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diff --git a/43745-0.txt b/43745-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..127c3cb --- /dev/null +++ b/43745-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8836 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43745 *** + +[Illustration: THE COLOGNE CATHEDRAL] + +PAINTING BY W. WITTHOFT + + + + + _SPECIAL EDITION_ + + WITH THE WORLD'S + GREAT TRAVELLERS + + EDITED BY CHARLES MORRIS + AND OLIVER H. G. LEIGH + + VOL. IV + + CHICAGO + UNION BOOK COMPANY + 1901 + + + + + COPYRIGHT 1896 AND 1897 + BY + J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY + + COPYRIGHT 1901 + E. R. DUMONT + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + SUBJECT. AUTHOR. PAGE + + Paris, Amsterdam OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 5 + Florence and its Art Treasures SARAH J. LIPPINCOTT 16 + The Lake Region of Italy ROBERT A. MCLEOD 26 + A Day in Rome BAYARD TAYLOR 37 + Pompeii and its Destroyer ALFRED E. LEE 48 + Mount Etna in Eruption BAYARD TAYLOR 61 + Plebeian Life in Venice HORACE ST. JOHN 70 + Athens and its Temples J. L. T. PHILLIPS 79 + The Isles of Greece HENRY M. FIELD 89 + The Seraglio on the Golden Horn EDWARD DANIEL CLARKE 100 + Zermatt and its Scenery STANLEY HOPE 112 + Alpine Mountain Climbing EDWARD WHYMPER 121 + A Typical Dutch City EDMONDO DE AMICIS 131 + Antwerp and its People ROSE G. KINGSLEY 140 + Art Museums of Dresden ELIZABETH PEAKE 147 + The Students of Heidelberg BAYARD TAYLOR 158 + The Streets of Berlin MATTHEW WOODS 165 + A Ramble in Prussia STEPHEN POWERS 176 + The Salt-Mines of Wieliczka J. ROSS BROWNE 183 + The Jumping Procession of Echternach M. OGLE 193 + The Capital of Austria JOHN RUSSELL 201 + The Esterházy Palaces JOHN PAGET 210 + From Hamburg to Stockholm MRS. ANDREW CROSSE 221 + The Midnight Sun LANGLEY COLERIDGE 229 + In the Russian Capital SAMUEL S. COX 236 + A Visit to Finland DAVID KER 246 + Moscow in 1800 EDWARD DANIEL CLARKE 257 + A Russian Sleigh Journey FREDERICK BURNABY 267 + + + + +List of Illustrations + +VOLUME IV + + THE COLOGNE CATHEDRAL _Frontispiece_ + LOUVRE MUSEUM, APOLLO GALLERY 12 + ST. GOTTHARD RAILWAY (Viaduct and Tunnel) 28 + ARCH OF TITUS, ROME 38 + THE FAMOUS BRIDGE OF THE RIALTO, VENICE 46 + THE CHURCH OF ST. MARK, VENICE 74 + ACROPOLIS AT ATHENS, GREECE 84 + CORINTH, GREECE 96 + THE LION MONUMENT, LUCERNE 114 + KLEINE SCHEIDEGG (The Jungfrau) 124 + A TYPICAL DUTCH WINDMILL 134 + THE WATERLOO PYRAMID 144 + THE TOWN AND CASTLE OF HEIDELBERG 160 + INNSBRUCK, THERESA STREET 186 + BUDAPEST 212 + MOSCOW 258 + + + + +WITH THE WORLD'S +GREAT TRAVELLERS. + + + + +THE WORLD'S GREAT CAPITALS OF TO-DAY. + +OLIVER H. G. LEIGH. + + +PARIS, AMSTERDAM. + +Paris, pleasure capital of the world, the ideal cosmopolitan city, a +thousand different delights for a thousand different tastes, is as +fascinating to the scholar and bookworm as to the tourist and the belle +of fashion. The weary old world would die of melancholy if the light +of gay Paris were to go out. Lutetia, as the Romans called the ancient +town, is still the merry child in the family of nations. Fortune gave +it favors without stint. Emperors and kings delighted to adorn it with +a lavishness equalled by the lasting splendor of their gifts. Art and +learning, the genius of ecclesiasticism and the desire for popular +enjoyment, contributed the venerable edifices and their priceless +treasures, and dowered the modern city with the heirlooms of many +centuries. Notre Dame rose eight hundred years ago from the ruins of a +fourth-century church. A few years ago were discovered the foundations +of an amphitheatre capable of seating ten thousand people as far back +as the year 350, when the city's population must have been at least +twice that number. No wonder all the world gathers periodically at this +natural centre of everything that can make a city a miniature world +in itself, for in the Paris of to-day stand side by side monuments and +memorials of antiquity, and the grandest triumphs of latter-day genius +in a profusion that bewilders the eye and the mind. It is as though the +genii of all time and all peoples had conspired to shower their fairest +gifts upon the favored spot of earth round which the drama of the ages +has enacted its tremendous tableaux. + +A run through its history must be the first item in the programme of +the traveller who wishes to take with him his best pair of eyes. Then +he will find the old gray stones turn into glass to let him see into +the hidden glory behind. The lesser charms of the pretty city are +palpable to any child. Yet it is impossible to look at the building +or monument that first catches the eye without a flash-light of mere +newspaper lore casting a momentary shadow, or glare, over it. It is not +so long ago that the flames lit by the Commune brought the beautiful +city nearer to ruin than all the storms of centuries had effected. In +its long day Paris has suffered most of the ills that civic life is +heir to. Its people have been subject to political maladies from time +to time, that have endangered its very existence. A strange career, a +blend of demoniac fury and light-hearted gaiety, yesterday its streets +flowing with citizen and royal blood, to-day they echo with jubilant +laughter, to-morrow--? The wheel is more likely to revolve than to +stand long still. Paris alone among the great capitals of the world +prefers change to stability, which is only another expression of her +happy, mercurial temperament. France is sedate, plodding, content with +present conditions until sure they can be bettered. Paris must gallop +even if it costs a fall or two, which makes it the most interesting of +all places. + +When a city is little else than "sights" there is monotony in naming +them. Paris itself commands first attention. The grandeur of its +design, its famous boulevards, avenues and streets, and many of its +ornamental features, must be credited to the last emperor, Napoleon +III., whose dynasty came to grief at Sedan. Modern Paris owes more +to his reign, and modern travellers more of their pleasure, than is +ordinarily acknowledged. He bade Haussmann replace the old streets +with the noble avenues that give inexhaustible sensations of delight +at every turn and vista. A happy thought was that which perpetuates +the great names of France in these street names; even literature is +not forgotten, but reflects the honor it receives from tablets naming +avenues after Montaigne, Voltaire, Hugo and others. + +The three-mile walk from the Place de la Concorde to the site of +the old Bastille yields the ideal of city magnificence and personal +delight. There is no disappointment of even extravagant expectation. +This unrivalled _Place_ is in itself a grand intellectual as well +as artistic feast. The Luxor obelisk brings into mind Egypt's six +thousand years of strangest history, its Pyramids, its Sphinx, and +Napoleon. Close to it the Revolution guillotined a king and queen, +and an old aristocracy. Heroic sculptures range around the _Place_, +symbolizing eight great cities of France, that of lost Strasburg veiled +in mourning. From the _Place_ and the twelve streets radiating from the +Arc de Triomphe, it is not possible to go far without coming upon some +striking feature. + +The Church of the Madeleine is accounted the most exquisite building +in the city, though it is modelled on the art of ancient Greece. There +are many triumphs of later styles, each grand, but yielding the palm +to this Temple of Glory, as Napoleon intended it to be. It is three +hundred and thirty feet long, one hundred and thirty wide, and one +hundred high, without windows, and surrounded by Corinthian columns. + +The Arc de Triomphe is the stateliest arch ever built, perfect in every +respect. It was copied from the imperial arches of old Rome, with +grander massiveness. It commemorates the triumphs of Napoleon. + +Notre Dame is not a modern imitation. The great cathedral stands on the +little Ile de la Cité which was the beginning of Paris, inhabited two +thousand years ago by the Parisii, a Celtic tribe whose name survives. +For eight centuries it has been a Christian church. The west front is +rich in statues of the kings of France. The originals were destroyed +in the Revolution, but have been replaced. The cathedral itself was +turned into the mockery of a Temple of Reason, with a woman of the +town enthroned as its deity. Napoleon's wise statesmanship restored +the church to its rightful usages. The Commune once more made free +with the old shrine, using it as barracks. Among its relics is the +robe Archbishop Darboy wore when the Communists put him to death. The +churches of Paris have weird stories to tell. The sacred spot where +Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, was buried, in the sixth century, +was a place of worship until the Revolution changed it into a Pantheon. +It became a church once more in 1851, though in its crypt lie Voltaire, +Rousseau, and other famous writers. The tomb of Napoleon is beneath the +Dome of the Church of the Invalides, attached to the home for veterans +founded by Louis XIV. + +The famous palace of the Tuileries was built in the sixteenth century +for Catherine de' Medici. It was the home of emperors and kings, and +the shrine of precious treasures of art from that time down to the fall +of the second empire, when the Communists destroyed it beyond repair. +The politics of spite never yet inspired its votaries to create a +thing of beauty for posterity to enjoy. Opposite the blank left by this +vandal outrage stands the Louvre, perhaps the greatest jewel casket of +art in existence, certainly beyond human power to replace if destroyed. +Yet even the Louvre was, in 1870, undermined by the mob in power, who +longed to blow it into nothingness--in their pious enthusiasm for +enlightened progress. This two-hundred-year old palace is a wonder +of architectural beauty. Its museums are famous for the statuary and +paintings by the great masters. The Venus of Melos stands as the chief +feature of one gallery. Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, +Titian and others of their rank are represented here among the two +thousand pictures, besides innumerable masterpieces in various arts. +The gallery of Apollo passes description as a chamber, were it empty. +Its contents have almost fabulous value. + +The Luxembourg Palace was built in 1620. It has known strange +experiences--first royal habitation, then a prison during the +Revolution, again a palace under the Directory and Consulate, and at +last the house of the Republic's Senate. The Palais Royal was built +for Cardinal Richelieu. After his death it had a king for its master, +to-day its grand arcades echo to the chatter of bargain-seeking +shoppers, despite the firebrands of the Communists. Adjoining it is +the national playhouse, the Comédie Française, which also had a narrow +escape from the caresses of the reformers. Molière managed this theatre +for a while, for which, and because he gave the world immortal plays, +he was denied Christian burial. His statue, however, makes amends. A +greater theatre as to size and gorgeousness is the Grand Opera House. +Three acres of central ground were cleared of ordinary buildings and +streets to make room for this imposing structure, which is the most +ornate of its kind in the world. The mere pictures of its staircase and +foyer are bewildering in magnificence. + +After weariness of city sights it is good to make for the Bois de +Boulogne, the main park of Paris. Its twenty-three hundred acres are +connected with the Champs-Élysées by several avenues, of which the +finest is the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, three hundred and fifteen +feet wide and forty-two hundred long. The drive round the lake is the +rendezvous of fashion every afternoon. The zoological garden, model +dairy, the avenue of acacias, the field of Longchamps, where races and +reviews take place, are among the showplaces. At the opposite, the +east, side of the city is the spacious Bois de Vincennes, a favorite +park with many attractions. The monuments of Paris are familiar to +the average reader who stays at home. The July Column replaces the +Bastille, the Vendôme Column, with its statue of Napoleon as Cæsar, was +pulled down by the Commune and has risen again. Arches, fountains and +statuary abound on all sides. Père la Chaise cemetery is the favorite +field of oratory, many eulogies of the dead being political harangues +of extreme types. Here are buried enough celebrities to immortalize +a monumentless city, Abélard and Héloïse, Chopin, Rossini, Bellini, +Cherubini, Alfred de Musset, Bernardin de St.-Pierre, Beaumarchais, +Béranger, Talma, Racine, Molière, Lafontaine, Balzac, and many national +statesmen. In Montmartre cemetery lie Heine, Murger, Halévy, Gautier, +Troyon. Lafayette and many of the old nobility who perished in the +Revolution, repose in the Picpus burial-ground. + +There are many attractive places near Paris, such as Versailles, +which must be counted among the city sights. This old town has grown +up around the palace built by Louis XIV. It has not been inhabited +by royalty since the Revolution, but is a museum devoted "to all +the glories of France." The halls are thronged with statues and +portraits of the great men of history and her victorious battles. The +bedroom of the Grand Monarch, the halls of the kings and marshals, +the Queen's Chamber, and every corner of the building are rich in +historical memories. The great park and famous fountains, the royal +coaches, the Grand Trianon villa which was the home of Madame de +Maintenon, and the Petit Trianon, the cosy country cottage of Marie +Antoinette, all have their fascinations. So might we notice St. Cloud, +the favorite residence of the last emperor, and St. Denis, with its +ancient cathedral, where the kings of France during eleven centuries +were buried. The Revolutionists dug up the royal bones and flung them +into a ditch, whence they were afterwards borne back into the crypt +of St. Denis. The region of Paris teems with associations, grown +sacred by age and sentiment, yet its citizens rarely appear to be in +the serious vein. Their mode of life conduces to rapidity of thought +and quick passing of emotions. Over a simple glass of sweetened water +grave-looking men will vivaciously enact a dialogue which a stranger to +the country might suppose was the prelude to a tragedy, when it is only +a comparison of views on last night's ballet. The outdoor gatherings +in front of the innumerable cafés is one of the charms of the gay +capital. The habit is Parisian to the core. They sit and quiz the human +menagerie as it parades for their delectation; at least this is the +complacent view taken of the moving crowd by the true Parisian. The +great streets are made for grand informal parades; there is elbow room +for hundreds of thousands and each avenue has a park-like aspect. The +French are gifted with the instinct of perfect taste in most things, +and this shows nowhere more effectively than in their planning and +using a city for artistic ends. Every street stall and lamppost is made +part of the general scheme of adornment. + +The first few explorations of Paris will fill the mind with wonder +and admiration. Then comes the irrepressible desire to know what all +its magnificence, its historic object-lessons, all its inexhaustible +resources of art and invention, will lead to. A hopeless question, yet +the past piques curiosity about the future. So stupendous a monument to +human achievement of every order surely betokens an abiding greatness. +A people capable of creating a Paris must be destined to a millennium +of happy peace and unbroken prosperity. National temperament rarely +changes, but bitter experience cannot forget the consequences of +former laxity in managing the helm of state. Paris owes it to modern +civilization and to posterity to conserve its remaining treasures, at +whatever cost. + + * * * * * + +Amsterdam after Paris may suggest water after wine. A watery city it +is and water is excellent at times, if not always. The water streets +of the Dutch capital are, sometimes, if not always, inky, and ink of +an odor best described by prefixing a couple of consonants. Yet old +Amsterdam is full of charm, though not of the Parisian kinds. Its +quaint houses have a general look of being turned end-on to the street, +their ornamental gables make a sky-line suggestive of a lady's lace +collar. Many of them have a projecting crane with rope and pulley, +giving a warehouse appearance to private dwellings. They are still used +to save dirtying the stairs when goods are delivered. Cleanliness is +the prevailing vice of Amsterdam dames. From bedroom to kitchen every +room, and everything in every room, is painfully clean. Between six and +eight in the morning every good housewife swills the front of her home +from the roof to the curbstone, whether it needs it or not. + +[Illustration: LOUVRE MUSEUM, APOLLO GALLERY] + +The capital, as Erasmus of Rotterdam once remarked, is a place where +the people dwell on the tops of trees, like birds. Amsterdam is +built on three million piles, driven deep into the swampy soil. Half +of its streets are canals. A large population lives in canal-boats +the year round. The city is divided by large and small canals into +about a hundred islands, with three hundred bridges. The inhabitants +feel secure on their timber foundation, though buildings have sunk, +occasionally. While the wood-worms are few and feeble and the piles +keep wet there is little danger. + +The river Amstel passes through the city and gives it its name from +the great system of embankments which dam the ever-threatening tide +from the arm of the Zuyder Zee on which Amstel-dam stands. This arm +is called the Y, spelled Ij in Dutch, and will form a ship-channel, +fifty miles long, to the North Sea when fully completed. A large +shipping trade is done in the spacious docks, where coffee, tobacco, +and sugar come in vast quantities from the Dutch East Indies. One of +the industries peculiar to Amsterdam is diamond-cutting. It is not +difficult to get access to one of the workshops, and the operation is +exceedingly interesting. On market-days and holidays there is a chance +to see the old-time picturesque costumes still worn in country parts. +The metal helmets, sometimes of silver and gold, with curious ear +ornaments have a fine antique air. On Sunday evenings the working folk +take their pleasures in the parks, of which swinging is with many the +favorite joy. A plump damsel or plumper matron stands facing the lover +or husband, and they can swing almost level with the treetop before +they tire, or tumble. They take no harm by a fall. + +The churches are large, cold and gloomy. The Oude Kerk dates from about +1300. The stained windows are interesting and the organ, two or three +stories high, is powerful and mellow. Instead of the pews covering +the floor, they occupy a raised platform in the centre, enclosed by +a fence with locked doors. Near by may be seen a pile of boxes like +stools, which are charcoal stoves to warm the worshippers in winter. +The psalmody is so slow that the organ fills up the intervals between +words and lines with rolling chords. Near the palace in the centre of +the city is the Niewe Kerk, a more ornate and interesting church, built +in 1408, in which the sovereigns are crowned. Its monuments to Admiral +de Ruyter and Vondel, the national poet, are fine art-works, as also +are the carved pulpit and the bronzes in the choir. + +The royal palace, on the central square called the Dam, was built in +1648. It stands on thirteen thousand piles. It was originally the +State House. Opposite is the Beurs, or Exchange. The Dutch school +of painting has qualities not excelled by the finest productions +of other nations. Its painters developed a marvellous proficiency +in detail-work, a literalness of interpretation, a realism which +is undoubtedly imitative, but in its mastery of execution compels +enthusiastic admiration. The flatness of their country afforded no +chance for painting fine landscapes. What they saw was the sky and +the sea in the distance, and people, cattle and household goods at +close range. No painters among the old masters equal the Dutchmen +in cloud-scapes and sea-pieces, in fidelity to nature and delicate +touch. Similarly, there are few, if any, portraits as strong as these +wonderful canvases of the Dutch school. No other artists had the +genius to see the possible triumphs awaiting the brush that could +counterfeit the dewdrop on a rose, the glisten of the copper stew-pan +or the satin gown, or the fluffy texture of a beggar's coat. Now that +two generations have learned these things by patient imitation of +the old Dutchmen this art has become familiar, but no copyist of our +time has approached the marvellous beauty and skill that mark the old +Dutch masterpieces. The traveller will enjoy himself to the full in +the famous galleries of Amsterdam, and the other towns that lie within +easy reach. There are four hundred paintings in the Trippenhuis museum, +of which the most famous is Rembrandt's great picture, "The Night +Watch." Still more impressive to many is the magnificent work of Vander +Helst, "The Banquet of the Civic Guard," an immense canvas, showing +a band of men in armor carousing around a table loaded with gold and +silver plate, glasses, flagons, etc., affording an opportunity for +the painter to show Dutch art at its highest. There are great treats +in these galleries for the lover of pictures and for the student of +manners. Some of the old painters either lacked poetical imagination or +indulged their whimsical humor to the verge of the shocking, in certain +subjects. They had at least the merit of being faithful to life as they +saw it, which satisfies the average man better, on the whole, than +impressionism run to seed. + +Eight hundred years ago Amsterdam was a fishing village. In the +fifteenth century it became the most important commercial city in +the Netherlands. Peter the Great learned the art of ship-building in +the little village of Zaandam near the capital. A modern building +encloses the cottage in which he lived. The people are rightly proud +of their city and its history. They have not of late had opportunities +to test their old supremacy as sea-warriors, but they exhibit all +their sturdy characteristics in fighting the sea itself, repelling its +ceaseless attempts at invasion. The women may be expected to uphold +the national reputation for energy in any emergency, to judge by the +stolid contentment with which so many of them do men's work. They act +as railway signal men, boatmen, market porters, and do not object to +being harnessed with dogs as wagon teams. Yet they seem happy if not +exactly gay. In the cities less of this is noticeable. The capital +is not behind in artistic and literary culture. Scholarship has +always distinguished its people. Its old bookstores are a delightful +temptation. The zoological garden is one of the finest anywhere. +English is spoken in all the principal stores. The public charities +are on an extensive scale. The foreigner is occasionally embarrassed +at being politely saluted by members of the Exchange if he chances to +pass as they are coming out, and in many such ways he is impressed by +the courtesies shown him on all hands. One would not rush to Amsterdam +for Parisian excitements, but for nervous systems needing the tone +best secured by moderate activity in surroundings that are novel and +uniquely interesting, a visit to Amsterdam will prove as great a +pleasure as a benefit. + + + + +FLORENCE AND ITS ART TREASURES. + +SARAH J. LIPPINCOTT. + + [Mrs. Sarah J. Lippincott ("Grace Greenwood"), in her popular + "Haps and Mishaps of a Tour in Europe," has given a well-written + and appreciative account of Florence and its objects of art and + interest, which we here reproduce. Our extract begins with a + railway journey from Leghorn.] + + +The railway, which is a very good one, runs through a pleasant country +cultivated like a garden, which grows more and more lovely till you +reach Florence. The station is near Cascine, the fashionable drive +and promenade lying just beyond the city walls, along the Arno; so +that our first lookout was upon a gay and beautiful scene,--those +noble grounds thronged with equestrians, and pedestrians, and elegant +equipages. From that moment I have been charmed with Florence beyond +all expectation and precedent. Every picturing of fancy, every dream +of romance, has been met and surpassed. It is a city of enchantment, +rich in incomparable treasures for the lover of poetry and art. In +merely driving from the station to our hotel, on the Arno, near the +Ponte Vecchio, I was struck by the noble style of architecture; uniform +in solidity, and in a sort of antique solemnity, yet not monotonously +gloomy or curiously quaint. But when we drove about in the brightness +of a lovely morning, and saw the grand and ponderous old palaces, the +noble churches, the beautiful towers, the graceful bridges,--when we +caught, at almost every turn, natural pictures which art could never +approach,--I could only express by broken sentences and exclamations, +childishly repeated, the rare and glowing pleasure I enjoyed. + +O pictures of beauty, O visions of brightness, how must ye fade under +my leaden pencil! It is strange, but I never feel so poor in expression +as when my very soul is staggering under the weight of new treasures of +thought and feeling. + +One of our first visits was to the Royal Gallery, in the Uffizi. +Through several rooms and corridors, making little pause in any, we +passed to the Tribune,--for its size, doubtless the richest room +in the world in great works of art. In the centre stands the Venus +de Medici, "the wondrous statue that enchants the world," says the +poet; but as for me, I bow not before it with any heartiness of +adoration. Exquisite, tender, and delicate beyond my fairest fancy, +I found the form; graceful to the last point of perfection seemed to +me the attitude and action; but the smallness and the insignificant +character of the head, and the simpering senselessness of the face, +place it without my Olympus. I deny its divinity _in toto_, and bear my +offerings to other shrines. Yet the Venus de Medici does not strike me +as a voluptuous figure; it certainly is not powerfully and perilously +so, wanting, as it does, all strength of passion and noble development +of _soul_; for, paradoxical as it may seem, a soul of wild depths +and passionate intensity must lie beneath the alluring warmth and +brightness of a refined and perfect sensuality. + +Of another, and a far more dangerous character, I should say, is the +Venus of Titian, which hangs near it. Here is voluptuousness, gorgeous, +undisguised, yet subtle, and in a certain sense poetic and refined. +She is neither innocent nor unconscious, yet not bold, nor coarse, nor +meretricious. She proudly and quietly revels in her own marvellous +beauties, if not like a goddess who knows herself every inch divine, +at least like a woman by character and position quite as free from the +obligations of morality and purity. For all the wonderful beauty of +this great picture, I cannot like it, cannot even tolerate it; but, +with an inexpressible feeling of relief, turn from it to the Bella +Donna and the Flora of the same artist. The latter is to me the most +fascinating and delicious picture I have ever beheld; the richness, +the fulness, the golden splendor of its beauty, flood my soul with a +strange and passionate delight. There is no high peculiar sentiment +about it, though it is grand in its pure simplicity; yet its soft, +sunny, luxurious loveliness alone brings tears to my eyes,--tears which +I dash away jealously, lest they hide for one instant the transcendent +vision. + +In the Tribune are several of the finest paintings of Raphael,--the +Fornarina, a rich, glowing picture, but a face I cannot like; the young +St. John, a glorious figure, and the Madonna del Cardellino, one of +the loveliest of his holy families. There is also a great picture by +Andrea del Sarto, which impressed me much; the Adoration of the Magi, +by Albert Dürer, the heads full of a simple grandeur peculiar to that +noble artist; and an exquisite little Virgin and Child, by Correggio. +In another room, after looking at a bewildering number of pictures, +most of which have already passed from my mind, I came upon a head of +Medusa, by Leonardo da Vinci, which I fear will haunt me to my dying +day. It is surely the most terrible painting I have ever beheld. + +In the magnificent Pitti palace, among many glorious pictures, I +saw two before which my heart bowed in most living adoration--the +Madonna della Seggiola of Raphael, and a Virgin and Child of Murillo. +The former is surely the sweetest group by the divine painter; and +the last, if not of a very elevated character, pure and tender, +and surpassingly lovely. In this gallery are Titian's Bella Donna, +Magdalene, and Marriage of St. Catharine. The first of these, which is +a portrait, seems to me far the finest. The more I see of them the more +am I impressed with the conviction that there is nothing in all his +grand and varied works displaying such profound and pre-eminent genius, +such subtle, masterly, miraculous power, as the portraits of Titian. + +In this palace we saw Canova's Venus, which I liked no better than I +expected. There is about the head, attitude, and figure an affected, +fine-ladyish air, dainty, and conscious, and passionless, which is +worse than the absolute voluptuousness which would be in character at +least with the earthly Venus. + +I am more and more convinced that there is in sculpture but one divine +mother of pure Love,--the grand and majestic Venus of Milo. + +To-day we have driven out to Fiesole, and seen the massive walls of +the ancient Etruscan city. These ramparts, which are called "Cyclopean +constructions," are said to be at least three thousand years old, and +yet look as though they might endure to the end of time. From a hill +above the town we had a large and lovely view of the beautiful valley +of the Arno, and looked down upon Florence, lapped in its midst, small, +compact, yet beautiful and stately. I never beheld a more enchanting +picture than the broad and bright one there spread before me: the blue +mountains, the gleaming river, the green and smiling valley; hills +covered with olives and myrtles; roads winding between hedges of roses +to innumerable villas, nestled in flowery nooks, or crowning breezy +heights. Oh, this was enchantment of fairy-land, no dream of poetry; it +was in very truth a paradise on earth. + +On our return we visited the house of Michael Angelo, which is +reverently kept by his descendants, as nearly as possible, in the same +state in which he left it. It is a handsome, quaint old house, quiet, +shadowy, and somewhat sombre, still pervaded with the awe-inspiring +atmosphere of the colossal genius of that Titanic artist. + +As I stood in his studio, or in the little cabinet where he used to +write, and saw before me the many objects once familiar to his eye and +hand, I felt that it was but yesterday that he was borne forth from his +beloved home, and that it was the first funereal stillness and sadness +which pervaded it now. + +We afterwards drove to "Dante's stone," a slab of marble by the side of +the way, on which he used to sit in the long summer evenings, rapt in +mournful meditations, and dreaming his immortal dreams. It is now as +sacred to his memory as the stone above his grave. + +For the past two afternoons we have driven in the Cascine, by far +the most delightful drive and place of reunion I have ever seen. It +is much smaller and, of course, less magnificent than Hyde Park, but +pleasanter, I think, in having portions more sheltered, wild, and quiet +for riders and promenaders. In the centre of the grounds, opposite the +Grand Duke's farm-house, is an open space where the band is stationed, +and the carriages come together to exchange compliments and hear music. +Here are always to be seen many splendid turnouts, open carriages +filled with elegantly-dressed ladies; gallant officers and gay dames +on horseback; flower-girls, bearing about the most delicious lilies +and roses, pinks and lilacs, mignonette and heliotrope, freighting the +golden evening air with their intoxicating fragrance and amazing you +with their paradisian profusion,--altogether a cheering and charming +scene, colored and animated by the very soul of innocent pleasure. + +This afternoon we met Charles Lever, riding with his wife and two +daughters. They are all fine riders, were well mounted, and looked a +very happy family party. Mr. Lever is much such a man as you would look +to see in the author of Charles O'Malley,--hale and hearty, careless, +merry, and a little dashing in his air. + +This evening I have spent with the Brownings, to whom I brought +letters. They live in that Casa Guidi which Mrs. Browning has already +immortalized by the grandest poem ever penned by woman.... + +Mr. and Mrs. Browning have taken up their residence in Florence, a +place in every way congenial to them. I know that thousands of her +unknown friends across the water will rejoice to hear that the health +of Mrs. Browning improves with every year spent in Italy. Yet she is +still very delicate,--but a frail flower, ceaselessly requiring all the +sheltering and fostering care, all the wealth and watchfulness of love, +which is round about her.... + +Yesterday I saw, for the first time, the grand, antique group of Niobe +and her children. Of these wonderful figures, by far the most noble and +pathetic are those of the mother and the young daughter she is seeking +to shield. Oh, the proud anguish, the wild, hopeless, maternal agony, +of that face haunts me, and will haunt me forever. + +I afterwards saw the Mercury of John of Bologna,--a marvel of beauty, +grace, and lightness. We visited the treasure-room of the Pitti palace, +and saw all the Grand Duke's plate, among which are several magnificent +articles by Benvenuto Cellini. In the evening we drove in the Cascine, +and to the Hill of Bellosguardo, from whence we had an enchanting view +of Florence and the Val d'Arno,--and so the day ended. To-day we have +made the tour of the churches. In the solemn old cathedral, whose +wonderful dome was the admiration and study of Michael Angelo, there +were extraordinary religious ceremonies, on the occasion of some great +festa. Some archbishop or other officiated in very gorgeous robes, +of course,--in capital condition, and looking indolent, proud, and +stupid, as another matter of course. The court came in great state and +pomp, with much trumpeting and beating of the drum. The Grand Duke was +accompanied by the Grand Duchess and his household, by the Guardia +Nobile, and by numerous ladies and gentlemen of high rank, all in full +dress. Those ball costumes of the courtly dames--gay silks and lace, +diamonds, flowers, and plumes--looked strange enough after the uniform +and decent sombreness of the dress prescribed for the "functions" of +St. Peter's. + +The Grand Duke is a man of ordinary size, and appears not far from +seventy years of age, though it is said he is hardly sixty. His hair +and moustaches are nearly white, and he wears the white coat of the +Austrian uniform, and so looks more miller-like than majestic. There +was a sort of sullen sadness in his air, which I confess I was rather +gratified to remark,--remembering all the treachery of the past, and +beholding all the degradation of the present. The Grand Duchess is a +dignified-looking woman enough, but the ladies in attendance on her +to-day dazzled alone with their diamonds. + +After hearing some fine music, we went to the Santa Croce, the +Westminster Abbey of Florence, where are the tombs of its most +illustrious dead. Of these, the noblest is that of Michael Angelo, and +the poorest, yet more pretentious, that of Dante. Canova has here a +monument to Alfieri, which is affected and sentimental, like nearly all +his works; and the tombs of Galileo and Machiavelli are anything but +pleasing and imposing. Infinitely better were the most simple slabs +than such pompous piles. + +At the San Lorenzo we saw that marvellous mausoleum, the Medicean +Chapel,--the richest yet plainest structure of the kind in the +world. There is here a peculiar assumption and ostentation of +simplicity,--your eye, accustomed to the crowded ornament and vivid +gorgeousness of ordinary princely chapels, is shocked and cheated at +the first glance by the sombre magnificence, the sumptuous bareness, +of this singular structure; but right soon is disappointment changed +to admiration and amazement, as you see that all those lofty walls, +from floor to roof, are composed of the most rare and beautiful marbles +and precious stones, wrought into exquisite mosaics. Then you see the +stupendous and beautiful cenotaphs, and the solemn dark statues of the +Medici, and, at length, fully realize all their royal waste of wealth +over this mausoleum, all their princely pomp of death. + +In the Sagrestia Nuova, built by Michael Angelo, are the statues of +Lorenzo and Julian de Medici, with their attendant groups, the Morn and +Night, Evening and Day, and the Virgin and Child,--surely the noblest +works of that mighty artist. I instinctively bowed in awe before the +gloomy grandeur of Lorenzo; and there was something in his still frown +which shook my soul more than the warlike air and almost startling +action of Julian. The unfinished group of the Virgin and Child has much +tenderness and sweetness with all its force and grandeur; but, as a +general thing, I must think that Michael Angelo's female figures are +far more remarkable for gigantic proportions and muscular development +than for grace, beauty, or any fine spiritual character. This Virgin +is majestic almost to sublimity, yet truly gentle, lovable, divinely +maternal.... + +In what was the refectory of an old monastery, but which was afterwards +used as a carriage-house, has been found, within a few years past, a +noble fresco by Raphael,--a Last Supper. This we went to see, and I +felt it to be one of the purest and most touching creations of that +angelic painter. In this picture, the "beloved disciple" seems to +have fallen asleep on the breast of the Master, and to have bowed his +head lower and lower, till it lies upon the table, while the hand of +Jesus is laid caressingly upon his shoulder. There is something so +exquisitely sweet and sad, so divinely pitiful, yet humanely tender, in +the action, that the very memory of it blinds my eyes with tears. + +After dinner we drove in the Cascine, where we met all the world. As +it was an exceedingly beautiful sunset, and the evening of a festa, +the band continued to play, and the brilliant crowd remained long. I +revelled in the delicious air and the cheerful scene as fully as was +possible, with the intrusive consciousness that I was breathing the one +and beholding the other for the last time--probably forever--certainly +for many years. + +Mrs. H. and I here took leave of a brace of charming young nobles, +in whom, I fear, we had become too deeply interested. These were two +beautiful Russian boys, brothers, of the ages of nine and seven, +with whom we voyaged on the Mediterranean and formed an acquaintance +which has been continued in Florence. In all my life I never saw such +enchanting little fellows,--simple, natural, frank, and free, yet +perfect gentlemen in air and expression, displaying, with the utmost +ease, grace and polish of manner, tact, wit, and _savoir-faire_ truly +astonishing. They always came to our carriage at the Cascine, and, +lounging on the steps, chatted to us in French between the pieces of +music. To-night, as the youngest was describing to me, very graphically, +the different countries through which he had travelled and the cities +which he had visited, I advised him to go next to England, and assured +him that he would be greatly interested and amused by the sights and +pleasures of London. With the slightest possible shrug, he replied, +"_Oui, madame, c'est une grande ville, sans doute; mais pour tous les +amusements il n'y a qu'une ville dans le monde,--c'est Paris._" ... + +As I looked back upon Florence for the last time, when I could +distinguish only the battlemented Palazzo Vecchio, with its fine old +tower, and that incomparable group, the Duomo, the Campanile, and the +Baptistery, and a slender, shining line, which I knew for the Arno, I +suddenly felt my sight struggling through tears,--real hearty tears. +Ah, Bella Firenze, I went from you reluctantly, almost rebelliously; I +grieved to leave those glorious galleries, through which I seemed to +have merely run; I grieved to leave the Cascine, with its delicious +drives and walks, its music and gayety; but I "sorrowed most of all" at +parting, so soon, with my friends the Brownings. _My friends_, how rich +I feel in being able to write these words! + +I think I must venture to say a little more of them, as, after writing +of my first evening at Casa Guidi, I was so happy as to enjoy much +of their society. Robert Browning is a brilliant talker, and more--a +pleasant, suggestive conversationist and a sympathetic listener. He +has a fine humor, a keen sense of the ridiculous, which he indulges, +at times, with the hearty abandon of a boy. In the gentle stream +of Elizabeth Browning's familiar talk shine deep and soft the high +thoughts and star-bright imaginations of her rare poetic nature. The +two have oneness of spirit, with distinct individuality; they are +mated, not merged together. + +In the atmosphere of so much learning and genius, you naturally +expect to perceive some mustiness of old folios, some uncomfortable +brooding of solemn thought; to feel about you somewhat of the stretch +and struggle of grand aspiration and noble effort, or the exhausted +stillness of a brief suspension of the "toil divine." But in this +household all is simple, cheerful, and reposeful; here is neither lore +nor logic to appall one; here is not enough din of mental machinery +to drown the faintest heart-throb; here one breathes freely, acts +naturally, and speaks honestly. + + + + +THE LAKE REGION OF ITALY. + +ROBERT A. McLEOD. + + [The lakes of northern Italy have a world-wide fame, alike for + their natural beauty and for the charms of architecture and scenic + art which surround them. We give here a brief description of these + renowned places of pilgrimage for lovers of the beautiful.] + + +It was towards the end of last October that I strolled away from my +occupations in the French capital to spend a fortnight on the Italian +lakes. Of the many routes which from time immemorial have served for +the invasion of Italy by the barbarian and the tourist, I chose on this +occasion the Brenner. Apart from the pleasing views it offers, this +Alpine pass is interesting as being the first over which the Romans +ventured to lead their legions, and the first upon which a railway was +constructed. I halted at Trent, and it was several days before I could +free myself from the charm of the Etruscan city and plan my departure. + +One afternoon I was making inquiries at the office of the diligence +which runs to Riva on the Lake of Garda, when a newly-married German +couple offered to share with me a private carriage which they had just +hired for the same journey. I accepted at once, and in an hour we were +off. The sober gray suit trimmed with green in which Hans was attired +contrasted oddly with the brilliant purple travelling-dress of his +fair-haired Gretchen. I wondered at first that they should have been +willing to embarrass themselves with a stranger, until I perceived +that my presence was no hinderance at all to their demonstrations of +affection. We climbed up by a steep and winding road to a narrow defile +which the impetuous Vella almost fills. One day, when St. Vigilius +was too much pressed for time to walk over the mountain, he wrenched +it apart and made this passage. The imprint of his holy hand is still +to be seen on the rock. Passing under the cyclopean eyes of scores of +Austrian cannon which now defend this important military position, we +began to descend the valley of the Sarca. It is a wild region, where +every hamlet has a ruined castle and a legend of knight or robber, +saint or fairy. The picturesque remains of the Madruzzo Castle bring +to mind the celebrated portraits which Titian painted of members of +this noble family. The artist's colors have survived the last of a long +line, and will doubtless outlive as well the crumbling stones of their +stronghold. As we skirted the little Lake of Dobling its still waters +reflected rocks and trees, sky and mountain, in an enchanting manner. + +"Lovely!" I exclaimed. + +"Lovely!" echoed Gretchen, without taking her eyes off Hans. + +"Lovely!" answered Hans, still watching the beautiful things reflected +in her eyes. + +After crossing the rapid Sarca and traversing a desolate tract where +rocks of every size, fallen from the overhanging mountain, lie strewn +about in chaotic confusion, we reached Arco. This sunny village nestles +at the foot of an immense detached boulder whose dizzy summit is +crowned by mediæval battlements and towers. Home fit only for birds of +prey, this castle was long the nest of a family of robbers. Scarcely +had we lost in the distance this greatest wonder of the valley when a +sharp turn of the road brought Riva and the Lake of Garda full in view. +It was a prospect of singular beauty. The sun had already set except +on the highest peaks, and a part of the lake was wrapped in purple +shadows. Another part, however, was as clear and light as the sky above +it, and all aglow with the images of crimson and orange-tinted clouds. +A shrill cry--of delight, I thought--burst from Gretchen's lips. I was +mistaken. Hans had pulled off too rudely a ring from her finger, and +the fair one was in tears.... + +[Illustration: ST. GOTTHARD RAILWAY (VIADUCT AND TUNNEL)] + +In the afternoon I take the famous walk to the Ponale waterfall. The +road thither ascends continually. It has been skilfully led along the +ledges of a precipitous cliff which borders the lake to the west of +Riva, and occasionally pierces the mountain by short tunnels. After +passing through the third tunnel I come to a wooden bridge, under which +the Ponale dashes just before taking its final leap into the lake. The +frail structure on which I stand trembles and is wet with spray, and +the air is full of the roar and gurgle of the waters. But for me the +main charm of the walk is not the sight of this noisy torrent, but +the superb view of Riva that I get on my way back upon issuing from +one of the tunnels. The eye, accustomed for a moment to the darkness, +is all the more sensitive to the rich soft light which bathes the +mountains and the town. A gentle breeze ripples the lake, and the +brightly-painted houses that fringe the beach are seen indistinctly +in the water, where they look like a line of waving banners. Half a +dozen steeples and bell-towers rise gracefully from among the roofs, +and their presence explains the surprising frequency with which the +hours of the night are struck. From this height I can distinguish +the low walls which surround the town and compress its four thousand +inhabitants into the area of a small quadrilateral. But Riva, though +still fortified, has a thorough look of peaceful commercial prosperity, +and has quite laid aside the warlike air she wore in the Middle Ages. +In those troubled times this town saw countless wars and sustained many +sieges; belonged now to Venice, now to Milan, now to Austria; and at +times was independent and able to defy even a bull of the pope or a +rescript of the emperor.... + +Long before daybreak the next morning the great red and green eyes +of two small steamers are looking around for passengers, and their +whistles screeching that it is time to get up. I have chosen the boat +which skirts the western bank. It starts an hour later than the other, +but it is not yet sunrise when we push off. The after-deck is thinly +peopled, chiefly by tourists, but the fore-deck, where the seats are +cheaper, is crowded. We pass by the tumbling and roaring Ponale, and +before many minutes we cross the invisible boundary-line between +Austria and Italy. The motion of the boat is hardly felt, for we are +sailing with a strong current. The high peaks to the north have +already caught the first rays of the sun: masses of white vapor which +have been sleeping in the mountain-hollows are roused up and put on a +rosy tint. The sky is without a cloud, the lake without a ripple: we +seem to be floating in mid-air. + +Limone, the first stopping-place, is quite given up to the culture of +the fruit from which it takes its name. A row of cypresses gives a +gloomy air to the village and awakens a melancholy recollection. It was +here that, in 1810, Andreas Hofer, the Tyrolese patriot, was arrested +by order of Napoleon. A boat conveyed him to the prison of Peschiera, +and he was soon afterwards shot in the citadel of Mantua. + +We next stop before Tremosine, a village perched high up on a rock, and +to which no visible road leads. On the other side of the lake, which +is here narrow, the white houses of Malcesine cluster around the base +of an imposing castle. This stronghold of the Middle Ages, one of the +few in this neighborhood which Time has not been suffered to destroy, +was built by Charlemagne, and was formerly the boundary between Austria +and the Venetian territory; but it is chiefly interesting from an +adventure which here befell Goethe. He had sat down in the court-yard, +and was sketching one of the quaint old towers, when the crowd that +had gathered around him, taking him for a spy, fell on him, tore +his drawings to pieces and sent for the authorities to arrest him. +Fortunately, there was in the village a man who had worked in Frankfort +and knew the poet by sight, and through his influence Goethe was set +free. + + [From Lake Garda the traveller proceeded to the more famous Lake + Como, passing localities where songful Catullus dwelt, and Virgil + and Dante loved to visit.] + +On the map the Lake of Como looks like an inverted and somewhat +irregular =Y=, or, still more, like a child's first attempt to draw +a man, who without arms and with unequal legs is running off to the +left. Just at the moment his picture is taken he has one foot on Lecco +and the other on the town of Como. The hilly district between the two +southern branches of the lake is known as the Brianza, and is noted for +its bracing air, its fertile soil, and the coolness of its springs. +The Brianza ends at the middle of the lake in a dolomite promontory +several hundred feet high, on whose western slope lies the village of +Bellaggio. This point commands the finest views in every direction: +it is near the most interesting of those villas which are open to the +public, and it abounds in good hotels. To visit Bellaggio is therefore +the aim of every tourist who passes this way. My journey thither it is +best to pass over in silence, for I see nothing, and what I feel is +indescribable. I am shut up during a furious storm of wind and rain +in the cabin of a little steamer which is as nervous and uneasy as if +on the Atlantic. I am told, however, that in this part of the lake +the banks are lofty and steep, and frequently barren, and that there +are marble-quarries to be seen, and cascades and houses and villages +crowning the cliffs. + +On arriving at Bellaggio, I take lodging in the Villa Serbelloni, +one of the many magnificent residences which poverty has induced the +Italian nobles to put into the hands of hotel-keepers. The house +stands high up on the very end of the promontory, and adjoining it is +an extensive park, on which the ruins of a robber's castle look down. +The panorama which on a fine day spreads itself out before one who +walks in these grounds is of singular beauty. The northern arm of the +lake, wider and more regular than the others, opens up a long vista +of headlands and bays and red-roofed villages as far as where Domaso +peeps out from a grove of giant elms. Beyond, the view is bounded by +the snow-covered Alps. Close at hand, near Varenna, the Fiume di Latte, +a milk-white waterfall, leaps down from a height of a thousand feet. +Towards Lecco huge walls of barren rock arise and wrap everything +near them in sombre shadows. Towards Como the tranquil water is shut +in by hills and low mountains, whose flowing lines blend gracefully +together. Some of these slopes are dark with pines, some are gray +with the olive, some are garlanded with vines which hang from tree to +tree, while others are clothed in a rich green foliage, amid which +glistens the golden fruit of the orange and the lemon. The banks are +lined with bright gardens and noble parks and villas, whose lawns run +down to the water's edge and are adorned with fountains, statues, +masses of brilliant flowers and clumps of tall trees. Above is a sky +of Italian blue, and below is a crystal mirror in which every charm of +the landscape is repeated. The impression made by all this loveliness +is increased by the air of happiness that pervades the spot. It is the +haunt of the rich, the gay, the newly-married: music and song, laughter +and mirthful talk, are the most familiar sounds. The smile of Nature +seems here to warm men's hearts and drive away the cares they have +brought with them. + +It is on this site that Pliny the Younger is believed to have had the +villa which he called Cothurnus or "Tragedy." The present building +is several centuries old. Tradition relates that a certain countess, +one of its first occupants, had a habit of throwing her lovers down +the cliff when she was tired of them. Making this delightful abode +my head-quarters, I spend a week, partly in agreeable sight-seeing +and partly in still more agreeable idleness. I visit villas, towers, +fossil-beds, and waterfalls,--in short, everything interesting and +accessible,--now going on foot, now borne from point to point in one of +the sharp-prowed row-boats which are in use here, and now taking the +steamer up to Colico or down to Como and back.... + +Across the lake from here is the Villa Carlotta, called after its +former owner, the princess Charlotte of Prussia. Stepping out of his +boat, the visitor ascends the marble stairs which lead up from the +shore. After a few steps across the garden he reaches the villa, passes +through a porch fragrant with jasmine, and is at once ushered into a +small room where are some of the finest works of modern sculpture. +Canova's Mars and Venus and Palamedes are here, and they are most +admirable, but they are surpassed in charm by the famous group in +which Psyche is reclining and Cupid bending fondly over her. The +best piece of the collection is the frieze that runs round the room. +It is from the chisel of Thorwaldsen, and represents Alexander the +Great's triumphal entry into Babylon. Full of the beauty of youth, +the conqueror advances in his chariot; Victory comes to meet him; +vanquished nations bring presents; while behind him follow his brave +Greeks on horse and on foot, dragging along with them the prisoners and +the booty. The subject was suggested by Napoleon, who intended the work +for the Quirinal. It is in high relief, and in general effect resembles +strongly the frieze with which Phidias encircled the Parthenon. It is a +pity that these masterpieces are shown first, for after seeing them one +does not fully enjoy the statues and paintings in the other rooms. + +Two hours may be delightfully spent in making the journey by steamboat +from Bellaggio to Como. Here the lake is so narrow and winding that +it seems to be a river. At every moment bold mountain-spurs project +into the water appearing to bar all passage, and one's curiosity is +continually excited to find the outlet. The views shift and change with +surprising quickness, for the boat stops at a dozen little towns on the +way, and for this purpose keeps crossing and recrossing from shore to +shore. + + [Passing next to Lake Maggiore, the traveller takes a row-boat + down the latter in preference to waiting for the steamer.] + +The four islands that we have passed on the way are known as the +Borromean Islands, because they belong for the most part to the rich +and powerful Borromeo family. The rare beauty of one of them makes it +the wonder of the lake. It was towards the middle of the seventeenth +century that Count Vitaliano Borromeo, finding himself the possessor of +almost the whole of this island, which was then a barren rock, resolved +to make it his residence, and to surround himself with gardens that +should rival those of Armida. For more than twenty years architects, +gardeners, sculptors, and painters labored to give material form to +the count's fancies. A spacious palace was erected on one end of the +island; on the other ten lofty terraces rose one above the other, +like the hanging-gardens of Babylon. The rock was covered with good +soil, and the choicest trees and shrubs were brought from every land. +Only evergreens, however, were admitted into this Eden, for the count +would have about him no sign of winter or death. In 1671 the work was +finished. The island was called Isabella, after the count's mother,--a +name which has since, by a happy corruption, become changed to Isola +Bella. + +It is on a sunny afternoon that I direct my bark towards the "Beautiful +Island." I look on the landing-place with respect, for it is worn by +the footsteps of six generations of travellers. The interior of the +palace, which I visit first, is fitted up with princely magnificence +and is rich in art-treasures. Mementos of kings and queens who +accepted hospitality here are shown, and a bed in which Bonaparte once +slept. There is a chapel where a priest daily says mass; a throne-room, +as in the palaces of the Spanish grandees; and a gallery with numerous +paintings. A whole suite of rooms is given up to the works of Peter +Molyn, a Dutch artist, fitly nicknamed "Sir Tempest." This erratic man, +having killed his wife to marry another woman, was condemned to death. +He escaped from prison, however, found an asylum here, and in return +for the protection of the Borromeo of that day he adorned his walls +with more than fifty landscapes and pastoral scenes. + +The garden betrays the epoch at which it was laid out. Prim parterres, +where masses of brilliant flowers bloom all the year round, are +enclosed by walks along which orange-trees and myrtles have been bent +and trimmed into whimsical patterns. There are dark and winding alleys +of cedars where at every turn some surprise is planned. Here is a +grotto made of shells,--there an obelisk, or a mosaic column, or a +horse of bronze, or a fountain of clear water in which the attendant +tritons and nymphs would doubtless disport were they not petrified +into marble. There is one lovely spot where, at the middle point of +a rotunda, a large statue of Hercules stands finely out against a +background of dark foliage. Other Olympians keep him company and calmly +eye the visitor from their painted niches. Not far from there is a +venerable laurel on which Bonaparte cut the word "Battaglia" a few days +before the battle of Marengo. The B is still plainly visible. + +Pines and firs planted thickly along the northern side of the island +defend it from cold winds. In the sunny nooks of the terraces the +delicate lemon-tree bears abundant fruit and the oleander grows to a +size which it attains nowhere else in Europe. The tea-plant from China, +the banana from Africa, and the sugar-cane from Mississippi flourish +side by side; the camphor-tree distils its aromatic essence and the +magnolia loads the air with perfume. The cactus and the aloe border +walks over which the bamboo bends and throws its grateful shade. Turf +and flowerbeds carpet each terrace, and a tapestry of ivy and flowering +vines conceals the walls of the structure. From the summit a huge stone +unicorn looks down upon his master's splendid domain. He overlooks +also a corner of the island where his master's authority is not +acknowledged. The small patch of land on which the Dolphin Hotel stands +has for many centuries descended from father to son in a plebeian +family, nor have the Borromeos ever been able to buy it. They have to +endure the inn, therefore, as Frederick endured the mill at Sans-Souci +and Napoleon the house he could not buy at Paris. + +At last the moment comes when I must quit Stresa, not, however, before +I have visited the remaining islands and other points of interest. The +steamer puts off, and soon separates me from the landscape that has +been my delight for three days,--the blue bay with its verdant banks, +the softly-shaded hills which enclose it, the snow-covered chain of +the Simplon in the background. As we approach the southern end of the +lake a colossal bronze statue of San Carlo Borromeo on the summit of a +hill near Arona comes into sight. From head to foot the saint measures +little less than eighty feet, and the pedestal on which he stands adds +to his height half as much more. His face is turned towards Arona, his +native town, and one hand is extended to bless it. With my glass I +descry a party of liliputian tourists engaged in examining this great +Gulliver. Most of them are satisfied when they have reached the top of +the pedestal and have ranged themselves in a row on one foot of the +statue. Others, more daring, climb up by a ladder to the saint's knee, +where they disappear through an aperture in the skirt of his robe. +From this point the ascent continues inside of the statue, by means of +iron bars, to the head, in which four persons can conveniently remain +at once. + +At Arona the railway-station and the wharf are near each other, and in +a few minutes after I have landed an express-train starts and bears +me away from the region of the Italian lakes. When we have passed the +last houses of Arona and gained the open plain, the statue of the great +Borromeo with his outstretched arm comes again for a few moments into +view. Perhaps the uncertain light of evening and the jolting of the +train deceive me, but I fancy that the good old saint is waving his +hand in the familiar Italian way, as much as to say, "A rivederci!" + + + + +A DAY IN ROME. + +BAYARD TAYLOR. + + [The things worth seeing in the Eternal City are so many, and + crowd so closely upon each other, that the lover of the antique + finds himself almost overwhelmed by the rapid succession of + striking objects and historic ruins. It would seem that little + could be seen in a day's walk among these marvels of the past, + yet Taylor's observing eyes managed to take in a long series of + interesting objects, his graphic account of which is given below.] + + +One day's walk through Rome,--how shall I describe it? The Capitol, the +Forum, St. Peter's, the Coliseum,--what few hours' ramble ever took in +places so hallowed by poetry, history, and art? It was a golden leaf +in my calendar of life. In thinking over it now, and drawing out the +threads of recollection from the varied woof of thought I have woven +to-day, I almost wonder how I dared so much at once; but within reach +of them all, how was it possible to wait? Let me give a sketch of our +day's ramble. + +Hearing that it was better to visit the ruins by evening or moonlight +(alas! there is no moon now) we started out to hunt St. Peter's. Going +in the direction of the Corso, we passed the ruined front of the +magnificent Temple of Antoninus, now used as the Papal Custom-House. We +turned to the right on entering the Corso, expecting to have a view of +the city from the hill at its southern end. It is a magnificent street, +lined with palaces and splendid edifices of every kind, and always +filled with crowds of carriages and people. On leaving it, however, we +became bewildered among the narrow streets, passed through a market of +vegetables, crowded with beggars and contadini, threaded many by-ways +between dark old buildings, saw one or two antique fountains and many +modern churches, and finally arrived at a hill. + +We ascended many steps, and then descending a little towards the other +side, saw suddenly below us the _Roman Forum_! I knew it at once; and +those three Corinthian columns that stood near us, what could they +be but the remains of the temple of Jupiter Stator? We stood on the +Capitoline Hill; at the foot was the Arch of Septimius Severus, brown +with age and shattered; near it stood the majestic front of the Temple +of Fortune, its pillars of polished granite glistening in the sun as if +they had been erected yesterday, while on the left