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diff --git a/78472-0.txt b/78472-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a313ee --- /dev/null +++ b/78472-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6548 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78472 *** + + + + + DESCENT OF THE DANUBE, + + FROM + + RATISBON TO VIENNA, + + DURING THE + + AUTUMN OF 1827. + + WITH + + ANECDOTES AND RECOLLECTIONS, + + _HISTORICAL AND LEGENDARY_, + + OF THE + + TOWNS, CASTLES, MONASTERIES, etc., UPON + THE BANKS OF THE RIVER, + + AND THEIR INHABITANTS AND PROPRIETORS, ANCIENT AND MODERN. + + + +By+ J. R. PLANCHE, + + AUTHOR OF “LAYS AND LEGENDS OF THE RHINE,” “OBERON,” AN OPERA, etc. + + Ye glorious Gothic scenes! how much ye strike + All phantasies, not even excepting mine: + A grey wall, a green ruin, rusty pike, + Make my soul pass the equinoctial line, + Between the present and past worlds, and hover + Upon their airy confine, half-seas-over. + + +Don Juan+, Canto X. + + + LONDON: + PRINTED FOR JAMES DUNCAN, PATERNOSTER-ROW. + + MDCCCXXVIII. + + + + +[Illustration: + _On Stone by L. Haghe._ _W. Day Lithog. 17 Gate St._ + + SCHLOSS BÖSENBEUG. + + The Summer Residence of the Emperor of Austria and the Town of Ips on + the Danube.] + + + + + LONDON: + Printed by +William Clowes+, + Stamford Street. + + + + + TO + + SAMUEL RUSH MEYRICK, + + _OF GOODERICH COURT, HEREFORDSHIRE,_ + + ESQUIRE, + + LL.D., F.S.A., etc. etc. + + THIS VOLUME + + IS INSCRIBED + + BY HIS VERY SINCERE AND MUCH OBLIGED FRIEND, + + J. R. PLANCHE. + + + _Brompton-Crescent, July 1, 1828._ + + + + + PREFACE. + + +It appears rather surprising that, while our printshops teem with +views on the Rhine, and the shelves of our booksellers groan with +the weight of Tours in its neighbourhood, no English pen or pencil +should have been hitherto employed in illustration of the magnificent +Danube. Captain Batty, it is true, in his beautiful work entitled +“German Scenery,” has three or four views upon the river, and one or +two modern tourists have slightly mentioned a town or so, which, lying +on the post-road to Vienna, as well as on the banks of the Danube, +they have passed through on their way to the Austrian capital. But, +with the exception of the translation of Baron Riesbeck’s travels in +Germany, published in the fifth volume of Pinkerton’s collection, +which contains a very brief but faithful description of the river from +Passau to Vienna, I am aware of few works in our language from which +the slightest idea of its beauty and interest can be drawn, and of +none absolutely dedicated to its history and illustration[1]. That the +Danube should be so little known to our rambling countrymen is the more +remarkable, as Vienna--voluptuous Vienna! is one of the points to which +it leads, and the ease, pleasure, and velocity with which its stream +may be descended, render, in commonly fair weather, the passage by +water considerably preferable to the journey by land, though performed +in the traveller’s own post-chariot; and as by land he _must_ return, +he thus secures to himself the advantage of entirely new scenery, even +if compelled by time or circumstances to retrace his line of route. + +The road from Frankfort to Ratisbon is replete with interest--the +beautiful banks of the meandering Mein; the battle-field of Dettingen; +the fine chateau and gardens of Aschaffenburg; Wurtzburg with its +splendid palace, its rich conservatories and rock-throned citadel; +Nürnberg, the birthplace of Albert Durer, with its fantastic +buildings, and gorgeous cathedral, all tempt the wanderer on to the +heights of Hohen-Schambach, where the plain of the Danube bursts upon +his view. The return from Vienna, by Salzburg and Munich, or through +the Tyrol to the Lake of Constanz, and _so down the Rhine home_, leaves +nothing to be wished for in point of scenery; while six weeks or two +months, provided the traveller be not ensnared by the gaieties of +Vienna, are amply sufficient, in fair weather, for the whole of the +journey. + +Having sought in vain, on my departure from England, for a book which +would serve me as a guide and companion down the Danube, I was induced +to take a few notes and sketches during my little voyage, in the hope +that, when thrown, at my leisure, into something like a readable shape, +they might become useful to future travellers, by at least standing +in the gap till some abler hand should supply the desideratum. In +the pursuance of this object, I was greatly assisted by a copy of +Professor Schultes’ Donau-Reise[2], the best foreign guide down the +Danube; but which is yet incomplete, and suppressed in Austria on +account of its political and religious opinions. At the same time, +however, that I acknowledge my obligations to this work, from which +I have gleaned much information on points that could only have been +explained by a native, or one long resident in the country, I must take +the liberty of expressing my objection to its style, which renders +its perusal a task to Germans themselves, and must make it almost a +sealed book to a foreigner. Herr Schultes’ prolixity, and love of +inversion, are enough to drive an English reader crazy. The latter, +indeed, he carries to such an extent, that the waggish description of +“the-in-general-strewed-with-cabbage-stalks-but-on-a-Saturday-night- +lighted-up-with-lamps-market of Covent Garden” must hide its +diminished head. The learned Professor sometimes keeps his inquisitive +victim on the rack for pages, before he deigns to disclose the word +which solves the enigma of his apparently interminable sentence. He +seems to glory in this species of mystification, and, like poor dear +innocent Dogberry, were he “as tedious as a king,” he would “bestow +it all upon your worship.” Still, however, “there is matter in this +madness,” and the Professor has been a diligent digger. The list of +German authors, both ancient and modern, who have written upon the +antiquities, history, and natural productions of the towns and shores +of the Danube, was invaluable to a stranger like myself, as it enabled +me at once to lay my hands upon authorities ‘pour vérifier les dates,’ +etc. ‘Die Burgvesten und Ritterschlosser der Oestreichischen Monarchie, +4 T. Brunn, 1820,’ is another work, which has afforded me much curious +legendary material; as have also the ‘Taschenbuch zur Geschichte +verfallener Ritterburgen,’ etc., Wien, 1826, and other similar +publications. + +The Danube, whose waves have witnessed the march of Attila, of +Charlemagne, of Gustavus Adolphus, and Napoleon; whose shores have +echoed the blast of the Roman trumpet, the hymn of the Pilgrim of +the Cross, and the “wild halloo” of the sons of Islam, whose name +is equally dear to history and fable; to him who, in fancy, sees +the lion-hearted Richard of England languishing for his native +land, or follows the beautiful widow of Siegfried to the “rich King +Etzel’s court,”--that such a theme was worthy of being treated by +the first writers in our language, was an awful consideration for +one of the humblest; that it had not been touched upon by any was +the only encouragement. “You have often scribbled successfully for +the stage,” said my friend ----, “why should you fear to write for +the passage-boat?” The joke was a vile one, but the argument was +conclusive. Gentle reader, this is my first appearance in the character +of a tourist. I have taken the part at a short notice, no one else +having appeared to sustain it, and respectfully solicit the usual +indulgence. + + + FOOTNOTES (PREFACE) + +[1] While this volume was passing through the press, “A Summer’s Ramble +amongst the Musicians in Germany” appeared, in which pleasant book, a +dozen pages are allotted to an equally brief and spirited notice of +the banks of the Danube from Passau to Vienna. Upwards of one hundred +years ago, Lady M. W. Montague descended the Danube from Ratisbon to +Vienna, a voyage of which she dismisses her account, in a dozen lines. +“We travelled by water from Ratisbon,” says the fair writer, “a journey +perfectly agreeable down the Danube, in one of those little vessels +that they very properly call wooden houses, having in them all the +_conveniences of a palace, stoves in the chambers, kitchens_, etc.” (I +do not know what exertions might have been made for the accommodation +of a British Ambassador, his Lady and suite, but the Danube, I suspect, +has not seen such another boat during the last century.) “They are +rowed by twelve men each, and move with such incredible swiftness, that +in the same day you have the pleasure of a vast variety of prospects; +and within the space of a few hours, you have the pleasure of seeing a +populous city, adorned with magnificent palaces, and the most romantic +solitudes which appear distant from the commerce of mankind, the banks +of the Danube being charmingly diversified with woods, rocks, mountains +covered with vines, fields of corn, large cities, and ruins of ancient +castles.”--_Letter to the Countess of Mar_, dated Vienna, September +18th, o. s. 1716. + +[2] Ein handbuch für Reisende auf der Donau. Von J. A. Schultes, M. Dr. +etc. Wien, 1819. Stuttgart, 1827. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. + + Page + + First View of the Danube and Ratisbon--Description of Boats on the + Danube--The City of Ratisbon--The Cathedral--The Heide Platz--Church + of the Scotch Benedictines--The Bridges--The Rath-haus--The Abbey of + St. Emmeram--Story of Frederick von Ewesheim--Church of the Dominicans + --The Neue-Pfarre-Kirche--Ober and Nieder Münster--Karmeliten Kloster + --The Horses’ Church--The Promenades--Unterhaltungs Haus--Maximilian + Joseph Gasse--David and Goliath--Embarkation--Wörth--Donaustauf--The + Dunkel-boden--Sossau + 1 + + + CHAPTER II. + + Straubing--The Bridge--The Hauptstrasse--The Stadtthurm--The + Pfarr, or Collegiat Kirche--Story of Agnes Bernauer--The + Ramparts--The Atzelburg--Ober Altaich--Bogenberg--Kloster + Metten--The Natternberg--Deggendorf--The Gnade Zeit--Confluence + of the Isar and the Danube--Rafts from Munich to Vienna--Nieder + Altaich--Hengersberg--Osterhofen--Hoch-winzer--Hofkirchen--Kinzing-- + Hildegartsberg--Vilshofen--Collegiat Stift--The Sandbach--New Road + to Passau--Maximilian Joseph I., late King of Bavaria--Louis I., the + present Monarch--Statue of a Lion--Approach to Passau + 32 + + + CHAPTER III. + +Passau--The Inn-stadt--The Fair--The Cathedral--The +Bridge--Fortress of Oberhaus--Celebrated View--Mariahilf--The +Ilz-stadt--The Sword Cutlery--Present Manufactures and Commerce +of Passau--Talismans--Goitres--Excursions into the Environs of +Passau--Confluence of the Inn and the Danube--Krempenstein--Hafner +Zell--Its Manufactories--Fichtenstein--The Jochenstein--The Ruin of +Ried + 77 + + + CHAPTER IV. + + Engelhard’s-zell--Rana-riedl--Marsbach--Wesen + Urfar--Waldkirche--Hayenbach--The Schlägen--The Rhine and the + Danube contrasted--Ober Michl--Neuhaus--Aschach--The paper-money of + Austria--Castle of Schaumberg--Environs of Aschach--Ober Walsee--Story + of Hans von Eschelberg--Sketch of the Insurrections in the Seventeenth + Century + 96 + + + CHAPTER V. + + Efferding--Ottensheim--Kloster-Willering--Linz--The Platz--The + Landstrasse--The Schlossberg--The Landhaus--The Theatre--The + Bridge--The Pöstlingberg--View on leaving Linz--Steyereck--The + River Traun--Ebelsberg--Luftenberg--Monastery of St. + Florian--Tillysburg--Spielberg--Mauthausen--Ens--Origin and History of + the City--Antiquities discovered in its neighbourhood + 137 + + + CHAPTER VI. + + Nieder-Walsee--Castles of Clam and Kreuzen--Ardagger--Grein--The + Strudel and the Wirbel--Mistakes of various Authors concerning + them--St. Nikola--Sarblingstein--Freystein--Hirschau--The + Isper--Bösenbeug--Story of Bishop Bruno and the Lady + Richlita--Ips--Gottsdorf + 180 + + + CHAPTER VII. + + Marbach--Maria-Taferl--Pechlarn--Wiedeneck--Mölk--Lubereck--The Valley + of the Wachau--Schönbühel--Aggstein--The Teufel’s Mauer--Spitz, and + the Ruin of Hinterhaus--Church and Village of St. Michel--Castle of + Dürrenstein--Narrow escape of Marshal Mortier during the Campaign of + 1805--Mautern--Stein--Krems--Kloster Göttweih--Trasen-Mauer--Arrival + at Tuln + 217 + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + Tuln--Langenlebern--Greifenstein--Story of Etelina--Korneuberg--The + Bisamberg--Kloster Neuburg--Leopoldsberg, and the Khalenberg--A + glimpse of the capital--Nussdorf--Arrival at Vienna--Bird’s-eye View + and Description of the Environs from the Temple of Glory in the Brühl + 267 + + + + +[Illustration: A MAP +_OF THE_+ DANUBE +_FROM_+ RATISBON +_TO_+ +VIENNA.] + + + + +[Illustration: Common passage-boat from Ratisbon to Vienna.] + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + First View of the Danube and Ratisbon--Description of Boats on the + Danube--The City of Ratisbon--The Cathedral--The Heide Platz--Church + of the Scotch Benedictines--The Bridges--The Rath-haus--The Abbey of + St. Emmeram--Story of Frederick von Ewesheim--Church of the Dominicans + --The Neue-Pfarre-Kirche--Ober and Nieder Münster--Karmeliten Kloster + --The Horses’ Church--The Promenades--Unterhaltungs Haus--Maximilian + Joseph Gasse--David and Goliath--Embarkation--Wörth--Donaustauf--The + Dunkel-boden--Sossau. + + +I believe it is Doctor Clarke who advises travellers never to see a +mountain without going to the top of it. I should rather say, never see +a river without following the course of it. One very extensive prospect +too nearly resembles another, particularly in the same country, to +give additional gratification, and I have not unfrequently, like +the celebrated King of France, “marched up a hill, and then marched +down again,” to about as little purpose. But never did I follow the +course of a stream, however insignificant, without being surprised and +delighted. Without water, the loveliest prospect is incomplete. Lakes +and rivers are the eyes of the earth; the want of them cannot be atoned +for by the beauty of its other features, however exquisite. + +The formidable account of some friends who had made the voyage, backed, +as it seemed to be, by a twaddling notice in a German Guide-Book, had +nearly dissuaded me from descending the Danube to Vienna. But the first +glimpse of its magnificent flood, rolling through the broad and fertile +plain, in the centre of which the ancient city of Ratisbon rears its +sombre cathedral, and winding away into the horizon amongst the shadowy +mountains of the Böhmer-wald, renewed my original determination; and my +first care, on finding myself safely deposited in the excellent hotel, +Das Goldene Kreutz, on the Heide Platz, was to make the necessary +inquiries how, when, and where I should embark on the “thundering +river[3].” + +The regular passage-boat from Ratisbon to Vienna was to start on the +following morning at eight o’clock, and for the very moderate sum of +five florins, not quite ten shillings English, would have landed me +in the Austrian capital in about five or six days, according to the +weather. But as neither I nor my companion was willing, for a slight +pecuniary consideration, to risk a serious diminution of the pleasures +of the voyage by a crowded deck, a filthy cabin, bad company, and +miserable fare, I applied to a Schiffmeister of Stadt-am-hof, the +little fauxbourg of Ratisbon, on the left bank of the Danube, who +agreed to furnish us with a boat, steersman, and crew for the sum of +twenty ducats, about ten pounds sterling, and to assure our arrival at +Vienna in four days, or four and a half at farthest. + +The boats on the Danube, though of various names and sizes, are nearly +all of one shape. That which I hired is called, in the peculiar patois +of the Bavarian boatmen, a Weitz-zille, and is the sort of conveyance +particularly appropriated to private travelling. It is about forty +feet long, and composed of rough deal planks, nailed rudely together, +the ribs being of natural branches, and caulked with moss. In the +centre is a kind of awning, or rather hut, of the same unpretending +materials. It is flat-bottomed, as are all the craft upon this +river, and, in short, is little more than a large rude punt. Sails +are unknown upon the Danube; it is therefore rowed by two men, and +steered by a third, with long clumsy-looking paddles, tied to upright +posts, upon which every now and then water is flung to make them work +easy, and avoid ignition. The Coche d’eau, or common passage-boat, +is rather larger, and is called a Gamsel, or a Kellhaimer. Those +used for the conveyance of merchandise, are known by the names of +Hochnauen, Klobzillen, (facetiously termed vessels of the line by +Professor Schultes,) Nebenbeys, Schwernmern, etc., all of the same +fashion, keelless, sailless, their plain deal sides daubed with broad +perpendicular stripes of black paint, their only ornament. Some of the +larger are nearly one hundred and fifty feet long; and, in ascending +the river, are towed, four or five together, by from thirty to forty +horses. The drivers are called Jodelen, and a more singular set of +beings can scarcely be imagined. In appearance they are something +between the English dustman and drayman, but the lowest of either of +those worthies might pass for a scholar and a gentleman by the side of +a real