the Company. + + +Fresh _Semmel_ for breakfast again the next morning, and renewed +entreaties for my stay. I could only reply by putting on my knapsack. +The old man grieved that infirmity prevented his showing me the +shortest way to Hayda, some ten miles distant, where I should strike +the main road. "But," he said, "Röschen knows the way, and she will be +glad to go. I can trust her with you, for you are an Englishman." + +I felt bound to thank him for his compliment to my nationality, and +not less for the unexpected pleasure of his daughter's company. +Röschen went to put on her round hat, and then the mother said she +would like to go too, "just a little half-hour," and tied on her +kerchief. Then I had to give a kiss to the rest of the family--barring +the old man--and with cordial hand-grip and many a good-bye I stepped +from beneath the hospitable roof. + +The day was as bright and breezy as heart could wish, and it was +delightful walking in and out, choosing the short cuts across the +fields. The "little half-hour" brought us to a great cross by the +wayside, where the mother, who lamented all the way that I would not +let her carry my knapsack, gave me a hearty kiss, hoped I would soon +come again and stay a month, bade Röschen take care of me, and turned +away homewards with tears in her eyes. + +I thought to myself, if my gracious masters--long may they live!--did +but grant me an uncircumscribed holiday, I would stay a month now. And +would I not, oh, worthy hearts! strive to repay your hospitality by +lessons to that young daughter of yours, who craves to learn English +as a hungry man for bread. I had no claim on you: you had never heard +of me, and yet you entertained me as if I had been your son. May the +love that befalls the cheerful giver dwell ever with you! + +Röschen knew all the byepaths and little lanes running through belts +of copse, by which, with many a rise and fall among the hills, we took +our way, she all the time wondering at my pleasurable emotions at +sight of the picturesque cottages and pretty scenery. To her they were +nothing remarkable. By-and-by we saw Steinschönau on the left, where +the surrounding hamlets buy groceries, hardware, and napery, and +resort at times for a holiday. While skirting it we saw here and there +on a cottage wall bills of the next Sunday's play. It would be, so +states _Herr Direktor Feichtinger_, _In celebration of the highest +delighting occurrence of the birth of an Imperial Sproutling, with +festive Illumination. First, the Heart-elevating Austrian Folks-hymn: +then Hanns Sachs, Shoemaker and Poet, a_ _Drama in Four Acts._ And he +ends with a notification: _Price of Places as always. But to +Generosity no Limit will be set._ Röschen promised herself much +pleasure from a sight of the play. + +Hayda, though a small town, is a place of much importance in the glass +trade. You hear the noise of wheels in every house. "None but +glass-workers here," said the landlord of the inn where we dined. The +repast over, I said good-bye to Röschen, vexed with myself for having +occasioned her so long a walk, and taking the road which I had left at +Markersdorf, stepped out for the _Riesengebirge_--distant a three +days' tramp. The country between teems with manufactures and +population--a cheerful country, hill and dale, grain, flax, and +fruit-trees, and the people for the most part good-looking. Their +faces are round, but not flat, and seemed to me to combine some of the +best points of the German and Czech. + +You see dye-works and hear looms at Zwickau--not the Saxon town we +explored a fortnight ago, but a dull place, with a great dull square; +the wooden houses dingy, the brick houses rough and ragged. Beyond, we +pass strange-looking rocks and short ranges of cliffs, the castle and +grounds owned by Count Clam Gallas, and so to Gabel, a town which +bears a _fork_ in its coat-of-arms; and is burdened with recollections +of disasters from fire and sword. It has of course a great square, in +the centre of which stands a tall column, surmounted by a figure of +Christ looking towards the domed church. Its aspect is cheerful, +notwithstanding that the old wooden houses with projecting gables are +blackened by age. + +Then the road becomes more hilly, and the distance appears +mountainous. We pass a singular mass of boulders--huge compressed +bladders turned to stone; and from time to time other strangely formed +rocks, betokening extraordinary geological phenomena, as if to prepare +us for what we shall see a few days hence at Adersbach. + +By-and-by a deep glen, dark with firs above, green with birches below, +into which you descend by long zigzags. Here among the trees sat a +cuckoo, piping his name loud enough for all that passed to hear. It +was the second time I had heard the gladsome note in Bohemia: the +first was on the White Hill, while walking into Prague. Broad views, +bounded always by hills, open as you emerge from the last slope, and +there in a hollow lies the little village of Weisskirchen, where I +tarried for the night. The innkeeper calls his house the _Railway +Inn_, although there is no railway within half a day's walk, and in +matter of diet all he could offer was smoked sausage--which is my +abomination--and bread and butter. + +On the way to Reichenberg next morning I saw a small, tasteful iron +crucifix, with a lamp, set up on a stone pedestal by the wayside, at +the cost, so runs the inscription, of _Gottfried Hermann, Bauer in +Rosenthal_; and underneath the devout peasant adds a prayer for the +solace of wayfarers: + + An dem Abend wie am Morgen, + Unter Arbeit, unter Sorgen, + In der Freude, in dem Schmerz, + In der Einsamkeit und Stille, + Lenk' O Christ, mit Dankesfülle + Zu dem Kreuz, das fromme Herz![F] + +At ten o'clock I came to Reichenberg: a town pleasantly situate on +hilly ground, and animated by many signs of industry. It is the +capital of the manufacturing region, and in importance ranks next to +Prague. In 1848 the German Bohemians, not relishing the dictatorial +tone of the Czechs in the metropolis and southern parts of the +kingdom, made it the seat of their Reform Committee, and held +meetings, in which speech, intoxicated by sudden, and, as it proved, +short-lifed freedom, mistook words for things, and, before the mistake +was discovered, lay once more fettered--faster than ever. + +I found out the _Bezirksamt_ at the farther end of the town, and was +there told to go back to the middle, and get my passport signed at the +_Magistratur_. I had to wait while four others passed the desk. The +first, a portly gentleman, evidently of some consideration, was +dismissed in half a minute, and treated to a pinch of snuff by the +clerk. The second, a petty trader, was kept five minutes, and had to +tell why he wished to journey, and what he meant to do. The third, a +peasant, was only released after a cross-examination, as if he had +been a conspirator; and a rigorous scrutiny of his passport, which +occupied a quarter-hour. The fourth, a poor woman, as I have before +mentioned, was denied, and went away with tears in her eyes. Then came +my turn. + +"Where are you going?" + +I had always the same answer: "To the _Riesengebirge_." + +But as no visa could be given for mere mountains, I named Landeshut, a +few miles beyond the frontier, telling the functionary at the same +time that I had no intention of visiting the town, and should in all +probability not go thither. + +Apparently it mattered not, for the visa was made out and stamped. +This done, the clerk took my passport, and withdrew to an inner room. +His brother clerks in all the offices I had yet entered had done the +same. What did it mean? Is there a secret chamber where some highest +functionary sits with a black list before him, in which he must search +for suspected names? No one would tell me. After five minutes the +clerk returned, gave me back my passport, but, less courteous than his +fellows, did not wish me a pleasant journey. + +I dined at the _Rothen Adler_; strolled through the market-place and +the arcades of the old houses on either side, noting the ways of the +crowd who were buying and selling meal, fruit, and vegetables. Groups +of countrywomen were passing in and out of the church at the upper +end; and countrymen arrived with trains of bullock-wagons--the +vehicles so disproportionately small when contrasted with the animals, +that you could not look at them without laughing. However, they carry +away cotton bales and dyestuffs, of which you see good store in the +warehouses. You see piles of woollen cloth, too, and troops of +factory-girls going to dinner. + +You will tarry awhile to admire the view from the hill beyond the +town, and will, perhaps, think the tall chimneys rising here and there +without the crowding roofs rather picturesque than otherwise. All +around is hill and dale; the graceful peak of the _Jeschken_, 3000 +feet high, is in sight; and away to the north-east, inviting you on, +rise heaps of blue mountains. And as you proceed you descend every two +or three miles into a charming little valley, where you see little +factories, and stripes of linen stretched out to bleach on the grassy +slopes. So at Reinowitz; so at Schlag; so at Neudorf; so at +Morchenstern. At Grünheid, where I stayed for a half-hour's rest, +there was a noticeable appearance of cleanliness. The inn, inviting of +aspect, would have satisfied even a Dutchwoman. While drinking my +glass of beer I had a talk with the hostesses--two happy-looking +sisters, who presently told me they had a brother in England, at +Oldham, learning how to spin cotton and manage a factory. Did I know +Oldham?--had I ever been there?--could I tell them anything about +it?--and so forth. Having visited more than once that hard-working +town, I was enabled to gratify their curiosity. Then they told me of +an Englishman who was employed in a factory about a mile distant. He +had been there three years, yet his manners were so coarse and +disagreeable that no one liked him, although at first many would have +been his friends. He had learned but very little German, and that of +the worst kind, and was over fond of drinking too much beer. "He has +been trying for some time," they said, "to get a wife; but no woman +will have him. While good Bohemian husbands are to be had, who would +marry a bad Englishman? And so now he is going to fetch a wife from +his own country." + +And then they asked, "Are all Englishmen such as he?" + +Need I record my answer? It enlightened them as to the real value of +the sample they had described, and made them fully aware that I for +one did not regard Lancashire as England's model county. + +More curious rocks as we drop down towards Tannwald--a place, as its +name indicates, of fir forests. It lies deep among hills, watered by a +stream brawling along a stony bed, and here and there you see the +weatherbeaten heads of huge boulders peering from among the trees. The +road makes short and frequent windings by the side of the stream; now +skirted by groves of mountain ash, and slopes red with clustering +loosestrife; now by feathery larches, green and graceful, contrasting +beautifully with the melancholy firs. Then you pass an enormous +spinnery, its thousand spindles driven by the dashing torrent; and +peeping between the plants and flowers with which nearly every window +is adorned, you see an army of girls within, busy at the machinery. +Another and another spinnery succeeds; the houses of the masters +appear aloft on pleasant sites, and signs of prosperous trade crowded +into the bend of a narrow valley. In one place you see a broad alley +through the firs to the top of the highest hill, cut at the masters' +cost for the recreation of the workpeople. Thickly-strewn cottages +betoken a numerous population. "I wish there were more factories," +said the landlord of the _Goldene Krone_, "for we have people +enough--more than enough." Every year things got dearer, greatly to +the folks' surprise. Not many months ago a traveller has passed +through, who told them that things would never be cheap again; but no +one would believe him. Some of the best spinners could earn from five +to six florins a week: thriftiness, however, was a rare virtue, and to +earn the money easier than to save it. Perhaps mine host was the man +of all others in Tannwald best able to speak with knowledge on this +economical question. + +If so minded, you can travel from Reichenberg to Tannwald by +_Stellwagen_; beyond, the road becomes more and more hilly, and +worsens off to a stony track broken with deep ruts. By taking a short +cut directly up the hill you may save a mile or more on the way to the +next village--Przichowitz; a name that looks unpronounceable. It is a +steep climb for about half an hour, provoking many a halt, during +which you enjoy the ever-widening view. From the expanse of hill and +dale to the numberless cottages all around you, each fronted by a +fenced flower-garden, and haunted by the noise of looms, you will find +ample occupation for the eye. And if you wish to observe domestic +labour competing with the factory-units with an organized +multitude--the opportunity is favourable. + +Przichowitz stands on what appears to be the very top of the hill till +you see the wooded eminence, _Stephanshöh_, beyond. There are two +inns: the _Grünen Baum_, with a fourth share of a bedroom; the +_Gasthaus zur Stephanshöh_, somewhat Czechish in its appointments. I +quartered myself at the latter; and discovered two redeeming +points--good wine and excellent coffee. + +At bedtime the landlord demanded my passport, with an intimation that +he should keep it in his possession all night. I demurred. He might +bring his book and enter my name if he would: as for giving up to him +a document so essential to locomotion anywhere within sight of the +black and yellow stripes, I saw no reason why I should, and therefore +shouldn't. + +"But you must." + +"But I won't." + +"The gendarme will come." + +"Let him come. He will find at least one honest man under your roof." + +The hostess came forward and put in her word: the company present, who +were topping-off their three hours' potation of _Einfach_ with a glass +of _Schnaps_, ceased their conversation, and put in theirs: + + "Wi' tippenny we fear nae evil, + "Wi' usquebaugh we'll face the devil." + +the _Kellnerinn_ waiting all the while with my bed-candle in her hand. +Every one, except the serving-maid, who held her peace, sided with the +landlord. + +I urged the same reply over and over again, that not having been asked +at any other _Wirthshaus_ to yield possession of my passport for a +night, I could not believe that any regulation to the contrary +prevailed for Przichowitz. + +At length the company, as it appeared, having exhausted their +suggestions, the landlord fetched his book, and had dipped a pen into +the inkstand, when two soldiers, who were eating a supper of sausage, +brown bread and onions, at a table apart, beckoned him, and whispered +something in his ear. + +The whisper revived his suspicions, and would have renewed the +altercation; but I took up my knapsack, asked what was to pay, and +declared for a moonlight walk to Rochlitz. + +The demonstration made him pause: he opened the book, dipped the pen +once more into the inkstand, and looked wonderingly at my passport, +which I held open before him. He tried to spell it out; but in vain. +The pen went into the inkstand again; but to no purpose. He was +completely bothered; and at last, putting the pen in my hand, he said, +not now in a peremptory tone--"Will you enter your own name, if I let +you do it?" + +It would have served him right had I refused, and left the task +entirely to him. However, not to be too hard upon him, I promised not +to inscribe Brown, Jones, or Robinson, and wrote what was required. + +Then, looking round on the company, I said: "A pretty set of cowards +you are! Here are nine of ye, two of them soldiers, and you all take +the part of a suspicious landlord against one--and that one a +foreigner. No wonder you are all afraid of a gendarme; and submit to +ask leave when you want to go a day's journey. Try, in future, and +remember that honesty does not become rogue by travelling on foot. +Good night!" + +"So, now it's settled," said the _Kellnerinn_, who still waited with +the candle in her hand; and she led the way up-stairs. + +Before sleeping I repented of my speech; for what could be expected +from people who never attended a vestry meeting--never saw a general +election--never exercised the privilege of booting a candidate on the +hustings? + +And never had a _Times_ to publish their grievances. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[F] In the evening as at morning, + Under work, under cares, + In joy, in sorrow, + In solitude and silence, + Lead, O Christ, with thankfulness + To the Cross, the pious heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + Stephanshöh -- A Presumptuous Landlord -- Czechs again -- + Stewed Weavers -- Prompt Civilities -- The Iser -- A Quiet + Vale -- Barrande's Opinion of the Czechs -- Rochlitz -- An + offshoot from Tyre -- A Happy Landlord -- A Rustic Guide -- + Hill Paths -- The Grünstein -- Rübezahl's Rose Garden -- + Dreary Fells -- Source of the Elbe -- Solitude and Visitors + -- The Elbfall -- Stony Slopes -- Strange Rocks -- + Rübezahl's Glove -- Knieholz -- Schneegruben -- View into + Silesia -- Tremendous Cliffs -- Basalt in Granite -- The + Landlord's Bazaar -- The Wandering Stone -- A Tragsessel -- + A Desolate Scene -- Rougher Walking -- Musical Surprises -- + Spindlerbaude -- The Mädelstein -- Great Pond and Little + Pond -- The Mittagstein -- The Riesengrund -- The Last + Zigzags -- An Inn in the Clouds. + + +Soon after six the next morning I was on the top of +_Stephanshöh_--about twenty minutes' walk from the inn--prepared to +enjoy the view: and did enjoy all that was not concealed by mist. +Every minute, too, as the heaving vapour melted away, so did the +landscape widen and rejoice in the sunbeams. We are here on the roots +of the _Riesengebirge_, and all around is a rolling country, rising +higher and higher towards the north. Because of the view the height is +famous throughout the neighbourhood; visitors come to it even from +Reichenberg. + +While I was drinking my early cup of coffee, the landlord came +forward, made a bow, and expressed his hope to see me again some day. + +"Hope not," I replied, "for besides plaguing folk about their +passport, you lodge them between dirty sheets over an unswept floor. +Good morning!" + +Beware, reader, of Przichowitz! + +The road winding along a hill-side leads you onwards high above the +valleys that open at every bend. After about an hour it narrows into a +footpath, which presently branches off into many paths down the steep +slope of a secluded vale. A woman of whom I asked the way shook her +head, and answered, "_Böhmisch_," and to my surprise I found myself +once more among the Czechs. A Sclavonic wedge, so to speak, here cuts +between the German-speaking population who inhabit the northern +border. With its base in the heart of the kingdom, it stretches away +to the Silesian frontier, traceable for the most part by the names of +numerous villages ending in _witz_. + +I chose a path for myself which led down between patches of clover and +rye, beetroot and potatoes, through little orchards, under rows of +limes, to a house which, at a distance, had an imposing, spacious +appearance; deceitful till you come near. The ground stage is nothing +but a rough mass of masonry supporting that which is really the +house--a low wooden edifice, swarming with weavers, reared aloft, +probably, to keep it out of the way of floods. As I mounted the rude +steps in quest of information, a weaver opened a casement and put out +his head, letting out, at the same time, a rush of the depraved air in +which he and his mates were working. I asked the way. + +He shook his head, and answered, "_Böhmisch_." + +He did more. He started up from his loom, came actually forth into +the wholesome air, and ran to a cottage some distance off, making +signs to me to wait his return. He came presently back wearing a +triumphant look, accompanied by another weaver, who could speak German +enough to assure me that I was on the right track for Rochlitz, and +that the mountain stream flowing so merrily past was the Iser. Poor +men! they both had a pale, sodden look, which moved me to recommend +fresh air and open windows. But no: they shivered, and could not weave +when the windows were open. + +A bright stream is the Iser, and plenteous of trout: a water such as +the angler loves, now brawling over shallows, now sleeping in +hazel-fringed pools. You will pause more than once while climbing the +hill beyond to scan the vale. All the greater slopes are broken up +with lesser undulations--wherein much is half seen, and +thickly-patched with wood; little cottages nestle everywhere among the +trees, the little chapel near the summit; and here and there on the +outskirts a dark ridge of firs reminds you of the melancholy miles of +forest beyond. Here, far from great roads, all breathes of calm and +content, all sights and sounds are rural; you hear the water babbling +to the whispering leaves, and might fancy yourself in the very home of +happiness. But + + "The statutes of the golden age, + That lingered faint and long + In sylvan rites of olden time, + So dear to ancient song, + The world hath trampled in its haste + At Mammon's shrine to bow; + And many a Tyre our steps may find, + But no Arcadia now." + +With the Iser the Czechs are left behind. While taking leave of the +oval-faced people, the opportunity seems fitting to bring forward a +few words of testimony concerning them, which may be weighed against +that mentioned in a former page. Barrande, the distinguished +geologist, says, in his _Silurian System of Bohemia_, that, in 1840, +he and his friends commenced a regular exploration of strata, +employing native labourers in different parts of the country, either +singly making new excavations, or in groups opening quarries. "These +labourers," he continues, "provided with the necessary tools, and +practically instructed by working with us for some time, soon acquired +the knowledge indispensable for distinguishing every organic +trace--the objects of our studies--at the first glance. In this +respect we have often had occasion to admire the intelligence of the +Bohemians (Czechs), even of those belonging to the humblest