the rank grass was +waving from the arches and mighty walls of the palace of the Cæsars! In +front ruin upon ruin lined the way for half a mile, where the Coliseum +towered grandly through the blue morning mist, at the base of the +Esquiline Hill! + +[Illustration: ARCH OF TITUS, ROME] + +Good heavens, what a scene! Grandeur such as the world never saw once +rose through that blue atmosphere; splendor inconceivable, the spoils +of a world, the triumphs of a thousand armies had passed over that +earth; minds which for ages moved the ancient world had thought there, +and words of power and glory from the lips of immortal men had been +syllabled on that hallowed air. To call back all this on the very spot, +while the wreck of what once was rose mouldering and desolate around, +aroused a sublimity of thought and feeling too powerful for words. + +Returning at hazard through the streets, we came suddenly upon the +Column of Trajan, standing in an excavated square below the level of +the city, amid a number of broken granite columns, which formed part +of the Forum dedicated to him by Rome after the conquest of Dacia. +The column is one hundred and thirty-two feet high, and entirely +covered with bas reliefs representing his victories, winding about it +in a spiral line to the top. The number of figures is computed at two +thousand five hundred, and they were of such excellence that Raphael +used many of them for his models. They are now much defaced, and the +column is surmounted by a statue of some saint. The inscription on +the pedestal has been erased, and the name of Sixtus V. substituted. +Nothing can exceed the ridiculous vanity of the old popes in thus +mutilating the finest monuments of ancient art. You cannot look upon +any relic of antiquity in Rome but your eyes are assailed by the words +"PONTIFEX MAXIMUS," in staring modern letters. Even the magnificent +bronzes of the Pantheon were stripped to make the baldachin under the +dome of St. Peter's. + +Finding our way back again, we took a fresh start, happily in the right +direction, and after walking some time, came out on the Tiber, at the +Bridge of St. Angelo. The river rolled below in his muddy glory, and in +front, on the opposite bank, stood "the pile which Hadrian reared on +high," _now_ the Castle of St. Angelo. Knowing that St. Peter's was +to be seen from this bridge. I looked about in search of it. There was +only one dome in sight, large and of beautiful proportions. I said at +once, "Surely that cannot be St. Peter's!" On looking again, however, I +saw the top of a massive range of building near it, which corresponded +so nearly with the pictures of the Vatican, that I was unwillingly +forced to believe the mighty dome was really before me. I recognized +it as one of those we saw from the Capitol, but it appeared so much +smaller when viewed from a greater distance that I was quite deceived. +On considering that we were still three-fourths of a mile from it, +and that we could see its minutest parts distinctly, the illusion was +explained. + +Going directly down the _Borgo Vecchio_ towards it, it seemed a long +time before we arrived at the square of St. Peter's; when at length +we stood in front, with the majestic colonnade sweeping around, the +fountains on each side sending up their showers of silvery spray, +the mighty obelisk of Egyptian granite piercing the sky, and beyond, +the great front and dome of the Cathedral, I confessed my unmingled +admiration. It recalled to my mind the grandeur of ancient Rome, and +mighty as her edifices must have been, I doubt if there were many views +more overpowering than this. The facade of St. Peter's seemed close to +us, but it was a third of a mile distant, and the people ascending the +steps dwindled to pigmies. + +I passed the obelisk, went up the long ascent, crossed the portico, +pushed aside the heavy leathern curtain at the entrance, and stood in +the great nave. I need not describe my feelings at the sight, but I +will tell the dimensions, and you may then fancy what they were. Before +me was a marble plain six hundred feet long, and under the cross four +hundred and seventeen feet wide! One hundred and fifty feet above +sprang a glorious arch, dazzling with inlaid gold, and in the centre +of the cross there were four hundred feet of air between me and the top +of the dome! The sunbeam stealing through the lofty window at one end +of the transept made a bar of light on the blue air, hazy with incense, +one-tenth of a mile long before it fell on the mosaics and gilded +shrines of the other extremity. The grand cupola alone, including +lantern and cross, is two hundred and eighty-five feet high, or sixty +feet higher than the Bunker Hill Monument, and the four immense pillars +on which it rests are each one hundred and thirty-seven feet in +circumference. It seems as if human art had outdone itself in producing +this temple,--the grandest which the world ever erected for the worship +of the Living God! The awe felt in looking up at the giant arch of +marble and gold did not humble me; on the contrary, I felt exalted, +ennobled,--beings in the form I wore planned the glorious edifice, and +it seemed that in godlike power and perseverance they were indeed but +a "little lower than the angels." I felt that, if fallen, my race was +still mighty and immortal. + +The Vatican is only open twice a week, on days which are not _festas_; +most fortunately, to-day happened to be one of these, and we took a +_run_ through its endless halls. The extent and magnificence of the +gallery of sculpture is perfectly amazing. The halls, which are filled +to overflowing with the finest works of ancient art, would, if placed +side by side, make a row more than two miles in length! You enter +at once into a hall of marble, with a magnificent arched ceiling, a +third of a mile long; the sides are covered for a great distance with +inscriptions of every kind, divided into compartments according to the +era of the empire to which they refer. One which I examined appeared to +be a kind of index of the roads in Italy, with the towns on them; and +we could decipher on that time-worn block the very route I had followed +from Florence hither. + +Then came the statues, and here I am bewildered how to describe them. +Hundreds upon hundreds of figures,--statues of citizens, generals, +emperors, and gods; fauns, satyrs, and nymphs, born of the loftiest +dreams of grace; fauns on whose faces shone the very soul of humor, and +heroes and divinities with an air of majesty worthy the "land of lost +gods and godlike men!" + +I am lost in astonishment at the perfection of art attained by the +Greeks and Romans. There is scarcely a fourth of the beauty that has +ever met my eye which is not to be found in this gallery. I should +almost despair of such another blaze of glory on the world were it not +for my devout belief that what has been done may be done again, and +had I not faith that the dawn in which we live will bring another day +equally glorious. And why should not America with the experience and +added wisdom which three thousand years have slowly yielded to the old +world, joined to the giant energy of her youth and freedom, re-bestow +on the world the divine creations of art? Let Powers answer! + +But let us step on to the hemicycle of the Belvedere, and view some +works greater than any we have yet seen or even imagined. The adjoining +gallery is filled with masterpieces of sculpture, but we will keep our +eyes unwearied and merely glance along the rows. At length we reach a +circular court with a fountain flinging up its waters in the centre. +Before us is an open cabinet; there is a beautiful manly form within, +but you would not for an instant take it for the Apollo. By the Gorgon +head it holds aloft we recognize Canova's Perseus,--he has copied the +form and attitude of the Apollo, but he could not breathe into it the +same warming fire. It seemed to me particularly lifeless, and I greatly +preferred his Boxers, who stand on either side of it. One, who has +drawn back in the attitude of striking, looks as if he could fell an ox +with a single blow of his powerful arm. The other is a more lithe and +agile figure, and there is a quick fire in his countenance which might +overbalance the massive strength of his opponent. + +Another cabinet,--this is the far-famed Antinous. A countenance of +perfect Grecian beauty, with a form such as we would imagine for one of +Homer's heroes. His features are in repose, and there is something in +their calm, settled expression strikingly like life. + +Now we look on a scene of the deepest physical agony. Mark how every +muscle of old Laocoon's body is distended to the utmost in the mighty +struggle! What intensity of pain in the quivering distorted features! +Every nerve which despair can call into action is excited in one giant +effort, and a scream of anguish seems first to have quivered on those +marble lips. The serpents have rolled their strangling coils around +father and sons, but terror has taken away the strength of the latter, +and they make but feeble resistance. After looking with indifference on +the many casts of this group, I was the more moved by the magnificent +original. It deserves all the admiration that has been heaped upon it. + +I absolutely trembled on approaching the cabinet of the Apollo. I had +built up in fancy a glorious ideal, drawn from all that bards have +sung or artists have rhapsodized about its divine beauty,--I feared +disappointment,--I dreaded to have my ideal displaced and my faith in +the power of human genius overthrown by a form less perfect. However, +with a feeling of desperate excitement I entered and looked upon it. + +Now, what shall I say of it? How make you comprehend its immortal +beauty? To what shall I liken its glorious perfection of form, or the +fire that imbues the cold marble with the soul of a god? Not with +sculpture, for it stands alone and above all other works of art,--nor +with men, for it has a majesty more than human. I gazed on it, +lost in wonder and joy,--joy that I could at last take into my mind +a faultless ideal of godlike, exalted manhood. The figure appears +actually to possess a spirit, and I looked on it not as on a piece of +marble but a being of loftier mould, and half expected to see him step +forward when the arrow reached its mark. I would give worlds to feel +one moment the sculptor's mental triumph when his work was completed; +that one exulting thrill must have repaid him for every ill he might +have suffered on earth! With what divine inspiration has he wrought its +faultless lines! There is a spirit in every limb which mere toil could +not have given. It must have been caught in those lofty moments + + "When each conception was a heavenly guest-- + A ray of immortality--and stood, + Star-like, around, until they gathered to a god?" + +We ran through a series of halls, roofed with golden stars on a deep +blue midnight sky, and filled with porphyry vases, black marble gods, +and mummies. Some of the statues shone with the matchless polish they +had received from a Theban artisan before Athens was founded, and are, +apparently, as fresh and perfect as when looked upon by the vassals of +Sesostris. Notwithstanding their stiff, rough-hewn limbs, there were +some figures of great beauty, and they gave me a much higher idea of +Egyptian sculpture. In an adjoining hall, containing colossal busts of +the gods, is a vase forty-one feet in circumference, of one solid block +of red porphyry. + +The "Transfiguration" is truly called the first picture in the world. +The same glow of inspiration which created the Belvedere must have been +required to paint the Saviour's aerial form. The three figures hover +above the earth in a blaze of glory, seemingly independent of all +material laws. The terrified Apostles on the mount, and the wondering +group below, correspond in the grandeur of their expression to the awe +and majesty of the scene. The only blemish in the sublime perfection of +the picture is the introduction of the two small figures on the left +hand, who, by the bye, were Cardinals, inserted there _by command_. +Some travellers say the color is all lost, but I was agreeably +surprised to find it well preserved. It is, undoubtedly, somewhat +imperfect in this respect, as Raphael died before it was entirely +finished; but "take it all in all," you may search the world in vain to +find its equal. + + [This ended the day's tour of observation. On a succeeding day + the traveller saw as many objects of interest; among them the + graves of Shelley and Keats. These, however, we must pass by, and + describe his visit to the ruins of the great Roman amphitheatre.] + +Amid the excitement of continually changing scenes I have forgotten +to mention our first visit to the Coliseum. The day after our arrival +we set out with two English friends to see it by sunset. Passing by +the glorious fountain of Trevi, we made our way to the Forum, and from +thence took the road to the Coliseum, lined on both sides with remains +of splendid edifices. The grass-grown ruins of the palace of the Cæsars +stretched along on our right; on our left we passed in succession +the granite front of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, the three +grand arches of the Temple of Peace, and the ruins of the Temple of +Venus and Rome. We went under the ruined triumphal arch of Titus, with +broken friezes representing the taking of Jerusalem, and the mighty +walls of the Coliseum gradually rose before us. They grew in grandeur +as we approached them, and when at length we stood in the centre, with +the shattered arches and grassy walls rising above and beyond one +another far around us, the red light of sunset giving them a soft and +melancholy beauty, I was fain to confess that another form of grandeur +had entered my mind of which before I knew not. + +A majesty like that of nature clothes this wonderful edifice. Walls +rise above walls, and arches above arches, from every side of the grand +arena, like a sweep of craggy pinnacled mountains around an oval lake. +The two outer circles have almost entirely disappeared, torn away by +the rapacious nobles of Rome, during the middle ages, to build their +palaces. When entire and filled with its hundred thousand spectators, +it must have exceeded any pageant which the world can now produce. No +wonder it was said,-- + + "While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand; + When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall; + And when Rome falls, the world!" + +--a prediction which time has not verified. The world is now going +forward prouder than ever, and though we thank Rome for the legacy +she has left us, we would not wish the dust of her ruin to cumber our +path.... + +Next to the Coliseum, the baths of Caracalla are the grandest remains +at Rome. The building is a thousand feet square, and its massive walls +look as if built by a race of giants. These Titan remains are covered +with green shrubbery, and long trailing vines sweep over the cornice +and wave down like tresses from the architrave and arch. In some of +its grand halls the mosaic pavement is yet entire. The excavations are +still carried on. From the number of statues already found, this would +seem to have been one of the most gorgeous edifices of the olden time. + +[Illustration: THE FAMOUS BRIDGE OF THE RIALTO, VENICE] + +I have been now several days loitering and sketching among the ruins, +and I feel as if I could willingly wander for months beside these +mournful relics, and draw inspiration from the lofty yet melancholy +lore they teach. There is a spirit haunting them real and undoubted. +Every shattered column, every broken arch and mouldering wall, but +calls up more vividly to mind the glory that has passed away. Each +lonely pillar stands as proudly as if it still helped to bear up a +great and glorious temple, and the air seems scarcely to have ceased +vibrating with the clarions that heralded a conqueror's triumph.... + +In Rome there is no need that the imagination be excited to call up +thrilling emotion or poetic revery; they are forced on the mind by the +sublime spirit of the scene. The roused bard might here pour forth his +thoughts in the wildest climaces, and I could believe he felt it all. +This is like the Italy of my dreams,--that golden realm whose image +has been nearly chased away by the earthly reality. I expected to +find a land of light and beauty, where every step crushed a flower or +displaced a sunbeam; where every air was poetic inspiration, and whose +every scene filled the soul with romantic feelings. Nothing is left of +my picture but the far-off mountains, robed in the sapphire veil of the +Ausonian air, and these ruins, amid whose fallen glory sits triumphant +the spirit of ancient song. + +I have seen the flush of morn and eve rest on the Coliseum; I have +seen the noonday sky framed in its broken loop-holes, like plates of +polished sapphire; and last night, as the moon has grown into the +zenith, I went to view it with her. Around the Forum all was silent and +spectral; a sentinel challenged us at the Arch of Titus, under which we +passed, and along the Cæsars' wall, which lay in shadow. Dead stillness +brooded around the Coliseum; the pale, silvery lustre streamed through +its arches and over the grassy walls, giving them a look of shadowy +grandeur which day could not bestow. The scene will remain fresh in my +memory forever. + + + + +POMPEII AND ITS DESTROYER. + +ALFRED E. LEE. + + [The ruins of Pompeii perhaps surpass in general interest any + other of the exhumed remains of man's ancient industry, and the + story of them has been very frequently told. For a good general + description we go to the "European Days and Ways" of Alfred E. + Lee, who also deals with Vesuvius as well as with its victim. He + tells us the whole history of the excavation, of which we can + but say here that up to 1860 not more than one-third of the town + was excavated, and that in 1863 the archæologist Fiorelli was + appointed to supervise the work, which has gone on steadily since.] + + +The ancient Pompeiians who gazed upon and admired the beauteous groves +and pastures which covered the symmetrical cone up to the very rim of +its smokeless, silent crater must have had but a faint idea of the real +nature of their terrible neighbor. But in the year 63 they received +a most impressive and--had it been heeded--timely warning of what +they were to expect. A fearful earthquake shook down their temples, +colonnades, and dwellings, giving awful premonition of the reawakening +of the stupendous forces of nature, which had been slumbering for +centuries. The city was a wreck, but it was immediately rebuilt, and +was greatly improved by conforming its architecture more nearly than +before to the style of imperial Rome. A reaction from the depressing +effects of disaster was at high tide, and Pompeii was doubtless more +splendid and more gay than ever, when, on the 24th of August, 79, it +was overtaken by the supreme catastrophe, the details of which, in +the absence of authentic narrative, have been supplied by the romance +of Bulwer. First came a dense shower of ashes, which covered the town +to the depth of three feet, impelling most of its inhabitants to fly +from its precincts. This was followed by a delusive lull, during which +many of the fugitives returned to seek their valuables, and perhaps +to care for the sick and infirm who could not be readily removed. But +directly the shower of ashes was succeeded by a heavy rain of red-hot +cinders and pumice, called rapilii, from which there was no escape. +This covered the town with another stratum, seven to eight feet thick, +burning the wooden upper stories from the houses, and extinguishing the +last vestige of animal life. On top of this the remorseless Cyclops +shook down more showers of ashes and then fiery rapilii, until the +superincumbent mass attained an average thickness of twenty feet, +and the beautiful city of the Sarno was literally smothered,--buried +alive, with scarcely a single trace of it above ground. For nearly +seventeen centuries Pompeii, except as a name and memory, disappeared +from history. In ancient times its ruins were ransacked, partly by +the survivors of its wreck, in recovering their valuables and the +dead bodies of their friends, and partly in the search for decorative +materials with which to embellish temples and other buildings. In this +way the city was stripped of nearly everything easily accessible which +was worth carrying away. Subsequent Vesuvian eruptions covered it still +more deeply, vegetation grew over it, and a village bearing its name +rose upon the ground which covered its ancient site. During the Middle +Ages the place was entirely unknown. In 1592 a subterranean aqueduct, +which is in use to this day, was carried under it without leading to +its discovery. In 1748 some statues and bronze utensils, discovered +by a peasant, attracted the attention of the reigning king of Naples +and Sicily, Charles III., who caused excavations to be made. At that +time the theatre, amphitheatre, and other portions of the buried town +were brought to light, discoveries which caused great surprise and +enthusiasm throughout the civilized world.... + +The excavated portion of the city, together with its museum and +library, are under the care of a corps of government guards, who, for +a European wonder, are forbidden to accept gratuities. Quite agreeably +to me, my visit fell on a holiday, when the guides were off duty, +so that I was permitted to wander at will among the silent streets, +unembarrassed by long and apocryphal verbal explanations. A previous +visit had familiarized me with the principal streets, buildings, and +localities, so that I had no difficulty in finding my way. Besides a +considerable region which had been excavated since my first visit, +eighteen months before, there were some important buildings which I had +not then been able to inspect. Among these was the Villa Diomed, so +conspicuous in Bulwer's romance. This villa--more properly speaking, +the house of M. Arrius Diomedes--was one of the largest and most +splendid of the Pompeiian residences, and, in addition to the usual +conveniences and luxuries of an elegant mansion of that day, enclosed +an interior court, or garden, one hundred and seven feet square, +open to the sky, surrounded by a colonnade, and embellished by a +central fountain. Beneath this court, on three sides, are long vaulted +chambers, reached by stair-ways, and lighted by narrow apertures in the +upper pavement. These cellars, now entirely cleared of rubbish, are +believed to have been used in the summer season as family promenades. +"In them," says Bulwer, "twenty skeletons (two of them babes, +embracing) were discovered in one spot by the door, covered by a fine +ashen dust that had evidently been slowly wafted through the apertures +until it had filled the whole space. There were jewels and coins, and +candelabra for unavailing light, and wine, hardened in the amphoræ, for +a prolongation of agonized life. The sand, consolidated by damps, had +taken the forms of the skeletons as in a cast, and the traveller may +yet see the impression of a female neck and bosom, of young and round +proportions, the trace of the fated Julia! It seems to the inquirer +as if the air had been gradually changed into a sulphurous vapor; +the inmates of the vaults had rushed to the door and found it closed +and blocked up by the scoriæ without, and in their attempts to force +it had been suffocated with the atmosphere. In the garden was found +a skeleton with a key by its bony hand, and near it a bag of coins. +This is believed to have been the master of the house, the unfortunate +Diomed, who had probably sought to escape by the garden, and been +destroyed either by the vapors or some fragment of stone. Beside some +silver vases lay another skeleton, probably a slave." The impression of +a girl's breast in the ashes, which Bulwer's fancy represents as the +sole remaining trace of one of his heroines, is still preserved in the +museum at Naples, and is as shapely and perfect as if the flesh of the +fair young victim had been moulded but yesterday instead of eighteen +hundred years ago. The bodies found in the Diomedan corridors had their +heads wrapped up, and were half covered by the fine infiltrated ashes, +in which was preserved even the imprint of the chemises worn by the +women and children. The bodies had decayed, like those embedded in +other parts of the town, but their forms had been moulded in the ashes +with wonderful precision and distinctness. + +In many cases such cavities, after the skeletons contained in them had +been carefully removed, were filled with liquid plaster, which produced +an accurate and durable image of the imprinted form. The museum at +Pompeii contains a collection of such images, which impress upon the +beholder, more vividly, perhaps, than any other objects, the horror +and consternation of those awful days when the rain of volcanic ashes +turned noon to night and overwhelmed the doomed city. One of these +figures is that of a girl with a ring on her finger; another, that of a +woman enceinte; a third, a man whose features are singularly distinct +and natural. A group of three includes father, mother, and daughter, +found lying near one another. The figure of a female shows even the +folds of her drapery and the arrangement of her hair. The attitudes are +generally those which follow a short and fierce death-struggle. Some of +the victims seem to have fallen upon their faces and died suddenly in +their flight. Others, who were perhaps asphyxiated by vapors, have the +calm attitude of sleep, as though death had been but a pleasant dream. + +Near the Great Theatre an open court with a peristyle of seventy-four +columns is surrounded by a series of detached cells. This is supposed +to have been a barrack for confinement of the gladiators who were +chosen for the contests of the arena. Sixty-three skeletons found here +are believed to have been those of soldiers who remained on duty during +the eruption. In one of the chambers, used as a prison, the skeletons +of two presumable criminals were found, together with the stocks and +irons with which they were bound for punishment. The story that the +people were assembled, in great numbers, to witness some spectacular +entertainment at the time the volcano began to belch upon them its +rain of ashes is probably a myth. The theatre had been badly wrecked +by the earthquake of 63, and its restoration was yet far from complete +when the eruption broke forth. The streets of Pompeii are generally +narrow, not over twenty-four--some of them not over fourteen--feet in +width, and are paved with blocks of lava, with high stepping-stones at +intervals, for the convenience of foot-passengers in rainy weather. +At the street corners public fountains are placed, from which the +water poured through the decorative head of a god, a mask, or some +similar ornament. Trade signs are rare, but political announcements are +frequently seen, conspicuously printed in red letters. Phallic emblems, +boldly cut in stone and built into the walls, surprise and shock us by +their frequency, notwithstanding their innocently meant purpose as a +means of protection against witchcraft. The architecture of the temples +and other public buildings is a clumsy mixture of the Greek and Roman +style, the columns being invariably laid up in brick or travertine, and +covered with stucco. The dwellings, built of the same materials, or of +travertine, have very little exterior adornment. Yet at the time of +its catastrophe Pompeii must have been a highly decorated town. Marble +was but little used architecturally, but the stucco which took its +place was admirably adapted to decorative painting, and this means of +ornamentation was lavishly employed. + +The lower halves of the columns are generally painted red, with +harmonizing colors on the capitals. Interior walls are also laid +with bright, gay coloring, usually red or yellow. But the most +attractive and striking of the mural decorations are the paintings, +the wonderful variety and delicacy of which are only surpassed by +the more astonishing wonder of their preservation. The subjects of +these pictures are generally drawn from poetry or mythology, as, for +instance, Theseus abandoning Ariadne, Ulysses relating his adventures +to Penelope, Cupid holding a mirror up to Venus, Apollo and the Muses, +Polyphemus receiving Galatea's letter from Cupid, Leda and the Swan, +Diana surprised in her bath by Actæon, Achilles and Patroclus, and +representations of Venus, Cupid, Bacchus, Silenus, Mercury, and the +fauns in endless variety. A favorite subject was the beautiful youth +Narcissus, son of the river-god Cephisus and the nymph Liriope. +According to the Greek fable, this youth, seeing his image in a +fountain, became enamoured of it, and, in punishment for his hardness +of heart towards Echo and other nymphs, pined away and was changed to a +flower. In consequence of its origin, this flower loves the borders of +streams, and, bending on its fragile stem, seems to seek its own image +in the waters, but soon fades and dies. + +The larger and finer dwellings of Pompeii have generally been named +from their supposed possessors, or from the works of art found in +them. The House of the Tragic Poet, so called from the representation +of a poet reading found in its tablinium, was one of the most elegant +in Pompeii. From the pavement of its vestibule was taken a celebrated +mosaic, now in the museum at Naples, representing a chained dog +barking, with the legend "_cave canem_"--"beware of the dog." The +periphery of the columns of the peristyle is fluted, except the lower +third of the shaft, which is smooth and painted red. The walls of +the interior are decorated with paintings, among which are Venus and +Cupid fishing, Diana with Orion, and a representation of Leda and +Tyndarus, which is very beautiful and remarkably well preserved. This +house, which figures in Bulwer's "Last Days of Pompeii" as the home +of Glaucus, was probably the dwelling of a goldsmith. One of the most +palatial residences yet brought to light is the House of Pansa,--one +hundred and twenty-four by three hundred and nineteen feet,--which +finely illustrates, in its complete and well-preserved appointments, +the plan of an aristocratic Pompeiian mansion of the imperial epoch. +Entering from the street by a vestibule, in the floor of which the +greeting, "_Salve_," was wrought in beautiful mosaic, we reach a large +interior court (atrium), which, owing to the absence of glass or +exterior openings, was necessary for the admission of light and air +to the surrounding chambers. A reservoir for rain-water (impluvium) +occupies the centre of the atrium. Passing from the atrium through a +large apartment called the tablinium, we enter, towards the rear, the +strictly domestic part of the house, which occupies more than half the +space within its walls, and is also provided with an interior court. +The family apartments open into this court, and derive from it their +light and ventilation. It encloses a garden surrounded by a peristyle, +and hence takes the name of peristylium. The front part of the house, +surrounding the atrium, was that in which the proprietor transacted his +business and held intercourse with the external world; the rear part, +surrounding the peristylium, was devoted to domestic use exclusively. +The roof, sloping inward, and open over the interior courts, discharged +the rain which fell upon it into the impluvium. The images of the +household gods usually occupied a place in the vestibule. The House of +Sallust, so named from an epigraph on its outside wall, appears from +later discoveries to have been the property of A. Cossius Libanus. +This house was finished in gay colors and embellished with mural +paintings, one of which--a representation of Actæon surprising Diana +at her bath--is singularly well preserved. Other subjects treated are +the rape of Europa (badly defaced), and Helle in the sea extending her +arm to Phryxus. Opposite to the Actæon is a dainty chamber, arbitrarily +named the venereum, surrounded by polygonal columns painted red. +The impluvium was adorned with a bronze group--now in the museum at +Palermo--representing Hercules contending with a stag. Out of the mouth +of the stag, in this group, the waters of the fountain gushed. Some of +the bedrooms of this house were floored with African marble. + +The House of Meleager takes its name from one of its mural decorations +illustrating the story of Meleager and Atalanta. Other frescos adorn +its walls, representing the judgment of Paris, Mercury presenting +a purse to Ceres, and a young satyr frightening a bacchante with a +serpent. Its peristylium, sixty by seventy-three feet, is the finest +yet found in Pompeii. The columns of the peristylium are covered with +yellow stucco and its chambers are floored with mosaic. A colonnade +rises on three sides of the dining-room, and one of twenty-four +columns, red below and white above, supports the portico. A garden to +the left of the atrium and in front of the portico is adorned by a +pretty fountain. An exquisite bronze statuette of a dancing faun, now +in the Naples museum, gave its present title to the most beautiful and +also one of the largest houses in Pompeii. The discovery of this house +was first made in 1830, in the presence of a son of the poet Goethe. A +small pedestal, on which the statuette of the faun stood, is still seen +in the marble-lined impluvium. In the mosaic floor of one of the rooms +near by three doves are represented drawing a string of pearls from a +casket. Mosaics in the dining-room represented Acratus (companion of +Bacchus) riding on a lion, a cat devouring a partridge, and a group +of crustaceans and fishes. The salutation, "_Have_," (welcome) is +wrought with colored marble in the pavement of the vestibule before the +main entrance. The walls are covered with stucco made of cement, in +imitation of colored marble. + +The atrium, thirty-five by thirty-eight feet, is finished in the Tuscan +style, but the twenty-eight columns surrounding the peristylium are +Ionic. In the rear of the mansion opens a garden, one hundred and +five by one hundred and fifteen feet, enclosed with a peristyle of +fifty-six Doric columns. Various articles in gold, silver, bronze, and +terra-cotta were found in this house, and also some skeletons, one +of which was that of a woman with a gold ring on her finger engraved +with the name Cassia. But the most important discovery of all made in +the House of the Faun was that of the magnificent mosaic of Alexander +in the battle of Issus. "This work, which is almost the only ancient +historical composition in existence, represents the battle at the +moment when Alexander, whose helmet has fallen from his head, charges +Darius with his cavalry and transfixes the general of the Persians, +who has fallen from his wounded horse. The chariot of the Persian +monarch is prepared for retreat, whilst in the foreground a Persian of +rank, in order to insure the more speedy escape of the king, who is +absorbed in thought at the sight of his expiring general, offers him +his horse."--Baedeker. + +Such are some of the principal mansions of Pompeii and the objects +found in them. All of the most precious works of art which were or +could be detached, including many exquisite little mural frescos, +have been removed and deposited in the museum at Naples. The ruins +and the museum explain each other, and taken together furnish the +most complete and vivid illustration of ancient life in the world. No +books, no pictures, can tell us so clearly and comprehensively how the +people of that day and country lived as the remains of this buried +city. Its dwellings, shops, streets, prisons, temples, theatres, and +tombs disclose with amazing fulness and accuracy the pursuits, habits, +follies, vices, and even the thoughts of its inhabitants, just as they +were living and moving when caught, overwhelmed, and forever stilled +in the full tide of their existence. Well-curbs worn by the sliding +rope, stepping-stones hollowed by the march of eager multitudes, +pavements scarred by the stamp of horses' hoofs, advertisements +painted on public walls, shops and magazines containing the symbols +and utensils of trade, fountains where the crystal torrent might have +hushed but an hour ago its rippling voice, temples whose altars bear +yet the marks of sacrificial fires, frescos whose color and outline +are bright and delicate in spite of calamity and time, mosaic floors +smooth and shining as if polished only yesterday by the dance of dainty +feet,--these and a thousand more traces of the life of that ancient +time help the imagination to re-people and restore the ruined city as +it was in the day of its pride and splendor. + +An inspection of the ruins of Pompeii deepens upon the mind its +impressions of the sublimity and terror of Vesuvius. Physically +speaking, the volcano is but a monstrous heap of ashes, stones, and +scoriæ, hollow, or partially so, in the centre, and streaked with +black, solidified lava-currents on the outside. From the crater, +whirling volumes of steam and smoke constantly issue, each rotary gush +representing an interior explosion, usually heard only on the summit. +In the varying states of the atmosphere this monstrous volume of vapor +rises in columnar form for thousands of feet, and is then borne far to +seaward, or landward, by the upper currents of the air; or it falls in +a dense, sulphurous, shapeless cloud, which envelops and conceals the +upper part of the mountain. In the latter condition of things I made my +first ascent; in the former my second. On the first occasion we went up +from Portici and down to Pompeii; on the second, the route was reversed. + +From Pompeii the summit may be made--on horseback as far as the foot of +the cone--in about three hours. The railway on the Portici side ascends +to the outside rim of the crater, within which, separated by fissured +slabs of lava, which a yard below the surface yet glow with living +fire, the main chimney or flue of the volcano rises some hundreds of +feet higher. On the eastern side, below the rim, a lava stream of +considerable magnitude had burst forth at the time of my visit, and was +issuing with a fierce hissing sound. Its course could be traced down +the slopes of the mountain for the distance of a mile. Its movement, +at first quite rapid, was soon checked by the cooling effect of the +atmosphere. The operations of the crater at this time were extremely +interesting. Near the base of the finial cone a small secondary +volcanic funnel had recently been formed, which sometimes almost +silenced with its screeching and blubber the thunderous rumbling within +the main chimney. Neither of the active craters could be approached +with safety, but they made no objections to being looked at, and so, +dismissing my guide, I remained about two hours on the summit, watching +their antics. Sometimes the smaller crater, or safety-valve, as it +seemed to be, would work itself up to a perfect frenzy of hysterical +hissing and shrieking, as though all the misery of a hundred colicky +locomotives were venting itself in one prolonged scream. During such +spells the red liquid lava would bubble over the rim for a time, like +the boiling of an overfilled pot; then suddenly some explosive interior +force would throw it into the air in a sheaf of beautiful red spray, +rising and descending in graceful parabolas all around the cone. After +this performance, the little fellow would subside and keep tolerably +quiet for ten minutes or so, when it would be seized with another +paroxysm. + +The larger crater, though also intermittent, was more progressive +and less fidgety in its action. Its behavior had the dignified air +of regular business, while the safety-valve demeaned itself more as +a transient upstart, impatient of attracting popular attention. The +masses of steam and smoke issuing from the main orifice were somewhat +irregular, both in quantity and velocity, their increase in both +respects being always accompanied by louder and more rapid interior +explosions. At the moments of greatest activity showers of stones +and lumps of red lava were hurled into the air to heights varying +from three hundred to one thousand feet, and, descending, rolled +rattling and smoking down the yellow, sulphurous sides of the cone. +The spectacle was terrifically sublime at times, particularly when the +safety-valve chimed in with its screaming accompaniment, and flung +aloft its _jet-d'eau_-like pyrotechnics. The missiles projected from +the main crater soared at an angle of about fifty degrees, and almost +uniformly in the same direction, so that they fell on territory of +which the spectator, looking on from the opposite point of the compass, +was quite willing to accord monopoly of possession, with a liberal +margin for unadjusted boundary. + +As sunset approached, and the shades of evening were beginning to add +new touches of grandeur to the sublime spectacle, I took leave of +it reluctantly, and, with Brobdingnagian strides down the volcanic +ash-heap, descended in not more than seven minutes a space which it had +once cost me a weary half-hour and the help of two guides to climb. +Three hours later the red currents of lava could be seen from my window +in Naples, glittering far away in the darkness, and streaking the black +sides of the volcano like descending streams of molten gold. + + + + +MOUNT ETNA IN ERUPTION. + +BAYARD TAYLOR. + + [It is not Etna in one of its gigantic throes of eruption that + we propose to describe. The traveller whose story of the mountain + we append was not fortunate enough to witness such a spectacle. + But he saw it in a minor phase of activity, and describes the + vision so well that his account is well worth repeating. It was + on his way from Malta to Sicily that he first caught sight of + the volcano, ninety miles away, rising in solitary state behind + the nearer mountains. He continued his course till abreast of + Syracuse, "with Etna as distant as ever."] + + +The fourth morning dawned, and--great Neptune be praised!--we were +actually within the Gulf of Catania. Etna loomed up in all his sublime +bulk, unobscured by cloud or mist, while a slender jet of smoke, rising +from his crater, was slowly curling its wreaths in the clear air, as +if happy to receive the first beam of the sun. The towers of Syracuse, +which had mocked us all the preceding day, were no longer visible; the +land-locked little port of Augusta lay behind us; and, as the wind +continued favorable, ere long we saw a faint white mark at the foot of +the mountain. This was Catania. + +The shores of the bay were enlivened with orange-groves and the gleam +of the villages, while here and there a single palm dreamed of its +brothers across the sea. Etna, of course, had the monarch's place in +the landscape, but even his large, magnificent outlines could not usurp +all my feelings. The purple peaks to the westward and farther inland +had a beauty of their own, and in the gentle curves with which they +leaned towards each other there was a promise of the flowery meadows of +Enna.... + +Catania presented a lovely picture as we drew near its harbor. Planted +at the very foot of Etna, it has a background such as neither Naples +nor Genoa can boast. The hills next the sea are covered with gardens +and orchards, sprinkled with little villages and the country-places +of the nobles,--a rich, cultured landscape, which gradually merges +into the forests of oak and chestnut that girdle the waist of the +great volcano. But all the wealth of southern vegetation cannot hide +the footsteps of that Ruin, which from time to time visits the soil. +Half-way up the mountain-side is dotted with cones of ashes and +cinders, some covered with the scanty shrubbery which centuries have +called forth, some barren and recent; while two dark, winding streams +of sterile lava descend to the very shore, where they stand congealed +in ragged needles and pyramids. Part of one of these black floods has +swept the town, and, tumbling into the sea, walls one side of the port. + + [What shall we say of Catania? It has not dwelt at the foot of + Mount Etna with impunity, but has been more than once destroyed. + During the week of Mr. Taylor's visit the centennial festival of + St. Agatha, the miracles of whose martyrdom had here their scene, + took place. This saint still performs miracles, "and her power + is equally efficacious in preventing earthquakes and eruptions + of Mount Etna." The festival was brilliant in illuminations and + pyrotechnic displays.] + +Truly, except the illumination of the Golden Horn on the Night of +Predestination, I have seen nothing equal to the spectacle presented by +Catania during the past three nights. The city, which has been built +up from her ruins more stately than ever, was in a blaze of light, +all her domes, towers, and the long lines of her beautiful palaces +revealed in the varying red and golden flames of a hundred thousand +lamps and torches. Pyramids of fire, transparencies, and illuminated +triumphal arches filled the four principal streets, and the fountain +in the cathedral square gleamed like a jet of molten silver, spinning +up from one of the pores of Etna. At ten o'clock a gorgeous display of +fireworks closed the day's festivities, but the lamps remained burning +nearly all night. + +On the second night the grand Procession of the Veil took place. I +witnessed the imposing spectacle from the balcony of Prince Gessina's +palace. Long lines of waxen torches led the way, followed by a military +band, and then a company of the highest prelates in their most +brilliant costumes, surrounding the bishop, who walked under a canopy +of silk and gold, bearing the miraculous veil of St. Agatha. I was +blessed with a distant view of it, but could see no traces of the rosy +hue left upon it by the flames of the saint's martyrdom.... + +To-night Signor Scava, the American vice-consul, took me to the palace +of Prince Biscari, overlooking the harbor, in order to behold the +grand display of fireworks from the end of the mole. The showers of +rockets and colored stars, and the temples of blue and silver fire, +were repeated in the dark, quiet bosom of the sea, producing the most +dazzling and startling effects.... + +Among the antiquities of Catania which I have visited are the +Amphitheatre, capable of holding fifteen thousand persons, the old +Greek Theatre, in which Alcibiades made his noted harangue to the +Catanians, the Odeon, and the ancient baths. The theatre, which is +in tolerable preservation, is built of lava, like many of the modern +edifices in the city. The baths proved to me, what I had supposed, that +the Oriental bath of the present day is identical with that of the +ancients. Why so admirable an institution has never been introduced +into Europe is more than I can tell. From the pavement of these baths, +which is nearly twenty feet below the surface of the earth, the lava of +later eruptions has burst up, in places, in hard black jets. The most +wonderful token of that flood which whelmed Catania two hundred years +ago is to be seen at the grand Benedictine convent of San Nicola, in +the upper part of the city. Here the stream of lava divides itself just +before the convent, and flows past on both sides, leaving the buildings +and garden untouched. The marble courts, the fountains, the splendid +galleries, and the gardens of richest Southern bloom and fragrance +stand like an epicurean island in the midst of the terrible stony +waves, whose edges bristle with the thorny aloe and cactus.... + +The noises of the festival had not ceased when I closed my eyes at +midnight. I slept soundly through the night, but was awakened before +sunrise by my Sicilian landlord. "Oh, Excellenza! have you heard the +Mountain? He is going to break out again; may the holy St. Agatha +protect us!" + +It is rather ill-timed on the part of the Mountain, was my involuntary +first thought, that he should choose for a new eruption precisely the +centennial festival of the only saint who is supposed to have any power +over him. It shows a disregard of female influence not at all suited +to the present day, and I scarcely believe that he seriously means it. +Next comes along the jabbering landlady: "I don't like his looks. It +was just so the last time. Come, Excellenza, you can see him from the +back terrace." + +The sun was not yet risen, but the east was bright with his coming, and +there was not a cloud in the sky. All the features of Etna were sharply +sculptured in the clear air. From the topmost cone a thick stream of +white smoke was slowly puffed out at short intervals, and rolled lazily +down the eastern side. It had a heavy, languid character, and I should +have thought nothing of the appearance but for the alarm of my hosts. +It was like the slow fire of earth's incense burning on that grand +mountain altar. + +I hurried off to the post-office to await the arrival of the diligence +from Palermo. The office is in the Strada Etnea, the main street of +Catania, which runs straight through the city from the sea to the base +of the mountain whose peak closes the long vista. The diligence was an +hour later than usual, and I passed the time in watching the smoke, +which continued to increase in volume, and was mingled, from time to +time, with jets of inky blackness. The postilion said he had seen fires +and heard loud noises during the night. According to his account, the +disturbances commenced about midnight. + +At last we rolled out of Catania. There were in the diligence, besides +myself, two men and a woman, Sicilians of the secondary class. The road +followed the shore, over rugged tracts of lava, the different epochs of +which could be distinctly traced in the character of their vegetation. +The last great flow (of 1679) stood piled in long ridges of terrible +sterility, barely allowing the aloe and cactus to take root in the +hollows between. The older deposits were sufficiently decomposed to +nourish the olive and vine, but even here the orchards were studded +with pyramids of the harder fragments, which are laboriously collected +by the husbandmen. In the few favored spots which have been untouched +for so many ages that a tolerable depth of soil has accumulated, the +vegetation has all the richness and brilliancy of tropical lands. +The palm, orange, and pomegranate thrive luxuriantly, and the vines +almost break under their heavy clusters. The villages are frequent and +well-built, and the hills are studded, far and near, with the villas +of rich proprietors, mostly buildings of one story, with verandas +extending their whole length. Looking up towards Etna, whose base the +road encircles, the views are gloriously rich and beautiful. On the +other hand is the blue Mediterranean and the irregular outline of the +shore, here and there sending forth promontories of lava, cooled by the +waves into the most fantastic forms. + +We had not proceeded far before a new sign called my attention to +the mountain. Not only was there a perceptible jar or vibration in +the earth, but a dull, groaning sound, like the muttering of distant +thunder, began to be heard. The smoke increased in volume, and, as we +advanced farther to the eastward, and much nearer to the great cone, +I perceived that it consisted of two jets issuing from different +mouths. A broad stream of very dense white smoke still flowed over the +lip of the topmost crater and down the eastern side. As its breadth +did not vary, and the edges were distinctly defined, it was no doubt +the sulphureous vapor rising from a river of molten lava. Perhaps a +thousand yards below a much stronger column of mingled black and white +smoke gushed up in regular beats or pants from a depression in the +mountain-side, between two small extinct cones. All this part of Etna +was scarred with deep chasms, and in the bottoms of those nearest the +opening I could see the red gleam of fire. The air was perfectly still, +and as yet there was no cloud in the sky. + +When we stopped to change horses at the town of Aci Reale, I first felt +the violence of the tremor and the awful sternness of the sound. The +smoke by this time seemed to be gathering on the side towards Catania, +and hung in a dark mass about half-way down the mountain. Groups of the +villagers were gathered in the streets which looked upward to Etna and +discussing the chances of an eruption. "Ah," said an old peasant, "the +Mountain knows how to make himself respected. When he talks, everybody +listens." The sound was the most awful that ever met my ears. It was a +hard, painful moan, now and then fluttering like a suppressed sob, and +had, at the same time, an expression of threatening and of agony. It +did not come from Etna alone. It had no fixed location; it pervaded +all space. It was in the air, in the depths of the sea, in the earth +under my feet, everywhere, in fact; and as it continued to increase in +violence I experienced a sensation of positive pain. The people looked +anxious and alarmed, although they said it was a good thing for all +Sicily; the last year they had been in constant fear from earthquakes, +and an eruption invariably left the earth quiet for several years. It +is true that during the past year parts of Sicily and Calabria have +been visited with severe shocks, occasioning much damage to property. +A merchant of this city [Messina] informed me yesterday that his whole +family had slept for two months in the vaults of his warehouse, fearing +that their residence might be shaken down in the night. + +As we rode along from Aci Reale to Taormina, all the rattling of the +diligence over the rough road could not drown the awful noise. There +was a strong smell of sulphur in the air, and the thick pants of smoke +from the lower crater continued to increase in strength. The sun was +fierce and hot, and the edges of the sulphureous clouds shone with a +dazzling whiteness. A mounted soldier overtook us, and rode beside the +diligence, talking with the postilion. He had been up to the mountain, +and was taking his report to the governor of the district. + +The heat of the day and the continued tremor of the air lulled me +into a sort of doze, when I was suddenly aroused by a cry from the +soldier and the stopping of the diligence. At the same time there was +a terrific peal of sound, followed by a jar that must have shaken the +whole island. We looked up to Etna, which was fortunately in full +view before us. An immense mass of snow-white smoke had burst up from +the crater, and was rising perpendicularly into the air, the rounded +volumes rapidly whirling one over the other, yet urged with such +impetus that they only rolled outward after they had ascended to an +immense height. It might have been one minute or five, for I was so +entranced by this wonderful spectacle that I lost the sense of time, +but it seemed instantaneous (so rapid and violent were the effects of +the explosion), when there stood in the air, based on the summit of the +mountain, a mass of smoke four or five miles high, and shaped precisely +like the Italian pine-tree. + +Words cannot paint the grandeur of this mighty tree. Its trunk of +columned smoke, one side of which was silvered by the sun, while the +other, in shadow, was lurid with red flame, rose for more than a mile +before it sent out its cloudy boughs. Then parting into a thousand +streams, each of which again threw out its branching tufts of smoke, +rolling and waving in the air, it stood in intense relief against the +dark blue of the sky. Its rounded masses of foliage were dazzlingly +white on one side, while, in the shadowy depths of the branches, there +was a constant play of brown, yellow, and crimson tints, revealing +the central shaft of fire. It was like the tree celebrated in the +Scandinavian sagas, as seen by the mother of Harold Hardrada,--that +tree whose roots pierced through the earth, whose trunk was of the +color of blood, and whose branches filled the uttermost corners of the +heavens. + +The outburst seemed to have relieved the mountain, for the tremors were +now less violent, though the terrible noise still droned in the air, +and earth, and sea. And now, from the base of the tree, three white +streams slowly crept into as many separate chasms, against the walls +of which played the flickering glow of the burning lava. The column of +smoke and flame was still hurled upward, and the tree, after standing +about ten minutes,--a new and awful revelation of the active forces of +nature,--gradually rose and spread, lost its form, and, slowly moved +by a light wind (the first that disturbed the dead calm of the day), +bent over to the eastward. + +We resumed our course. The vast belt of smoke at last arched over the +strait, here about twenty miles wide, and sank towards the distant +Calabrian shore. As we drove under it, for some miles of our way, the +sun was totally obscured, and the sky presented the singular spectacle +of two hemispheres of clear blue, with a broad belt of darkness drawn +between them. There was a hot, sulphureous vapor in the air, and +showers of white ashes fell from time to time. We were distant about +twelve miles, in a straight line, from the crater, but the air was so +clear, even under the shadow of the smoke, that I could distinctly +trace the downward movement of the rivers of lava. + +This was the eruption, at last, to which all the phenomena of the +morning had been only preparatory. For the first time in ten years the +depths of Etna had been stirred, and I thanked God for my detention at +Malta, and the singular hazard of travel which had brought me here, +to his very base, to witness a scene the impression of which I shall +never lose to my dying day. Although the eruption may continue, and the +mountain pour forth fiercer fires and broader tides of lava, I cannot +but think that the first upheaval, which lets out the long-imprisoned +forces, will not be equalled in grandeur by any later spectacle. + +After passing Taormina, our road led us under the hills of the coast, +and although I occasionally caught glimpses of Etna, and saw the +reflection of fire from the lava which was filling up his savage +ravines, the smoke at last encircled his waist, and he was then shut +out of sight by the intervening mountains. We lost a bolt in the deep +valley opening to the sea, and during our stoppage I could still hear +the groans of the mountain, though farther off and less painful to the +ear. As evening came on, the beautiful hills of Calabria, with white +towns and villages on their sides, gleamed in the purple light of the +setting sun. We drove around headland after headland, till the strait +opened, and we looked over the harbor of Messina to Cape Faro and the +distant islands of the Tyrrhene Sea. + + + + +PLEBEIAN LIFE IN VENICE. + +HORACE ST. JOHN. + + [Venice is not all made up of palaces and patricians, not all + bronze and marble, pictures and statuary. Out of the range of all + this, unseen by the ordinary traveller, lies another and humbler + Venice, where the poor pass their straitened lives, but which has + a character and attraction of its own, worthy of being seen and + described. We give St. John's story of discovery in this realm of + what he calls "vulgar Venice."] + + +It may not be a discovery, but it is a fact not often noticed, that +there is an every-day Venice which is decidedly vulgar,--which means +that it is not all Rialto, Bridge of Sighs, Grand Canal, or Doge's +Palace. But, to judge from poems, pictures, and tourists, the city is +one beautiful dream, of marble and bronze, of jasper and vermilion, of +pictures and the sculptor's breathing models. The temptation is, no +doubt, seducing to pass all your time where the great columns stand, +where the bronze horses, near St. Mark's, glow with all the colors of +the sunset, and where that strangely composed young girl shows you +through the horrible labyrinths of the state prison. + +Yet there is another Venice which artists rarely touch, as if all low +life were confined to the Low Countries, where they are eager enough +to sketch fish-stalls and kitchens by the light of "single candle" +Schendel. And this Venice has not a solitary element of romance or +beauty about it. Step into the "omnibus gondola"--the very thought is +enough to obliterate an epic of enthusiasm--and it will land you where +the Venetians lead their common lives, without any Byron to bewail +them. The songless gondoliers of these public boats are a miserable +set of folk. They never save anything; their fathers never saved +anything before them; but they keep up their spirits notwithstanding. +Thus, between Giacomo passing Beppo, "Good luck to you!" "Thanks!" "Be +hanged, you and your thanks!" Or, "Many patrons?" "Many." "You and your +patrons be hanged!" These affectionate greetings are universal. + +But the grimy gondola has stopped, and the buying and selling quarter +has been reached. No stately ladies, or very few, here "serpentining," +as Balzac says, whatever he may mean, along the pavement, and not too +many of the white-bodiced damsels, who look so graceful on canvas, as +if they were always clean and dark Madonnas into the bargain; because, +to tell the truth, these ladies are accustomed, in warm weather, to lay +aside those pretty bodices, and work in an attire at once more light +and more loose. They are exceedingly busy, and the scene is wonderfully +animated. + +Venice, providing its dinner, has been compared with a huge ship in +port, taking in provisions. Padua and Vicenza have brought their corn +and oil; the islands have sent their indescribably superb fruit; +Friuli, Istria, Illyria, and the Turkish Archipelago contribute grain, +meat, game, conserves, and pickles; Austria, Hungary, and Dalmatia +supply wine, which is diluted, by the humbler sort of consumers, with +sea water, which the "stick girls," so called from the yokes they +carry on their shoulders, bring about. They are from Friuli, whose +snow-white summits are just visible from here,--and striking enough +they are in their bright bodices, short blue or green skirts, with red +borders, and white Calabrian hats, daintily tipped on one side, in +order that the massive gold hair ornaments or polished steel pins may +be admired. But these charming water-carriers are despised; they live +apart from the other inhabitants; and not a Venetian will ever marry +one of them. Still, they often return to their mountains, tolerably +rich, and their Titian faces are quite as proud with scorn of the +Venetians as those of Venetians are for them. + +However, it is market-time, which must not be wasted upon international +antipathies. Nearly everything in Venice is sold, and nearly +everything eatable is eaten, among the inferior classes, in the open +air,--polenta, beef, mutton, fish, frying, grilling, roasting, and +perpetually passing hot into the hands of the _al fresco_ customers. +It is generally very good; but best of all is the bread made "on the +Continent" expressly for Venice, in the incomparable little district of +Piava. Armed with a "tasting order," which a few of the smallest coins +imaginable will command, you pass through the hungry throng. This is +soup, by no means bad, at two-thirds of a half-penny the basin. That is +calves'-head; these are lamb- and pork-chops, with heart and tripe, the +savor whereof is suggestive of ancient sacrifices. + +Some of the people keep stalls; others shops, without doors or windows. +It appears odd to a stranger, upon entering a wine-hall, to be offered +a plateful of highly-salted mutton, a comestible which everybody +appears to be devouring. After it a service of fish, the entire flavor +of which has been absorbed in brine. Then you are ready to drink; but +the wine is salted also! There are two delicacies, however, in which +persons of every degree delight, and which induce the denizens of the +opulent quarter to bring their nobility here. The first is a small +white biscuit, made of the most exquisite flour and fresh butter, so +speckless, light, and fragile that they crumble at a rough touch, and +will not keep longer than twelve hours. Who wants to feast upon them, +then, must come to the oven, and, tenderly handling the _bianchetti_, +dip them in the wine of Cyprus, and believe in solid ambrosia. The +second rarity--uniqueness I would say, if there were such a word--is a +little fish, fried in oil, which is sold from morning till night, all +through the season. You shall see a maiden of Venice, gloved like a +Parisian, "well knotted," elegant of costume, and in air patrician, buy +two pennyworth of these dainties,--the whitebait of