Jodel. From the moment the Danube becomes navigable, till it is +again chained up in ice, these fellows never enter the humblest hovel, +or mix with men of other callings, but even sleep upon the river’s bank +beside their horses. A miserable superstition exists amongst them. They +believe that some of their number must every year be sacrificed to the +Spirit of the Waters, and, consequently, when an accident occurs, they +all scramble for the drowning man’s hat, but never think of stretching +out a finger to save him, whom they look upon as a doomed and demanded +victim. Professor Schultes declares that he once saw five jodelen, +with their horses, precipitated into the river, when their companions +hastily cut the ropes, to prevent the rest of the team from following, +and drove on, leaving the poor wretches to their fate. + +Before I step into my little bark, however, the old city of Ratisbon, +or, more properly Regensburg, claims a few moments’ attention. The +Regina Castra of the Romans has had twenty different names[4], and, +according to Günther, owes that of Ratisbona, or Ratispona, to its +convenience as a landing place. + + “Inde Ratisbonæ vetus ex hoc nomen habenti + Quod _bona_ sit _ratibus_, vel quod consuevit in illa + _Ponere_ nauta _rates_.” + +Near it, the little river Regen falls into the Danube, from whence +its German appellation of Regensburg. One of the chief towns on the +Illyrian frontier, here the Roman merchant traded for furs, and the +eagle of the “Legio tertia Italica” long glittered in the sight of the +humbled barbarians. From Regensburg the “furious Frank” rushed, beneath +the banners of Charlemagne, to his Pannonian victories. Under Arnulph +the Bastard, it became a flourishing commercial and manufacturing town. +In 1106, the unfortunate Emperor Henry IV. here resigned his crown and +sceptre to his unnatural son. In 1193, Richard Cœur de Lion was sent +hither a prisoner to the Emperor Henry VI., who re-delivered him to +his sworn foe and captor, Leopold Duke of Austria. Here, on the 12th +of October, 1576, expired the Emperor Maximilian II., in whose favour +Germany revived the surname of Titus, or the Delight of Mankind. +No stronger proof of his great and amiable qualities can be given, +than the concurring testimony of the historians of Germany, Hungary, +Bohemia, and Austria, both Catholics and Protestants, who vie in his +praises, and in representing him as a model of impartiality, wisdom, +and benignity[5]. “It excites a melancholy regret,” says Wraxall, “to +reflect that the reign of so excellent a sovereign as Maximilian was +limited to the transitory period of twelve years, while Philip II., the +scourge of his own subjects and of Europe, occupied the throne during +more than forty. The Romans might, with equal reason, have lamented +that the tyranny of Tiberius lasted above twenty years, when the benign +administration of Titus scarcely exceeded as many months[6].” In 1633, +Ratisbon was taken by Bernhard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and retaken by the +allied Bavarians and Austrians, commanded by Ferdinand King of Hungary, +in the following year. In 1641, the Swedes, under the famous General +Banner, cannonaded it; and on the 21st of April, 1809, it was taken by +the French, after a desperate conflict, being the fourteenth time, in +the course of nine hundred years, that this unfortunate city has been +visited by the united horrors of war. + +Its grand but gloomy cathedral contains some curious sculpture, and +some richly painted windows, the blues in which are remarkable for +their brilliancy. The date, 1482, is upon the upper part of an angular +porch; but the façade of the building, the singular well, the richly +ornamented canopies on columns, in various parts of the interior, +and the equestrian statues of Saint Martin and another, are all of +an earlier period.[7] In the chancel, near the altar, is deposited +the heart of the Emperor Maximilian I.; and in a chapel on the south +side of the chancel, within a glass case, is the recumbent effigy, in +wax, of Saint John of Nepomuck, the celebrated confessor of the wife +of Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia, who refusing to divulge the secrets +of his royal penitent was thrown into prison, tortured, and, finally, +flung over the bridge at Prague and drowned, by the king’s order. His +statue, in the habit of the Jesuits, is to be seen on nearly every +bridge in the south of Germany; he, who perished by water, being +curiously enough selected from the list of saints as the protector +of all who travel on that element. On an altar-tomb, in the nave, is +a splendid bronze effigy of a Bishop of Ratisbon and Duke of Bavaria +kneeling to a crucifix. On the Heide Platz, or Place of the Pagan, a +terrible combat is said to have been fought, between a gigantic Hun +named Craco, who had flung forty knights out of their saddles, and Hans +Dollinger, a valiant burgher of the town, during the reign, and in the +presence of Henry the Fowler. The emperor crossed the panting champion +twice upon the mouth, and to the virtue of these holy signs the defeat +of the Pagan is principally attributed[8]. Craco’s sword, measuring +nearly eight feet, and his ponderous helmet, hung for some time in +the choir of Nieder Münster. The sword is now at Vienna, whither it +was taken in 1542. On the side of a house, in the Kohlen-markt, is a +representation of this combat; and the square itself, I have little +doubt, formed originally part of the Heide Platz, from which it is +at present separated by a row of comparatively modern erections. The +church of the Scotch Benedictines, near the Jacobs-Thor, has a fine +portal, of apparently the twelfth century. There is a tragical story +told of its last abbot, Gallus, who was compelled to see a beloved +brother torn to pieces without daring to acknowledge him; but I was +not able to learn the particulars, though, Schultes says, they are +of general notoriety. The celebrated bridge across the Danube is a +clumsy-looking affair, and sadly disappoints the expectant traveller: +the honour of its erection is hotly disputed between Henry the Proud +and----the Devil[9]! Their imperial and satanic majesties have each +their zealous partisans, but the proofs are in favour of the earthly +potentate, who, in conjunction with the town of Ratisbon, commenced the +work A.D. 1135. It was finished in 1146. It is of free-stone, supported +by piles of oak driven to a considerable depth in the bed of the river, +consists of fifteen arches, and is one thousand and ninety-one feet +in length. Of the three principal bridges of Germany, that of Dresden +is said to be the most elegant; that of Prague, the longest; and that +of Ratisbon, the strongest. Besides this stone bridge there are two +wooden bridges, one very small, connecting the stone bridge with a long +island in the middle of the river, and another of larger dimensions, +which leads from the island to the city near the Nieder Münster. In +the Kohlenmarkt stands the Rathhaus, or Hotel de Ville, where from +1662 to 1806 the diet was held. Justice and Fortune have inherited +the building. The Tribunal of Police is established in one part of +it, and the Lottery is drawn in the other. Its curious old gate and +bay-window are in excellent preservation. Their arches and crocketted +pinnacles are of the thirteenth century, and greatly resemble those of +the monument of our Edward I. at Westminster. The two figures above +the gate, one bearing a martel de fer, and the other in the act of +flinging a stone, are of the close of the fifteenth century: beneath +each is a shield with the arms of the city. The Abbey of Saint Emmeram +is now the residence of the Prince of Thurm and Taxis: his gardens +are kindly thrown open to the public from six in the morning to six +in the evening. Saint Emmeram was a Frenchman, a native of Poictiers, +who, having visited the court of Theodo, was suspected of an illicit +amour with the princess his daughter, and murdered by her brother at +Helfendorf, A.D. 652. In the vaults of this building lie Childeric, +the deposed king of France, the Emperor Arnulph, and his son Ludwig +IV., the celebrated historian John Aventine, Saint Wolfgang, and Saint +Dionysius, the Areopagite. The body of the latter saint is said to have +been purloined from the Abbey of Saint Denis, in France, in the year +893; and Pope Leo XI., in a particular bull, absolutely threatened +with excommunication all who dared doubt the genuineness of the holy +corpse[10]: “notwithstanding which,” says Keysler, “the monks of Saint +Denys, near Paris, insist that the body of that saint is actually in +their possession; and his head is shown in the third shrine of their +treasury. On the other hand, the monks of Saint Emmeram maintain, that +the only part wanting in their relique, is the middle finger of the +right hand. However, an entire hand of this saint is shown at a chapel +in Munich. His head is also devoutly worshipped in the cathedral of +Bamberg; and at Prague another head of that saint is kept in the Church +of Saint Vitus in the Castle[11].” This abbey formerly possessed an +altar of solid gold, a fine manuscript of the Gospels, written in gold, +the cover ornamented with precious stones, and presented by Charles +the Bald to the monks of Saint Denis; another copy, said to have been +written in 751 by a bishop, in the ninetieth year of his age, and +many other valuable curiosities. The MSS. are, I believe, still in +existence[12]. Gemeiner, in his chronicle, has a story connected with +the edifice, sufficiently illustrative of the period of its action to +merit insertion; besides which I doat upon old stories, and fairly warn +that “gentle reader,” who may not have the same predilection, to lay +down the book in time, as it is only when, like the Knife-grinder, “I +have none to tell,” that he has the slightest chance of escape from +them. + +A certain worthy Bishop of Regensburg, not contented with fleecing +his flock, according to the approved and legitimate method, made it a +point of conscience to waylay and plunder his beloved brethren whenever +they ventured near the Castle of Donaustauf, in which he resided upon +the banks of the Danube, a little below the town. In the month of +November 1250, says the chronicle, tidings came to Donaustauf, that, +on the following morning, the daughter of Duke Albert of Saxony would +pass that way, with a gorgeous and gallant escort. The bait was too +tempting for the prelate. He sallied out upon the glittering cortege, +and seizing the princess and forty of her noblest attendants, led them +captives to Donaustauf. The astonished remainder fled for redress, some +to King Conrad, and others to Duke Otho, at Landshut, who immediately +took arms, and carrying fire and sword into the episcopal territories, +soon compelled the holy highwayman to make restitution and sue for +mercy. Conrad, satisfied with his submission, forgave him; in return +for which the Bishop bribed a vassal, named Conrad Hohenfels, to +murder his royal namesake; and, accordingly, in the night of the 28th +of December, the traitor entered the Abbey of Saint Emmerams, where +the king had taken up his abode, and stealing into the royal chamber +stabbed the sleeper to the heart; then running to the gates of the +city, threw them open to the bishop and his retainers, exclaiming that +the king was dead. The traitors were, however, disappointed. Frederich +von Ewesheim, a devoted servant of the king, suspecting some evil, had +persuaded the monarch to exchange clothes and chambers with him, and +the assassin’s dagger had pierced the heart, not of Conrad, but of +his true and gallant officer. The bishop escaped the royal vengeance +by flight; but the abbot of Saint Emmeram’s, who had joined the +conspirators, was flung into chains; and the abbey, the houses of the +chapter, and all the ecclesiastical residences, were plundered by the +king’s soldiery. The pope, as might be expected, sided with the bishop +and excommunicated Conrad and Otho; but the murderer Hohenfels, after +having for some time eluded justice, was killed by a thunderbolt! + +In the church of the Dominicans is a chapel where Albertus Magnus, +Bishop of Ratisbon, the successor of his unworthy namesake, is said +to have given his lectures. This great philosopher and excellent +prelate is reported by the ancient chroniclers to have possessed +the accommodating but rather extraordinary faculty attributed to the +Irishman’s bird, viz. that of being in two places at once. It is +asserted that, at the very moment he was holding forth to his attentive +pupils from the chair still exhibited in the chapel, he was to be seen +busily employed in his study at Donaustauf, about twelve miles off. For +despatch of business this must have been an invaluable accomplishment, +and accounts most satisfactorily for the magnitude and research of his +literary and scientific labours. The Neue-Pfarre-Kirche was formerly +famous for a shrine of the Virgin called the Schöne Maria, to which +from ten to twelve thousand pilgrims frequently repaired at a time from +different parts of Bavaria. The Ober Münster and the Nieder Münster +were both convents, the abbesses of which alone were obliged to take +the vow of chastity. Otto II. and his Empress Adelheid are buried in +the latter, which was founded in the tenth century by Judith, daughter +of Arnold, Duke of Bavaria, and wife of Duke Henry I. The Ober Münster +was founded by Hemma, Queen of Louis the German, who is buried here. +The Karmeliten Kloster, founded by the Emperor Ferdinand in 1641, is +now the custom-house and the town-jail. In Ratisbon, formerly, even +the horses went to church! On Saint Leonard’s Day the peasantry of the +neighbourhood brought their whole stud gaily caparisoned, and indulged +each animal with a peep into the Maltheser-Kirche, a pious precaution, +which was supposed to preserve them the year round from the staggers, +and indeed every other disorder that horse-flesh is heir to. + +I had nearly forgotten the promenades. They are pretty, and run all +round the town. The remains of an old cross are pointed out in them, as +having once been the centre of the city. In another part is a temple +to the memory of Keppler, the astronomer, who died here in 1630, and +of whom, says Prof. Schultes, it may be said as of our English poet +Butler, “He asked for bread, and they gave him a stone.” A monument +has also been erected to a M. Goertz, “parcequ’il étoit assez riche,” +said our domestique de place, an excellent reason, and one which +has justified many a more extraordinary proceeding. Then there are +the Unterhaltungshaus, (a handsome building, which combines the +theatre, the assembly-rooms, and heaven knows what besides)--the new +Maximilian-Joseph-Gasse, which has risen upon the ruins of 1809, and +the nearly effaced figures of Goliath and David upon the wall of a +house, the work apparently of the sixteenth century. + +And now farewell, old Regensburg! The Roman, the Vandal, the Frank and +the Hun, the Bohemian, the Austrian, and the Swede, the ancient and +the modern Gaul, have, by turns, besieged, stormed, plundered, and +burnt thee. Thy air of gravity becomes a city that hath suffered and +survived so many disasters; and the antique gold and silver coifs that +glitter on the braided locks of thy fair daughters, harmonize well +with the Gothic glories of thy cathedral and the romantic interest +of thy Turnier-Platz. I confess it grieves me to notice the gradual +disappearance throughout the Continent of those distinctions of dress +which have hitherto seemed, as strongly as language and countenance, to +mark out the natural boundaries of nations and provinces: but I console +myself with the hope, that Europe may, with its old habits, fling off +its old prejudices, and that its millions will finally become as much +like one great family in affection, as they promise to look, shortly, +from the uniformity of their costume. + + * * * * * + +On Monday, September 9, about eight in the morning, having completed +our simple preparations, and safely stowed away under the benches +of our little cabin a hamper containing some eatables and a few +bottles of excellent Rhenish and Austrian wines, we stept into our +weitz-zille, which awaited us just above the stone bridge, and having +shot through an arch of it where there is a fall something like that +at old London at half-flood, and struggled a few moments with a strong +eddy, occasioned by an island and some corn-mills, we passed under +the wooden bridge, and commenced our voyage, a strong wind blowing +unfortunately right in our teeth. The sky was however cloudless, and +the day, as it advanced, proving exceedingly warm, the wind was only +unwelcome as it threatened to retard, in some measure, our progress, +and prevent our making the proposed landing and resting-places in due +time. The average depth of the Danube between Donauworth and Passau, +according to H. von Riedl, is ten feet; near Regensburg it is about +eleven feet deep, and something broader than the Thames at Putney. +The right bank of the river, nearly all the way to Straubing, is low, +sedgy, and Dutch like. St. Niklas, Einhausen, Irl, Ober, and Unter +Bärbing or Barbling, are the names of the little