class. +Some among them employed in our researches during ten or twelve years +acquired a remarkable skill as seekers of fossils. They gather up and +put together the smallest fragments which belong to any specimen +broken in splitting the rock; they use a lens to discover the fugitive +traces of the minutest embryo, and they know very well how to +distinguish all rare or new forms in the district to which they are +attached. A sort of nomenclature, improvised by themselves out of the +Bohemian language, has served us to designate both the species and +formations in which they are found." + +Thus, with his rustic Czechs, Mr. Barrande could carry on +investigations at a distance, while in his study at Prague he prepared +his truly great work for publication. One of the diggers brought in +the specimens once a week; and in this way were discovered fifteen +hundred species of what geologists call Silurian and Cambrian fossils, +the existence of which in Bohemia was before unknown. + +It is not far to Rochlitz--perhaps a mile--but the vale is hidden ere +you arrive by the shoulder of the hill. Almost the first house is +_Gast und Einkehr Haus zur Linde_, and it has a living sign--a +beautiful linden-tree. Here cleanliness prevails, and the speech is +German; but the room is so hot from the scorching stove, that I prefer +to eat my second breakfast on the grass in the shadow of the lime, and +listen to the busy hum of countless bees among the branches. The room, +however, was a study--a sort of museum: racks overhead, three glass +closets, twenty-four pictures, a sofa, a score of daddy-longlegs +chairs, a guitar and fiddle, two beds in view besides one shut off by +a screen, and all the sundries common to a public-house. But for good +housewifery it would be hideous. + +The landlord, a man of friendly speech, came out for a talk. From his +orchard we could look down into a charming dell: a sylvan retreat, +marred, alas! by an offshoot from Tyre. From among the trees there +rose the tall chimney and staring walls of a factory; and while we +talked, a dozen men went past, each wheeling a barrow-load of lime, +from a distance of two miles, for the building. Mine host felt glad at +the prospect of work for the people. "We have nine thousand +inhabitants in Rochlitz," he said; "'tis a great place. To walk +through it you must take three hours." And he pointed out a cliff +overlooking a valley where mining works had just been bought by a +Russian for two hundred thousand florins. "Yes, there would be work +enough for the people." Plenty of work at little wages. A weaver earns +one florin twenty-four kreutzers a week, and the happy few who achieve +two florins are regarded as rich by their neighbours: perhaps with +envy and admiration. + +Then he pointed out his own ground, and his forest run reaching to the +very hill-top, all of which had cost him fifteen thousand florins; and +he turned to all quarters of the compass with the air of a man well +pleased with himself. "Those," he said, stretching his finger towards +a row of short, round, wooden columns with conical roofs--"those are +my beehives; come and look at them." + +These hives are about four feet high, fixed clear of the ground by +stakes driven through the turf, and are constructed in compartments +one fitting above the other. The bees begin to work in the lowest, +and, when that is filled, ascend into the upper stories. One among +them seemed deserted. + +"Let us see what's the matter," said the landlord; and he lifted off +the top story. Immediately there swarmed out thousands of earwigs. + +"Huhu! that's not the sort of bees we want. Coobiddy, coobiddy!" And +judging from the lusty crow that followed it, chanticleer and his +seraglio must have had a satisfactory repast. + +But _Schneekoppe_ was yet far off, and there was no time to be lost if +I wished to reach that Mont Blanc of German tourists before night. I +inclined to leave the rough-beaten track through the valleys for short +cuts across the hills, and asked the landlord about a guide. His +woodcutter, who was splitting logs close by, knew great part of the +way, and was ready to start there and then and carry my knapsack for a +florin. He put a piece of coarse brown bread into a bag, which he +lashed to one of the straps, and away we went. + +"Good-bye!" said the landlord: "a month later and you would have had +company enough; for then students come in herds to see the mountains." + +We struck at once up a grassy hill on the left, and could soon look +down on Rochlitz--houses scattered along either side of a narrow road +in a deep valley; and, far in the rear, on Hochstadt, a wee town of +great trade. Then we came to a _Jägerhaus_, and plunged into a pine +forest, walking for two or three miles along winding paths, paved with +roots, under a solemn shade where, here and there, sunny gleams sought +out the richest brown of the tall, straight stems, and the brightest +emerald among the patches of damp moss. At times we came to graceful +birches scattered among the firs, and their drooping branches and +silvery boles looked all the more beautiful amid companions so +unbending. + +We emerged on a bare, turfy slope, and came presently to a stony ridge +on the right--the _Grünstein_--so named from a large bright green +circle of lichen on the broken rocks which first catch your eye. A +little farther along the same ridge, and the guide points to a great +ring of stones on the slope as _Rübezahl's_ Rose-garden, and the name +makes you aware that here is the classic ground of gnomery. You +remember the German storybooks read long ago with delight, wonder, or +fear: the impish pranks, the tricks played upon knaves, the lumps of +gold that rewarded virtue; the marvellous world deep underground, and +all the weird romance. + +You will perhaps think that imps had a right to be mischievous in such +a region. On the left opens a wild, dreary expanse of fells--the +coarse brown turf strewn with hassocks of coarser grass, and pale +lumps of quartz intermingled, and rushy patches of darker hue showing +where the ground is soft and swampy. It has a lifeless aspect, +increased by a few scattered bushes of _Knieholz_ that look like firs +which have stunted themselves in efforts to grow. Now and then an +Alpine lark twitters and flits past, as if impatient to escape from +the cheerless scene. + +We crossed these fells, guided by an irregular line of posts planted +far apart. In places the ground quakes under your foot, and attempts +to cut off curves are baffled by treacherous sloughs. On you go for +nearly an hour, the view growing wilder, until, in the middle of a +spongy meadow, known as the _Naworer Wiese_, you see a spring bubbling +up in a circular basin. It is the source of the Elbe. + +Here, 4380 feet above the sea-level, the solitude is complete. Here +you may lie on your back looking up at the idle clouds, and enjoy the +luxury of silence, for the prattle of the water disturbs it not. You +will think it no loss that nothing now remains of monuments which the +Archdukes Joseph and Rainer once erected here to commemorate their +visit: the lonely scene is better without them. There are monuments +not far off more to your mind. Towards the south rises the _Krkonosch +Berg_[G]--sometimes called the _Halsträger_--and _Kesselkoppe_ +towards the west; great purple-shaded slopes of darkest green. + +Not often during the summer will you find real solitude, as we did; +for the Germans come in throngs and sit around the little pool to +quaff the sparkling water, or pour libations of richer liquor. Is not +this the birthplace of the Elbe, the river that carries fatness to +many a broad league of their fatherland, and merchandise to its marts? +Many a merry picnic has _Krkonosch_ witnessed, and many a burst of +sentiment. Hither used to come in the holidays--perhaps he comes +still--a certain rector of a Silesian school with his scholars; and +after their frolics he would teach them that the life of a river was +but the symbol of their own life; and then, after each one had jumped +across the sprightly rivulet, he bade them remember when in after +years they should be students at Wittenberg, how they had once sprung +from bank to bank of the mighty stream. The Elbe has, however, two +sources: this the most visited. The other is ten miles distant on the +southern slope of _Schneekoppe_. They unite their waters in the +_Elbgrund_. + +A stream is formed at once by the copious spring. We followed it down +the slope-- + + "Infant of the weeping hills, + Nursling of the springs and rills"-- + +to a rocky gulf, where it leaps a hundred feet into the precipitous +chasm, and chafes onwards in a succession of cascades far below, +gathering strength for its rush through the mountain barrier--the +Saxon Highlands--and its long, lazy course through the plains of +Northern Germany. Here a little shanty is erected, the tenants of +which dam the water, and let it loose for its plunge when tourists +arrive who are willing to pay a fee to see Nature improved on. But you +may scramble about the rocks and down to the noisy influx of the +_Pantsche Fall_ as long as you please, and peep over into the deep +gulf, without any payment. + +Then up a steep stony acclivity to a higher elevation, another of the +great steps or terraces which compose the Bohemian side of the +mountains. From the top we should have seen _Schneekoppe_ himself, had +he not been hidden by clouds; however, we saw a mass of gray cumulus +behind which old Snowhead lurked, and that was something. + +Rougher and rougher grows the way: more and more of the big boulders +lying as if showered down; and here and there singular piles of rock +appear. Some resemble woolsacks heaped one above another, and +flattened; some a pilastered wall, all splintered and cracked, sunken +at one end; some heathen tombs and imitations of Stonehenge; and some +animal forms hewn by rude people in the ancient days with but +indifferent success. On one, an experienced guide--which mine was +not--will show you the impression of a large hand, and tell you it is +_Rübezahl's_ glove. + +The path makes many a jerk and twist among the rocks; at times through +a dense scrub of _Knieholz_--a dwarfish kind of fir, crooked as +rams'-horns, peculiar to these mountains, and, as travellers tell us, +to the Carpathians. To its abundant growth some of the hills owe their +dark green garment. Half an hour of such walking brought us in sight +of _Rübezahl's_ chancel--walls of rocks split into horizontal +layers--and strangely piled, as if by the hands of crazy Cyclopean +builders. A fearsome place in olden time; now a shelter to the +_Schneegrubenhaus_, where you will choose to rest and dine before +further exploration. + +The house stands on the verge of a mighty precipice, from which you +have a wide view over the most beautiful and picturesque part of +Silesia. It was a glorious sight, miles of hill and dale, forest and +meadow stretching far away--yellow and green, and blue and +purple--touched here and there by flashing lights where the sun fell +on ponds and lakes; villages, seemingly numberless, basking in the +warmth of a July sun. The _Hirschbergerthal_, into which we shall +travel ere many days be over, lies outspread beneath as in a map; +Warmbrunn, with its baths in the midst, five hours distant, and yet +apparently so near that you fancy a musket-shot would break one of the +gleaming windows. Although, as some say, there is a want of water, you +will still think it a view worth climbing the _Riesengebirge_ to see. +"There is only one Silesia!" cried the Great Frederick, when he looked +down upon it from the _Landeshuter Kamm_. + +Having feasted your eye with the remote, you will turn to look at the +two _Schneegruben_--greater and lesser snow-gulfs. To the right and +left the precipice is split by a frightful chasm a thousand feet deep, +between jagged perpendicular cliffs. Looking cautiously over the edge, +you scan the gloomy abyss where the sun never shines except for a +brief space in the early morn. You see a chaos of fallen blocks and +splinters, where the winter's snow, often unmelted by the summer +rains, forms miniature glaciers, from one of which the Kochel springs +to charm wondering eyes with its fall in the lowlands by Petersdorf. +You see how the jutting crags threaten to tumble; how the heaps far +below are overgrown by treacherous _Knieholz_, and form ridges which +dam the sullen waters of two or three small lakes. A patch of green, a +small meadow, smiles up at you from the lesser gulf; and it surprises +you somewhat to be told that a painstaking peasant makes hay there, by +stacking the grass on high poles, and carries it in winter when snow +enables him to use a sledge. + +If sure of foot, you may scramble down the ridge and look at the +cliffs from below, and on the way at a remarkable geological +phenomenon. In the western declivity the ruddy granite is cut in two +by a stratum of basalt, which broadens as you descend, its surface cut +up by pale gray veins resembling a network. It is said to be the only +instance in Europe of basalt found at such a height, and in such +intimate neighbourhood with granite. It is laborious walking at the +base, and dangerous where vegetation screens the numerous crevices. +However, if you take pleasure in botany, there are rare plants to +repay the exploit; and if you care only for the romantic, to have been +frowned down upon by the tremendous cliffs will suffice you. + +When you climb back to the summit the host will ask you to look at his +museum, and collection of knick-knacks for sale--memorials of the +_Schneegruben_. There are crystals, and specimens from the +neighbouring rocks, and carvings cut out of the _Knieholz_, an +excellent wood for the purpose. Among these latter are heads of +_Rübezahl_, with roguish look and bearded chin, to be used as +whistles, or terminations for mountain-staves. Or, if you desire it, +he will fire a small mortar to startle the echoes. You may, however, +rouse echoes for yourself by rolling big stones into the gulf; but +beware lest you meet the fate of Anton, the guide, who, in 1825, while +starting a lump of rock, lost his balance, fell over, and was dashed +to pieces against the crags. + +Such cliffs are said to be characteristic of the _Riesengebirge_. +Another example of a _Schneegrube_ occurs near Agnetendorf, which is +six hundred feet deep. And close by it is the Wandering Stone, a huge +granite block of thirty tons' weight, which has moved three times +within memory, to the wonder of the neighbourhood. In 1810 it +travelled three hundred feet, in 1822 two hundred, and in 1848, +between the 18th and 19th of June, about twenty-five paces. + +Another characteristic of these mountains, as I discovered, is that +when you have climbed up one of their great steps or terraces, you +have to make a deep descent on the farther side before coming to the +next, whereby the labour of the ascent is increased. On leaving the +_Schneegruben_, you traverse a level so thickly strewn with boulders +and rocky fragments that you fancy more would not lie, till, coming +presently to the descent, you find nothing but stone. In and out, rise +and fall; now a long stride that shakes you rudely; now a cheating +short step--such is the manner of your going down. Nothing but stone! +the track in many places scarcely visible though trodden for years. +You will think it a terrible stair before you have finished. Near the +foot we met a party going up, one a lady seated in a _Tragsessel_--a +sedan-chair without its case--carried by two men. Talk of +palanquin-bearers in Hindoostan! their work must be play compared +with that of these Silesian chair-carriers. I pitied them as they +toiled up the stony steep, hard to climb with free limbs, much more so +with such a burden; and yet they looked contented enough, though very +damp. We met three more chairs, each with its lady, in the course of +the next two hours. + +Nothing has ever realized my idea of utter desolation so entirely as +the sight of that stony steep when I looked back on it from below. A +great rounded hill of stone, blocks on blocks up-piled to the summit, +sullen as despair, notwithstanding the greenish tinge of clinging +lichen. I wondered whether the accursed hills by the Dead Sea could +look more desolate. + +Rough walking now, through straggling _Knieholz_; across stony ridges, +and past more of the uncouth piles of rock that look weird-like in the +slanting sunbeams. All at once you hear the noise of a hurdy-gurdy: a +surprise in so deserted a region, and you may fancy _Rübezahl_ at his +pranks again; but presently you see a beggar squatted in the bush, +whose practised ear having caught the sound of footsteps before you +came in sight, the squeak is set a-going to inspire charity. And now +these musical surprises will beset you every half-mile--flageolet, +tambourine, clarionet, or fiddle. Where do the musicians live? No +signs of a house are visible near their lurking-places. + +We came to a _Baude_, a lonely farmstead, with a few fields around: +the dwelling roughly built of wood, without upper story. Many similar +buildings are scattered among the mountains--cause of thankfulness to +weary travellers, for the inmates are always ready with rustic fare +and lodging. Here the guide had to ask the way, having already come +farther than he knew. The path led us across swampy ground, where you +walk for a mile or two on stepping-stones through open fir woods, +always meeting some group of rocks. Another half-hour, and we emerged +into a little green vale, shut in by high steep hills and forest, the +_Spindlerbaude_ standing at the upper end. My guide being afraid to +venture farther, I released him, and engaged another; one in full +professional costume--tall boots, peaked hat, and embroidered +jacket--who undertook to go the remaining distance with me for twenty +kreutzers. While I drank a glass of beer, a man and woman made the +room ring again with harp and clarionet. + +It was past six when we started, and betook ourselves at once to the +steep ridge behind the _Baude_. Once up, we saw _Schneekoppe_ rising +as a dark cone in the distance, and away to the right the +_Mädelstein_, so named from a shepherdess having been frozen to death +while sheltering under the rock from a snow-storm. On the Bohemian +side, towards the south, the view is confined; but northwards, over +Silesia, it spreads far as eye can reach, the nearer region in deep +shade, for the sun is dropping low. By-and-by we leave the broken +stony ground for the grassy ridge of the _Lahnberg_, where the path +skirts a cliff, which, curving round to the right and left, encloses +the _Grosser Teich_, a black lake, on which you look down from a +height of six hundred feet. The inky waters fill an oval basin about +twenty-four acres in extent and seventy-five feet deep, and remain +quite barren of fish, although attempts have been made to stock it +with trout. The superflux forms a stream named the Great Lomnitz. + +From hence more rock-masses are in sight: the _Mittagstein_, so named +because the sun stands directly over it at mid-day, a sign to the +haymakers and turf-diggers; the _Dreisteine_, fifty feet high, +resembling the ruin of a castle, split into three by a lightning +stroke a hundred years ago; the _Katzenschloss_ (Cat's Castle) and +others, which the guide will tell you owe their names to _Rübezahl_. + +We cross the _Teichfelder_ and look down on the Little Pond: a lively +sheet of water, for the surface is rippled by a waterfall that leaps +down the precipice, and beneath trout are numerous as angler can +desire. You will notice something crater-like in the form of the +cliffs of both ponds: no traces of lava are, however, to be +discovered. + +We passed the Devil's Gulf, through which flows the Silver Water, and +came to more rough ground, and scrub, and lurking bagpipers. The veil +of twilight was drawn over Silesia, and the peaks and ridges on the +right loomed large and hazy against the darkening sky. We came to the +_Riesenbaude_ on the edge of the _Riesengrund_ (Giant's Gulf), from +which uprears a steeper slope than any we had yet encountered. + +It is incredibly steep, the path making short zigzags, as on the +Gemmi, fenced by a low wall. On either side you see nothing but loose +slabs of stone, which must have made the ascent well-nigh impossible +to unpractised feet, before Count Schaffgotsch constructed the new +path at his own cost. A hard pull to finish with. However, in about +twenty minutes we come to a level, where the wind blows strong and +cold, and something that looks like a house and a circular tower +looms through the dusk. The guide steps forward and opens a door, +which admits us to a dim passage. He opens another door, and I am +dazzled by the lights of a large room, where some forty or fifty +guests are sitting at rows of tables eating, drinking, and smoking, +while three women with harps sing and play in a corner. + +To step from the chill gloom outside into such a scene was a surprise; +and after my long day's walk to find a comfortable sofa five thousand +feet above the sea, was a solace which I knew how to appreciate. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[G] _Krkonoski Hory_ is the Czechish name for the whole range of the +_Riesengebirge_. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + Comforts on the Koppe -- Samples of Germany -- Provincial + Peculiarities -- Hilarity -- A Couplet worth remembering -- + Four-bedded Rooms -- View from the Summit -- Contrast of + Scenery -- The Summit itself -- Guides in Costume -- + Moderate Charges -- Unlucky Farmer -- The Descent -- + Schwarzkoppe -- Grenzbäuden -- Hungarian Wine -- The Way to + Adersbach -- Forty Years' Experience. + + +Here, on the top of _Schneekoppe_, you find the appliances of luxury +and elegance as well as of comfort. Many kinds of provisions, good +wine, and beer of the best. A bazaar of crystals, carvings, +_Rübezahl's_ heads, and mountain-staves. Beds for fifty guests, and +_Strohlager_ (straw-lairs) for fifty more, besides music and other +amusements, make up a total which satisfies most visitors. Do not, +however, expect a room to yourself, for each chamber contains four +beds, in one of which you will have to sleep or accept the alternative +of straw. I heard no demur to these arrangements: in fact, most of the +guests seemed to like throwing off conventionalities of the nether +world while up among the clouds. For water--that is, to drink--you pay +the price of beer, and with a disadvantage; seeing that, from being +kept in beer-casks, its flavour is beery. + +The company, though German, is very mixed: specimens of the men and +women-kind from many parts of Germany. Here are Breslauers, who will +say _cha_ for _ja_: Berliners, who--cockneys of another sort, give to +all their _g_'s the sound of _y_--converting _green_ into _yreen_, +_goose_ into _yoose_: _gobble_ into _yobble_: Bremeners, whose Low +Dutch has a twang of the Northumbrian burr; besides Saxons, +Hanoverians, Mecklenburgers, and a happy couple, who told me they came +from Gera--a principality about the size of Rutlandshire. Flat faces +and round faces are the most numerous. The Silesians betray themselves +by an angular visage and prominent chin. "Every province in Prussia," +says Schulze to Müller, "has its peculiarity, or property, as they +call it. Thus, for example, Pomerania is renowned for stubbornness; +East Prussia for wit; the Rhineland for uprightness; Posen for mixed +humour; the Saxon for softness; the Westphalian for hams and +_Pumpernickel_; and Silesia--for good-nature." And here, on the +highest ground in all North Germany, you may any day between Midsummer +and Michaelmas bring the humourous philosopher's observations to the +test. + +Hilarity prevailed: the songstresses sang their best and twanged their +strings with nimble fingers, and--came round with a sheet of music. +Then a few of the guests migrated into the little chambers which on +two sides open from the principal room; then a few more; and I noticed +that some stopped to read a label affixed to the wall. I did the same. +It bore a couplet: + + _Wisse nur des Narren Hand + Malt und schreibt auf Tisch und Wand._[H] + +Three hairy faces lay fast asleep on their pillows in the room to +which I was shown. The bodies to which they belonged were covered with +coats and wrappers, as well as blanket, for the night was very cold, +and the wind blew around the house with an intermittent snarl. + +I did not rise with the next morning's sun, but two hours later. By +that time the mists had cleared off, or become so thin as not to +conceal the landscape, and, on going out among the shivering groups, I +saw an open view all round the horizon. The Silesian portion is by far +the most attractive. To the south-west the _Jeschken_ catches your +eye, and, far beyond, the swelling outline of the _Erzgebirge_; to the +south you see towns and villages in the valley of the Elbe, and in a +favourable atmosphere the White Hill of Prague: in like circumstances +Breslau can be seen, though forty-five miles distant to the +north-east, and Görlitz with its hill--_Landskrone_--almost as far to +the north-west, and on rare occasions, it is said, you can see the +foremost of the Carpathians. + +Not one of the remotest points was visible. I took pleasure in tracing +my yesterday's route, in which the _Schneegruben_ is all but hidden by +an intervening ridge, and in surveying that which I had now to follow. +There, in the direction towards Breslau, lay Schatzlar, and the lonely +peak of the _Zobten_--the navel of Silesia, as old writers call it; +and miles away easterly the _Heuscheuer_, a big hill on the Moravian +frontier, which looks down on Adersbach, where we shall sleep +to-night, if all go well. You can see a long stretch of the +_Isergebirge_--mountains of the Iser which form part of the range--and +deep gulfs, and grim rocky slopes, and pleasant valleys. But it is not +the mountain scenery of Switzerland or Tyrol: you miss the awful +precipices, the gloomy gorges thundering ever with the roar of +waterfalls, the leagues on leagues of crowding hills, cliffs and +forests, rushing higher and higher, till they front the storm zone +with great white slopes and towering peaks that dazzle your eye when +the sun looks at them. Here no snow remains save one "lazy streak" in +a hollow of the crags on the heights above the _Riesengrund_. Imagine +Dartmoor heaved up to twice its present elevation, and your idea of +the view from _Schneekoppe_ will come but little short of the reality. + +The summit itself is a stony level, half covered by the inn, with its +appurtenances and the chapel, leaving free space all round for +visitors. Its height is 4965 Prussian feet above the sea. The boundary +line between Bohemia and Silesia, which follows an irregular course +along the range, crosses it. A chapel, dedicated to St. Lawrence, was +first erected here by Count Leopold von Schaffgotsch, in 1668-81; but +only since 1824 have Koppe-climbers found a house on the top to yield +them shelter and entertainment. While walking about to get the view +from every side you will not fail to be struck by the numerous guides +in peaked hats, with broad band and feather, velveteen jackets heavy +with buttons and braid; and not less by their coarse rustic dialect +than by their costume. Extremes meet, and you will notice much in +common, in sound at least, between this very High Dutch and the Low +Dutch from Bremen and Hamburg. + +The afternoon is the best time for the view. The shadows then fall to +the east, as when I saw it yesterday from the _Schneegruben_; the sun +is behind you, looking aslant into the Silesian vales, searching out +whatever they possess of beautiful, and bringing out the lights on +towns and villages for leagues around. + +I had been told more than once while on the way that the charges on +_Schneekoppe_ were "monstrous;" but my supper, bed, and early cup of +coffee with rusks, cost not more than one florin fifty kreutzers, +service included; a sum by no means unreasonable, especially when you +remember that all the provant has to be carried up on men's shoulders. + +I have always been favoured with fine weather when among mountains, +and here was no exception. The _Riesengebirge_, are, however, as much +visited by fog, rain, and mist, as the mountains of Wales. Tourists +come at times even from the shores of the Baltic, and go back +disappointed, through prevalence of clouds and stormy weather. I heard +of a farmer living not farther off than Schmiedeberg, who had climbed +the _Koppe_ thirteen times to look down on his native land, and every +time he saw nothing but rain. There came one summer a few weeks of +drought; the ground was parched, and fears were entertained for the +crops. Thereupon the neighbouring farmers assembled, waited on the +persevering mountain-climber, and besought him to go once more up +_Schneekoppe_. + +"Up _Schneekoppe_! for what?" + +"If you do but go, look ye, it will be sure to rain, and we shall be +so thankful." + +Soon after six I started for the descent into Silesia, in company with +two young wool-merchants from Breslau. On this side the slope is easy; +but, as on the other side, after falling for awhile, the path makes a +rise to pass over _Schwarzkoppe_ (Black Head), a hill rough with +heather. To this succeeded pleasant fir-woods, then birch and beech, +and before eight we came to _Grenzbäuden_ (frontier-buildings), a +place renowned for its hospitality wherever lives a German who has +seen the mountains. Three houses offer entertainment; but Hübner's is +the most resorted to. There you find spacious rooms, a billiard-table, +a piano, maps on the walls, and a colonnade for those who prefer the +open air; and sundry appliances by which weather-bound guests may kill +time. But, by common consent, Hübner's chief claim to consideration +is, that Hungarian wine never fails in his cellar. + +"Did you taste the Hungarian wine?" is the question asked of all who +wander to the Giant Mountains. + +The two Breslauers were not less ready for breakfast than myself. We +each had a half-bottle of the famous wine, and truly its reputation is +not unmerited. If you can imagine liquid amber suffused with sunshine, +you will know what its colour is. It looks syrupy, and has the flavour +of a sweet Madeira, not, as it appeared to me, provocative of a desire +for more. Neither of the Breslauers inclined to try a second +half-bottle, notwithstanding their exuberant praises; but one of them, +sitting down to the piano, broke out with a + + "Vivat vinum Hungaricum" + +that made the room echo again. Its price is about twenty pence a +bottle; but once across the boundary line, and you must pay three +shillings. In winter, when snow lies deep, sledge-parties glide hither +from Schmideberg to drink Hungarian, have a frolic, and then skim +homewards down-hill swift as the wind. + +I had a talk with _Meinherr_ Hübner about the shortest way to +Schatzlar. To think of going to Adersbach through Schatzlar was, he +assured me, a grand mistake. The road was very hilly, hard to find, +and, under the most favourable circumstances, I need not look to walk +the distance in less than eighteen hours. My Frankfort map, with all +its imperfections, had not yet misled me: it showed the route by +Schatzlar to be the shortest, and on that I insisted. + +"Take my advice," rejoined Hübner; "it has forty years' experience to +back it. Go down to Hermsdorf, and from thence through Liebau and +Schömberg. That is the only way possible for you. The other will take +you eighteen hours." + +The route suggested was that I hoped to follow on leaving Adersbach, +and to travel twice over the same ground did not suit my inclination, +and it was the longest. Moreover, I wished to keep within the +_Schmiedeberger Kamm_; and forty years' experience to the contrary +notwithstanding, I refused to be advised. + +I may as well mention at once that by five in the afternoon of the +same day I was in Adersbach. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[H] Which, changing one word, may rhyme in English-- + + Know ye, only hand of fool + Paints and writes on wall and stool. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + The Frontier Guard-house -- A Volunteer Guide -- A Knave -- + Schatzlar -- Bernsdorf -- A Barefoot Philosopher -- A + Weaver's Happiness -- Altendorf -- Queer Beer -- A Short + Cut -- Blunt Manners -- Adersbach -- Singular Rocks -- + Gasthaus zur Felsenstadt -- The Rock City -- The Grand + Entrance -- The Sugarloaf -- The Pulpit -- The Giant's + Glove -- The Gallows -- The Burgomaster -- Lord Brougham's + Profile -- The Breslau Wool-market -- The Shameless Maiden + -- The Silver Spring -- The Waterfall -- A Waterspout -- + The Lightning Stroke. + + +About a musket-shot below the _Bäuden_ stands the frontier +guard-house. The two wool-merchants who had left Warmbrunn for the +ordinary three days' excursion in the mountains, having no passports +to show, were detained, while I, accredited by seven visas, had free +passage and wishes for a pleasant journey. I took a road running +immediately to the right, and had not gone far when one of Hübner's +men came running after, and offered to show me the way to Schatzlar +for twenty kreutzers. + +"If you mean the road," I answered, "I don't want you. But if you mean +the shortest way, across fields, through bush, anywhere to save +distance, come along." + +He hesitated a moment, and came. We scrambled anywhere; up and down +toilsome slopes of ploughed fields, through scrub and brake. We saw +the hamlet of Klein Aupa and the Golden Valley on the right. When, +after awhile, _Schneekoppe_ came in sight, it appeared from this side +to be the crest of a long, gradually-rising earth-wave. After about an +hour and a half of brisk walking, we came to a brow, from which the +ground fell steeply to a homely, straggling village, embosomed in +trees, beneath. "There, that's Schatzlar," said Hübner's man, and, +pointing to a lane that twisted down the slope, "that's the way to +it." + +Hübner's man plays knavish tricks. On descending into the village I +found it to be Kunzendorf: however, it was on the right way, and +another two miles brought me to Schatzlar, a village of one street, +the houses irregular; high, dark, wooden gables, resting on a low, +whitewashed ground story, lit by shabby little windows. Here I took a +road on the left, leading to Bernsdorf, from which, as it rises, you +can presently look back upon the striped hill behind Schatzlar, the +castle, now tenanted by the _Bezirksrichter_, and the beechen woods +where the Bober takes its rise: a stream that flows northwards and +falls into the Oder. + +Beech woods adorn this part of the country, and relieve the dark +slopes of firs which here and there border the landscape; and +everywhere you see signs of careful cultivation. After passing +Bernsdorf--a village on the high road to Trautenau--I fell in with a +weaver, and we walked together to Altendorf. A right talkative fellow +did he prove himself; a barefoot philosopher, clad in a loose garment +of coarse baize. He lived at Kunzendorf, where he kept his loom going +while work was to be had, and, when it wasn't, did the best he could +without. Thought a dollar a week tidy wages; a dollar and a half, +jolly; and two dollars, wonderfully happy. Never ate meat; never +expected it, and so didn't fret about it. Bread, soup, and a glass of +beer at the _Wirthshaus_ in the evening, was all he could get, and a +weaver who got that had not much to complain of. All this was said in +a free, hearty tone, that left me no reason to doubt its sincerity. + +The country was no longer what it had been. Twelve years ago the land +to the right and left, all the way from Schatzlar, was covered with +forest; now it was all fields, and every year the fields spread wider, +and up the hills; and though firewood was dearer, potatoes, beetroot, +and rye were more plentiful; and that seemed only fair, because every +year more mouths opened and wanted food. + +For every cottage we passed my philosopher had a joke; something about +the bees' humming-tops, or frogs' hams, that sent the inmates into +roars of laughter. I invited him to eat bread and cheese with me at +Altendorf: he stared, gave a whoop of surprise, and accepted. Of all +the large rooms I had yet seen in a public-house the one in the +_Wirthshaus_ here was the largest; spacious enough for a town-hall. +The groined and vaulted ceiling rests on tall, massive pillars; four +chandeliers hang by long strings; in one corner stands a two-wheeled +truck; an enormous bread-trough; platter-shaped baskets filled with +flour, and a mountain of washing utensils. Trencher-cap brought us two +glasses of beer--tall glasses, to match the room, vase-like in form, +and fifteen inches high at least. The beer was of the colour of +porter, and, as I thought, of a very disagreeable flavour; but the +weaver took a hearty pull, smacked his lips, and pronounced it better +than Bavarian, or _Stohnsdorfer_, or any other kind. That was the sort +they always drank at Kunzendorf, and wholesome stuff it was; meat and +drink too. He emptied my glass after his own--for one taste was enough +for me--and then, as he bade me good-bye, and went his way, he +expressed a hope that he might meet with an Englishman every time he +took the same walk. + +From Altendorf a short cut by intricate paths over a wooded hill saves +nearly two miles in the distance to Adersbach. It is a pretty walk, up +and down slopes gay with loosestrife--_Steinrosen_, as the country +folk call it--and among rocks, of which one of the largest is known as +the _Gott und Vater Stein_. You emerge in a shallow valley, at Upper +Adersbach, and follow the road downwards, past low-shingled cottages, +the fronts coloured yellow with white stripes, the shutters blue, and +all the rearward portion showing white stripes along the joints of the +old dark wood, and crossing on the ends of the beams. The eaves are +not more than six feet from the ground, so that where the house stands +back in a garden, it is half buried by apple-trees and scarlet-runners, +and the cabbages and flowers look in at the windows. The people are as +rustic as their dwellings. Ask a question, and a blunt "_Was?_" is the +first word in answer; no "_Wie meinen sie?_" as in other places. Good +Papists, nevertheless, for they stop and recite a prayer before one of +the gaudy crucifixes, which, surrounded by angels bearing inscribed +tablets, or ornamented by pictures of the Virgin and St. Anne, stand +within a wooden fence at the roadside here and there along the +village. + +The valley narrows, and presently you see strange masses of stone +peering from the fir-wood on the right, more and more numerous, till +at length the rock prevails, and the trees grow only in gaps and +clefts. The masses present astonishing varieties of the columnar form, +some tall and upright, others broken and leaning; and looking across +the intervening breadth of meadow, you can imagine doorways, porticos, +colonnades, and grotesque sculptures. Here and there, fronting the +rest, stands a semicircular mass, as it were a huge grindstone, one +half buried in the earth, or a pile that looks like a weatherbeaten, +buttressed wall; and, raised by the slope of the ground, you see the +tops of other masses, continuing away to the rear. + +The spectacle grows yet more striking, for the height and dimensions +of the rocks increase as you advance. About a mile onwards and a short +range of similar rocks appears isolated in a wood on the left. Here a +whitewashed gateway bestrides the road--the entrance to the _Gasthaus +zur Felsenstadt_ (Rock-City Inn), resorted to every year by hundreds +of visitors. + +Old Hübner was clearly mistaken. In seven hours of easy walking I had +accomplished the distance from Grenzbäuden, and was ready, after half +an hour's rest, to explore the wonders of Adersbach. + +The custom of the place is, that you shall take a guide whether or no, +pay him a fee for his trouble, and another for admission besides; and +to carry it out, a staff of guides are always at the service of +visitors. Their costume is the same as that of the mountain +guides--boots, buttons, hat and feather, and velveteen. You may wait +and join a party if you like: I preferred going alone. + +The meadow behind the house is planted with trees forming shady walks. +Here the guide calls your attention to two outlying masses, one of +which he names _Rubezahl_, the other the Sleeping Woman. He talks +naturally when he talks, but when he describes or names anything he +does it in the showman's style--"Look to the left and there you see +Admiral Lyons a-bombardin' of Sebastopol," &c.; and so frequent and +sudden were these changes of voice and manner, that at last I could +not help laughing at them, even in places where laughter was by no +means appropriate. We crossed the brook--_Adersbach_--to an opening +about forty feet broad, which forms an approach to the Rock City that +makes a deep impression on you, and excites your expectations. It is +an avenue bordered on either side by the remains of such buildings and +monuments as we saw specimens of in the mountains on our way hither, +only here the Cyclopean architects worked on a greater scale, and +crowded their edifices together. Here, indeed, was their metropolis; +and this the grand entrance, where now vegetation clothes the ruin +with beauty. + +The road is soft and sandy: everywhere nothing but sand underfoot. The +objects increase in magnitude as we proceed. Great masses of cliff +look down on us, their sides and summit clothed with young +trees--beech, birch, fir, growing from every crevice. The sand +accumulated round their base forms a broad, sloping plinth, overgrown +with long grass, creeping weeds, and bushes, through which run little +paths leading to caverns, vaults, and passages in the rock. Some of +the caverns are formed by great fragments fallen one against the +other; some in the solid rock have the smooth and worn appearance +produced by the action of the water, as in cliffs on the sea-shore; +the galleries and passages are similarly formed; but here and there +you see that the mighty rock has been split from head to foot by some +shock which separated the halves but a few inches, leaving evidence of +their former union in the corresponding inequalities of the broken +surfaces. + +Presently we step forth into a meadow from which a stripe of open +country undulates away between the bordering forest. Here, where the +path turns to the left, you see the Sugarloaf, a huge detached rock +some eighty feet high, rising out of a pond. Either it is an inverted +sugarloaf, or you may believe that the base is being gradually +dissolved by the water. Here, contrasted with the smooth green +surface, you can note the abrupt outline of the rocks and its +similarity to that of a line of sea-cliffs. Here are capes, headlands, +spits, bays, coves, basins, and outlying rocks, reefs, and islets; but +with the difference that here every crevice is full of trees and +foliage, and branches overtop the crests of the loftiest. + +As yet we have seen but a suburb; now, having crossed the meadow, we +enter the main city of the rocky labyrinth, and the guide, ever with +theatrical tone and attitude, sets to work in earnest. He points out +the Pulpit, the Twins, the Giant's Glove, the Chimney, the Gallows, +the Burgomaster's Head; and bids you note that the latter wears a +periwig, and has a snub nose. Some of these are close to the path, +others distant, and only to be seen through the openings, or over the +top of the nearer masses. The resemblance to a human head is +remarkably frequent, always at the top of a column. I discovered Lord +Brougham's profile, and advised the guide to remember it for the +benefit of future visitors. + +Now the rocks are higher; they crowd close on the path, and presently +we come to a narrow passage through a tremendous cliff, where further +progress is barred by a door. And here you discover the use of the +guide. Before unlocking, he holds out his hand for the twenty-kreutzer +fee, which every one must pay for admittance; his own fee will be an +after consideration. He then shows you the figure of a Whale in the +face of the cliff on the left, then you cross the wooden bridge, and +are locked in, as before you were locked out. There is, however, a +free way through the water. The little brook that flows so prettily by +the side of the path out to the entrance, comes through a vault in the +cliff, about thirty yards, and by stooping you can see the glimmer of +light from the far end. Three women came that way with bundles of +firewood on their backs, and they wade it every time they go in quest +of fuel. The water is less than a foot in depth. + +The passage is narrow and gloomy between the cliffs. As we emerge, the +guide, pointing to a tall rock two hundred and fifty feet in height, +names it the Elizabeth Tower of Breslau. Then comes the Breslau +Wool-market, from a fancied resemblance in the surrounding rocks to +woolsacks. Not far off are the Tables of Moses, the Shameless Maiden, +St. John the Baptist, the Tiger's Snout, the Backbone, a long broken +column, which forms a disjointed vertebræ. A long list of names might +be given were it desirable. For the most part the resemblances are +not at all fanciful; in some instances so complete, that you can +scarcely believe the handiwork to be Nature's own. She was, however, +sole artificer. + +We come to a small grassy oasis, where a damsel offers you a goblet of +water from the Silver Spring, and invites you to buy crystals or cakes +at her stall. The guide shows you the Little Waterfall, a feeder of +the brook struggling in a crevice, and conducts you by a steep, rocky +path to a cavern into which the Great Waterfall tumbles from a height +of about sixty feet. The rocky sides converge as they rise, and leave +an opening of a few feet at the apex through which the water falls +into a shallow pool beneath. The margin of this pool, a narrow ledge, +is the standing-place. + +The quantity of water is not great, but it makes a pretty cascade down +the rugged side of the darksome cavern. After you have looked at it +for a minute or two, the guide blows a shrill whistle, and before you +have time to ask what it means, the gloom is suddenly deepened. You +look up in surprise. The mouth of the cavern is entirely filled by a +torrent which in another second will be down upon your head. You +cannot start back if you would; the rock prevents, and in an instant +you see that the water makes its plunge with scarcely a splash on the +brim of the pool. + +Artificial improvement of waterfalls affords me but little pleasure. +Here, however, the effect was so surprising that, as the water gleamed +and danced in the dusky cavern, and the rushing roar and rapid gurgle +at the outlet filled the place with loud reverberations, and the light +spray imparted a sense of coolness, I was made to feel there might be +an exception. + +In our further wanderings we met sundry parties of visitors all led by +guides who had the same theatrical trick as mine. You return by the +same way to the locked door; but explorations are being made to +discover a new route among objects sufficiently striking. Outside the +door all is free, and you may roam and make discoveries at pleasure. +There are steep gullies which lead into very wild places, where for +want of bridges, galleries, and beaten paths, the labour and fatigue +of exploration are sensibly multiplied. + +In June, 1844, as inscribed on one of the stones, a waterspout burst +over Adersbach, and flooded all the tortuous ways among the rocks to a +depth of nine feet. Another inscription records the escape of two +Englishmen in 1709. They were sheltering from a thunderstorm, when the +rock under which they stood was struck by lightning, and the summit +shattered without their receiving harm from the falling lumps. +Inscriptions of another sort abound--the initials, or entire name and +address, of hundreds of visitors, who with chisel or black paint have +thought it worth while to let posterity know of their visit to +Adersbach. Some ambitious beyond the ordinary, have climbed up thirty +or forty feet to carve the capital letters. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + The Echo -- Wonderful Orchestra -- Magical Music -- A _Feu + de joie_ -- The Oration -- The Voices -- Echo and the + Humourist -- Satisfying the Guide -- Exploring the + Labyrinth -- Curious Discoveries -- Speculations of + Geologists -- Bohemia an Inland Sea -- Marble Labyrinth in + Spain -- A Twilight View -- After a'. + + +"Will it please you to walk to the echo?" asks the guide, when we come +back to the meadow. And if you assent--as every one does--he turns to +the left and leads you up the open ground above-mentioned to a small +temple--the Echo House. You see a man standing near the house playing +a clarionet, pausing now and then to recite; but no answering note or +word do you hear. But take your seat on the bench against that +perpendicular rock on his right, and immediately you hear a whole +orchestra of wind instruments among the rocks. Such delicious music! +Soft, wild, warbling, rising and falling, melting one into the other +in a way that you fancy could only be accomplished by a band of +Kobolds with _Rübezahl_ for a leader. And when the player blows short +phrases with pauses between, what mocking sprite is that who imitates +the sound, flitting from crevice to crevice repeating the tones over +and over again, fainter and fainter, till they seem not to die away, +but to float out of hearing? + +Then his companion comes forward and fires a gun, a signal, so you +might believe, for a great discharge of musketry among the rocks, +platoon after platoon firing a _feu de joie_. One--two--three--four! +The two men hold up their hands to signify--Listen yet! then comes the +rattle of the fifth round from the short range of rocks which we saw +on the left while coming down the valley; and the firing commenced by +the troops in camp is ended by the outposts. + +Then one of the men makes a short oration about the wonders here +grouped by which Nature attracts man from afar and fills him with joy +and astonishment; voices repeat the oration among the rocks, and +then--he comes to you for his fee. For the gunshot the tax is eight +kreutzers; and if you give eight more for the music and oration, the +two echo-keepers will not look unhappy. + +And now, if still incredulous, you may talk to the echo yourself. My +test was perfectly convincing, for it woke up a dozen cuckoos among +the rocks. When Schulze, the humourist already mentioned, was here, he +questioned the mysterious voice concerning political matters, and got +unhesitating answers. For example: + + _Philosopher._ "Wie steht's um Hellas? + _Echo._ Helas! Helas! Helas! + Wat hältst du von Russels Worte? + Worte! Worte! Worte! + Wat fehlt in Hessen? + Essen! Essen! Essen! + Was möchten gern die Wallachen? + Lachen! lachen! lachen! + Fließt dort (in Russia) nicht Milch und Honig? + Jo nich! jo nich! jo nich! + Wann kommt Deutschland zur Harmonie? + O nie! O nie! O nie! + Es fehlt ja man eene Kleinigkeit? + Einigkeit! Einigkeit! Einigkeit!" + +Unluckily, the points would all become blunt if translated; I am +constrained, therefore, to leave them in the original. + +My guide waited to be "satisfied." I asked him what amount of fee he +usually received? + +"Sometimes," he answered, "I get a dollar." + +"But commonly not more than ten kreutzers?" + +"_M--m--ja_, that is true." + +"Then what would you say to fifteen kreutzers?" + +"Sir, I would say that I wish such as you would come every day to +Adersbach." + +He left me fully "satisfied." And so, reader, you see that the +picturesque is burdened with a tariff in Bohemia as it is in certain +parts of England, Scotland, and Wales. + +I went back to the rocks. The locked door does not shut in all the +wonders, and there are miles which you may explore freely. But unless +you stick a branch here and there into the sand, or "blaze" the trees, +you will never find your way out again. The great height of the rocks +surprises you not less than their amazing number. They are intersected +by blind alleys, open alleys, and lanes innumerable, intertwisting and +crossing in all directions. Many a cavern, den, and grotto will you +see, and many a delightful sylvan retreat, where the solitude is +perfect; many a bower which is presently lost. Now you are overcome by +wonder, now by awe, for thoughts will come to you of great rock cities +and temples smitten by judgments; of the giant race that warred with +the gods and were slain by thunder-bolts; of those who worshipped +stones and burnt sacrifice on the loftiest rocks. + +A few paces farther, and seeing how tall trees grow everywhere among +the stony masses, how smaller trees and shrubs shoot from the +crevices, and moss enwraps pillar and buttress, and fringes the +cliffs, you will think of Nature's silent revolutions; of the ages +that rolled away while the labyrinth of Adersbach was formed. Here, so +say the geologists, currents of water running for innumerable years, +have worn out channels in the softer parts of a wide stratum of +sandstone, and produced the effects we now witness. The stratum must +have been great, for the rocks extend, more or less crowded, away to +the _Heuscheuer_, a distance of three or four leagues. The mountain +itself presents similar phenomena even on its summit. + +A supposition prevails, based on much observation, that the whole of +Bohemia was once covered by a vast lake, or inland sea. The +conformation of the country, its ring-fence of mountains--whence the +term _Kessel Land_ (Kettle Land) among the Germans--broken only where +the Elbe flows out, while almost every stream within the territory +finds its way into that river, besides the fossil deposits so +abundantly met with, are facts urged by the learned in favour of their +views. It may have been during the existence of this great sea that +the rocks were formed. + +It might be interesting to inquire whether the rocky labyrinth at +Torcal, not far from Antequera, in Spain, presents phenomena similar +to those of Adersbach. The rocks, as I have read, are of marble, +covering a great extent of ground in groupings singularly picturesque. + +It was dusk when I had finished my prowl, for such it was, accompanied +by much scrambling. Then I climbed to the top of one of the outlying +crags for a view across the maze, and when I saw the numerous gray +heads peering out from the feathery fir-tops, here and there a +bastion, a broken pillar, and weather-stained tower, the fancy once +more possessed me that here was a city of the giants--its walls thrown +down, its buildings destroyed, and its rebellious inhabitants turned +to stone. + +Gradually the hoary rocks looked spectral-like, for the dusk +increased, the clouds gathered heavily, and rain began to fall. I +walked back to the inn, feeling deeply the force of the Ettrick +Shepherd's words, "After a', what is any description by us puir +creturs o' the works o' the great God?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + Baked Chickens -- A Discussion -- Weckelsdorf -- More Rocks + -- The Stone of Tears -- Death's Alley -- Diana's Bath -- + The Minster -- Gang of Coiners -- The Bohdanetskis -- Going + to Church -- Another Silesian View -- Good-bye to Bohemia + -- Schömberg -- Silesian Faces and Costume -- Picturesque + Market-place -- Ueberschar Hills -- Ullersdorf -- An amazed + Weaver -- Liebau -- Cheap Cherries -- The Prussian Simplon + -- Ornamented Houses -- Buchwald -- The Bober -- + Dittersbach -- Schmiedeberg -- Rübezahl's Trick upon + Travellers -- Tourists' Rendezvous -- The Duellists' + Successors -- Erdmannsdorf -- Tyrolese Colony. + + +As _Grenzbäuden_ is renowned for Hungarian wine, so is Adersbach for +baked chickens, and every guest, unless he be a greenhorn, eats two +for supper. They are very relishing, and quite small enough to prevent +any breach of your moderate habit. + +Visitors were numerous: some reading their guide-books, some beginning +supper, some finishing, some rounding up the evening with another +bottle--for Hungarian is to be had in Adersbach. A party near me sat +discussing with much animation the demerits of the taxes which +impoverish, and of the beggars who importune, travellers around the +City of the Rocks, and they drew an inference that the landlord's +charges would not be parsimonious. Then they wandered off into the +question of temperature--the temperature of _Schneekoppe_. Not one of +them had yet trodden old Snowhead, so they went on guessing at the +question, till I mentioned that it had been very cold up there in the +morning. + +"In the morning! This morning? _Heut_, mean you?" + +"Yes, this very morning; for I was up there." + +"_Heut! Heut! Heut! Heut!_" ejaculated one after another, the last +apparently more surprised than the first. + +"Yes, this very day." + +They would not believe it. I took up a sprig of heather from the side +of my plate, which I had gathered on _Schwarzkoppe_, and showed them +that as a token; and explained that the distance was, after all, not +so very great, and might have been shortened had I descended directly +from the _Koppe_ into the _Riesengrund_, and laid my course through +the village of Dorngrund. + +They believed then; but having travelled the road prescribed to me by +Father Hübner, could not imagine the distance from the mountain to be +but about twenty miles. + +By rising early the next morning, when all was bright and fresh and +the dust laid by the night's rain, I got time for another stroll among +the rocks, and to walk two miles farther down the valley to +Weckelsdorf, where another part of the rocky labyrinth is explorable. +The rocks here are on a greater scale than at Adersbach, and rising on +the slope of a hill, their romantic effect is increased, as also the +difficulty of wandering among them. The proprietor, Count von +Nummerskirch, has, however, taken pains to render them accessible by +bridges, galleries, and stairs. A sitting figure, whose head-dress +resembles that of the maidens of Braunau, is named the Bride of +Braunau; near her is the Stone of Tears; the _Todtengasse_ (Death's +Alley) is never illumined by a ray of sunshine; there is the +Cathedral, and near it Diana's Bath; and at last the Minster, a +natural temple, the roof a lofty pointed arch, where, while you walk +up and down in the dim light, an organ fills the place with a burst of +sound. It is sometimes called the Mint, or Money Church, because of a +gang of coiners having once made it their head-quarters. The rocks +have been a hiding-place for others as well as rogues. During the +Hussite wars, many families found a refuge within their intricate +recesses, little liable to a surprise, at a time when entrance was +hardly possible owing to the numerous obstructions. + +As at Adersbach, there is a fee to pay for unlocking a door; there is +an echo which answers the guide's voice, his pistol and horn, and has +to be paid for. Nevertheless, you will neither regret the outlay of +time and kreutzers in your visit to Weckelsdorf. If able to prolong +your stay, you may take an excursion of a few hours to the +_Heuscheuer_, and see a smaller Adersbach on its very summit--the +highest of these extraordinary rock-formations. Or there is the ruin +of Bischoffstein, within an easy walk, once the stronghold of the +Bohdanetski family, who held half a score of castles around the +neighbourhood, and made themselves obnoxious by their Protestantism +and robberies, and envied for their wealth. They suffered at times by +siege and onslaught from their neighbours, and at length their castles +were demolished, and forty-seven Bohdanetskis and adherents were +hanged by the emperor's command. The rest of the family, it is said, +took flight, and settled in England. Is Baddenskey, who sits wearily +at his loom down there in joyless Spitalfields, a descendant? + +I returned to the _Felsenstadt_ for my knapsack. For supper, bed, and +breakfast the charge was equal to three and threepence, in which was +included an extra fifteen kreutzers for the bedroom, which I had +insisted on having all to myself. When guests are very numerous they +have to sleep four in a room. Take your change in Prussian money, for +"_Kaiserliches geld_," as the folk here call it--that is, imperial +money--will not be current where you stop to dine. + +I retraced my steps for about a mile along the road by which I came +yesterday, and at the church took a road branching off to the right. +It leads through Ober Adersbach. The villagers were going to church: +the men wearing tall polished boots and jackets, the women with their +heads ungracefully muffled in red, blue, green, or yellow kerchiefs, +and displaying broad, showy skirts and aprons, and clean white +stockings. Now and then came an exception: a man in a light-blue +jacket, and loose, baggy breeches; a woman with a stiff-starched +head-dress, not unlike those worn in Normandy. + +The road continually rises, and by-and-by you cannot tell the main +track from the byeways among the cottages. Still ascending, however, +you come out a short distance farther on the brow of a precipitous +hill, where you are agreeably surprised by another Silesian +view--broad, rolling fields of good red land, bearing vetches, clover, +flax, and barley, the little town of Schömberg in their midst, and +always hills on the horizon. From the brow, a deep lane and a path +through the fir-wood on the cliffy hill-side, lead you down to the +road where finger-posts, painted black and white, indicate that we +have exchanged the Austrian eagle for the Prussian. I must have +crossed the frontier two or three times yesterday and to-day, but I +saw no custom-house anywhere, and no guards, except at _Grenzbäuden_. + +Other signs showed me on nearing Schömberg that I had left Bohemia. +The men are tall, of sallow complexion, and angular face. They wear +long dark-blue coats and boots up to their knees, and stiff blue caps +with a broad crown, and they carry pink or blue umbrellas. The women +wear the same colour, and do not look attractive; and there is an +_Evangelische Kirche_, in which the preaching is of Protestant faith +and doctrine. + +The town has two thousand inhabitants, some of whom dwell in houses +that are a pleasure to look upon, around the market-place. The +gables--no two alike--are painted pale green, white, gray, or yellow, +and what with the ornaments, the broken outlines, and arcades of wood +and brick, the great square makes up a better picture than is to be +seen in many a famous city. Although Sunday, the mill turned by the +Kratzbach clacks briskly; there are stalls of fruit, bread, and toys +under the arcades, and by the side of two or three wagons in the +centre a group of blue-coated men. They look sedate, and talk very +quietly, as if they felt the day were not for work. + +From hence the road, planted with beeches, limes, and mountain-ash, +leads across well-cultivated fields, and between wooded slopes of the +Ueberschar hills to Ullersdorf, where _Schneekoppe_ is seen peeping +over a dark ridge on the left. I asked one of the weavers who inhabit +here if he earned two dollars a week. + +"_Gott bewahr!_" he exclaimed, opening his eyes and holding up his +hands apparently in utter amazement, "that would be too gladsome +(_frolich_). No; I can be thankful for one dollar." + +Content with one dollar a week, which means a perpetual diet of rye +bread and potatoes. + +Liebau and Schömberg, about five miles apart, are in many respects +twin towns. If Liebau has not a strikingly picturesque market-place, +nor a reputation for _Knackwürsten_ (smoked sausage), it has a new +Protestant church, some good paintings in the Romish church, and a +_Kreuzberg_, once the resort of thousands of pilgrims. The +neighbouring _Tartarnberg_ was, according to tradition, the site of a +Tartar camp in 1241. Rusty, half-decayed horseshoes and arrow-heads +are still found at times upon it. + +After dining at the _Sonne_, I bought a dessert at a stall under the +arcade: the woman gave me nearly a gallon of cherries for +three-halfpence, with which I started for Schmiedeberg, ten miles +farther. Numbers of villagers were walking on the road, all the women +bedecked with pink aprons, and looking healthy and happy. Perhaps out +of twenty or more chubby-faced children, who manifested a lively +appetite for fruit, two or three will remember that they met a strange +man who gave them a handful of cherries, and how that their mothers +became all of a sudden eloquent with thanks, and bade them kiss their +hands, and do something pretty. Unluckily, by the time I had gone two +miles there was an end of the cherries. + +The road runs between the _Schmiedeberger Kamm_ and the _Landeshuter +Kamm_. The main road, which crosses the latter from Schmiedeberg to +Landeshut, is called the Prussian or Silesian Simplon, for it is the +highest macadamized road in Prussia, its summit being at an elevation +of more than 2200 feet. Extra horses are required to pass it; and the +saying goes that millions of dollars have been paid on a stone at the +top, known as the _Vorspannsteine_. + +Among rural objects you see huge barns; a tiled roof resting on tall, +square pillars of brick, the intervals between which are boarded. And +here and there a farm, with all the homestead enclosed by a high +whitewashed wall, which has two arched entrances. The cottages are +low, their roofs a combination of thatch and shingle, their shutters +an exhibition of rustic art, bright red, with an ornamental wreath in +the centre of the panels; and the wooden column, on which a saint +stands by the wayside, displays a flowery spiral on a ground of lively +green. To a man who was leaning over his gate, I said that it was very +stupid to mar the effect of such artistic decorations by a slushy +midden at the front door. + +"We don't think so: we are used to it," was his answer. + +Now and then you meet a little low wagon, the tilt-hoops painted blue, +and the harness glittering with numerous rings and small round plates +of brass. In the village of Buchwald the mill was at work, and the men +were busy at the grindstone grinding their scythe-blades in readiness +for the morrow. Here we come upon the Bober, grown to a lively stream, +running along the edge of the far-spreading meadows on the left. +About half a mile farther a wagon-track slants off to the right, +making a short cut over the _Kamm_ to Schmiedeberg. It leads you by +pleasant ways along hill-sides, across fields and meadows, into lonely +vales and solitary lanes, that end on shaggy heather slopes. To me the +walk was delightful, for uninterrupted sunshine, a merry breeze, and +rural peace, favourable to the luxury of idle thought, lent a charm to +pretty scenery. + +From Dittersbach the road ascends the _Passberg_, which, on the +farther side, sends down a steep descent to Schmiedeberg. The town +lies in a deep valley, and is so long from one extremity of its +scattered outskirts to the other that you will be nearly an hour in +walking through it, while, for the most part, it is little more than +one street in width. It has an ancient look, and, owing to the many +gardens and bleaching-grounds among the houses, combines country with +town. The _Rathhaus_ is a fine specimen of tasteful architecture. + +From working in