Italy,--smelling +of oil, fire, and the frying-pan, wrap them in paper, take them to +a cabaret, sit down, and relish them unmistakably over a flask of +Cyprus. She is never alone, however, but accompanied by an escort, who +is stamped a gentleman by that sign infallible in Venice, whether or +not it be so elsewhere,--his dress. At the same table may be seated, +possibly, the very fisherman who provided the banquet. + +But what is the meaning of the phrase just used, "well knotted"? Let +her wear the richest silk ever spun in Italy, and the haughtiest +Hungarian hat, with its aigrette of a dove's wing, your Venetian lady +of blue blood is not distinguishable, except by what she has upon +her neck. And this is a gold chain, of apparently countless links, +beautifully brilliant, with that reddish tinge which has so often +been the perplexity of painters, though Titian mastered it, as he did +everything else; and falling from the throat is gathered in a coil +at the waist, where, the larger and heavier the knot, the higher the +patent of social splendor. + +Though I am not concerned at present with the aristocracy of the +sea-born city, still, if lofty dames will eat little fishes in a +market-place, they cannot complain of personalities, should the remark +be made that some are dark as ever Giorgione or Carpaccio painted; +while others, to borrow the ejaculation of a rapturous wanderer from +Paris, who was not really in a rapture, and who, of course, did not +mean what he was saying, might be mistaken for the daughters of Aurora, +a contrast reminding you of Adam's two wives in the Talmud. + +But madame has finished her _gouter_, and, once more taking a liberty +with my Frenchman, I remark that she "undulates always with an +appearance of perfect satisfaction." She will not be seen here again +until the same freak of appetite seizes her. For, as a rule, the lower +classes--as, indeed, they do everywhere--have their own neighborhoods +to themselves, though in Venice, naturally, owing to the peculiarity +of its position, there are subdivisions. The workmen and artificers +and traders are quite distinct from the boatmen and fishermen, upon +whom they look with contempt, and with whom they were formerly in a +state of incessant feud. The former wear red caps and belts; the belts +and caps of the latter are entirely either black or blue, the capes +having tassels of the same color, which give an Oriental character to a +Venetian crowd. + +[Illustration: THE CHURCH OF ST. MARK, VENICE] + +And here a curious point occurs. Your great lady prides herself upon +the knot in her gold chain; your fisherman or ferryman wears a scarf +round his neck, and the bigger the knot he can tie the prouder he +is of himself. Again, the gondoliers have their grades of rank. The +lords of the black "water broughams," as some one very much in want of +a smart saying termed them, are in the service of private families, +and hold themselves ready for orders like coachmen. The second degree +is composed--to carry on the analogy--of the canal cabmen, who live +upon chance, upon travellers, and upon Romeos and Juliets, whenever +these young persons are engaged in adventure. Lastly, there are the +gondoliers with fixed stations and fixed destinations, ferrymen who +float to and fro. But they are all very important to Venice. They are +the links of its life; for, singularly enough, it has not bridges +enough, and in this respect is utterly unlike Amsterdam, with which +it is so often and so absurdly compared. If, however, they swear at +one another, they swear at the railway in a chorus. It is rarely, +in these days, that any good luck befalls them. Now and then, to be +sure, a music and singing party, dizzy with the juice of the Dalmatian +grape, attempt to wake the echoes of Tasso among the lagoons, or two +fond fools, fresh from their nuptials in the north, glide over the +moonlit sea, regardless of expense, and look at life through the stars; +yet such Jessica evenings are few and far between, and the Venetian +gondoliers, seen by daylight, look like anything rather than Fenimore +Cooper's hero, or even a daub in a Canaletti canvas. Still, his +ancient art has not deserted him, and he can push his craft along at a +wonderful speed. + +There is one peculiarity about them which the stranger does not readily +understand. They speak as though their language was as limpid as the +water on which they live, and made up almost entirely of vowels. You +wish to be set ashore at the steps of the "Luna" hotel? Certainly; +your gondolier knows the "Una" hotel perfectly well. He has another +characteristic, not quite so uncommon: he is an unblushing cheat. +His Venetian customers pay him tenpence, when you, being a stranger, +must pay him half a crown, which is an Italian method of expressing +patriotism, I suppose. Yet he is continually to be found upon his knees +before the altar, and has a patron of his own, whom he invokes upon +every necessary or unnecessary occasion. + +From him I turn for a moment to another type,--the _ciceroni_,--only, +however, to mention a single example. She was a young girl who +undertook to show the visitor, fresh from the glories of the ducal +palace, through the black labyrinths of the ducal prison. She took two +wax tapers, lighted them, gave him one, keeping the other herself, and +jingled a great bunch of keys. Then the really pretty and graceful +maiden led the way down a worn, slippery, dark staircase, up another +across the Bridge of Sighs, down again, telling all the way fearful +legends of the place, and plunged deeper into the shadowy recesses at +every step. + +"Are you not afraid?" she is asked. + +"A Venetian girl feels no fear," is her answer. + +That is a terrible interior, however, with its range upon range of +hideous cells; but worst of all is a vault, without a spark of natural +light in it, which seems as if dug in the rock. Its roof is stained +by lampblack; its walls bear traces of clamps and chains. "Here the +secret executions took place; here the son of a doge was beheaded for +daring to love a foreign lady. Only great criminals--that is, great +lords--were put to death here." I wonder whether this tender turnkey, +if she had prisoners under her charge, would be pitiless to them. There +is something painful in the contrast between such a gaol and such a +gaoler. + +Leaving her, you pass across the square with its corner group of +beggars, its swarm of bare-headed children, its clusters of boys with +their hair flowing wild, and their brown necks and chests exposed, who +give you an idea that they are expecting their photographs to be taken, +but who, nevertheless, bake themselves in the sun languidly enough, and +act upon the national maxim, "_bisogna stare allegro_." There is but +a solitary influence which can rouse your true Venetian to a state of +excitement, and that is the presence of death. Rich or poor, he hates +it; rich, he rides or rows away to the farthest possible distance; +poor, he hides, if he can, until the object of his abhorrence is +removed. Somehow these vagrants of the island city never starve. They +earn, by one means or another, sufficient for the day, which signifies +sufficient for dinner,--two pennyworth of fish, ready cooked, as +already described; one pennyworth of soup, and one of bread; and it may +be suspected that women and girls do a principal part of whatever work +is done in Venice at all. + +You turn into a sequestered nook, resembling one of the smaller +courts opening upon Fleet Street, and a number of damsels, without +dulcimers, are chattering or singing. These are the pearl-threaders, +for pearl-threading is a universal occupation, just as embroidery was +at one time in England. The wealthy do it for amusement, the humbler +classes for gain, of which, as I have said, a very little goes a +long way. It is a popular saying, "You may die of love or hatred in +Venice, but not of hunger;" still, you see many ragged, hollow-eyed, +and pallid wretches, who, in former days, might have been mistaken for +lottery-hunters; but those times, happily, have passed away, though +they presented a spectacle sufficiently interesting four or five years +ago.... + +Some one has compared Venice to a page of music, with its curious +streets, palaces, museums, canals, and bridges; resembling lines, +notes, double notes, points, crotchets, pauses; its long and straight, +its short, narrow and crooked ways; its open spaces scattered up and +down; its mounting and descending of bridges. I cannot myself see the +truth of the comparison; but so much may be readily admitted,--that +the stranger can easily lose his way, and not easily find it again, in +this maze of land and water, worse than Amsterdam. Unless, however, the +wanderer has some business on hand, the very best way to see Venice +is to be lost in it; because then, instead of the regulation round of +sights, a thousand unexpected novelties strike the eye, in the narrow, +ill-paved, and generally noiseless streets that intersect the islands, +though the hoof of a horse or rumbling of a wheel is never heard in +them. + +Opening upon these dingy and tortuous thoroughfares are many of those +back entrances to the mansions of the opulent, which play so prominent +a part in romance and drama, though, as a rule, they are inhabited +by the poorest of the poor to whom an abode is a retreat, not a +home,--since their lives are habitually passed out of doors. As for +furniture, a bedstead and a huge chest or coffer, with a stool or two, +and a small but solid table, constitute the inventory,--if exception be +made of the bowls, and spoons, and bread-knives which the inmates carry +abroad when they intend to banquet beneath that sky in which Tintoretto +and Veronese exulted. + +Nothing of marble or mosaic here; nothing of gold or purple; only +squalor, such as is never seen in a town of Holland; such as is +seldom met with, indeed, anywhere out of Ireland or Italy. The water, +however, mingles so intricately with the land that it is impossible +to go many steps without coming upon a bridge and a canal,--not the +canal of the artist, all blue except where richer tints are reflected +by the architecture on either side, but narrow, crooked, overhung by +ugly houses, and rather less sweet to the nostrils than becomes a +city famous for its love of violets. Hither come the itinerants of +the public places when the last loiterers have left the square of +St. Mark's and there is no longer a chance of selling fried cakes or +fish, salt mutton or salt tripe, mock pearls or gold thread to string +them upon; and here my glimpse closes upon Venice, a thousand times +described, yet rarely, I think, from this particular point of view. + + + + +ATHENS AND ITS TEMPLES. + +J. L. T. PHILLIPS. + + [To say anything concerning the claims of Athens to the + traveller's attention would be but a waste of words. For the + student of art and architecture it will long remain a place of + pilgrimage. We reproduce here such a student's story of a visit + to the antiquities of Athens. It is the ancient city of which he + speaks; modern Athens has far less to commend it to attention.] + + +The day is a happy one to the student-traveller from the Western World +in which he first looks upon the lovely plain of Athens. Rounding the +point where Hymettus thrusts his huge length into the sea, the long, +featureless mountain-wall of Southern Attica suddenly breaks down, and +gives place to a broad expanse of fertile and well-cultivated soil, +sloping gently back with ever-narrowing bounds until it reaches the +foot-hills of lofty Pentelicus. The wooded heights of Parnes enclose it +on the north, while bald Hymettus rears an impassable barrier along the +south. In front of the gently recurved shore stretch the smooth waters +of the Gulf of Salamis, while beyond rises range upon range of lofty +mountain-peaks with strikingly varied outline, terminating on the one +hand in the towering cone of Egina, and on the other in the pyramidal, +fir-clad summit of Cithæron. + +Upon the plain, at the distance of three or four miles from the sea, +are several small rocky hills of picturesque appearance, isolated and +seemingly independent, but really parts of a low range parallel to +Hymettus. Upon one of the most considerable of these, whose precipitous +sides make it a natural fortress, stood the Acropolis, and upon the +group of lesser heights around and in the valleys between clustered the +dwellings of ancient Athens. + +It was a fitting site for the capital of a people keenly sensitive to +beauty, and destined to become the leaders of the world in matters of +taste, especially in the important department of the Fine Arts. Nowhere +are there more charming contrasts of mountain, sea, and plain,--nowhere +a more perfect harmony of picturesque effect. The sea is not a dreary +waste of waters without bounds, but a smiling gulf mirroring its +mountain-walls and winding about embosomed isles, yet ever broadening +as it recedes, and suggesting the mighty flood beyond from which it +springs. The plain is not an illimitable expanse over which the weary +eye ranges in vain in quest of some resting-place, but is so small +as to be embraced in its whole contour in a single view, while its +separate features--the broad, dense belt of olives which marks the +bed of its principal stream, the ancient Cephisus, the vineyards, the +grain-fields, and the sunny hill-side pastures--are made to produce +their full impression. The mountains are not near enough to be +obtrusive, much less oppressive; neither are they so distant as to be +indistinct or to seem insignificant. Seen through the clear air, their +naked summits are so sharply defined and so individual in appearance as +to seem almost like sculptured forms chiselled out of the hard rock.... + +So the student-pilgrim from the Western World with native ardor strains +his sight to catch the first glimpse of the Athenian plain and city. He +is fresh from his studies, and familiar with what books teach of the +geography of Greece and the topography of Athens. He needs not to be +informed which mountain-range is Parnes, and which Pentelicus,--which +island is Salamis, and which Egina. Yet much of what he sees is a +revelation to him. The mountains are higher, more varied, and more +beautiful than he had supposed, Lycabettus and the Acropolis more +imposing, Pentelicus farther away, and the plain larger, the gulf +narrower, and Egina nearer and more mountainous, than he had fancied. +He is astonished at the smallness of the harbor at Peiræus, having +insensibly formed his conception of its size from the notices of the +mighty fleets which sailed from it in the palmy days when Athens was +mistress of the seas. He is not prepared to see the southern shore +of Salamis so near to the Peiræus, though it explains the close +connection between that island and Athens, and throws some light upon +the great naval defeat of the Persians. In short, while every object +is recognized as it presents itself, yet a more correct conception is +formed of its relative position and aspect from a single glance of the +eye than had been acquired from books during years of study. + +Arrived at the city, his experience is the same. He needs no guide to +conduct him to its antiquities, nor cicerone to explain in bad French +or worse English their names and history. Still, unexpected appearances +present themselves not unfrequently. Hastening towards the Acropolis, +he will first inspect the remains of the great theatre of Dionysus, +so familiar to him as the place where, in the presence of all the +people and many strangers, were acted the plays of his favorite poets, +Æschylus and Sophocles, and where they won many prizes. Hurrying over +the eastern brow of the hill, he comes suddenly upon the spot, enters +at the summit, as many an Athenian did in the olden time, and is +smitten with amazement at the first glance, and led to question whether +this be indeed the site of the ancient theatre. He finds, it is true, +the topmost seats cut in the solid rock, row above row, stripped now +of their marble lining and weather-worn, but yet the genuine ancient +seats of the upper tier. These he expected to find. But whence are +those fresh seats which fill the lower part of the hollow, arranged as +neatly as if intended for immediate use? and whence the massive stage +beyond? He bethinks himself that he has heard of recent excavations +under the patronage of the government, and closer inspection shows that +these are actually the lower seats of the theatre in the time of the +emperor Hadrian, whose favorite residence was Athens, and who did so +much to embellish the city. The front seats consist of massive stone +chairs, each inscribed with the name of its occupant, generally the +priestess of some one of the numerous gods worshipped by that people +so given to idolatry. In the centre of the second row is an elevated +throne inscribed with the name of Hadrian. The stage is seen to be the +ancient Greek stage enlarged to the Roman size to suit the demands of a +later style of theatrical representation. + +After looking in vain for the seat occupied by the priestess of the +Unknown God, our traveller passes on and enters with a beating heart +the charmed precincts of the Acropolis itself. The Propylæa, which he +has been accustomed to regard too exclusively as a mere entrance-gate +to the glories beyond, impresses him with its size and grandeur, and +the little temple of Victory by its side with its elegance. But the +steepness of the ascent perplexes him. It seems impracticable for +horses, yet he knows by unexceptionable testimony that the Athenian +youth prided themselves upon driving their matched steeds in the +great Panathenaic procession which once every four years wound up +the hill, bearing the sacred peplus to the temple of the goddess. A +closer examination reveals the transverse creases of the pavement +designed to give a footing to the beasts, as well as the marks of the +chariot-wheels. Nevertheless, the ascent (and much more the descent) +must have been a perilous undertaking, unless the teams were better +broken than the various accounts of chariot-races furnished by the +poets would indicate. + +Entering beneath the great gate, a little distance forward to the left +may readily be found the site of the colossal bronze statue of the +warrior-goddess in complete armor, formed by Phidias out of the spoils +taken at Marathon. The square base, partly sunk in the uneven rock, +is as perfect as if just put in readiness to receive the pedestal of +that famous work. A road bending to the right and slightly hollowed out +of the rock leads to the Parthenon. The outer platform which sustains +this celebrated temple is partly cut from the rock of the hill and +partly built up of common limestone. The inner one of three courses, +as well as the whole superstructure, is formed of Pentelic marble of a +compact crystalline structure and of dazzling whiteness. Long exposure +has not availed to destroy its lustre, but only to soften its tone. +The visitor, planting himself at the western front, is in a position +to gain some adequate idea of the perfection of the noble building. +The interior and central parts suffered the principal injury from the +explosion of the Turkish powder magazine in 1687. The western front +remains nearly entire. It has been despoiled, indeed, of its movable +ornaments. The statues which filled the pediment are gone, with +the exception of a fragment or two. The sculptured slabs have been +removed from the spaces between the triglyphs, and the gilded shields +which hung beneath have been taken down. Of the magnificent frieze, +representing the procession of the great quadrennial festival, only the +portion surrounding the western vestibule is still in place. Still, as +these were strictly decorations, and wholly subordinate to the organic +parts of the structure, their presence, while it would doubtless +greatly enhance the effect of the whole, is not felt to be essential +to its completeness. The whole Doric columns still bear the massive +entablature sheltered by the covering roof. The simple greatness of the +conception, the just proportion of the several parts, together with the +elaborate finishing of the whole work, invest it with a charm such as +the works of man seldom possess,--the pure and lasting pleasure which +flows from apparent perfection. + +Entering the principal apartment of the building, traces are seen of +the stucco and pictures with which the walls were covered when it was +fitted up as a Christian church in the Byzantine period. Near the +centre of the marble pavement is a rectangular space laid with dark +stone from the Peiræus or from Eleusis. It marks the probable site of +the colossal precious statue of the goddess in gold and ivory,--one of +the most celebrated works of Phidias. The smaller apartment beyond, +accessible only from the opposite front of the temple, was used by the +state as a place of deposit and safe-keeping for bullion and other +valuables in the care of the state treasurer. + +Having examined the great temple, and tested the curvature of its +seemingly horizontal lines by sighting along the unencumbered platform, +and having stopped at several points of the grand portico to admire +the fine views of the city and surrounding country, the traveller +picks his way northward, across a thick layer of fragments of columns, +statues, and blocks of marble, towards the low-placed, irregular, but +elegant Erechtheum, the temple of the most ancient worship and statue +of the patron-goddess of the city. This building sits close by the +northern as the Parthenon does by the southern wall of the enclosure. +It has suffered equally with the other from the ravages of time, and +its ruins, though less grand, are more beautiful. Most of the graceful +Ionic columns are still standing, but large portions of the roof and +entablature have fallen. Fragments of decorated cornice strew the +ground, some of them of considerable length, and afford a near view of +that delicate ornamentation and exquisite finish so rare outside the +limits of Greece. + +[Illustration: ACROPOLIS AT ATHENS, GREECE] + +The elevated porch of the Caryatides, lately restored by the +substitution of a new figure in place of the missing statue now in +the British Museum, attracts attention as a unique specimen of Greek +art, and also as showing how far a skilful treatment will overcome the +inherent difficulties of a subject. The row of fair maidens looking out +towards the Parthenon do not seem much oppressed by the burden which +rests upon them, while their graceful forms lend a pleasing variety to +the scene. Passing out by the northern wing of the Propylæa, a survey +is had of the numerous fragments of sculpture discovered among the +ruins upon the hill, and temporarily placed in the ancient Pinacotheca. +The eye rests upon sweet infant faces and upon rugged manly ones. +Sometimes a single feature only remains, which, touched by the finger +of genius, awakens admiration. A naked arm severed from the trunk, of +feminine cast, but with muscles tightly strained and hand clinched as +in agony, will arrest attention and dwell in the memory. + +Northwest of the Acropolis, across a narrow chasm, lies the low, rocky +height of the Areopagus, accessible at the southeast angle by a narrow +flight of sixteen rudely-cut steps, which lead to a small rectangular +excavation on the summit, which faces the Acropolis, and is surrounded +upon three sides by a double tier of benches hewn out of the rock. Here +undoubtedly the most venerable court of justice at Athens had its seat +and tried its cases in the open air. Here too, without doubt, stood the +great apostle when, with bold spirit and weighty words, he declared +unto the men of Athens that God of whom they confessed their ignorance; +who was not to be represented by gold or silver or stone graven by art +and man's device; who dwelt not in temples made with hands, and needed +not to be worshipped with men's hands. In no other place can one feel +so sure that he comes upon the very footsteps of the apostle, and on no +other spot can one better appreciate his high gifts as an orator or the +noble devotion of his whole soul to the work of the Master. How poor in +comparison with his life-work appear the performances of the greatest +of the Athenian thinkers or doers! + +A little more than a quarter of a mile west of the Acropolis is another +rocky hill,--the Pnyx,--celebrated as the place where the assembly +of all the citizens met to transact the business of the state. A +large semicircular area was formed, partly by excavation, partly +by building up from beneath, the bounds of which can be distinctly +traced. Considerable remains of the terrace-wall at the foot of the +slope exist,--huge stones twelve or fourteen feet in length by eight +or ten in breadth. The chord of the semicircle is near the top of the +hill, formed by the perpendicular face of the excavated rock, and is +about four hundred feet in length by twenty in depth. Projecting from +it at the centre, and hewn out of the same rock, is the bema or stone +platform from which the great orators from the time of Themistocles and +Aristides, and perhaps of Solon, down to the age of Demosthenes and +the Attic Ten, addressed the mass of their fellow-citizens. It is a +massive cubic block, with a linear edge of eleven feet, standing upon +a graduated base of nearly equal height, and is mounted on either side +by a flight of nine stone steps. From its connection with the most +celebrated efforts of some of the greatest orators our race has yet +seen, it is one of the most interesting relics in the world, and its +solid structure will cause it to endure as long as the world itself +shall stand, unless, as there is some reason to apprehend will be +the case, it is knocked to pieces and carried off in the carpet-bags +of travellers. No traces of the Agora, which occupied the shallow +valley between the Pnyx and the Acropolis, remain. It was the heart of +the city, and was adorned with numerous public buildings, porticoes, +temples, and statues. It was often thronged with citizens gathered for +purposes of trade, discussion, or to hear and tell some new thing. + +Half a mile or more to the southeast, on the banks of the Ilissus, +stood a magnificent structure dedicated to Olympian Zeus,--one of the +four largest temples of Greece, ranking with that of Demeter at Eleusis +and that of Diana at Ephesus. Its foundations remain, and sixteen of +the huge Corinthian columns belonging to its majestic triple colonnade. +One of these is fallen. Breaking up into the numerous disks of which +it was composed,--six and a half feet in diameter by two or more in +thickness,--and stretching out to a length of over sixty feet, it gives +an impressive conception of the size of these columns, said to be the +largest standing in Europe. The level area of the temple is now used +as a training-ground for soldiers. Close by, and almost in the bed +of the stream, which is dry the larger part of the year, issues from +beneath a ledge of rock the copious fountain of sweet waters known to +the ancients as Callirrhoe. It furnished the only good drinking-water +of the city, and was used in all the sacrifices to the gods. A little +way above, on the opposite bank of the Ilissus, is the site of the +Panathenaic stadium, whose shape is perfectly preserved in the smooth +grass-grown hollow with semicircular extremity which here lies at right +angles to the stream, between parallel ridges partly artificial. + +Northward from the Acropolis, on a slight elevation, is the +best-preserved and one of the most ancient structures of Athens,--the +temple of Theseus, built under the administration of Cimon by the +generation preceding Pericles and the Parthenon. It is of the Doric +order, and shaped like the Parthenon, but considerably inferior to +it in size as well as in execution. It has been roofed with wood in +modern times, and was long used as a church, but is now a place of +deposit for the numerous statues and sculptured stones of various +kinds--mostly sepulchral monuments--which have been recently discovered +in and about the city. They are for the most part unimportant as +works of art, though many are interesting from their antiquity or +historic associations. Among these is the stone which once crowned the +burial-mound on the plain of Marathon. It bears a single figure, said +to represent the messenger who brought the tidings of victory to his +countrymen. + +Near the Theseium was the double gate (Dipylum) in the ancient wall of +the city whence issued the Sacred Way leading to Eleusis, and bordered, +like the Appian Way at Rome, with tombs, many of them cenotaphs of +persons who died in the public service and were deemed worthy of a +monument in the public burying-ground. Within a few years an excavation +has been made through an artificial mound of ashes, pottery, and other +refuse emptied out of the city, and a section of a few rods of this +celebrated road has been laid bare. The sepulchral monuments are ranged +on one side rather thickly, and crowd somewhat closely upon the narrow +pavement. They are, for the most part, simple, thick slabs of white +marble, with a triangular or pediment-shaped top, beneath which is +sculptured in low relief the closing scene of the person commemorated, +followed by a short inscription. The work is done in an artistic style +worthy of the publicity its location gave it. On one of these slabs you +recognize the familiar full-length figure of Demosthenes, standing with +two companions and clasping in a parting grasp the hand of a woman, who +is reclining upon her death-bed. The inscription is, _Collyrion, wife +of Agathon_. On another stone of larger size is a more imposing piece +of sculpture. A horseman fully armed is thrusting his spear into the +body of his fallen foe,--a hoplite. The inscription relates that the +unhappy foot-soldier fell at Corinth _by reason of those five words of +his!_--a record intelligible enough, doubtless, to his contemporaries, +but sufficiently obscure and provocative of curiosity to later +generations. + +There are other noted structures at Athens, such as the Choragic +Monument of Lysicrates--the highest type of the Corinthian order of +architecture, as the Erechtheum is of the Ionic and the Parthenon of +the Doric,--but want of space forbids any further description. + + + + +THE ISLES OF GREECE. + +HENRY M. FIELD. + + [History and poetry alike celebrate the beauty of those charming + isles, which fill with their sunny grace and rich fertility + the seas of Greece, and on which many of the poets of that + song-girdled land were born. No work on general travels can be + complete without some description of these celebrated islands, + and we select from Dr. H. M. Field's "The Greek Islands" an + appreciative account of their aspect to the modern traveller.] + + +In the old picture-books there used to be a picture of the Colossus of +Rhodes, which stood bestriding an arm of the sea with ships in full +sail passing between his mighty legs. Though it was a picture for +children, yet to some who are not children the chief association with +the island of Rhodes is the place where the Colossus stood; and there +are travellers still who come on deck, and look round inquiringly for +some fragment of a ruin which should mark the site of that majestic +figure. But not a vestige remains. Though "His Highness" lifted his +head so proudly, as if he disdained the earth on which he stood, he did +not hold it up very long. Pride must have a fall. He did not live even +to the allotted age of man. He had been standing but fifty-six when an +earthquake shook him down, and for nearly a thousand years he lay like +Dagon, prone upon the ground, with all his glory buried in the dust, +his _disjecta membra_ being trodden underfoot by the barbarous Turk, +till at last they were sold to a Jew(!), who broke them up as men break +up the hull of an old ship, and, packing them on the backs of nine +hundred camels, carried them away. Such was the ignominious end of one +of the Seven Wonders of the World. + +But though the Colossus did not stand long, the mere fact of its +standing at all--that a figure over a hundred feet high, wrought in +bronze, like the column of Trajan at Rome, should have been reared +nearly three hundred years before Christ--is a proof of the degree of +civilization attained at that early period. It was a statue to the sun, +and stood in front of the city, where its head would catch the first +rays of the sunlight as it came over the hills of Asia Minor, which lay +on the eastern horizon. + +Rhodes is second to Cyprus (if it be second) in antiquity, and its +civilization may be traced to the same sources. Its position at the +mouth of the Ægean Sea, whose waters here mingle with those of the +Mediterranean, invited immigration both from Asia and Africa. The +Phoenicians, sailing westward, landed on its shores; while from farther +south men of another race brought to it the wisdom of the Egyptians. +At the same time, as one of the islands of the Greek Archipelago, it +shared in the intellectual influences of Greece. It stood "where two +seas met," or two civilizations. Like the Channel Islands, which look +upon two kingdoms, it was joined by a chain of islands to Greece, +while it was in full sight of Asia, to which it was nearer than the +white chalk cliffs of Dover to the shores of France. Probably the +island was settled as early as the siege of Troy, though the city was +not founded until about four hundred years before Christ. + +It was in the century following that Alexander the Great conquered the +world, and Rhodes bowed to a power which it could not resist, and was +held in awe by the terror of his name, even while he was pursuing his +conquests in the heart of Asia. But as soon as he breathed his last +the spell was broken. The people rose against the Macedonian garrison, +and drove them out, and with recovered liberty came new and increased +prosperity, and the city rose to its greatest splendor. Then was reared +the mighty Colossus; and then sculptors who rivalled those of Greece +filled the city with the products of their art. It was said to contain +not less than three thousand statues. The famous group of the Farnese +Bull--the largest antique sculpture which has been preserved to us, and +which, having once adorned the baths of Caracalla at Rome, is now the +pride of the museum at Naples--was the work of two sculptors of Rhodes. +Such noble statues, adorning the public places of the city, showed that +in the cultivation of art Rhodes, if not the equal, was at least a +worthy imitator, of Athens itself. + +All this has passed away. But though despoiled of its treasures; though +the conquerors, who + + "Brought many captives home to Rome," + +brought the sculptures of Rhodes with those of Greece; yet the island +itself remains, fair as when it first rose from the bosom of the Ægean +Sea. Never was it fairer than this morning, as the sunrise, flashing +across the blue waters, lighted up the gray old town, with its walls +and towers, which stand out from a background of hills. The island +rises abruptly from the sea. Beyond the walls of the town houses are +sprinkled over the hill-sides, that are covered with olive-groves, +which at this season are fresh and green. Behind these lower hills are +others that are higher, whose steep sides and rocky crests reminded our +good Dr. Wylie of Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags. + +The chief remains of historic interest are those connected with the +Crusaders, when the island was ruled by the Knights of St. John, who +took it, however, not in the advance to the Holy Land, but in the +retreat. When they were driven out of Syria by Saladin, they fell back +upon Rhodes, which they conquered from the Saracens, and held for over +two hundred years,--from 1309 to 1522,--when Solyman the Magnificent +came against it with two hundred thousand men. Then followed a siege +in which men took courage from despair. The city had a garrison of but +six thousand men; yet for six months, in spite of repeated assaults, +it defied the besiegers,--a courage which compelled the respect of +the conqueror, who after the city fell permitted its brave defenders +to retire in safety. A few years later the Emperor Charles V. gave +them the island of Malta, which they fortified till it was one of the +strongest places in the world, and held it till the close of the last +century. + +No doubt to us, in this practical and prosaic age, there is something +fantastic and absurd in the institution of the Knights of St. John, +an order in which the profession of arms was strongly united with the +profession of religion. But was it so very absurd, in an age full of +oppression and cruelty, that manly strength and courage should be +devoted to the protection of women against brutal tyranny? For such +was the purpose of the institution of chivalry, which figures so much +in the Middle Ages, where it often supplied the place of a civilized +government. Or when the Moslem conquered Western Asia and threatened +Europe, was it strange that men devoted to arms should band together +for the defence of their faith? This order of St. John was not made up +of carpet knights. No braver men ever fought on bloody fields. Now, +indeed, their wars and battles and sieges are over. + + "The good Knights are dust, + Their armor rust, + Their souls are with the saints, we trust." + +Though the order still exists, it is not for purposes of war, but of +peace. Its only war is against human misery. This, indeed, was always +a part of its design. There are few things in history more touching +than the solemn vow of those armed knights, which they took "as the +servants of the poor and of Christ." How well that vow has been kept to +this day, the traveller may see who visits the Hospital of the Knights +of St. John in Beirut. True, the order remains, as it has always been, +a very aristocratic one, composed largely of nobles and princes. Its +Grand Master is the Emperor of Germany. But when kings and princes +care for the poor and the sick, when they found hospitals and seek +to relieve human suffering, they deserve the honor and gratitude of +mankind. + +When these gallant Knights of St. John took their sad farewell of +Rhodes, they left behind them traces of their occupation which still +remain in the long sea-wall which guards the city's front, to keep out +an enemy as it keeps out the dashing of the waves. This castellated +wall is a very picturesque object, as it not only lies along the sea, +but turns at either end, winding up the sides of the hill till it has +compassed the city round with its lines of defence, which did such +valiant service in the memorable siege. But apart from its look of a +fortified place, there is nothing warlike in the city of Rhodes. I did +not see a single sentinel keeping guard on the walls, nor see a gun +mounted, nor hear a drum beat. There was nothing to break the silence +of the sleepy old town; and over the wall, which once swarmed with +Crusaders, hurling defiance at the besieging Moslems, there are no more +formidable demonstrations than those of the windmills, which brandish +their long arms against invisible foes. + +The "port," if such it may be called, is a diminutive little loch of +water, shut in by a projecting mole, or ledge of rocks, at either end, +on which stands a round tower, a picturesque object in the landscape, +but not very formidable in case of war. One broadside from a man-of-war +would make it a heap of ruins. Indeed, when a fort is converted into a +light-house, it seems to abdicate its martial design, and to be devoted +to the purposes of peace,--all that it is good for now. + +It was tantalizing to lie but two or three hundred yards off, and not +be able to land; but there was a high sea, the waves were dashing on +the rocks, tossing their white crests in the air, and if we had gone on +shore it might be difficult to get off in time for the steamer. So we +lay broadside to the town for two or three hours, looking wistfully at +the gates we could not enter. + +But though we did not go on shore, we had visitors from the shore. The +Greek boatmen are at home in any sea, and never miss an opportunity +to visit a ship. They came on board to sell little boxes of olive-and +lemon-wood, and other small wares, which the passengers purchased as +souvenirs of Rhodes. + +Apart from these petty traffickers, there was a grand old Turk, who +sat gloomily in conversation with one who knew him. He was a pasha who +had been high in power in Constantinople, but for some cause lost the +favor of the Sultan, and was banished to Rhodes. Whether he was guilty +of any crime we knew not, nor did it matter whether he was guilty or +innocent. Perhaps he had been too inflexibly honest, and so encountered +the ill-favor of the Grand Vizier. In either case he had to suffer. The +Turkish rule knows neither justice nor mercy. However, his fate was +lighter than that of many. He was not kept a prisoner, shut up in a +fortress; there was no chain upon his hand; and yet we could not look +upon that sad face without feeling how bitter was the bread of exile. + +Leaving the city behind us, we sail along the shores of the island, +and are charmed with their picturesque beauty. The long line of +elevated coast sweeps in and out, projecting and receding, with bays +stretching inland, at the end of which one catches glimpses of soft +valleys sloping upward to the hills, behind and above which is the +mountain-ridge which forms the backbone of the island. These valleys +once supported a large population; but now, under the destructive +Turkish rule, it has dwindled till there are not forty thousand left. +A few poor villages cling to the hill-sides whose inhabitants live +on their small plantations of olives, or derive a scanty living from +the sea, from which they gather sponges and coral. But with a better +government and increased facilities for agriculture and commerce, +there is no reason why Rhodes may not recover something of its former +prosperity. Its climate is still the finest in the Mediterranean; the +sun shines brightly as ever; and the valleys, spite of all the waste +and neglect, still retain their natural fertility. With proper culture, +they would yield rich harvests, besides oranges and lemons and citrons, +with the figs and raisins, which are now exported so largely from +Smyrna; while the olive-trees, which grow abundantly, would pour forth +"rivers of oil." + +We are now in the heart of the Greek Archipelago, which has been +famed for its beauty from the days of Homer. As we stood in a group +on deck, entranced with the swiftly-changing scene, it was natural +that we should compare it with our observation in other parts of the +world. A couple of our fellow-passengers, who were on their return +from the Far East, said that it reminded them of the Inland Sea of +Japan. My thoughts turned to the Malayan Archipelago, where the islands +hang rich with tropical vegetation, and the seas flash at night with +phosphorescent splendor. But with all that is attractive in those +groups of islands, I can hardly believe anything to be equal to this +Greek Archipelago. It seems to me that no waters can be so beautiful +as those of the Ægean Sea, although there are waters of wonderful +clearness in our Western Hemisphere, notably those round the Bahamas +and the Bermudas. + +And then the Greek islands, so many in number, are of all sizes, large +and small, from the rocky islet, fit only for a sea-gull's nest, to an +island containing hundreds of square miles. All have the same general +character, rising directly from the sea. The coasts are often so rocky +that it seems as if a goat could hardly live upon them, and yet midway +between the cliffs are little hamlets and patches of cultivation. The +outlines of the higher peaks of the islands, broken and jagged, remind +us, as they stand up against the sky, of Capri and Ischia in the Bay +of Naples, or those African mountains which we saw from the Peninsula +of Sinai, on the other side of the Red Sea. Putting all these things +together, whatever may be said of the Malayan Archipelago, or of the +Inland Sea of Japan, I give my voice for the Greek Archipelago as the +most wonderful combination of land and sea, where the most picturesque +of islands rise out of the fairest of waters. + +[Illustration: CORINTH, GREECE] + +We did not touch at Patmos. There is nothing to invite a steamer to +turn aside from its course to visit it, except it were to gratify the +curiosity of travellers. It has no commerce of any kind. Indeed, its +few inhabitants have at certain seasons of the year to cross to other +islands to procure the means of subsistence. So barren is it that it +was chosen by the Roman emperors as a place of banishment, on which +prisoners could be confined as to a rock in the ocean. Yet this poor +little island has gathered about it a mighty tradition, for it was +the place of exile of the last of the Apostles. "I, John, was in the +isle that is called Patmos, for the Word of God, and for the testimony +of Jesus Christ." Here he wrote the Book of Revelation, and here was +erected in the twelfth century a monastery bearing his name. We thought +we could just discern the outline of the island and the convent rising +above it on the western horizon. + +The next morning at daylight we were off Scio, that island of sad +and bloody memories. Sixty years ago it was the scene of an event +which made the ears of the civilized world to tingle. When the Greek +Revolution broke out in 1822 it is said that the people here were +reluctant to take part in it, but were stirred up by emissaries from +Samos; and, perhaps because Scio had been one of the most prosperous of +the Greek islands, it was to be the special mark of Turkish vengeance. +A fleet anchored off the town, and without a warning of its terrible +fate, soldiers were let loose upon the inhabitants. No age or sex was +spared. Not only were men cut down in their homes, but their wives and +children with them. Twenty-two thousand were put to the sword, and +forty-seven thousand were sold into slavery. But this massacre was not +to go unavenged. The Greeks had no ships of war, but they converted old +hulks into fire-ships, in which they sailed with the utmost daring into +the centre of the Turkish fleet, and setting them on fire, escaped in +their boats. The flag-ship was burnt, and the admiral and crew perished +in the flames,--a terrible retribution for the massacre of Scio. Since +Greek independence was secured, it has partly recovered; but several +years since the town was nearly destroyed by an earthquake, so that it +seems as if the island were doomed to destruction. + +But all over this wreck and ruin shines the brightness of a name that +will ever give to it a place in history. It is the reputed birthplace +of Homer, and as such cannot be passed by without notice by the +traveller. + + [From Scio, Dr. Field sailed for Asia Minor, and spent some time + among its historic cities. On his return he passed the island + of Lesbos, which has long been famous as the home of Sappho and + others of the lyric poets of Greece.] + +As the afternoon drew on, we were approaching a large island,--the +ancient Lesbos, now Mitylene,--and as we were on its eastern side, +and the sun was sinking in the west, we were coming under its shadow, +and this softer light enabled us to see it better than we could have +done in the glare of noonday. The tops of the mountains stood out +with wonderful clearness against the sky, while the outline of the +coast winding in and out with its headlands and its bays, and the soft +green valleys rising from the shore and running upward to the slopes +of the hills, gave it an infinite variety and beauty. Clinging to the +hill-sides were pretty villages, with groves of oak cultivated for the +acorns they yield, which are used for tanning purposes and exported +to Europe, while the pine-forests on the mountains furnish timber and +pitch. + +The valleys are very fertile, and if they are not "covered over with +corn," they have large plantations of fig and other fruit-trees; while +the olive-orchards, if they do not pour out "rivers of oil," yet yield +it in such abundance as makes it the chief industry of the island, +and furnishes a source of wealth to the thrifty inhabitants. All these +varieties of vegetation were now in their perfect bloom, as it was the +middle of May, when in the East the earth rejoices in the freshness +of spring-time. As we sailed along these shores in the twilight, I +wondered if a fairer Arcadia ever rose out of the waters of this +troubled world. + +The island of Lesbos has an important place in Greek history, even at +its most remote period. As early as the siege of Troy it had a large +population, and continued to flourish for centuries. + +When Athens had its Academy, Lesbos had its schools of philosophy, +which attracted the wise men of Greece. It was even more famous as the +birthplace of a school of lyric poets,-- + + "Where burning Sappho lived and sung," + +and others whose stirring odes live in the collections of Greek poetry. + +When the Romans became masters of the East they were attracted by +the beauty of the Greek islands. Their fondness for a mild-tempered +climate, such as is found in greatest perfection in an island lying in +summer seas, where the temperature of the sea softens alike the heat +of summer and the cold of winter,--which led them to choose Ischia +and Capri, at the mouth of the Bay of Naples, as favorite abodes of +Imperial luxury,--led them, when sent to distant provinces, to choose +Lesbos, which Tacitus describes in a line as "_insula nobilis et +amoena_" [a noble and pleasant island], as one of those semi-royal +retreats in which a Roman governor might pass his splendid exile, and +almost forget his absence from the imperial city.... + +On the whole, Mitylene seems to me the most important, as well as the +most beautiful, island of the Archipelago, and this very beauty and +fertility but increase the regret that it should be under the rule of +Turkey when it ought to belong to Greece. It is nearer to Athens than +to Constantinople. It lies midway between the shores of Asia Minor and +the mainland of Greece, and its population is almost wholly Greek. It +is Greek in religion. One coming into Mitylene sees neither mosque nor +minaret. Thus it is Greek by its position, its history, and its people. +If ever there comes a time of "the restitution of all things," the +island will be taken from Turkey and restored to its natural place as +part of the young kingdom of Greece. + + + + +THE SERAGLIO ON THE GOLDEN HORN. + +EDWARD DANIEL CLARKE. + + [Dr. Clarke, in his animated descriptions of the countries of + Eastern Europe, gives picturesque accounts of what is to be seen + in Constantinople and other portions of the Sultan's domain. + Perhaps the most interesting of these is his description of a + stolen visit to the seraglio, a tabooed place only to be inspected + at imminent risk of life. Our traveller managed to see it quite + thoroughly, as will be seen from his story of the dangerous + enterprise.] + + +I eagerly sought an opportunity to examine the interior of the +seraglio; and, difficult as the undertaking may seem, soon found the +means of its accomplishment. The harmony existing between England and +the Porte at that critical juncture when Egypt was to be restored +to the Turks by the valor of our troops, greatly facilitated the +enterprise. I felt convinced that within the walls of the seraglio many +interesting antiquities were concealed from observation; and I was not +disappointed. + +The first place to which my observations were directed was the +imperial armory; and here, to my great gratification, I beheld the +weapons, shields, and military engines of the Greek emperors, exactly +corresponding with those represented on the medals and bas-reliefs of +the ancients, suspended as trophies of the capture of the city by the +Turks.... + +Soon after this some pages, belonging to the seraglio, brought +from the Sultan's apartments the fragments of a magnificent vase +of jasper-agate, which, it was said, his highness had dashed to +pieces in a moment of anger. As these fragments were cast away, and +disregarded, they came at last into the hands of a poor lapidary, who +earned a scanty livelihood by cutting and polishing stones for the +signet-rings of the Turks. In one of my mineralogical excursions, the +merchants of the _bez esten_, where jewels are sold, directed me to the +laboratory of this man, to obtain the precious stones of the country +in their natural state. He was then employed upon the fragments of +this vase, and very gladly spared the labor which he would otherwise +have bestowed by consigning, for a small sum, the whole of them to +me. It is hardly possible to conceive a more extraordinary proof of +the genius and industry of Grecian artists than was presented by +this vase. Its fragments are still in my possession; and have been +reserved for annual exhibition, during a course of public lectures in +the University of Cambridge. When it is stated that the treasury of +Mithridates contained four thousand specimens of similar manufacture, +all of which came into the hands of the Romans, and that the Turks are +unable to execute anything of the same nature, it is highly probable +this curious relique originally constituted one of the number, which, +after passing into the possession of the Turks at the conquest of the +city, had continued to adorn the palace of their sovereigns. Such a +conjecture is strengthened by the mythological figure, represented in +exquisite sculpture, on the vase itself. It consists of an entire mass +of green jasper-agate, beautifully variegated with veins and spots of +a vermilion color; so that part of it exhibits the ribbon-jasper and +part the bloodstone. The handle is formed to represent the head of +a griffin (carved in all the perfection of the finest cameo), whose +extended wings and claws cover the exterior surface. The difficulty of +working a silicious concretion of such extraordinary hardness needs not +to be specified; it may be presumed that the entire life of the ancient +lapidary, by whom it was wrought, could have been scarcely adequate to +such a performance; nor do we at all know in what manner the work was +effected. Yet there are parts of it in which the sides of the vase are +as thin as the finest porcelain. + +A second visit, which I made to the interior of the seraglio, was not +attended by any very interesting discovery; but as it enabled me to +describe with minuteness scenes hitherto impervious to European eyes, +the reader may be gratified by the observations made within those +walls. Every one is curious to know what exists within recesses which +have been long closed against the intrusion of Christians. In vain does +the eye, roaming from the towers of Galata, Pera, and Constantinople, +attempt to penetrate the thick gloom of cypresses and domes which +distinguishes the most beautiful part of Constantinople. Imagination +magnifies things unknown; and when, in addition to the curiosity +always excited by mystery, the reflection is suggested that ancient +Byzantium occupied the site of the Sultan's palace, a thirst of inquiry +is proportionably augmented. I promise to conduct my readers not only +within the retirement of the seraglio, but into the charem itself, and +the most secluded haunts of the Turkish sovereign. Would only I could +also promise a degree of satisfaction, in this respect, adequate to +their desire of information. + +It so happened that the gardener of the Grand Seignior, during our +residence in Constantinople, was a German. This person used to mix +with the society in Pera, and often joined in the evening parties +given by the different foreign ministers. In this manner we became +acquainted with him, and were invited to his apartments within the +walls of the seraglio, close to the gates of the Sultan's garden. +We were accompanied during our first visit by his intimate friend, +the secretary and chaplain of the Swedish mission, who, but a short +time before, had succeeded in obtaining a sight of the four principal +Sultanas and the Sultan mother, in consequence of his frequent visits +to the gardener. They were sitting together one morning, when the +cries of the black eunuchs, opening the door of the charem, which +communicated with the seraglio gardens, announced that these ladies +were going to take the air. In order to do this it was necessary to +pass the gates adjoining the gardener's lodge, where an _arabat_ was +stationed to receive them, in which it was usual for them to drive +round the walks of the seraglio, within the walls of the palace. + +Upon these occasions the black eunuchs examine every part of the +garden, and run before the women, calling out to all persons to avoid +approaching or beholding them, under pain of death. The gardener and +his friend the Swede instantly closed all the shutters and locked the +doors. The black eunuchs arriving soon after, and finding the lodge +shut, supposed the gardener to be absent. Presently followed the Sultan +mother, with the four principal Sultanas, who were in high glee, +romping and laughing with each other. A small scullery window of the +gardener's lodge looked directly towards the gate through which these +ladies were to pass, and was separated from it only by a few yards. +Here, through two small gimlet-holes, bored for that purpose, they +beheld very distinctly the features of the women, whom they described +as possessing extraordinary beauty. Three of the four were Georgians, +having dark complexions and very long dark hair; but the fourth was +remarkably fair, and her hair, also of singular length and thickness, +was of a flaxen color; neither were their teeth dyed black, as those of +Turkish women generally are. + +The Swedish gentleman said he was almost sure they suspected they were +seen, from the address they manifested in displaying their charms and +in loitering at the gate. This gave him and his friend no small degree +of terror, as they would have paid for their curiosity with their lives +if any such suspicion had entered the minds of the black eunuchs. He +described their dresses as rich beyond all that can be imagined. Long +spangled robes, open in front, with pantaloons embroidered in gold +and silver, and covered by a profusion of pearls and precious stones, +displayed their persons to great advantage, but were so heavy as to +actually encumber their motion and almost to impede their walking. +Their hair hung in loose and very thick tresses on each side of their +cheeks, falling quite down to the waist, and covering their shoulders +behind. Those tresses were quite powdered with diamonds, not displayed +according to any studied arrangement, but as if carelessly scattered +by handfuls among their flowing locks. On the top of their heads, and +rather leaning to one side, they wore each of them a small circular +patch or diadem. Their faces, necks, and even their breasts were quite +exposed, not one of them having any veil. + +The German gardener, who had daily access to different parts of the +seraglio, offered to conduct us not only over the gardens, but +promised, if we would come singly, during the season of the _Ramadan_, +when the guards, being up all night, would be stupefied during the day +with sleep and intoxication, to undertake the greater risk of showing +us the interior of the charem, or apartments of the women,--that is +to say, of that part which they inhabit during the summer; for they +were still in their winter chambers. We readily accepted this offer. +I only solicited the further indulgence of being accompanied by a +French artist of the name of Preaux, whose extraordinary promptitude +in design would enable him to bring away sketches of anything we might +find interesting, either in the charem or gardens of the seraglio. +The apprehensions of Monsieur Preaux were, however, so great, that it +was with the greatest difficulty I could prevail upon him to venture +into the seraglio, and he afterwards either lost or secreted the only +drawing which his fears would allow him to make while he was there. + +We left Pera, in a gondola, about seven o'clock in the morning, +embarking at Tophana, and steering towards that gate of the seraglio +which faces the Bosporus on the southeastern side, where the entrance +to the seraglio gardens and the gardener's lodge are situated. A +bostanghy, as a sort of porter, is usually seated, with his attendants, +within the portal. Upon entering the seraglio, the spectator is struck +by a wild and confused assemblage of great and interesting objects. +Among the first of these are enormous cypresses, massive and lofty +masonry, neglected and broken sarcophagi, high-rising mounds, and a +long, gloomy avenue, leading from the gates of the garden between +the double walls of the seraglio. This gate is the same by which the +Sultanas came out for the airing before alluded to, and the gardener's +lodge is on the right hand of it. The avenue extending from it towards +the west offers a broad and beautiful, although solitary, walk, to a +very considerable extent shut in by high walls on both sides. Directly +opposite this entrance of the seraglio is a very lofty mound, or bank, +covered by large trees, and traversed by terraces, over which, on the +top, are walls with turrets. On the right hand, after entering, are the +large wooden folding doors of the Grand Seignior's gardens, and near +them lie many fragments of ancient marbles, appropriated to the vilest +purposes; among others, a sarcophagus of one block of marble, covered +with a simple though unmeaning bas-relief. + +Entering the gardens by the folding doors, a pleasing _coup d'oeil_ +of trellis-work and covered walks is displayed, more after the +taste of Holland than that of any other country. Various and very +despicable _jets d'eau_, straight gravel-walks, and borders disposed +in parallelograms, with the exception of a long greenhouse filled with +orange-trees, compose all that appears in the small spot which bears +the name of the seraglio gardens. The view on entering is down the +principal gravel-walk, and all the walks meet at the central point, +beneath a dome of the same trellis-work by which they are covered. +Small fountains spout a few quarts of water into large shells, or +form parachutes over lighted bougies, by the sides of the walks. +The trellis-work is of wood, painted white, and covered by jasmine; +and this, as it does not conceal the artificial frame by which it +is supported, produces a wretched effect. On the outside of the +trellis-work appear small parterres, edged with box, containing very +common flowers, and adorned with fountains. On the right hand, after +entering the garden, appears the magnificent kiosk, which constitutes +the Sultan's summer residence; and farther on is the orangery before +mentioned, occupying the whole extent of the wall on that side. + +Exactly opposite the garden gates is the door of the charem, or palace +of the women belonging to the Grand Seignior; a building not unlike +one of the small colleges in Cambridge, and enclosing the same sort of +cloistered court. One side of this building extends across the upper +extremity of the garden, so that the windows look into it. Below these +windows are two small greenhouses, filled with very common plants, and +a number of canary-birds. Before the charem windows, on the right hand, +is a ponderous, gloomy, wooden door; and this, creaking on its massive +hinges, opens to the quadrangle, or interior court of the charem +itself.... We will keep this door shut for a short time, in order to +describe the seraglio gardens more minutely; and afterwards open it, to +gratify the reader's curiosity. + +Still facing the charem on the left hand is a paved ascent, leading, +through a handsome gilded iron gate, from the lower to the upper +garden. Here is a kiosk, which I shall presently describe. Returning +from the charem to the door by which we first entered, a lofty wall on +the right hand supports a terrace with a few small parterres: these, +at a considerable height above the lower garden, constitute what is +now called the upper part of the seraglio; and, till within these few +years, it was the only one. + +Having thus completed the tour of this small and insignificant spot +of ground, let us now enter the kiosk, which I first mentioned as +the Sultan's summer residence. It is situated on the sea-shore, and +commands one of the finest views the eye ever beheld, of Scutari and +the Asiatic coast, the mouth of the canal, and a moving picture of +ships, gondolas, dolphins, birds, with all