old villages that are +scattered along it; but, on the left bank, the eye is soon attracted +by the bold mountains which, abruptly rising behind the villages of +Regenhausen, Weichs, Schwabelweiss, and Dergenheim, or Tegenheim, +follow the windings of the flood in an almost unbroken chain to within +a few miles of Vienna. The ruins of the castle of Donaustauf, cresting +a round, bluff rock, having at its foot the little market-town of +the same name, are the first interesting object that presents itself +on approaching them. The great strength and commanding situation of +this fortress, anciently called Toumstouphen, rendered it an object +of considerable importance during the middle ages; and many are the +tales of the “Battles, sieges, fortunes, _it hath_ past.” Henry the +Proud having taken it from the cathedral and chapter of Regensburg +in 1132, the citizens invested it in the following year so closely, +that the garrison, driven to extremities by hunger, set fire to the +building, and sallying forth, cut their way through the besiegers. +In 1146 it was again taken; and in 1159 again besieged. In 1250 it +was the scene of that outrage which has already been related in the +story of Frederich von Ewesheim. After the death of Albertus Magnus, +who, in 1260, succeeded his notorious namesake, and here pursued his +studies, Donaustauf was again snatched from its holy masters, and once +more restored to them, through the assistance of Bavaria, in 1343. In +1355 it was pledged to the counsellor Ruger Reich for eleven thousand +eight hundred and thirty-five florins, and sold afterwards to Charles +IV. of Bohemia for five thousand. In vain did the holy fathers protest +against the sale, and denounce spiritual as well as temporal vengeance +against the purchaser. Charles was too shrewd and too powerful to fear +either; and so long as he lived, Donaustauf remained the barrier of +Bohemia. Under his feeble successors, however, the chapter recovered +its fortress, and in 1486 it was again pledged to Bavaria. Bernhard, +Duke of Saxe-Weimar, took it, and reduced it to its present condition +in 1634. The Prince of Thurm and Taxis, who bought the lordship +of Worth, in which it is situated, keeps, if I may be allowed the +expression, the ruin in repair, and bestows some care on the gardens, +which clothe the eastern side of its mountain seat. From the ramparts, +the view extends eastwards over Wörth to Straubing and Bogen; and +westward, over Ratisbon, to the mountains of Abach. On either side, the +eye traces the bright Danube, now flowing majestically right onwards, +now boldly sweeping round some rocky point, or gracefully winding +amidst large tracts of meadow land--here almost doubling itself by a +sudden and unexpected curve, and, lost for a short time amongst groves +and hamlets, glittering again like a broad lake, where it resumes its +eastern course far in the blue distance. Directly beneath lie the +little market-town of Donaustauf; the church of Saint Salvator, which +was built, according to Schultes, in expiation of the crime of some +soldiers who dishonoured the Host; the wooden bridge, said to be one of +the longest on the river, and which is partially destroyed every year +in order to give passage to the ice; and below it, on the left bank, +numberless gardens and vineyards, spotted with the white villas of the +wealthy citizens of Regensburg, who, escaping from commercial cares, +on a fine summer Sunday evening, look back through the smoke of their +pipes upon the dusky towers of their cathedral with, no doubt, similar +feelings of satisfaction to those with which the London tradesman +observes from his retreat at Highgate, or Hornsey, the distant dome +of Saint Paul’s rising above the smother of our huge metropolis. +Leaving Donaustauf, we passed the small village of Sulzbach, Demling, +Bach, (celebrated for the mines in its neighbourhood,) Frenkhofen, +Krukenberg, Oberach, Kirchkirfen or Kirfen-holz, and Wisent, on the +little stream of that name, on the left bank; and those of Sarching, +Friesheim, Ilkhofen, Auburg, Eltheim, Saissling, and Seppenhausen, +on the right, some of them consisting of scarcely half a dozen +houses, their humble, white-washed churches roofed with shingles, and +the little Kremlin-looking cupolas of their steeples painted a deep +red. We now rapidly approached Wörth, the chateau of the Prince of +Thurm and Taxis, which had been visible from the time of our passing +Kirfenholz, but, from the extraordinary sinuosities of the river, +appeared, at one moment, to have been left entirely behind us. The +exterior is anything but prepossessing, recalling to the mind of a +cockney, like myself, the dead walls and extinguisher-capped towers +of the Penitentiary at Milbank. The dark firs that rise beside it, +and the rich meadows that gently slope from its terrace wall to the +water’s edge, are, it must be confessed, infinitely more romantic and +ornamental than the rows of cabbages and stunted willows that form the +foreground to its inglorious likeness,--still the idea of a prison +would, I think, be with any stranger the predominant one. Wörth is, +however, a palace, and, no doubt, handsome enough when you are in it. +It has been, like most of the castles and palaces in this part of the +world, bought and sold, pledged and redeemed for all sorts of sums +by all sorts of people. Those who wish to know the exact number of +florins it was valued at during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, +will find them scrupulously set down by Prof. Schultes; but, as no +matters of historical or romantic interest are connected with its +various transfers, I shall content myself by merely stating, that +it was anciently the property of the bishops of Ratisbon, and came +to Bavaria in 1809, shortly after which period it was bought by its +present possessor. Nearly opposite Wörth, upon the right bank, is the +small town of Pfätter, or Pfada, as it is called in the dialect of +the country, the first post-station from Ratisbon. A little streamlet +of the same name falls into the Danube beside it. A dozen small +villages, remarkable only for appellations that would cost an untutored +Englishman as many teeth to speak them--Gmünden, Tiefer-thal, Hochdorf, +Stadeldorf, Niederachdorf, Sinzendorf, Hünthofen, Kirchenroth, Ober +and Unter Motzing, Kessnach, Hartzeitdorn, etc., are scattered along +the banks, both now exceedingly flat and uninteresting, the mountains +on the left having retreated from the river, which here winds and +doubles like a hunted hare. My companion and I therefore landed, and +leaving the boat to thread the mazes of this watery labyrinth, strode +forward at a good round pace across the fields towards Straubing, +the tin-capped steeples of which were flashing back the rays of the +setting sun. The great plain extending from the gates of Ratisbon, +as far as Pleinting, is supposed to have been once a large morass, +which, on being drained, has left a rich black soil several feet deep +(the celebrated Dunkelboden.) The peasantry of this favoured district +are exceedingly proud, and fond of all kinds of finery. The finest +Swiss and Dutch linen, silk and satin kerchiefs of the gayest hues, +Brabant lace, and gold and silver stuffs of all descriptions, are in +constant requisition. The men wear gold rings, and generally two gold +watches. The black velvet or embroidered silk boddices of the women +are laced with massive silver chains, from which hang a profusion of +gold and silver trinkets, hearts, crosses, coins, medals, etc. The +custom of tying a black silk handkerchief round the neck, with the bow +behind, and the ends hanging down the back, is, I think, peculiar to +Bavaria. A wedding here is a scene of great extravagance and uproar; +many tables, accommodating at least a dozen persons each, are set +out with all manner of good things, and the feasting continues for +several days, all day long. Ignorant, however, as they are wealthy and +luxurious, few even of the most respectable amongst them can either +read or write, and are therefore, says Schultes, entitled in every +respect to the appellation by which they are generally distinguished, +i. e. “Bauern vom Dunkelboden”--“Peasants of the dark earth.” Sossau, +on the left bank, shortly after you enter the Landgericht of Straubing, +is celebrated for a picture of the Virgin, which, in 1534, the angels +brought here in a boat, from a village where the doctrines of Luther +had taken root, to the great indignation of the holy portrait. Those +who are sufficiently sceptical to doubt the veracity of this story, may +consult the account of the monks of Kloster Windberg[13], (to which +Sossau belonged,)printed “cum licentia superiorum,” and illustrated by +a fresco-painting on the walls of their house at Straubing. The whole +angelic crew are there to be seen equipped in sailors’ dresses, tugging +away with “a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together,” (the +last pull, by the way, must have been an extra miracle on the Danube, +the advantage of such unanimity never entering the heads of the honest +boatmen), and having on board not only the offended picture, but the +outraged church itself!--I have heard of a worthy enactor of old +Capulet, who, by a curious transposition of his prepositions, commanded +the astonished Juliet to prepare + + To go _to_ Paris _with_ St. Peter’s church. + +Now, however extraordinary this paternal injunction might appear +to a modern heretical London audience, it is obvious, upon due +consideration, that the speech, being placed in the mouth of a Roman +Catholic of the sixteenth century, was not so much out of character as +might be imagined at the moment. The chapel of Loretto and the church +of Sossau had set a noble example of locomotion, and Saint Peter’s of +Verona could have no rational reason for refusing to follow it upon a +proper occasion. + +Ainhausen, the property of Count Liebelfing, on the high road to +Rinkheim and Kagers, an old village from which the Lords of Kagers +formerly took their title, are the last villages on the right bank of +the river before you arrive at Straubing, the first town of consequence +on the Danube after leaving Ratisbon. + + + FOOTNOTES (CHAPTER I.) + +[3] Etymologists have squabbled as much over the name of the Danube, as +geographers over its source, which some contend to be near the village +of St. George, and others in the court-yard of the palace of the Prince +of Fürstenberg, at Donaueschingen. This mighty flood, the grandest in +Europe, and the third in consequence in the Old World, was known to the +Romans by the double name of the Danube, and the Ister. “Ortus hic in +Germaniæ jugis montes abnobae ex adverso Raurici Galliæ oppidi multis +ultra alpes millibus, ac per innumeras lapsus gentes Danubii nomine, +immenso aquarum auctu et unde primum Illyricum alluit Ister appellatus, +sexaginta amnibus receptis, medio ferme numero eorum navigabili, in +Pontum vastis sex fluminibus evolvitur.”--‘Plin. Nat. Hist.’ iv. 24. +The ancient Germans named it Döne and Tona; the Sclavonians, Donava. +The Hungarians call it Tanara, or Donara, and the Turks, Duna. Its +modern German appellation is Donau. Some of the earlier writers would +derive this name from Deus Abnobius, or Diana Abonbia, or Abnopa, +to whom a temple was dedicated near the source of the river. Others +deduce it from Thon, clay, and contend it should be written Thonau. +Others again would find its origin in the words Ton, sound, or Donner, +thunder; and Reichard, indeed, gives the latter as the received +derivation. Breuninger, however, proposes Tanne, a fir, and speciously +enough, the river rising in the Schwarz-wald, of which fir is the +distinctive character, and its banks being clothed with forests of the +same tree, along nearly the whole of its course; while Nikolai would +have us seek it in the Keltic words Do, Na, which signify two rivers, +and may either apply to its double name, “Binominem Istrum,” or to the +two sources which dispute the glory of its birth. + +[4] Vide ‘Gemeiner’s Reichs-stadt Regenburgische Chronik.’ 4to, +Regensburg, 1805. + +[5] Coxe’s ‘Hist. of the House of Austria,’ 8vo. +London, 1820, Vol. ii. p. 335. + +[6] “History of France,” 8vo. Vol. ii. p. 146. + +[7] From a wood-cut in the Nürnberg Chronicle of 1493, it appears, +however, that the towers were even at that time unfinished; one being +represented a story shorter than the other, and with a crane upon it +raising a stone. The author, Hartmann Schedel, in the text of the book, +describes the edifice as “yet incomplete.” + +[8] Vide ‘Ausführliche relation desjenigen wunderthätigen Kampfes, +welcher anno 930, den 23 Januar, zu Regensburg zwischen Hannss +Dollinger einem Burger daselbst und einem unglaubigen hunnischen +Obristen Craco, vorgegangen.’ 4to Regensburg, 1710. + +[9] The legend tells us, that the Infernal Architect was sadly worried, +during his labours, by a cock and a dog. A cock and a bull would have +figured with more propriety in such a story. + +[10] ‘Des Churbayer Atalantis, von A. W. Ertel.’ 8vo. Nurnberg, 1815. + +[11] ‘Travels through Germany, etc.’ 4 vols. 4to. London, 1757, vol. +iv. p. 212. The saint must surely have been like Mrs. Malaprop’s +Cerberus--“Three gentlemen at once.” + + +[12] Yet I do not find them noticed by Mr. Dibdin, in his curious +‘Bibliographical Tour.’ + +[13] Kloster Windberg was originally a castle belonging to the Counts +of Bogen. Albert of Bogen and Hedwig his wife founded the monastery in +1145. In the neighbourhood, two hermits are said to have resided, one +of whom murdered the other. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + Straubing--The Bridge--The Hauptstrasse--The Stadtthurm--The + Pfarr, or Collegiat Kirche--Story of Agnes Bernauer--The + Ramparts--The Atzelburg--Ober Altaich--Bogenberg--Kloster + Metten--The Natternberg--Deggendorf--The Gnade Zeit--Confluence + of the Isar and the Danube--Rafts from Munich to Vienna--Nieder + Altaich--Hengersberg--Osterhofen--Hoch-winzer--Hofkirchen--Kinzing-- + Hildegartsberg--Vilshofen--Collegiat Stift--The Sandbach--New Road + to Passau--Maximilian Joseph I., late King of Bavaria--Louis I., the + present Monarch--Statue of a Lion--Approach to Passau. + + +Straubing is pleasantly situated on the right bank of a small arm of +the river, or, as it might be called, a canal, through which part of +the noble stream has, of late years, been conducted to the very walls. +In front of it, the mountains, which, as I have already mentioned, +have retreated from the left bank, form a fine amphitheatre, in the +centre of which, the insulated Bogenberg rises like a pyramid. Like +most cities of any size and antiquity in Germany, Straubing is divided +into an Alt-Stadt and a Neu-Stadt. The old town is conjectured by some +to have been the Serviodurum Augusti of the Romans, the seat of the +Castra Augustana, etc., and traces of some entrenchments, supposed to +be Roman, are still to be seen just without the walls. The name of +“Straubinga” (“Curtis Regia”) first occurs in an instrument, dated A.D. +902. About forty years afterwards, we hear of the deeds of the noble +knights of Straubing and Stein. At the latter end of the tenth century, +Henry III. obtained the surname of Pious, by presenting Straubing to +his brother Otto, Bishop of Augsburg, who left it to the cathedral and +chapter of that place. It was governed by an officer called a Vice Dom, +till the commencement of the thirteenth century, when New Straubing was +built, and the old town re-annexed to the Duchy of Bavaria. Frederick +the Handsome, of Austria, besieged and took it in 1319. In 1332, Louis +the Bavarian lay before the town from the 4th of July till the 24th of +August, when, provoked by its obstinate resistance, he threw a bridge +over the Danube, by Kagers, and, making a desperate assault at the +Spital-gate, succeeded at last in carrying the place by storm. His +son, Duke William, first husband of Matilda of Lancaster, built the +castle on the Danube, A.D. 1356. It is now converted into barracks. In +1393, Straubing was entirely destroyed by fire, and the conflagration +having begun at a joiner’s, no person of that trade was permitted to +reside in the city from that time till the year 1540. It was most +vigorously defended against the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, in 1633. The +burgomaster, Höller, an excellent marksman, shot upwards of thirty of +his best officers from the ramparts. In 1635, Straubing was visited by +a dreadful pestilence. In 1704, it was taken by the Austrians, and, in +1780, the best half of it fell a second time a prey to the flames. The +loss was estimated at more than a million of florins. + +Straubing in its present state is cheerful and tolerably regular, but +more like a Dutch than a Bavarian town; the bridge across the Danube +is pretty, and the gate which terminates it fantastic. On entering the +Hauptstrasse or High-street, the eye is attracted by a quadrangular +tower, forming part of the Rath-haus or Guildhall, and much prized by +the Straubingers, who consider it the most ancient relic in the place; +but it seems to have been a terrible annoyance to Professor Schultes, +who neglects no opportunity of expressing his antipathy to it, and +astonishment that any reverence