iron, the Schmiedebergers have turned to the making of +shawls and plush, and the entertainment of holiday travellers. The +iron trade began in an adventure on the _Riesengebirge_. Two men were +crossing the mountains, when one, whose shoes were thickly nailed, +found himself suddenly held fast on the stony path, unable to advance +or return. He shook with terror. What else could it be than a spell +thrown over him by _Rübezahl_? At length, by the other's assistance, +he broke the spell; and the two having brought away with them the +stone of detention, it was recognised as magnetic iron stone; and +already, in the twelfth century, iron works were established, around +which Schmiedeberg grew into a town. It now numbers four thousand +inhabitants. + +Hither come tourists from far to see the mountains; and during your +half hour's rest at the _Schwarzes Ross_, you will be amused by +witnessing the eager manifestations of the newly-arrived, their +exuberant gestures while bargaining with a guide, and the liberal +way--the bargain once made--in which they load him with rugs, cloaks, +coats, caps, bonnets, bags, bundles, umbrellas, parasols, and other +travelling gear, until he carries a mountain on his own shoulders. +Besides the trip to _Schneekoppe_, some mount to the great beech-tree +and the _Friesenstein_, on the _Landeshuter Kamm_; or visit the +laboratories at Krummhübel, where liqueurs, oils, and essences, are +distilled and prepared from native plants: chemical operations first +set on foot in 1700 by a few students of medicine who fled from Prague +to escape the consequences of a duel. And some go beyond Krummhübel to +look at Wolfshau, a place in the entrance of the _Melzergrund_, so +shut in by wooded hills that it never sees the sun during December. +And some to the village of Steinseifen, where, among iron-workers and +herbalists, dwell skilful wood-carvers; one of whom for a small fee +exhibits a large model of the _Riesengebirge_--a specimen of his own +handiwork. + +On the left, as you leave Schmiedeberg, is the Ruheberg, a small +castle standing in a bosky park belonging to a Polish prince, where +the townsfolk find pleasant walks. Two miles farther, and the leafy +slopes of Buchwald appear on the right, embowering another castle, and +a park laid out in the English style, and with such advantages of +position, among which are fifty-four ponds, that it has become an +elysium for the neighbourhood. + +Once clear of the town, and the mountain-range opens on the +left--rounded heights, ridges, scars, and peaks stretching away for +miles on either side of the _Koppe_. Another hour, and turning from +the main road which runs on to Hirschberg, you see houses scattered +about the plain, built in the Alpine style, with outside stair and +galleries, and broad eaves. We are in the village of Erdmannsdorf--the +asylum granted by the King of Prussia to about a hundred Tyrolese +families, who, in 1838, had to quit their native country for +conscience' sake. They were Protestants hated by their bigoted +neighbours, and disliked by the priests; and so became exiles. Nowhere +else in Prussia could they have seen mountains at all approaching in +grandeur those which look down on their native valley, and yet they +must at first have deeply mourned the difference. + +Remembering my former year's experiences, I wished to find myself once +more among the Tyrolese. True enough, there they were in their +picturesque costume, in striking contrast with the Silesians; but +there was a degenerate look about the _Wirthshaus_, as if they had +forgotten their original cleanliness, which repelled me, and I went on +to the _Schweizerhaus_, a large inn near the royal _Schloss_. As +usual, it was overfull, so great is the throng of visitors, and I had +to try in another direction, which brought me to the _Gasthof und +Gerichtskretscham_, where the landlord promised me a bed if I would +not mind sleeping in the billiard-room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + Schnaps and Sausage -- Dresdener upon Berliners -- The + Prince's Castle at Fischbach -- A Home for the Princess + Royal -- Is the Marriage Popular? -- View from the Tower -- + Tradition of the Golden Donkey -- Royal Palace at + Erdmannsdorf -- A Miniature Chatsworth -- The Zillerthal -- + Käse and Brod -- Stohnsdorf -- Famous Beer -- Rischmann's + Cave -- Prophecies -- Warmbrunn. + + +At Fischbach, in a pleasant valley, about an hour's walk from +Erdmannsdorf, stands a castle belonging to Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, +which is shown to curious tourists. A Dresdener, who thought it worth +the trouble of the walk, asked me to accompany him next morning, and +we started after an early breakfast. Early as it was a party of +Silesian peasants were breaking their fast with _Schnaps_, sausage, +and rye bread. Think of _Schnaps_ and sausage at seven in the morning! + +The Dresdener beguiled the way by laughing at the peculiarities of +three Berliners, whom we had left behind at the _Gasthof_. A Prussian +cockney, he said, was sure to betray himself as soon as he began to +talk, for nothing would satisfy him but the most exalted superlatives. +"When you hear," he continued, "a man talk of a thing as gigantic-- +incomprehensibly beautiful--ravishingly excellent--insignificantly +scarcely visible--set him down at once as a Berliner. You heard those +three last night, how they went on; as we say in our country, hanging +their hats on the topmost pegs. Yracious yoodness! what yiyantic +yabble!" And the Saxon cockney laughed as heartily at his own wit as +if it had been good enough for _Punch_. + +The castle is an old possession of the Knights Templars, repaired and +beautified. It has towers and turrets, and windows of quaint device; a +small inner court, and a surrounding moat spanned by a bridge at the +entrance. Outside the moat are shady walks and avenues of limes, and +the gardens, which did not come up to my notion of what is royal +either in fruits or flowers. With plantations on the hills around, and +in the park, the whole place has a pleasant bowery aspect. + +As we crossed the bridge, there seemed something inhospitable in the +sight of two large cannon guarding the entrance; but the portress told +us they were trophies from Afghanistan, captured at the battle in +which Prince Waldemar was wounded--a present from the British +government. The fittings of the room are mostly of varnished pine, to +which the furniture and hangings do no violence. There are a few good +paintings, among them a portrait of the Queen of Bavaria, which you +will remember for beauty above all the rest; nor will you easily +forget the marble head copied from the statue of Queen Louisa in the +mausoleum at Charlottenburg. From looking at the rarities, the +portress called us to hear the singing of an artificial bird, and +seemed somewhat disappointed that we did not regard it as the greatest +curiosity of all. + +"A snug little place," said the Dresdener, as we walked from room to +room. "Not quite what your Princess Royal has been used to, perhaps; +but she will be able to pass summer holidays here agreeably enough." + +And quickly the question followed: "But what do you think of the +marriage in England. Is it very popular?" + +"Not very," I answered; "your Prussian Prince would have stood no +chance had the King of Sardinia only been a Protestant. Nothing but +her wholesome ingredient of Protestantism saves Prussia from becoming +an offence to English nostrils." + +"_So-o-o-o-o!_" ejaculated the Dresdener, while he made pointed arches +of his eyebrows. "That sounds pretty in the Prince's own castle." + +We went to the top of the tower, and looked out on the domain, the +mountain chain, and the encircling hills--among which the rocky +Falkenstein--the climbing test of adventurous tourists--rises +conspicuous. According to tradition, great things are in store for the +quiet little village of Fischbach; it is destined to grow into a city. +In the _Kittnerberg_, a neighbouring hill, a golden donkey is some day +to be found, and when found the city is forthwith to start up, and the +finder to be chosen first burgomaster. + +Erdmannsdorf, once the estate of brave old Gneisenau, was bought by +the former King Frederick William III., who built in a style combining +Moorish and Gothic the _Schloss_, or palace, which, with its charming +grounds and bronze statues of men-at-arms at the entrance keeping +perpetual guard with battle-axes, rivals the Tyrolese and their +houses in attracting visitors. No barriers separate the grounds from +the public road, and you may walk where you please along the broad +sandy paths, under tall groves, through luxuriant shrubberies, round +rippling lakes, and by streams which here and there tumble over rocky +dams. The place is a miniature Chatsworth, with its model village. +Within the limits of the smooth green turf and well-kept walks stands +the church, an edifice with a tall square tower in the Byzantine +style. The palace, too, has a tall tower, from the top of which, on +our return to Erdmannsdorf--that is the Dresdener and I--we got a view +of the royal domain, and the scattered houses of the Tyrolese, and +always in the background the _Riesengebirge_. + +Remembering their native valley, the Tyrolese named their settlement +Zillerthal, and many a one comes here expecting to see a romantic +valley. But all immediately beneath your eye is a great plain watered +by the Lomnitz--the stream which flows out of the Big Pond up in the +mountains--cut up by fields and meadows, crowded with trees around the +palace, and in the deer-park adjoining. Only in Ober-Zillerthal, which +lies nearer to the mountains, do the colonists have the pleasure of +ascending or descending in their walks. + +The Tyrolese themselves built their first house entirely of wood, +after the old manner; and this served as model for all the rest, +which, with stone walls for the lower story, have been erected at the +king's expense. The colonists find occupation in cattle-breeding and +field-work, or in the great linen factory, the tall chimney of which +is seen from far across the plain; and are well cared for in means of +education and religious worship. In their _Friedhof_ you may see the +first Tyrolese grave, the resting-place of Jacob Egger, a blind old +man of eighty-three, who died soon after the immigration. + +Not far from the palace is a singular group of rocks named _Käse und +Brod_ (_Cheese and Bread_), on the way to which you pass a stone +quarry, where you can pick up fine crystals of quartz, and see men +digging feldspar for the china-manufacturers at Berlin. + +Here I parted from the Dresdener and took the road to Warmbrunn--about +six miles distant. Half way, at the foot of the rocky _Prudelberg_, +lies the village of Stohnsdorf, famed for its beer; and not without +reason. But while you drink a glass, the landlord will tell you that +clever folk in distant places--Berlin or Dresden--damage the fame by +selling bottled _Stohnsdorfer_ brewed from the waters of the Spree or +Elbe. + +If inclined for a scramble up the _Prudelberg_, take a peep into +Rischmann's Cave among the rocks, for from thence, in 1630, the +prophet Rischmann delivered his predictions with loud voice and wild +gestures. He was a poor weaver, who fancied himself inspired, and, +although struck dumb in 1613, could always find speech when he had +anything to foretel. Woe to Hirschberg was the burden of his prophecy: +war, pestilence, and famine! The tower of the council-house should +fall, and the stream of the Zacken stand still. Honour and reverence +awaited the weaver, for everything came to pass as he had foretold. +The Thirty Years' War brought pestilence and famine; the tower did +fall down; and the Zacken being one of those rivers with an +intermittent flow, its stream was subject to periodical repose. + +After frequent ups and downs, you come to the brow of a hill which +overlooks a broad sweep of the Hirschbergerthal, and the little town +of Warmbrunn, chief among Silesian spas--lying cheerfully where the +valley spreads itself out widest towards the mountains. You will feel +tempted to sit down for awhile and gaze on the view--for it has many +pleasing features--touches of the romantic with the pastoral, and the +town itself wearing an unsophisticated look. Seume said of the +Hirschberg Valley--"Seldom finds one a more delightful corner of the +earth; seldom better people." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + The Three Berliners -- Strong Beer -- Origin of Warmbrunn + -- St. John the Baptist's Day -- Count Schaffgotsch -- A + Benefactor -- A Library -- Something about Warmbrunn -- The + Baths -- Healing Waters -- The Allée -- Visitors -- Russian + Popes -- The Museum -- Trophies -- View of the Mountains -- + The Kynast -- Cunigunda and her Lovers -- Served her right + -- The Two Breslauers -- Oblatt -- The Baths in the + Mountains. + + +I had gone a little way along the street when I heard voices crying, +"_Eng-lischmann! Eng-lischmann! Eng-lischmann!_" and, looking about, I +saw the three Berliners at the window of an hotel. "You must come up!" +"You must come up!" "You must come up!" cried one after the other; so +up I went. We had half an hour of yood-natured yossip about our +morning's adventures, not forgetting the merits of Stohnsdorf; and one +of them said something about the famous beer that justified the +Dresdener's criticism. "Isn't it yood? Isn't it strong? Why it is so +strong that if you pour some into your hand, and hold it shut for ten +minutes, you can never open it ayain!" + +The old story. Some time in the twelfth century, Duke Boleslaw IV., +while out hunting, struck the trail of a deer, and following it, was +led to a _Warmbrunn_ (Warm Spring), in which, as by signs appeared, +the animals used to bathe. The duke bathed too, and perhaps with +benefit; for near by he built a chapel, and dedicated it to the patron +saint of Silesia--John the Baptist. The news spread, even in those +days; and with it a belief that on St. John's Day the healing +properties of the spring were miraculously multiplied. Hence, on the +24th of June, sick folk came from far and near to bathe in the blessed +water, and some, thanks to the energy of their belief, went away +cured. And this practice was continued down to the year 1810. + +Such was the origin of the present _Marktfleck_ (Market Village) +Warmbrunn. In 1387 King Wenzel sold it to Gotsche Schoff--Stemfather, +as the Germans say, of Count von Schaffgotsch, who now rules with +generous sway over the spa and estates that stretch for miles around. +It was he who built the _Schneegrubenhaus_; who made the path up the +Bohemian side of _Schneekoppe_; who opens his gardens and walks to +visitors, and a library of forty thousand volumes with a museum for +their amusement and edification; who established a bathing-house with +twenty-four beds for poor folk who cannot pay, and who spares no +outlay of money or influence to improve the place and attract +strangers. + +Warmbrunn now numbers about 2300 inhabitants, who live upon the guests +during the season, and the rest of the year by weaving, bleaching, +stone-polishing, and wood-carving. Of hotels and houses of +entertainment there is no lack; the _Schwarzer Adler_ and _Hôtel de +Prusse_ among the best. But as at Carlsbad, nearly every house has its +sign, and lets lodgings, dearest close to the baths, and cheaper as +the distance increases, till in the outskirts, and they are not far +off, you can get a room with attendance for two dollars a week, or +less. Of refectioners there is no lack in the place itself, or about +the neighbourhood. + +There are six baths. The Count's and Provost's--or Great and Little +Baths--are near the middle of the village, separated by the street. +These are the oldest. The water bursts up clear and sparkling from +openings in coarse-grained, flesh-red granite, at a temperature of 94 +degrees Fahrenheit in the great basin, and 101 degrees in the little +basin. It is soft on the palate, with a taste and odour of sulphur, +and in saline and alkaline constituents resembles the waters of +Aix-la-Chapelle and Töplitz. It is efficacious in cases of gout, +contractions, skin diseases, and functional complaints; in some +instances with extraordinary results. I heard of patients who come to +Warmbrunn so crooked and crippled that they can neither sit nor stand, +nor lie in a natural posture, who have to be lifted in and out of the +bath, and yet, after two months' bathing, have been able to walk +alone. + +Although patients bathe a number together, the throng is so great in +the hot months that many have to study a lesson in patience till their +turn comes. Some, to whom drinking the water is prescribed, resort to +the _Trinkquelle_; and in the other bathing-houses there are all the +appliances for douche, showers, vapour, and friction. One room is +fitted up with electrical and galvanic apparatus, to be used in +particular cases. + +With so many visitors Warmbrunn has an appearance of life and gaiety; +the somewhat rustic shops put on an upstart look, or a timid show of +gentility. The _Allée_, a broad tree-planted avenue opening from the +main street, by the side of the Count's _Schloss_, is the favourite +promenade. Here, among troops of Germans, you meet Poles and +Muscovites, some betraying their nationality by outward signs. I saw +three men of very dingy complexion and sluggish movement, clad in +shabby black coats, with skirts reaching to their heels, who seemed +out of place among well-dressed promenaders. They were Russian popes. +Great personages have come here at times in search of health, and on +such occasions the little spa has grown vain-glorious. In 1687 the +queen of John Sobieski III. came with one thousand attendants. In 1702 +came Prince Jacob, their son, and stayed a year; and since then +dignitaries without number, among the latest of whom was Field-Marshal +Count von Ziethen, who took up his abode here in 1839. + +There are a few paintings worth looking at in the Romish church: one +of them represents the rescue of a Count Schaffgotsch from drowning; +and in the Evangelical church hang two portraits, one of the present +king, the other of Blucher. But the museum established in the same +building with the library, by the liberality of the Count, is the +great attraction. Among the weapons you may see the scimitar which +Sobieski snatched with his own hand from the grand vizier's tent when +he raised the siege of Vienna; and near it a horsetail standard, a +trophy of the same event, brought home by Johann Leopold von +Schaffgotsch, one of the Count's ancestry. In other rooms are a +collection of coins, of maps and charts--among them a few old globes, +interesting to geographers--the Lord's Prayer in one hundred different +languages, a model of the _Riesengebirge_, and other curiosities, +which, with the library, afford abundant means for instruction and +amusement. Then there is music twice a day in the _Schloss_ garden, +and the theatre is open in the evening, besides the numerous +excursions to the hills and mountains around. + +The _Allée_, about six hundred paces long, commands a striking view of +the mountain chain from its farther end, where the ground falls away +with gentle slope. I could see the prominent points which I had walked +over a few days before; and nearer--about half an hour's walk--the +Kynast, that much-talked-of ruin, crowning a dark-wooded hill. It +attracts visitors as much by its story as by its lofty and picturesque +situation. There once lived the beautiful but stony-hearted Cunigunda, +who doomed many a wooer to destruction; for none could win her hand +who had not first ridden his horse round the castle on the top of the +wall. One after another perished; but she had vowed a vow, and would +not relent. At last came one whose handsome face and noble form +captivated at once the lady's heart. She would have spared him the +adventure, but her vow could not be broken, and she watched with +trembling heart while the stranger knight rode along the giddy height. +He accomplished the task in safety; she would have thrown herself into +his arms; but with a slap on her face, and a reproach for her cruelty, +the Landgrave Albert of Thuringia--for he it was, who had a wife at +home--turned his horse and galloped away. + +While sauntering, I met the two Breslauers--my companions on the +descent to the _Grenzbäuden_--and under their guidance explored yet +more of the neighbourhood. The guard at the frontier had treated them +mercifully, and after half an hour's detention in a little room +up-stairs, let them go. Since then they had been making the usual +round of excursions: to the fall of the Zacken, to the Norwegian +church at Wang, to the Annakapelle, to Hirschberg, and other +places--all within two or three hours' walk. Two days more and they +would have to return to the counting-house at Breslau. Near the +refreshment-houses in the fields young girls followed us offering +packets of _Oblatt_ for sale. This is a crisp cake, of agreeable +flavour, thinner and lighter than the unleavened bread of the Jews, +friendly to the enjoyment of a glass of beer on a hot afternoon; as we +proved by eating a few packets while emptying our tankards in full +view of the mountains, under an airy colonnade. + +On our return to the village we met the _Wirth_ from _Schneekoppe_, +who had come down from his cloudy dwelling to bury a relative. I took +the opportunity to send my compliments to Father Hübner, with a hint +that his topographical information had not appeared to me of much more +value than his man's morality. + +Mineral springs are frequent in the mountains. Flinsberg, a quiet +village on the Queiss, about four hours from Warmbrunn, in the +_Isergebirge_, is resorted to by women, to whom the saline water +impregnated with iron is peculiarly beneficial. One of the springs is +so highly charged with carbonic acid gas that the villagers call it +the _Bierbrunnen_ (Beer Spring). And a short distance beyond +Flinsberg, on the Bohemian side of the mountains, is Liebwerda, a +romantic village, where springs of health bubble up, and Wallenstein's +castle is within a walk. Quietest of all is Johannisbad, on the +southern slope below _Schneekoppe_, not far from Marschendorf. There +the fountains are lukewarm, and their influence is promoted by +complete seclusion and repose. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + Hirschberg -- The Officers' Tomb -- A Night Journey -- + Spiller -- Greifenberg -- Changing Horses -- A Royal Reply + -- A Griffin's Nest -- Lauban -- The Potato Jubilee -- + Görlitz -- Peter and Paul Church -- View from the Tower -- + The Landskrone -- Jacob Böhme -- The Hidden Gold -- A + Theosophist's Writings -- The Tombs -- The Underground + Chapel -- A Church copied from Jerusalem -- The Public + Library -- Loebau -- Herrnhut. + + +It was so dark when the omnibus from Warmbrunn arrived at +Hirschberg--about five miles--that I lost the sight of its pretty +environment, watered by the Bober and Zacken, and of its old +picturesque houses, the gables of which were dimly visible against the +sky. The town has more than seven thousand inhabitants, and for trade +ranks next to Breslau. Its history is that of most towns along this +side of Silesia: so much suffering by war, that you wonder how they +ever survived. A memorial of the latest scourge is to be seen in the +Hospital churchyard--a cast-iron monument in memory of three +Prussians, who, wounded at Lützen in 1813, died here on the same day. +Under their names runs the inscription: _They died in an Iron time for +a Golden_. + +Not being able to see anything, I booked a place by _Stellwagen_ for +Görlitz, and supped in preparation for a night of travel. We started +at eleven, a company numerous enough to fill three vehicles, those +lowest on the list taking their seats in the hindmost. As these +hindmost carriages are changed at every stopping-place with the +horses, I and other unfortunates had to turn out at unseasonable +hours, and to find, in two instances, that we had not changed for the +better--soft seats and cleanliness for hard seats and fustiness. So at +Spiller: so at Greifenberg. + +It adds somewhat to one's experiences to be roused from uneasy slumber +at midnight with notice to alight. You feel for umbrella and knapsack, +and step down into the chill gloom of a summer night; and while the +leisurely work of changing goes on, stroll a little way up or down the +roughly-paved street, looking at the strange old houses, all so still +and lifeless, as if they were fast asleep as well as their inmates. +Why should you be awake and shivering when honest folk are a-bed? and +you feel an inclination to envy the sleepers. If you turn a corner and +get out of sight of the Posthouse, the houses look still more lonely +and unprotected: not a glimmer to be seen, and it seems unfair that +every one should be comfortable but you. Or from the outside of a +house you picture to yourself those who inhabit it; or, perhaps, you +get a peep into the churchyard, or venture through a dark arch to what +looks like an ancient cloister, and your drowsy thought gives way to +strange imaginings. + +But the night is chilly. Let us go into the Posthouse. There is +comfort by the stove in the inner room, and the woman who has sat up +to await our arrival brings an acceptable refreshment of coffee and +cakes. Steaming coffee, with the true flavour; and not sixpence a cup, +but six kreutzers. Then the driver blows his horn, and each one takes +his allotted seat, to slumber if he can through another jolting stage. + +Greifenberg, a town of three thousand inhabitants, on the Queiss, is +proud of four things: manufacture of fine linen and damask, a griffin +in its coat-of-arms, and a right royal word of the Great Frederick. +Certain deputies having appeared before the monarch to thank him for +his prompt and generous aid in restoring the town after a great fire +in 1783--"For that am I here!" was his kingly reply. + +About two miles distant is the Greifenstein, a basaltic hill, so named +from a nest of young griffins found on the top of it at a date which +no one can remember. It is now crowned by the ruins of a castle which +was given by the Emperor Charles IV., in the fourteenth century, as a +reward for service to the brave Silesian knight Schaffgotsch. Were it +daylight we might see in the Romish church a vault which has been the +burial-place of the Schaffgotsch family since 1546. + +It was early morning when we came to Lauban, and changed carriages by +the side of the grass-grown moat at a break in the old round-towered +wall. The view from the adjacent _Steinberg_ is described as equal in +beauty to any other scene in Prussia. Unfortunately I had not time to +judge for myself; but hope to go and see some future day. Perhaps, +while waiting here, you will be reminded that Lauban was one of the +Silesian towns which, on the 19th of August, 1836, held a jubilee to +celebrate the three hundredth anniversary of the introduction of the +potato into Europe by the famous circumnavigator Drake--as the +promoters said. Of course potatoes cooked in many ways appeared +plentifully at every table over half the province. + +We reached Görlitz at eight, and for some reason, perhaps known to the +driver, went through the streets in and out, up and down, across the +Neisse to the _Postamt_ in the new quarter, at a slow walking pace. I +had three hours to wait for a train, and to improve the time, after +comforting myself at the _Goldenen Strauss_, mounted to the top of the +Peter and Paul church tower. Erected on a rocky eminence, rising +steeply from the river, it commands a wide prospect. The town itself, +a busy place of more than 18,000 inhabitants, closely packed, as in +the olden time, around the church; spreading out beyond into broad, +straight streets and squares, well-planted avenues, and pretty +pleasure-grounds; and in this roomy border you see bleaching-greens, +the barracks, the gymnasium, and observatory. From thence your eye +wanders over the hills of Lusatia to the distant mountains--a fair +region, showing a thousand slopes to the sun. About two miles distant +the _Landskrone_ rises from the valley of the Neisse--a conspicuous +rocky hill bristling with trees. We got a glimpse of it from +_Schneekoppe_; and now you will perhaps fancy it a watch-tower, midway +between the Giant Mountains and the romantic highlands of Saxony. + +The sight of that hill recalls the name of the "Teutonic +philosopher"--Jacob Böhme. He was born at Alt-Seidenberg, about a mile +from Görlitz, in 1575; and he relates that one day when employing +himself as herdboy, to relieve the monotony of shoemaking, he +discovered a cool bosky crevice on the _Landskrone_, and crept in for +shelter from the heat of the sun. Inside, to his great surprise, he +saw a wooden bowl, or vase, full of money, which he feared to touch, +and went presently and told certain of his playmates of the discovery. +With them he returned to the hill; but though they searched and +searched again, they could never find the cleft, nor the wonderful +hoard. A few years later, however, there came a cunning diviner, who, +exploring with his rod, discovered the money and carried it off; and +soon after perished miserably, for a curse had been declared on +whomsoever should touch the gold. + +Fate had other things in store for Jacob, and allured him from his +last to write voluminous works on theosophy, wherein he discusses the +most mysterious questions about the soul, its relations to God and the +universe, and such like; and great became the poor shoemaker's repute +among the learned. Some travelled from far to confer with him; some +translated his books into French and English; some studied German that +they might read them in the original; and even Isaac Newton used at +times to divert his mind from laborious search after the laws of +gravitation by perusal of Böhme's speculations. That Jacob was not a +dreamer on all points is clear from what he used to pen for those who +begged a scrap of his writing: + + "_Wem Zeit ist wie Ewigkeit, + Und Ewigkeit wie die Zeit, + Der ist befreit von allem Streit._"[I] + +There is something to be seen in the church itself as well as from +the top of the tower. It is a singularly beautiful specimen of Gothic +architecture of the fifteenth century. The great height of the nave, +with the light and graceful form of the columns and arches, produce an +admirable effect, to which the high altar, the carved stone pulpit, +and the large organ do no violence. It is one of those buildings you +could linger in for hours, contemplating now its fair proportions, now +the old tombs and monuments, and quaint devices of the sculptor's art. +Below the floor at the eastern end is an underground chapel, a century +older than the church itself, hewn out of the solid rock. Preaching is +held in it once a year. The attendant will make you aware in the dim +light of a spring that simmers gently up and fills a basin scooped in +the solid stone of the floor. + +The church of the Holy Cross in the Nicolai suburb is remarkable as +having been built, and with a sepulchre, after the original at +Jerusalem by a burgomaster of Görlitz, who travelled twice to +Jerusalem, in 1465 and in 1476, to procure the necessary plans and +measurements for the work. There is a singularity about the sepulchre: +it is always either too long or too short for any corpse that may be +brought to it, and yet appears large enough for a Hercules. + +The town possesses two good libraries, each containing about twenty +thousand volumes. In the _Rathsbibliothek_ you may see rare +manuscripts, among them the _Sachsenspiegel_; and a book which +purports to have been printed before the invention of printing, +bearing date 1400! The other library belongs to the Society for the +Promotion of Science, who have besides a good collection of maps, +fossils, minerals, and philosophical instruments. Perhaps here in +England writers and scholars in provincial towns will some day be able +to resort to libraries and museums as easily as in the small towns of +Germany. Many an English student would be thankful to find in his +native town even one such library as those at Görlitz. + +The train from Breslau kept good time. It dropped me at Loebau, where +there is a church in which service is performed in the Wendish tongue. +From hence a branch line runs to Zittau. I stopped half way at +Herrnhut, the head-quarters of the Moravians: a place I had long +wished to see. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[I] To whom time is as eternity, + And eternity as time, + He is freed from all strife. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + Head-Quarters of the Moravians -- Good Buildings -- Quiet, + Cleanliness, and Order -- A Gottesdienst -- The Church -- + Simplicity -- The Ribbons -- A Requiem -- The Service -- + God's-Field -- The Tombs -- Suggestive Inscriptions -- + Tombs of the Zinzendorfs -- The Pavilion -- The Panorama -- + The Herrnhuters' Work -- An Informing Guide -- No Merry + Voices -- The Heinrichsberg -- Pretty Grounds -- The First + Tree -- An Old Wife's Gossip -- Evening Service -- A + Contrast -- The Sisters' House -- A Stroll at Sunset -- The + Night Watch. + + +I had seen the Moravian colony at Zeist near Utrecht, and was prepared +for a similar order of things at Herrnhut. A short distance from the +station along the high road to Zittau, and you come to a well-built, +quiet street, rising up a gentle ascent, where, strange sight in +Saxony, the footways are paved with broad stone slabs. Farther on you +come to a broad opening, where two other main streets run off, and +here the inn, _Gemeinlogis_, and the principal buildings are situate, +all substantially built of brick. Everywhere the same quietness, +neatness, and cleanliness, the same good paving, set off in places by +rows and groups of trees, and hornbeam hedges. + +The innkeeper--or steward as he may be called, for he is a paid +servant of the brotherhood--told me there would be a _Gottesdienst_ +(God's service) at three o'clock, and suggested my occupying the +interval with the newspapers that lay on the table. There was the +_Görlitzer Anzeiger_, published three times a week, Sunday, Tuesday, +and Thursday, four good quarto pages, for fifteen pence a quarter; and +equally cheap the _Zittauische Wochentliche Nachrichten_. But I +preferred a stroll through the village and into the spacious gardens, +which, teeming with fruit, flowers, and vegetables, stretch away to +the south, and unite with the pleasure-walks in the bordering wood. + +At three I went to the church. Outside no pains have been taken to +give it an ecclesiastical look; inside it contains a spacious hall, +large enough to contain the whole community, with a gallery at each +end, and on the floor two divisions of open seats made of unpainted +fir placed opposite a dais along the wall. Whatever is painted is +white--white walls, white panelling, white curtains to the windows, +and a white organ. Something Quaker-like in appearance and +arrangement. But when a number of women came in together wearing +coloured cap-ribbons, passing broad and full under the chin, a lively +contrast was opposed to the prevailing sobriety of aspect. The colours +denote age and condition. The unmarried sisters put on cherry-red at +sixteen, and change it after eighteen for pink. The married wear dark +blue, and the widows white. Many a pretty, beaming face was there +among them, yet sedate withal. + +The choir assembled on each side of a piano placed in the opening +between the benches, for the organ was undergoing a course of repair. +No practical jokes among them, as in the cathedral on the Hradschin; +but all sedate too. Presently came in from the door on the left five +dignified-looking sisters, and took their seats on one half of the +dais; then seven brethren, among whom a bishop or two, from the door +on the right, to the other half; and their leader, a tall man of +handsome, intelligent countenance, to the central seat at the desk. + +The service was in commemoration of a sister whom in the morning the +congregation had followed to her resting-place in the _Gottesacker_ +(God's acre). The choir stood up, all besides remaining seated, and +sang a requiem, and sang it well; for the Moravians, wiser than the +Quakers, do not cheat their hearts and souls of music. A hymn +followed, in which the whole assembly joined, the several voices +according to their part, till one great solemn harmony filled the +building. Then the preacher at the desk, still sitting, began an +exhortation, in which a testimony concerning the deceased was +interwoven with simple Gospel truth. His word and manner were alike +impressive; no passion, no whining. Rarely have I heard such ready, +graceful eloquence, combined with a clear and ringing voice. He ended +suddenly: a hymn was sung, at the last two lines of which every one +stood up, and with a few words of prayer the service was closed. It +had lasted an hour. The congregation, which numbered about three +hundred, dispersed quietly, the children walking as sedately as their +parents. + +All the roads leading out of Herrnhut are pleasant avenues of +trees--limes, oaks, beech, and birch. A short distance along the one +leading to Berthelsdorf you come to a wooden arch bearing the +inscription, "Christ is risen from the dead." It is the entrance to +_God's field_; and if you turn on entering, you will see written on +the inside of the arch, "And become the firstling of them that +slept." The ground slopes gently upwards to the brow of the _Hutberg_, +divided into square compartments by broad paths and clipped limes. +Within these compartments are the graves; no mounds; nothing but rows +of thick stone slabs, each about two feet in length, by one and a half +in width, lying on the grass. All alike; no one honoured above the +rest, except in some instances by a brief phrase in addition to the +name, age, and birthplace. The first at the corner has been renewed, +that a record of an interesting incident in the history of the place +may not be lost. The inscription reads: _Christian David, the Lord's +servant, born the 31st December, 1690, at Senftleben in Moravia. Went +home the 3rd February, 1751_. + +_A carpenter: he felled the first tree for the building of Herrnhut, +the 17th June, 1722._ + +_Went home_ and _fell asleep_ are favourite expressions occurring on +many of the stones. _A member of the Conference of Elders_ is a +frequent memorial on the oldest slabs, numbers of which are blackened, +and spotted with moss by age. There are two counts and not a few +bishops among the departed, but the same plain slab suffices for all. +The separation of the sexes is preserved even after death, some of the +compartments being reserved exclusively for women. As you read the +names of birthplaces, in lands remote, from all parts of Europe and +oversea, the West Indies and Labrador, you will perhaps think that +weary pilgrims have journeyed from far to find rest for their souls in +peaceful Herrnhut. + +There is, however, one marked exception to the rule of uniformity as +regards the slabs. It is in favour of Count Zinzendorf and his wife +and immediate relatives--a family deservedly held in high respect by +the Brethren. Eight monumental tombs, placed side by side across the +central path, perpetuate the names of the noble benefactors. Of the +count himself it is recorded: _He was appointed to bear fruit, and a +fruit that yet remains_. + +On the summit of the hill, beyond the hedge of the burial-ground, a +wooden pavilion is built with a circular gallery, from whence you get +a fine panoramic view of the surrounding country. The innkeeper had +given me the key, and I loitered away an hour looking out on the +prospect. Now you see the _Gottesacker_, with its fifteen formal +clipped squares, some yet untenanted, and room for enlargement; the +red roofs and white walls of the village; and beyond, the fir-topped +_Heinrichsberg_, and planted slopes which beautify the farther end of +the place. Berthelsdorf, the seat of the _Unität_, stands pleasantly +embowered at the foot of the eastern slope. You see miles of road, two +or three windmills, and umbrageous green lines thinning off in the +distance, the trees all planted by the Herrnhuters; and the fields, +orchards, and plantations that fill all the space between, testify to +the diligent husbandry of the Brethren. + +Every place and prominent object within sight is indicated by a red +line notched into the top rail of the balustrade, so that, while +sauntering slowly round, you can read the name of any spire or distant +peak that catches your eye. The summits are numerous, for hills rise +on every side; among them you discover the Landskrone by Görlitz, and +the crown of the _Tafelfichte_ in the _Isergebirge_, the only one of +the mountains within sight. It is a view that will give you a +cheerful impression of Saxony. + +The doorkeeper of the church had noticed a stranger, and came up for a +talk. I asked him how much of what lay beneath our eyes belonged to +the Brethren. "About two hundred acres," he answered, pointing all +round, and to an isolated estate away in the direction of Zittau; +"enough for comfort and prosperity." Once started, he proved himself +no niggard of information. To give the substance of his words: "I like +the place very well," he said, "and don't know of any discontent; +though we have at times to lament that a brother falls away from us +back into the worldly ways. Each fulfils his duty. We are none of us +idle. We have weavers, shoemakers, harness-makers, coppersmiths, +goldsmiths, workers in iron, lithographers, and artists; indeed, all +useful trades; and our workmanship and manufactures are held in good +repute. I am a cabinet-maker, and keep eight journeymen always at +work. Each one from the age of eighteen to sixty takes his turn in the +night-watch; and, night and day, the place is always as quiet as you +see it now. You don't hear the voices of children at play, because +children are never left to themselves. Whether playing or walking, +they are always under the eye of an adult, as when in school. We do +not think it right to leave them unwatched. We have service three +times every Sunday, and at seven o'clock every evening; besides +certain festivals, and a memorial service like that of this afternoon. +The preacher you heard is considered a good one: his salary is four +hundred dollars a year." + +He interrupted his talk by an invitation to go and see the grounds of +the _Heinrichsberg_. As we walked along the street, I could not fail +again to remark the absence of sounds which generally inspire +pleasure. No merry laughter, accompanied by hearty shouts and quick +foot-tramp of boys at play. No running hither and thither at +hide-and-seek; no trundling of hoops; no laughing girls with +battledore and shuttlecock. I saw but two children, apparently brother +and sister, and they were walking as soberly as bishops. I should like +to know whether such a repressive system does really answer the +purpose intended; for I could not help questioning, in Goldsmith's +words, whether the virtue that requires so constant a guard be worth +the expense of the sentinel. + +The _Heinrichsberg_ is behind the _Bruderhaus_ and the street leading +to Zittau. Here the fir forest, which once covered the whole hill, has +been cut down, and replaced by plantations of beech, birch, hazel, and +other leafy trees, and paths are led in many directions along the +precipitous slopes, by which you approach a pavilion erected on the +commanding point, as at the _Gottesacker_. The situation is romantic, +overhanging the brown cliffs of a stone quarry, with a view into a +deep wooded valley, spanned by the lofty railway viaduct. Here the +Brethren have shown themselves wise in their generation, and, working +with skilful hand, and eye of taste, have made the most of natural +resources, and fashioned a resort especially delightful in the sultry +days of summer. + +When my communicative guide left me to attend to his duties, I +strolled up the Zittau road to the place where, in a small opening by +the wayside, stands a square stone monument, on which an inscription +records an interesting historical incident: + + _On the 17th June, 1772, was + on this place for the building + of Herrnhut the first tree felled._ + + Ps. lxxxiv. 