the floating pageantry of +this vast metropolis, such as no other capital in the world can pretend +to exhibit. The kiosk itself, fashioned after the airy fantastic +style of Eastern architecture, presents a spacious chamber, covered +by a dome, from which, towards the sea, advances a raised platform +surrounded by windows, and terminated by a divan. On the right and +left are the private apartments of the Sultan and his ladies. From +the centre of the dome is suspended a large lustre presented by the +English ambassador. Above the raised platform hangs another lustre of a +smaller size, but more elegant. Immediately over the sofas constituting +the divan are mirrors engraved with Turkish inscriptions; poetry and +passages from the Korân. The sofas are of white satin beautifully +embroidered by the women of the seraglio. + + [Our traveller proceeds to describe the various apartments + visited, including the rooms devoted to the women of the + seraglio, and the charem (or harem) itself. Passing through large + dormitories, the great chamber of audience of the Sultan mother + was reached, an apartment theatrical in adornment, and giving "a + striking idea of the pomp, the seclusion, and the magnificence of + the Ottoman court."] + +Beyond the great chamber of audience is the Assembly Room of the +Sultan, when he is in the charem. Here we observed the magnificent +lustre before mentioned. The Sultan sometimes visits this chamber +during the winter, to hear music and to amuse himself with his +favorites. It is surrounded by mirrors. The other ornaments display +that strange mixture of magnificence and wretchedness which +characterize all the state chambers of Turkish grandees. Leaving the +Assembly Room by the same door through which we entered, and continuing +along the passage as before, which runs parallel to the sea-shore, we +at length reached what might be termed the _sanctum sanctorum_ of this +Paphian temple, the baths of the Sultan mother and the four principal +Sultanas. These are small, but very elegant, constructed of white +marble, and lighted by ground glass above. At the upper end is a raised +sudatory and bath for the Sultan mother, concealed by lattice-work from +the rest of the apartment. Fountains play constantly into the floor of +this bath from all its sides; and every degree of refined luxury has +been added to the work which a people, above all others best versed in +the ceremonies of the bath, have been capable of inventing or requiring. + +Leaving the bath and returning along the passage by which we came, we +entered what is called the Chamber of Repose. Nothing need be said of +it, except that it commands the finest view anywhere afforded from +this point of the seraglio. It forms a part of the building well known +to strangers, from the circumstance of its being supported, towards +the sea, by twelve columns of that beautiful and rare _breccia_, the +_viride Lacedoemonium_ of Pliny, called by Italians _Il verde antico_. +These columns are of the finest quality ever seen, and each of them +consists of one entire stone. The two interior pillars are of green +Egyptian breccia, more beautiful than any specimen of the kind existing. + + [An apartment overlooking the gardens was now reached, on + attempting to leave which for the garden, they found to their + consternation that the door had been locked since their entrance. + A slave had entered to feed some turkeys, and fortunately the + noise made by these birds enabled them to force back the lock + without being heard and escape.] + +We now quitted the lower garden of the seraglio and ascended by a paved +road towards the chamber of the Garden of Hyacinths. This promised +to be interesting, as we were told the Sultan passed almost all his +private hours in that apartment, and the view of it might make us +acquainted with occupations and amusements which characterize the man, +divested of the outward parade of the sultan. We presently turned +from the paved ascent towards the right, and entered a small garden, +laid out into very neat oblong borders, edged with porcelain or Dutch +tiles. Here no plant is suffered to grow except the hyacinth, whence +the name of this garden and the chamber it contains. We examined this +apartment by looking through a window. Nothing can be more magnificent. +Three sides of it were surrounded by a divan, the cushions and pillows +of which were of black embroidered satin. Opposite the windows of +the chamber was a fireplace, after the ordinary European fashion; +and on each side of this, a door covered with hangings of crimson +cloth. Between each of these doors and the fireplace appeared a glass +case, containing the Sultan's private library, every volume being in +manuscript, and upon shelves, one above the other, and the title of +each book written on the edges of its leaves. + +From the ceiling of the room, which was of burnished gold, opposite +each of the doors and also opposite to the fireplace, hung three gilt +cages containing small figures of artificial birds; these sung by +mechanism. In the centre of the room stood an enormous gilt brazier, +supported, in a ewer, by four massive claws, like vessels seen under +sideboards in England. Opposite to the entrance, on one side of the +apartment, was a raised bench, crossing a door, on which were placed an +embroidered napkin, a vase, and basin for washing the beard and hands. +Over this bench, upon the wall, was suspended the large embroidered +_porte-feuille_, worked with silver thread on yellow leather, which is +carried in procession when the Sultan goes to mosque or elsewhere in +public, to contain the petitions presented by his subjects. In a nook +close to the door was also a pair of yellow boots, and on the bench, by +the ewer, a pair of slippers of the same materials. These are placed at +the entrance of every apartment frequented by the Sultan. + +The floor was covered with Gobelin tapestry, and the ceiling, as before +stated, magnificently gilded and burnished. Groups of arms, such as +pistols, sabres, and poignards, were disposed with very singular taste +and effect on the different compartments of the walls, the handles +and scabbards of which were covered with diamonds of very large size; +these, as they glittered around, gave a most gorgeous effect to the +splendor of this sumptuous chamber. + +We had scarce ended our survey of this costly scene when, to our +great dismay, a bostanghy made his appearance within the apartment, +but, fortunately for us, his head was turned from the window, and we +immediately sunk below it, creeping upon our hands and knees, until we +got clear of the Garden of Hyacinths. Thence, ascending to the upper +walks, we passed an aviary of nightingales. + +The walks in the upper garden are very small, in wretched condition, +and laid out in worse taste than the fore court of a Dutchman's house +in the suburbs of the Hague. Small as they are, they constituted, +until lately, the whole of the seraglio gardens near the sea, and from +them may be seen the whole prospect of the entrance to the canal and +the opposite coast of Scutari. Here, in an old kiosk, is seen a very +ordinary marble slab, supported on iron cramps; this, nevertheless, +was a present from Charles the Twelfth of Sweden. It is precisely the +sort of sideboard seen in the lowest inns of England; and, while it may +be said no person would pay half the amount of its freight to send it +back again, it shows the nature of the presents then made to the Porte +by foreign princes. From these formal parterres we descended to the +gardener's lodge, and left the gardens by the gate through which we +entered. + +I never should have offered so copious a detail of the scenery of this +remarkable place if I did not believe that an account of the interior +of the seraglio would be satisfactory, from the secluded nature of the +objects to which it bears reference, and the little probability there +is of so favorable an opportunity being again granted to any traveller +for its investigation. + + + + +ZERMATT AND ITS SCENERY. + +STANLEY HOPE. + + [They who would see Swiss scenery at its best will not fail to + visit Zermatt, and thither went the traveller from whom we now + quote. What he saw there, and what makes Zermatt worth visiting, + we leave it to him to relate.] + + +It has been said that one may ascend the Gorner Grat a hundred times +and yet not obtain a clear view of the mountains. If this be true, +I was exceptionally fortunate in the day I selected for the ascent. +Four days of perfectly unclouded weather followed my advent in the +marvellous valley of Zermatt, and as the district is somewhat removed +from the more frequented tracks, and has, perhaps, been less often +described, I venture on a slight record of what I saw in the short time +at my disposal. + +For, in spite of the facilities of travel in these days of railways +and steamboats, in spite of all that has been written on the subject, +Switzerland is still a _terra incognita_ to the great mass of English +people. The majesty of its mountains, the fragrance of its pine +forests, the richness of its valleys, are still as a sealed book to +the multitude. A great proportion even of those who have the means are +content to live and die without gazing on these most marvellous works +of God's hand, although they may become acquainted with them for a sum +which a man would willingly pay for a quarter cask of dinner sherry, or +a woman for a new silk dress. + +Zermatt, the crowning glory of the Alps, is somewhat difficult of +access. Coming from England, it is best to go by rail straight to +Sierre, and thence by diligence or private conveyance to Visp, some +seventeen miles farther up the Rhone valley. Here it is better to +shoulder one's knapsack, for there is no carriage road for the first +twelve miles of the Visp-Thal, which leads to Zermatt, though the +mule-path is exceptionally good. + +Visp itself is an interesting spot. It is beautifully situated in the +Rhone valley at the point where the river, bearing the same name, +comes foaming down from the Gorner glacier, twenty-seven miles away. +The river flows into the Rhone near this point with a volume almost as +great as the Rhone itself. The little town was once a place of great +importance. The houses on the heights, which still bear traces of +the earthquake of 1855, were formerly the palaces of the princes of +the Valais. The church, which stands on an eminence above the river, +is a most interesting building, sadly neglected by guide-books, and, +consequently, by tourists. It is built on the remains of a Roman +temple. There is a picturesque Roman gate-way, with time-worn marble +columns, which certainly ought not to be passed over; and in the +charnel-house, exposed to the church-yard, is a ghastly array of many +hundred human skulls ranged in tiers against the inner wall. + +In company with a friend who had been my companion in many previous +mountain rambles, I trudged up to St. Nicolaus in the cool of the +afternoon. It is a walk of four and a half hours from Visp. The path +skirts the mountain-side, with the river foaming in its rocky bed +many hundred feet below. St. Nicolaus is a village, with a huge hotel +situated in the midst of pastures where the valley widens, with a +church whose metallic steeple shines miles and miles away like silver, +and whose bells jingle out the quaintest chimes it was ever my lot to +hear. We arrived at sunset, and were rejoiced to find we could get +beds, for the valley was undergoing a perfect invasion of tourists, +and the pedestrian was likely to fare badly who had not previously +telegraphed to secure quarters in advance. + +All that night the summer lightning flashed among the crags, and the +thunder boomed far down the sleeping valley; but the clouds lifted a +little in the morning, and at an early hour we were wending our way +along the excellent carriage-road which exists between St. Nicolaus and +Zermatt. Our hearts were elated with anticipation, for we knew we were +within a few miles of that most majestic, and, from association, most +melancholy, of all Swiss mountains, the Matterhorn. The turn of the +road near Zermatt was to reveal it to us, and eagerly we watched the +heavy masses of vapor as they swept down the mountain-side, shutting +out the Weisshorn on our right, and even the Bies glacier far below it, +fearing, after all, that the glorious spectacle would be denied us, for +this day at least, but little anticipating the wondrous effect under +which we subsequently obtained our first clear view of the renowned +peak. + +Denser and denser grew the vapors, and when at length the moment +arrived which we had anticipated for so many days, we were destined to +be disappointed. The driving mist only revealed to us for one brief +moment the rocks at the base of the mighty mountain, though this base +is fixed some four thousand feet above the village of Zermatt. + +[Illustration: THE LION MONUMENT, LUCERNE] + +This little village, situated in the midst of lovely green pastures, +in an amphitheatre of mighty peaks, and at an altitude of over five +thousand feet above the sea, would be one of the most attractive spots +on earth but for its dirt. Were it not for the palliatives offered +by its two excellent hotels, Monte Rosa and Monte Cervin, both kept +by the world-renowned M. Seiler, the dirt and the odors of Zermatt +would be unbearable. To our great dismay, we found on our arrival +that there was no possible accommodation at either of the hotels. The +rain was beginning to fall; we were tired and hungry. To go on to +the Riffel Hotel, three thousand one hundred and thirteen feet above +Zermatt itself, seemed an absurdity in such weather; for there, at an +elevation of over eight thousand feet, we should be enveloped in the +denser vapors above, and half frozen into the bargain. We sought the +_salle-à-manger_, and consoled ourselves with cutlets and Beaujolais. +There we held serious counsel together, and lit our pipes and sallied +forth to inspect the prospect outside. We went first to the little +church where, side by side, lie two of the victims of the Matterhorn +accident, Hudson and Hadow, and on the other side of the church the +remains of poor Michael Croz, the guide. The body of Lord Francis +Douglas, who also perished on that occasion, was never found. It is +supposed that it is still suspended among the awful and inaccessible +crags on the side of the mountain where they fell. + +We sauntered on beyond the village, and sat down in a melancholy mood +on a broken rail to consider our position. Through a rift in the +clouds we could make out the Riffel Hotel on the bare mountain-side, +high above the pine-woods on our left. "Should we go on, in spite of +wind and weather?" It would be so much gained, at least in the event +of a change for the better. We hastened back to the hotel. "Did they +think we could get accommodation at the Riffel, if we went up?" "Yes; +they were sure we should get mattresses in the salon, at all events." +So on we went, over the first bridge beyond the village, past the +little church of Winkelmatten, and then up the steep path through the +pine-woods. From the openings between the trees we soon began to look +down upon the foot of the Gorner glacier, and the fine waterfall of +the Visp rushing out from its icy cradle, which, by some strange freak +of nature, occurs at a point many hundred feet above the foot of the +glacier, the two torrents flowing side by side, the one flashing, +foaming, and leaping, with all the quick impulsiveness of life, the +other cold, silent, and irresistible as the advancing footsteps of +death. + +In due course we reached the chalets on the Augstkummenmatt, and were +clear of the pine-woods. Here the rain became sleet, and the bare +slopes of short grass around were rapidly putting on a mantle of white. +The vapors drove in thick folds over the dreary waste of the Theodule +glacier to our right, and for a moment now and then the frowning +eastern face of the Matterhorn loomed through the clouds, but only to +disappear once more behind still denser masses of vapor. + +We were glad at length to reach the broad terrace of the mountain upon +which stands the Riffel Hotel, and to receive an assurance from the +obliging proprietress--M. Seiler's sister--that she would do the best +she could for us, though bedrooms were out of the question. + +The air was intensely keen. The water, when we essayed to wash our +hands, was of an icy temperature, and we put on whatever extra clothing +we could abstract from our knapsacks. An excellent table-d'hôte, +however, soon set us right; and a brisk walk after dark up and down +the plateau in front of the hotel, in company with the newly-arrived +English clergyman, who had undertaken the duties of chaplain at the +hotel for three or four Sundays, brought the day to an agreeable close. + +The chaplain, who was anxious to obtain some information as to the +usual length and style of service, had made the acquaintance of the +King of the Riffel, as he is called, an English gentleman, who passes +several months every season in this elevated region, and considers +it the most enjoyable spot in Europe. He was somewhat emphatic in +his directions to the chaplain to make the service and sermon as +short as possible, and on no account to attempt any singing. "For," +he continued, "there being no instrument of any kind, everybody sings +a different tune, and sings out of tune as well, the effect being +disastrous. Last Sunday a man, with a perversity of judgment I never +saw equalled, produced a flute, and as he played at a pitch which no +human voice could sustain, and as everybody tried to follow, you may +imagine what the din was like." + +We had been informed that there were twenty-nine people in the house, +including ourselves, unprovided with beds, and that we were to be +accommodated _on the table in the salle-à-manger_. The prospect was +not agreeable, and we lingered in the warm salon until half-past ten, +by which time the ladies had all retired. Presently a small army of +maid-servants marched into the room with folding iron bedsteads, +mattresses, blankets, and sheets. To our huge delight, four comfortable +beds were made in as many minutes, and we were informed that two +other gentlemen and ourselves were to be the only occupants of the +room. The tables, with white cloths spread upon them, were converted +into wash-stands, and plenty of rugs were brought to do duty as +counterpanes. Nothing could be more comfortable. We went to bed in +perfect luxury, not, however, before taking a last look from the front +door in the direction of the Matterhorn, and finding, to our great +delight, that the summit of the mountain was at last clearly defined +above a line of motionless clouds, and that the stars were twinkling +brightly overhead. + +Our two companions in the salon were young Americans, who were to +depart early the next morning for the Cima di Jazi. They were astir +by daybreak, and, roused by their departure, I found it impossible to +go to sleep again. After tossing restlessly for an hour, I rose, and, +on going to the window, beheld the glorious snows of the Breithorn +flushed with the coming sunlight rising just above the shoulder of the +mountain near the hotel. Rousing my companion, and dressing as rapidly +as possible, I made for the door of the hotel, and stepped out upon +the terrace. I had looked upon many scenes of grandeur and beauty in +many parts of Switzerland, from the Rigi, from Pilatus, from Mürren, +from the Lauberhorn, but never in all my experience had I witnessed a +scene like that which lay before me. There was not a speck in all the +blue vault of heaven. The frosty air was so clear that distance was +annihilated. Right before me, separated only from the steep slope on +which I stood by the deep valley in which lie the Gorner and Furggen +glaciers, rose the majestic Matterhorn, a silent solitary pinnacle +of bare rock, five thousand feet from base to summit, enthroned upon +a pinnacle of snow and ice, which is itself ten thousand feet from +the ocean level, standing aloof, and seeming to frown defiance on its +fellows, which lay grouped around on every side. The rosy glow of +sunrise pervaded it now,--an intense liquid light, which revealed its +furrowed sides, its seams of snow, its overhanging brow, its ice-bound +feet, its treacherous chasms, its awful precipices,--and softened its +asperity into a loveliness which held us spell-bound for many minutes. + +We knew there were other wonders to be seen around, but it was +difficult to withdraw our eyes from this most remarkable of all +mountain forms. Slowly we let them wander more to the northward, +beyond the valley wherein lies the Z'Mutt glacier which separates the +Matterhorn from the Dent Blanche, and the magnificent range of peaks +stretching away towards the Rhone Valley. All these were illuminated +by the same lovely light, forming a barrier of gold on the west side +of the Visp Valley, which stretched before us as far as the distant +Bietchhorn. Opposite these, bounding the valley on the east, were +the not less majestic ranges of the Mischabel group, over which the +sunlight streamed in long level rays, and between--at least a thousand +feet below us--lay a vast, silent, undulating mass of pale gray +clouds, blotting out the valley beneath with one unbroken sea of vapor +twenty-five miles long, upon which the shadows of the eastern mountains +were distended as distinctly as upon a solid plain. "Thank heaven that +we came up!" we both ejaculated. Zermatt and all the valley below must +have been shrouded in semi-darkness, while we, far above the clouds, +seemed lifted to another sphere, where the atmosphere was so infinitely +pure, the silence so solemn and intense, that we almost feared to speak +lest we should break the spell which wrapped this mystic world of +wonder and unspeakable delight. + +Within half an hour we are _en route_ for the Gorner Grat, a rocky +point which still lay eighteen feet above us, and which we attained +after an easy walk of an hour and a half. The ground was frozen hard as +we mounted slope after slope of short grass and rock, and the miniature +lakes which lay here and there in the hollows near the path were coated +with ice to the thickness of half an inch. The August sun, however, +rising above the ridges in front of us, soon dispelled the frosty +breath of night, and before we reached the summit of the Grat we were +glad to draw down the broad brims of our hats to shield our faces from +the rays, which in the pure dry atmosphere of this altitude--over ten +thousand feet--seemed to scorch and blister the skin. + +The Gorner Grat is one of the very few spots in the Alps where one can +obtain an elevation of over ten thousand feet without the slightest +semblance of a difficulty. The path is good and well defined the whole +way, and the panorama quite unsurpassed. It is remarkable, from the +fact that there is an unbroken range of magnificent snow peaks on every +side. There is not a single break in the chain. It is an isolated rocky +peak that seems formed by nature to enable one to survey at leisure the +marvellous scene around. The huge Gorner glacier winds round its base +at a dizzy depth below; beyond, are the snows of that glorious range +beginning with Monte Rosa (which seems within a stone's throw) and +ending with the Matterhorn.... + +We lingered long in this wonderful spot. A batch of morning tourists +came and gazed around for ten minutes, and was succeeded by another +and another, but as the day wore on they grew few and far between, +and we were at length left entirely alone, wrapped in that intense +and awful stillness which at times pervades these mighty solitudes, +broken only at long intervals by the sudden rush of an avalanche on +the steep slopes of Monte Rosa or the low hum of a wild bee, attracted +to this far height by the fervid noonday beams. We wandered along the +ridge stretching towards the Stockhorn, where the gentian and other +exquisite wild flowers which flourish at this elevation grow in the +greatest profusion, peering up through patches of snow in shady nooks. +Then we returned, and found new beauties in the panorama, which in the +fierce sunlight became almost too dazzling for the eye to rest on. +At last we turned away reluctantly, with another recollection for a +lifetime,--another "joy forever" stored within the cells of memory.... + +A few days later we resolved on a closer acquaintance with the mountain +which had attracted our admiration from so many points of view in the +neighborhood. The Matterhorn seems to dominate the whole district of +Zermatt like a pervading spirit. It is difficult to lose sight of it. +Through rifts in the pine-wood, over grassy bluffs, from the depths +of dark ravines, from one's chamber window, the giant peak is seen +piercing the blue air above. The play of light and shadow upon it as +the hours roll by is in itself a study. Facing the earliest beams, as +the sun rises out of a tossing ocean of Alpine peaks, it stands proudly +up, a pinnacle of burnished gold with scarce a speck of shade to dim +its lustre. As noon approaches, the gloom gathers on the precipitous +northern face until the mid-day shadow falls with a cool blue-black +on the white upper snows of the Matterhorn glacier. By and by, when +the sun has passed to the west, the great shadowy mass rises in gloomy +grandeur against the evening sky, and still later the northwest ridges +are fringed with the lustre of sunset, ere they wrap themselves in the +dusky robe of night. + + + + +ALPINE MOUNTAIN CLIMBING. + +EDWARD WHYMPER. + + [The Matterhorn, one of the most difficult of the Alps to ascend, + defied the efforts of mountaineers until 1865, when Whymper, + with three companions and three guides, reached its summit. The + victory, however, was a tragic one, as the three companions and + one of the guides fell down a precipice and met their death. + Whymper had made various earlier efforts to ascend. We give his + story of one such effort, made at an earlier date.] + + +Three times I had essayed the ascent of this mountain, and on each +occasion had failed ignominiously. I had not advanced a yard beyond +my predecessors. Up to the height of nearly thirteen thousand feet +there were no extraordinary difficulties: the way so far might even +become "a matter of amusement." Only eighteen hundred feet remained, +but they were as yet untrodden, and might present the most formidable +obstacles. No man could expect to climb them by himself. A morsel of +rock only seven feet high might at any time defeat him if it were +perpendicular. Such a place might be possible to two, or a bagatelle to +three men. It was evident that a party should consist of three men at +least. But where could the other two men be obtained? Carrel was the +only man who exhibited any enthusiasm in the matter, and he in 1861 had +absolutely refused to go unless the party consisted of at least _four_ +persons. Want of men made the difficulty, not the mountain. + +The weather became bad again, so I went to Zermatt on the chance of +picking up a man, and remained there during a week of storms. Not one +of the good men, however, could be induced to come, and I returned to +Breuil on the 17th, hoping to combine the skill of Carrel with the +willingness of Meynet on a new attempt by the same route as before; +for the Hörnli ridge, which I had examined in the mean time, seemed +to be entirely impracticable. Both men were inclined to go, but their +ordinary occupations prevented them from starting at once. + +My tent had been left rolled up at the second platform, and whilst +waiting for the men it occurred to me that it might have been blown +away during the late stormy weather; so I started off on the 18th to +see if this were so or not. The way was by this time familiar, and +I mounted rapidly, astonishing the friendly herdsmen,--who nodded +recognition as I flitted past them and the cows,--for I was alone, +because no man was available. But more deliberation was necessary +when the pastures were passed and climbing began, for it was needful +to mark each step in case of mist or surprise by night. It is one of +the few things which can be said in favor of mountaineering alone (a +practice which has little besides to commend it) that it awakens a +man's faculties and makes him observe. When one has no arms to help +and no head to guide him except his own, he must needs take note even +of small things, for he cannot afford to throw away a chance; and so +it came to pass upon my solitary scramble, when above the snow-line +and beyond the ordinary limits of flowering plants, when peering about +noting angles and landmarks, that my eyes fell upon the tiny straggling +plants,--oftentimes a single flower on a single stalk,--pioneers of +vegetation, atoms of life in a world of desolation, which had found +their way up--who can tell how?--from far below, and were obtaining +bare sustenance from the scanty soil in protected nooks; and it gave a +new interest to the well-known rocks to see what a gallant fight the +survivors made (for many must have perished in the attempt) to ascend +the great mountain. The gentian, as one might have expected, was there, +but it was run close by saxifrages and by _Linaria alpina_, and was +beaten by _Thlaspi rotundifolium_; which latter plant was the highest +I was able to secure, although it too was overtopped by a little white +flower which I knew not and was unable to reach.... + +Time sped away unregarded, and the little birds which had built their +nests on the neighboring cliffs had begun to chirp their evening hymn +before I thought of returning. Half mechanically, I turned to the +tent, unrolled it and set it up: it contained food enough for several +days, and I resolved to stay over the night. I had started from Breuil +without provisions or telling Favre, the innkeeper, who was accustomed +to my erratic ways, where I was going. I returned to the view. The +sun was setting, and its rosy rays, blending with the snowy blue, had +thrown a pale, pure violet far as the eye could see; the valleys were +drowned in a purple gloom, while the summits shone with unnatural +brightness; and as I sat in the door of the tent and watched the +twilight change to darkness, the earth seemed to become less earthly +and almost sublime: the world seemed dead, and I its sole inhabitant. +By and by the moon, as it rose, brought the hills again into sight, +and by a judicious repression of detail rendered the view yet more +magnificent. Something in the south hung like a great glow-worm in the +air: it was too large for a star, and too steady for a meteor, and +it was long before I could realize the incredible fact that it was +the moonlight glittering on the great snow-slope on the north side of +Monte Viso, at a distance, as the crow flies, of ninety-eight miles. +Shivering, at last I entered the tent and made my coffee. The night was +passed comfortably, and the next morning, tempted by the brilliancy of +the weather, I proceeded yet higher in search of another place for a +platform.... + +The rocks of the southwest ridge are by no means difficult for some +distance above the Col du Lion. This is true of the rocks up to the +level of the Chimney, but they steepen when that is passed, and +remaining smooth and with but few fractures, and still continuing to +dip outward, present some steps of a very uncertain kind, particularly +when they are glazed with ice. At this point (just above the Chimney) +the climber is obliged to follow the southern (or Breuil) side of the +ridge, but in a few feet more one must turn over to the northern (or +Z'Mutt) side, where in most years Nature kindly provides a snow-slope. +When this is surmounted, one can again return to the crest of the +ridge, and follow it by easy rocks to the foot of the Great Tower. This +was the highest point attained by Mr. Hawkins in 1860, and it was also +our highest on the 9th of July. + +[Illustration: KLEINE SCHEIDEGG (THE JUNGFRAU)] + +This Great Tower is one of the most striking features of the ridge. +It stands out like a turret at the angle of a castle. Behind it a +battlemented wall leads upward to the citadel. Seen from the Théodule +pass, it looks only an insignificant pinnacle, but as one approaches +it (on the ridge), so it seems to rise, and when one is at its base +it completely conceals the upper parts of the mountain. I found here +a suitable place for the tent, which, although not so well protected +as the second platform, possessed the advantage of being three hundred +feet higher up; and fascinated by the wildness of the cliffs, and +enticed by the perfection of the weather, I went on to see what was +behind. + +The first step was a difficult one: the ridge became diminished to the +least possible width, it was hard to keep one's balance, and just where +it was narrowest a more than perpendicular mass barred the way. Nothing +fairly within arm's reach could be laid hold of: it was necessary to +spring up, and then to haul one's self over the sharp edge by sheer +strength. Progression directly upward was then impossible. Enormous +and appalling precipices plunged down to the Tiefenmatten glacier on +the left, but round the right-hand side it was just possible to go. +One hinderance then succeeded another, and much time was consumed in +seeking the way. I have a vivid recollection of a gully of more than +usual perplexity at the side of the Great Tower, with minute ledges +and steep walls; of the ledges dwindling down, and at last ceasing; of +finding myself, with arms and legs divergent, fixed as if crucified, +pressing against the rock, and feeling each rise and fall of my chest +as I breathed; of screwing my head round to look for a hold and not +seeing any, and of jumping sideways on to the other side.... + +[The gully] was an untrodden vestibule, which led to a scene so wild +that even the most sober description of it must seem an exaggeration. +There was a change in the quality of the rock, and there was a change +in the appearance of the ridge. The rocks (talcose gneiss) below this +spot were singularly firm,--it was rarely necessary to test one's +hold: the way led over the living rock, and not up rent-off fragments. +But here all was decay and ruin. The crest of the ridge was shattered +and cleft, and the feet sank in the chips which had drifted down; +while above, huge blocks, hacked and carved by the hand of time, +nodded to the sky, looking like the gravestones of giants. Out of +curiosity I wandered to a notch in the ridge, between two tottering +piles of immense masses which seemed to need but a few pounds on one +or the other side to make them fall, so nicely poised that they would +literally have rocked in the wind, for they were put in motion by a +touch, and based on support so frail that I wondered they did not +collapse before my eyes. In the whole range of my Alpine experience +I have seen nothing more striking than this desolate, ruined, and +shattered ridge at the back of the Great Tower. I have seen stranger +shapes,--rocks which mimic the human form, with monstrous leering +faces, and isolated pinnacles sharper and greater than any here,--but I +have never seen exhibited so impressively the tremendous effects which +may be produced by frost, and by the long-continued action of forces +whose individual effects are imperceptible. + +It is needless to say that it is impossible to climb by the crest of +the ridge at this part; still, one is compelled to keep near to it, for +there is no other way. Generally speaking, the angles on the Matterhorn +are too steep to allow the formation of considerable beds of snow, but +here there is a corner which permits it to accumulate, and it is turned +to gratefully, for by its assistance one can ascend four times as +rapidly as upon the rocks. + +The Tower was now almost out of sight, and I looked over the central +Pennine Alps to the Grand Combin and to the chain of Mont Blanc. +My neighbor, the Dent d'Hérens, still rose above me, although but +slightly, and the height which had been attained could be measured by +its help. So far, I had no doubts about my capacity to descend that +which had been ascended; but in a short time, on looking ahead, I +saw that the cliffs steepened, and I turned back (without pushing on +to them and getting into inextricable difficulties), exulting in the +thought that they would be passed when we returned together, and that I +had without assistance got nearly to the height of the Dent d'Hérens, +and considerably higher than any one had been before. My exultation was +a little premature. + +About five P.M. I left the tent again, and thought myself as good as +at Breuil. The friendly rope and claw had done good service, and had +smoothed all the difficulties. I lowered myself through the Chimney, +however, by making a fixture of the rope, which I then cut off and +left behind, as there was enough and to spare. My axe had proved a +great nuisance in coming down, and I left it in the tent. It was +not attached to the bâton, but was a separate affair,--an old navy +boarding-axe. While cutting up the different snow-beds on the ascent, +the bâton trailed behind fastened to the rope; and when climbing the +axe was carried behind, run through the rope tied round my waist, and +was sufficiently out of the way, but in descending, when coming down +face outward (as is always best where it is possible), the head or the +handle of the weapon caught frequently against the rocks, and several +times nearly upset me. So, out of laziness if you will, it was left in +the tent. I paid dearly for the imprudence. + +The Col du Lion was passed, and fifty yards more would have placed me +on the "Great Staircase," down which one can run. But on arriving at +an angle of the cliffs of the Tête du Lion, while skirting the upper +edge of the snow which abuts against them, I found that the heat of the +two past days had nearly obliterated the steps which had been cut when +coming up. The rocks happened to be impracticable just at this corner, +so nothing could be done except make the steps afresh. The snow was too +hard to beat or tread down, and at the angle it was all but ice: half a +dozen steps only were required, and then the ledges could be followed +again. So I held to the rock with my right hand, and prodded at the +snow with the point of my stick until a good step was made, and then, +leaning round the angle, did the same for the other side. So far well, +but in attempting to pass the corner (to the present moment I cannot +tell how it happened) I slipped and fell. + +The slope was steep on which this took place, and descended to the top +of a gully that led down through two subordinate buttresses towards +the Glacier du Lion, which was just seen, a thousand feet below. The +gully narrowed and narrowed until there was a mere thread of snow +lying between two walls of rock, which came to an abrupt termination +at the top of a precipice that intervened between it and the glacier. +Imagine a funnel cut in half through its length, placed at an angle +of forty-five degrees, with its point below and its concave side +uppermost, and you will have a fair idea of the place. + +The knapsack brought my head down first, and I pitched into some rocks +about a dozen feet below: they caught something, and tumbled me off +the edge, head over heels, into the gully. The bâton was dashed from +my hands, and I whirled downward in a series of bounds, each longer +than the last,--now over ice, now into rocks,--striking my head four +or five times, each time with increased force. The last bound sent me +spinning through the air, in a leap of fifty or sixty feet, from one +side of the gully to the other, and I struck the rocks, luckily, with +the whole of my left side. They caught my clothes for a moment, and I +fell back on to the snow with motion arrested: my head fortunately came +the right side up, and a few frantic catches brought me to a halt in +the neck of the gully and on the verge of the precipice. Bâton, hat, +and veil skimmed by and disappeared, and the crash of the rocks which I +had started, as they fell on to the glacier, told how narrow had been +the escape from utter destruction. As it was, I fell nearly two hundred +feet in seven or eight bounds. Ten feet more would have taken me in one +gigantic leap of eight hundred feet on to the glacier below. + +The situation was still sufficiently serious. The rocks could not be +left go for a moment, and the blood was spurting out of more than +twenty cuts. The most serious ones were in the head, and I vainly +tried to close them with one hand while holding on with the other. It +was useless: the blood jerked out in blinding jets at each pulsation. +At last, in a moment of inspiration, I kicked out a big lump of snow +and stuck it as a plaster on my head. The idea was a happy one, and +the flow of blood diminished: then, scrambling up, I got, not a +moment too soon, to a place of safety and fainted away. The sun was +setting when consciousness returned, and it was pitch dark before the +Great Staircase was descended; but by a combination of luck and care +the whole four thousand eight hundred feet of descent to Breuil was +accomplished without a slip or once missing the way. + +I slunk past the cabin of the cowherds, who were talking and laughing +inside, utterly ashamed of the state to which I had been brought by my +imbecility, and entered the inn stealthily, wishing to escape to my +room unnoticed. But Favre met me in the passage, demanded, "Who is it?" +screamed with fright when he got a light, and aroused the household. +Two dozen heads then held solemn council over mine, with more talk than +action. The natives were unanimous in recommending that hot wine (syn. +vinegar), mixed with salt, should be rubbed into the cuts. I protested, +but they insisted. It was all the doctoring they received. Whether +their rapid healing was to be attributed to that simple remedy or to a +good state of health, is a question; they closed up remarkably soon, +and in a few days I was able to move again.... + +As it seldom happens that one survives such a fall, it may be +interesting to record what my sensations were during its occurrence. I +was perfectly conscious of what was happening, and felt each blow, but, +like a patient under chloroform, experienced no pain. Each blow was, +naturally, more severe than that which preceded it, and I distinctly +remember thinking, "Well, if the next is harder still, that will be +the end!" Like persons who have been rescued from drowning, I remember +that the recollection of a multitude of things rushed through my head, +many of them trivialities or absurdities which had been forgotten long +before; and, more remarkable, this bounding through space did not +feel disagreeable. But I think that in no very great distance more +consciousness as well as sensation would have been lost, and upon that +I base my belief, improbable as it seems, that death by a fall from a +great height is as painless an end as can be experienced. + +The battering was very rough, yet no bones were broken. The most severe +cuts were, one four inches long on the top of the head, and another of +three inches on the right temple; this latter bled frightfully. There +was a formidable-looking cut, of about the same size as the last, on +the palm of the left hand, and every limb was grazed or cut more or +less seriously. The tips of the ears were taken off, and a sharp rock +cut a circular bit out of the side of the left boot, sock, and ankle at +one stroke. The loss of blood, although so great, did not seem to be +permanently injurious. The only serious effect has been the reduction +of a naturally retentive memory to a very commonplace one; and although +my recollections of more distant occurrences remain unshaken, the +events of that particular day would be clean gone but for the few notes +which were written down before the accident. + + + + +A TYPICAL DUTCH CITY. + + +EDMONDO DE AMICIS. + + [De Amicis, a traveller of Italian birth, has given us a number + of highly interesting records of travel, including works on + Algeria, Spain, Holland, Paris, Constantinople, etc. Among these, + "Holland and its People" is perhaps the most entertaining, and + as a specimen of its manner we select from it the description of + Rotterdam, as a typical example of a Dutch city. This selection + is from the translation by Caroline Tilton, published by G. P. + Putnam's Sons.] + + +When we arrived in sight of Rotterdam it rained and was foggy; we +could see, as through a veil, only an immense confusion of ships, +houses, windmills, towers, trees, and people in motion on the dykes and +bridges; there were lights everywhere; a great city with such an aspect +as I had never seen before, and which fog and darkness soon hid from me +altogether. When I had taken leave of my travelling companions, and had +put my luggage in order, it was night. "So much the better," I thought, +as I entered a carriage; "I shall see the first Dutch city by night, +which must be a strange spectacle." And, indeed, when M. Bismarck was +at Rotterdam he wrote to his wife that at night he saw spectres on the +roofs. + +It is difficult to make much of the city of Rotterdam, entering it +at night. The carriage passed almost immediately over a bridge that +resounded hollowly beneath it; and while I thought myself, and was, in +fact, within the city, I saw with amazement on my right and left two +rows of ships vanishing in the gloom. + +Leaving the bridge, we passed through a street, lighted, and full of +people, and found ourselves upon another bridge, and between two rows +of vessels as before, and so on from bridge to street, from street to +bridge, and, to increase the confusion, an illumination of lamps at +the corners of houses, lanterns on masts of ships, light-houses on the +bridges, small lights under the houses, and all these lights reflected +in the water. All at once the carriage stopped, people crowded about; +I looked out and saw a bridge in the air. In answer to my question, +some one said that a vessel was passing. We went on again, seeing a +perspective of canals and bridges crossing and recrossing each other, +until we came to a great square, sparkling with lights, and bristling +with masts of ships, and finally we reached our inn in an adjacent +street. + +My first care on entering my room was to see whether Dutch cleanliness +deserved its fame. It did, indeed, and may be called the religion of +cleanliness. The linen was snow-white, the windows transparent as the +air, the furniture shining like a crystal, the floors so clean that a +microscope could not discover a black speck. There was a basket for +waste paper, a tablet for scratching matches, a dish for cigar-ashes, a +box for cigar-stumps, a spittoon, and a boot-jack; in short, there was +no possible pretext for soiling anything. + +My room examined, I spread a map of Rotterdam upon the table, and made +some preparatory studies for the morrow. + +It is a singular thing that the great cities of Holland, although built +upon a shifting soil, and amid difficulties of every kind, have all +great regularity of form. Amsterdam is a semicircle, the Hague square, +Rotterdam an equilateral triangle. The base of the triangle is an +immense dyke, which defends the city from the Meuse, and is called the +Boompjes, signifying, in Dutch, small trees, from a row of little elms, +now very tall, that were planted when it was first constructed. + +Another great dyke forms a second bulwark against the river, which +divides the city into two almost equal parts, and from the middle of +the left side to the opposite angle. That part of Rotterdam which is +comprised between the dykes is all canals, islands, and bridges, and +is the new city; that which extends beyond the second dyke is the old +city. Two great canals extend along the other two sides of the town to +the apex, where they meet, and receive the waters of the river Rotte, +which, with the affix of _dam_, or dyke, gives its name to the city. + +Having thus fulfilled my conscientious duty as a traveller, and with +many precautions not to soil, even by a breath, the purity of that +jewel of a chamber, I abandoned myself with humility to my first Dutch +bed. + +Dutch beds--I speak of those in the hotels--are generally short and +wide, and occupied, in a great part, by an immense feather pillow in +which a giant's head would be overwhelmed. I may add that the ordinary +light is a copper candlestick, of the size of a dinner-plate, which +might sustain a torch, but holds, instead, a tiny candle about the size +of a Spanish lady's finger. + +In the morning I made haste to rise and issue forth into the strange +streets, unlike anything in Europe. The first I saw was the Hoog +Straat, a long, straight thoroughfare, running along the interior dyke. + +The unplastered houses, of every shade of brick, from the darkest +red to light rose-color, chiefly two windows wide and two stories +high, have the front wall rising above and concealing the roof, and +in the shape of a blunt triangle surmounted by a parapet. Some of +these pointed façades rise into two curves, like a long neck without +a head; some are cut into steps like the houses that children build +with blocks; some present the aspect of a conical pavilion, some of a +village church, some of theatrical cabins. The parapets are in general +surrounded by white stripes, coarse arabesques in plaster, and other +ornaments in very bad taste; the doors and windows are bordered by +broad white stripes; other white lines divide the different stories; +the spaces between the doors in front are marked by white wooden +panels, so that two colors, white and red, prevail everywhere, and +as in the distance the darker red looks black, the prospect is half +festive, half funereal, all the houses looking as if they were hung +with white linen. At first I had an inclination to laugh, for it seemed +impossible that it could have been done seriously, and that quite +sober people lived in those houses. They looked as if they had been +run up for a festival, and would presently disappear, like the paper +frame-work of a grand display of fireworks. + +While I stood looking vaguely at the street, I noticed one house that +puzzled me somewhat; and, thinking that my eyes had been deceived, +I looked more carefully at it, and compared it with its neighbors. +Turning into the next street, the same thing met my astonished gaze. +There is no doubt about it: the whole city of Rotterdam presents the +appearance of a town that has been shaken smartly by an earthquake, and +is on the point of falling into ruin. + +[Illustration: A TYPICAL DUTCH WINDMILL] + +All the houses--in any street one may count the exceptions on their +fingers--lean more or less, but the greater part of them so much that +at the roof they lean forward at least a foot beyond their neighbors, +which may be straight, or not so visibly inclined; one leans forward +as if it would fall into the street; another backward, another to the +left, another to the right; at some points six or seven contiguous +houses all lean forward together, those in the middle most, those at +the ends less, looking like a paling with the crowd pressing against +it. At another point two houses lean together as if supporting one +another. In certain streets the houses for a long distance lean all +one way, like trees beaten by a prevailing wind; and then another long +row will lean in the opposite direction, as if the wind had changed. +Sometimes there is a certain regularity of inclination that is scarcely +noticeable; and again, at crossings and in the smallest streets there +is an indescribable confusion of lines, a real architectural frolic, a +dance of houses, a disorder that seems animated. There are houses that +nod forward as if asleep, others that start backward as if frightened; +some bending towards each other, their roofs almost touching, as if in +secret conference; some falling upon one another as if they were drunk; +some leaning backward between others that lean forward like malefactors +dragged onward by their guards; rows of houses that courtesy to a +steeple, groups of small houses all inclined towards one in the middle, +like conspirators in conclave. + +Observe them attentively one by one, from top to bottom, and they are +interesting as pictures. + +In some, upon the summit of the façade, there projects from the middle +of the parapet a beam with cord and pulley to pull up baskets and +buckets. In others, jutting from a round window, is the carved head of +a deer, a sheep, or a goat. Under the head, a line of whitewashed stone +or wood cuts the whole façade in half. Under this line there are two +broad windows with projecting awnings of striped linen. Under these +again, over the upper panes, a little green curtain. Below this green +curtain two white ones, divided in the middle to show a suspended +bird-cage or a basket of flowers. And below the basket or the cage, the +lower panes are covered by a net-work of fine wire that prevents the +passer-by from seeing into the room. Within, behind the netting, there +stands a table covered with objects in porcelain, crystal, flowers, +and toys of various kinds. Outside on the stone sill is a row of small +flower-pots. From the stone sill or from one side projects an iron stem +curving upward, which sustains two small mirrors joined in the form of +a book, movable, and surmounted by another, also movable, so that those +inside the house can see, without being seen, everything that passes in +the street. + +On some of the houses there is a lamp projecting between the two +windows, and below is the door of the house or a shop door. If it is +a shop, over the door there is the carved head of a Moor with his +mouth wide open, or that of a Turk with a hideous grimace; sometimes +there is an elephant or a goose; sometimes a horse's or a bull's +head, a serpent, a half-moon, a windmill, or an arm extended, the +hand holding some object of the kind sold in the shop. If it is the +house-door,--always kept closed,--there is a brass plate with the name +of the occupant, another with a slit for letters, another with the +handle of a bell, the whole, including the locks and bolts, shining +like gold. Before the door there is a small bridge of wood, because +in many of the houses the ground-floor or basement is much lower than +the street; and before the bridge two little stone columns surmounted +by two balls; two more columns in front of these are united by iron +chains, the large links of which are in the form of crosses, stars, and +polygons; in the space between the street and the house are pots of +flowers; and at the windows of the ground-floor more flower-pots and +curtains. In the more retired streets there are bird-cages on both +sides of the windows, boxes full of green growing things, clothes hung +out to air or dry, a thousand objects and colors, like a universal fair. + +But without going out of the older town, one need only to go away from +the centre to see something new at every step. + +In some narrow, straight streets one may see the end suddenly closed +as if by a curtain concealing the view; but it disappears as it came, +and is recognized as the sail of a vessel moving in a canal. In other +streets a net-work of cordage seems to stop the way; the rigging of +vessels lying in some basin. In one direction there is a drawbridge +raised, and looking like a gigantic swing provided for the diversion of +the people who live in those preposterous houses; and in another there +is a windmill, tall as a steeple and black as an antique tower, moving +its arms like a monstrous firework. On every side, finally, among the +houses, above the roofs, between the distant trees, are seen masts +of vessels, flags, and sails and rigging, reminding us that we are +surrounded by water, and that the city is a seaport. + +Meantime, the shops were opened and the streets became full of +people. There was great animation, but no hurry, the absence of which +distinguishes the streets of Rotterdam from those of London, between +which some travellers find great resemblance, especially in the color +of the houses and the grave aspect of the inhabitants. White faces, +pallid faces, faces the color of Parmesan cheese; light hair, very +light hair, reddish, yellowish; broad beardless visages, beards under +the chin and around the neck; blue eyes, so light as to seem almost +without a pupil; women stumpy, fat, rosy, slow, with white caps and +ear-rings in the form of corkscrews,--these are the first things one +observes in the crowd. + +But for the moment it was not the people that first stimulated my +curiosity. I crossed the Hoog Street, and found myself in the new city. +Here it is impossible to say if it be port or city, if land or water +predominate, if there are more ships than houses, or _vice versa_. + +Broad and long canals divide the city into so many islands, united by +drawbridges, turning bridges, and bridges of stone. On either side of +every canal extends a street, flanked by trees on one side and houses +on the other. All these canals are deep enough to float large vessels, +and all are full of them from one end to the other, except a space in +the middle left for passage in and out,--an immense fleet imprisoned in +a city. + +When I arrived it was the busiest hour, so I planted myself upon the +highest bridge over the principal crossing. From thence were visible +four canals, four forests of ships, bordered by eight files of trees; +the streets were crammed with people and merchandise; droves of cattle +were crossing the bridges; bridges were rising in the air, or opening +in the middle, to allow vessels to pass through, and were scarcely +replaced or closed before they were inundated by a throng of people, +carts, and carriages; ships came and went in the canals, shining like +models in a museum, and with the wives and children of the sailors +on the decks; boats darted from vessel to vessel; the shops drove a +busy trade; servant-women washed the walls and windows; and all this +moving life was rendered more gay and cheerful by the reflections in +the water, the green of the trees, the red of the houses, the tall +windmills showing their dark tops and white sails against the azure of +the sky, and still more by an air of quiet simplicity not seen in any +other northern city. + +I took observations of a Dutch vessel. Almost all the ships crowded +in the canals of Rotterdam are built for the Rhine and Holland; they +have one mast only, and are broad, stout, and variously colored like +toy ships. The hull is generally of a bright grass-green, ornamented +with a red or a white stripe, or sometimes several stripes, looking +like a band of different-colored ribbons. The poop is usually gilded. +The deck and mast are varnished and shining like the cleanest of +house-floors. The outside of the hatches, the buckets, the barrels, the +yards, the planks, are all painted red, with white or blue stripes. +The cabin where the sailors' families are is colored like a Chinese +kiosk, and has its windows of clear glass, and its white muslin +curtains tied up with knots of rose-colored ribbon. In every moment of +spare time sailors, women, and children are busy washing, sweeping, +polishing every part with infinite care and pains; and when their +little vessel makes its exit from the port, all fresh and shining like +a holiday-coach, they all stand on the poop and accept with dignity the +mute compliments which they gather from the glances of the spectators +along the canals. + +From canal to canal, and from bridge to bridge, I finally reached the +dyke of the Boompjes upon the Meuse, where boils and bubbles all the +life of the great commercial city. + +On the left extends a long row of small many-colored steamboats, which +start every hour in the day for Dordrecht, Arnhem, Gouda, Schiedam, +Brilla, Zealand, and continually send forth clouds of white smoke and +the sound of their cheerful bells. To the right lie the large ships +which make the voyage to various European ports, mingled with fine +three-masted vessels bound for the East Indies, with names written +in golden letters,--Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Samarang,--carrying the +fancy to those distant and savage countries like the echoes of distant +voices. In front the Meuse, covered with boats and barks, and the +distant shore with a forest of beech-trees, windmills, and towers; and +over all the unquiet sky, full of gleams of light and gloomy clouds, +fleeting and changing in their constant movement, as if repeating the +restless labor on the earth below. + + + + +ANTWERP AND ITS PEOPLE. + + +ROSE G. KINGSLEY. + + [The traveller to whom we owe the following selection makes + it part of a paper on "The Home of Rubens," in which she + appreciatively describes that artist's works. Her account of the + city in which the greatest of these works are enshrined is more to + our purpose, and is here given.] + + +It had rained in England for a month without stopping, when, weary of +sodden gray clouds above and sodden green grass below, M---- and I +determined to seek new sketching-grounds under a more kindly sky. We +had but a fortnight to spend on our trip. Where, therefore, could we +find a richer field of work than in Flanders? for there quaint cities, +beautiful buildings, glorious pictures, and, if we were minded to go +deeper, a tangled mass of historic interest, lay within easy reach. + +Thus it came to pass that the 30th of September found us driving +through the streets of Brussels, and three days later we were steaming +out into the (to us) unknown, on our way to Antwerp. Our three days had +been chiefly spent in making closer acquaintance with Flemish art in +the museum of the capital,--a collection most valuable and typical, a +collection too often ignored or hastily glanced through by the tourist, +who, if by chance he cares for such things, hurries on to see Memling +at Bruges, Van Eyck at Ghent, or Rubens at Antwerp. He forgets, or does +not know, that, as Fromentin justly says, "Belgium is a magnificent +book of art, of which, happily for provincial glory, the chapters are +scattered everywhere, but of which the preface is at Brussels, and only +at Brussels. To all who are tempted to skip the preface in order to get +at the book, I should say they are wrong,--that they open the book too +soon and will read it ill." We therefore studied the preface with some +care, and now were about to turn the first page of the book itself.... + +Everything seemed new, pretty, and amusing, as the train cleared the +last of the suburbs of Brussels. The sun shone on the long lines of +poplars, just burnished with autumn's gold, which cast their shadows +on damp green meadows ruled off into squares with almost mathematical +precision. Here a man in a brown apron and brilliant crimson sleeves +was raking up the aftermath off a water-meadow. There a girl in a +blue frock was herding black and white cows, and we began to think of +Cuyp. Then we saw, across flat stretches of smiling country, pointed +steeples and red roofs, showing behind thick groups of trees in a +soft blue haze, while an old windmill on blackened wooden stilts, a +little donkey-cart, and a group of crimson-jacketed peasants in the +foreground made us think of some of Teniers the Younger's landscapes, +and recollect that we must be close to Drei Torren, his house at Perck. +Then came Malines, our first brown canal, with red-sailed, green-and +black-painted barges, the great cathedral rising through a screen of +trees over scarlet house-roofs, a picturesque crowd on the platform +of burly shovel-hatted priests, nuns with black shawls over their +white caps, men with blue blouses and brilliant yellow sabots,--and we +thought of Prout. It was all so absurdly like what we had expected, +with a difference,--just the difference between art and nature. + +Then came more flat country, more canals, more fields, more absurd +cocky little wheat-ricks, with hardly corn enough in them to make a +loaf of bread, more white and purple lupins on the embankments, more +red-tiled roofs, half thatch, half tile, which M---- pronounced "most +æsthetic," more sun, yes, that was perhaps the best of all. Then a +great green fort, and we were at Antwerp. + +We hardly gave ourselves time to swallow a hasty _déjeûner_, and then +set forth with the charming feeling that we had nothing to do but +amuse ourselves. We had not an idea of where we were going, or what we +meant to see. All was new, therefore all to us was worth seeing. Only +a vague impression floated in our minds that we ought before long to +find our way to the cathedral. It was not hard to find; in fact, it was +impossible to miss it, for, as we sauntered down the Place de Meir, the +golden