for its antiquity should prevent the +removal of a building, which hinders people from looking through the +town like a telescope. This Stadt-thurm as it is called is two hundred +feet high, and is now surmounted by a tin spire, with four smaller +pinnacles at the corners. There are two Latin inscriptions upon it, one +proclaiming its erection in 1208, and the other its renovation in 1783. +The largest building in the town is the Pfarr, or Collegiat Kirche, +commenced about 1432, and finished in 1512. In a small chapel in the +churchyard of St. Peter’s, in the Alt-stadt, is a red marble tablet, +on which reclines the effigy of a female surrounded by the following +inscription, “Anno Domini, +MCCCCXXXVI+, +XII+ Die Octobris, Obiit +Agnes Bernauerin. Requiescat in pace.” + + [Illustration: A marble tablet dedicate to Agnes Bernauer.] + +The fate of this unfortunate lady has furnished the subject for a +tragedy to the Count of Torring Seefeld, and one more deeply affecting +is scarcely to be found in the page of history. + +Albert, the only son of Duke Ernst of Bavaria, was one of the most +accomplished and valiant princes of the age he lived in. His father +and family had selected for his bride, the young Countess Elizabeth +of Würtemberg. The contract was signed and the marriage on the point +of taking place, when the lady suddenly eloped with a more favoured +lover, John Count of Werdenberg. The tidings were brought to Albert at +Augsburg, where he was attending a grand tournament given in honour +of the approaching nuptials, but they fell unheeded on his ear, as +his heart, which had not been consulted in the choice of his bride, +had just yielded itself, “rescue or no rescue,” to the bright eyes of +a young maiden whom he had distinguished from the crowd of beauties +that graced the lists. Virtuous as she was lovely, Agnes Bernauer had +obtained amongst the citizens of Augsburg, the appellation of “the +angel:” but she was the daughter of a bather, an employment considered +at that period, in Germany, as particularly dishonourable. Regardless +of consequences, however, he divulged his passion, and their marriage +was shortly afterwards privately celebrated in Albert’s castle at +Vohberg. Their happiness was doomed to be of short duration. Duke +Ernst became possessed of their secret, and the anger of the whole +house of Munich burst upon the heads of the devoted couple! Albert was +commanded to sign a divorce from Agnes, and prepare immediately to +marry Anna, daughter of Duke Erich of Brunswick. The indignant prince +refused to obey, and being afterwards denied admission to a tournament +at Regensburg, on the plea of his having contracted a dishonourable +alliance, he rode boldly into the lists upon the Heide Platz, before +the whole company declared Agnes Bernauer his lawful wife and duchess, +and conducted her to his palace at Straubing, attended as became her +rank. Every species of malice and misrepresentation was now set at +work to ruin the unfortunate Agnes. Albert’s uncle, Duke Wilhelm, who +was the only one of the family inclined to protect her, had a sickly +child, and she was accused of having administered poison to it. But +the duke detected the falsehood and became more firmly her friend. +Death too soon deprived her of this noble protector, and the fate of +the poor duchess was immediately sealed. Taking advantage of Albert’s +absence from Straubing, the authorities of the place arrested her on +some frivolous pretext, and the honest indignation with which she +asserted her innocence, was tortured into treason by her malignant +judges. She was condemned to die, and on Wednesday, October 12th, 1436, +was thrown over the bridge into the Danube, amidst the lamentations of +the populace[14]. Having succeeded in freeing one foot from the bonds +which surrounded her, the poor victim, shrieking for help and mercy, +endeavoured to reach the bank by swimming, and had nearly effected a +landing, when a barbarian in office, with a hooked pole, caught her by +her long fair hair, and dragging her back into the stream, kept her +under water until the cruel tragedy was completed. The fury and despair +of Albert on receiving these horrid tidings were boundless. He flew to +his father’s bitterest enemy, Louis the Bearded, at Ingolstadt, and +returned at the head of an hostile army to his native land, breathing +vengeance against the murderers of his beloved wife. The old duke, +sorely pressed by the arms of his injured son, and tormented by the +stings of conscience, implored the mediation of the Emperor Sigismund, +who succeeded after some time in pacifying Albert, and reconciling +him to his father, who, as a proof of his repentance, instituted a +perpetual mass for the soul of the martyred Agnes Bernauer. Albert +afterwards married Ann of Brunswick, by whom he had ten children. + +The ramparts of this town are now almost entirely demolished, and +the fosses turned into kitchen-gardens. The former were once planted +with mulberry-trees, but they were destroyed during the late war, +when Straubing, though not absolutely stormed or invested, suffered +considerably from the constant passage of troops, and the skirmishing +in its neighbourhood. The Straubingers are more celebrated for good +living than hard work. + + “On y mange et digére + Compère, compère; + On y fait bonne chere + Voilà tout le mystère!” + +is the quotation of Prof. Schultes, and may with great propriety be +applied to many bodies corporate, of more pretension than the humble +one of Straubing. + +The whole country was lighted up by a glorious sunset as we entered the +town to satisfy our curiosity and our appetite, and some time before +we returned from those important occupations, the “twilight grey” had +“in her sober livery all things clad.” We had determined on passing the +first night on board, in order to reach Vilshofen by breakfast-time +the following day, as from that place we understood the scenery would +become too interesting to admit of haste, or travelling after dark, +and preparations had been accordingly made by our little crew. The +sides of the zille were boarded up, and straw and boat-cloaks so +arranged as to make us a very comfortable couch, upon which we had no +sooner stretched ourselves than the word was given, and by the light +of the stars we dropped gently down the river, passing the Atzelburg +and Hockstetter-hof on the right bank. The former, also called the +Aciliusburg, is conjectured by some to have been the retreat of the +Roman Consul Acilius, when exiled for the _crime_ of Christianity, and +originally named from him Acilia Augusta. In its neighbourhood are some +entrenchments believed to be Roman. Reibersdorf, Kleinau, and Ebling +are villages on the right bank. Near the latter the small stream of the +Aitrach joins the Danube. On the left is Lenach, remarkable only as +having been purchased by the monks of Altaich in 1139, for ninety-five +Pf. Pfennige, about five shillings, English. + +Notwithstanding the precautions we had taken, I was too cold as +well as too curious to sleep; and as the moon got up so did I, and, +seating myself by the cabin door, looked on the gradually brightening +landscape, and listened to the songs of the boatmen who, as they lazily +plied their unwieldy paddles, warbled in their own peculiar style--a +style rendered familiar to London ears, by the interesting “Rainer +family,” for it is not confined to the Tyrol--several wild but pleasing +melodies. It is very provoking that the English should be, perhaps, +the only people who have no idea of singing in parts; an untutored +boatman, peasant, or soldier of almost any of the continental nations +will suddenly strike in with an extemporary and very creditable bass, +though the air be led off by an utter stranger to him. On the banks +of the Main at Aschaffenburg, and at Möhdling in the Wienerwald, I +was particularly struck with this pleasing talent, and have noticed +it repeatedly both in France and Switzerland. The complaint that the +English are not a musical nation is in my opinion better borne out +by this circumstance, than by the alleged deficiency of celebrated +composers, or the want of taste in the mixed audiences of our Concert +Rooms and Theatres. There is certainly no comparison between “the +native wood-notes wild” of a Devonshire ploughman, and those of a +Bavarian bauer. + +We soon came in sight of Ober-Altaich, a celebrated Benedictine +kloster. A Druidical altar is said to have been destroyed here by +the holy Parminius, who, with his own hand, cut down the oak under +which it stood, and caused a chapel to be erected upon the spot. The +convent was founded by Duke Uttilo II. A.D. 731, who brought thither +twelve Benedictine monks and an abbot from Reichenau, in the Lake of +Constance. The Hungarians destroyed it in 907, and it was a ruin for +nearly two hundred years, when Count Frederick of Bogen rebuilt it, +and, with his wife and sons, so liberally endowed and patronised it, +that in the thirteenth century there were no less than one hundred and +eighteen monks here, most of them of noble birth; and the dignity of +prince was granted to its abbots by Louis the Brandenburgher. In 1634, +Ober-Altaich was burnt by the Swedes, but shortly afterwards rose from +its ashes, more magnificent than ever,--a circumstance, says Schultes, +not at all surprising when you consider that, in spite of their vow +of poverty, the holy brotherhood enjoyed an annual income of thirty +thousand florins (between four and five thousand pounds sterling,) an +immense sum for this part of Germany, where a florin in the hands of a +native will go nearly as far as a pound in England. Passing the mouth +of the little Kinzach, and the villages of Saut and Hundersdorf, we +at length approached the long-seen Bogenberg. Upon its summit lie the +last crumbling relics of an old fortress, the Stammschloss[15] of the +once-dreaded Counts of Bogen. Germany in the times they flourished was, +as the Legate Cupanus described it in his letters to Rome--a den of +thieves. The deplorable state into which the whole empire was plunged +by the quarrels between the popes and the house of Swabia, the almost +total annihilation of the imperial power by the death of Conrad IV., +and the interregnum that followed the death of Richard King of the +Romans, in 1271, is vividly described by contemporary writers, one of +whom, in the language of scripture, exclaims, “In those days there +was no king in Israel, and every one did that which was right in his +own eyes.” “The earth (says another) mourned and languished, Mount +Lebanon was shaken from its foundations, and the moon was turned into +blood[16].” The terms noble and robber were synonymous, and the higher +the rank the more lawless and rapacious were the deeds of the titled +ruffian. The castle of Bogen was admirably adapted for a bandit’s hold. +Seated upon the apex of a pyramidical rock, inaccessible but by one +narrow pass on its eastern side, which a handful of determined men +might keep against a host, and commanding a view over nearly half the +dukedom of Bavaria, its lawless lord watched from its battlements, like +a vulture, the approach of his unsuspecting prey, and, pouncing upon +it, bore it up in triumph to his mountain eyrie, where he feasted at +his leisure in security. The domains of the Counts of Bogen extended +from Regensburg to the Ilz, and from the shores of the Danube far into +Bohemia. Their friendship and alliance were sought by King and Kaiser, +by the Dukes of Bavaria, and the Markgraves of Austria; and their feuds +with the Counts of Ortenburg deluged the land repeatedly with blood. +But bigotry and superstition lost them what rapine and murder had won. +Their revenues filled the coffers of greedy abbots, and their castles +were gradually transformed into convents. An image of the Virgin was +one day seen floating upon the Danube, and drifting ashore near the +little market-town of Bogen, which lies at the foot of the mountain, on +its western side, rested on a stone on the bank. Count Answin, struck +with so _miraculous_ an occurrence, presented the castle of Bogen to +the kloster of Ober Altaich, which his brother Frederick had founded. +Forty years afterwards, Count Albert I. of Bogen was wheedled out of +the castle of Windberg by another holy fraternity; and about the middle +of the thirteenth century the family became extinct, by the death of +Count Albert IV., who had followed the unfortunate Emperor, Frederick +II., to the Holy Land. Ludmilla, the mother of this last Count of +Bogen, was a Bohemian Princess; and, on the death of her husband, +Albert III., Louis II., Duke of Bavaria, becoming enamoured of her +from report, offered her marriage, provided, says the chronicle, he +should like her upon a personal acquaintance. Ludmilla consented to +this proposition, and the duke visited her accordingly. Suspecting, +however, the sincerity of his protestations, she one day requested +him, as in a joke, to plight his troth to her in a tapestried chamber, +and to consider the figures of three knights, worked in the hangings, +as witnesses of the contract. The duke, to humour this apparently +childish fancy, smilingly held up his hand, and took the oath required +of him, when, to his utter astonishment, three living knights, “good +men and true,” stepped out from behind the tapestry, where they had +been purposely concealed by the cunning Bohemian, and compelled the +ensnared potentate to ratify his pledge[17]. The church of our Lady +of Bogen, erected in honour of the miraculous image before-mentioned, +stands beside the ruins of the castle, and from six to eight thousand +pilgrims have been known at one time to congregate about its far-famed +shrine. It has been several times injured by lightning, and its roof +carried away by the high winds, a natural consequence of its exposed +situation. A thunderstorm burst over it on Whit-Tuesday, A.D. 1618, +during one of these meetings, and the lightning having fired the +steeple, such confusion ensued, that fourteen persons were crushed +to death[18]. The Bogenberg and its vicinity have been fertile in +miracles. A ridiculous story is told by Æmilius Hemmauer, a prior of +Ober-Altaich, about a moving altar, and in the little market-town is +shown a tooth of St. Sebastian, over which water is poured into a +goblet; and it is gravely asserted that whoever drinks of this water, +need fear no infectious disorder for twelve months to come. The little +rivers Bogen and Menach join the Danube near this spot, and on the +opposite shore are the villages of Absam and Hermansdorf. + +As the Danube approaches its confluence with the Isar, its banks become +bolder and more interesting; a crowd of villages present themselves, +amongst which the most important are Pfelling, whence a considerable +quantity of wood is sent to Vienna; Irlbach, the principal depôt +for the corn of the Dunkelboden, before the Danube washed the walls +of Straubing; and Wischelburgh, on the site of the Roman Bisonium, +destroyed by the tremendous Attila. + +Kloster-Metten, on the left bank, according to the legend, owes its +foundation to the following circumstances: A herdsman of Michaelbuch, +named Gamelbert, awaking from a deep sleep, in which he had been +indulging beneath a tree, found, to his surprise, a book lying upon his +breast. On examination he found it was written in English, and, though +he knew just as much of the language as the beasts that were grazing +before him, he immediately commenced reading it, and was so edified by +its contents, that he abandoned his flocks and herds, and, repairing to +Rome, became a Christian priest. On his way thither he baptised a boy, +whom he named Utto, and desired his parents to send the lad to him when +he became a man; they did so, and Gamelbert made over to him the care +of the souls of the worthy inhabitants of Michaelbuch. Utto, however, +had no great affection for his new calling, and leaving the poor souls +to take care of themselves, crossed the Danube, and wandered into the +Waldes, where he built a hermitage, in honour of the Archangel Michael, +near a spring, which is still called Utto’s Spring, and amused himself +with sundry curious pranks, amongst which was the rather difficult +one of hanging his axe upon a sunbeam! Charlemagne, hunting in the +neighbourhood, caught the holy hermit in the fact, and, astonished, as +well he might be, by so extraordinary a performance, promised to grant +him any boon he might be pleased to ask. Utto requested that a convent +might be built on the spot, and Kloster-Metten was erected at the +command of Charlemagne. + +On the opposite side to Kloster-Metten, suddenly rises the remarkable +Natternberg the only rock on the right bank from Prufening to +Pleinting, a distance of upwards of eighty English miles. It is nearly +three hundred feet high; and on its summit are the ruins of another +castle, which belonged to the Counts of Bogen, who made it their +residence in 1232. The curious appearance of this mass of granite, +standing in solitary majesty upon this extensive plain, and cut off, +as it were, from its giant brethren of the Böhmer-Wald by the bright +and trenchant Danube, has given rise to many speculations amongst +the geologists of Germany; but while the learned are