4. + +It was cool there in the shade; and sitting down on a seat overhung by +the trees, I fell into a reverie about things that had befallen since +Christian David's axe wrought here to such good purpose. At that time +all was dreary forest; no house nearer than Berthelsdorf, and little +could the poverty-stricken refugees have foreseen such a result of +their struggle as Herrnhut in its present condition. All at once I was +interrupted by an elderly woman, who, returning to her village, sought +a rest on the plinth of the monument, and proved herself singularly +talkative. Perhaps she owed the Brethren a grudge, for she wound up +with: "Nice people, them, sir, in Herrnhut; but they know how to get +the money, sir." + +About two hundred persons, mostly youthful, were present at the +evening service. The dais was occupied as before, but by a lesser +number. The preacher, the same eloquent man, gave an exposition of a +portion of the _Epistle to the Romans_, elucidating the Apostle's +meaning in obscure passages, which lasted half an hour. He then +pronounced a brief benediction, and delivered the first line of a +hymn, which was sung by all present, and, as in the afternoon, only at +the last two lines did any one stand up. + +I was deeply impressed by the contrast between the two services here +in the unadorned edifice, and what I witnessed at Prague. Here no +ancient prejudice, or ancient dirt, or slovenly ritual, as in the +synagogue; but the outpouring of hope and faith from devout and +cheerful hearts. Here no showy ceremonial; no swinging of censers, or +kissing of pictures, or endless bowings and kneelings, or any of those +mechanical observances in which the worshipper too often forgets that +it has been given to him to be his own priest, and with full and +solemn responsibility for neglect of duty. + +The service over, I went and asked permission to look over the +Sisters' House: I had seen the Brothers' House at Zeist. It was past +the hour for the admission of strangers; but the stewardess, as a +special favour, conducted me from floor to floor, where long passages +give access on either side to small sitting-rooms, workrooms, and one +great bedroom; all scrupulously clean and comfortably furnished. The +walls are white; but any sister is at liberty to have her own room +papered at her own cost. I saw the chapel in which the inmates +assemble for morning and evening thanksgiving;--the refectory where +they all eat together;--the kitchen, pervaded by a savoury smell of +supper;--and the ware-room in which are kept the gloves, caps, cuffs, +and all sorts of devices in needlework produced by the diligent +fingers of the sisters. There were some neither too bulky nor too +heavy for my knapsack, and of these I bought a few for sedate friends +in England. + +The unmarried sisters, as the unmarried brothers, dwell in a house +apart; and as they eat together, and purchase all articles of +consumption in gross, the cost to each is but small. Two persons are +placed in authority over each house; one to care for the spiritual, +the other for the economical welfare of the inmates. There are, +besides, separate houses for widowers and widows. + +As the sun went down I strolled once more to the _Gottesacker_ and +dreamt away a twilight hour on the gallery of the pavilion. As the +golden radiance vanished from off the face of the landscape, and the +stillness became yet more profound, I thought that many a heart weary +of battling with the world might find in the _Work and Worship_ of +Herrnhut a relief from despair, and a new ground for hopefulness. + +When I went back to the inn I found half a dozen grave-looking +Brethren smoking a quiet pipe over a tankard of beer. We had some +genial talk together while I ate my supper; but as ten o'clock +approached they all withdrew. The doors were then fastened; and not a +sound disturbed the stillness of the night. The watchers began their +nightly duty; but they utter no cry as they go their rounds, leading a +fierce dog by a thong, while three or four other dogs run at liberty. +Should their aid be required in any house from sickness or other +causes, a signal is given by candles placed in the window. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + About Herrnhut -- Persecutions in Moravia -- A Wandering + Carpenter -- Good Tidings -- Fugitives -- Squatters on the + Hutberg -- Count Zinzendorf's Steward -- The First Tree -- + The First House -- Scoffers -- Origin of the Name -- More + Fugitives -- Foundation of the Union -- Struggles and + Encouragements -- Buildings -- Social Regulations -- Growth + of Trade -- War and Visitors -- Dürninger's Enterprise -- + Population -- Schools -- Settlements -- Missions -- Life at + Herrnhut -- Recreations -- Festivals -- Incidents of War -- + March of Troops -- Praise and Thank-Feasts. + + +While I sat by the monument of the first tree, and lingered in the +glow of sunset at the pavilion, a desire came upon me to know +something more of the history of Herrnhut. I partly gratify it in the +present chapter. + +When the sanguinary Hussite wars ended in the triumph of the Jesuits, +there remained in Bohemia and Moravia numbers of godly-minded +Protestants, who, as the oppressor grew in strength, were forbidden +the free exercise of their religion. They worshipped by stealth, +hiding in caves and thickets, and suffered frightful persecution; but +remained steadfast, and formed a union among themselves for mutual +succour, and became the United Brethren. Their chief settlements were +at Fulnek, in Moravia, and Lititz, in Bohemia. Though professing the +principles of the earliest Christian church, many of them embraced the +doctrines of Luther and Calvin, whereby they subjected themselves to +aggravated persecutions; and cruelly were they smitten by the +calamities of the Thirty Years' War. + +About 1710 a Roman Catholic carpenter set out from the little Moravian +village, Senftleben, to fulfil his three "wander-years," and gain +experience in his trade. While working at Berlin, he frequented the +Evangelical Lutheran church; and afterwards at Görlitz the impression +made on his mind by a Lutheran preacher was such that he went back to +his home a Protestant. He was a bringer of good tidings to some of his +relatives who were among the persecuted. He could tell them of a +kingdom beyond the frontier where they might worship unmolested; of a +youthful Count Zinzendorf, who had large estates in the hill-country +of Saxony, and was already known as a benefactor to such as suffered +for conscience' sake. + +It was on Whit-Monday, 1722, that Christian David--so the carpenter +was named--brought the news. Three days later, two families, numbering +ten persons, abandoned their homes, and under David's guidance came +safely to Görlitz, after a nine days' journey. On the 8th of June the +four men travelled to Hennersdorf, the residence of Zinzendorf's +grandmother, who placed them under charge of the land-steward, with +instructions that houses should be built for them. But as the steward +wrote to his master, "the good people seek for the present a place +only under which they may creep with wife and children, until houses +be set up." After much consideration, it was resolved to build on the +_Hutberg_, a hill traversed by the road from Loebau to Zittau--then a +miserable track, in which vehicles sank to their axles. "God will +help," replied the steward to one of his friends, who doubted the +finding of water on the spot; and on the two following mornings he +rose before the sun and went upon the hill to observe the mists. What +he saw led him to believe in the existence of a spring; whereupon he +took courage, and, as he tells the Count, "I laid the miseries and +desires of these people before the Lord with hot tears, and besought +Him that His hand might be with me, and prevent wherein my intentions +were unpleasing to Him. Further I said, On this place will I build the +first house for them in thy name." + +A temporary residence was found for the fugitives; the benevolent +grandmother gave a cow that the children might have milk; and on June +17th, as already mentioned, the first tree was felled by Christian +David. On the 11th of August the house was erected; the preacher at +Berthelsdorf took occasion to refer to it as "a light set on the hill +to enlighten the whole land;" and in October it was taken possession +of with prayer and thanksgiving, the exiles singing from their +hearts-- + + "Jerusalem! God's city thou." + +The steward, writing about this time to inform the Count of his +proceedings, says: "May God bless the work according to His goodness, +and procure that your excellency may build on the hill called the +_Hutberg_ a city which not only may stand under the _Herrn Hut_ +(Lord's protection), but all dwellers upon the _Lord's watch_, so that +day and night there be no silence among them." Here we have the origin +of the name of the place. + +Meanwhile, the neighbourhood laughed and joked about the building of +a house in so lonely a spot, where it must soon perish; and still more +when the digging for the spring was commenced. The land-steward had +much ado to keep the labourers to their work. Fourteen days did they +dig in vain; but in the third week they came to moist gravel, and soon +water streamed forth in superabundance. + +On December 21st the Count arrived with his newly-married wife, and +was surprised at sight of a house in a place which he had left a +forest. He went in; spoke words of comfort to the inmates, and falling +on his knees, prayed earnestly for protection. + +In the next year, Christian David journeyed twice into Moravia. The +priests, angered at the departure of the first party, had worried +their relatives, and forbade them to emigrate under penalty of +imprisonment. Would not let them live in peace at home, nor let them +go. Aided, however, by the messenger, twenty-six persons forsook their +little possessions, their all, and stole away by night. "Goods left +behind," says the historian, "but faith in their Father in the heart." +They reached the asylum, where, by the spring of 1724, five new houses +were ready to receive them. + +In this year came other fugitives, experienced in the church +discipline of the old Moravian Brethren; and as the number yet +increased, they besought the Count to institute the same constitution +and discipline in Herrnhut. But differences of opinion arose, and for +three years the harmony and permanence of the colony were seriously +endangered. The Count, however, was not a man to shrink from a good +work; he was remarkable for his power of influencing minds; and on the +12th of May, 1727, after a three hours' discourse, he succeeded in +reconciling all differences, and the Reformed Evangelical United +Brotherhood of the Augsburg Confession was established. This day, as +well as the 13th of August of the same year, when the whole community +renewed and confirmed their union in the church at Berthelsdorf, are +days never to be forgotten by the Brethren. + +The success of Herrnhut was now secure. The number of residents had +increased to three hundred, of whom one half were fugitives from +Moravia. But they had still to endure privation; for they had +abandoned all their worldly substance, and trade and tillage advanced +but slowly: in the first six months, all that the two cutlers took +from the passers-by was but two groschen: a lean twopence. Friedrich +von Watteville, however, a much-beloved friend of the Count's, took a +room in one of the houses that he might live among the struggling +people, and help them in their endeavours. + +Of the thirty-four small wooden houses which then stood on both sides +of the Zittau road not one now remains. In their place large and +handsome houses of brick have risen, which, though the place be but a +village, give it the appearance of a city. Besides those which have +been mentioned, there are the _Herrschaftshaus_, the _Vogtshof_--a +somewhat palatial edifice--the _Gemeinhaus_, the _Apotheke_, the +_Pilgerhaus_, and others. An ample supply of water is brought in by +wooden pipes, and two engines and eight cisterns in different quarters +are always ready against fire. There are covered stalls for the sale +of meat and vegetables; a common wash-house and wood-yard, and a +dead-house, all under the charge and inspection of a _Platzaufseher_--an +overseer who most undoubtedly does his duty. If ædiles in other +places would only take a lesson from him, their constituents would +have reason to be proud and grateful. An almoner is appointed to +succour indigent strangers. In 1852 he relieved 3668 tramping +journeymen. + +Year by year the Herrnhuters improved in circumstances, though often +at hard strife with penury. However, they preferred hunger, with +freedom of conscience, to the tender mercies of the Jesuits at Olmutz. +The weavers of Bernstadt sent them wool to spin. In 1742 an order for +shoes for the army was regarded as a special favour of Providence. The +Seven Years' War, that brought misery to so many places, worked +favourably for Herrnhut. In one day a hundred officers visited the +place. Prince Henry of Prussia came and made large purchases, for the +work of the shoemakers and tailors, not being made merely to sell, was +much prized; and it sometimes happened that from 1500 to 2000 dollars +were taken in one day. Austrians and Prussians--fierce foes--rode in +alternately to buy; and while Herrnhut flourished, many erroneous +notions which had prevailed concerning it were removed by what the +visitors saw of the simple life and manners of the Brethren. + +To Abraham Dürninger, who established a manufacture of linen cloths, +and whose skill and enterprise as a merchant were only matched by his +ceaseless activity, the colony owed the mainstay of its commercial +prosperity. Brother Dürninger's linen and woven goods were largely +exported, particularly to Spain, South America, and the West Indies, +and esteemed above all others in the market for the excellence of +their quality. The trade has since fallen off, but not the +reputation, as gold and silver medals awarded to the Herrnhuters by +the governments of Prussia and Saxony for honest workmanship amply +testify. + +In 1760, notwithstanding that many colonies and missions had been sent +out, the population numbered 1200. This was the highest. The number +remained stationary until the end of the century; since then it has +slowly decreased, owing, as is said, to the decline of trade. In 1852 +it was 925. No new buildings have been erected since 1805, so that +Herrnhut has the appearance of a place completely finished. The +streets were paved, and flagged footways laid down, eighty years ago; +and since 1810 all the roads leading from the village have been +planted and kept in good condition. + +Well-managed elementary schools supply all that is needful for +ordinary education. Pupils who exhibit capabilities for higher +training are sent to the _Pedagogium_ at Nisky, a village built by +Bohemian refugees near Görlitz. Theological students are trained at +the seminary in Gnadenfeld, in the principality of Oppeln; and those +for the missions at Klein Welke, a village near Budissin, established +as a dwelling-place for converts from among the Wends. + +Fifty-seven Moravian settlements and societies in different parts of +the continent of Europe--Russia, Sweden, Holland, Germany, some +founded by emigrants from Herrnhut, and all taking it for their +pattern, mark the growth of the principles advocated by the Brethren. +In England they have eleven settlements, among which Fulneck, in +Yorkshire, renews the name of the old Moravian village; and Ockbrook, +in Derbyshire, is the seat of the conference which directs the affairs +of the British settlements, but always with responsibility to the +Conference of Elders at Berthelsdorf. Scotland has one community--at +Ayr; and Ireland seven. At the last reckoning, in 1848, the number of +real members, exclusive of the societies, was 16,000. + +Besides these, there are seventy foreign mission-stations, the duties +of which are fulfilled by 297 Brethren. The number of persons +belonging to the several missions is 70,000. That in North America was +commenced in 1734; Greenland, 1733; Labrador, 1770. The others are in +the West Indies, Musquito territory, Surinam, South Africa, and +Australia. At the instance of Dr. Gutzlaff, who visited Herrnhut in +1850, two missionaries have been sent to Mongolia.[J] + +Although life at Herrnhut may appear tame and joyless to an ordinary +observer, it is not so to the Herrnhuters. A lasting source of +pleasure to them are the cheerful situation of the place itself, and +the delightful walks fashioned and planted by their own hands. +Lectures, the study of foreign languages, and of natural history, and +music, are among their permanent recreations. They excel in harmony, +and find, as their celebrations partake more or less of a religious +character, in the singing of oratorios, choruses, and hymns, an +animating and elevating resource. They observe the anniversary of the +foundation of Herrnhut, and of all other important incidents of its +history, and thus have numerous festival days. In some instances, +instrumental music, decorations of fir-branches, and an illumination, +heighten the effect. + +Betrothals are times of gladness; baptism and marriage of solemn joy. +Weddings always take place in the evening; and in the evening also are +held, once in four weeks, the celebrations of the Lord's Supper. On +these occasions the whole community are present. Three or four +brothers who have received ordination, wearing white gowns, break the +thin cakes of unleavened bread and distribute to the assembly, and +when the last is served all eat together. The cup is then blessed and +passed in order from seat to seat. + +On certain festive occasions love-feasts are held, after the manner of +the _Agapæ_ of the earliest Christian churches. At these gatherings, +which are intended to show the family ties which unite the members of +the community with the spiritual head of the church, suitable +discourse is held, hymns are sung; and cakes and tea--with at times +wine and coffee--are partaken of. + +The Easter-morning celebration is especially remarkable. On that +morning the whole brotherhood assemble before sunrise in the church, +should the weather prove unfavourable; if fine, in the open air. Then +they walk two by two, the trumpets sounding before them, to the hill +of the _Gottesacker_, to watch from thence the rising of the sun. +Arrived on the height, they form into a great square: the prayers and +praises of the Easter-morning liturgy are then prayed and sung; +meanwhile the sun appears above the dim and distant horizon; a +spectacle in which the beholders see a foretoken of that glorious +resurrection where, in the words of a brother, "the grave is not, nor +death." Then the names of those who died during the past year are +read, and with affectionate remembrances of them the celebration +closes. + +The service on New Year's Eve is so numerously attended from all the +neighbourhood round, that the church will hardly contain the throng. +At half-past eleven a discourse is begun, in which the events of the +year about to close are passed in review, with other subjects +appropriate to the time, until, as the clock strikes twelve, the +trumpet choir sound hail! to the new year. Then the verse + + "Now all give thanks to God" + +is sung, and with a prayer the service ends. + +Burials are characterized by a simplicity worthy of all imitation; in +striking contrast to the vain and oft-times ludicrous proceedings, by +which folk in some other places think they do honour to the dead. The +Brethren assemble--wearing no kind of mourning except in their +hearts--in the church, where a short discourse is delivered, and a +narrative of the deceased's life is read. The procession is then +formed, preceded by the trumpet-band, who blow sacred melodies; and +the corpse is carried on a bright-coloured bier, covered with a +striped pall, by four brothers, dressed in their usual clothes. The +nearest relatives follow, and behind them the community, according to +kin. They form a circle round the grave and sing a hymn, accompanied +by the trumpets, during which the coffin is lowered. The burial +service is then read, and the simple rite concludes with a +benediction. + +Not least interesting among the annals of Herrnhut are incidents +arising out of the wars which have afflicted Germany since the place +was founded. All day the Brethren heard the roar of cannon when +Frederick won his great victory at Lowositz; and a few days later, +forty-eight of them had to keep watch against an apprehended foray of +Trenck's wild Pandours. In 1757, General Zastrow quartered suddenly +four thousand men upon them spitefully, and in defiance of a royal +order to the contrary, keeping the peaceful folk in alarm all night; +but the troops were withdrawn in the morning, and an indemnity was +paid for the mischief they had committed. At times, long trains of +men, horses, and artillery would pass through without intermission for +a whole day--now Prussians, now Austrians, now heathen Croats. In the +same year three thousand officers visited the place, among whom, +during three weeks of the summer, were thirty-four princes, +seventy-eight counts, and one hundred and forty-six nobles of other +degree. Numbers of them attended the religious services of the +Brethren. The Abbé Victor was one of the visitors, and on his return +to Russia he said so much in praise of the Herrnhuters, that the +emperor gave him permission to establish the colony of Sarepta in +Southern Russia, which still exists. + +In 1766 came the Emperor Joseph II., and by his pleasing manners and +friendly inquiries made a "lasting impression" on the minds of the +Brethren. In October, 1804, Francis I.--the Franzl of the +Tyrolese--with his wife. In 1810, Gustaf Adolf IV. of Sweden, who +expressed a wish to become a member. In 1813 the Emperor Alexander +came as a visitor, and examined all things carefully; and it is +recorded of him that while the children sang he stood among them +bareheaded. He was followed by three of the famous marshals--Kellermann, +Victor, and Macdonald. + +This was a terrible year. With the retreat from Moscow came train on +train of wounded Saxons on the way to Dresden. Requisition on +requisition was made for linen and provisions; and one day, when no +more wagons were left, the Brethren had to supply two hundred +wheelbarrow-loads of rations. Night after night they saw the lurid +glow of fires, for seventy-one places were burnt in the circles of +Bautzen and Görlitz. Then came Cossacks, Calmucks, and squadrons of +savage Bashkirs, armed with bows and arrows. Then Poniatowsky with his +Poles, and Saxon Uhlans; and a review was held in a meadow behind the +_Schwesternhaus_, and the sisters made hundreds of little pennons for +the Polish lances. + +In August, Napoleon was at Zittau. Daily skirmishes took place among +Prussians, Poles, and Russians, for possession of the _Hutberg_--the +best look-out for miles around. In September, Blucher came with +Gneisenau and Prince Wilhelm, and had the Prussian head-quarters here +for five days. + +On the whole, Herrnhut suffered but little in comparison with other +places; yet the Brethren were not slow to rejoice for the evacuation +of Germany by the enemy, and the restoration of peace. "Praise and +Thank-feasts" were held, with illuminations and fireworks; some of the +fires being green and white, to represent the national colours of +Saxony. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[J] According to the Report for 1851, the latest I have been able to +get, the contributions received for missions in that year amounted to +86,221 dollars; the expenditure to 83,419 dollars. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + A Word with the Reader -- From Herrnhut to Dresden -- A + Gloomy City -- The Summer Theatre -- Trip to the Saxon + Switzerland -- Wehlen -- Uttewalde Grund -- The Bastei -- + Hochstein -- The Devil's Kettle -- The Wolfschlucht -- The + Polenzthal -- Schandau -- The Kuhstall -- Great Winterberg + -- The Prebischthor -- Herniskretschen -- Return to Dresden + -- To Berlin -- English and German Railways -- The Royal + Marriage Question -- Speaking English -- A Dreary City -- + Sunday in Berlin -- Kroll's Garden -- Magdeburg -- + Wittenberg -- Hamburg -- A-top of St. Michael's -- A Walk + to Altona -- A Ride to Horn -- A North Sea Voyage -- Narrow + Escape -- Harness and Holidays. + + +I fear, good-natured reader, that you will find this chapter too much +like a catalogue. I am, however, admonished by the number of my pages +that a swift conclusion is desirable. Moreover, my publisher--an +amiable man in most respects--is apt to be dogmatic on questions of +paper and print, fancying that he knows best, so I have no alternative +but to humour him; and, after all, you will perhaps say that it is +well to get over the ground as fast as possible when one comes again +upon much-beaten tracks. + +From Herrnhut I travelled by rail to Dresden--Pianopolis as some +residents call it. Taken as a whole, it is a singularly heavy-looking +and gloomy city: some of the principal streets reminded me of +back-streets in Oxford. I saw the picture-gallery and the great +library; and desirous to see what our forefathers used to see at the +Globe--a play acted by daylight in a roofless play-house--I went to +the summer theatre in the _Grossen Garten_. It is an agreeable pastime +in fine weather, for you can see green tree-tops all round above the +walls, and feel the breeze, and enjoy your tankard of _Waldschloess_-- +that excellent Dresden beer--while looking at the performance. A +clever actress from Berlin made her first appearance; she played in +the two pieces, and by her vivacity made amends for the miserable +music, which was unworthy of Pianopolis, and of the leader's intense +laboriousness in beating time. + +I should like to take you with me in my walk through the Saxon +Switzerland; but can only glance thereat for reasons already shown. If +you have read Sir John Forbes's picturesque description of that +romantic country published last year in his _Sight-Seeing in Germany_, +you will not want another. I may, however, tell you, that you may +visit all the most remarkable places in two days. Leave Dresden by +steamer at six in the morning; disembark at Wehlen, walk from thence +through the _Uttewalde Grund_ to the _Bastei_, where, from the summit +of a bastion rock springing from the Elbe, you have a magnificent +view, with enough of water in it. You will see numerous specimens of +those flat-topped hills, resembling the bases of mighty columns, such +as we saw from the _Milleschauer_, and crag on crag, ridge on ridge, +the gray stone shaded by forest for miles around. You will perceive +Adersbach on a great scale; the same sort of sandstone split up in all +directions, but the precipitous masses wide apart, isolated, and with +glens and vales between all, glad with foliage and running water, +instead of crevices and alleys. + +From the _Bastei_ you plunge down the zigzags among the crags to the +_Amselgrund_, past the waterfall, and by wild ways to the +_Teufelsbruch_ and the _Hochstein_, an isolated crag, from which you +look down into the Devil's Kettle, 350 feet deep. Then down through +the _Wolfschlucht_, a crevice in the cliff, which, where you descend +by ladders, looks very much like a wolf's-gully. It brings you into +the _Polenzthal_, where on the grassy margin of a trout stream, +beneath the shade of birches, precipitous cliffs towering high aloft, +something grand and beautiful at every bend, you will believe it the +loveliest scene of all. Then up the _Brand_--another out-look, and +from thence down to Schandau, where you pass the night. + +On the second day, walk up the _Kirnitschthal_ to the _Kuhstall_, a +broad arch in a honeycombed rock on the top of a hill; from thence to +the Little Winterberg and Great Winterberg, the latter more than 1700 +feet high--the highest point of the district, commanding a grand +prospect over hill and hollow, crag and forest. While gazing around in +admiration, you will perhaps wish that the old name--Meissner +Highlands--had not been changed, for there is but little of the real +Switzerland in the view. + +Then on to the _Prebischthor_, crossing the frontier on the way into +Bohemia at a lonely spot, uninfested as yet by guards or barrier. The +_Prebischthor_ is a huge arch, more than a hundred feet high, also on +a hill-top, 1300 feet above the sea. Two mighty columns support a +massive block, a hundred feet in length, forming a marvellous specimen +of natural architecture. You can walk under and around its base, and +look at the landscape through the opening, or mount to the summit and +look down sheer eight hundred feet into the _Prebischgrund_. Here, as +everywhere else, you find an inn, good beer, and musicians, a throng +of tourists, and an album filled with names, and rhyming attempts at +wit and sentiment. + +From the _Prebischthor_ you descend by the valley of the Kamnitz to +Herniskretschen, a village built on a narrow level between tall +frowning cliffs and the Elbe. I arrived here in time for the steamer +at two o'clock, by which I returned to Dresden. I had seen the Saxon +Switzerland from all the best points of view, and saw all the romantic +course of the river, except the eight miles from Tetschen to +Herniskretschen. A pleasanter two days' trip could not well be +imagined. Once at Wehlen, the places to be visited are but from three +to four miles apart; the way from one to the other is easy to find, +and there is constant diversity of scenery, to say nothing of the +talkative groups of Germans with whom you may join fellowship. But, in +truth, it is a region to loiter in, and you will wish that weeks were +yours instead of scanty days. + +Soon after noon of the next day I was in Berlin. Travel the same +route, and you will no longer wonder at the rapturous excitement of +the Germans in the _Riesengebirge_. The country is one great +plain--little fields, marshes, sluggish streams, ponds covered with +water-lilies, windmills and sandy wastes sprinkled with a few trees +that look miserable at having to grow in such a dreary land. Here and +there a winding road--a mere deep-rutted track--winds across the +landscape, making it look, if possible, still more melancholy. Look +out when you will, you see the same monotonous features. + +In our own happy country you would have the additional sorrow of an +uncomfortable carriage. To know what outrageous inflictions can be +perpetrated by railway monopoly, and endured by your long-suffering +countrymen, just ride for once from London to Lowestofft in an Eastern +Counties third-class carriage--you will have more than enough of North +German scenery and of English discomfort, but without the compensations +of German beer and German coffee. Or vary your experiences by a journey +to Winchester in a second-class on the South-Western line, and try to +enjoy the landscape through the wooden shutter which the Company give +you for a window. Go to Euston-square--anywhere in fact--and you find +that the passenger with most money in his pocket is the one most cared +for. Even the Great Western and South-Eastern Companies, who have +outgrown the short-sighted habit of building dungeons and calling them +carriages--even these mighty monopolists condemn their second-class +passengers to a wooden seat. + +But on the line from Dresden to Berlin the third-class carriages are +far more commodious than any second-class I have ever seen in +England--except two or three at the Great Exhibition, which, perhaps, +were meant only for show. The seats are broad, hollowed, and not flat, +and with space enough between for the comfortable placing of your +legs. The roof is lofty. You can stand upright with your hat on. At +either end a broad shelf is fixed for small packages and light +luggage; and more than all, the same civility and attention are +extended by all the functionaries to third-class passengers as to the +first. We brag of our liberty, and not without reason; but let us +remember that the foreigner, though afflicted with passports, travels +at less cost and with more comfort than we do. + +Here, too, my fellow-passengers made merry over the "_Palmerston +gehänget_" story; and many questions had I to answer concerning the +coming marriage of the Prussian Prince and English Princess. I gave +the same reply as to the Dresdener in the palace at Fischbach. One of +the company, who told us he was a professor of literature at Berlin, +inclined to be saucy. It was all a mistake to suppose that there was +one jot more liberty in England than in Prussia. He could speak +English, and knew all about it. Unluckily, by way of proving how well +he could speak English, he said we should arrive at "Twelve past +half;" whereupon I set the others laughing to take the conceit out of +him. He relapsed into German, and looked so unhappy, that, by way of +consolation, I told him of a countryman of his in England who went to +keep an appointment at "clock five." + +Berlin is a dreary, malodorous city, or rather an enormous village +beginning to try to be a city; and fortunate in being the residence of +men of taste and real artists who know what architecture and sculpture +ought to be, as demonstrated by the improvements and embellishments +around the palace and in the approach to that fine street _Unter den +Linden_. You can hire a droschky to take you anywhere within the walls +for fivepence; but be patient, for whether droschky or omnibus, the +pace is as slow as if the drivers had to work for nothing. _Pour le +roi de Prusse_, as the French say. + +Many a portrait of the English Princess Royal, along with that of her +future consort, did I see in the print-sellers' windows; and on the +morrow I saw how the Berliners pass their Sunday: not with shops open +all the day as in Paris, but with much beer, music, and tobacco in the +environs. I was simple enough to walk out to the Zoological Garden--a +few pens very widely scattered in a neglected forest plantation, +containing specimens of swine, poultry, goats, and kine, all made as +much of as if they were in Little Pedlington. From thence I walked out +to Charlottenburg, notwithstanding the offensive drains which border +the road the whole distance, and saw the tasteful mausoleum in the +palace grounds, and the lazy carp in the big pond. The Opera House was +open in the evening with _Satanella_, a "fantastic ballet," in three +acts; and crowds made their way out to Kroll's Garden--the Cremorne of +Berlin--where a play was acted in the theatre, and two orchestras +outside kept up a constant succession of lively music: one striking up +as the other ended. The number of tall people among the throng was +remarkable, and not less so the rapidity with which beer and coffee, +cakes and cutlets, were consumed. The numerous troop of waiters had +not an idle moment. + +I wished to see the place where the most terrible tragedy of the +Thirty Years' War had been acted--where Tilly and Pappenheim-- +Bloodthirsty and Ferocious--sacked a flourishing city just as the +foremost of the Swedish horse, commanded by Gustavus the Avenger, came +within sight of its walls. So I journeyed to Magdeburg: always the +same great plain on either side; but hereabouts fertile, and among the +best of the corn-land of Europe. The early train travels quickly: it +accomplished the distance in a little more than three hours. + +I went directly to the cathedral, and, after a view of its noble +interior, mounted to the gallery, which runs all round the top without +a break. I stayed up there two hours pacing slowly round, surveying +the busy town, the bustle of boats and barges on the Elbe, the +citadel, the long line of fortification, and thinking over the history +of the terrible siege. Besides the cathedral, the town contains but +little to repay an exploration, and the people generally have a shabby +look, as I proved by experiment, so I walked up the river bank to one +of the suburban pleasure-gardens till the hour of departure +approached. At five in the afternoon--away by train for Hamburg. +Always the same great plain, heaved here and there into gentle swells. +We slept at Wittenberg, and were off again the next morning long +before the dew was dry. The plain abates somewhat of its monotony in +Mecklenburg, and breaks into low hills with green valleys and pleasant +woods between; and here, instead of groschen and dollars, we found +schillings and marks--schillings worth a penny apiece. Shortly before +eleven our long journey ended. + +I went to the steam-boat office; took a place for London; asked one of +the clerks which was the tallest church in Hamburg; left my knapsack +under his desk, and made my way through the maze of picturesque old +streets to St. Michael's. The tower is 460 feet in height, and you +have to mount hundreds of stairs, the last flight, quite open to the +sky, running in a spiral round the pillars of the belfry. Some weak +heads turn back here; but if you continue, the view from the little +chamber at the top will reward you. A vast panorama meets the eye. +Miles away into Hanover and Holstein, all the territory of Hamburg, +across Mecklenburg, and down the broad river well-nigh to the sea, +sixty miles distant. The city itself is an interesting sight: the +contrast between the old and new so great; the bustle on the Elbe and +in the streets; the numerous canals, basins, dams, and havens; the +planted walks, all enclosed by green and undulating environs, make up +a picture that you will be reluctant to leave. Some of the windows of +the little chamber are fitted with glass of different colours, so that +at pleasure you may look out on a fairy scene below. The charge for +the ascent is one mark. + +Afterwards, when perambulating the streets, you will discover that +Hamburg is a city not less interesting when viewed from the ground. +The narrow streets, the old architecture, the variety of costumes, the +curious ways of the traders, will arrest your attention at every step. +And you will find much to commend in the building of the new quarter, +and in the well-kept grounds and walks by the Exchange and around the +Alster. + +Seeing all this, I regretted that my stay would be but for a few +hours: however, I improved those hours as diligently as possible. I +walked out to Altona, and lived for an hour under the sovereignty of +Denmark while looking at the old council-house and some other quaint +specimens of architecture. Then turning in the opposite direction I +rode out to Horn by omnibus; walked from thence across the heath and +through the groves to Wansbeck, and rode back by a different road--a +little trip in which I saw much to admire in the pretty wayside +residences of the Hamburgers, situate so pleasantly among gardens and +trees, and the inmates taking their evening meal on the grass-plot in +front.[K] + +I kept up my explorations till the approach of midnight warned me that +it was time to embark. The watch at the city-gate let me out on +payment of the accustomed toll--twopence at ten o'clock, a shilling at +eleven--and I groped my way along the quay to the steamer _Countess of +Lonsdale_. When I woke the next morning the pilot was being landed at +Glückstadt; and we steamed across the North Sea with no other incident +than that of nearly running down a Flemish fishing-boat in broad +daylight; and yet we had a man on the look-out. But for the quick eye +of the captain--who was telling amusing stories about the German fleet +to a party of us lounging around him on the quarter-deck--and his +sudden "hard a-port!" the little vessel would have been cut in two. As +it was, she escaped but by a few inches. + +During the lazy leisure of a day at sea, I reckoned the sum of my +journeyings and outlay. I had walked three hundred and fifty miles, +and expended--up to Hamburg--fourteen pounds. The passage to London, +with etceteras, including an unconscionable steward's-fee, amounted to +nearly three pounds more. + +A voyage of forty-eight hours brought us to London; and at four in +the morning of the 1st of August we stepped on shore at St. +Katherine's Wharf. It was a lovely morning: even London looked +picturesque in the clear rosy light. The opportunity was favourable, +and I took it for an hour's study of the busiest phenomena of +Billingsgate. Then I walked awhile, and sat on a certain doorstep +reading Goldsmith's _Traveller_ till the maid came down, very early, +at a quarter-past seven. Then I exchanged thick boots and a +comfortable coat for the garb of Cockneydom. And then--sensations of +liberty tingling yet in every limb, and swarming with happy +recollections through my brain--I went and crept once more into the +old official harness. + +Harness in which I earn glorious holidays. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[K] There is something suggestive concerning the resources of +different populations in the following table of depositors in savings +banks: In Bohemia there is 1 depositor for every 64 of the population; +in Berlin, 1 in 12; in Frankfort, 1 in 10; in Hamburg, 1 in 6; in +Leipsic, 1 in 5; in Altona, 1 in 3. + + + + +INDEX. + + + A. + + Adersbach, 228 + + Agnetendorf, 213 + + Alt, 59 + + Altenburg, 16, 25 + + Altendorf, 23, 227 + + Altona, 299 + + Amselgrund, the, 293 + + Aschaffenburg, 3 + + Auersberg, the, 50 + + Aussig, 167 + + + B. + + Bamberg, 14 + + Bastei, the, 292 + + Beer, 49 + + Berlin, 296 + + Bernsdorf, 226 + + Berthelsdorf, 273 + + Bober, the, 226 + + Bohemia, Geology of, 147, 238 + + Bohemian Frontier, 55 + + Böhme, Jacob, 265 + + Bread and Semmel, 73 + + Breslau, 220 + + Buchau, 81 + + Buchwald, 246, 248 + + + C. + + Carlsbad, 59 + + Carpathians, the, 220 + + Costumes, 20, 41, 44 + + Czechs, the, 57, 98, 102, 120, 204 + + + D. + + Dittersbach, 247 + + Dreikreuzberg, 70 + + Dresden, 291 + + + E. + + Ebersdorf, 31 + + Eckersbach, 33 + + Elbe, the, 166 + + Elbe, Source of, 208; + fall of, 209 + + Elterlein, 30 + + Engelhaus, 76 + + Erdmannsdorf, 249 + + Erzgebirge, 17, 43, 50, 55 + + Eybenstock, 48 + + + F. + + Fischbach, 250 + + Flinsberg, 261 + + Frankfort, 1 + + + G. + + Gabel, 192 + + Geese, 86 + + Gersdorf, 172 + + Glass-workers, 179, 192 + + Glückstadt, 300 + + Görlitz, 265 + + Greifenberg, 264 + + Grenzbäuden, 223 + + Grünheid, 196 + + + H. + + Hamburg, 298 + + Hanau, 3 + + Hartenstein, ruin, 88 + + Hayda, 192 + + Herniskretschen, 294 + + Herrnhut, 269 + + Heuscheuer, the, 220 + + Hildburghausens, 25 + + Hirschberg, 262 + + Hirschenstand, 56 + + Hirschsprung, the, 73 + + Hohenstaufens, 25 + + Hohensteiner Bad, 41 + + Holstein, 299 + + Horn, 299 + + Horosedl, 99 + + Hradschin, the, 126, 130 + + + I. + + Iser, the, 203 + + Isergebirge, the, 220, 261 + + + J. + + Jeschken, the, 196 + + Jews, 107, 131 + + Johannisbad, 261 + + Judenstadt, 132 + + + K. + + Kirnitschthal, the, 293 + + Knieholz, 208 + + Krkonosch Berg, 208 + + Kruschowitz, 102 + + Kunzendorf, 226 + + Kunz von Kauffungen, 28, 37 + + Kynast, the, 260 + + + L. + + Landskrone, the, 265 + + Lauban, 264 + + Liebau, 245 + + Liebkowitz, 89 + + Liebwerda, 261 + + Lobositz, 158 + + Loebau, 268 + + Lohr, 4 + + Lubenz, 89 + + Luther, 24, 27, 39 + + + M. + + Mädelstein, 215 + + Magdeburg, 297 + + Markersdorf, 171 + + Mecklenburg, 298 + + Meistersdorf, 172 + + Milleschauer, the, 158 + + Mineral Springs, 40, 41, 62, 258, 261 + + Mittagstein, 216 + + Mittelgebirge, the, 158 + + Morchenstern, 196 + + Mulde, the, 33 + + Music, 47, 153, 155, 167, 235 + + + N. + + Neudeck, 58 + + Neudorf, 196 + + Neustädl, 47 + + Neu Straschitz, 102 + + Newspapers, 51 + + Niederkainsdorf, 40 + + + O. + + Oberhaselau, 42 + + Oberkainsdorf, 40 + + + P. + + Planitz, 40 + + Polenzthal, the, 293 + + Prague, 114 + + Prebischthor, the, 293 + + Princes' Oaks, 17 + + Prinzenhöhle, 23 + + Prinzenraub, 18, 28, 35 + + Przichowitz, 198 + + + R. + + Railways, 295 + + Raudnitz, 158 + + Reichenberg, 194 + + Reinowitz, 196 + + Rentsch, 102 + + Riesengebirge, 213 + + Rochlitz, 205 + + Rock-labyrinth, 229 + + Rübezahl, 207 + + + S. + + Saal, the, 4 + + Saxon Switzerland, 292 + + Schandau, 293 + + Schatzlar, 226 + + Schlag, 196 + + Schmiedeberg, 247 + + Schneeberg, 45 + + Schneegruben, 211 + + Schneekoppe, 215 + + Schömberg, 243 + + Schools, 53, 170, 172 + + Schreckenstein, the, 167 + + Schwanhildis, Princess, 39 + + Schwarzkoppe, 223 + + Simplon, the, of Prussia, 246 + + Spessart, Forest of, 4 + + Spiller, 263 + + Spindlerbaude, 215 + + Sprudel, the, 66 + + Spürlingstein, the, 168 + + Steinschönau, 191 + + Stein Wine, 5 + + Stephanshöh, 201 + + St. Killian, 13 + + Stohnsdorf, 254 + + Synagogue, the, 136 + + + T. + + Tandelmarkt, the, 131 + + Tannwald, 197 + + Taunus Mountains, 3 + + Tetschen, 169 + + Theresienstadt, 158 + + Triller, the, 32, 34, 37 + + + U. + + Ueberschar Hills, 244 + + Ullersdorf, 244 + + Ulrichsthal, 173 + + Uttewalde Grund, 292 + + + W. + + Wansbeck, 299 + + Warmbrunn, 256 + + Weckelsdorf, 241 + + Wehlen, 292 + + Weisskirchen, 193 + + Wends, the, 19, 22, 39 + + White Hill, the, 111 + + Wildenthal, 49 + + Wilhelmsbad, 3 + + Willenz, 90 + + Winterberg, Great and Little, 293 + + Wittenberg, 298 + + Würzburg, 4 + + + Z. + + Zillerthal, 253 + + Zwickau, 33 + + +THE END. + + + + +C. WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE, STRAND. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A July Holiday in Saxony, Bohemia, and +Silesia, by Walter White + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42539 *** |