clock-face on the steeple shone before us like a beacon over the +high house-roofs, and + + "Far up, the carillon did search + The wind." + +We pushed our way past the odious touters, clamorously asking in vile +French and still viler English if we wished to see the cathedral? had +we seen it? did we know we ought to see it? finally, of course, should +they show it to us? We were in too mighty a presence to heed them. +Above us, almost painfully high, rose the great steeple, pointing up to +the clear blue sky. We stood at a corner of the old Marché and gazed +and gazed, hardly able at first to take in the idea of its real height, +foreshortened as it is when one stands so near. It grew upon us, +revealed itself to us, as we looked and wondered, and ever after, while +in the city, we seemed to feel its protecting presence, even though +it might be hidden from our eyes. And we thought how often must weary +sailors, beating up the stormy waters of the North Sea, have longed +for a glimpse of that weather-stained tower, token to them of home and +safety after some perilous voyage to bring gold and sugar from the New +World, or priceless stuffs and spices from the Indies and far Cathay! +Or as painters, after long study in the schools of Rome and Venice, +made their slow way northward once more across the Alps, to add fresh +glory to the Guild of St. Luke, how eagerly they must have watched for +the first sight of their cathedral, pointing heavenward out of the +flat misty plain, as if to lift their minds from earth into some purer +atmosphere! + +Yet, splendid as is the casket, still more precious is the treasure +it contains. Many men have built cathedrals. There has been but one +Rubens; and of all Rubens's works, the "Descent from the Cross" +enshrined in Antwerp Cathedral is, one may venture to say without +fear of criticism, unquestionably the most wonderful and beautiful. +There is a sobriety, a reticence, about it in color, in movement, in +drawing, in the exquisite balance of light and shade, in the nobility +and yet tenderness of conception, which one hardly looks for in the +painter, splendid though he be, of the Assumption of the Virgin over +the high altar close by, still less of the gorgeous but revolting +Marie de Medici series in the Louvre. To quote Fromentin once more, +"_Tout y est contenu, concis, laconique comme dans une page du texte +sacré._" Let those who judge him merely by pictures such as the last +go to Antwerp, and, casting aside all preconceived ideas, say then +whether Peter Paul Rubens shall not be pardoned all his carelessness, +his coarseness,--yes, even his horrors,--and be to them henceforth the +painter of the noble and majestic "Descent from the Cross." + +It was long before we could summon resolution to leave the cathedral. +Half a dozen times we started, as many times we turned back to the +great triptych to impress some detail more firmly on our minds; and at +last, when the door swung to behind us, and we saw the great master's +statue standing in dusty sunshine in the Place Verte, we were in no +humor for more sight-seeing. So we wandered happily and aimlessly on, +now enchanted by some _pignon espagnol_, the quaint gable running up in +a series of steps, which was introduced, some say, by the Spaniards, +now stopping to scribble down the details of a bit of costume, or to +look at a street shrine on a corner house, with its figure and lamp and +tinsel flowers, until at last we found ourselves on the quays. + +Here, where Van Noort, where Rubens, where Jordaens made studies among +the rude fishermen for their pictures of the Miraculous Draught,--here, +where generations of painters from their day down to our own have +loved to dwell upon the changing aspects of the quiet river, the +hurrying quays, the picturesque people,--here was indeed a spot where +we humble disciples of Apelles might hope to gather inspiration from +the example of the great departed. So we hunted out a pile of wood on +the very brink of the river, a quiet corner where we ran no risk of +being trampled underfoot by gigantic Flemish dray-horses or knocked +down by heavily laden wagons; and there we sat peacefully, sketching +the long reaches of the Scheldt bathed in a flood of golden haze. Up +it sailed long low boats, floating past us with full red sails, flat, +faint, wooded shores behind them, a tall smoking chimney or little +church-spire breaking the blue line of the trees here and there. The +river reaches were full of repose to eye and mind alike, and our +thoughts turned instinctively to Van de Velde, to his glassy water, +where little gleams catch the curl of some lazy ripple, and his skiffs +and schooners floating in a veil of filmy gold, which warms his usual +pearly grays, while they in turn give a sober undertone to the golden +glory. A contrast to the quiet river was the foreground of the picture, +where a steamer was lading for some distant voyage, funnels, rigging, +hull, a great mass of black and brown against the pale golden water, +and the bustling quay, where horses, men, carriages, foot-passengers, +long low trollies,--apparently on only two wheels, so minute were +the front pair,--piled high with bales and barrels, were jumbled in +inextricable confusion. + +[Illustration: THE WATERLOO PYRAMID] + +We were working away, thankful that every one was too full of his own +business to care to look at us, when suddenly a pleasant smell of +burning made us wonder whether the municipality were trying to fumigate +the town and overpower the very unsavory odors around us. Presently +blacks began to settle on our sketch-books. Then burning morsels flew +through the air, and, turning round, we saw that a quantity of bales +standing on the quay twenty yards behind us were on fire. Half a dozen +bystanders looked on with true Flemish phlegm. A woman in blue and +gray, with yellow sabots, stood watching on a fallen mast. Then others +began to arrive, and as the flames rose higher some slight interest +arose with them. The gray woman turned and ran for the pompiers. The +interest grew and spread among the gathering crowd. Soldiers just +landing from the Tête de Flandre caught sight of the crackling flames +and rushed towards them. Stevedores left the lading of their steamer, +and, leaping across masts and spars, with sacks over their heads +and their blue blouses puffed into balloons by the wind, rushed to +the scene of action. M---- and I thought it prudent to retire to a +street-corner, away from the turmoil. + +Such a street! all in warm shade, with rich reds and grays and +browns among its high-roofed houses. Out of the Fish-Market close +by poured a motley crowd,--men in blue jerseys, men in red jerkins, +men in shirt-sleeves, little lads in sailor-clothes with bright +yellow sabots, women with yellow sabots and blue stockings, or yellow +stockings and black sabots, or black shoes and pink stockings, women in +three-cornered shawls, women in long black cloaks. The tardily-awakened +interest had grown into intense excitement. Every one ran,--soldiers, +ladies, porters, priests; and as we left the Quai Vandyck to go home, +and looked up at the stone lace-work of the cathedral tower against +the bright blue sky, the pompiers raced past us with their little +hand-engine, to find that the fire had burnt itself out. + +Too tired by our long day to walk any more, but unwilling to waste the +evening in our rooms, we chartered a comfortable little carriage and +drove down to the Port just after sunset. The cathedral tower stood +stately and sombre against a pale-pink sky. Against this delicate +background, too, we caught fantastic irregular outlines of old houses +at every turn of the streets. The busy Quai Vandyck we now saw under +a completely changed aspect. The pink of the upper sky melted into +yellow, the yellow into a heavy blue-purple blending with the farther +shore of the river. The bands of color, intensified by black masts +and sails rising from yet blacker hulls lying under the bank, were +reflected in the opalescent water; while fluttering pennons on a forest +of fishing-boats looked, as M---- said, "like a shoal of minnows." + +As we drove along in the growing darkness the scene was weird and +strange. We caught glimpses of black figures, with heavy burdens on +their shoulders, rushing up and down gangways of loading steamers like +the demons of some Walpurgisnacht, lighted by oil-cans flaming from +their two spouts. Then came a street of ancient houses,--we could +see only the steps of their gables against the sky,--and, instead +of a roadway below, the street was full of water and ships, sails +half furled, lights, red, green, and yellow, repeating themselves in +long reflections amid the black boats on the smooth surface of the +canal. Across the river steamer-lights crept to and fro. Low carts, +with huge horses that brought to mind Paul Potter's etching of "The +Friesland Horse," grazed past us. Then came a black mass,--the house +of the Hanseatic League. Then great docks like the sea, stretching +away infinitely into the darkness, a mysterious confusion of masts, +spars, cordage, chimneys, lights, water, black hulls. On shore a tangle +of carts and trollies standing horseless, barrels, cotton-bales, +wool-sacks. A locomotive snorted past us in dangerous proximity, +appearing one knew not from whence, disappearing again into the gloom. +Electric lights flashed on ahead far up the line. We passed more huge +warehouses, more canals, more narrow streets. Then the Port and its +strange life, its flaming oil-cans, its murky darkness, were left +behind, and we found ourselves back in nineteenth-century civilization, +driving down the new Frenchified boulevards, with only the statue of +David Teniers and the Italian facade of Rubens's house to remind us +where we were. + + + + +ART MUSEUMS OF DRESDEN. + +ELIZABETH PEAKE. + + ["Pen Pictures of Europe," by Elizabeth Peake, is amply worth + reading by all who wish to gain a rapid acquaintance with what is + worth seeing on that continent. Its interesting descriptions are + so many and varied that choice among them is not easy to make, and + we present what our traveller saw in Dresden and at Potsdam simply + as examples of the whole.] + + +We have been to the picture-gallery. There were between two and three +thousand pictures. There were Raphael, Holbein, Correggio, Titian, +Carlo Dolce, Paul Veronese, Rubens, Rembrandt, Vandyke, Guido, +Ruysdael, Wouvermans, Claude, Poussin, and I do not know who else; +but I would give them all, and more besides, for the portraits of +Charlemagne and Sigismund by Dürer, and the historical painting of +the peace of Westphalia, with its forty-seven original portraits by +Sandrart. I do really think that I have seen a million of paintings, +and have come to the sad conclusion that I have precious little love +for pictures,--for paintings. + +The magnificent frescos I admire as much as any one. But the thousands +of Madonnas,--Raphael's "Madonna di San Sisto," which cost forty +thousand dollars, I like better than any I have yet seen, next to +that old painting of Leonardo da Vinci in the old church not far +from Milan,--all the Madonnas have pretty eyes, pretty faces, pretty +attitudes; but they do not come up to my idea of the Virgin. Then there +are so many nude Venuses, and all sorts of nudities, that the artists +who painted them ought to have been condemned to go without clothes, +even in cold weather, to see how they would like it; and when they died +they should have every bone in the human body carved as ornaments on +their tombstone as I saw somewhere in my travels. The heads of the old +men are exceedingly fine and natural; but many of the portraits have +such affected attitudes that they seem ridiculous to me. I suppose +it used to be the fashion to _take an attitude_ when they sat for a +portrait. + +Mrs. Siddons's portrait, in London, and one of Mary Queen of Scots and +her page, were the most beautiful and faultless to my taste of all I +saw in England. + +Murillo's beggar boys and girls did not know enough to assume an +attitude; and of course they please, because they are natural. + +Did you ever see persons sit where they could see themselves in a +mirror, conversing, and still looking at themselves with a sort of +half consciousness they were doing so, and thinking that you were not +noticing that they did so? I say, did you ever notice what a ridiculous +and puzzled expression it gives to their faces? Well, this is just the +expression of the greater part of these so celebrated portraits and +paintings. It is appalling to think of,--I mean my want of taste,--but +I do like to see pictures look natural. "How will madame have potatoes, +sauté or grillé, or au naturel?" The word _naturel_ sounds so +charmingly after all I have seen, that I reply joyously, "Au naturel;" +and he brought me boiled potatoes,--just what I liked. I forgot to +mention that we went again to the opera in Munich, in the small theatre +in the king's palace. The opera was "Alessandra Stradella," by Flotow. +I never heard sweeter music; and Nachbaur, who took the part of +Stradella, was not only a magnificent tenor, but a perfect Adonis in +person. He would meet with success in New York. + +Yesterday we went to the royal palace, a very ancient and +ungainly-looking building. Our object was to visit the green rooms, +or vaults, which contain all kinds of rare objects-jewels, ivory, +bronzes, and costly things,--which I suppose were intended to +show the magnificence of the Saxon kings, who once were among the +richest sovereigns in Europe. There are eight of these rooms on the +ground-floor of the palace. I wish you could have been with us to +have seen all the curiosities, and to have heard the custodian, who +spoke English, tell us all about what he showed us. It is impossible +to remember a tenth part of what one sees, so I was glad when the +custodian said, as he entered the first room, which contains the +bronzes, "Laties, here is more as a huntred fine bronzes; the best fon +Italy, I show you ze masterpieces. Zis is Antinous; here is Apollo; +dis leetle dog is curious; is of hammered iron, not cast hammered. +'Tis by Peter Vischer. You see he scratch himself,--very funny, very +curious. Zis crucifix made by John of Bologna,--a masterpiece." I kept +close to him to ask him more particularly about many things. The next +room was the ivory room. I wish you could have heard him pronounce "my +lady" in three or four different ways. There were four hundred and +eighty-four pieces of ivory wonderfully carved. "Here, melaty, one +little piece. Two drunken musicians fighting. Made by Dinglinger." "Who +was Dinglinger?" I asked. "He was yeweller of te court, melaty." After +seeing all in the room, he said, "Zis way, laties, if you please, one +leetle step down. Here are ze mosaics. Zis table Florentine mosaic; +best of ze tables." There were large life sized portraits on each side +of the windows. I asked, "Whose portrait is this?" "Christian II., +melaty. He always drink sixteen pottles of wine in one day,--sixteen +pottles, melaty." I was much pleased with a magnificent chimney-piece, +made of the different kinds of china manufactured here, and ornamented +with the various kinds of stone found in Saxony. In the fourth room I +noticed a peculiar clock, made in the form of the tower of Babel. One +gold chalice, ornamented with precious gems, made by Benvenuto Cellini, +attracted my attention. I asked about another portrait. "Augusta +ze Strong, melaty. He took a horseshoe in his hand and broke it in +two. Very strong, melaty, very strong." I had heard the story of his +stopping at a shop to have a shoe put on his horse. Selecting a shoe, +he took it in his hand, and breaking it, said it was not strong enough. +The smith, after shoeing his horse, asked for a dollar. Augustus threw +down a silver dollar. The smith took it up, and rolling it over in his +fingers in the form of a cigar, asked if the dollar was a good one. + +A little farther, the custodian took up a golden egg. "Here, laties, is +one golden egg. I will open it, and you will see it contains a golden +chicken. I will open ze chicken; it has in it ze Polish crown. I will +open ze crown, and show you one fine ring. All zese rings are for show, +for curiosity, for playthings." The next room contained the largest +pearls; one represents the body of a court dwarf, and is as large as a +hen's egg. In the seventh room we were shown the regalia used at the +coronation of Augustus Second as king of Poland, and then brought here +to be kept for the coronation of Saxon princes who might at some future +time be crowned at Cracow. There, too, were the swords of John Sobieski +and Solyman II., of Turkey. The hilts of these swords seemed one mass +of diamonds. The shoulder-knot of the queens of Poland containing six +hundred and sixty-two diamonds! Then the diamond buttons, rubies, +emeralds, sapphires, and other precious stones were as wonderful on +account of their abundance as they were for their great beauty. I could +only think of Sinbad the sailor, of Aladdin and his wonderful lamp, and +all the fairy-tales of diamonds and gems I had read in my life. In the +last there were emeralds one and a half inches large, and a model of +the throne and court of the great Mogul Aurengzebe, at which Dinglinger +and eighteen men worked eight years, and were paid fifty-nine thousand +thalers! A costly plaything. All the Saxon crown jewels, collected from +the time of the Elector Maurice, 1541, were one blaze of light and +beauty. Boxes are always ready for packing them, particularly in time +of war, when they are taken to the fortress of Königstein. + +We have been over the bridge to the Japanese palace to see the +collections of porcelain from the earliest times until now. The +Portuguese were the first to bring porcelain to Europe from China +and Japan, and Saxony was the first European country in which its +manufacture was begun. Von Tzschirnhausen was making experiments in his +three glass huts when, in 1701, he was joined by John Frederic Böttger, +an alchemist, who said he had succeeded in finding the philosopher's +stone, and who, in the presence of witnesses, melted eighteen two +groschen pieces, sprinkled into the liquid mass a reddish powder, and +changed them into the finest gold. However that may have been, he +found a species of earth in the neighborhood of Meissen which suited +his purposes, and began the manufacture of porcelain, which at the +present day is carried on there in a large establishment called the +royal porcelain manufactory of Dresden china. Meissen is not far from +Dresden, but I am afraid we shall not have time to go there. + +But to return to the Japanese palace. There were costly selections of +Chinese, Japanese, East Indian, Dresden, and Sèvres porcelain. It is +really astonishing to see what improvement was made in Dresden china +in twenty years, and then from those twenty years until the present +time. There are twenty rooms in the basement of this building which are +filled with these collections. I only wish they had put them in the +story above, where ever so much old statuary is placed, for then they +could be seen to so much better advantage, and the statuary be kept in +the shade, where, in my opinion, a good lot of it should always be. +Kändler's model of a huge monument to Augustus (III. of Poland and II. +of Saxony) is entirely of porcelain, and cost twelve thousand thalers. +A camellia, thirty-eight inches high, modelled by Schiefer, in Meissen, +in 1836, is most beautiful. We were shown plates which cost three or +four hundred dollars apiece. The bust of the queen of Prussia, given by +her husband, Frederic William III., to this collection, is exquisite. +A white lace veil was carelessly thrown over the head. I looked at it, +and thought it strange that a lace veil should be thrown over a bust +of china, and spoke to the guide about it. He said the veil was china +too. I examined it closely; the work on the border was perfect, and +you could see the head and neck through the veil as plainly as if it +had been real lace. The Sèvres china given by the first Napoleon was +the handsomest of any we saw. Some majolica vases were very fine, and +cost about ten thousand dollars each. There were Chinese gods, made in +China, of the most beautiful porcelain, but as hideous in form as they +were beautiful in material. + +We went to the armory, said to be the finest collection of the +kind in Europe. In the first room we were shown many curiosities: +the work-table of "Mother Anna," made of petrified wood, which +the attendant wished me to notice particularly, because it was a +_petrifactation_. + +Then there was a clock with a bear striking the seconds on a drum; +another clock imitated a chime of bells; Luther's drinking-cup, made +of gold, and holding about a pint; and a beautiful cabinet presented +to him by his friend and protector, the Elector of Saxony, and which, +after his death, was sold to the government by his family. The next +room was filled with implements of sports and the chase, all very +curious. + +On we went, from room to room, looking at the suits of armor which +had been worn by the electors of Saxony,--their tilting suits, their +parade suits; the horses they rode on parade, stuffed and equipped; and +their masters' suits put on figures to represent those distinguished +personages; so you could fancy yourself walking among them, and seeing +them as they looked when living. Nothing could exceed the splendor +of the horses' accoutrements,--precious stones almost covered their +harness; the scabbards of one or two swords were set with jewels and +diamonds their whole length; in those times jewels and diamonds were +as plentiful as blackberries. The housing of one of the kings, when he +went sleigh-riding, was crimson velvet embroidered with gold, and two +or three hundred little bells that looked like gold fastened on all +over it. There were the cuirass of Augustus the Strong, which weighed +one hundred pounds, and his cap, that weighed twenty-five. Napoleon's +saddle, and many other saddles, had jewels set in them that many a lady +would be proud to wear. + +One great curiosity was a Turkish tent, taken at the siege of Vienna, +in 1683. It was set up in one room with all its furniture. The +ground-work was crimson embroidered with gold. I should think it was +large enough to accommodate twenty persons. There were also the armor +worn by John Sobieski at the same siege, and the pistols worn by +Charles XII. of Sweden on the day of his death. Some of the tilting +suits worn at tournaments weighed two hundred pounds. + +I never saw anything like these Germans for curious and strange things. +One of the curious and costly toys I saw when we went to the green +rooms was a bird's nest, flowers, etc., made of flour and water. I do +not know whether I told you of a painting on cobweb which we saw in the +museum at Munich. There were four or five panes of glass nearly covered +with cobwebs, which had a landscape painted on them. In some things +I do not admire the taste: two large porcelain pitchers, that would +hold two gallons, and cost thousands of dollars, had handles made to +represent large spotted adders, or snakes. + +If I did not understand German I would not know half the time what they +meant when they are trying to talk to me in English. Showing me some +china cups that were first made with handles, the man said, "You see, +zese are ze first made wiz hankles." Speaking of something being most +convenient, he said, the "commodest." + +I have said nothing of the statues in the public places: the monument +to the Elector Maurice, the oldest one in Dresden, representing Maurice +handing the electoral sword to his brother "Father August," and just +behind him their wives in widows' weeds. + +The equestrian statue of Augustus the Strong, made of brass, and +placed on a pedestal of sandstone, looks very spirited. The statue +of Frederick Augustus II. in his coronation robes is very fine; +besides others which I have not time to describe. The Roman Catholic +church which we see from our windows, built in the Italian style, and +profusely decorated, is said to have cost two million thalers. + +Seen through the fog in the early morning, its fifty-nine statues of +saints and apostles looked like ghosts, or like some pictures of the +last judgment. + +The green copper roofs of this church and of the government buildings +give Dresden a look peculiar to itself. There are two triumphant +fly-away statues on the grand bridge over the Elbe which exhilarate me +every time I see them. + +Brühl's Terrace is a very delightful promenade, and an ornament to the +city. I was asked if I had seen the statuary at the "flurs" (flight of +stairs) of this terrace. One group represents Evening, the other Night; +they are very good. The sculptor Schilling is to make two more--Morning +and Noon--for the flight on the other side. + +On Friday we went to the palace and saw a great quantity of porcelain, +some fine frescos in the throne room, particularly four large pictures +from the history of Henry the Fowler. The ball-room is painted with +subjects from mythology, mostly. I expected to find the palace more +imposing than it was,--perhaps from seeing so many millions invested in +jewels in the green rooms.... + +On Monday we went to Potsdam, about an hour's ride on the cars. Potsdam +is the Prussian Versailles. It was founded by the Great Elector of +Brandenburg, but owes all its splendor to Frederick the Great. We +first visited the New Palace, which Frederick the Great built, just +to show the world that his wars had not exhausted all his finances. +He had an eye for bright things,--the rooms were brilliant with gold +and silver, and bright-colored satin, and brocade and damask curtains. +They showed us in the folds of the curtains, where the light had not +faded them, how bright and beautiful they must have been when new. They +also showed us the rooms in which his dogs were allowed to enter; the +coverings of the sofas and chairs were terribly torn by them. One large +room in this palace was entirely covered with pearl-oyster and various +other kinds of shells, different marbles and stones,--all put together +to represent dolphins and fishes. The floor was of Italian marble, +and overhead were fresco-paintings. It was a very large room, having +windows on one side, and on the opposite side mirrors, reflecting the +beautiful grounds outside, making a very striking and fine effect. +In the library we saw the caricature of Voltaire, made by Frederick +the Great,--it is a pen-and-ink sketch. We also saw the hat, boots, +gloves, etc., which were last worn by him. We were shown places on +his writing-desk and tables where bits of the cloth were cut out and +carried away by Napoleon. A small room, in which he used to dine with +a friend or two, was so constructed that the table and food could be +raised from the room beneath; thus waiters could be dispensed with, +and he could converse with his friends confidentially. We went into +the garrison church where Frederick the Great is buried behind the +pulpit, in a plain metal sarcophagus above-ground. The sword that used +to lie upon it was carried off by Napoleon, and no one knows what has +become of it, but over the tomb, on each side of the pulpit, hang the +eagles and standards taken from Napoleon's armies by the Prussians. +His father's tomb is of marble and stands opposite his. We then rode +on to the palace of Sans Souci, built by Frederick the Great. It seems +to stand upon the top of a flight of terraces. The grounds were laid +out in French taste, when it was the fashion to have everything stiff +and formal. We saw some fine paintings and statuary, walked through the +orangery, and then through the grounds, passed the historical windmill +which Frederick the Great wanted to buy, but the miller would not sell. +Frederick sued him and lost his case. Afterwards, when the family of +the miller became poor, they offered it to the king, who bought it, +but would not have it pulled down, preferring to have it stand as a +monument of Prussian justice. + +The carriage was waiting for us at the gate, and then, crossing the +river Havel, we rode on to Babelsburg, where Emperor William lived +before he was king. This is decidedly the prettiest residence that +I have seen since I left home, and although the palace is large it +has such a homelike look, and is so cheerful throughout, I should +think the Emperor would like to spend as much time there as possible. +The girl who showed us through the palace gave an envelope from the +Emperor's writing-desk to one of our party, who gave it to me to put +among my relics. Humboldt's study is kept just as he left it. I think +I could study in that room. The night-lamp was so constructed as to +appear like stars when lighted. In the drawing-room there were some +beautifully-embroidered chairs, presented to the Empress by the court +ladies. They were of dark-blue velvet, with heads of wheat embroidered +in gold. In the apartments of the crown princess I saw the carpet +presented her on her marriage by the English ladies. The attendant +lifted the cloth that covered it, and it still looked as good as new. +We were particularly shown an English bed, because it was a double +bed, and it did seem quite a curiosity, for it was the only one we had +seen on the continent. The whole palace was cheerful throughout, and +had the appearance of the highest taste and refinement. The paintings +and statues are exquisitely beautiful. The grounds are handsome, and +the landscape quite American. The courier asked the attendant who took +us through the palace whether she kept the money that was given her +for herself. Oh, no! she had to give it to the steward. I suppose, +however, that if no fee was required the palace would be overrun with +visitors. We had to hurry to get back to Potsdam in time for the cars, +and reached Berlin about dark, pretty well tired out, and did not rise +until late the next morning. + + + + +THE STUDENTS OF HEIDELBERG. + +BAYARD TAYLOR. + + [Taylor's earliest and notable work of travel, "Views Afoot," + describing his experiences while traversing Europe with a light + purse and a sturdy heart, is full of quotable passages, of two + of which we have availed ourselves. The following is devoted to + the well-worn story of the German student, with his extraordinary + capacity for beer and his insensate taste for duels. We cannot + well get through Europe without some account of these striking + incidents of student-life, which our author very well describes.] + + +Receiving a letter from my cousin one bright December morning, the idea +of visiting him struck me, and so, within an hour, B---- and I were on +our way to Heidelberg. It was delightful weather; the air was mild as +the early days of spring, the pine-forests around wore a softer green, +and though the sun was but a hand's breadth high, even at noon, it was +quite warm on the open road. + +We stopped for the night at Bensheim; the next morning was as dark as +a cloudy day in the north can be, wearing a heavy gloom I never saw +elsewhere. The wind blew the snow down from the summits upon us, but, +being warm from walking, we did not heed it. The mountains looked +higher than in summer, and the old castles more grim and frowning. From +the hard roads and freezing wind my feet became very sore, and after +limping along in excruciating pain for a league or two, I filled my +boots with brandy, which deadened the wounds so much that I was enabled +to go on in a kind of trot, which I kept up, only stopping ten minutes +to dinner, till we reached Heidelberg. + +The same evening there was to be a general commers, or meeting of the +societies among the students, and I determined not to omit one of the +most interesting and characteristic features of student life. So, +borrowing a cap and coat, I looked the student well enough to pass for +one of them, though the former article was somewhat of the Philister +form. Baader, a young poet of some note, and president of the "Palatea" +society, having promised to take us there, we met at eight o'clock at +an inn frequented by the students, and went to the rendezvous, near the +Markt Platz. + +A confused sound of voices came from the inn, as we drew near; groups +of students were standing around the door. In the entry we saw the Red +Fisherman, one of the most conspicuous characters about the University. +He is a small, stout man, with bare neck and breast, red hair, whence +his name, and a strange mixture of roughness and benevolence in his +countenance. He had saved many persons, at the risk of his own life, +from drowning in the Neckar, and on that account is leniently dealt +with by the faculty whenever he is arrested for assisting the students +in any of their unlawful proceedings. Entering the room, I could +scarcely see at first, on account of the smoke that ascended from a +hundred pipes. All was noise and confusion. Near the door sat some +half-dozen musicians, who were getting their instruments ready for +action; and the long room was filled with tables, all of which seemed +to be full, and the students were still pressing in. The tables were +covered with great stone jugs and long beer-glasses; the students were +talking and shouting and drinking. + +One, who appeared to have the arrangement of the meeting, found seats +for us together, and, having made a slight acquaintance with those +sitting next us, we felt more at liberty to witness their proceedings. +They were all talking in a sociable, friendly way, and I saw no one +who appeared to be intoxicated. The beer was a weak mixture, which +I should think would make one fall over from its _weight_ before it +would intoxicate him. Those sitting near me drank but little, and that +principally to make or return compliments. One or two at the other +end of the table were more boisterous, and more than one glass was +overturned on the legs below it. Leaves containing the songs for the +evening lay at each seat; and at the head, where the president sat, +were two swords crossed, with which he occasionally struck upon the +table to preserve order. Our president was a fine, romantic-looking +young man, dressed in the old German costume, which is far handsomer +than the modern. I never saw in any company of young men so many +handsome, manly countenances. If their faces were any index of their +characters, there were many noble, free souls among them. + +[Illustration: THE TOWN AND CASTLE OF HEIDELBERG] + +Nearly opposite to me sat a young poet, whose dark eyes flashed with +feeling as he spoke to those near him. After some time passed in +talking and drinking together, varied by an occasional air from the +musicians, the president beat order with the sword, and the whole +company joined in one of their glorious songs, to a melody at the same +time joyous and solemn. Swelled by so many manly voices, it rose up +like a hymn of triumph; all other sounds were stilled. Three times +during the singing all rose up, clashed their glasses together around +the table, and drank to their Fatherland, a health and blessing to the +patriot, and honor to those who struggle in the cause of freedom, at +the close thundering out their motto,-- + + "Fearless in strife, to the banner still true!" + +After this song the same order as before was continued, except that +students from the different societies made short speeches accompanied +by some toast or sentiment. One spoke of Germany, predicting that all +her dissensions would be overcome, and she would rise up at last like +a phoenix among the nations of Europe; and at the close gave "Strong, +united, regenerated Germany!" Instantly all sprang to their feet, +and, clashing the glasses together, gave a thundering "Hoch!" This +enthusiasm for their country is one of the strongest characteristics +of the German students; they have ever been first in the field for her +freedom, and on them mainly depends her future redemption. + +Cloths were passed around, the tables wiped off, and preparations made +to sing the "_Landsfather_" or consecration song. This is one of the +most important and solemn of their ceremonies, since by performing it +the new students are made _burschen_, and the bands of brotherhood +continually kept fresh and sacred. All became still a moment; then they +commenced the lofty song,-- + + "Silent bending, each one lending + To the solemn tones his ear, + Hark, the song of songs is sounding, + Back from joyful choir resounding; + Hear it, German brothers, hear! + + "German, proudly raise it, loudly + Singing of your fatherland. + Fatherland! thou land of story, + To the altars of thy glory + Consecrate us, sword in hand! + + "Take the beaker, pleasure-seeker, + With thy country's drink brimmed o'er; + In thy left the sword is blinking; + Pierce it through the cap, while drinking + To thy Fatherland once more!" + +With the first line of the last stanza the presidents sitting at the +head of the table take their glasses in their right hands, and at the +third line the sword in their left, at the end striking their glasses +together and drinking. + + "In left hand gleaming, thou art beaming, + Sword from all dishonor free! + Thus I pierce the cap, while swearing, + It in honor ever wearing, + I a valiant Bursch will be!" + +They clash their swords together till the third line is sung, when each +takes his cap, and piercing the point of the sword through the crown, +draws it down to the guard. Leaving their caps on the swords, the +presidents stand behind the two next students, who go through the same +ceremony, receiving the swords at the appropriate time, and giving them +back loaded with their caps also. This ceremony is going on at every +table at the same time. These two stanzas are repeated for every pair +of students till all have gone through with it, and the presidents +have arrived at the bottom of the table, with their swords strung full +of caps. + + [While the song goes on, the president restores the caps, one + by one, a consecration verse being chanted as each student + receives his cap. When all are restored, the ceremonies end with + a concluding verse, in which the singers pledge themselves to the + service of their Fatherland.] + +The Landsfather being over, the students were less orderly; the smoking +and drinking began again, and we left, as it was already eleven +o'clock, glad to breathe the pure cold air. + +In the University I heard Gervinus, who was formerly professor +in Göttingen, but was obliged to leave on account of his liberal +principles. He is much liked by the students and his lectures are very +well attended. They had this winter a torchlight procession in honor of +him. He is a stout, round-faced man, speaks very fast, and makes them +laugh continually with his witty remarks. In the room I saw a son of +Rückert, the poet, with a face strikingly like his father's. The next +evening I went to hear Schlosser, the great historian. Among his pupils +are the two princes of Baden, who are now at the University. He came +hurriedly in, threw down his portfolio, and began instantly to speak. +He is an old, gray-headed man, but still active and full of energy. The +Germans find him exceedingly difficult to understand, as he is said to +use the English construction almost entirely; for this reason perhaps I +understand him quite easily. He lectures on the French Revolution, but +is engaged in writing a Universal History, the first numbers of which +are published. + +Two or three days after, we heard that a duel was to take place at +Neuenheim, on the opposite side of the Neckar, where the students have +a house hired for that purpose. In order to witness the spectacle, we +started immediately with two or three students. Along the road were +stationed old women, at intervals, as guards, to give notice of the +approach of the police, and from these we learned that one duel had +already been fought, and they were preparing for the other. The Red +Fisherman was busy in an outer room grinding the swords, which are made +as sharp as razors. In the large room some forty or fifty students +are walking about, while the parties were preparing. This was done by +taking off the coat and vest and binding a great thick leather garment +on, which reached from the breast to the knees, completely protecting +the body. They then put on a leather glove reaching nearly to the +shoulder, tied a thick cravat around the throat, and drew on a cap with +a large vizor. This done, they were walked about the room a short time, +the seconds holding out their arms to strengthen them; their faces all +this time betrayed considerable anxiety. + +All being ready, the seconds took their stations immediately behind +them, each armed with a sword, and gave the words, "_Ready--bind your +weapons--loose!_" They instantly sprang at each other, exchanged two or +three blows, when the seconds cried "Halt!" and struck their swords up. +Twenty-four rounds of this kind ended the duel, without either being +hurt, though the cap of one of them was cut through and his forehead +grazed. All their duels do not end so fortunately, however, as the +frightful scars on the faces of many of those present testified. It +is a gratification to know that but a small portion of the students +keep up this barbarous custom. The great body is opposed to it; in +Heidelberg, four societies, comprising more than one-half the students, +have been formed against it. A strong desire for such a reform seems +to prevail, and the custom will probably be totally discontinued in a +short time. + +This view of the student-life was very interesting to me; it appeared +in a much better light than I had been accustomed to view it. Their +peculiar customs, except duelling and drinking, of course, may be +better tolerated when we consider their effect on the liberty of +Germany. It is principally through them that a free spirit is kept +alive; they have ever been foremost to rise up for their Fatherland and +bravest in its defence. And though many of their customs have so often +been held up to ridicule, among no other class can one find warmer, +truer, or braver hearts. + + + + +THE STREETS OF BERLIN. + +MATTHEW WOODS. + + [Among the object-lessons which the cities of Europe have + for Americans there is none more evident and impressive than + the beauty and cleanliness of the streets of many of these + municipalities, as compared with those of the land beyond the + ocean. Dr. Woods, in his "Rambles of a Physician," draws a + striking picture of the aspect of the principal street of Berlin, + which we reproduce for the benefit of our readers.] + + +To-day I have been riding on tramways through wide, smooth, perfectly +clean streets, lined on each side by magnificent houses, mostly with +their fronts a complete net-work of graceful carvings. In building here +the custom is to use rough stones, and when the house is erected, carve +over it the development of some legend, the illustrations of some +classic tale, or it may be, the story of the rise and progress of the +builder, or the man for whom it is being built; or, perhaps, simply a +reproduction in stone of some Pompeiian wall decoration, so that merely +a stroll through the streets, or a ride on a car, exhibits sights that +I imagine are seldom if ever seen outside of Germany. To write down +all worthy of perpetual remembrance and praise, during a walk through +its splendid ways, would require much time, and I will therefore only +say that amid a profusion of ornamentation, you seldom see anything +meaningless or incapable of pointing a moral or adorning a tale. + +The street wherein I write, what words could record its splendors! +From the happy moment I passed the Royal National Gallery, with its +great front covered with the commanding pictures by Cornelius, with +background of gold, and crossed the handsome bridge, _Schloss Brücke_, +ornamented with colossal marble statues, full of action and life, that +spans the lovely embanked Spree, until now, with a charming park and +the Cathedral at my back, the University in front, on my left, in the +middle of the street Rauch's wonderful statue of Frederick the Great, +said to be the grandest monument in Europe, and by my side the plain +palace of the Emperor, I have been amazed; words cannot describe the +splendor of the place. The tops of the houses--cornices--are lined with +marble figures larger than life; the pediments are alive with men, +women, children, and horses, in high relief; and along the sidewalks +are sitting and standing celebrities in stone, whose very pedestals +contain enough to employ the admiration for weeks; and yet this is but +the approach to the famous street that, beginning at the castle of the +Kaiser, ends in the Brandenburg Gate,--I am merely within the Garden +of Eden, with long vistas of prospective bliss extending interminably +before. + +I stand for a few moments in front of Rauch's stupendous statue of +Fritz surrounded by his friends. I use the word "stupendous" not in +reference to its size, although it is enormous, but to its effect. It +occupies a position in the middle of the street, in front of the plain +two-story-and-a-half castle of Kaiser William, now in his ninetieth +year, and well. Where is there another avenue in the world that would +not be obstructed by this massive group? The Monuments--clustered +around a granite pedestal twenty-five feet high, on which is placed an +equestrian statue of Frederick the Great--are bronze groups, life size, +of the leading generals and statesmen during the Seven Years' War, +standing or mounted on horses as they lived, in animated discussion or +thought, forming a glorious aureole around their chief. From where I +stand I count nineteen people and four horses, all apparently endowed +with immortal life; besides these, on this side (there are three others +like it) are cannon, armor, trumpets, helmets, muskets, and trees, +which, although of metal, to say of them that they look real would be +short of the truth; they exceed reality, at least as we ordinary beings +understand that most complimented word. I would venture to say that +outside of Prussian Germany _models_ for these magnificent figures +could not be found, and that a sculptor producing such would have +to create them himself; and yet these are the men of the streets of +Frankfort, Weimar, and Berlin, as splendid-looking fellows as the sun +ever shone upon,--the very street-sweepers even exhibiting a bearing +and dignity commanding respect. + +The subject is too prolific in suggestions; I cannot proceed. It is +also too great for my limited time, especially as other attractions +are luring me on. What a street! what shops! filled with wonders in +metal and precious stones. What bronzes and jewels! Why do we never +see such exquisite productions in our palatial stores? Lingerers +around shop-windows find a paradise in this promenade; but here is an +"Arcade," the stone sides carved to the lofty cornices, arches of +glass stretching across the way from eave to eave, the street paved in +mosaic, and here and there in recesses clusters of exotics and palms. +What wares are exhibited in this virtuoso's Eden! I stand in front of +the window, lost in thought, until tired with the contemplation of +unspeakable things. + +Seeing a shrubbery and seats, I sit down by a little table for repose, +when in a moment, from some invisible source overhead, like the +orchestra in Wilhelm Meister, there bursts forth the most bewitching +music. I am in heaven. I hear the hosannas of the celestial hosts. The +shops are where the redeemed work for love of men. + +The people passing to and fro know nothing of accounts, nor the +perplexities of trade. They have ceased from their troubles--are at +home--at rest. I am brought to eat ambrosia and drink the nectar and +hear the music of the gods, and yet I am but a novice in this celestial +city, and wait for the loving hands that shall lead me to the friends +gone before.... + +I have made the tour of "Unter den Linden," and am sitting here just +long enough to collect my wandering thoughts before moving on. I feel +as if I had been the victim of one of De Quincey's dreams, and wait +the awakening that will release me from its spell. As I recline here +at my leisure, with a sandstone fountain making music at my feet, and +grapevines and beeches embowering me about, I get a good view of the +famous Brandenburg Gate and the statue of Victory, with her chariot and +four, on the top. As I look on the magnificent group from where I am on +the Thiergarten side, Victory has her back to me, her horses galloping +with full speed towards the palace of the king. I had supposed, from +pictures I had seen, that she was driving towards the park. I cannot +have been mistaken. If so, why was such a ponderous mass turned around? + +While endeavoring to explain to myself what seemed so strange, a young +man took a seat by my side. Addressing him, "How is it? Isn't Victory +reversed?" "_Ja wohl!_" he replies. How assuring the affix "_wohl_" +in the hearty German expression of assent! It is the abracadabra that +drives out fear, and fills up the great gulf between the stranger and +yourself, enabling your sympathies to run over and interchange. Long +live the noble people that always say, "Yes, well," and never, "Yes, +ill." + +"_Ja wohl!_" he replies. "Why?" "Well, you see,"--I knew by the +expression lighting up his face that he was going to tell me of +something that pleased,--"it was before the last struggle that Victory +was driving her horses in the direction of Paris. The war came. The +French were victors, and carried off our statue as a trophy to flatter +their vanity and decorate their capital at the same time. Good, but in +'70 it was our turn. The whipped became whippers. We beat the French +and brought our Victory home, replanted her on her original site, +with her back to Frankreich, her face looking proudly towards the +Fatherland, as if she were glad and happy to be at home." + + [Here we pass over pages of description of what was to be seen + in the galleries and churches, to come again to the traveller's + out-door impressions.] + +In the first place, the climate, to my surprise, is perfect. I am +sitting here at noon in August--smothering with us--in an atmosphere +exhilarating and cool; men are passing with light overcoats, as if +they were a trifle anxious to anticipate the September winds, and this +is what the weather has been since leaving Erin, where it was, to my +surprise, too dry and warm. Remember, that all I say about countries +and people is only what _I_ have felt and seen. Every evening I wear +a light overcoat, and find it about right. In the second place, +there is no dust in Berlin, simply because the streets, which are +better--all of them--than the concrete around the Philadelphia City +Hall, are never allowed to get dirty; are _flooded with water_ and +_dried_ every morning, and kept so. Nothing objectionable is permitted +to remain on them for a moment. _Clean, uniformed men_--and handsome, +gentlemanly-looking fellows they are, too--are constantly moving along +with enclosed wheelbarrows, shovels, and brooms, removing whatever may +offend; even their instruments for cleaning are designed artistically +and free from soil. I can imagine the wheelbarrows attractive as flower +receptacles at large gatherings, so graceful are they. You would tie +bows on the shovels and hang them on the wall. + +With these whatever is offensive on the streets is at once emptied into +cast-iron receptacles, in themselves ornamental, arranged along the +thoroughfares, and which are emptied before daybreak every day. The +streets, as I said before, are many of them flooded with water daily, +then dried with enormous squilgees (that's what they are called on +shipboard),--that is, a band of rubber fitted into a socket of wood, +something like what, with us, careful housewives use to dry windows, +except that these are a yard wide, and one sweep of them over a wet +street leaves a band its width as dry as a board and as clean as a +dinner plate. In order to do this, of course the streets have to be +absolutely smooth,--as they are, not the slightest indentation being +visible. Then neatly-painted and handsomely-designed water-carts +traverse _every_ street a number of times daily, ejecting showers +of _misty_ spray; a work of supererogation, you say, to prevent any +particle of dust that may be left from getting into the air. It is +actually true that a child with a cambric dress could roll in the +middle of any crowded thoroughfare with as much security from soil as +if occupying a chair in a summer boarding-house. + +The cleanliness and order exceeds even that of England or Scotland, +than which, until you come to Germany, you think nothing can exceed. +If, for example, a gentleman in lighting a cigar throws a match on the +street, it is picked up; a leaf from a tree, a bit of paper from a +store, a blade of grass, all are at once removed, and by men, too, that +are Germans; that is,--clean, respectful, reputable, and intelligent. +Even in the business avenues, and around the wholesale stores, the +pavements and streets are as clean as the white steps of the homes of +Philadelphia. Most of the streets are as wide as our Broad Street, some +wider; as, for example, Unter den Linden. + +That you may see for yourself this noble highway of the capital, allow +me to conduct you across. "When I speak of horses imagine that you +see them." Just suppose we are crossing together, and because of the +many vehicles and people on horseback, I will take you by the hand, +so. We have been admiring the trees and flowers in front of Prince +Blücher's palace, one of a series of palaces on each side of the street +near the Brandenburg Gate; they stand back from the pavements, and +have extensive flower-gardens in front, the only separation between +these and the very wide pavement being a low hedge of delicate, almost +thornless, magenta roses. You remember--or did I tell you?--with what +genial pride the old gardener, yesterday, told us that this same +was a perpetual bloomer,--summer and winter,--that it was a German +creation,--the development of its efflorescent peculiarity having +been begun away back; but that he himself it was, by crossing it +with _Rosa centifolia_, that had added the apex to the temple of its +perfection,--namely, duplication of petals, diminution of stamen, +heliotropism,--turning its face towards the sun, by which acquired +habit the winter bloom has become as profuse as that of summer. + +Well, we have been looking over this two-foot-high blooming hedge-row, +and have decided to cross to the gardens on the other side; so now hold +my hand and fear not, for life is sacred in the Fatherland, and we are +under the protection of the police. You see that the gardens in front +of the palaces used by the nobility and foreign ministers are about +as wide as Broad Street, the pavement for the public forty feet more. +We leave this and cross a strip as wide as an ordinary avenue, paved +with square blocks,--this is exclusively for wagons, drays, and all +vehicles of trade,--then a row of trees; after this we cross a band +about the same width, but as smooth and as hard as granite; this is +for pleasure-carriages only; then another row of trees; then a road +the width of an ordinary street, which is neither concrete nor Belgian +blocks, but a mixture of loam and sand, soft enough to be easy for +horses' feet, and damp enough to keep it from being converted into +clouds of dust; this is used by equestrians only, and a beautiful +sight the lady and gentleman riders present every afternoon on their +way to the park. We cross this soft way, and are in a wide promenade, +perhaps eighty feet broad, arched over with the branches of lofty oaks, +chestnuts, butternuts, lindens, beeches, and the like,--originally +lindens only, hence the name "Under the Lindens,"--with elegant seats +arranged along its entire length, on one of which we will sit down +and rest, for we are half-way across the avenue, or rather series of +avenues, which up here is flanked with lofty palaces and gardens of +delight. On one side you go to, on the other you come from, the park. +The lower part of this multiple avenue, instead of palaces and gardens, +has the most magnificent residences, shops, and hotels that I have ever +seen.... + +Germany seems one great family with no foreign help, where each member +recognizes and respects the position of the other, and are united in +the training of their children and the development of their own minds; +but not as though, like other people, they had to _resolve_ to be good; +this, as a matter of course; virtue appears to come to them by nature. +Everything they do seems a pleasure rather than a task, as if they said +that industry and thrift are essential to happiness, labor the prelude +to enjoyment; besides, they are never in a hurry. They take an hour +to drink a glass of beer, and talk of heaven, earth, and the waters +under the earth while sipping it. The gesticulating German, outside of +books, I have not yet seen; what they do they do well; they enjoy doing +it, and they do it that it may be a joy to others, and it always is. +This feeling enters into every service, from the making of a pin to +the concocting of a new system of theology, or a free-and-easy way of +getting to heaven; and then the universality of culture that prevails, +thanks to the standing army and the omnipresent public schools,--they +have private schools too, to be sure, but then these snob and +denominational affairs, unlike with us, just as the public schools, +are under strict _governmental inspection_, and their managers are not +permitted to teach what they please, unless what they please is for the +good of the pupils, the country, and the people at large. It is because +of this national surveillance that the private schools of Germany are +said to be as good as those under the direct control of the government. + +Familiarizing the pupil with music and the natural sciences is an +important part of German education, especially the study of _animal +organisms_, "birds, beasts, and reptiles," as we used to say of +Goldsmith's "Animated Nature." As an illustration at hand, since +sitting here in front of a garden near the Kaiser's palace, putting +upon record the above traits, a workman watering a lawn noticed me +looking up for a moment, just as he had enveloped the top of a lofty +spruce with spray. Of course, as the sun was shining, and each particle +of water becoming a prism, the disintegration of the white rays of +light resulted in a rainbow, curved partially around the trees. I look +at it, racking my memory at the same time for the word I need; he sees +I observe it and am pleased; he nods, and says, "_Schön_" (beautiful); +I reply, "Very." In a few moments, dragging the hose towards me, +throwing the water over a weeping birch, and making another rainbow, he +points towards it. "Our Herr Professor Helmholtz," pointing towards the +University, "says there are but three prismatic colors, and yet I can +now see seven, can't you?