at loggerheads +respecting this natural phenomenon, the honest people who reside +in its neighbourhood, and who, therefore, surely have a right to a +voice on the subject, have settled the question completely to their +own satisfaction. The Devil, say they, hating the Deggendorfers, for +their piety, determined to destroy them outright; and, with that +intention, brought a rock from Italy, (none in the neighbourhood, I +presume, being suitable to his purpose,) with the malicious intention +of hurling it upon the devoted town of Deggendorf, and crushing +it, with all its inhabitants, into the Danube. Passing opposite to +Kloster-Metten, “half flying, half on foot,” with this formidable +missile under his arm, the bells of the convent rang for the Ave +Maria! The virtue of the holy sounds was immediately felt by the arch +apostate. “Gnashing for anguish, and despite, and shame,” he dropped +the mountain “like a hot potatoe,” and there, where it fell, it stands +to this day; an immutable proof of the power of bell-ringing, and a +monument of the piety and narrow escape of the Deggendorfers. In the +castle, on its crest, Duke Albert of Austria besieged his faithless +favourite Peter Ecker, A.D. 1347; and Henry of Landshut was educated +within its walls, from which circumstance he obtained the additional +sirname of the Natternberger. The castle was reduced to its present +ruinous state by the Swedes, and now belongs to a Count of Preising. +From the little place, called Fischerdorf, at the foot of the mountain, +the town of Deggendorf is seen lying in a beautiful valley, surrounded +by hills that rise in circles, each above the other, and having in +front the Danube; here broader than in any other part of Bavaria, +(nearly one thousand two hundred feet,) across which is a wooden +bridge, supported by twenty-six piers, but built so slightly, in order +that it may be easily removed to give an annual passage to the ice, +that Schultes says, it shakes under the curvetting of a single horse. +Of the ancient history of Deggendorf very little is known, its records +having been all destroyed; some by the Swedes, under Bernhard von +Weimar, and the rest by fire, in 1638. + +Pilgrims, from all parts of Germany, flock to Deggendorf upon Saint +Michael’s eve, which is a celebrated Gnade-zeit, (time of grace,) when +absolution is granted to all comers, in consequence of some miraculous +circumstances that, in the year 1337, attended the purloining and +insulting of the Host by a woman and some Jews; who, having bought the +consecrated wafer from her, scratched it with thorns till it bled, and +the image of a child appeared; baked it, vision and all, in an oven; +hammered it upon an anvil, the block of which is still shown to the +pilgrim; attempted to cram it down “their accursed throats,” (I quote +the words of the original description,) but were prevented by the hands +and feet of the vision aforesaid; and finally, despairing to destroy +it, flung it into a well, which was immediately surrounded by a nimbus, +etc. I should not have noticed these disgusting falsehoods, but for +the melancholy fact, that the circulation of this trumpery story was +considered a sufficient cause, by the _pious_ Deggendorfers, for the +indiscriminate massacre of all the wretched Jews in the place; which +infamous and bloody deed was perpetrated the day after St. Michael, +sanctioned by _Christian_ priests, who, in grand procession, carried +back the indestructible wafer to the church, and solemnly approved, +in 1489, by Pope Innocent VIII., who issued his bull for the general +absolution abovementioned[19]. Above fifty thousand pilgrims assembled +here in 1801; and as late as 1815, so considerable were their numbers, +that the greater part of them passed the night in the streets of the +town, and in the fields in its neighbourhood. + +The moon had set before we passed Deggendorf, but the night was light +enough to see the “Isar rolling rapidly,” through its many mouths, to +join the mighty Danube; and the spire of Plattling in the distance, a +tolerably sized market-town, where there is a bridge across the former +river, and the post-house, between Straubing and Vilshofen. Below +this bridge, the raft-masters of Munich, who leave that city every +Monday for Vienna, unite their rafts before they enter the Danube. They +descend the Isar upon single rafts only; but upon reaching this point +they lash them together in pairs, and in fleets of three, four, or six +pairs, they set out for Vienna. A voyage is made pleasantly enough +upon these floating islands, as they have all the agrémens without the +confinement of a boat. A very respectable promenade can be made from +one end to the other, and two or three huts erected upon them afford +shelter in bad weather and repose at night. + +Isargemünd, situated in one of the many islands, at the confluence of +the rivers, is the only village on your right till you reach Thundorf, +where there is a ferry over to Nieder Altaich; on the left are the +Halbe-meile-kirche, and two or three small hamlets. + +Nieder Altaich, another Benedictine convent[20], and, at one time, the +most important that the order possessed in Bavaria; its annual income +being not less than one hundred thousand florins; stands at the foot of +the frowning Böhmer-wald, which here again bends its bushy brows upon +the bright river. Saint Parminius is said to have acted the same scene +here which has already been described in the notice of Ober Altaich. +And Uttilo II., not contented with having founded that kloster, brought +hither an equal number of monks from the same monastery of Reichenau, +and established them in a like manner. Its abbot soon became the +richest in Bavaria; but the Hungarians, in the tenth century, ravaged +the country with fire and sword, and Nieder Altaich suffered the fate +of its prototype. In 990, however, it was rebuilt, and still more +richly endowed by the Emperor Otto, and Henry Duke of Bavaria. Saint +Gotthard came barefooted from Reichersdorf, where he was born in 965, +of humble parents, and from a monk became abbot, and lastly, bishop +of Hildesheim, where he died, A.D. 1035. The monks of Nieder Altaich, +it appears, gradually forgot the pious lessons and fair example of +Saint Gotthard; which, during his life, had materially improved the +reputation of the community; for in 1282, we find them making a riddle +of their abbot with arrows, from an ambush on the river side, as he +is crossing the ferry to Thundorf[21]. The abbots, themselves, also, +were many of them unworthy successors of that holy man. One of the last +superiors of this kloster, for instance, by name Augustin Ziegler, not +contented with expending annually upwards of ninety thousand florins, +ran the fraternity into a debt of nearly one hundred thousand before he +was _invited_ to retire from the cares of office, and live in peace at +Straubing, upon a slender annuity. In the “Topographischen Lexicon von +Baiern,” 2s., 508., is the following account of this worthy prelate, +who seems to have formed a very tolerable idea of the “otium cum +dignitate,” which should bless an abbot of Benedictines. “Besides his +valet he had two pages. On his name-day all the principal persons of +the government of Straubing assembled in the grand refectory of Nieder +Altaich. A band of trumpets and kettle-drums was in attendance, from +daybreak, facing his chamber window, and the moment his Excellency (for +he had purchased the title of a privy councillor) opened his eyes, the +pages undrew the curtains of cloth of gold, amidst a flourish from the +trumpets and kettle-drums without, while a battery of small mortars +proclaimed in thunder to the surrounding country, the dawning of the +name-day of this important personage.” His conduct, however, soon +became so notorious that he was compelled to resign, and retire upon +an annual allowance of two hundred ducats and ten eimers of wine. Ten +times has this kloster been burned down, and rebuilt each time more +magnificently; till at last, if we may believe Lackner’s account, the +very oxen of the community eat out of marble mangers--“pecora fecit in +marmore pabulari!” + +A little beyond Nieder Altaich, upon the same bank, is the town of +Hengersberg, with its old castle, given, in 1212, by Altnann von +Helingersberg to Saint Mauritius, then abbot of that kloster. The +Danube formerly flowed over part of the bank, and, what is now the +lazzar-house, was, at that time, the river toll-house. At Hengersberg, +the Danube again turns from the Bohemian mountains, as wearied with +its unavailing efforts to penetrate the giant line; but the gentle +eminences which still skirt its left bank are enough to preserve its +superiority to that of the right, which, all the way from Ratisbon, +with the solitary exception of the Natternberg, had not presented +one hillock to break the long, low line of shore, more in keeping +with the sluggish stream of a Dutch canal, than with the rapid waves +of the “boiling Danube,” an epithet, by the bye, more descriptive +than any other of its singular current, which, whether running fast +or slowly, keeps up a constant whirling, eddying, and bubbling, +accompanied by a low hissing sound which (pardon, gentle reader, the +humble comparison) reminded our English ears of nothing so much as the +singing of a tea-kettle. After passing a handful of villages, whose +almost unpronounceable names shall be presented hereafter, in their due +order, to the curious in consonants, we glided by Osterhofen, a little +town on the side of a small hill, a short distance from the shore. It +is one of the oldest towns in Bavaria, and was the site of the Castra +Petrensia. The Avars, who desolated the banks of the Danube during the +sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, here suffered a serious defeat; +and the victory having been gained on an Easter Sunday, the town took +the name of _Oster_-hofen, and still bears in its arms a Paschal lamb. +In the meadow where the battle was fought, and named from that event, +“Oster-wiese,” stood Kloster Oster-hofen, erected in honour of, and +gratitude for, the defeat of the barbarians. Hither Uttilo II. brought +some more of his friends, the Benedictines; but the barbarians returned +in 765, thirsting for vengeance, and gratified it by razing the +Kloster to the ground. It was rebuilt, but the rest of its history is +neither clear nor interesting. The indefatigable Uttilo is supposed to +have been buried here, where also lie, according to report, which may +be said to _lie_ also, nine of the eleven thousand virgins who suffered +martyrdom with Saint Ursula at Cologne. + +Below Osterhofen, on the left, are the picturesque ruins of the Castle +of Hoch-Winzer, or Ober-Winzer, over the little town of the same name. +Both town and castle received this appellation from the considerable +vineyards which flourished here; but who the Lords of Winzer were, +or what feats they achieved, Schultes says he has not been able to +discover: all that is known about them is, that they lie buried at +Osterhofen. The Pandours reduced the castle to its present ruinous +condition in 1741[22]. Flinschbach, built, in 1230, by the Counts of +Bogen, and three or four other villages of still less note, on each +side of the river, enliven the scene, till the ruins of the Castle +of Hofkirchen rise on the left bank; in the fourteenth century, the +residence of the powerful Counts of Ortenburg, the sworn enemies of the +Counts of Bogen, and the terror of all navigators of the Danube. What, +with barefaced plundering, and the exercise of a self-erected right, +called “grundruhr,” which literally signifies grounding, scarcely +a vessel escaped the clutches of these robber lords. This right of +grundruhr entitled them to take possession of every vessel, with its +crew and cargo, that grounded upon any bank, shoal, or island, within +their domain. If it but grated on the sand, or brushed the shore, it +was immediately pronounced “grundrürhrig” by the armed vassals of +the noble bandit, who were continually on the watch, and who made no +scruple of chasing the unfortunate schiffers till they drove them +aground, and then coolly laid _legal_ claim to their property. + +Nearly opposite Winzer is Kinzing, or Kinzen, the Castra Quintana, or +Augusta Quintanorum Colonia of the Romans, upon a small height, from +whence a little brook leaps into the Danube. Several miracles are +related of Saint Severinus, who resided here during the fifth century, +how he saved the place from inundation, by planting a cross on the +river’s bank; how he brought his dead friend Sylvin to life again, in +the wooden church that stood outside the walls, and how Sylvin took it +in exceeding ill part, and insisted on dying again immediately. “I beg +of thee, I conjure thee,” exclaimed the indignant Sylvin, “not to rouse +me from the rest which God has appointed for me! Why hast thou awakened +me? Why hast thou brought me back into a world, into which I never +more wish to return?” The Saint, I suspect, looked uncommonly silly on +receiving this unexpected rap on the knuckles: his apology, if one he +made, has not come down to us. The _fact_ is related on the authority +of a young peasant girl, who hid herself in the church, on purpose to +witness the miracle which she suspected was about to be performed; and +it would be the height of impertinence, under such circumstances, to +inquire into particulars. + +By the time we had reached Kinzing, + + “Morn, her rosy steps in th’ orient clime, + Advancing, sowed the earth with eastern pearl;” + +And as we made the point which brought us in view of the fine old ruin +of Hildegartsberg, the sun rising immediately behind it shot his +glorious rays, like golden arrows; through the loop-holes and windows +of its bare and blackened walls, that frowned still darker from the +blaze of light behind them. It was a scene in which the spirit of that +daring artist, Turner, would have revelled. My companion, who had given +me tolerable proofs during our passage from London to Ostend; that he +could “sleep in spite of thunder,” was awakened by my raptures; and we +stood, at the head of the boat, gazing at the beautiful picture, and +basking in the welcome beams of “the great lamp by which the world is +blest,” till the river, suddenly taking a new direction, brought us +again into the shadow of the left bank, and showed us Vilshofen, with +its long light bridge and pretty gardens laughing in the sunshine, at +the farther extremity of the valley we had now entered. Little appears +to be known about Hildegartsberg further than that it was like so many +other castles on the Rhine, the Danube, etc., the hold of some robber +knight, noble, or priest, of the middle ages, and destroyed by Duke +Albert of Austria, in 1346. + +That most delightful of all chroniclers, Froissart, who commenced +his interesting annals shortly after this period, gives a lamentable +account of the brutality and avarice of the nobility and clergy of +Germany. “When a German hath taken a prisoner,” (says he,) “he putteth +him into irons, and into hard prison, without any pity, to make him pay +the greater finance and ransom.”[23] Again, “They are a covetous people +above all other. They have no pity if they have the upper hand, and +they demean themselves with cruelty to their prisoners. They put them +to sundry pains, to compel them to make their ransoms greater; and, if +they have a lord or a great man for their captive, they make great joy +thereof, and will convey him into Bohemia, Austria, or Saxony, and keep +him in some uninhabitable castle. They are people worse than Saracens +or Paynims; for their excessive covetousness quencheth the knowledge of +honour;”[24] and Schmidt[25] tells us, that an archbishop thought he had +a fair revenue before him, when he built his fortress on the junction +of four “roads.” + +Nearly facing Hildegartsberg is Pleinting, a small market-town, at +which the plain stretching from the gates of Regensburg, along the +right bank of the Danube, at last terminates, and the beauty of the +river really commences. The road from Straubing runs beside it, upon +a sort of terrace, and the sight of a post-chariot whirling along, +recalled our wandering thoughts from the dark but interesting ages +into which the contemplation of ruined tower and cloister grey had led +them, to the less romantic, but, in our situation, equally interesting +prospect, of a good inn and a capital breakfast. Alas! it seemed as +if neither were to be found in Vilshofen, or, at least, that it was +decreed we should not meet with them. Gilt lions, red stags, white +horses, and blue bulls; apples and orange trees, as a herald would say, +“proper;” crowns and coronets, and heads every way worthy of them; +suns, moons, and stars, “yea, the great globe itself,” swung to and +fro in the morning breeze, in every direction, and in endless variety; +but in vain, from spot to spot, “with courteous action, they waved us +to a more removed ground.” The exteriors of these caravanserais alone +were promising. If “houses of entertainment” they were, that quality +seemed entirely restricted to the outside. Their newly white-washed +walls, and neatly painted green doors and shutters, surmounted by one +of the glittering ensigns aforesaid, but served to make the dark gulf +of the long, low-roofed, rambling, unfurnished, smoky speise-saal, +appear more dreary, dirty, and uncomfortable; and it was some time +before even hunger, that least ceremonious of all sensations, could +induce us to make the plunge. Having at last screwed up our courage +to the sticking-place, we rushed into--the Moon, I believe; made the +hostess stare, by drinking four or five “portions” of coffee, which +turned out better than we expected, and ate a most respectable quantum +of tolerable “butter brod” and half a dozen eggs; for the whole of +which we paid twenty kreutzers (about sixpence English) each, being +then charged at least double what would have been demanded of their own +countrymen. + +Vilshofen was the Villa Quintanica of the Romans, and is situated +at the confluence of the river Vils with the Danube. Rapoto, Count +of Ortenburg, fortified it in the eleventh century; and its history +from that period is little more than an unbroken narrative of takings +and retakings, plunderings and burnings, down to the end of the last +war. Its principal trade is in beer; for a particular sort of which +beverage it has been long celebrated: and its principal building +is an ecclesiastical establishment, for which I cannot find an +English name to my liking, that owes its foundation to the following +circumstance:--Heinrich Tuschl, knight of Saldenau, upon ocular proof +of his wife’s infidelity, condemned the miserable woman to be walled up +alive, abjured the company, and shunned the sight of females, and left +the greater part of his property in 1376 to found this establishment. +Upon the charter was written: + + “2 Hund an ain Bain; + Ich Tuschl bleib allain.” + + “Two dogs to one bone; + I Tuschl bide alone.”