--red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, +and violet; and I suppose a Frenchman could see seventy, for it is +said that they can see colors where other people only see shades." He +continues to water the grass, and I, having found my missing link, to +write. + + [Dr. Woods next describes what is to be seen within the + German beer-gardens,--the music, the decorum, the absence of + intoxication, the intelligence manifested in conversation. Then to + out-door life again.] + +Other traits. Houses have curtains on the outside of windows as well +as on the inside, and windows are nearly always double, with a space +of about four inches between. They open outward and inward, instead of +up and down; when closed, all noise is shut out. Indeed, there is no +noise on even the busiest streets, which are so smooth that no sounds +are heard but those of horses' feet; no screaming of papers or wares +of any sort is permitted, and no chimes! Then, again, people in the +most ordinary circumstances have fine lace curtains and beautifully +woven fabrics hanging around in graceful festoons, portières, statuary, +pictures, flowers, birds, and books; often the most beautiful things +in the way of prints are pinned frameless on the walls; there are +beautiful marquetry floors, but no carpets. + +Again, the orchards throughout the country are without protecting +walls, just as farms are. At each corner a stone marks the division, +and when ploughing, a couple of reversed furrows from stone to stone +serves both as a division and promenade, and crops are not only grown +to this line of demarcation, but grow over it, so that at a distance +there is no division at all. I have seen branches bent to the ground +with ripe fruit, and children walking under them to _buy_ from an +old woman or man across the way, never apparently even thinking of +molesting what is not theirs. This is one of the things that fill you +with wonder. In Weimar, between the Goethe House and the principal +school, a long branch _loaded with red apples_ hung over the way, +almost touching my head, and yet it was under this that hundreds of +children passed daily to and from school. + +A pleasant custom in Berlin, as in London, is window-gardening--windows +constructed so on purpose, the glass projecting a couple of feet beyond +the side of the house, forming attractive ferneries, wherein are +contained various sorts of cryptogami, as well as flowers in bloom, +needing but little attention, as the moisture evaporating from the +soil, etc., having no way of escaping, is taken up by the leaves. Also +at the entrance to houses I have noticed beautiful dwarf apple-trees, +with glossy leaves, and bearing an abundance of diminutive fruit. +On one of these little trees, yesterday, I counted fifty-three ripe +apples. These on the pavement day and night, and just the height of +a boy's hand in passing, notwithstanding what I had observed about +fenceless orchards, made me suspect them apples of Sodom, or they +certainly would have been plucked. To satisfy curiosity, I called on a +florist having some for sale, and found that they tasted as good as +they looked. I have concluded, therefore, that if Adam and Eve had been +Germans there would have been no Fall; and I know no race doing more +towards having Eden restored than these same people. + + + + +A RAMBLE IN PRUSSIA. + +STEPHEN POWERS. + + [Country life in Prussia is well delineated in the following + description of a journey on foot from Wittenberg to Potsdam. It + is not an alluring picture, and brings us into the presence of + a stolid generation such as would scarcely be looked for in the + rural districts of that active realm.] + + +Once out of Wittenberg, I journeyed on along the ancient royal highway, +between the ever-welcome colonnades of stately poplars, planted that +the royal head might never be scorched by the too ardent sun of summer. +The sun shone as brightly as it ever does in blue old Germany, but what +a weary, weary land to my eyes, on the pitiless cold May-day, was that +sandy champaign, almost utterly naked in its hopeless sterility, and +diversified only now and then by a bald-headed knoll, swelling broadly +up with a thousand acres! So indescribably blue and cold and pinched +was it, without any vegetation but a forest of cultivated pines, which, +after a quarter of a century, had struggled up with their wretched, +scraggy stems only fifteen feet! The very soil looked blue and thin +and skinny, and the rye looked blue, and so meagre and chilled that it +could not conceal the ground or the knees of the men who plucked up the +weeds. + +All the dismal immensity of this fenceless, hedgeless, houseless waste, +except an acre of rye in a thousand, was given up to the sorrel, the +lichens, and the quitches. The very air seemed poor and attenuated like +thin skimmed milk. All the houses were clustered together in little +villages far apart, where they huddled close, as if for warmth; the +dead, dull peat-fires gave forth no cheerful wreathing smoke; and in +all the desolate waste there was scarcely a soul abroad. The faces +of the yellow-haired children, who were occasionally watching some +geese, were mottled with blue and purple and goose-pimples, and if a +man ventured abroad to pluck up weeds in the stunted rye, which seemed +to shiver with a kind of rustling, starved chilliness, his hands were +bluer than the air. So utterly worn out, so bluish-wan and starved with +the lapse of untold centuries, seemed all the earth and the air of that +Germany which I looked out upon on that dismal May forenoon. + +Lamartine says the blood of the Germans is blue, but that of these +Brandenburgers must certainly be sour. + +It will readily be believed that I did not undertake a pilgrimage +through this inexpressibly bleak region in pursuit of fine landscapes. +I wished only to visit, by their own firesides and in their own fields, +that sturdy, grim, Puritanic race of Brandenburgers, to whom Prussia is +primarily indebted for all her greatness. + +It was weary hours after the middle of the day before the spires of +Wittenberg disappeared below a sand-hill. The afternoon was far spent, +and I began to cast longing glances ahead in search of an eligible +tavern, for I thoroughly agree with Dr. Johnson that "there is nothing +which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is +produced as by a good tavern." + +I had come up with a thumping lout of a young peasant, who strode along +with his "clouted shoon," measuring about a yard and a quarter at a +stride, whose voice blubbered and gurgled up out of his stomach in such +a manner that the fierce wind whisked it away, and left me nothing but +an occasional horse-laugh (whereupon I would also laugh, though I had +not the remotest notion of the matters whereof he was discoursing); and +by his advice I passed several inns, though I found afterwards, to my +sorrow, he was looking only for the cheapest. At last we came to one +which was meaner than all the others, but I was too weary to go a step +farther. It bore the pretentious name of the inn of the Green Linden. +It was a mere hovel, built of cobbles and mud-stuccoed, tawny-yellow +within, greenish-yellowish without, with an earthen floor and benches +around the walls. Above the door were twined some sprigs of Whitsuntide +birch, which I had seen during the day on the peasants' hats, wagons, +and everywhere. + +Around a pine table were eight or ten men and hobbledehoys, each with a +_Schoppen_ of terribly stiff beer before him, and most of them smoking +the long goosenecked porcelain pipe, while four of them were intent on +cards. The men were hard, gristly-faced, sour-blooded fellows, who only +muttered now and then a monosyllable, which I could seldom understand; +while the youths looked on with the most vacuous, loamy countenances +imaginable. So intent were they on the miserable game that they gave +no heed to our arrival, and when I endeavored to ascertain who was the +landlord, I received only a blank stare or a gesture of impatience. I +sat down and waited, and I confess for a few minutes my enthusiasm for +the Prussian people fell absolutely to the freezing-point. + +After about half an hour the landlord seemed to be disturbed in his +mind by a suspicion that I was a foreigner, drew near and ascertained +that fact, whereupon he brought me some vile black coffee and some good +wheaten _Semmel_, and then returned to his occupation. The players +continued at their game far into the night, and though the stakes were +of the most trifling nature, often only a half-penny, they displayed a +fierce and obstinate eagerness which was surprising. They would rise up +on their feet, lean far across the table and smite it with appalling +violence. When they at last desisted, and were preparing to disperse, +they collected about me, and, finding I was an American, listened to me +awhile with a kind of drowsy, immovable passiveness, while the smoke +lazily swirled above their heads. Unlike the lively Swabians and the +joyous drinkers of the sunny wine of Freiburg, they scarcely asked any +questions or expressed any interest beyond grunting their assent or +wonder. + +At last the host and myself were left alone, and then he proceeded to +prepare the only couch he could offer by shaking down on the floor a +bundle of rye straw. He tucked me all up, as if I were one of his young +_Buben_, shook the hand which I reached out from the straw, and left +me with a cheerful _Schlafen Sie wohl_. In the adjoining room a lusty +fellow stretched himself on a bench, pillowed his head on a portentous +loaf of rye bread, not having even inserted that useful article of diet +into a pillow-case, and there he snored--_stertitque supinus_--the +livelong night in a tone so audible that I was greatly tempted to rise +and introduce a wisp of rye straw judiciously into his windpipe. + +When I sat up on my couch next morning, pulling the straw out of my +hair, I said to myself, like Richard, "Oh, I have passed a miserable +night!" I had not had any "fearful dreams," nor, for that matter, any +sleep, that I was aware of; neither had I any "ugly sights," because it +was too dark to see them, but I felt them. They appeared to be greatly +rejoiced to be permitted, once in their lives, to extract blood out of +a man's veins instead of beer. + +The next day I passed through spectacles of the most wonderfully minute +and unceasing toil. In an artificial pine-forest, where the trees +were become too large to be ploughed, there were men on their knees +plucking the weeds between the rows; others in long sheep-skin cloaks +were weeding fields of flax; a woman was culling in a royal forest +the merest sprigs and leaf-stems for fuel; others along the roadside +snipped off the close, short fleece of grass, and carried it in mighty +bundles on their backs for the stalled cattle. Here a stalwart yeoman +lazily leans his chin on his crook, guarding three sheep as they nimbly +nibble! Peasant-women, going to the village to hawk their little +produce, shuffled along with their wooden shoes, making a prodigious +dust, chatting cheerfully with their stolid lords, though they were +bowed down nearly to the earth beneath the intolerable weight of +vegetables. And the infamous brutal tyrants trudged along beside the +poor women, never even offering to touch the burdens with so much as +one of their fingers! + +I think the Prussians will certainly never "witch the world with noble +horsemanship." The horses are splendid creatures for farm-animals, +strong and glossy and round, superb as the finest Clydesdales; but the +owners seem to have no confidence upon their backs, and little skill +in guiding them in vehicles. The Prussians are by no means a chivalric +race, in the etymologic sense. In all my travels in Prussia I have yet +to see a civilian on horseback outside of a city, and even there it +is usually only officers who prance through the streets. The immense +superiority of the Hungarian cavalry over the Prussian was abundantly +demonstrated in the Bohemian campaign until the magnificent infantry +battalions turned the scale; and the dreaded "three Uhlans" of Edmond +About were far oftener Poles than Prussians. + +It is said that the potentates of Germany, when paying a visit of +ceremony to a foreign sovereign, always take with them a favorite +charger or two to whose paces they are accustomed, that there may be +no blunders or embarrassments in the reviews through their unskilful +horsemanship. These poor peasants evince little more confidence +in their skill than do their sovereigns, and the outrageously +unprofessional and awkward manner in which they handle the noble brutes +would enrage a lover of handsome horses beyond endurance. To save toll +at the gates, they not unfrequently hitch one horse to a two-horse +wagon, so that the pole bruises and thumps his legs in a shameful +manner. And then to hitch the head of one gallant horse to the tail of +another! + +In the village of Beelitz I had an amusing adventure, resulting from my +ignorance of the customs of the country, which illustrates a certain +phase of Prussian society. Upon entering the village, I began to cast +about me for some eligible tavern wherein I might take my customary +mid-day repast. The first one I approached was the inn of the Black +Horse, but there were rather too many yellow-haired, unwashed children +and dingy geese about it; besides, the sign hung down from one corner. +The only other inn was the White Eagle, which was scarcely any better, +but it was Hobson's choice. It was an extremely small and unpretentious +edifice, though with walls nearly a man's stature in thickness, +and I could overhear the appetizing clink of knives on plates just +inside the door; so, in doubt whether it was really a public tavern +or not, I rapped. Only the clink of the dinner-knives responded. The +operation was repeated with a certain amount of vigor. There was a +kind of objurgatory remark made within, and in a moment the door was +opened about two feet, and an immense brawny arm, bared to the elbow, +was extended around the edge of the door. In the fingers there was +clutched a bunch of some substance which appeared to solicit my closer +inspection. A single glance revealed to me the interesting fact that it +was bread: it was undoubtedly bread. + +This was an unexpectedly prompt response to my desires, and presented +an opportunity for the acquisition of a limited amount of provisions +cheap, but one of which my conscience would not permit me to avail +myself. However, I scrutinized the bread with quite a lively interest. +It was manifestly good bread, but was now somewhat dry: indeed, I may +say it was altogether devoid of moisture. Presently the hand holding +this article of diet executed a sudden movement of impatience, or as +it were of beckoning or blandishment, as if I were expected to take +this bread and masticate the same. But as I still hesitated, the hand +was suddenly withdrawn into the tavern, there was a very audible +remark made inside, and then the brawny hostess owning the hand +presented herself at the door, and immediately appeared to have made an +astounding discovery. Blushes and embarrassment! Stammerings! Mutual +explanations! Ample and shamefaced apologies! A substantial dinner +of boiled beef and cabbage! _Moral:_ In a country where beggars are +numerous never knock at the tavern door. + + + + +THE SALT-MINES OF WIELICZKA.[A] + +J. ROSS BROWNE. + + [J. Ross Browne, author of "Yusef," "Crusoe's Island," "The Land + of Thor," etc., is well known for the humorous vein of many of + his productions. Such is the case with "An American Family in + Germany," from which we make the following selection. It is at + once humorous and instructive. The extract given, however, is + simply descriptive, having too much of interest in itself to need + any adventitious aid. The mine described may serve in a measure + as an artificial counterpart to our natural Mammoth Cave. Descent + into the mine was made by means of a long rope with canvas straps + for seats. There is a stairway cut in solid rock-salt, but it is + wet and slippery, and the rope is usually chosen in preference.] + +[Footnote A: From "An American Family in Germany." Copyright, Harper & +Brothers.] + + +In a few minutes we touched bottom, or rather, by something like +instinct, the machine stopped just as we reached the base of the shaft, +and allowed us to glide off gently on the firm earth. We are now at the +first stage of our journey, having descended something over two hundred +feet. The ramifications of the various tunnels are so intricate and +extensive that they may be said to resemble more the streets of a large +city than a series of excavations made in the bowels of the earth. +These subterranean passages are named after various kings and emperors, +and diverge in every direction, opening at intervals into spacious +caverns and apartments, and undermining the country for a distance of +several miles. Some of them pass entirely under the town of Wieliczka. +In general they are supported by massive beams of wood, and where the +overhanging masses of salt require a still stronger support they are +sustained by immense columns of the original stratum. In former times +almost all the passages were upheld by pillars of salt, but wherever +it has been practicable these have been removed and beams of timber +substituted. The first stratum consists of an amalgam of salt and +dark-colored clay. Deeper down come alternate strata of marl, pebbles, +sand, and blocks of crystal salt. The inferior or green salt is nearest +to the surface; the crystal, called _schilika_, lies in the deeper +parts. + +From the subordinate officer sent by the Inspector-General to accompany +us I learned many interesting particulars in reference to the manner of +procuring the salt. He also told some amusing legends of the prominent +places, and furnished me with some statistics, which, if true, are +certainly wonderful. For instance, to traverse the various passages +and chambers embraced within the four distinct stories of which the +mines consist, and see every object of interest, would require three +weeks. The aggregate length of the whole is four hundred English miles; +the greatest depth yet reached is two thousand three hundred feet. +The number of workmen employed in the various operations underground, +exclusive of those above, is upward of a thousand. The amount of salt +annually dug out is two hundred millions of pounds, which, at the +average market value, would be worth ten millions of gulden. Immense +as this yield is, it is inconsiderable, taking into view the unlimited +capacity of the mines. With proper machinery and a judicious investment +of labor the quantity of salt that might be excavated is almost beyond +conjecture. + +It is natural to suppose that the air in these vast subterranean +passages must be impure, and consequently deleterious to health. Such, +however, does not appear to be the case. It is both dry and pure, and, +so far as I could judge by breathing it, not in the least oppressive. +The miners are said to be remarkable for longevity. Several of them, +according to the guide, have worked in the mines for forty years, +and have never been sick a day. The equability of the temperature is +probably conducive to health. Only a few degrees of variation are +shown by the thermometer between summer and winter. It is true that in +some of the deepest recesses, which are not sufficiently ventilated, +hydrogen gas occasionally collects. In one instance it caught fire, and +cost the loss of many lives, but precautions have since been taken to +prevent similar accidents. + +I was greatly impressed by the profound silence of these vast caverns. +When we stood still the utter absence of sound was appalling. The +falling of a pin would have been a relief. Not even the faintest +vibration in the air was perceptible. No desert could be more silent, +no solitude more awful. I stood apart from the guides and lamp-bearers +in a separate vault, at the distance of a few hundred feet, in order +that I might fully appreciate this profound inertion, and it really +seemed as if the world were no more. + +From some of these tunnels we emerged into open caverns, where a +few workmen were employed at their dreary labors. I was surprised +that there were not more to be seen, but was informed that they are +scattered in small parties through miles of earth, so that the number +is not apparent to the casual visitor. As we approached the places +where they are at work the dull clicking of the picks and hammers +produced a singular effect through the vast solitudes, as if the +gnomes, supposed to inhabit gloomy pits, were busily engaged at their +diabolical arts. + +We came suddenly upon one group of workmen, under a shelving ledge, who +were occupied in detaching masses of crystallized salt from a cleft in +which they worked. They were naked to the middle, having nothing on but +coarse trousers and boots, and wrought with their crowbars and picks +by the light of a few grease-lamps held by grimy little boys, with +shaggy heads,--members, no doubt, of the same subterranean family. + +Some of the men were lying on their backs, punching away with +tremendous toil at the ragged masses of salt overhead, their heads, +faces, and bodies glittering with the showers of salt grit that fell +upon them, while others stood up to their armpits in dark holes delving +into the lower crevices. Seeing our lights, they stopped to gaze at +us. Was it possible they were human beings, these bearded, shaggy, +grimy-looking monsters? Surely, if so, they well represented the +infernal character of the place. Never upon earth (the surface of it I +mean) had I seen such a monstrous group,--shocks of hair all powdered +with salt, glaring eyeballs overhung by white lashes flashing in the +fitful blaze of lamps, brawny forms glittering with crystal powder, +and marked by dark currents of sweat. No wonder I stared at them with +something akin to distrust. They might be monsters in reality, and take +a sudden notion to hurl me into one of their infernal pits by way of +pastime, in which case the only consolation would be, that where there +was such an abundance of salt there would be no difficulty about the +preservation of my remains. + +After all, there was something sad in the condition of these poor +wretches, shut out from the glorious light of day, immured in deep dark +pits, hundreds of feet underground, rooting, as it were, for life in +the bowels of the earth. Surely the salt with which other men flavor +their food is gathered with infinite toil, and mingled with bitter +sweat! + +[Illustration: INNSBRUCK, THERESA STREET] + +Yet, strange as it may seem, I was informed by the guide that these +workmen are so accustomed to this kind of life that they prefer it to +any other. By the rules of the Directory they are divided into gangs, +as on board a ship. The working gang is not permitted to remain under +ground more than eight hours; it is then relieved. The current belief +that some of them live in the mines is not sustained by the facts. In +former times it is quite probable that such was the case. At present +the administration of affairs is more humane than it was in an earlier +period in the history of the mines. The operatives are free to quit +whenever they please, as in any private establishment. Plenty of others +are always ready to take their places. The pay is good, averaging from +thirty kreutzers to a florin a day. Whenever it is practicable the +work is done by the piece. Each man receives so much for a specified +result. Good workmen can make two or three hundred florins a year. The +salt is gotten out in various forms, according to the depth of the +stratum. Where it is mixed with an amalgam of hard earth it is cut into +cylindrical blocks, and exported in that form to Russia. The finer +qualities are crushed, and packed in barrels for exportation to various +parts of Prussia and Austria.... + +After a long and interesting journey through various subterranean +streets and caverns, we emerged into the chamber of Michelawic, which +is of such vast proportions that it is difficult for the eye to +penetrate its mysterious gloom. A magnificent chandelier, cut out of +the crystal salt, hangs from the ceiling. On grand occasions this is +brilliantly lighted, and rich strains of music reverberate through the +chamber. Nothing can equal the stupendous effects of a full band of +brass instruments performing in this vast cavern. The sounds are flung +back from wall to wall, and float upward, whirling from ledge to ledge, +till the ear loses them in the distance; then down they fall again with +a volume and fulness almost supernatural. It is impossible to determine +from what quarter they emanate, whether from above or below, so rich, +varied, and confusing is the reverberation. Our guide, in a fine mellow +voice, sang us a mining song, to test the effects, and I must say I +never heard such music before. Indeed, so inspiring was it that I could +not refrain from a snatch of my own favorite melody,-- + + "Oh, California! you're the land for me!" + +And when I heard it repeated by a thousand mysterious spirits of +the air, and hurled back at me from each crystallized point of the +cavern, the effect was so fine that I was struck perfectly dumb with +astonishment. Lablache never made such music in his life, and no other +singer of my acquaintance would be worthy of attempting it. + +Soon after leaving the chamber of Michelawic we passed over a series of +wooden foot-ways and corridors, extending a distance of fifteen hundred +feet, through a great variety of apartments and rugged passages, named +after the royal families of Poland and Austria. There were courts, and +imperial rooms, and obelisks; chapels, shrines, saints, and martyrs; +long rows of niches, containing statues of the old kings of Poland, +all cut out of the solid salt. The design and execution of some of +these were admirable, and the effect was gratifying, as well from the +artistic skill displayed as the peculiarity of the material. + +Descending to a second stage by means of a rough wooden stairway, +which winds around the walls of an immense cavern of irregular shape, +we wandered through a series of tunnels, opening occasionally into +chambers of prodigious height and dimensions, till our guides announced +that we were approaching the Infernal Lake. The lamp-bearers in front +held up their lamps, and, peering through the fitful gloom, I could +discern, some distance in advance, a sheet of water, the surface of +which glistened with a supernatural light. Arriving at the edge of +this mysterious lake, which might well pass for the river Styx, a boat +approached from the opposite shore, drawn by means of a rope. Numerous +dark-looking imps were at work dragging it through the water. The sides +rippled in the sluggish pool, and a hollow reverberation sounded from +the dark walls of the cavern. + +A gate-way was thrown open, and we descended some steps and entered +the boat. It was a square, flat-bottomed craft, decorated with fancy +colors, containing seats on each side, and capable of accommodating a +large party. We took our places, and at a signal from the guide the +boat moved slowly and silently over the dark depths, which seemed +almost of inky blackness in the gloom. + +As we thus floated on the infernal pool the solitude was awful. I +could not but shudder at the thought that we were nearly five hundred +feet beneath the surface of the earth. The dismal black walls, roughly +hewn from the solid stratum of salt and marl; the tremendous heights +overhead, and the apparent great depth underneath; the fitful glare of +the torches, the rough, grimy faces of the attendants, and their wild +costumes, gave a peculiarly infernal aspect to the scene. It was weird +and sombre beyond conception. + +We stopped a while in the middle of the lake to notice the strange +effect of the plashing of the waters, when disturbed by a rocking +motion of the boat, against the massive walls on either side. The +reverberation was fearfully deep, rolling and swelling from point +to point, till lost in the labyrinth of shafts and crevices far in +the distance. Around and above us were innumerable ruffed points +jutting out from the solid stratum, and archways reaching across deep +fissures, and beams of timber braced against overhanging masses of +rock. The sombre hue of the toppling canopy and rugged walls was +relieved only by the points of crystal salt upon which the lights +glistened; mysterious shadows flitted in the air; and pale, greenish +scintillations shot out of the gloom. It was, in truth, a subterranean +universe of darkness, made visible by torches of grease and stars +of salt, with an infernal sea in its midst, and inhabited by a very +doubtful set of people, half earthly and wholly Satanic in appearance. + +Continuing our voyage, after some minutes we approached a point beyond +which all was an unfathomable wilderness of jagged walls and yawning +caverns. Suddenly a blaze of blue fire burst from the gloom, throwing +a ghastly hue over the crystal pinnacles, then faded slowly away. The +guides now covered their lights, and we were left in utter darkness. +Groans and cries were heard in the air, and plashing sounds echoed from +the shores of the infernal lake. As these ceased a terrific report +broke upon the stillness, and out of the gloom arose a blaze of red +fire, gradually assuming shape till it stood before us in the form of +a magnificent triumphal arch, bearing upon its front the illuminated +motto,-- + + =Glück-Auf!= + +signifying, "Good luck to you!" or, literally, "Luck upon it!" the +famous greeting of the miners. Under this triumphal arch we passed +slowly into an immense chamber, of such vast proportions and rugged +outline that the eye failed to penetrate its profound depths. Then +from various corridors, high among the conglomerate crags, descended +mysterious voices, crying, one after another, "Glück-auf! Glück-auf! +Glück-auf!" till the reverberation united them all in a grand chorus, +so deep, so rich, varied, and powerful that mortal ears could encompass +no more. Was it real? Could these be human voices and earthly sounds, +or were they the distempered fantasy of a dream? + +At a signal from our guide the chorus ceased, and shooting fires +broke out from the toppling heights, and the whole grand chamber, in +all its majesty, was illuminated with showers of colored stars. The +inverted arches of fire in the water--the reflected images of rocks, +corridors and precipices--the sudden contrasts of light and gloom--the +scintillations of the crystal salt points--formed a scene of miraculous +and indescribable grandeur. Unable to control my enthusiasm, I shouted +at the top of my voice, "Glück-auf! Glück-auf!" The cry was caught up +by the guides and torch-bearers; it arose and was echoed from rock to +rock by the chorus singers, till, like the live thunder, it leaped + + "the rattling crags among." ... + +After visiting many chapels and shrines cut out of the solid salt, +we emerged into the Chamber of Letow, the magnificent saloon of +Entertainment, where, on grand occasions, such as the visit of the +Emperor or any member of the imperial family, the whole of this vast +chamber is brilliantly illuminated. Six splendid chandeliers, carved +from the crystal salt, hang from the ceiling. An alcove at the upper +end, approached from a series of steps, contains a throne of green and +ruby-colored salt upon which the Emperor sits. Transparent pictures +and devices are arranged in the background to give additional splendor +to the imperial boudoir, and the crystallizations with which the +walls glitter reflect the many colored lights with a dazzling effect. +The door-ways, statues, and columns are decorated with flowers and +evergreens; the floors are sprinkled with salts of various hues; the +galleries are festooned with flags; and the whole chamber is aglow with +transparencies and brilliant lights.... + +Although the mass of the stratum of which this grand chamber is +composed is of a darkish color, yet the very darkness of the +ground-work serves all the better to show by contrast the glittering +points of salt. The effect is inconceivably rich. The arched roof; the +high rugged walls, hewn out of the solid rock; the marks of the pick +and chisel visible in furrows all over, all sparkling with saline gems, +give the whole cavern the appearance of being studded with diamonds. +It reminds one of the grottoes under the sea described by Gulnare in +the Arabian Nights. When it is considered, too, that all this splendor +and these festivities--the illuminated galleries and alcoves, the +chandeliers and decorations, the vast concourse of guests, the music, +the dancing, the wild and fanciful costumes--are five hundred feet +below the surface of the earth, it is no exaggeration to say that the +spectacle is unparalleled. Nothing to equal it in a similar way can +be seen in any other part of the world. We next descended by a series +of stairways to the third story. This differs but little from those +already described, except that the deeper one goes the wilder and +more rugged become the ramifications of the mines. At one point in +our journey we entered a spacious chamber some eighty or one hundred +feet high. Here the guide paused, and in an impressive manner struck +his stick against the floor. When the reverberation had ceased he +announced the important circumstance that we now stood directly under +the Infernal Lake! "Ya! mein Herr," said he, "that wonderful lake, over +which we sailed in a boat not half an hour ago, is over our heads, and +if it should break through it would drown every one of us!" "Rather an +unpleasant pickle," I thought, but could not translate the pun into +German, and so let it pass. + +It appears that the waters of this lake found a vent at one time, and +deluged a large portion of the mines, and those of the panic-stricken +operatives who were distant from the main shafts communicating with +the surface of the earth were suffocated while attempting to escape. +Others, in their fright, fled at random, and, falling into deep pits, +were dashed to atoms. In 1644 another destructive fire took place. All +the wood-work was seized by the devouring flames, men and horses were +roasted to death, and many of the workmen who escaped subsequently died +of their injuries. This was one of the most fearful conflagrations on +record. It lasted an entire year. The chambers and tunnels, deprived +of their support, fell together in many places, causing immense +destruction to the works. Even a considerable portion of the town of +Wieliczka sank into the earth, and was engulfed in the general ruin. + + + + +THE JUMPING PROCESSION AT ECHTERNACH. + +M. OGLE. + + [The modern enlightenment of Europe is a class enlightenment + only. The mass of many populations still dwell in the shadow + of mediæval superstition. As one example of this we append the + following description of a curious religious mania, a relic from + the centuries of mediævalism. The party of travellers with whom + we have to deal had seen all there was to see in Trier (Treves), + and the suggestion was made to go see the jumping procession at + Echternach, which would come off on Whit-Tuesday. An expedition + thither was accordingly organized.] + + +Our party was to consist of three carriage loads, and our escort were +all to be _en civile_, and this last determination, I may remark, was, +to a Prussian officer, a very weighty one. A Prussian officer, be it +known, is always in uniform; the government do not hide away the army +that fights their battles, protects their soil, and upholds their +honor, for fear of wounding the susceptibilities and irritating the +nerves of the working classes; the country is proud of its army, and +the army is proud of its uniform, and, as a rule, a Prussian officer +always wears it. On this occasion, however, the uniform was to be +doffed, and the extent and style of our friends' respective possessions +_en civile_, and their appearance under the metamorphosis, became a +very important item in the general arrangements. Some gloried in the +perfection of their projected "get up;" one or two had never possessed +a suit of plain clothes since they entered the army; one had everything +but a hat; another, having come from Dusseldorf on leave, was incapable +of the transformation; still, with this one exception, all were looking +forward to appearing, for one day, as civilians. + +At a quarter to five on Whit-Tuesday we started in our carriage to seek +a "topper" for our host and relative, Herr V. Hartstein Hochstein, four +of his brother officers having generously promised him the required +article. Our first venture was an unlucky one; the borrowed hat would +not remain on Hartstein's head, and though we made every possible +effort to stretch it with feet and knees, our efforts were unavailing, +and we had to try again. The second friend acknowledged that he had +recklessly promised what he was incapable of performing; a third +passed out a hat of indifferent color, and which, on trial, at once +extinguished our friend as far as his coat collar. In fear and dread, +and with incessant reference to our watches, we drove to our fourth and +last hope. Here a hat, carefully wrapped in a number of the _Cölnische +Zeitung_, was handed to us, and with a little manoeuvring we settled +that it might do. Having "requisitioned" two colored bandanas from a +friend who was getting himself up for the expedition with the most +elaborate care, Hartstein put his head into our hands, and by dint +of wrapping, and twisting, and folding, the hat was firmly settled +in its place, without other inconvenience than the corner of a red +pocket-handkerchief occasionally falling over his nose, and another +corner permanently hanging over his left ear. + +But these were comparative trifles; we reached the fine old Moselle +Bridge, not much behind time, found our friends awaiting us, and +started. This bridge, one of the many Roman monuments with which this +strange old city abounds, was built in the reign of Augustus; only a +portion of the massive foundation, and a few of the grand original +pillars formed of enormous blocks of basalt, and fastened together by +huge iron clamps, now remain. In all probability the bridge would still +be standing in its integrity had it not been for "the most civilized +nation of modern Europe," who did their best, under their great king +Louis XIV., to destroy this magnificent memorial of old world times. +The ruined arches were restored and the bridge partially rebuilt by one +of the Prince Electors in 1717, and in spite of its restoration, it is +even now worthy of the venerable city to which it belongs. + +Crossing the bridge, we turned to the right, and passing the village +of Pallien, soon reached the foot of a spur of the Eifel range, +a mountainous tract in the Province of Lower Rhine, extending +from Coblenz, through Trier and Metz, into France. On these Eifel +mountains are many extinct volcanoes; the soil is only suited for +the pine-forests which cover their sides; and the dirty, rough, and +poverty-stricken look of the villagers among the scattered and desolate +hamlets marks them unmistakably as charcoal-burners. + +After literally winding our way through this wild scenery for more +than an hour, we suddenly came upon the lovely valley of the Sauer; so +lovely that it is said to have attracted Willibrod by its beauty to +found his Benedictine monastery on the river's banks; beautiful indeed +it is, with its wooded hills and cultivated slopes; and beautiful +it must have been so to have enthralled a worn and weary monk and +missionary in the eighth century. + +But before entering the valley I must relate a slight incident that +occurred, as it especially characterizes a social phase in Prussia. +We were anxiously toiling up a steep incline in single file, not even +daring to rest our horses, for fear they should not be able to hold up +the carriages, when a sudden turn showed us a small public-house at the +top of the hill, in front of which sat a young _Fähnrich_ (ensign). +Two large carts laden with forage stood directly across the road, +occupying its entire width, and two troopers, looking remarkably the +worse for dirt, with pipes in their mouths, hands in their pockets, and +outstretched legs in the form of a reversed V, quietly contemplated our +struggling and perilous ascent. "In God's name," shouted the driver of +the first carriage, "make room for us up there; we cannot halt, and if +we cannot get on the level we shall roll backward, and all be killed." +No answer and no movement; we were becoming desperate. One of the +officers _en civile_, forgetting his present insignificance, put out +his head and shouted, "Move your carts, pigs, or I'll know the reason +why; would you see us all roll back to perdition?" "Roll away, holiday +burghers, roll away," contemptuously drawled out one of the chivalrous +troopers, "the royal forage is not going to move for you." + +Our situation was truly frightful; at that moment our Dusseldorf +friend, in his green uniform and sword, leaped out of the carriage, +dashed up the hill, applied the flat of his sword with unsparing vigor +to the backs of the astounded troopers, used a goodly amount of strong +language to the abashed ensign, and before we had time to begin our +backward descent the "royal" forage-carts were placed close up against +"the Public" in single file, and we were safely struggling to the top +of the hill. It is just possible, only just possible, that had I been +one of a party of "holiday burghers," I might not have been alive in +this year of grace to tell this tale. + +And now we near the stone bridge which brings us over the Sauer from +Prussia into Luxembourg; we are in plenty of time, but already feel +the atmosphere of the procession. The country round is all excitement; +groups of men and women in their holiday dresses are eagerly talking; +some are kneeling and devoutly praying by the way-side, others are +counting their beads and muttering their paternosters with careless +tongues and wandering eyes; the instant our carriages cross the bridge +we are thronged. "Oh! for the love of God," says a girl, "give me a +franc, or a ten-groschen piece, I don't care which, and I'll jump for +all the sins you have committed since last Monday was a week." "My +lord," says a man to one of our party, "five francs, and I'll jump to +the very cross for you without a halt, and cut you off all this year's +sins." "Dear madam," whined an old woman, "I'll never reach the big +crucifix, but I'll do a little jumping for you for a franc." I began +now to realize that there _is_ a jumping procession at Echternach. + +We had been most kindly invited by the colonel commanding at Echternach +to breakfast with him, and see the procession from his windows, which +overlook the best part of the town, and we naturally availed ourselves +of his courteous hospitality. + + [The shrine of St. Willibrod, at Echternach, has for centuries + been a place of pilgrimage, though the origin of the jumping mania + is not definitely known. There are several traditions having to + do with the cure of a pestilence by the saint. It is now believed + that the penalty for sin is remitted in proportion to the height + and strength of the jumping.] + +Breakfast is finished, and we take our places at the windows. The +procession has formed on the Prussian side of the stone bridge, a short +address has been delivered to the excited people, and in the distance +we hear the shrill sounds of the many-voiced instruments, and the +strange measured, musical tramp of the coming thousands. Headed by the +privileged Prussian parish of Warwieler, on they come, these simple +pilgrims, in columns of parishes, four abreast, and hand in hand, each +parish with its banners waving, and headed by its own musicians, for +every man who has played for money during the year is bound to give +his services on this occasion, and woe betide the man who fails to put +in an appearance. The strange dance consists of two steps forward with +the right foot and one step backward with the left, and is danced to a +very simple melody, and not one of the many thousands is out of time. +The wise ones literally _step_ the measure, and generally accomplish +the whole pilgrimage, which lasts about two hours and a half; but under +superstitious excitement the wise ones are in the minority, and when +the procession passed our windows, though never breaking their ranks or +losing time, the majority were springing in a state of mad excitement, +and, strange to say, the men were more "fast and furious" than the +women. One man in particular was leaping to such a degree that at every +step he sprang head and shoulders above the crowd, and as he had passed +along, people rushed out of their houses and plied him with cider, +which he invariably drank without losing his place or breaking time. + +I do not recollect seeing one boy in the procession, though there +may, of course, have been many, but there were hundreds of girls, all +quiet and orderly. To watch the different moods and manners of these +people as they passed on was a study well worth the journey; though +the haggard faces and the drawn parched blue lips of many of these +benighted jumpers were sad enough to behold. After looking at them +for some time from our windows, I suggested that we adjourn to the +church, and so witness the close of the procession. This suggestion +was not received enthusiastically, and only one friend was willing +to take compassion on my English curiosity. Off we started, but were +unfortunately obliged to pass through a break in the line, which we did +as decorously as possible, and were invited with outstretched hands by +those who still had breath to speak to join the procession and so wipe +off some of our sins; this we gratefully declined, and made rapidly for +the parish church. + +The church, being on an eminence, is reached by a flight of stone +steps, and we took up our position at their base. On, on, they came, +these strange pilgrims, with their unfaltering tramp and unflagging +melody; but, oh! in what thinned numbers and with what drawn faces. +In sight of the blessed goal how many of them drop! and the man I had +watched so anxiously fell prostrate at the bottom of the steps, looking +as if his soul had been driven by this frightful pilgrimage to seek +its rest in another world. But the strong and steady ones tramp up the +steps, spring round the high altar in wild ecstasy, and passing out at +the opposite door, jump round the tall crucifix, fall on their knees, +and all is over. + +We loitered for some time about the church, listening to the very +primitive remarks of the dispersing crowd, and wondering at its strange +infatuation; and as we returned to our little inn we passed many a +prostrate and exhausted form, some of whom could never again, alas, +know a day's strong health. After a great deal of pleasant talk, a +little eager discussion, and some very indifferent refreshment, I +started on an excursion through the town, having an idea that I should +find it _morne et silencieuse_, a sort of "city of the silent," after +all the excitement of the morning. But, lo! from every Gasthof and +Wirthshaus there came a sound of revelry; fiddles, flutes, cornets, +laughing, dancing, everywhere. Could it be possible? Boldly I insisted +upon my escort accompanying me into one of these petty inns, and going +with me into an upper room, whence the gay sounds proceeded. Behold! +the tearing galopade and the whirling waltz in one room, the bumping +polka in another; and the "Queen of the Wirthshaus" ball, around whom +the partners flocked and beseeched, was a stout young woman of about +thirty, whom I had seen solemnly and deliberately footing it in the +procession, without pause or hinderance from beginning to end. And all +these devoted dancers of the many public-houses around and about had +all been resolutely hopping away their sins from the bridge to the +shrine for more than two hours. + +Now let me record this wondrous fact. I went freely about through +the town; I walked into small inns and public-houses, as I dared not +have done in my own country; I was received politely everywhere; and +in all that hilarious community, through the whole of that licensed +holiday, from eight in the morning till late in the afternoon, I did +not see one case of drunkenness. Yes, these people of the Eifel and +the Sauer Valley and their surrounding towns may, perhaps, be debased +by superstition, but at any rate they are not like some prouder +communities I could name, thoroughly brutalized by drunkenness. + +Our remaining half-hours were spent in the pleasure-gardens, where we +fortified ourselves for the home journey with the inevitable coffee +and _Mai-brank_,--Turk's-head cake,--and sandwiches of brown and white +bread and butter. We started at seven on our return to Trier, merry +as we came, not one discordant note having jarred on the universal +harmony; and to one only of our party had there been anything like +a hitch in the perfect pleasure of the day, and this hitch was +occasioned by what, at the beginning of our journey, I had so foolishly +considered "a comparative trifle,"--the ever-recurring red silk +pocket-handkerchief from under Hartstein's hat and over his nose, which +sorely disturbed the equanimity and wounded the conjugal pride of his +devoted wife. With this exception, our expedition had been a complete +success; and I was indeed pleased to add to my travelling sketches the +Jumping Procession at Echternach. + + + + + +THE CAPITAL OF AUSTRIA. + +JOHN RUSSELL. + + [It is with Vienna as it appeared in 1825 that we here propose + to deal, in the language of a traveller of that period, who has + given a graphic account of what was then and there to be seen. + Russell's "Tour in Germany" is a sprightly and interesting work, + and the Vienna which he describes, while yet in its chrysalis + state, displayed many of the characteristics of the handsome and + attractive city of to-day. Our extract begins with a distant view + of the Austrian capital.] + + +On reaching the brow of the low eminences that border to the north +the valley through which the Danube takes his course, a magnificent +prospect burst at once upon the eye. A wide plain lay below, teeming +with the productions and habitations of industrious men. On the east, +towards Hungary, it was boundless, and the eye was obstructed only by +the horizon. To the westward rose the hills which, beginning in orchard +and vineyard, and terminating in forest and precipice, form, in this +direction, the commencement of the Alps; and to the south the plain +was bounded by the loftier summits of the Styrian mountains. Nearly +in the centre of the picture lay Vienna itself, extending on all sides +its gigantic arms; and the spire of the cathedral, high above every +other object, was proudly presenting its Gothic pinnacle to the evening +sun. From this point the inequality of the ground on which Vienna +stands strikes the eye at once, and the cathedral has the advantage of +occupying the highest point of the proper city; for not only the spire, +but nearly the whole body of the edifice, was distinctly seen above all +the other buildings of the city. + +Every one of the three hundred thousand inhabitants who crowd Vienna +and its interminable suburbs seems to reckon it a duty to make his life +a commentary. They are more devoted friends of joviality, pleasure, +and good living, and more bitter enemies of everything like care +or thinking,--a more eating, drinking, good-natured, ill-educated, +hospitable, and laughing people,--than any other of Germany, or, +perhaps, of Europe. Their climate and soil, the corn and wine with +which Heaven has blessed them, exempt them from any very anxious degree +of thought about their own wants; and the government, with its spies +and police, takes most effectual care that their gayety shall not be +disturbed by thinking of the public necessities, or studying for the +public weal. In regard to themselves, they are distinguished by a love +of pleasure; in regard to strangers, by great kindness and hospitality. +It is difficult to bring an Austrian to a downright quarrel with you, +and it is almost equally difficult to prevent him from injuring your +health by good living. + +The city itself is a splendid and a bustling one; no other German +metropolis comes near it in that crowded activity which distinguishes +our own capitals. It does not stand, strictly speaking, on the Danube, +which is a mile to the northward, and is separated from it by the +largest of all the suburbs, the Leopoldstadt, as well as by the +extensive tract of ground on which the groves of the Prater have been +planted and its walks laid out. The walls, however, are washed, on this +side, by a small arm of the Danube, which rejoins the main stream a +short way below the city, and is sufficiently large for the purposes +of inland navigation. On the south, the proper city is separated from +the suburbs by a still more insignificant stream, which, however, +gives its name to the capital, the Vienna. This rivulet, instead of +serving effectually even the purposes of cleanliness, brings down +the accumulated refuse of other regions of the town, and its noisome +effluvia often render it an effort to pass the bridge across it, one of +the most crowded thoroughfares of Vienna. + +The proper city is of nearly a circular form, and cannot be more than +three miles in circumference, for I have often walked quite around +the ramparts in less than an hour. The style of building does not +pretend to much ornament, but is massive and imposing; the streets are +generally narrow, and the houses lofty, rising to four or five floors, +which are all entered by a common stair. There is much more regularity, +and there are many more cornices and pillars, in Berlin; in Dresden +there is a more frequent intermixture of showy edifices; there is more +lightness and airiness of effect in the best parts of Munich; and in +Nürnberg and Augsburg there is a greater profusion of the outward +ornaments of the olden time; but in none of these towns is there so +much of that sober and solid stateliness, without gloom, which, after +all, is perhaps the most fitting style of building for a large city. +Some individual masses of building, in the very heart of the city, are +as populous as large villages.... + +"The art of walking the streets" in London is an easy problem, +compared with the art of walking in them in Vienna. In the former, +there is some order and distinction, even in the crowd; two-legged and +four-legged animals have their allotted places, and are compelled to +keep them; in the latter, all this is otherwise. It is true that, in +the principal streets, a few feet on each side are paved with stones +somewhat larger than those in the centre, and these side slips are +intended for pedestrians; but the pedestrians have no exclusive right; +the level of the street is uniform; there is nothing to prevent horses +and carriages from encroaching on the domain, and, accordingly, they +are perpetually trespassing. + +The streets, even those in which there is the greatest bustle, the +Kärnthnerstrasse, for example, are generally narrow; carriages, +hackney-coaches, and loaded wagons, observing no order, cross each +other in all directions; and, while they hurry past each other, or +fill the street by coming from opposite quarters, the pedestrian is +every moment in danger of being run up against the wall. A provoking +circumstance is, that frequently a third part, or even a half of +the street, is rendered useless by heaps of wood, the fuel of the +inhabitants. The wood is brought into the city in large pieces, from +three to four feet long. A wagon-load of these logs is laid down on +the street, at the door of the purchaser, to be sawed and split into +smaller pieces, before being deposited in his cellar. + +When this occurs, as it often does, at every third or fourth door, +the street just loses so much of its breadth. Nothing remains but the +centre, and that is constantly swarming with carriages, and carts, +and barrows. The pedestrian must either wind himself through among +their wheels, or clamber over successive piles of wood, or patiently +wait till the centre of the street becomes passable for a few yards. +To think of doubling the wooden promontory without this precaution +is far from being safe. You have scarcely by a sudden spring saved +your shoulders from the pole of a carriage, when a wheelbarrow makes +a similar attack on your legs. You make spring the second, and in all +probability your head comes in contact with the uplifted hatchet of a +wood-cutter. The wheelbarrows seem to be best off. They fill such a +middle rank between bipeds and quadrupeds, that they lay claim to the +privileges of both, and hold on their way rejoicing, commanding respect +equally from men and horses. + +To guide a carriage through these crowded, encumbered, disorderly, +narrow streets, without either occasioning or sustaining damage, +is, perhaps, the highest achievement of the coach-driving art. Our +own knights of the whip, with all their scientific and systematic +excellencies, must here yield the palm to the practical superiority of +their Austrian brethren. Nothing can equal the dexterity with which a +Vienna coachman winds himself, and winds himself rapidly, through every +little aperture, and, above all, at the sharp turns of the streets. +People on foot, indeed, must look about them; and, from necessity, they +have learned to look about them so well, that accidents are wonderfully +rare, and very seldom, indeed, does it happen that the Jehus do not +keep clear of each other's wheels. The hackney-coachmen form as +peculiar a class as they do in London, with as much _esprit de corps_, +but more humor, full of jokes and extortion. It is said that the most +skilful coachman from any other country cannot drive in Vienna without +a regular education. A few years ago, an Hungarian nobleman brought out +a coachman from London; but Tom was under the necessity of resigning +the box, after a day's driving pregnant with danger to his master's +limbs and carriage.... + +Vienna has some very noble public squares, though no people requires +them less for purposes of recreation; for, when amusement is their +object, they hasten beyond the walls to the coffee-houses of the +glacis, or the shades of the Prater, the wine-houses and monks of +Kloster-Neuburg, or the gardens of Schönbrunn. The best of these +squares happen to be in parts of the city where the fashionable world +does not often intrude; they are not planted, but they are excellently +paved; they are not gaudy with palaces, but they are surrounded by the +busy shops and substantial and comfortable dwellings of happy citizens, +and are commonly adorned with some religious emblem or a public +fountain. Both the temples and fountains have too much work about them; +there is too much striving after finery of sculpture, a department of +art in which the Austrians are still very far behind. The consequence +is, that there are crowds of figures which have no more to do with a +basin of water than with a punch-bowl. + +The _Graben_, an open space in the most busy part of the town, and +entered at both extremities, by the narrowest and most inconvenient +lanes in Vienna (although, on Sundays and festivals, it is the great +thoroughfare of all classes, from the Emperor to the servant-girl), is +embellished with two fountains. The fountains themselves are simple and +unaffected; but it was necessary to have statues. Therefore at the one +well stands Joseph explaining to the Messiah his Hebrew genealogy, and +at the other St. Leopold holding in his hands a plan of the Monastery +of Neuburg! The artist of the fountain in the Neumarkt, or New-market, +seems to have felt the want of congruity in this union of holy saints +with cold water, and he placed on the edge of his basin four naked +figures, representing the four principal rivers of Austria, pouring +their waters into the Danube, whose genii surround the pillar that +rises from the centre. But even here comes something Austrian and +absurd. The basin is so small that half a dozen of moderately-sized +perch would feel themselves confined in it; yet these four emblematical +figures are anxiously gazing into the tiny reservoir, and brandishing +huge tridents to harpoon the invisible whales which are supposed to be +sporting in the waters.... + +Vienna is no longer a fortified city; promenading is the only purpose +to which the fortifications are now applied; and, from their breadth +and elevation, they are excellently adapted for it. In one part +they look out upon the gradually ascending suburbs; on another the +eye wanders over intervening vineyards, up to the bare ridge of the +Kahlenberg, from which Sobieski made his triumphant attack against +the besieging Turks, traces of whose intrenchments are still visible; +in another it rests on the waters of the Danube, the foliage of the +Prater, and the gay crowds who are streaming along to enjoy its shades. +The twice successful attacks of French armies having proved the +ramparts, or bastions, as they are universally called, to be useless +for the protection of the citizens, trees, benches, and coffee-houses +have taken the place of cannon, and rendered them invaluable as sources +of recreation to this pleasure-loving people. On Sundays and holidays, +so soon as the last mass has terminated (which it always does about +mid-day), they are crowded to suffocation with people of all ranks. + +Even on week-days, so long as the weather permits it, the +coffee-houses, surrounded with awnings, are the favorite resort of +persons, chiefly gentlemen, who prefer breakfasting in the open +air, and in the evening they are the favorite resort of both sexes, +especially of the middle classes. An orchestra in the open air +furnishes excellent music; as night comes on (and the crowd always +increases with the dusk) lamps are hung up among the trees, or +suspended from the awnings. The gay, unthinking crowd sits to be gazed +at, or strolls about from one alley to another to gaze,--good and bad, +virtuous and lost, mingled together, sipping coffee or keeping an +assignation, eating an ice, or making love. Till ten o'clock, when the +terrors of the _Hausmeister_ drive them home, the ramparts, and the +glacis below, form a collection of little Vauxhalls. + +The glacis itself, the low, broad and level space of ground which +stretches out immediately from the foot of the ramparts, and runs +entirely around the city, except where the walls are washed by the +arm of the Danube, is no longer the naked and cheerless stripe which +it used to be. Much of it has been formed into gardens belonging to +different branches of the imperial family; the rest has been gradually +planted and laid out into alleys, and two years ago the Emperor, in +his love for his subjects, allowed a coffee-house to be built among +the trees. Beyond the glacis, the ground in general rises, and along +these eminences stretch the thirty-four suburbs of Vienna, surrounding +the city like the outworks of some huge fortification, and finally +surrounded themselves by a brick wall, a mere instrument of police, to +insure the detection of radicals and contraband goods, by subjecting +everything and every person to a strict examination.... + +Though the suburbs, from the greater regularity of their streets, the +smaller height of their buildings, and the general elevation of the +site, are in themselves more open and airy than the city, yet, owing +to the absence of pavement and the presence of wind, they can scarcely +be said to be more healthy. Vienna, though lying in a sort of kettle, +and not at so absolute an elevation as Munich, is more pestered by high +winds than any other European capital. In the proper city the streets +are paved, and excellently well paved; but throughout the immense +suburbs they present only the bare soil. This soil is loose, dry, and +sandy, and the wind acting upon it keeps the city and suburbs enveloped +in a thick atmosphere, loaded with particles of sand, which medical men +do not pretend to deny has a perceptible influence on the health. From +the summit of the Kahlenberg, an eminence about two miles to the west, +I have seen Vienna as completely obscured by a thick cloud of dust as +ever London is by a cloud of smoke; and our smoke is, in reality, the +less disagreeable of the two. When the wind is moderate, and allows the +dust to settle, rain commonly follows, and the suburbs are converted +into a succession of alleys of mud.... + +The Prater of Vienna is the finest public park in Europe, for it has +more rural beauty than Hyde Park, and surely the more varied and +natural arrangement of its woods and waters is preferable to the +formal basin and alley of the garden of the Tuileries. It occupies the +eastern part of that broad and level tract on the north of the city, +which is formed into an island by the main stream of the Danube on +the one side, and the smaller arm that washes the walls on the other. +They unite at its extremity, and the Prater is thus surrounded on +three sides by water. The principal alley, the proper _arive_, runs +from the entrance in a long straight line for about half a mile. Rows +of trees, consisting chiefly of horse-chestnuts, divide it into five +alleys. The central one is entirely filled with an unceasing succession +of glittering carriages, moving slowly along its opposite sides in +opposite directions; the two on each side are filled with horsemen, +galloping along to try the capacity of their steeds, or provoking them +into impatient curvetings, to try the effect of their own forms and +dexterity on the beauties who adorn the open calèches. + +The two exterior alleys are consecrated to pedestrians; but those +of the Viennese who must walk, because not rich enough to hire a +hackney-coach, are never fond of walking far, and, forsaking the +alleys, scatter themselves over the verdant lawn which spreads itself +out to where the wood becomes more dense and impenetrable. The lawn +itself is plentifully strewed with coffee-houses, and the happy +hundreds seat themselves under shady awnings or on the green herbage, +beneath a clump of trees, enjoying their ices, coffee, and cigars, till +twilight calls them to the theatre, with not a thought about to-morrow, +and scarcely a reminiscence of yesterday. + +But though the extremity of this main alley be the boundary of the +excursions of the fashionable world, it is only the beginning of +the more rural and tranquil portion of the Prater. The wood becomes +thicker; there are no more straight lines of horse-chestnuts; the +numerous alleys wind their way unconstrained through the forest maze, +now leading you along in artificial twilight beneath an overarching +canopy of foliage, and now terminating in some verdant and tranquil +spot like those on which fairies delight to dance; now bringing you to +the brink of some pure rivulet, which trickles along unsuspectingly to +be lost in the mighty stream, and now stopping you on the shady banks +of the magnificent river itself. + + + + +THE ESZTERHÁZY PALACES. + +JOHN PAGET. + + [Paget's "Hungary and Transylvania" is the source of our present + selection, we having chosen, from his many pictures of Hungarian + life and people, a description of the famous Eszterházys, a family + renowned particularly for its jewels, which have been gathering + for centuries in the castle of Forchtenstein.] + + +It was at six o'clock in the morning that the smart Presburg post-boy +sounded his bugle, to express his impatience at the half-hour we had +already kept him waiting ere we started for the Neusiedler Lake, in +the neighborhood of which we intended to pass a few days. The journey +to the end of the lake might be some sixty miles, and we reckoned to +accomplish this by post within the day. + +Of all the modes of travelling in Hungary, the post is the most +expensive, and to me, at least, the most disagreeable. The supply of +horses is too scanty, and if the traveller happens to arrive before +or after the _post-wagen_, he must generally wait some time before +he can obtain the number he requires. There is an awkward rule, too, +which it is as well a stranger should know. If he arrives at any place +with post, he can oblige the postmaster to send him on with the same +number of horses he arrived with; but should he, as occurred to us on +the present occasion, feel a wish to leave the post-road, and for that +purpose hire private horses, at the next post-station they may refuse +him a supply, or oblige him to take as many as they choose. + +It was at Gschies we learned this rule, for the postmaster stoutly +refused to send us on with a pair of horses, which was all we had +previously required, and declared we should either take four or remain +where we were. Entirely ignorant as I then was of any other means of +getting forward, I at last consented, and desired him to give us the +four horses. "But I have only three in the stable at present," was his +cool reply; "and you may either take those and pay for four, or you may +remain where you are until to-morrow, when the others will come home." +Nor is this the only instance of gross imposition I could relate. The +worst of it is, there is no redress. In one case I applied to the +judge and notary of the village, and though they had the best will to +protect me, all they could do was to give me peasants' horses, and so +enable me to avoid the like treatment for the rest of the journey. + +For the matter of speed, you get on by post at the rate of five miles +an hour, with strong, large horses, and post-boys wearing huge cocked +hats, each with a plume of feathers worthy a field-marshal, and a red +coat with purple facings. But if ever the reader should have occasion +to go from Vienna to Pesth, and is an amateur at driving, I recommend +him to what is called the _bauern post_,--that is, if steamboats and +railroads have not ere this entirely destroyed it. + +The peasants between the frontiers of Hungary and Pesth, on the great +high-road from Vienna, combined to supply relays of horses at a cheaper +rate and better than the royal post; and though at first opposed by +government, they eventually succeeded so well that at present the whole +line is supplied by them almost exclusively. The pace at which these +men, with their four small horses, take on a light Vienna carriage +is something wonderful, especially when the length of some of their +stages is considered. The last stage cannot be less than forty miles +from Pesth, and, with a short pause of about a quarter of an hour to +water, they do it for the most part at full gallop, and with the same +horses, in four hours. It is glorious to see the wild-looking driver, +his long black hair floating in the wind as he turns round to ask your +admiration when his four little clean-boned nags are rattling over +hill and hollow in a style which for the first time since he left +home shakes an Englishman's blood into quicker circulation. There is +certainly a pleasure in rapid motion which has on some men almost an +intoxicating effect. + +[Illustration: BUDAPEST] + +But to return to our five miles an hour. We passed through a +well-cultivated country, chiefly inhabited by Germans, who have crept +in upon this side of Hungary from Presburg nearly to the borders of +Croatia. The Neusiedler Lake, or the Fertö Tava Hungarian, which we +soon came in sight of, is about twenty-four miles long by twelve broad, +varying in depth from nine to thirteen feet. In parts, particularly +at the north end, its shores are hilly and pretty, but on the eastern +side they are flat, and terminate in a very extensive marsh, called the +Hanság. + +It is supposed to be this lake which the Emperor Galerius drained into +the Danube, and which has been allowed to re-form by the destruction +of the Roman works. There is little doubt, I believe, as to the +practicability of draining the lake again, if it were desired; but, +as a neighboring proprietor observed, it would spoil some glorious +snipe-shooting.... + +At Eisenstadt, some short distance from the lake, is a palace of the +first of the Hungarian magnates, Prince Eszterházy. This palace, though +not remarkable for its beauty (it is in a heavy, though florid, Italian +style), is well fitted up for a princely residence. We walked through +suites of apartments innumerable; but by far the most striking of them +was the great ball-room, an elegantly-proportioned hall of great size, +and richly ornamented in white and gold. This room was last used when +the present prince was installed lord-lieutenant of the county of +Oedenburg, an office hereditary in his family; and great is still the +fame of the almost regal pomp with which he fêted the crowds of nobles +who flocked around him upon that occasion. + +The gardens, laid out in the English style, are very fine, and the +hot-houses larger than any I remember to have seen; even Alton must bow +to Eisenstadt. They contain no less than seventy thousand exotics, and +are particularly rich in New Holland specimens. One can hardly help +lamenting that so much luxury and beauty should be wasted; for, except +the inhabitants of Eisenstadt, to whom the gardens are always open, it +is rarely that the palace or its grounds receive a visitor. + +Great as is the splendor of some of our English peers, I almost +fear the suspicion of using a traveller's license when I tell of +Eszterházy's magnificence. Within a few miles of this same spot he has +three other palaces of equal size. + +Just at the southern extremity of the lake stands Eszterház, a huge +building in the most florid Italian style, built only in 1700, and +already uninhabited for sixty years. Its marble halls, brilliant with +gold and painting, are still fresh as when first built. The chamber of +Marie Theresa is unchanged since the great queen reposed there; the +whole interior is in such a state that it might be rendered habitable +to-morrow; but the gardens are already overgrown with weeds, and have +almost lost their original form; the numberless pleasure-houses are +yielding to the damp position in which they are placed, and are fast +crumbling away; while the beautiful theatre, for which an Italian +company was formerly maintained, is now stripped of its splendid +mirrors, and serves only as a dwelling for the dormant bats, which +hang in festoons from its gilded cornices. England is famous for her +noble castles and her rich mansions, yet we can have little idea of a +splendor such as Eszterház must formerly have presented. Crowded as it +was by the most beautiful women of four countries, its three hundred +and sixty strangers' rooms filled with guests, its concerts directed by +a Haydn, its opera supplied by Italian artists, its gardens ornamented +by a gay throng of visitors, hosts of richly-clothed attendants +thronging its antechambers, and its gates guarded by the grenadiers of +its princely master, its magnificence must have exceeded that of half +of the royal courts of Europe. I know of nothing but Versailles which +gives one so high a notion of the costly splendor of a past age as +Eszterház. + +Haydn was for more than thirty years _maestro di capello_ to Prince +Eszterházy; and, during that period, lived chiefly with the family. His +portrait is still preserved, and it is almost the only picture of much +interest the palace contains. Haydn was a very poor and obscure person +when he was appointed one of the prince's band; so much so, that no one +thought even of giving the necessary orders for his being admitted into +the palace. The following anecdote of his introduction to the prince is +recounted by Carpani: + +"The Maestro Friedberg, a friend and admirer of Haydn, lived with +Prince Eszterházy. Regretting that Haydn should be overlooked, he +persuaded him to compose a symphony worthy of being performed on +the birthday of his highness. Haydn consented; the day arrived; +the prince, according to custom, took his seat in the midst of his +court, and Friedberg distributed the parts of Haydn's symphony to the +performers. Scarcely had the musicians got through the first allegro, +when the prince interrupted them to ask who was the author of so +beautiful a piece. Friedberg dragged the modest, trembling Haydn from +a corner of the room into which he had crept, and presented him as +the fortunate composer. 'What,' cried the prince, as he came forward, +'that Blackymoor!' (Haydn's complexion was none of those which mock +the lily's whiteness.) 'Well, blacky, from henceforth you shall be in +my service; what's your name?' 'Joseph Haydn.' 'But you are already +one of my band; how is it I never saw you here before?' The modesty +of the young composer closed his lips, but the prince soon put him +at his ease. 'Go and get some clothes suitable to your rank,--don't +let me see you any more in such a guise; you are too small; you look +miserable, sir; get some new clothes, a fine wig with flowing curls, +a lace collar, and red heels to your shoes. But mind, let your heels +be high, that the elevation of your person may harmonize with that of +your music. Go, and my attendants will supply you with all you want.' +... The next day Haydn was travestied into a gentleman. Friedberg +often told me of the awkwardness of the poor Maestrino in his new +habiliments. He had such a gawky look that everybody burst into a laugh +at his appearance. His reputation, however, as his genius had room to +manifest itself, grew daily, and he soon obtained so completely the +good-will of his master, that the extraordinary favor of wearing his +own hair and his simple clothes was granted to his entreaties. The +surname of the Blackymoor, however, which the prince had bestowed upon +him, stuck to him for years after." + +The only part of Eszterház at present occupied is the stables, which +had just received an importation of twelve beautiful thoroughbred +horses from England, with some very promising young stock. An old +English groom had been sent out with them, and bitterly did he complain +of the difficulties he had to encounter before he could convince the +_beamters_--a race of hungry stewards by whom the estates of the nobles +are mismanaged and the revenues plundered--of the many little wants and +luxuries requisite for English race-horses. + +The estates of Prince Eszterházy are said to equal the kingdom of +Würtemberg in size; it is certain they contain one hundred and thirty +villages, forty towns, and thirty-four castles! The annual revenue +from such vast possessions is said, however, not to amount to one +hundred and fifty thousand pounds per annum, though it is capable +of considerable increase. The incumbrances at the present time are +greater than with most other Hungarian magnates, few of whom are +indebted to a less amount than half their incomes. + +I remember some years since an anecdote going the rounds of the papers +to the effect that Prince Eszterházy had astonished one of our great +agriculturists who had shown him his flock of two thousand sheep, +and asked him with some little pride if he could show as many, by +telling him that he had more shepherds than the other had sheep! By a +reckoning made upon the spot, with one well acquainted, we found the +saying literally true. The winter flock of Merinos is maintained at +two hundred and fifty thousand, to every hundred of which one shepherd +is allowed, thus making the number of shepherds two thousand five +hundred! But, as a _spirituelle_ of the neighborhood observed when we +were discussing these matters, "Les Eszterházys font tout en grand: +le feu prince a doté deux cents maîtresses, et pensionné cent enfans +illégitimes!" + +It is not right to leave Eszterház without mention of Hánystock, or the +wild man of the Hanság. The Hanság is a bog about twenty miles long, +on the borders of which Eszterház is built. About eighty years since, +in some part of this bog, an extraordinary creature is said to have +been found, possessing something of the human form, but with scarcely +any other quality that could entitle it to a place among our species. +It was three feet high, apparently of about the middle age, strongly +built, and said to have webbed feet and hands. It was unable to utter +any articulate sounds, lived entirely on fish and frogs, showed no +signs of any passion or feeling, except fear and anger, and was in +every respect in the lowest state of brutality. The most curious part +of its history is that no one ever heard of it till accidentally found +by a peasant in the bog, when it was brought to Eszterház, where, after +remaining fourteen months, it escaped, and was never heard of again. I +believe there is some reason to suspect an imposition, for an Italian +adventurer appeared and disappeared about the same time with Hánystock, +and though unable to cite name or place, I feel pretty certain that a +similar occurrence took place in another part of Europe soon after. + +A few miles from Eisenstadt, and just on the confines of Austria, is a +yet more interesting monument of what we should call feudal greatness, +belonging to the Eszterházy family. The castle of Forchtenstein, built +by a Count Eszterházy, is still in a perfect state of preservation. +It is placed on a bold rock, and commands a view of the whole country +to the northeast and south. It is now used as a prison for Prince +Eszterházy's peasantry,--for he is one of the few who retain the right +of life and death, the _jus gladii_, on his own estates,--and is +consequently guarded by a small detachment of very venerable-looking +grenadiers. + +The castle is sufficiently modern to have been laid out for the +employment of artillery, as may be seen by the heavy bastions and +long curtains, and is still sufficiently old to bear marks of the +Gothic architect about it, of which the high watch-tower is not the +least elegant. The interior has all the inconvenient straightness of +a walled-in castle, and the apartments are for the most part small +and simple. The most interesting object after the well, which is one +hundred and seventy yards deep, and said to have been worked in the +solid rock by Turkish prisoners, is the collection of arms. Besides +arms sufficient for a regiment of foot and another of horse, which ere +this an Eszterházy has equipped and maintained at his own cost, there +is the gala equipment of a troop of cavalry which attended one of the +princesses on her wedding-day, thirty pieces of artillery, suits of +plain black armor for several hundred men, many curious specimens of +early German matchlocks, and a quantity of Turkish arms of almost +every description. + +One suit of armor is interesting from the tale of rude courtesy +attached to it. It formerly belonged to a Count Eszterházy who fell in +a battle against the old enemies of Hungary, the Turks. A ball from +the Pasha's own pistol had already pierced the Count's cuirass, but, +anxious to make more certain of his death, the Moslem leaped from his +horse and beat the helmet of the Christian till he broke open his +visor, when he discovered in the fallen foe an old friend by whom he +had been most kindly treated when a prisoner in Hungary. Faithful to +his friendship, the Turk made the only reparation in his power, for, +after treating the body of Eszterházy with every possible mark of +respect, he collected the armor in which he had died, and sent it, with +the arms which had caused his death, as a present to his family. + +A great number of banners, as well those taken from the enemy as those +under which the followers of Eszterházy fought, are hung round the +walls. It is characteristic of the times that most of the Hungarian +flags bear a painting of the cross, with a figure of Christ as large as +life. + +In one room we noticed the genealogical tree of all the Eszterházys, +in which it is made out, as clearly as possible, that, beginning with +Adam, who reclines in a very graceful attitude at the bottom of the +tree, they pass through every great name, Jewish as well as heathen, +from Moses to Attila, till they find themselves what they are now, +magnates of Hungary. What is still more extraordinary, there is a long +series of portraits of these worthies from Attila inclusive, with their +wives and families dressed in the most approved fashion, and continued +down to the present century. + +It is a pity the noble owner of Forchtenstein does not imbibe a little +of that Gothic mania so often ill-directed in England, and restore +this castle to its former state. As a national monument of the taste +of the Middle Ages in Hungary its restoration would be very desirable, +and it would possess peculiar attractions, not merely from being the +only castle of the kind here, but as a specimen of that mixture of the +Asiatic and Gothic which, in those days, so strongly characterized the +habits and customs of the Magyars, and the remains of which even yet +distinguish them from the rest of Europe. + +The only purpose for which it is at present used, except as a prison, +is to contain the treasures of the prince. Of these I can only speak +from report, for previously to my visit I did not know that in order +to see them it is necessary to have two persons present who live at a +distance, each of whom has a key, without which the other is of no use, +and therefore had not provided against the difficulty. + +The splendor of the Eszterházy jewels is no secret in England, and it +is in this good castle those heaps of treasure, which so tempted her +majesty's fair lieges at her coronation, are commonly preserved. It +is said that each prince is obliged to add something to these jewels, +and that they can never be sold except to ransom their possessors +from captivity among the Turks. When the French entered Hungary, a +small party presented themselves before Forchtenstein and demanded its +surrender. The grenadiers, however, shut the gates, cut the bridge, +and set them at defiance; and, as the enemy had no means of enforcing +obedience, Prince Eszterházy saved his jewels. Besides the jewels there +is an extensive collection of ancient Hungarian costumes; among others, +if I recollect rightly, one worn by King Mathias Corvinus. + + + + +FROM HAMBURG TO STOCKHOLM. + +MRS. ANDREW CROSSE. + + [It is a journey in Sweden which our traveller proposes to + describe in the work from which we quote, but we find the story + of her journey to Sweden more interesting, and give her graphic + account of the German cities of Hamburg and Lübeck, and the + picturesque water route along the Swedish coast, ending with an + account of what she saw of interest in Sweden's capital city.] + + +Our route to Sweden was by Hamburg and Lübeck, for at the latter +place we were to pick up some of our party; and, indeed, under any +circumstances, it is the best route for a first visit to the country, +for then you approach Stockholm by the Baltic. The average passage from +London to Hamburg by steamer direct occupies forty hours, but the waves +and winds were favorable, and we accomplished the distance in four +hours less. However, calm as the seas were, every tourist's soul felt +more in sympathy with Nature when we were actually in the river Elbe. +By daybreak we were steaming up towards Hamburg, past the pleasant +suburb of Blankensee, which reminds one very much of Richmond. It is a +collection of magnificent villas--indeed, one might say palaces--built +among the hanging woods of the river-bank. + +Hamburg was more worth seeing than I expected; in the older parts +there are very picturesque bits, consisting of tall, ancient houses, +leaning at different angles over the dark and busy waters of the +canal,--indeed, both streets and canals are crowded with the world's +commerce. Everything nowadays comes from Hamburg. Chemistry competes +with the vineyards of Spain in producing what we innocently drink as +sherry. We survive it, so we must be grateful to Chemistry for her +wonderful adaptations. + +The modern portion of Hamburg has been entirely rebuilt since the +memorable fire of 1842. What a useful renovator a great fire is to +an old city; there is nothing like it for a great clearing out of +nuisances! The new quarter here is extremely handsome and imposing. +The greater part of the houses built around the artificially-formed +lake called the Binnen Alster are the residences of the great citizens, +for whom nothing seems too luxurious. The Binnen Alster communicates +with the Grosse Alster, and here we saw for the first time the little +fidgety steamboat-omnibuses which later on became so familiar to us at +Stockholm. + +Time did not permit us to see the Zoological Gardens, which are said to +be almost the best in Europe; for the hour for starting for Lübeck had +arrived, and we were obliged to leave the wealthy city of Hamburg but +half explored. + +During our pleasant railway drive of two hours we were struck with the +immense number of birds that we saw; the whole air seemed alive with +them. Every homestead has its stork's nest,--indeed, it forms part of +the building, which is considered incomplete without it. The stork is +held in great reverence among all the northern people, and any stranger +who is wicked or foolish enough to molest one of these birds is sure to +be severely punished. In Whitelocke's "Memorials," the author mentions +that, in returning by this route from his embassy to Sweden, in the +time of the Commonwealth, one of his suite killed a stork in this very +district, and that he was with difficulty rescued by the ambassador +himself from being seriously maltreated by the natives. + +Arriving at Lübeck, when the evening light was red upon the beautiful +Holstein Thor, and upon the many spires and towers of the quaint old +town, it seemed almost as if we had been dropped into the Middle Ages. +It impressed me more strongly with a sense of Old-World life than +Nürnberg, Regensburg, or any other of the German towns that I have +visited dating from about that time. + +The environs of Lübeck are very pleasant in summer, for the whole +country round is so densely wooded, and there are drives in all +directions to quaint little villages that look like pictures out of the +past.... + +I shall never forget our first night on the Baltic. It was a veritable +poem of beauty. The sea was so tranquil that it reflected all the hues +of the gorgeous sunset, and our ship seemed as though in a translucent +medium of colored light, which came from below, around, above us. We +watched and watched till the tremulous yellow and crimson horizon had +paled in intensity, giving place to an exquisite golden green, which +lingered on till the silvery moonlight made its path across the sea, +and then we knew it must be night, though darkness there was none. If +going to bed was not a sort of respectable duty enforced by the habits +of the animal, I don't think we should any of us have gone below. + +We did not sleep late, for six o'clock found us all reassembled again +on deck, enjoying the crisp freshness of the morning air, and the sight +of the waves dancing in the sunlight. The arrangements on board these +steamers are excellent; everything is clean and comfortable, and the +food well cooked. At six o'clock coffee and rolls are served on deck, +at nine o'clock there is a serious breakfast in the saloon, where you +have your choice of tea, coffee, or light claret, and a taste, if you +like, of the national strong waters, which every Swede partakes of +before a meal. Eggs, hot cutlets, with vegetables, are interspersed +with a variety of savory cold dishes, such as dried salmon, reindeer +tongue, or ham of bear, which is very good. The favorite breadstuff +is a sort of biscuit made with seeds; it seems strange at first, but +after a time one gets to like it very much. After this substantial +breakfast you may very well subsist till two o'clock dinner,--a meal +which occupies an hour and a half nearly. The cuisine is excellent, and +there is nothing to do particularly on deck in the middle of the day +except to select an easy seat under the shady awning, so you submit to +the table-d'hôte with admirable patience. + +After dinner the Swedes regale themselves with a glass of sherry or +cognac, with a cigar, and an hour later you will see every coterie with +their glasses of seltzer water and fruit syrup. At seven o'clock supper +is served, and then "may good digestion wait on appetite," if happily +you have any of the latter left. Before bedtime a seductive beverage +called Swedish punch is produced, which is stronger than it seems, and +should be sipped with caution. It is a noteworthy fact that the charge +for all these good things was extremely moderate, as, indeed, prices +are throughout Sweden. It seems the only cheap place for touring left +in Europe. Norway is quite a third dearer,--thanks, I suppose, to the +English invasion.... + +There is a peculiarity about the coast of Sweden; it is said to have +two coasts, an inner and an outer one, the latter being a fringe +of islets, so numerous that no map or chart can mark them. It is +marvellous how vessels make their way through this labyrinth. If you +leave Calmar in the evening, you find yourself the next morning in the +thick of this _Skargard_, or reef defence. At first the scene is very +desolate; the rocks are barren, and the only sign of life the lonely +house of a pilot, round which the sea-birds were screaming in their +whirling flight. + +When about five hours' distance from Stockholm the scene changes; the +barren desolation gives place to wooded islets clothed with the most +exquisite vegetation. The beauty of a veritable fairy-land surrounds +you. You are in the midst of floating groves and gardens. It is quite +unlike any other scenery that I know in Europe; it is not like a lake +or river, for there is no expanse of water. The steamer threads its +way among a crowd of islands; you could sometimes touch land with a +boat-hook. The character of the islets is most varied; at one moment +you pass a tiny floating meadow enamelled with flowers, whose sweet +scent is wafted in every zephyr; on the other side is a grotesque +grotto, or the semblance of a ruin, shaded by the graceful birch-trees +that group themselves together. Another time you pass a longer island, +with its belt of dark firs, intersected with miniature fjords and +little sanded bays. No pencil could do justice to the loveliness of +this changing scene. + +Approaching the capital, the islands are more extensive and numerous; +pretty villas are dotted about the woods, and you see terraced gardens +and well-kept lawns. It was market-day when we arrived, and it was very +picturesque to see the boats laden with fruit, vegetables, and other +necessaries of life proceeding on their way. Each house, or cottage, +sent out its messenger boat to make purchases at the floating market, +and the scene was very animated and amusing. In another half-hour we +were passing the superb deer park of Stockholm, and then we were under +the sentinel forts of the capital, and directly afterwards by the +side of the busy quay. The first sight of the "Venice of the North" +pleased us more than the far-famed Queen of the Adriatic, that city of +souvenirs that can hardly be seen by the "light of common day." + +Seen from the Kungsholmen, Stockholm looks like a city floating on the +sea, especially when the image of all this crowd of churches, palaces, +and towers is reflected in the blue mirror of the calm, tideless waters. + +It is the fashion to admire the Royal Palace, built on the highest of +the three islands of Stockholm, but it has too much the appearance +of a vast barrack. It was completed in 1753, from a design of Count +Tessin, a Swedish architect of renown. It seems to want towers, or +irregularities of some sort, to break the painfully straight lines of +this mass of building. + +The interior bears a strong family likeness to every other palace in +Europe. The upholsterer is decidedly the presiding genius in Royal +apartments, where dazzling chandeliers, rich brocades, and oppressive +gilding are more or less the properties of all alike. In Paris they +vary the scene by turning the royal or imperial upholstery out of +the window, from time to time, and making a bonfire of the same for +patriotic reasons. + +However, in the Royal Palace of Stockholm we did light upon some +individual belongings,--some instances of characteristic taste. In the +picture-gallery there was, at the time of our visit, an unfinished +painting, from the pencil of the late King Carl. It stands on the +easel, just as the master's hand had left it, a few months only before +he passed away, in the prime of life and of popularity. The scene +selected by the royal artist is one of those forest-fringed lakes +of Dalecarlia, with a lovely and enticing vista of green valley and +distant waterfall. The solemn aspect of the pine-woods, bathed in the +after-glow of the delicious northern sunset, is well given in this +picture, breathing forth something of that mingling of mystery, beauty, +and gloom which characterizes the ancient mythology of the land. One +might quote the king's own lines: + + "Everywhere we found in Nature + Spirits fitted to interpret + Saga tales of Sweden's childhood." + + [Our traveller here describes her visits to the scientific and + educational institutions of Stockholm, and gives some statistics + which we may safely omit.] + +However, this is not quite the place for tabulating facts; for are we +not on a holiday trip? We English have an almost incurable habit of +trying to acquire useful information while _en voyage_. If a man goes +up a mountain, instead of enjoying the fresh air and exercise, he must +needs go armed with scientific apparatus enough to start a government +laboratory. Now, in Stockholm you may really enjoy yourself thoroughly +if you only keep clear of museums and learned institutes, those traps +for the unsuspecting holiday-maker, who, before he is aware, finds +himself suffering from a surfeit of useful knowledge. Don't look at +"Murray" or "Baedeker," but just allow yourself to go with the tide in +this pleasure-loving city. In the forenoon one must eat ices in the +delicious little café called the Strömparterre. It is a garden by the +water-side, and, though quite in the centre of the town, bright with a +profusion of flowers and waving trees. Here you may sit and watch the +little steamers coming and going every few minutes from the Djurgárd +Park. The waters are alive with these boats, and with other craft, for +the locomotion of the city is mostly conducted by water. One can go +anywhere and everywhere, it would seem, for a few ocre, and remember +there are a hundred ocre in a riksdollar, and a riksdollar is about +thirteen pence of our money. + +One of the first of many pleasant excursions that we made was to +Mariefred and the royal castle of Gripsholm. This interesting place is +on the south side of the Mälar Lake. The steamer from Stockholm takes +about three hours, and the voyage gives one an opportunity of seeing +some of the prettiest scenery in the environs of the capital. The +deep fjords, the fairy islands, the well-wooded banks of the Mälar +Lake, present an ever-changing combination of picturesque objects. +Conspicuous among the rest is the high rock of Kungshatt, where stands +a pole with a hat, to keep alive the story of some king of old, who +jumped on horseback from this giddy summit into the water below, when +pursued by enemies, and only suffered the inconvenience of losing his +hat. What a habit this must have been in the old times! for one hardly +ever sees a nasty bit of rock with an ugly chasm yawning beneath, that +you don't hear of some ill-advised persons taking the leap either for +love or hate.... + +The Castle of Gripsholm was erected in the twelfth century by Bo +Jonsson Grip, a certain Croesus of those days; in fact, he was the +most powerful noble in the land, and was selected by Alberta of +Mecklenburg to be his "all-powerful helper," for then as now the Swedes +hated the Germans. The Rhyming Chronicler of the time says that Bo +Jonsson "ruled the land with a glance of his eye." He had a bad habit, +however, of using his sword as well as his eye, for history tells us +how he followed his foe, knight Karl Nilsson, into the church of the +Franciscans at Stockholm, and hacked him to pieces before the high +altar! + +When Gustavus Vasa became king, after his romantic wanderings and +hair-breadth escapes in Dalecarlia, he rebuilt Gripsholm, and it became +the favorite residence of royalty. These castle walls have witnessed +many dismal scenes, quite out of harmony with the lovely and natural +surroundings, for there are few fairer spots in all Sweden. + +In one of the towers Eric XIV. kept his brother John a prisoner for +several years. The latter had married a Polish princess, and was +concerned in a war against Sweden, but, falling prisoner, was sent by +the king to the castle of Gripsholm. This Eric was one of our Queen +Elizabeth's suitors, and history records that by way of making himself +acceptable he sent ambassadors to the English court with costly gifts, +among which were eighteen piebald horses and several chests of uncoined +bars of gold and silver, strings of Oriental pearls, and many valuable +furs. Queen Elizabeth accepted the gifts, but declined the alliance. It +was a way she had. + +The interior of Gripsholm is a perfect museum of curiosities: there +are nearly two thousand historical portraits, and a vast quantity of +antique furniture, old tapestry, and curious silver vessels, which had +served their time at royal banquets. + + + + +THE MIDNIGHT SUN. + +LANGLEY COLERIDGE. + + [The midnight sun, as visible at the summer solstice from the + North Cape of Norway, is becoming one of the necessary spectacles + of modern travel. Alike for those who cannot and for those who + hope to go there we give the following description of what a + former traveller saw from this cape and on the way thither.] + + +I really cannot tell what is the great charm of Norway, nor do I think +the nameless charm is the same for each. Perhaps those who are old +travellers enjoy Norway most. It is well known that in order to do the +Whole Duty of Travel an apprenticeship must be served, by no means an +irksome one; on the contrary, full of delight; nevertheless, it is an +apprenticeship, and, until it has been served, no man can pass as a +member of the travelled community. The curriculum includes a knowledge +of Paris, of the Rhine, of Switzerland, and a dozen regular rounds. +When these have all been "done," then comes Norway as a land of pure +delight to the traveller. + +There are no picture-galleries to make one's neck ache; no museum +to make the weary feet throb; no promenades; no sherry-cobblers to +sip while bands play in the gardens; no continuations of London and +Brighton. There are no crowds; you may see a magnificent waterfall all +by yourself, or ascend a hundred Rigis without meeting a soul. There +are no loafers; and you may get into boats and out of boats, into +carrioles and out of carrioles, without one humpbacked beggar-boy or +man with his eye in a sling to whine at you, or one officious person +getting in the way in order to be paid for it. There are no mammoth +hotels, where you have to climb a dozen flights of stairs before you +can reach your bed; no billiards when once you have left the three +chief towns; no stuffy railways to whizz you past the best scenery; no +dressing for dinner. + +Now, all these things, to one who has been over and over again to the +most civilized places in the world, are very refreshing; and yet these +are perhaps but minor points, and do not explain the secret of the +great charm of Norway. Rip Van Winkle's was a wonderful sleep; he woke +and found the world had gone forward a hundred years; but the traveller +who sleeps on the North Sea and wakes up in the morning in Norway has +had a more wonderful sleep. He wakes and finds the world has gone back +half a millennium! Southward the countries of Europe have struggled and +slaved in the race for the perfection of civilization, while Norway is +as it was in the beginning. Southward the countries have obeyed the +watchword, "Forward!" Norway has obeyed the signal, "As you were!" + +Now, fancy yourself--you, who have done as the Southerners do--arriving +at a little village in an out-of-the-way place in Norway. Nobody +flutters about your carriole to escort you to a hotel, but you enter +the "station," a low, rambling wooden structure, with diffidence. You +see the lady of the house and shake hands with her; you ask her to be +good enough to let you stay there the night; you enter a bedroom, where +everything is plain as a deal box, but clean as a Dutch tulip. Then +you sit down with the family in the general room to your meal. It will +assuredly consist of either trout and salmon, or salmon and trout, with +perhaps an egg, perhaps potatoes, perhaps black bread. No Bass, but +perhaps some Norsk Öl, a very pleasant beverage. After supper you will +smoke a pipe with your landlord, who will probably invite you to see +the pigs, or will lend you a hand to splice up any broken harness of +your carriole. + +About nine or ten o'clock you will go to bed, in the broad daylight if +it be summer-time, and in the morning you will wake up, finding the +landlady's daughter at your bedside, with a delicious cup of hot coffee +and a natty little roll, or perchance a biscuit. And then, still early +in the morning, you will bid farewell as to old friends, you will shake +hands all round, and away in your carriole to drive through romantic +scenery, and to feel as though Norway had been made specially for you. + +Before you have been two days in the country you will love the quaint, +unsophisticated people, so hearty in their kindness, so ungrudging +in their hospitality, and their Old-World manners and customs, so +genuine in an age of sham, so solid in an age of veneer. One great +charm of Norway, then, is its people; another, and perhaps more to be +appreciated by some, is its scenery. + +"Is it like Switzerland?" No; Norway is only like Norway. It is not +so grand as regards the height of its mountains, yet its grandeur is +far more solemn. It has a dozen fjords more startling than the Lake +of Lucerne; in a day's journey you will pass waterfalls and cascades +which would make a fortune to "proprietors" in Switzerland, and are +not so much as mentioned in the Norwegian guide-books. Switzerland +is grand beyond compare, but it must be confessed it is a monotonous +grandeur. Not so with Norway: its charms of scenery are varied as they +are unique. A coast wild and rugged; mighty pine-forests, interminable; +lakes beautiful as Windermere; fjords awful in their grandeur; valleys +rich in their fertility; fjelds bare and barren; sport with the gun, +sport with the rod; these and a hundred other charms may be entered in +the catalogue. + +But all these are outweighed by the strange, weird beauty and grandeur +of the neighborhood of the North Cape. I know of nothing that comes +within the range of tourist experiences that will make a more lasting +impression on the memory than a day or two in the region of the +midnight sun. + +For the student, the professional man, the overworked generally, and +especially those whose brains are overworked, there is no tour that +will be more beneficial than the one I propose briefly to sketch. + +Go to Christiansand. Then, if you have never been to Norway, proceed to +Christiania, and, after staying a day or two in that interesting town +and neighborhood, continue your journey either to Trondhjem or Bergen, +it matters not which, or, better still, if you can, do both. The trip +to one, the other, or both, will give you a good idea of scenery in +Norway. At either Bergen or Trondhjem take the steamer for Hammerfest. +And then will commence one of the most delightful voyages it is +possible to make. + +The steamer keeps close to the shore, and the shore is the most curious +in the world; you have but to look at a map to see its wonderful +indentations; you cannot realize them until you find yourself now in +a bay or a cove, now among groups of islands, then in the midst of a +fjord, with sheer rocks rising perpendicularly from the sea, and anon +in the harbor of a little town, with groups of wondering peasantry +around you. You will see some parts of the coast so wild that you +cannot credit the fact that human beings can be found there, and you +will find verdant nooks so peaceful and pretty that you will be tempted +to think that there, away from the world, you would like to build your +house and finish up your days. At one time you will come to the haunts +of water-fowl innumerable; at another a shoal of whales will be around +you. + +The towns and villages at which you will halt will have a special +charm. The curious costumes of the people; the antique architecture of +their houses and churches; the good, but old-fashioned, contrivances +connected with their fishing avocations,--all these will be novel. + +Among the red-letter days of the trip will be a sail among the Loffoden +Islands, "jagged as the jaws of a shark," and swarming with sea-fowl; +a glimpse at the neighborhood of the Maelström, so celebrated in +fable; a visit to a Lapp encampment, and an occasional stroll through +some of the towns at which the steamer stays. Tromsö is one of these +halting-places: it is a modern town, which has grown rapidly. It was +only founded in 1794, and in 1816 had but three hundred inhabitants; +now, owing to the success of its herring-fishery, it has grown +strangely for Norway, and has a population of over five thousand. It is +charmingly situated on an island, and its rich fertility contrasts most +singularly with the wildness of the surrounding mountains. Hammerfest, +too, is interesting, not only because it is the most northerly +town in the world, and because "in the season" it is crowded with +representatives of all nations, who come here to trade, but because +here you are within the limits of the region of the Midnight Sun, and +from here you will take your boat (unless you continue by the Vadsö +steamer) for the North Cape. + +The effect of the midnight sun has been variously described. Carlyle +revels in the idea that while all the nations of the earth are +sleeping, you here stand in the presence of that great power which +will wake them all; Bayard Taylor delights in the gorgeous coloring; +and each traveller has some new poetic thought to register. For myself +the midnight sun has a solemnity which nothing else in nature has. +Midnight is solemn in the darkness; it is a hundredfold more solemn in +the glare of sunlight, richer than ever is sun under tropical skies. +It is "silence, as of death;" not the hum of a bird, not the buzz of +an insect, not the distant voice of a human being. Silence palpable. +You do not feel drowsy, though it is midnight; you feel a strange fear +creep over you as if in a nightmare, and dare not speak; you think what +if it should be true that the world is in its last sleep, and you are +the last living ones, yourselves on the verge of the Eternal Ocean? + +It is amusing, afterwards, to think of the way in which you landed +on your excursion to the North Cape; how every one seemed impressed +with the same idea that it was a sacrilege to break the silence, and +the party that set forth in high spirits had settled down into the +gravity of a funeral cortége. And it is strange how the stillness and +awfulness, felt while in the little boat upon the silent sea, held you +spellbound and entranced; and the spell could not be broken until you +set to work on the difficult climb to the head of the North Cape. And +when you reached the top you felt--well, I don't know how. + +To some standing on the highest part of the plateau, a thousand feet +above the sea, and looking away to that great unknown Arctic Ocean, it +has seemed as if they had come to the end of the earth; that they were +gazing upon the confines of the eternal regions; that they saw in the +distance the outlines of the land of which it is said, "There is no +night there." + +Every tourist mind has its own particular magnet. I do not know what +event in the history of a tourist life most attracts my memory. No one +can ever forget the day when he first gazes upon Jerusalem from the +Mount of Olives; or Damascus seen from the Mount of Mohammed; or the +sunny morning when he rounds the Golden Horn, and Constantinople bursts +on the view. + +These are memories which never grow dim; and I am inclined to think +that when a tourist finds himself in a small boat at midnight, drawing +near to the North Cape in the midst of the most gorgeous sunlight ever +seen, he has found a sensation which will be green in his memory to the +day of his death. + +In this brief paper I have not found time to be practical. The trip to +the North Cape should be made in June or July; it may be made in August +or September, and in the latter month there is a chance of seeing the +first blushes of the Aurora Borealis. I am much inclined to think that +a winter excursion to the North Cape would be one of the grandest +sensations that the tourist's heart could wish, but of this I am not in +a position to judge. + +If my readers are like myself, they never bring one summer trip to a +close before they have arranged in their own minds for the next; and so +I throw out the hint that ere the North Cape shall be scribbled over +with the names of Smith and Jones; ere excursion boats, with Ethiopian +serenaders on board, shall put forth from Hammerfest; ere a big hotel +shall stand upon the summit, and a man shall blow a horn to announce +when "the sun is at its best," it will be well to consider whether a +trip to the North Cape is not worth serious consideration. + + + + +IN THE RUSSIAN CAPITAL + +SAMUEL S. COX. + + ["Arctic Sunbeams," by Hon. S. S. Cox, is full of matter of + interest, the author seeing well and telling ably. We give some of + his impressions of St. Petersburg, beginning his journey at the + fortress and city of Cronstadt, the strongly-defended port of the + capital of Russia.] + + +Leaving the arsenals, dock-yards, wharves, batteries, and ships of +this Gibraltar of the Czar,--and but for which St. Petersburg might +have been burned, like another Moscow, by its own hands, rather than +it should have fallen into those of an invader,--our steamer glides on +what becomes a summer sea of smoothness. The few passengers begin to +appear on deck and stretch their vision for the first glance at the +imperial city. Upon the right, snug amidst its royal greenery, lies the +town of Peterhoff and its domes, minarets, and imperial palace, with +its splendid woods and waters. Our time is opportune for a glorious +sight, for it is sunset, and the sun goes down here at a discreet +hour. Bright dots of burnished gold begin faintly to spangle the sky +in front. They are domes, half hidden by the mist and the distance. +Then a tall spire, also gilded, brilliant and needle-like, pierces +the heavens! It is the Admiralty spire, or perhaps that of the Church +of the Fortress, the Westminster of Russia, the mausoleum of its dead +kings. A few moments, and St. Isaac's Church, the St. Peter's of +Russia, looms up in majestic and stupendous proportions. Its copper +dome is surrounded by four others, all ablaze, like burnished gold, +and surmounted by the gilded Greek cross which towers aloft, above the +bronze saints and angels which people its architraves and its corners, +its roofs and its pillared granite cupola! Beneath it is a city whose +roofs of varied hue cover almost a million of people; a city the +outgrowth from a swamp in less than two hundred years. + +We enter the Neva, whose divided waters flow in canals and lagoons +between grand pavements and superb palaces. At length we are +moored--alas! how soon the beatific vision vanishes!--amidst the +traffic and troubles of trade. We are to undergo a search, the first +yet made with rigor since our journey began. Nor can I complain of +this rigor. Recent events make police regulations here necessarily +stringent. But was it not a little humorous to see the long-robed +customs officers scrutinize the heterogeneous matters in our trunks? +Nothing was found contraband but--what think you?--New York journals! + +We had received a mail at Stockholm, and expected to read up fully +in St. Petersburg. Some dozen of these journals lay in a pile in my +wife's trunk. It would have done you good to see the leonine voracity +with which these papers were seized. Who was it that talked of the +thousand tongues of the press, clearer far than the silver trumpet of +the jubilee,--louder than the voice of the herald at the games? These +tongues had not a word of protest; the music of their trumpet was +frozen like that of the veracious traveller. Out of the bundle tumbled +an engraving of Charles XII., the old enemy of Russia! Did I tremble +for the ominous spectre of this dead madcap of Sweden? The courteous +officer handed it back with a gracious smile to my wife, who reached +for the rest of the bundle, while her face flushed at the indignity to +and the confusion of her domestic arrangements. But, with a hasty push +and an impetuous "Niebt! Niebt!" (No! no!) our papers were confiscated +to the state. The _Sun_ would not go down in this land; the _Tribune_ +was a voiceless oracle; the _World_ ceased to "move after all;" the +_Times_ were out of joint, and the _Express_ came to a dead halt! But +all this had its compensations; for soon we cross the great bridge, and +are housed in the Hôtel d'Angleterre, where though no papers were found +in our expected mail, plenty of news as to the President, and the land +we love, were found in letters, and these twelve days only from New +York. + +There shine into my windows, in dazzling glitter, the copper domes of +that marvel of cathedrals, St. Isaac's, which we saw from afar, upon +whose sides and pedestals, encamping night and day about us, are the +angels of this edifice of beauty! The guns of the citadel thunder out +the memory of this, the birthday of the Empress of this vast empire; +and, in spite of all ominous auguries to the contrary, we sojourn +in peace and safety in this city of beauty and bazaars, palaces and +pigeons, monuments and minarets, domes and deviltry, ceremonies and +cemeteries, armies and assassinations! + +Why does everybody, except the Russians, call this city St. Petersburg? +It was not named after St. Peter, but Peter the Great. It is a +magnificent city of palaces and wide avenues. Its very hospitals and +barracks are palatial, and there is no narrowness to any thoroughfare. +Its domes, where not painted blue with golden stars, or green, are +gilded, and make the city seem like a Constantinople new-risen upon the +North. In fact, with its canals and rivers, its streets, columns, and +palaces, its churches, and their outside and inside decorations, St. +Petersburg combines in itself and in its vistas, in its plan and its +magnificence, Venice, Amsterdam, Paris, and Constantinople. If it were +not stucco on the yellow houses, if it were only solid stone, how much +more impressive would be its mighty and superb aspect! Only one palace +is of granite, and but one church, St. Isaac's, of marble. + +The energy which has reared such a city out of a bog in less than two +centuries betokens the one-man energy which its founder inspired and +illustrated. Still, St. Petersburg, as a look from an elevation will +show, unless it be approached as we approached it, by the gulf and +river, is a vast plain, if not a swamp. The Neva saves it. It is a +splendid river, and makes its delta where the city stands. It is a city +of islands, connected by beautiful bridges. Red granite faces the banks +and makes the quays solid structures. Everything is colossal like the +empire. The informing genius of the male gender is Peter the Great, and +of the other gender Catherine II. If these sovereigns were insane, and +they were very peculiar for Russia, more insanity is desirable among +the princes of the earth. Peter opened this city, as he said, for a +window for Russia to look out of into civilized Europe. Peter was a +useful emperor for Russia and his time, although he did many diabolical +things. + + [Mr. Cox ventured upon a witticism, in consequence of which he + was mistaken for Mark Twain, whose peculiar vein of humor seems + to have made its mark on the Russian guide. He proceeds to give + his opinion of Russian humor.] + +The Russian humor is like that of Byron, which Edgar Poe said was too +savage to be laughed at. Some one calls it grotesque savagery; and +illustrates it by the freaks of Russian princes and czars. John the +Terrible thought there was no church like that of St. Basil, and put +out the architect's eyes to end any future work of that gifted artist. +Peter the Great proposed to hang the lawyers in his realm. He thought +one was too much. There is a story of the Empress Anne, who married +off her favorite dwarf or fool in an ice palace and gave them an icy +marriage-bed, where they froze to death. This I have seen pictured in +fine color and delineation. It was a Russian pleasantry. Catherine II. +slaughtered many of the men whom she did not love--out of a vagary of +fun. Most of the people here hold their revels in graveyards. Peter +stuffed the skin of one of his favorite servants--a tall fellow--and +put him in a museum. Paul issued a ukase against shoestrings and round +hats. He was fond of colors, and had fantastic hues painted on bridges +and gates. It is hardly mirthful to make an eagle out of gun-flints +and swords, or portray a group in heaven of Russians looking down on +Jews, Germans, and negroes. But this is Muscovite merriment. In the +Moscow markets the slaughtered animals are stuffed with sawdust and +look odd. It is said of the Emperor Paul that he dug up the bones of +those who murdered his father to pulverize them and blow them to the +winds. He arrested an Englishman for not taking off his hat to Royalty, +and ordered him to wear magnifying-glasses. This was jolly but not +exceptional, for the Russian is not adept in making genial fun. The +climate is not genial. + + [After seeing something of St. Petersburg on foot, he took a + carriage,--whose characteristics he thus describes:] + +The drosky is an odd-looking fleet sort of cab, which barely seats +two. It is near the ground, and if it upsets, it is safer than when it +is going. Its speed over the boulders is immense. Its driver is good, +and good-humored. The carts, wagons, drays, as well as droskies, have +a peculiar harness for the horse. The eminent characteristic of the +establishment is a sort of harness or yoke, about four or five feet +above the animal's shoulders. This is not peculiar to Russia, but it +is here developed in a higher degree. It rests on the shafts, and +somehow, as I believe (_loquor non inexpertus_), the horse has freer +motion and an easier draught under this yoke. It does not strain him +about the vitalities like our harness. He seems to run loosely as under +a canopy of green, though many of the yokes are thus painted with +emblems and owners' names on them. + +While watching a caravan of these yokes which do not oppress, I +had occasion to look through a long line of them, fifty in number, +carrying the rye-flour in sacks across the city, and discovered another +peculiarity. There is a stout rope from the horse's shoulders to the +front axle, which extends some two feet out of the hub to hold these +extra traces. The strain seemed to be upon these traces as much as +upon the shafts; and just as I was driving in a hurried way--for our +driver was dashing at the usual pace--one of our wheels came off and +rolled a rod, and down we were! Thanks to the good gray team and some +promptitude, we escaped harm; while sympathies all about from the +gathered crowd showed that there was much kindness upon the street.... + +What sights to our unaccustomed eyes are on every side as we drive! +Little Tartar children dressed in green; the soldiers with heavy coats +and long spears, from the tribes of the Don, the Cossack of history; +hussars of red, gay uniform; Caucasian soldiers, with dresses as gay +as the Spahis of Algiers,--with the various large-breeched natives, in +top-boots, or with red shirts only covered by a dark vest,--add to the +spectacle. + +The avenues are wide, and lined with high yellow buildings, palaces, +and government edifices, all proportionate to the immense empire of the +two continents. The signs look quaint with their peculiar lettering, +and the houses, which rarely have doors in front, are unusual in their +aspect. The sheet-iron roofs painted green and red; the police in +their green uniform and sword; the rivers and canals, full of strange +craft darting about in active business, some from far inland, laden +with grain, and some bearing passengers over the Neva and under its +bridges,--all these odd pictures contribute to keep us on the alert. We +drive along the Neva, whose splendid avenues and quays are one. They +are lined by the same yellow buildings, where the families of the royal +house reside. Then we cross the Neva on a pontoon bridge, called the +Troutsen, from which a splendid view is had of the spreading waters of +the river,--bounded at one end by the elegant edifice of the Commercial +Exchange. In winter the river is used for races upon the ice. + +Then we turn into Alexandria Park, and admire the villas of the +merchant princes upon the lagoons into which the Neva is divided. +From the rounding point we perceive the Finland Gulf, Cronstadt, and +Peterhoff, and all the points which we passed on our route hither. +Then we turn into the Zoological Gardens, where white bears and young +cubs, wolves, and walruses, along with thousands of pleasure-seekers, +together enjoy the brilliant mimic scenes till midnight. There we found +(for fifteen cents only) a splendid theatre, out-doors, and famous dogs +and monkeys performing, followed by a ballet in pantomime, in which +Greeks and Turks play parts, and in which the heroes and heroines of +the former are lifted through a gorgeous display of many-colored lights +into clouds of glory, amidst the cheers of the populace, which never +forgets that Turkey is its natural foe, and that Constantinople is its +natural if not national capital.... + +Upon our drive we notice some fine triumphal arches--copied after the +classic models and those of other countries--and other monuments, but +none equals the superb Alexander column, erected in 1832. It is a +solid shaft of red granite, the greatest monolith of the world. It is +based on an enormous block of red granite. There is an angel on the +summit. The monument is one hundred and fifty-four feet high, and has +a noble and inspiring grace and grandeur. Other statues to Peter and +Catherine, besides statues to soldiers and poets, make every square +of this grand city monumental. There is also an equestrian statue of +Nicholas. The horse is like that of General Jackson's in Lafayette +Square, Washington, and stands upon his hind legs only. It is so much +more elegantly and gracefully posed that I could not but compare it to +the disadvantage of our own favorite charger. + +On no day have we failed to find something about Peter the Great! In +"the summer gardens" there is an old palace, where are sacred relics +of his handiwork, such as chairs, cabinets, and Chinese designs. The +kitchen and bathroom have tiles of the old Dutch style, which he +greatly affected. The chimney is as huge as the room. Within is a +prison, where he is said to have kept his personal enemies, without +benefit of habeas corpus or clergy. It looks gloomy, and the grating +seems to be peculiarly adapted to a jail; but it is not very likely +that Peter would have enjoyed such society in his own favorite home.... + +The drives in the parks are beautiful. Therein is a lovely palace where +lived the Princess Dagmar before she became empress. The armory here +forms a museum of wonderful interest, for it has gifts of untold value +from Spain to Persia and beyond. Every kind of gun, sword, and dagger +is here; and those from the conquered sheiks and khans of Asia shine +resplendent in jewels by the mass. The saddle-cloths from the Orient, +and especially the presents from the Shah of Persia, are the richest +known to any collection in the world. Among the manifold things here +to be seen are the lock and key found near the site of the temple of +Jerusalem; the jewelry of the harem of the Khan of Khiva,--a wonderful +collection for female adornment; Chevalier Bayard's cuirass; a spear +which opens after it enters the body; an alarm clock which shoots +off a gun to awaken the sleeper; the flags taken in the Hungarian +insurrection of 1849; the baton of Schamyl, the Circassian chief, who +fought Russia so many years; the emeralds, by the quantity, which the +Shah of Persia sent to the Czar; the "horse furniture" of the Indian +sheiks, and a circular knife which they used to hurl, which cut your +head off before you could say your little prayer; and as a proper +apex to this collection of curious gifts and gems, worth alone sixty +millions of rubles, the sword of Mazeppa, the brave hetman of the +Poles, who will never cease to ride through histrionic and historic +dangers on that fierce untamed charger of the desert!... + +If you would find in full perfection the richest in all respects of +all the palaces in the world, I suppose the Winter Palace would be +that superlative edifice. Since the attempt to blow it up as the royal +people were about to dine it has been closed. I made an effort, through +Colonel Hoffman, our chargé d'affaires, to obtain an entrance for the +Americans now stopping here, but vainly. Recent events forbade. The +Czar himself will not go into it again. It is shut for two years. This +was a disappointment, but it was partly compensated for by admission to +the "Hermitage," which is a part or a neighbor to the Winter Palace. +But the Hermitage seems to be enough for all our time. + +All the "masters," old and young, native and foreign, are in profusion +here, as well as specimens of the exhaustless mineral glories of Russia +and Siberia in every form of carved beauty and tasteful grace. Museums +of ancient statuary, coins, jewels, and intaglios, illustrating every +age and phase of history, and, as a climax of interest, the relics +of the city of Kertch and other palaces in the Greek colonies of two +thousand years ago,--now in southern Russia,--are here. This exhibition +supplements General Cesnola's Cyprian antiquities, and would add fresh +interest to our home museum. Upon these Greek relics are found such +dresses, worn by the ancient Scythians, as our drosky-drivers now wear, +and bas-reliefs on these old vases show horses managed exactly as my +former Ohio constituent, Rarey, used to quell the worst "Cruisers" of +the equestrian world. + +But, as a small American boy remarked at the end of our six hours' +promenade through these corridors, "We feel two thousand years old +ourselves, we have travelled so much and so far." + +Do you ask, is Peter the Great to be found at the Hermitage? Surely, he +is everywhere. Here are his lathes, tools and knives, and _plaques_, +or disks of copper and ivory, cut by his own hand. Here, too, is his +measuring-staff, which was a foot taller than any one in our party, and +that of his valet, a foot taller than Peter! How could he be such a +warrior, statesman, mechanic, and architect, ruling such an immense and +incongruous people so well, and make so many knick-knacks with his own +hand and out of his own mechanical contrivance? This conundrum puzzles +the brain. We are curious to know the secret of Peter's power, and of +the glamour of grandeur around this giant of Muscovite history and +modern civilization.... + +The staircase of this palace of the Hermitage has no equal in its size +and proportion. Outside, there are immense black colossal porphyry +figures bearing up the portico, each an Atlas itself. They are emblems +of the eighty millions of subjects, which from every rank uphold this +extended empire. With its sixty millions of farmers, now free; its +seven millions of villagers, its one million of gentry, nobles, and +officers, and its four millions of military men and their families, it +would seem that the vast edifice of the Russian power would be stable, +supported by such Atlantean shoulders. Is it really so? Time will tell. +For the welfare of all it is to be wished that there was more comfort +and elevation among these vast masses of men. + + + + +A VISIT TO FINLAND. + +DAVID KER. + + [Finland is now Northern Russia, and the Finns are classed as + Russians; but it is so only in autocratic decrees and tax-lists. + The Finns cannot, by any governmental metamorphosis, be + transformed into Russians, and their land will still retain its + individuality. In winter it lies deep within the domain of the + ice-king. How it appears in summer is described in the following + record of travel.] + + +"Why don't you go to Imatra?" asks my friend P---- as we lean over +the side of the Peterhof steamer and watch the golden domes of St. +Petersburg rising slowly from the dull gray level of the Gulf of +Finland. "Now that you've seen a bit of Central Russia, that's the next +thing for you to do. Go to Imatra, and I'll go too." + +"And where on earth is Imatra?" ask I, innocently. + +"Oh, come! you don't mean to say you've never heard of Imatra? Why, +everybody knows it. Let's go there next week." + +Nevertheless, it so happens that I have _not_ heard of Imatra,--an +ignorance probably shared by most people out of Russia, and perhaps not +a few in it. But I am destined to a speedier acquaintance than I had +anticipated with the famous waterfall (or "foss," as the natives call +it), which, lying forty miles due north of the Finnish port of Viborg, +close to the renowned "Saima Lake," attracts the amateur fishermen of +St. Petersburg by scores every summer.... + +Accordingly, behold all our preparations made,--knapsacks packed, +tear-and-wear garments put in requisition, many-colored Russian notes +exchanged (at a fearful discount) for dingy Finnish silver,--and at +half-past ten on a not particularly bright July morning we stand on the +deck of the anything but "good ship" "Konstantin," bound for Viborg. + +Despite her tortoise qualities as a steamer, however (which prolong +our voyage to nearly nine hours), the vessel is really luxurious in +her accommodations; and were her progress even slower, the motley +groups around us (groups such as only Dickens could describe or Leech +portray) would sufficiently beguile the time,--jaunty boy-officers +in brand-new uniforms, gallantly puffing their _papirossi_ (paper +cigarettes) in defiance of coming nausea, and discussing the merits +of the new opera loud enough to assure every one within earshot that +they know nothing whatever about it; squat Finnish peasants, whose +round, puffy faces and thick yellow hair are irresistibly suggestive +of over-boiled apple-dumplings; gray-coated Russian soldiers, with +the dogged endurance of their race written in every line of their +patient, stolid, unyielding faces; a lanky Swede, whose huge cork hat +and broad collar give him the look of an exaggerated medicine-bottle; +the inevitable tourist in the inevitable plaid suit, struggling with +endless convolutions of fishing-tackle and hooking himself in a fresh +place at every turn; three or four pale-faced clerks on leave, looking +very much as if their "overwork" had been in some way connected with +cigars and bad brandy; a German tradesman from Vasili-Ostroff (with the +short turnip-colored moustache characteristic of Wilhelm in his normal +state), in dutiful attendance on his wife, who is just completing her +preparations for being comfortably ill as soon as the vessel starts; +and a fine specimen of the real British merchant, talking vehemently +(in a miraculous dialect of his own invention) to a Russian official, +whose air of studied politeness shows plainly that he does not +understand a word of his neighbor's discourse. + +Directly we go off the rain comes on, with that singular fatality +characteristic of pleasure-trips in general, arising, doubtless, +from the mysterious law which ordains that a man shall step into a +puddle the instant he has had his boots blacked, and that a piece of +bread-and-butter shall fall (how would Sir Isaac Newton have accounted +for it?) with the buttered side downward. In a trice the deck is +deserted by all save two or three self-devoted martyrs in mackintosh, +who "pace the plank" with that air of stern resolution worn by an +Englishman when dancing a quadrille or discharging any other painful +duty. The scenery throughout the entire voyage consists chiefly of +fog, relieved by occasional patches of sand-bank; and small wonder if +the superior attractions of the well-spread dinner-table detain most +of our fellow-sufferers below. What is this first dish that they offer +us? _Raw salmon_, by the shade of Soyer! sliced thin and loaded with +pepper. Then follow soup, fried trout, roast beef, boiled ditto, slices +of German sausage, neck of veal and bacon, fried potatoes and cabbage. +Surely, now, "Hold, enough!" Not a bit of it: enter an enormous +plum-pudding, which might do duty for a globe at any provincial school; +next, a dish of rice and preserve, followed by some of the strongest +conceivable cheese; finally, strawberries and bilberries, with cream +and sugar _ad libitum_. Involuntarily I recall the famous old American +story of the "boss" at a railway refreshment-room who demanded fifty +cents extra from a passenger who stuck to the table after all the +rest had dined and gone away. "Your board says, 'Dinner, three dollars +and fifty cents!'" remonstrated the victim.