[26] + +Having re-embarked and passed under the wooden bridge, on the centre +of which is a crucifix, we passed by Hacheldorf, which forms a kind +of suburb to Vilshofen, and the market town of Windorf, famous for +boat-building. Near Hansbach the little Wolfach falls into the Danube; +and below this spot the river boils over numberless sunken rocks, +many of which show their white heads above the water, studding the +stream in all directions. Shortly afterwards the river narrows, and a +slight fall, or what our sailors call a race, ensues. The watermen, +who magnify the little difficulties of this navigation into the most +astounding dangers, call this “das gefürchtete Sandbach!” The cottages +on the banks now assumed a Swiss appearance, being all of wood, with +galleries across their gables, and far-projecting roofs. A slight +change was also perceivable in the costume of the women; the little +black silk cap, with its long ribbon streamers, had given place to a +dark-coloured cotton handkerchief, bound closely round the head, and +tied in a knot behind, the ends hanging down. The impetus given to the +current by the little fall now carried us merrily along, to the great +delight of our lazy boatmen, who made it a point of conscience not to +wag a finger when they could possibly avoid it, past Gaishofen, where +a small stream called the Gaisach joins the Danube, and Heining on the +right bank, and Dobelstein (formerly called Engelberg) on the left. +For a new road cut through the rocks on the very brink of the river, +by which nearly six English miles are saved in posting to Passau, +Bavaria and its visiters are indebted to Maximilian-Joseph, the father +of the present monarch, Louis I. who, treading in the footsteps of his +excellent sire, inherits not only his crown but the affection of his +people; and by his unbounded kindness and liberality to the professors +of the fine arts, has obtained throughout the continent the honourable +addition to his style, of “the King of the Learned.” In the tour, of +which this descent of the Danube formed a part, I travelled nearly all +over Bavaria, and had the gratification of hearing the praises of its +king from all lips and in all places; not the mere mouth-homage which +betrays itself by the cold precision of the language in which it is +couched, but the ebullition of feeling rushing pure from the heart, +and leaping the barriers of ceremony in its honest ardour. “Our king +is a good fellow,” is the homely but expressive phrase in which his +character is invariably summed up by all who speak of him. Shortly +after he came to the throne, he disbanded an expensive body-guard, and +on being questioned as to the policy of the act, he replied, “We are at +peace; why should I burden my people with an unnecessary expense? as +for myself, I want no regiment to protect me, my fellow-citizens are my +body-guard.” In a very handsome new street erecting in Munich by his +order, there is an unseemly gap occasioned by an antique isolated house +standing edgeways in the centre of the modern buildings. On expressing +our surprise that it was allowed to remain there, we were told that it +belonged to an old general, who had resisted every proposal for its +demolition, and it having been suggested to the king to compel him, his +answer was, “No, no, let him have his way; he is an old man, and has +perchance but a few years to live; I will not abridge their number by +annoying him.” His majesty frequently takes a country walk alone, or +with but one attendant, and, dressed like a farmer, chats freely and +jocularly with the peasantry; never leaving them, however, without some +mark of his bounty. + +I cannot be expected to vouch for the truth of these anecdotes as +far as regards their details or the exact expressions used, but they +are amongst the many in general circulation; and an excellent modern +tourist has justly remarked, that “an anecdote in general circulation, +even though not strictly true in point of fact, will commonly be +accordant to the character of the person of whom it is related, and +will thus be a correct, though perhaps a fictitious illustration of his +mode of acting.” The person of Louis is worthy his noble character; +intelligence and spirit are visible in every line of his countenance; +a high forehead, large and deeply-set dark eyes, to which a profusion +of black hair, pushed carelessly off the temples, and dark upturned +mustachios, would give something like an expression of fierceness, +were it not for the benignant smile which plays about his mouth +when addressing you. His queen, too, is renowned for her beauty and +affability; and, in short, a more handsome and deservedly popular pair +never graced a continental throne. + +But to return to the Danube, from whence I have wandered to pay my +humble tribute of praise to one of the best of monarchs. By the side +of the new road before mentioned is the statue of a lion-couchant +upon a pedestal, and placed upon a jutting rock, with an inscription +beneath it stating the chaussée to have been made by command of +Maximilian-Joseph I., King of Bavaria. In a few minutes after you have +passed this monument, the towers of the church of Maria-hilf appear +above the hills, and shortly afterwards the cathedral of Passau, and +the old fort of Oberhaus on the opposite height, are seen rising over +the foliage of an island in the centre of the river. The approach to +the city between the island and the left bank is most beautiful; and +whoever is acquainted with the scenery of the Rhine will immediately +acknowledge, that it has not improperly obtained the appellation of +“the Coblentz of the Danube.” + + + FOOTNOTES (CHAPTER II) + +[14] Professor Schultes says, the date on the tombstone is incorrect, +and that it should be October 12th, 1435, as Albert married again 1436. +The bridge from which she was precipitated, was that which crossed the +old arm of the Danube, and no longer exists. The present bridge passes +over the new branch of the river, that washes the town and connects +its northern side with the Island called the Donauwiese, in which the +famous Sossau fair, which began on the Sunday after Michaelmas, and +lasted eight days, was formerly held. + +[15] The original castle of a particular family--the cradle of the +race. _Schloss_ is, however, a most convenient word, as it not only +stands for a castle or a palace, but for those buildings which are both +or neither. The _chateaux_ of France, and the _seats_ or _mansions_ of +England. + +[16] The Archbishop of Cologne, in a Letter to the Pope. + +[17] Henry Döring has a ballad on this subject, entitled, “Die Zeugen,” +(the Witnesses.) Vide ‘Ruinen oder Taschenbüch zür Geschicte verfalener +Ritterburgen und Schlosser, etc. Wien, 1826. 1 Sammlung.’ One might be +pardoned for supposing the proverb of “Walls have ears,” to have arisen +from this adventure. + +[18] + “Tausend sechs hundert zehn und acht, + Am dritten Pfingstag, nach Mittnacht. + Schlug das Wildfeur oben ein, + Lief aus dem Thurm in d’kirch hinein; + Die kirch gesteckt voll Kirchfarther war + Der brennets viel: zwey sturben gar. + In diesem Schreken, Strauss, und Brauss + Drang alle welt zur Kirchen auss; + Der gross Gewalt erdruckt ohnverschon + Vier manns und zehen weibsperson + Da liegn ihr in zwey Grabern todt + Drey Mann, sibn Weiber: tröst sie Gott.” + ‘Hemmauer,’ a. a. O. 357. + +[19] The whole of these circumstances, from the stealing of the Host +to the granting of the Bull, are represented in paintings on the walls +of the church. Nearly the same story is told at Bruxelles of three +miraculous wafers, which were stolen and stabbed by Jews, in 1369; and +for which imputed crime, several of that persecuted people were burnt +alive, by order of Duke Wenceslaus. The author of ‘Les Délices des +Pays Bas’ tells us, that, “Les hosties et les marques durent encore +aujourd’hui, et ne souffrent pas qu’on les approche _sans je me sçai +quelle horreur toute sainte_. On les garde pour un gage particulier de +la protection divine envers la ville de Brusselles.” Vol. i. p. 121. +It appears that the Deggendorfers owed the Jews a considerable sum of +money; it is, therefore, most probable that the story was got up to +enable them, as the debt grew troublesome, to wash it out in blood. +Vide ‘Das obsiegende Glaubenswunder des ganzen Christl. Churlandes +Baiern willsagen _unlaugbarer_ Bericht, etc.’ 8vo. Deggendorf, 1814. + +[20] “So soon another,” says Schultes, “I think I hear the traveller +and the reader exclaim, who may not be acquainted with the magnitude +of this order.” And then he proceeds to give, from Hemmauer, the +following list of popes, priests, emperors, kings, etc. who had, up to +that time, embraced the Order of Saint Benedict: viz. “Sixty-three +popes, two hundred and twenty-three cardinals, two hundred and +fifty-five patriarchs, sixteen thousand archbishops, forty-six thousand +bishops, twenty-one emperors, twenty-five empresses, forty-eight +kings, fifty-four queens, one hundred and forty-six imperial and royal +children, and four hundred and forty-five sovereign princes and dukes!” +Donaufahrten, tom. i. 8. 374. note. + +[21] Memoriale, seu Altachiæ inferioris memoria superstes, ex tabulis, +annalibus, diplomatis, etc. 6. Joan. Bapt. Lackner etc. Fol. Passavii, +1779. + +[22] Schultes says, in 1740; but this must be a mistake, as Maria +Theresa was not crowned Queen of Hungary till the 25th of June, 1741; +and it was after that ceremony that, clad in deep mourning, with the +crown of St. Stephen on her head, and the scimitar at her side, she +made the affecting address to the Diet, which, rousing the whole +nation, brought its numerous tribes from the banks of the Save, the +Drave, the Teiss and the Danube, to the royal standard. These troops, +under the names of Croats, Pandours, Sclavonians, Warasdinians, and +Tolpaches, exhibited a new and astonishing spectacle to the eyes of +Europe. By their dress and arms, by the ferocity of their manners, and +their singular mode of combat, they struck terror into the disciplined +armies of Germany and France. Vide Coxe’s ‘History of the House of +Austria,’ 8vo. vol. iv. p. 442.--Baron Riesbeck, who also dates the +circumstance 1740, says, “When the Hungarian nobility took the field +for their _king_ Maria Theresa, the first sight of such troops struck +the French army with a panic. They had, indeed, often seen detachments +of these ‘_Diables d’Hongrie_,’ as they used to call them; but a +whole army, drawn up in battle array, unpowdered from the general to +the common soldier, half their faces covered with long whiskers, a +sort of round beaver on their heads instead of hats, without ruffles +or frills to their shirts, and without feathers, all clad in rough +skins, monstrous crooked sabres, ready drawn and uplifted, their eyes +darting flashes of rage sharper than the beams of their naked sabres, +was a sight our men had not been accustomed to see.” (It must be +remembered that Riesbeck, though a German, writes in the character +of a Frenchman.) “Our oldest officers still remember the impression +these terrible troops made, and how difficult it was to make the men +stand against them, till they had been accustomed to their formidable +appearance.” Pinkerton’s Collect. vol. vi. p. 112. + +[23] Liv. i. ch. 433. + +[24] Liv. ii. ch. 125. + +[25] Geschichte der Deutschen. + +[26] The canons or prebends of this establishment have the +word “allain,” (“alone,”) inscribed upon their arms, their clothes, +and their houses. Schultes tells us that a wag Latinised it “Solus cum +sola.” + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + Passau--The Inn-stadt--The Fair--The Cathedral--The + Bridge--Fortress of Oberhaus--Celebrated View--Maria-hilf--The + Ilz-stadt--The Sword Cutlery--Present Manufactures and Commerce + of Passau--Talismans--Goitres--Excursions into the Environs of + Passau--Confluence of the Inn and the Danube--Krempenstein--Hafner + Zell--Its Manufactories--Fichtenstein--The Jochenstein--The Ruin of + Ried. + + +A spot where three rivers meet, amidst a quadruple chain of mountains, +rising four hundred feet above the level of the water, was not +likely to escape the notice of the ancient lords of the world, and +consequently the Romans built, upon the promontory between the Inn and +the Danube, their “Castra Batava.” The Inn-stadt, on the right bank of +the Inn, and which is connected with Passau by a bridge across that +river, was the Roman Bojodurum. In St. Severin’s time it was called +Boitro. The saint saved the city from the wrath of Gibuld, King of +Swabia, but it was destroyed by Chunimund, the successor of Gibuld, +while Severin was at his kloster near Vienna, A.D. 475. Bibilo, Bishop +of Lorch, flying from the destroying Avars, was received with open +arms by Uttilo II., who built for him here, at the eastern end of the +city, the Nonnen-kloster of Nidernburg, A.D. 739. About one hundred +and fifty years later, the successors of this bishop modestly laid +claim to the whole city; and kept it in defiance of king and kaiser, +till the year 1802, shortly after which period it was secularized +and given to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. The bishopric of Passau, +under its ecclesiastical princes, included (besides the city of +Passau, the Inn-stadt, and the Ilz-stadt,) the castles of Marsbach +and Rana-riedl, the market-towns of Ebersberg and Ips, the towns of +Mautern, Amstetten, Greifenstein, Stockerau, St. Andre, and many other +places in Austria, nearly the whole of the present bishopric of Linz, +and a large portion of Bohemia. One of these sovereign prelates, of +the family of Hohenloe, ran the bishopric; notwithstanding its immense +revenues, into considerable debt, while, with great affectation of +piety and contempt for the pomps and vanities of this life, he caused +to be inscribed on the walls of his palace, “O Welt! O böse Welt!” (“O +world! O wicked world!”) upon which a waggish dean wrote under, as in +continuation of the sentence, “Wie übel verzehrst Du des Hochstifts +Geld!” (“How ill dost thou consume the chapter’s gold!”) At the same +time let us not forget that we are, perhaps, indebted to a Bishop of +Passau for the preservation of that most interesting, as well as most +ancient, specimen of Teutonic romance, the Nibelungen-lied. Pelegrin, +or Pilgerin, Bishop of Passau, who died in 991, collected the then +current legends of the Nibelungen, which he committed to writing in +the favourite Latin tongue, with the assistance of his scribe Conrad, +whose name has occasioned the Swabian poem to be sometimes ascribed to +Conrad of Wurtzburg, who lived long after.[27] On the 2d of August, +1552, was signed here the celebrated treaty, or pacification of Passau, +by the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, as representative of his brother, +the Emperor Charles V., and Maurice of Saxony, in the name of the +Protestant party. + +In 1610, the Emperor Rudolph raised a body of troops in the diocese +of Passau, which, on his reconciliation the same year with his +brother Matthias, he affected to disband, at the same time purposely +withholding their pay, in order to afford them a pretext for invading +Bohemia. The troops accordingly, under the command of their leader +Ramée, burst into Upper Austria, spreading themselves over the country +beyond the Danube, and after committing every species of devastation, +passed into Bohemia, where they were at last defeated near Prague, +after they had extorted three hundred thousand florins from the +Emperor[28]. + +On entering the city we found it was fair time, and the square before +the cathedral was filled with booths, and gay with peasantry in their +holiday dresses. Prints and pipe-heads, cotton handkerchiefs of the +most staring colours, and the splendid gold and silver caps worn by the +women of the neighbourhood, amongst which we saw, for the first time, +the magnificent and tasteful Linzer Haube, were the principal articles +for sale; but it did not appear to us that there were many purchasers. +The cathedral has nothing to boast of in the way of architecture or +painting. The present building dates from the year 1662, the former +edifice having been destroyed by fire. Not having much time to spare, +we hastened across the bridge over the Danube into the Ilz-stadt, on +the left bank, and ascended the winding staircase cut in the rock, +to the fortress of Oberhaus, the Ehrenbreitstein of Passau. It was a +broiling business, under a vertical sun, but we were told the view +from the summit would amply repay us for any fatigue we might endure +in the ascent; and breathless with expectation, as well as exertion, +we stood at length upon the brow of the mountain. But little was to be +seen from that spot, except the tops of the towers, and the houses +of Passau, and we walked on through ploughed fields, a curious sight +in such a situation, to the fortress, from the walls of which we +expected to realize our excited hopes. But though permitted to enter +the building, sentinels at each angle checked every attempt to gain a +commanding situation, with their eternal “es ist verboden;” and hot, +weary, and disappointed, we prepared to “march down again,” when a +fortunate chance led us to the wished-for spot. Whether it was not the +right one, or that our previous annoyances had rendered us captious +and discontented, I cannot pretend to say, but certainly the view, +though extraordinary enough in character, fell woefully short of our +expectations in point of extent and beauty. The Inn is seen writhing +through its mountain gorge, to join the Danube, which at this point +it much exceeds in width, and the church of Maria-hilf, on its bluff +rock above the Inn-stadt, forms a fine object in the fore-ground. But +the hills are too lofty, notwithstanding the elevation on which one is +placed, to permit the eye to follow the windings of the two rivers +to any distance, and the view from the water, at the point of their +confluence, is, in my opinion, far preferable. The old fort of Oberhaus +was built in 1219, by Bishop Ulrich, to keep the citizens of Passau +in awe[29]. Maria-hilf was once, and I believe is still, a celebrated +place of pilgrimage; and here is the miraculous image of the Virgin, +up to which the pilgrims used to crawl upon their knees. The infant +Jesus is clasped to one breast, and from the other, water flows out of +a little silver pipe, into the mouth of the pious votary. The image of +the Virgin in the church of Maria-hilf at Vienna, was made from this +model; but the Viennese have had the good taste to dispense with the +water-pipe. In 1781, a vessel, with two hundred pilgrims, was wrecked +on the Inn, and one hundred and fifty unfortunate beings perished. + +Descending into the Ilz-stadt, (the suburb of Passau, on the left bank, +so called from the Ilz, that rolls its dark waves into the Danube, +beneath the fortress of Oberhaus,) we hailed a little market-boat that +was just leaving the shore, and were speedily ferried over by a stout +wench to the eastern end of Passau, where our bark lay moored while the +passports of ourselves and crew were undergoing the regular inspection, +etc. Notwithstanding it was fair time, there was little bustle either +on the banks or in the town. Commerce, which once flourished so greatly +at Passau, has of late years, from various circumstances, sadly +declined. Its sword-cutlery, celebrated as early as the thirteenth +century for the famous Wolfs-klingen (_i. e._ Wolf-blades,) was +destroyed by religious persecutions, about the close of the sixteenth, +when nearly all the workmen, two hundred of whom lived in the Inn-stadt +alone, sought refuge in Austria. At the beginning of the seventeenth +century a manufactory of striped paper was established, which supplied, +in some degree, the loss of the sword-cutlery; and Passau is still the +stapel-platz, or principal depôt for the salt of Bavaria, which is +brought down the Salza and the Inn, from the works at Hallein; but +the benefit which now accrues to the inhabitants from this privilege +is little or nothing, compared with what the salt trade produced +to them in the middle ages, when they carried it on, on their own +accounts. During the thirty years’ war, talismans were sold here, which +the venders professed would render the wearers invulnerable. A safer +speculation could scarcely have been imagined, as, until they had tried +them, no one had a right to complain of imposition, and those who did +try them and found them ineffectual, generally made the discovery too +late to expose or punish the impostor. The people of Passau and its +neighbourhood might be considered particularly good-looking, were it +not for the hideous goitre, which is exceedingly common in this part +of Germany. The appearance of this excrescence is most disgusting +to the eye of the unaccustomed traveller, but the natives take no +measures to prevent or to conceal it: and, indeed, both here, as in +some parts of Switzerland, it is considered by many a beauty, instead +of a deformity. Schultes recommends, to those who have the time to +make them, excursions to Formbach, Wernstein, and several other places +in the environs of Passau, and a ramble up the wild valley of the Ilz, +to the ruins of the old castle of Halz, the seat of an ancient family, +that, rising into fame through the deeds of Albert the Valiant, in the +time of Rudolph of Hapsburg, became extinct with the death of Count +Luitprand, in 1375. We, however, had too long a journey in perspective +to venture on including ourselves in that number, so late in the +season, and with particular objects in view; and as our steersman made +his appearance a few moments after we returned to the boat with our +papers “en régle,” we were soon in the middle of the stream again, and +rapidly bidding adieu to the Coblentz of the Danube. + +The view down the two rivers, (the Inn and the Danube,) from the point +of their confluence, is, as I have already mentioned, in my opinion, +far more beautiful though not so extraordinary as that obtained from +the heights above them. Standing in the stern of the boat, and looking +back on the too rapidly disappearing scene, on our right arose the +long walls and round towers of Oberhaus, upon a range of precipices +richly hung with wood, and full four hundred fathoms high; on our left +stood the Maria-Hilf-berg, crowned with its church, and the houses of +the Inn-stadt picturesquely grouped at its foot,--in the centre, the +town of Passau, forming a salient angle upon a plane of water, nearly +two thousand feet in width, and standing like an island between two +of the noblest rivers in Germany. The time allowed us to contemplate +this lovely scene, was as brief as the enjoyment was exquisite. The +Danube, reinforced by the waves of the Inn and the Ilz, rushes, with +redoubled speed round a rocky cape, and presto! your boat is gliding +between banks so savage and solitary, that you can scarcely believe +some necromantic spell has not transported you, in the twinkling of +an eye, thousands of miles from that “peopled city,” the hum of which +still lingers in your ear. In its eccentric course, the river now forms +itself, as it were, into a chain of beautiful lakes, each apparently +shut in on all sides by precipitous hills, clothed with black firs +that grow down to the very water’s edge, while from amongst them +peeps out, here and there, one of the little Swiss-looking cottages +I have before mentioned, with perhaps a rustic bridge thrown across +a small cleft or chasm, through which a mountain rivulet falls like +a silver thread into the flood below. On doubling one of the abrupt +points which produce this lake-like appearance, we came suddenly upon +the chateau of Krempenstein, or Grampelstein, perched on a mass of +rock, jutting out from a fir-clad precipice, that rises majestically +behind it. It belonged, for nearly four hundred years, to the bishops +of Passau, who, in conformity with the general practice of the time, +levied contributions upon the passing vessels, translating the awkward +term of robbery into the more legal epithet of toll. The peasantry and +schiffers in the neighbourhood call it the Schneider-Schlossel, and +tell a story of some poor tailor who, in flinging a dead goat into +the river from the walls of the building, fell over with it and was +drowned, a circumstance which they think exceedingly comical. The age +of the building, and the terrific beauty of its situation, deserve a +more interesting tradition. On turning another sharp corner,--forgive, +gentle reader, the unnautical expression, for I know of none other +that will so well describe the acute angles that present themselves +at almost every thousand yards upon this extraordinary river,--you +perceive Bürnwang, or Birchenwang, with its mill; and in the distance, +on the left bank, the small market-town of Hafner or Oberzell. Little +would a traveller imagine, on looking at this unpretending town, that +its manufactures have been, from time immemorial, eagerly sought +throughout the civilized world--that, from the banks of the Ganges +to the Gulf of Mexico, from St. Petersburg to Peru, there are no +articles of commerce more generally circulated and esteemed, than +those which are fabricated in this sequestered nook by the hands of +a few German potters. The famous crucibles, known by the name of +Ipser or Passauer-Tiegel, are all made at Hafner-zell. About three +hundred persons are constantly employed in this manufacture; but as +the towns of Passau and Ips are of greater consequence in the map, +their names have been connected with the ware; and the goldsmith and +chemist, while reaping the benefit of its industry, are ignorant +probably of the existence of such a place as Hafner-zell. There are +also here manufactories of black-lead pencils, and a particular sort +of black earthenware, the materials for both of which are found in the +neighbourhood, which is rich in mineral and other productions, worthy +the attention of the geologist and natural historian. + +Not far from Hafner-zell, on the right bank, stands the chateau of +Fichtenstein, on the summit of a stupendous hill, clothed, like the +rest of its giant brethren, with forests of pine and fir. A modern +mansion is near it; and at the foot of the hill are a few poor +cottages, with a little church, the spire of which is just visible +above the trees. Fichtenstein belonged anciently to the Counts of +Wasserburg, another race of knightly plunderers. Conrad, Count of +Wasserburg and Fichtenstein, on quitting Germany for the Holy Land, +pledged this stronghold to Ulric, Bishop of Passau, in 1218, who +advanced a considerable sum of money on the extra condition that the +castle should be forfeited entirely if the Count did not return from +Palestine. Conrad, however, did return, and, dying soon afterwards, +left his castle to his lady. Bishop Gebhard, the successor of Ulric, +immediately set up some claim to the property, and declared war against +the countess. He was defeated, however, and taken prisoner by a gallant +knight, upon which he proceeded to excommunicate the whole party. The +spiritual weapon had considerably more effect than the temporal, and +the unfortunate countess was obliged to surrender her castle to the +bishopric of Passau, A.D. 1226[30]. Further on, a rock rises out of +the middle of the river, and upon it stands a small building like a +sentry-box. It is called the Jochenstein; and from the arms of the +town of Passau and those of the empire being cut on the sides of it, +is generally considered by the Schiffers, the Gränze, or boundary +stone between Bavaria and Austria. Schultes, however, denies this, and +tells us, that the real Gränze is the old tower of Ried, upon a rock +facing Engelhard’s-zell. Be this as it may, we considered ourselves, +upon the faith of our steersman, entering the Austrian dominions as we +passed the rock; and, accordingly, drank three bumpers of excellent +Stein-wine to their imperial and royal majesties of Austria, Bavaria, +and England, with the sincere wish that no mistaken policy might +disturb the friendship so happily existing between the three nations, +or the general peace and prosperity of Europe. We soon came in sight +of Engelhard’s-zell, where the Austrian custom-house is established; +and opposite to which rises the old tower already mentioned, upon +the end of a long fir-clad hill. Nothing is known of the ancient +history of this little ruin; which, according to the peasantry of the +neighbourhood, was reduced to its present state by the Swedes. The +whole district from Marsbach to this spot is called the Riedermark, +and is supposed to have been, in the ninth century, the seat of the +Rheadarii. + + FOOTNOTES (CHAPTER III) + +[27] Vide ‘Lays of the Minnesingers, or German Troubadours.’ 12mo. +Lond. 1825, p. 113, and the Appendix to the ‘Nibelungen-lied’, called +“Die Klage,” _i. e._ the Lament. + +[28] Coxe’s ‘History of the House of Austria,’ vol. ii. pp. +419, 20. I have mentioned these circumstances, as the devastations +committed by these troops, who are called by the German writers the +Passauer Volk, are still but too visible upon the banks of the Danube, +and will be alluded to hereafter. + +[29] The Austrian commander Plantini was beheaded at Ingolstadt, in +1743, for delivering this fortress up to the Bavarians, without firing +a shot. + +[30] Mr. Russel, in his tour in Germany, speaking of the number of +abbeys, monasteries, etc., has taken up the cause of these holy +locusts, and contends, with all that ingenuity and talent which +characterize his excellent work, that it is wrong to accuse the +princes, or pious individuals who endowed them, of having been +imprudently liberal to the church. "Thousands of acres were given, +_but they were acres of wood and water, utterly unproductive to the +public_, and which would probably have remained for centuries in +the same wild state, if they had been the property of a quarrelsome +baron, instead of belonging to _the peaceful sons of the church_. +The monks, though idle themselves, were not encouragers of idleness in +their subjects. Their leisure allowed them to instruct, and their love +of gain led them to aid, their vassals in agricultural science, rude +as it was, while, at the same time, the sacred character which they +enjoyed, placed their peasantry beyond the reach of the oppressions +practised by feudal nobles. It has long been a current proverb in +Germany, 'Man lebt gut unter dem Krummstab[_30a_].' It is true +that one is apt to feel provoked when he is told that these fruitful +vallies and the pasture hills which rise along their sides, belong to +a congregation of idle monks. But monks were the very men who made the +vallies fruitful, and the hills useful. They received them _covered +with trees_, and rocks--_no very liberal boon_[_30b_], and +it was they who planted them with corn and stored them with sheep." +This is all very true, as far as regards the benefits which mankind has +eventually received from these establishments; for we have likewise +to thank the cowl and crosier, for much if not all the valuable +information respecting the days of our fathers and "the old time before +them," which the chronicles, written and illuminated in abbey and +convent, contain. But let the praise be given to that Providence, "from +seeming evil still producing good," in whose hands these monks were the +unconscious instruments of spreading that very light and information +which it was their constant study and employment to extinguish and +contract. The hypocrisy and cupidity of these self-elected saints are +far less pardonable than the brutal ferocity of the barons, whose +pitiable ignorance and superstition; the roots of the evil, they +fostered for their own advantage. Instead of employing the influence +which their superior education and sacred character gave them over +the minds of these uncultivated men, in the truly Christian task of +curbing their passions, enlightening their understandings, and bringing +them to a sense of the folly and wickedness of their ways, they meanly +exerted it for the purposes of self-aggrandizement, utterly careless of +the pitiable state of destitution and degradation in which, by their +rapacious demands and disgusting mummeries, they were daily sinking +their poor, besotted, bigoted, but often truly noble benefactors. The +knave who swindles a silly heir out of his property may wonderfully +improve the estate and build an hospital with the money; but he is no +less a knave because the poor and the sick are eventually gainers; nor +is the folly of the unfortunate dupe an excuse, in the eye of honour +and honesty, for his crime; which is, on the contrary, aggravated by +the advantage taken of the victim's imbecility. Avarice and ambition, +however, sowed the seeds of their own destruction. The Church of Rome +might have flourished to this day, had not its grasping hand pressed so +heavily upon its subjects, as at length to rouse them from their trance +and open their eyes, not so much to its errors as to its wealth. Truly +does Schiller remark, that "Had it not been closely backed with private +advantages, and state interests, the arguments of theologians, and the +voice of the people, would never have met with princes so willing to +espouse their cause, nor the new doctrines have found so numerous, so +brave, and so obstinate champions!"