--"Ah! that's all very well +for reasonable human bein's with one stomach apiece," retorted the +Inexorable; "but when a feller eats _as if there were no hereafter_, +we've got to pile it on!" + +As we pass Cronstadt the fog "lifts" slightly, giving us a momentary +glimpse of the huge forts that guard the passage,--the locked door +which bars out Western Europe. There is nothing showy or pretentious +about these squat, round-shouldered, narrow-eyed sentinels of the +channel; but they have a grim air of reserved strength, as though +they could be terribly effective in time of need. Two huge forts now +command the "southern channel," in addition to the four which guarded +it at the time of the Baltic expedition during the Crimean war; and the +land-batteries (into which no outsider is now admitted without special +permission) are being strengthened by movable shields of iron and other +appliances of the kind, for which nearly one million roubles (one +hundred and fifty thousand pounds) have been set apart. The seaward +approaches are commanded by numerous guns of formidable calibre, and +far away on the long, level promontory of the North Spit we can just +descry a dark excrescence,--the battery recently constructed for +the defence of the "northern passage." Thus, from the Finnish coast +to Oranienbaum a bristling line of unbroken fortification proclaims +Russia's aversion to war, and the gaping mouths of innumerable cannon +announce to all who approach, with silent eloquence, that "L'empire +c'est la paix." It is a fine political parable that the Western +traveller's first glimpse of Russian civilization should assume the +form of a line of batteries, reminding one of poor Mungo Park's +splendid unconscious sarcasm, when, while wandering helplessly in the +desert, he came suddenly upon a gibbet with a man hanging in chains +upon it; "Whereupon," says he, "I kneeled down and gave hearty thanks +to Almighty God, who had been pleased to conduct me once more into a +Christian and civilized country." + + [The steamboat journey ended at the Finnish port of Viborg, + eighty miles by land from St. Petersburg, and now accessible + by rail.] + +"We must breakfast early to-morrow, mind," says P----, as we settle +into our respective beds, "for a march in the sun here is no joke, you +bet!" + +"Worse than in Arabia or South America?" ask I with calm scorn. + +"You'll find the north of Russia a pretty fair match for both at this +season. Do you happen to know that one of the hottest places in the +world is Archangelsk on the White Sea? In summer the pitch melts off +the vessels like butter, and the mosquitoes are so thick that the men +on board the grain-ships fairly burrow into the corn for shelter. +Good-night! Sharp six to-morrow, mind!" + +Accordingly, the early daylight finds us tramping along the edge of +the picturesque little creek (dappled here and there with wood-crowned +islets) in order to get well into our work before the sun is high +in the sky, for a forty-mile march, knapsack on shoulder, across a +difficult country, in the heat of a real Russian summer, is not a thing +to be trifled with, even by men who have seen Turkey and Syria. A +sudden turn of the road soon blots out the sea, and we plunge at once +into the green silent depths of the northern forest. + +It is characteristic of the country that, barely out of sight of one +of the principal ports of Finland, we are in the midst of a loneliness +as utter as if it had never been broken by man. The only tokens of +his presence are the narrow swath of road running between the dim, +unending files of the shadowy pine-trees, and the tall wooden posts, +striped black and white like a zebra, which mark the distance in versts +from Viborg, the verst being two-thirds of a mile. + +To an unpractised eye the marvellous smoothness and hardness of this +forest highway (unsurpassed by any macadamized road in England) might +suggest a better opinion of the local civilization than it deserves; +for in this case it is the soil, not the administration, that merits +all the credit. In granite-paved Finland, as in limestone-paved +Barbadoes, Nature has already laid down your road in a way that no +human engineering can rival, and all you have to do is to smooth it to +your own liking. + +And now the great panorama of the far North--a noble change from the +flat unending monotony of the Russian steppes--begins in all its +splendor. At one moment we are buried in a dark depth of forest, +shadowy and spectral as those which haunt us in the weird outlines +of Retzsch; the next minute we burst upon an open valley, bright +with fresh grass, and with a still, shining lake slumbering in the +centre, the whole picture framed in a background of sombre woods. Here +rise giant boulders of granite, crested with spreading pines,--own +brothers, perhaps, of the block dragged hence eighty years ago from +which the greatest of Russian rulers still looks down upon the city +that bears his name; there, bluffs of wooded hill rear themselves +above the surrounding sea of foliage, and at times the roadside is +dotted with the little wooden huts of the natives, whence wooden-faced +women, turbaned with colored handkerchiefs, and white-headed children, +in nothing but a short night-gown with a warm lining of dirt, stare +wonderingly at us as we go striding past. And over all hangs the clear, +pearly-gray northern sky. + +One hour is past, and still the air keeps moderately fresh, although +the increasing glare warns us that it will be what I once heard a +British tourist call "more hotterer" by and by. So far, however, we +have not turned a hair, and the second hour's work matches the first +to an inch. As we pass through the little hamlet which marks the first +quarter of our allotted distance we instinctively pull out our watches: +"Ten miles in two hours! Not so bad, but we must keep it up." + +So we set ourselves to the third hour, and out comes the sun--bright +and beautiful and destroying as Homer's Achilles: + + "Bright are his rays, but evil fate they send, + And to sad man destroying heat portend." + +Hitherto, despite the severity of our pace, we have contrived to keep +up a kind of flying conversation, but now grim silence settles on our +way. There is a point in every match against time when the innate +ferocity of man, called forth by the exercises which civilization has +borrowed from the brute creation, comes to the front in earnest,--when +your best friend becomes your deadly enemy, and the fact of his being +one stride in advance of you is an injury only to be atoned by blood. +Such is the precise point that we have reached now; and when we +turn from exchanging malignant looks with each other, it is only to +watch with ominous eagerness for the coming in sight of the painted +verst-posts, which somehow appear to succeed one another far more +slowly than they did an hour ago. + +By the middle of the fourth hour we are marching with coats off and +sleeves rolled up, like amateur butchers; and although our "pace" is +as good as ever, the elastic swing of our first start is now replaced +by that dogged, "hard-and-heavy" tramp which marks the point where +the flesh and the spirit begin to pull in opposite directions. Were +either of us alone, the pace would probably slacken at once, and each +may safely say in his heart, as Condorcet said of the dying D'Alembert, +"Had I not been there he _must_ have flinched!" + +But just as the fourth hour comes to an end (during which we have +looked at our watches as often as Wellington during the terrible +mid-day hours that preceded the distant boom of the Prussian cannon) +we come round a sharp bend in the road, and there before us lies +the quaint little log-built post-house (the "half-way house" in +very truth), with its projecting roof and painted front and striped +doorposts; just at which auspicious moment I stumble and twist my foot. + +"You were right to reserve _that_ performance to the last," remarks +P----, with a grin, helping me to the door; and we order a _samovar_ +(tea-urn) to be heated, while we ourselves indulge in a scrambling wash +of the rudest kind, but very refreshing nevertheless. + +Reader, did you ever walk five miles an hour for four hours together +over a hilly country, with the thermometer at eighty-three degrees in +the shade? If so, then will you appreciate our satisfaction as we throw +aside our heavy boots, plunge our swollen feet into cold water, and, +with coats off and collars thrown open, sit over our tea and black +bread in that quaint little cross-beamed room, with an appetite never +excited by the best _plats_ of the Erz-Herzog Karl or the Trois Frères +Provençaux. Two things, at least, one may always be sure of finding in +perfection at a Russian post-station: tea is the one; the other I need +not particularize, as its presence does not usually become apparent +till you retire to rest" (?). + +Our meal being over and my foot still unfit for active service, we +order a _telyayga_ (cart) and start anew for Imatra Foss. Our vehicle +is simply a wooden tray on wheels, with a bag of hay in it, on which we +do our best to recline, while our driver perches himself on the edge of +the cart, thereby doubtless realizing vividly the sensation of rowing +hard in a pair of thin unmentionables. Thanks to the perpetual gaps in +the road formed by the great thaw two months ago (the Finnish winter +ending about the beginning of May), during the greater part of the ride +we play an animated though involuntary game of cup-and-ball, being +thrown up and caught again incessantly. At length a dull roar, growing +ever louder and louder, breaks the dreamy stillness of the forest, and +before long we come to a little chalet-like inn embosomed in trees, +where we alight, for this is the "Imatra Hotel." + +Let us cast one glance out of the back window before sitting down to +supper (in a long, bare, chilly chamber like a third-class waiting +room), for such a view is not seen every day. We are on the very brink +of a deep narrow gorge, the upper part of which is so thickly clad with +pines as to resemble the crest of some gigantic helmet, but beneath +the naked granite stands out in all its grim barrenness, lashed by the +spray of the mighty torrent that roars between its projecting rocks. +Just below us, the river, forced back by a huge boulder in the centre +of its course, literally piles itself up into a kind of liquid mound, +foaming, flashing, and trembling incessantly, the ceaseless motion +and tremendous din of the rapids having an indescribably bewildering +effect.... + +But the lake itself is, if possible, even more picturesque than the +river. It is one of those long, straggling bodies of water so common +in the far North, resembling not so much one great lake as an endless +series of small ones. Just at the sortie of the river a succession of +rapids, scarcely less magnificent than those of the "Foss" itself, +rush between the wooded shores, their unresting whirl and fury +contrasting gloriously with the vast expanse of glassy water above, +crested with leafy islets and mirroring the green boughs that droop +over it along the shore. Here did we spend many a night fishing and +"spinning yarns," in both of which accomplishments the ex-chasseur +was pre-eminent; and strange enough it seemed, lying in the depths +of that northern forest, to listen to descriptions of the treeless +sands of Egypt and the burning wastes of the Sahara. Our midnight +camp, on a little promontory just above the rapids, was a study for +Rembrandt,--the slender pine-stems reddened by the blaze of our +camp-fire; the group of bearded faces coming and going as the light +waxed and waned; beyond the circle of light a gloom all the blacker +for the contrast; the ghostly white of the foam shimmering through the +leaves, and the clear moonlit sky overhanging all. + +When a wet day came upon us the inexhaustible ex-chasseur (who, like +Frederick the Great, could "do everything but keep still") amused +himself and us with various experiments in cookery, of which art he +was a perfect master. His versatility in sauces might have aroused the +envy of Soyer himself, and the party having brought with them a large +stock of provisions, he was never at a loss for materials. Our ordinary +dinner consisted of trout sauced with red wine, mutton, veal, duck, +cheese, fresh strawberries, and coffee; after which every man took his +tumbler of tea, with a slice of lemon in it, from the stove, and the +evening began. + +_The_ sight of the country, however, is undoubtedly the natives +themselves. Their tawny skins, rough yellow hair, and coarse flat faces +would look uninviting enough to those who have never seen a Kalmuck +or a Samoyede, but, despite their diet of dried fish and bread mixed +with sawdust both men and women are remarkably healthy and capable of +surprising feats of strength and endurance. They make great use of bark +for caps, shoes, plates, etc., in the making of which they are very +skilful. As to their dress, it baffles description, and the horror of +my friend the ex-chasseur at his first glimpse of it was as good as a +play.... + +But there needs only a short journey here to show the folly of further +annexations on the part of Russia while those already made are so +lamentably undeveloped. Finland, which, rightly handled, might be one +of the Czar's richest possessions, is now, after nearly seventy years' +occupation, as unprofitable as ever. Throughout the whole province +there are only three hundred and ninety-eight miles of railway. Post +roads, scarce enough in the South, are absolutely wanting in the North. +Steam navigation on the Gulf of Bothnia extends only to Uleaborg, and +is, so far as I can learn, actually non-existent on the great lakes, +except between Tanasthuus and Tammerfors. Such is the state of a land +containing boundless water-power, countless acres of fine timber, +countless ship-loads of splendid granite. But what can be expected of +an untaught population under two millions left to themselves in an +unreclaimed country nearly as large as France? + +But better days are now dawning on the afflicted land. Roads and +railways are being pushed forward into the interior, and the ill-judged +attempts formerly made to Russianize the population have given place +to a more conciliatory policy. A Russian from Helsingfors tells me +that lectures are being delivered there, and extracts from native +works read, in the aboriginal tongue; that it is being treated with +special attention in the great schools of Southern Finland; that there +has even been some talk of dramatic representations in Finnish at the +Helsingfors theatre. + + + + +MOSCOW IN 1800. + +EDWARD DANIEL CLARKE. + + [Of the English travellers of the latter part of the last + century, none acquired greater distinction than Dr. Clarke. Born + in Sussex in 1769, in 1790 he made a tour of Great Britain, in + 1792 visited France, Switzerland, and Italy, and in 1799 started + on a three-years' tour of Northern Europe, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, + etc., publishing, in 1810, "Travels in Various Parts of Europe, + Asia, and Africa," one of the most delightful and popular works of + travel ever issued, and which has given him a durable celebrity. + He died in 1822. We give below a portion of his animated + description of Moscow, which he visited in 1800, years before the + invasion of Napoleon and the burning of this celebrated Russian + capital.] + + +There is nothing more extraordinary in this country than the transition +of the seasons. The people of Moscow have no spring: winter _vanishes_, +and summer _is_. This is not the work of a week, or a day, but of one +instant, and the manner of it exceeds belief. We came from Petersburg +to Moscow on sledges. The next day snow was gone. On the 8th of April, +at mid-day, snow beat in at our carriage windows. On the same day, at +sunset, arriving in Moscow, we had difficulty in being dragged through +the mud to the commandant's. The next morning the streets were dry, the +double windows had been removed from the houses, the casements thrown +open, all the carriages were upon wheels, and the balconies filled with +spectators. Another day brought with it twenty-three degrees of heat of +Celsius, when the thermometer was placed in the shade at noon. + +We arrived at the season of the year in which this city is most +interesting to strangers. Moscow is in everything extraordinary, as +well in disappointing expectation as in surpassing it; in causing +wonder and derision, pleasure and regret. Let me conduct the reader +back with me again to the gate by which we entered, and thence through +the streets. Numerous spires, glittering with gold, amidst burnished +domes and painted palaces, appear in the midst of an open plain for +several versts before you reach this gate. Having passed, you look +about, and wonder what has become of the city, or where you are, and +are ready to ask, once more, "How far is it to Moscow?" They will tell +you, "This is Moscow!" and you behold nothing but a wide and scattered +suburb,--houses, gardens, pigsties, brick walls, churches, dung-hills, +palaces, timber-yards, warehouses, and a refuse, as it were, of +materials, sufficient to stock an empire with miserable towns and +miserable villages. + +One might imagine all the states of Europe and Asia had sent a +building, by way of representative, to Moscow, and, under this +impression, the eye is presented with deputies from all countries, +holding congress: timber huts from regions beyond the Arctic; plastered +palaces from Sweden and Denmark, not whitewashed since their arrival; +painted walls from the Tyrol; mosques from Constantinople; Tartar +temples from Bucharia; pagodas, pavilions, and verandas from China; +cabarets from Spain; dungeons, prisons, and public offices from France; +architectural ruins from Rome; terraces and trellises from Naples, and +warehouses from Wapping. + +[Illustration: MOSCOW] + +Having heard accounts of its immense population, you wander through +deserted streets. Passing suddenly towards the quarter where the shops +are situated, you might walk upon the heads of thousands. The daily +throng is there so immense that, unable to force a passage through it, +or assign any motive that might convene such a multitude, you ask the +cause, and are told that it is always the same. Nor is the costume +less various than the aspect of the buildings. Greeks, Turks, Tartars, +Cossacks, Chinese, Muscovites, English, French, Italians, Poles, +Germans, all parade in the habits of their respective countries. + +We were in a Russian inn, a complete epitome of the city itself. +The next room to ours was filled by ambassadors from Persia. In a +chamber beyond the Persians lodged a party of Kirghisians, a people +yet unknown, and any one of whom might be exhibited in a cage as some +newly-discovered species. They had bald heads, covered by conical +embroidered caps, and wore sheep's hides. Beyond the Kirghisians lodged +a _nidus_ of Bucharians, wild as the asses of Numidia. All these were +ambassadors from their respective districts, extremely jealous of each +other, who had been to Petersburg to treat of commerce, peace, and war. + +The doors of all our chambers opened into one gloomy passage, so that +sometimes we all encountered, and formed a curious masquerade. The +Kirghisians and Bucharians were best at arm's length; but the worthy +old Persian, whose name was Orazai, often exchanged visits with us. +He brought us presents, according to the custom of his country, and +was much pleased with an English pocketknife we had given him, with +which he said he should shave his head. At his devotions he stood +silent for an hour together, on two small carpets, barefooted, with his +face towards Mecca, holding, as he said, intellectual converse with +Mohammed.... + +Ambassadors of other more Oriental hordes drove into the court-yard of +the inn from Petersburg. The Emperor had presented each of them with a +barouche. Never was anything more ludicrous than their appearance. Out +of respect to the sovereign they had maintained a painful struggle to +preserve their seat, sitting cross-legged, like Turks. The snow having +melted, they had been jolted in this manner over the trunks of trees, +which form a timber causeway between Petersburg and Moscow; so that, +when taken from their fine new carriages, they could hardly crawl, and +made the most pitiable grimaces imaginable. A few days after coming to +Moscow they ordered all the carriages to be sold for whatever sum any +person would offer. + + [Immediately after Mr. Clarke's arrival at Moscow the Easter + ceremonies were celebrated with great pomp and display. Of + these he gives an animated description, of which we select the + concluding portion.] + +The third and most magnificent ceremony of all is celebrated two hours +after midnight, in the morning of Easter Sunday. It is called the +ceremony of the Resurrection, and certainly exceeded everything of the +kind celebrated at Rome, or anywhere else. I have not seen so splendid +a sight in any Roman Catholic country, not even that of the benediction +by the Pope during the Holy Week. + +At midnight the great bell of the cathedral tolled. Its vibrations +seemed the rolling of distant thunder, and they were instantly +accompanied by the noise of all the bells in Moscow. Every inhabitant +was stirring, and the rattling of carriages in the streets was greater +than at noonday. The whole city was in a blaze, for lights were seen +in all the windows, and innumerable torches in the streets. The tower +of the cathedral was illuminated from its foundation to its cross. +The same ceremony takes place in all the churches; and, what is truly +surprising, considering their number, it is said they are all equally +crowded. + +We hastened to the cathedral, which was filled with a prodigious +assembly of all ranks and sexes, bearing lighted wax tapers, to +be afterwards heaped as vows on the different shrines. The walls, +ceilings, and every part of this building are covered by the pictures +of saints and martyrs. In the moment of our arrival the doors were +shut, and on the outside appeared Reato, the archbishop, preceded by +banners and torches, and followed by all his train of priests, with +crucifixes and censers, who were making three times, in procession, the +tour of the cathedral, chanting with loud voices, and glittering in +sumptuous vestments, covered by gold, silver, and precious stones. The +snow had not melted so rapidly in the Kremlin as in the streets of the +city, and this magnificent procession was therefore constrained to move +upon planks over the deep mud which surrounded the cathedral. + +After completing the third circuit they all halted opposite the great +doors, which were shut; and the archbishop, with a censer, scattered +incense against the doors and over the priests. Suddenly these doors +were opened, and the effect was beyond description great. The immense +throng of spectators within, bearing innumerable tapers, formed two +lines, through which the archbishop entered, advancing with his train +to a throne near the centre. The profusion of lights in all parts of +the cathedral, and, among others, of the enormous chandelier which +hung from the centre, the richness of the dresses, and the vastness +of the assembly, filled us with astonishment. Having joined the suite +of the archbishop, we accompanied the procession, and passed even +to the throne, on which the police officers permitted us to stand, +among the priests, near an embroidered stool of satin, placed for +the archbishop. The loud chorus which burst forth at the entrance to +the church continued as the procession moved towards the throne, and +after the archbishop had taken his seat, when my attention was for a +moment called off by seeing one of the Russians earnestly crossing +himself with his right hand, while his left was employed in picking my +companion's pocket of his handkerchief. + +Soon after the archbishop descended, and went all round the cathedral, +first offering incense to the priests, and then to the people, as he +passed along. When he had returned to his seat the priests, two by two, +performed the same ceremony, beginning with the archbishop, who rose +and made obeisance with a lighted taper in his hand. From the moment +the church doors were opened the spectators had continued bowing their +heads and crossing themselves, insomuch that some of the people seemed +really exhausted by the constant motion of the head and hands. + +I had now leisure to examine the dresses and figures of the priests, +which were certainly the most striking I ever saw. Their long dark +hair, without powder, fell down in ringlets, or straight and thick, +far over their rich robes and shoulders. Their dark thick beards, +also, entirely covered their breasts. On the heads of the archbishop +and bishops were high caps, covered with gems and adorned by miniature +paintings, set in jewels, of the crucifixion, the Virgin, and the +saints. Their robes of various-colored satin were of the most costly +embroidery, and even on these were miniature pictures set with precious +stones.... + +After two hours had been spent in various ceremonies, the archbishop +advanced, holding forth a cross, which all the people crowded to +embrace, squeezing each other nearly to suffocation. As soon, however, +as their eagerness had been somewhat satisfied, he retired to the +sacristy, where, putting on a plain purple robe, he again advanced, +exclaiming three times in a very loud voice, "Christ is risen!" + +The most remarkable part of the solemnity now followed. The archbishop, +descending into the body of the church, concluded the whole ceremony +by crawling round the pavement on his hands and knees, kissing the +consecrated pictures, whether on the pillars, the walls, the altars, +or the tombs, the priests and all the people imitating his example. +Sepulchres were opened and all the mummied bodies of incorruptible +saints exhibited, all of which underwent the same general kissing. + +Thus was Easter proclaimed, and riot and debauchery instantly broke +loose. The inn in which we lodged became a pandemonium. Drinking, +dancing, and singing continued through the night and day. But in the +midst of all these excesses quarrels hardly ever took place. The wild, +rude riot of a Russian populace is full of humanity. Few disputes are +heard; no blows are given; no lives endangered, but by drinking. No +meetings take place of any kind without repeating the expressions of +peace and joy, _Christos voscress!_ "Christ is risen!" to which the +answer always is the same, _Vo isteney voscress!_ "He is risen indeed!" + +On Easter Monday begins the presentation of the paschal eggs: lovers to +their mistresses, relatives to each other, servants to their masters, +all bring ornamented eggs. Every offering at this season is called a +paschal egg. The meanest pauper in the street, presenting an egg, and +repeating the words, _Christos voscress_, may demand a salute, even of +the Empress. All business is laid aside; the upper ranks are engaged in +visiting, balls, dinners, suppers, and masquerades, while boors fill +the air with their songs or roll drunk about the streets. Servants +appear in new and tawdry liveries, and carriages in the most sumptuous +parade.... + +After London and Constantinople, Moscow is, doubtless, the most +remarkable city in Europe. A stranger, passing rapidly through, might +pronounce it the dullest, dirtiest, and most uninteresting city in +the world, while another, having resided there, would affirm that it +had rather the character of a great commercial and wealthy metropolis +of a vast and powerful empire. If the grandeur and riches of the +inhabitants are to be estimated by the number of equipages, and the +number of horses attached to each, Moscow would excel in splendor all +the cities of the globe. There is hardly an individual, above the rank +of plebeian, who would be seen without four horses to his carriage, +and the generality have six. But the manner in which this pomp is +displayed is a perfect burlesque upon stateliness. A couple of ragged +boys are placed as postilions, before a coachman in such sheep's hides +as are worn by the peasants in the woods, and behind the carriage are +stationed a couple of lackeys, more tawdry but not less ludicrous +than their drivers. To give all this greater effect, the traces of +the horses are so long that it requires considerable management to +preserve the horses from being entangled whenever they turn the corner +of a street or make a halt. Notwithstanding this, no stranger, however +he may deride its absurdity, will venture to visit the nobles, if +he wishes for their notice, without four horses to his chariot, a +ragged coachman and postilion, and a parade of equipage that must +excite his laughter in proportion as it insures their countenance and +approbation.... + +The numberless bells of Moscow continue to ring during the whole of +Easter week, tinkling and tolling without any kind of harmony or order. +The large bell near the cathedral is only used on important occasions, +and yields the finest and most solemn tone I ever heard. When it +sounds, a deep and hollow murmur vibrates all over Moscow, like the +fullest and lowest tones of a vast organ, or the rolling of distant +thunder. This bell is suspended in a tower called the Belfry of St. +Ivan, beneath others which, though of less size, are enormous. It is +forty feet nine inches in circumference, sixteen inches and a half +thick, and it weighs more than fifty-seven tons. + +The Kremlin is, above all other places, most worthy a traveller's +notice. It was our evening walk, whenever we could escape the +engagements of society. The view it affords of the city surpasses every +other, both in singularity and splendor, especially from St. Ivan's +tower. This fortress is surrounded on all sides by walls, towers, +and ramparts, and stuffed full of domes and steeples. The appearance +differs in every point of view, on account of the strange irregularity +in the edifices it contains.... + +The great bell of Moscow, known to be the largest ever founded, is in +a deep pit in the midst of the Kremlin. The history of its fall is a +fable, and, as writers are accustomed to copy each other, the story +continues to be propagated. The fact is, the bell remains in the place +where it was originally cast. It never was suspended. The Russians +might as well attempt to suspend a first-rate line-of-battle ship with +all its guns and stores. A fire took place in the Kremlin, the flames +of which caught the building erected over the pit in which the bell +yet remained, in consequence of which the metal became hot, and water +thrown to extinguish the fire fell upon the bell, causing the fracture +which has taken place. + +The entrance is by a trap-door placed even with the surface of the +earth. We found the steps very dangerous. Some of them were wanting, +and others broken, which occasioned me a severe fall down the whole +extent of the first flight and a narrow escape for my life in not being +dashed upon the bell. In consequence of this accident a sentinel was +stationed afterwards at the trap-door to prevent people from becoming +victims to their curiosity. He might have been as well employed in +mending the steps as in waiting all day to say that they were broken. + +The bell is truly a mountain of metal. They relate that it contains +a very large proportion of gold and silver, for that, while it was +in fusion, the people cast in, as votive offerings, their plate and +money. It is permitted to doubt the truth of traditionary tales, +particularly in Russia, where people are much disposed to relate +what they have heard without once reflecting on its probability. I +endeavored in vain to assay a small part. The natives regard it with +superstitious veneration, and they would not allow even a grain to be +filed off; at the same time it may be said the compound has a white, +shining appearance, unlike bell-metal in general, and perhaps its +silvery appearance has strengthened, if not given rise to, a conjecture +respecting the richness of its materials. + + [The bell, two feet above its lower part,--which was buried in + the earth,--measured in circumference sixty-seven feet four + inches; its height was twenty-one feet four and a half inches; in + its thickest part it measured twenty-three inches. The estimated + weight is four hundred and forty-three thousand seven hundred and + seventy-two pounds.] + +The architecture exhibited in different parts of the Kremlin, in +its palaces and churches, is like nothing seen in Europe. It is +difficult to say from what country it has been principally derived. +The architects were generally Italians; but the style is Tartarian, +Indian, Chinese, and Gothic. Here a pagoda, there an arcade! In some +parts richness and even elegance; in others, barbarity and decay. Taken +altogether, it is a jumble of magnificence and ruin. Old buildings +repaired and modern structures not completed. Half-open vaults and +mouldering walls and empty caves, amidst whitewashed brick buildings +and towers and churches, with glittering, gilded, or painted domes. +In the midst of it some devotees are seen entering a little, mean +structure, more like a stable than a church. This, they tell you, is +the first place of Christian worship erected in Moscow.... + +The view of Moscow from the terrace in the Kremlin, near the spot where +the artillery is preserved, would afford a fine subject for a panorama. +The number of magnificent buildings, the domes, the towers, the spires, +which fill all the prospect, make it, perhaps, the most novel and +interesting sight in Europe. All the wretched hovels and miserable +wooden buildings, which appear in passing through the streets, are +lost in the vast assemblage of magnificent edifices, among which the +Foundling Hospital is particularly conspicuous. Below the walls of +the Kremlin the Moscva, already become a river of importance, is seen +flowing towards the Volga. The new promenade forming on its banks, +immediately below the fortress, is a superb work, and promises to rival +the famous quay at Petersburg. + + + + +A RUSSIAN SLEIGH JOURNEY. + +FREDERICK BURNABY. + + [Those who would like to obtain a lively picture of life in + Russia and on the Asiatic steppes should read Captain Burnaby's + "A Ride to Khiva" (1875), which is one of the most sprightly works + of travel extant. We have elsewhere made a selection illustrative + of the traveller's adventures in Asia, and present here some of + his experiences in Russia. We take him up at the railroad terminus + at Sizeran, whence he proposes to make his way by sleigh to + Orenburg, _via_ Samara.] + + +"You had better put on plenty of clothes," was the friendly caution I +received from my companion as I entered the dressing-room, "for the +thermometer marks twenty degrees below zero, Reaumur, and there is a +wind." + +People in this country who have never experienced a Russian winter +have little idea of the difference even a slight breeze makes when the +mercury stands low in the thermometer, for the wind then cuts through +you, furs and all, and penetrates to the very bones. Determined to +be on my guard against the frost, I dressed myself, as I thought, as +warmly as possible, and so as to be utterly impervious to the elements. + +First came three pairs of the thickest stockings, drawn high up above +the knee, and over them a pair of fur-lined low shoes, which in their +turn were inserted into leather galoches, my limbs being finally +deposited in a pair of enormous cloth boots, the latter reaching up +to the thigh. Previously I had put on some extra thick drawers and a +pair of trousers, the astonishment of the foreman of Messrs. Kino's +establishment, "Lord love you, sir," being his remark when I tried them +on, "no cold could get through them trousers, anyhow." + +I must confess that I rather chuckled as my legs assumed herculean +proportions, and I thought that I should have a good laugh at the wind, +no matter how cutting it might be; but Æolus had the laugh on his side +before the journey was over. A heavy flannel undershirt, and shirt +covered by a thick wadded waistcoat and coat, encased my body, which +was further enveloped in a huge _shuba_, or fur pelisse, reaching to +the heels, while my head was protected by a fur cap and _vashlik_, a +sort of cloth head-piece of a conical shape, made to cover the cap, and +having two long ends which tie round the throat. + +Being thus accoutred in all my armor, I sallied forth to join my +companion, who, an enormous man naturally, now seemed a very Colossus +of Rhodes in his own winter attire. "I think you will do," said my +friend, scanning me well over; "but you will find your feet get very +cold, for all that. It takes a day or so to get used to this sleigh +travelling; and, though I am only going a little beyond Samara, I shall +be uncommonly glad when my journey is over." + +He was buckling on his revolver; and as we were informed that there +were a great many wolves in the neighborhood, I tried to do the same; +but this was an impossibility; the man who made the belt had never +foreseen the gigantic proportions my waist would assume when clad +in this Russian garb. I was obliged to give it up in despair, and +contented myself by strapping the weapon outside my saddle-bags.... + +Three horses abreast, their coats white with pendent icicles and +hoar-frost, were harnessed to the sleigh; the centre animal was in the +shafts, and had his head fastened to a huge wooden head-collar, bright +with various colors. From the summit of the head-collar was suspended +a belt, while the two outside horses were harnessed by cord-traces to +splinter-bars attached to the sides of the sleigh. The object of all +this is to make the animal in the middle trot at a brisk pace, while +his two companions gallop, their necks arched round in a direction +opposite to the horse in the centre, this poor beast's head being +tightly reined up to the head-collar. + +A well-turned-out troika, with three really good horses, which get over +the ground at the rate of twelve miles an hour, is a pretty sight to +witness, particularly if the team has been properly trained, and the +outside animals never attempt to break into a trot, while the one in +the shafts steps forward with high action; but the constrained position +in which the horses are kept must be highly uncomfortable to them, and +one not calculated to enable a driver to get as much pace out of his +animals as they could give him if harnessed in another manner. + +Off we went at a brisk pace, the bell dangling from our horse's +head-collar and jingling merrily at every stride of the team. + +The sun rose high in the heavens; it was a bright and glorious morning, +in spite of the intense cold, and the amount of oxygen we inhaled +was enough to elevate the spirits of the most dyspeptic of mankind. +Presently, after descending a slight declivity, our Jehu turned sharply +to the right; then came a scramble and succession of jolts and jerks +as we slid down a steep bank, and we found ourselves on what appeared +to be a broad high-road. Here the sight of many masts and shipping, +which, bound in by the icy fetters of a relentless winter, would remain +embedded in the ice till the ensuing spring, showed me that we were on +the Volga. + +It was an animated spectacle, this frozen highway, thronged with +peasants who strode beside their sledges which were bringing cotton and +other goods from Orenburg to the railway. Now a smart troika would dash +by us, its driver shouting as he passed, when our Jehu, stimulating +his steeds by loud cries and frequent applications of the whip, would +vainly strive to overtake his brother coachman. Old and young alike +seemed octogenarians, their short, thick beards and moustaches being +white as hoar-frost from the congealed breath.... An iron bridge was +being constructed a little farther down the Volga. Here the railroad +was to pass, and it was said that in two years' time there would be +railway communication, not only between Samara and the capital, but +even as far as Orenburg. Presently the scenery became very picturesque +as we raced over the glistening surface, which flashed like a burnished +cuirass beneath the rays of the rising sun. Now we approach a spot +where seemingly the waters from some violent blast or other had been in +a state of foam and commotion, when a stern frost transformed them into +a solid mass. Pillars and blocks of the shining and hardened element +were seen modelled into a thousand quaint and grotesque patterns. +Here a fountain, perfectly formed with Ionic and Doric columns, was +reflecting a thousand prismatic hues from the diamond-like stalactites +which had attached themselves to its crest. There a huge obelisk, +which, if of stone, might have come from ancient Thebes, lay half +buried beneath a pile of fleecy snow. Farther on we came to what might +have been a Roman temple or vast hall in the palace of a Cæsar, where +many half-hidden pillars and monuments erected their tapering summits +above the piles of the débris. The wind had done in that northern +latitude what has been performed by some violent preadamite agency in +the Berber desert. Take away the ebon blackness of the stony masses +which have been there cast forth from the bowels of the earth, and +replace them on a smaller scale by the crystal forms I have faintly +attempted to describe, and the resemblance would be striking.... + +The road now changed its course, and our driver directed his steeds +towards the bank. Suddenly we discovered that immediately in front of +us the ice had broken beneath a horse and sleigh, and that the animal +was struggling in the water. The river here was fortunately only about +four feet deep, so there would not be much difficulty in extracting +the quadruped; but what to ourselves seemed far more important was to +solve the knotty problem of how to get to land, for between our sleigh +and the shore was a wide gulf, and there seemed to be no possibility +of driving through it without a wetting. "Pleasant," muttered my +companion, "pleasant, very! Let us get out and have a good look round, +to see if we cannot find a place where we can get across in safety." + +"I will pull you through," observed our Jehu, with a broad grin on his +lobster-colored countenance, and apparently much amused with the state +of affairs. + +"No, oh, son of an animal," retorted my companion; "stay here till we +return." + +After considerable search we found a spot where the water-channel was +certainly not much more than twelve feet across, and some peasants who +were fishing in the river came up and volunteered their assistance. One +of them produced a pole about eight feet long, with which, he said, +we could jump the chasm. My companion looked at me with a melancholy +smile, in which resolution and caution struggled for the mastery. +"It is very awful," he said, "very awful, but there is no other +alternative, and I much fear that we must." + +With these words he seized the pole, and carefully inserted one end +of it in the muddy bottom. "If the ice gives way when I land on the +other side!" he suddenly observed, releasing his hold of the leaping +bar. "Why, if it does, you will get a ducking," was my remark: "but be +quick; the longer you look at it the less you will like it; and it is +very cold standing here: now, then, jump over." + + [The corpulent Russian, however, could not bring himself to face + the chasm, and preferred the risk of a wetting in being dragged + through in the sleigh. Burnaby's turn came, and he chose the pole, + piqued thereto by the chaffing remarks of the grinning peasants.] + + +"How fat they are!" said one. "No, it's their furs," observed another. +"How awkward he is!" continued a third; "why, I could jump it +myself."--"I tell you what it is, my friend," I at length observed, "if +you continue this conversation, I think it very likely you will jump +either over or in, for I want to find out the exact distance, and am +thinking of throwing you over first, in order to satisfy my mind as to +how wide it is, and how deep." + +This remark, uttered in rather a sharp tone, had the desired effect, +and, seizing the pole convulsively, I prepared for the leap, which, +nothing to a man not clad in furs, was by no means a contemptible one +in my sleigh attire. One, two, three! a bound, a sensation of flying +through the air, a slip, a scramble, and I found myself on the other +side, having got over with no more damage than one wet leg, the boot +itself being instantly covered with a shining case of ice. + +"Come along quick!" cried my friend, who by this time had been dragged +through; "let us get on as quickly as possible." And without giving +me time to see if my cartridges or other baggage on the bottom of the +sleigh had suffered from the ducking, we rattled off once more in the +direction of Samara. + + [Soon after they reached a stopping-place, changed horses, and + were off again, now in a howling wind and falling snow.] + +Very soon that so-called "pins-and-needles" sensation, recalling some +snow-balling episodes of my boyish days, began once more to make itself +felt, and I found myself commencing a sort of double-shuffle against +the boards of the vehicle. The snow was falling in thick flakes, and +with great difficulty our driver could keep the track, his jaded horses +sinking sometimes up to the traces in the rapidly forming drifts, and +floundering heavily along the now thoroughly hidden road. The cracks +of his whip sounded like pistol-shots against their jaded flanks, and +volleys of invectives issued from his lips. + +"Oh, sons of animals!" (Whack.) + +"Oh, spoiled one!" (Whack.) This to a brute which looked as if he had +never eaten a good feed of corn in his life. "Oh, woolly ones!" (Whack! +whack! whack!) + +"Oh, Lord God!" This, as we were all upset into a snowdrift, the +sleigh being three parts overturned, and our Jehu precipitated in the +opposite direction. + +"How far are we from the next halting-place?" suddenly inquired my +companion, with an ejaculation which showed that even his good temper +had given way under the cold and our situation. + +"Only four versts, one of noble birth," replied the struggling Jehu, +who was busily engaged endeavoring to right the half-overturned sleigh. +A Russian verst about nightfall, and under such conditions as I have +endeavored to point out to the reader, is an unknown quantity. A Scotch +mile and a bit, an Irish league, a Spanish legua, or the German stunde, +are at all times calculated to call forth the wrath of the traveller, +but in no way equal to the first-named division of distance. For the +verst is barely two-thirds of an English mile, and when, after driving +yet for an hour, we were told there were still two versts more before +we could arrive at our halting-place, it began fully to dawn upon my +friend that either our driver's knowledge of distance, or otherwise his +veracity, was at fault. + +At last we reached a long, straggling village, where our horses stopped +before a detached cottage. The proprietor came out to meet us at the +threshold. "Samovar, samovar!" (urn) said my companion. "Quick, quick! +samovar!" and hurrying by him and hastily throwing off our furs, +we endeavored to regain our lost circulation beside the walls of a +well-heated stove. + +In a few minutes, and when the blood had begun once more to flow in its +proper channels, I began to look round and observe the other occupants +of the room. These were for the most part Jews, as could easily be seen +by that peculiarity of the nose which unfailingly denotes any member of +the tribe of Israel. Some half-open boxes of wares in the corner also +showed their trade. The men were hawkers of fancy jewelry and other +finery calculated to please the wives of the farmers or better-to-do +peasants in the neighborhood. + +The smell was anything but agreeable, and the stench of sheep-skins, +unwashed humanity, and some oily cooking going on in a very dirty +frying-pan at last caused my companion to inquire if there was no other +room vacant. We were shown into a small adjoining apartment, where the +smell, though very pungent, was not quite so disagreeable as in the one +inhabited by the family. + +"This is a little better," muttered my companion, unpacking his +portmanteau and taking out a teapot, with two small metal cases +containing tea and sugar. "Quick, Tëtka, Aunt!" he cried (this to +the old woman of the house), "quick with the samovar!" when an aged +female, who might have been any age from eighty to a hundred, for she +was almost bent double by decrepitude, carried in a large copper urn, +the steam hissing merrily under the influence of the red-hot charcoal +embers. + +By this time I had unstrapped the mess tins, and was extracting their +contents. "Let me be the carver," said my friend, at the same time +trying to cut one of the cutlets with a knife; but he might as well +have tried to pierce an ironclad with a pea-shooter, for the meat was +turned into a solid lump of ice. It was as hard as a brick-bat, and +when we tried the bread it was equally impenetrable; in fact, it was +only after our provisions had been placed within the stove for about +ten minutes that they became in any way eatable. + +In the mean time my companion had concocted a most delicious brew, +and with a large glass of pale or rather amber-colored tea, with a +thin slice of lemon floating on the top, I was beginning to realize +how pleasant it is to have been made thoroughly uncomfortable, for it +is only after having arrived at this point of misery that you can +thoroughly appreciate what real enjoyment is. "What is pleasure?" asked +a pupil of his master. "Absence of pain," was the philosopher's answer; +and let any one who doubts that a feeling of intense enjoyment can be +obtained from drinking a mere glass of tea, try a sleighing journey +through Russia with the thermometer at 20° Reaumur and a wind. [20° +Reaumur below zero equals -13° Fahrenheit.] + +In almost an hour's time we were ready to start, but not so our driver, +and to the expostulations of my companion he replied, "No, little +father, there is a snow-storm; we might be lost, and I might be frozen. +Oh, Lord God! there are wolves; they might eat me; the ice in the river +might give way and we might all be drowned. For the sake of God, let us +stop here!" + +"You shall have a good tea-present" [tip], I observed, "if you will +drive us." + +"Oh, one of noble birth," was his answer, "we will stop here to-night, +and Batooshka, little father, also," pointing to my companion; "but +to-morrow we will have beautiful horses, and go like birds to the next +station." + +It was useless attempting to persuade him. Resigning ourselves to our +fate, my companion and self lay down on the planks to obtain what sleep +could be found, notwithstanding the noise that was going on in the next +room, the Jew peddlers being occupied in trying to sell some of their +wares and drive a bargain with the antique mistress of the house. + + [We cannot undertake to relate the adventures of our traveller in + full, and it will suffice to say that, what with being overturned, + lost, and frozen, his whole journey was the reverse of agreeable. + He relates an amusing instance of his dealing with the Russians.] + +Fortunately, there was a vacant room in the inn, and here I was at once +supplied with the smallest of basins and a table napkin. In the mean +time I despatched Nazar [his Tartar servant] to the post to desire the +inspector to send me three horses immediately. There was no time to +lose, and I wanted to hurry forward that afternoon. + +Presently my man returned with a joyous countenance, which betokened +something disagreeable. In fact, in all countries where I have hitherto +travelled human nature, as typified in domestics, is much the same; +they invariably look pleased when they have a piece of bad news to +impart to their masters. + +"What is it?" I asked. "Sleigh broken?" + +"No, sir. No horses to be had; that is all. General Kauffmann went +through early this morning and took them all. The inspector says you +must wait till to-morrow, and that then he will have a team ready for +you. It is nice and warm," continued Nazar, looking at the stove. "We +will sleep here, little father; eat till we fill our clothes, and +continue our journey to-morrow." + +"Nazar," I replied, giving my countenance the sternest expression it +could assume, "I command; you obey. We leave in an hour's time. Go and +hire some horses as far as the next stage. If you find it impossible to +obtain any at the station, try and get some from a private dealer; but +horses I must have." + +In a few minutes my servant returned with a still more joyous +countenance than before. The inspector would not send any horses, and +no one could be found in the town who was inclined to let his animals +out on hire. + +There was nothing to be done but to search myself. Nazar had evidently +made up his mind to sleep at Orsk. However, I had made up mine to +continue the journey. + +Leaving the inn, I hailed a passing sleigh, the driver appearing to me +to have a more intelligent expression than his fellows. Getting into +the vehicle, I inquired if he knew of any one who had horses to hire. + +"Yes," was the answer. One of his relatives had some; but the house +to which I was driven was shut up, and no one was at home. I began to +despair, and think that I should have as much difficulty in obtaining +horses at Orsk as I had in procuring a servant at Orenburg. + +I now determined to try what gold, or rather silver, would do, and said +to the driver, "If you will take me to any one who has horses for hire, +I will give you a ruble for yourself." + +"A whole ruble!" cried the man, with a broad grin of delight; and, +jumping off his seat, he ran to a little knot of Tartars, one of whom +was bargaining with the others for a basket of frozen fish, and began +to ply them with questions. In a minute he returned, "Let us go," he +said; and with a "Burr" (the sound which is used by the Russians to +urge on their horses) and a loud crack with his lash, he drove rapidly +in another direction. + +I had arrived at the outskirts of the town, and we stopped before a +dirty-looking wooden cottage. + +A tall man, dressed in a long coat reaching to his heels, bright yellow +trousers, which were stuffed into a pair of red leather boots, while an +enormous black sheep-skin cap covered his head, came out and asked my +business. I said that I wanted three horses to go to the next stage, +and asked him what he would drive me there for, the regular postal +tariff being about two rubles. + +"One of noble birth," replied the fellow, "the roads are bad, but my +horses will gallop the whole way. They are excellent horses; all the +people in the town look at them and envy me. They say, how fat they +are! look, how round! The governor has not got any horses like mine in +his stable. I spoil them; I cherish them; and they gallop like the +wind. The people look, wonder, and admire. Come and see the dear little +animals." + +"I have no doubt about it. They are excellent horses," I replied; "but +what will you take me for?" + +"Let us say four rubles, your excellency, and give me one on account. +One little whole silver ruble; for the sake of God, let me put it in my +pocket, and we will bless you." + +"All right," was my answer. "Send the horses to the Tzarskoe Selo Inn +immediately." + +Presently the fellow rushed into my room, and, bowing to the ground, +took off his cap with a grandiose air; then, drawing out the money I +had given him from some hidden recess in the neighborhood of his skin, +he thrust the ruble into my hand, and exclaimed, "Little father, my +uncle owns one of the horses; he is very angry. He says that he was not +consulted in the matter, and that he loves the animal like a brother. +My uncle will not let his horse leave the stable for less than five +rubles. What is to be done? I told him that I had agreed to take you, +and even showed him the money, but he is hard-hearted and stern." + +"Very well," I said; "bring round the horses." + +In a few minutes the fellow returned, and exclaimed, "One of noble +birth. I am ashamed." + +"Quite right," I said; "you have every reason to be so. But go on; is +your uncle's horse dead?" + +"No, one of noble birth, not so bad as that; but my brother is vexed. +He has a share in one of the animals; he will not let me drive him to +the next station for less than six rubles;" and the man, putting on +an expression in which cunning, avarice, and pretended sorrow were +blended, rubbed his forehead and added, "What shall we do?" + +I said, "You have a grandmother?" + +"Yes," he replied, much surprised. "How did you know that? I have; a +very old grandmother." + +"Well," I continued, "go and tell her that, fearing lest she should be +annoyed if any accident were to happen during our journey,--for you +know misfortunes occur sometimes; God sends them," I added, piously. + +"Yes, he does," interrupted the man; "we are simple people, your +excellency." + +"And, not wishing to hurt the old lady's feelings, should the fore leg +of your uncle's horse, or the hind leg of your brother's, suffer on the +road, I have changed my mind, and shall not go with you to-day, but +take post-horses to-morrow." + +The man now became alarmed, thinking that he was about to lose his +fare. He rubbed his forehead violently, and then exclaimed, "I will +take your excellency for five rubles." + +"But your brother?" + +"Never mind; he is an animal; let us go." + +"No," I answered. "I shall wait; the post-horses are beautiful horses. +I am told that they gallop like the wind; all the people in the town +look at them, and the inspector loves them." + +"Let us say four rubles, your excellency." + +"But your uncle might beat you. I should not like you to be hurt." + +"No," was the answer; "we will go;" and the knotty point being thus +settled, we drove off, much to the dissatisfaction of my little +servant, Nazar, a blue-eyed siren in Orsk having, as the Orientals say, +made roast meat of his heart, in spite of his being a married man. + + + + +INDEX. + PAGE + + Alpine Mountain Climbing EDWARD WHYMPER 121 + Amsterdam, Paris OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 5 + Antwerp and Its People ROSE G. KINGSLEY 140 + Athens and Its Temples J. L. T. PHILLIPS 79 + Austria, The Capital of JOHN RUSSELL 201 + + Berlin, The Streets of MATTHEW WOODS 165 + BROWNE, J. ROSS The Salt-Mines of Wieliczka 183 + BURNABY, FREDERICK A Russian Sleigh Journey 267 + + CLARKE, EDWARD D., The Seraglio on the Golden Horn 100 + " " ", Moscow In 1800 257 + COLERIDGE, LANGLEY The Midnight Sun 229 + COX, SAMUEL S. In the Russian Capital 236 + CROSSE, MRS. ANDREW From Hamburg to Stockholm 221 + + Day in Rome, A BAYARD TAYLOR 37 + DE AMICIS, EDMONDO A Typical Dutch City 131 + Dresden, Art Museums of ELIZABETH PEAKE 147 + Dutch City, A Typical EDMONDO DE AMICIS 131 + + Echternach, The Jumping Procession + at M. OGLE 193 + Eszterhazy Palaces, The JOHN PAGET 210 + Etna in Eruption, Mount BAYARD TAYLOR 61 + + FIELD, HENRY M. The Isles of Greece 89 + Finland, A Visit to DAVID KER 246 + Florence and Its Art Treasures LIPPINCOTT, SARAH J. 16 + + Golden Horn, The Seraglio on the EDWARD D. CLARKE 100 + Greece, The Isles of HENRY M. FIELD 89 + + Hamburg to Stockholm, From MRS. ANDREW CROSSE 221 + Heidelberg, The Students of BAYARD TAYLOR 158 + HOPE, STANLEY Zermatt and Its Scenery 112 + + Isles of Greece, The HENRY M. FIELD 89 + Italy, The Lake Region of ROBERT A. MCLEOD 26 + + Jumping Procession at Echternach, + The M. OGLE 193 + + + KER, DAVID A Visit to Finland 246 + KINGSLEY, ROSE G. Antwerp and Its People 140 + + Lake Region of Italy ROBERT A. MCLEOD 26 + LEE, ALFRED E. Pompeii and Its Destroyer 48 + LEIGH, OLIVER H. G. Paris, Amsterdam 5 + LIPPINCOTT, SARAH J. Florence and Its Art Treasures 16 + + MCLEOD, ROBERT A. The Lake Region of Italy 26 + Midnight Sun, The LANGLEY COLERIDGE 229 + Moscow in 1800 EDWARD D. CLARKE 257 + + OGLE, M. The Jumping Procession at + Echternach 193 + + PAGET, JOHN The Eszterhazy Palaces 210 + Paris, Amsterdam OLIVER H. G. LEIGH 5 + PEAKE, ELIZABETH Art Museums of Dresden 147 + PHILLIPS, J. L. T. Athens and Its Temples 79 + Plebeian Life in Venice HORACE ST. JOHN 70 + Pompeii and Its Destroyer ALFRED E. LEE 48 + POWERS, STEPHEN A Ramble in Prussia 176 + Prussia, A Ramble in STEPHEN POWERS 176 + + Rome, A Day in BAYARD TAYLOR 37 + Rotterdam EDMONDO DE AMICIS 131 + RUSSELL, JOHN The Capital of Austria 201 + Russian Capital, In the SAMUEL S. COX 236 + Russian Sleigh Journey, A FREDERICK BURNABY 267 + + ST. JOHN, HORACE Plebeian Life in Venice 70 + Salt-Mines of Wieliczka J. ROSS BROWNE 183 + Seraglio on the Golden Horn EDWARD D. CLARKE 100 + Sleigh Journey, A Russian FREDERICK BURNABY 267 + Stockholm, From Hamburg to MRS. ANDREW CROSSE 221 + + TAYLOR, BAYARD A Day in Rome 37 + " " Mount Etna in Eruption 61 + " " The Students of Heidelberg 158 + + Venice, Plebeian Life in HORACE ST. JOHN 70 + Vienna, The Capital of Austria JOHN RUSSELL 201 + + WHYMPER, EDWARD Alpine Mountain Climbing 121 + WOODS, MATTHEW The Streets of Berlin 165 + + Zermatt and Its Scenery STANLEY HOPE 112 + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: + +Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors; otherwise, +every effort has been made to remain true to the words and intent of the +authors, even if the spelling and punctuation do not conform to modern +standards. + +Some words, such as stair-way, spell-bound, out-door, appear in both +hyphenated and non-hyphenated form. This may be attributed to the fact +that this is an anthology of numerous authors with individual styles. + +Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by +=equal signs=. The motto in the chapter on the salt mines was originally +typeset as bold, but also in a dark gothic font centered on its own line. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of With the World's Great Travellers, +Volume IV, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43745 *** |