... "The desire of independence, the +rich plunder of monastic institutions, gave charms to the Reformation +in the eyes of princes, and strengthened not a little their inward +conviction of its necessity."... "Without the imposition of the tenth +and twentieth pennies, the See of Rome had never lost the United +Netherlands." The question, "Why the Pope, who is richer than several +Crœsus's, cannot build the Church of Saint Peter with his own money, +but does it at the expense of the poor?" was more staggering than that +of his infallibility. The _sale_ of indulgences first induced men +to inquire into the power of the Church to _grant_ them. The heavy +coffers of the abbots, and the glittering ornaments of their shrines +and altars drew the swords of such adventurers as Christian, Duke of +Brunswick, who issued a coinage composed of church-plate, and bearing +the motto--"A friend to God and an enemy to the priesthood." "Woe unto +them," says the inspired Isaiah, "_that join house to house, that lay +field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone +in the midst of the earth_. + +"_Which justify the wicked for reward_, and take away the +righteousness of the righteous from him. + +"_Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and +he stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them_, +and the hills did tremble, and _their carcases were torn in the midst +of the streets_. For all this his anger is not turned away, _but +his hand is stretched out still_." + +Such were the crimes of the Church of Rome; such has been its +punishment, and "His anger," indeed, "is not turned away"--"His hand is +stretched out still." Who can look upon its fallen state, and listen +to the cry of its unfortunate remnant, without exclaiming in the words +of Jeremiah, "How is she become as a widow; she that was great among +the nations, and princess among the provinces! How is she become +tributary!" + + [30a] “One lived well under the crosier.” + + [30b] _No very liberal boon, Mr. Russel!_ What! In a country where + wood is to this day the staple commodity? where the greater part of + the revenue of many of the nobles, and the entire incomes of thousands + of the peasantry, are derived from the sale of the trees with which + nature has so lavishly clothed the land? from the produce of those + very “acres of wood,” which you, from some strange slip of memory, + describe as “utterly unproductive to the public.” The “_peaceful sons + of the church_,” amongst whom, of course, you number the warlike + bishops of Passau, Strasburgh, Bamberg, Freysingen, Ratisbon, et hoc + genus omne, knew uncommonly well the value of those _unproductive_ + acres. + + + + + AUSTRIA. + + CHAPTER IV. + + Engelhard’s-zell--Rana-riedl--Marsbach--Wesen + Urfar--Waldkirche--Hayenbach--The Schlägen--The Rhine and the + Danube contrasted--Ober Michl--Neuhaus--Aschach--The paper-money of + Austria--Castle of Schaumberg--Environs of Aschach--Ober Walsee--Story + of Hans von Eschelberg--Sketch of the Insurrections in the seventeenth + Century. + + +No sooner had our boat touched the land, beside the little white-washed +custom-house at Englehard’s-zell, than it was surrounded by a swarm of +officials, one of whom, in the uniform of the Austrian police, which +is, I believe, the same as that of the customs, viz. grey with green +facings, etc., desired us to land; and, at the same time, we were +hailed from the shore by a gentlemanlike personage, in plain clothes +and a foraging cap, with “Messieurs, parlez-vous Français?” On our +answer in the affirmative, he requested us to follow him into his +bureau. Having inspected our passports, he asked us if we had anything +to declare: I replied, not to our knowledge. Had we any snuff or +tobacco? Neither of us smoked or took snuff. Had we any almanacks, or +sealed letters? No. Had we any wine, or beer? “Monsieur, nous avons +fini tout ça en buvant à la santé de sa Majesté l’Empereur.” (Off went +his cap; the Austrians never mention, or hear mentioned the title +of their sovereign without uncovering.) Bread, butter, etc.? We had +finished that too, and would be obliged to him if he would inform us +where we could get some more. The catechism ended, he returned us our +passports properly countersigned, and we concluded that we should be +spared the trouble of unpacking. But, upon returning to the bank, we +found our portmanteaus and sacs-denuit, with the bundles and knapsacks +of our crew, spread out in awful array along a bench, in front of +the Wirths-haus or inn, facing the landing-place. Our friend soon +reappeared, and the portmanteaus, etc. being opened, he inspected their +contents very closely; but with none of the rudeness which generally +characterizes persons in his situation. He looked very suspiciously +at our little travelling library, and examined the title-page of +nearly every book; my papers and drawings were also glanced at, but +no questions were asked. He seemed amazingly pleased with our English +dressing-cases, upon the razors in which, particularly, he looked with +a covetous eye. “Ah! messieurs, vous avezlà des jolies choses!” and, +courteously bowing, he wished us a pleasant journey, and retired. + +Having replenished our basket of provisions, and re-embarked our +baggage, we bade adieu to Engelhardszell. Its environs are very +beautiful, and there was formerly here a Cistertian monastery, to which +its inhabitants gave the name of Angelorum Cella, from whence probably +its present appellation. This monastery was founded A.D. 1293, by the +wealthy and powerful House of Schaumberg. In 1571, the whole community +died of the plague, and the building remained uninhabited nearly one +hundred years. Shortly after its re-establishment, it suffered from a +fire that broke out in the kitchen, and was rebuilt at the beginning +of the seventeenth century. The old Pfarr-kirche, or parish church, +was built as early as 1230. In 1551, another church was erected for the +same purpose, apparently, as that to which the Maltheser-kirche was +formerly applied in Ratisbon. The horses were here brought annually +to the door of the church, and allowed a peep at Saint Pancras, whose +effigy graced the altar. This sight, and a few oats at the same time +administered, were supposed to preserve them from all disorders for +a twelvemonth. Napoleon gave Engelhardszell to the Prince of Wrede, +who still possesses the domain, and hunts here occasionally. In 1626, +the revolted peasantry cast chains and ropes across the Danube here, +to prevent the Bavarians from assisting Herberstorf at Linz. In 1703, +the Bavarians built here a small flotilla, with floating batteries, +and threw a bridge of boats across the river to facilitate their +communication with Bohemia. + +On the left bank, before we had entirely lost sight of Engelhardszell, +the chateau of Rana-riedl appeared in the distance, on the ridge of +a lofty mountain, its white and peaked turrets beautifully backed by +the deep blue sky. Beside the hill is a ravine, through which the +Rana-bach brawls into the Danube, turning a mill, and bringing down +firewood from the mountain forests of Bohemia. The name of this chateau +first appears in some deeds of the fourteenth century, towards the +close of which it belonged to a lady of the Rana family, who married a +knight, named Stephen von Schweinbach. Shortly afterwards, it became +the property of the grasping Bishops of Passau. Göllinger, Governor of +Scharding, besieged it in 1486, in the name of the Duke of Bavaria, but +was compelled to raise the siege by Hans Oberhaimer, the lord of the +neighbouring Castle of Falkenstein, who reinforced the garrison. Two +years afterwards, he returned and assaulted it with success. It was +recovered by the Bishopric in 1490, and lost to it entirely in 1501, +when it was taken by the Emperor Maximilian I., and pledged by him to +Henry von Preuschenk. Rudolph II. gave it to the Lords of Salburg in +1591; at the extinction of which family, it became the property of the +Counts of Clam, A.D. 1728. The villages of Ober-Rana and Nieder-Rana +lie one on each side of the Danube, a little below this spot; and +the river then making a sudden bend to the north, you come in sight +of the Castle of Marsbach, similarly situated to Rana-riedl. Otto of +Marsbach, in 1268, dispossessed, by force of arms, his father Ortulph, +of this castle, and declared war against the Bishop of Passau. Ortulph +bought it from his unnatural son, at the heavy price of four hundred +talents, which so reduced his finances that he was compelled to give +up the castle after all to Passau, in order to relieve himself from +his difficulties. In 1486, it came into the hands of the Lords of +Oberhaimer, who carried on a desperate system of plunder against all +unfortunate travellers, whether by land or by water. One of these +Oberhaimers attacked the boat of a counsellor of Steyer, Valentine +Rottenburgher, and carried off booty to the amount of seven hundred +florins, a considerable sum in those days. In 1610, the castle was +surprised by the Passauer-volk under Ramée; and, in 1626, Spatt, the +famous peasant chief, attacked it suddenly, and put the garrison to +the sword. Opposite to Marsbach, on the right bank, is Wesen, or +Wesen-Urfar, with its ferry. The family of Wesen became extinct in +1230, by the death of Erchinger von Wesen, who was captain-general of +the province of Enns, and lies buried at Engelhardszell. There is a +famous cellar here, hewn in the rock, by command of the chapter of the +cathedral of Passau, in which, it is said, you can turn a coach and +four. In 1626, Adolph, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, hastening with several +thousand men to the relief of Herberstorf, landed unfortunately near +this celebrated cellar. The temptation, I suppose, was too great for +poor human nature; and the armed peasantry, descending from the hills +before day-break, fell on the fuddled Swabians, as they lay “somno +vinoque sepulti,” and slaughtered the greater part of them. The Duke +himself narrowly escaped in his doublet, and with the loss of all his +property. On the same bank, but on the ridge of the mountain, and half +hidden by the dark firs that surround it, stands Waldkirche, with its +crumbling ruins, which some call the Castle of Waldeck, and others the +fortress of Wesen. The indefatigable Schultes has been able to gain +no information respecting it, except that it was bought some time ago +by a farmer from the Prince of Wrede, most likely with the view of +demolishing it, and building new huts with the old materials. + +Nearly facing Waldkirche rises the ruin of Hayenbach, or Kirchbaum, as +it is called by the schiffers, upon the ridge of the long, lofty, and +nearly perpendicular mountain, which terminates the chain on this side +the valley, and forms a promontory, round which the river, suddenly +and rapidly wheeling, completely doubles itself, and enters a narrow +defile, the romantic, and I may say awful, beauty of which surpasses +all description. So acute is the angle here made by the Danube, that +the ruin of Hayenbach, though consisting of only one quadrangular and +not very lofty tower, now presents its northern side to the eye in +apparently the same situation that it did its southern side scarcely +ten minutes before. Enormous crags, piled one upon the other, to the +height of from three to four hundred fathoms; their weather-blanched +pinnacles starting up amongst the black firs and tangled shrubs, that +struggle to clothe each rugged pyramid from its base to its apex, form +the entrance to this grand and gloomy gorge through which the mighty +stream now boils and hurries, winding and writhing, till at length +you become so utterly bewildered, that nothing but a compass can give +you the slightest idea of the direction of its course. The Castle of +Hayenbach, which seems to guard this extraordinary pass, belonged, in +the fifteenth century, to the Oberhaimers, the Lords of Falkenstein +and Marsbach, of whom I have already spoken, and who, no doubt, found +it admirably situated for the prosecution of that predatory warfare +in which they “lived, moved, and had their being.” Falkenstein, with +which this Castle of Hayenbach, or Kirchbaum, is confounded, lies above +Rana, and is not visible from the Danube, and the same vague tradition +is attached to each ruin; namely, that it was originally built by +a knight of the thirteenth century, who, having slain his brother, +passed the rest of his days with an only daughter in that castellated +hermitage[31]. + +For upwards of an hour we glided through scenes increasing in +sublimity, and calling forth exclamations of wonder and delight, till +my companion and I mutually confessed that we had exhausted our stock +of epithets, and stood gazing in far more expressive silence on the +stupendous precipices which towered above us, almost to the exclusion +of daylight, their jagged sides + + “Horrid with fern, and intricate with thorn;” + +and on the rapid stream that, like Milton’s Fiend, + + “... Through the palpable obscure toiled out + His uncouth passage ... + ... plunged in the womb + Of unoriginal night and chaos wild.” + +The pencil of a Salvator Rosa could alone do justice to these wondrous +scenes. The grandest views upon the Rhine sink into insignificance, +when compared with the magnificent pictures which the Danube here +presents us at every turn. The two rivers would have admirably +illustrated Burke’s ‘Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful.’ Nature has +contrasted them precisely according to the rules he has laid down in +the twenty-seventh section of his Third Part. “Sublime objects,” says +he, “are _vast in their dimensions_, beautiful ones _comparatively +small_: beauty should be _smooth and polished_; the great, _rugged and +negligent_: beauty should _shun the right line_, yet _deviate from it +insensibly_; the great, in many cases, _loves the right line_, and, +when it deviates, it often makes _a strong deviation_: beauty should +_not be obscure_; the great ought to _be dark and gloomy_: beauty +should be _light and delicate_; the great ought to be _solid, and even +massive_.” The substitution of the words “Rhine” for “Beauty,” and of +“Danube” for “great,” is nearly all that is necessary to change his +general comparison into individual portraits of these rival floods, if +rivalry may be said to exist between two opposite species of perfection. + +The ruins on the banks of the Rhine, thickly interspersed as they are +with smiling villages, busy towns, and sunny vineyards, swarming with +holiday tourists, and echoing to the whips of Prussian postilions, and +the rattle of Prussian schnel-wagens, are more like modern antiques +erected on the confines of some gentleman’s park, than the bona fide +relics of that truly iron age, “the days of the shield and the spear.” +From Mayence to Cologne there is scarcely one mile of uninterrupted +wild scenery; and even if there were, the charm would be broken by +some pert galley, with its white awning and gaudy flag, some lumbering +Dutch beurtschiff, or, worse than all, the monstrous anachronism of +a steam-boat, splashing, sputtering, and fuming along at the rate +of twelve miles an hour. The mouldering towers that totter upon the +crags of the Danube, on the contrary, are surrounded by scenery rude +as the times in which they were reared, and savage as the warriors +who dwelt in them. Nothing seems changed but themselves. The solitary +boat that now and then glides by them, is of the same fashion as that +on which their marauding masters sallied down, perhaps, three hundred +years ago. The humble cottages that here and there peep through the +eternal firs, and the church that rears its dusky spire upon some +neighbouring hill, are of the same age. The costume of the poor +straggling fishermen and woodcutters around them is scarcely altered; +and, indeed, one cannot look upon their own walls, blackened by fire, +and crumbling in the blast, as they mostly are, without conjuring up +the form of their ancient lord newly returned from Palestine, and +finding his mountain-fastness burnt and pillaged by some neighbouring +knight or prelate, with whom he was at feud, and on whom he now +stands meditating swift and bloody retribution. For hours and hours +the traveller may wind through these rocky defiles without meeting +one object to scare the spirit of romance, which rises here in all +her gloomy grandeur before him. From Passau to Vienna there is but +one city, Linz, where the glare of modern uniforms, and the rumbling +of modern vehicles, would dissipate the spell; and, much as I admire +convenient and expeditious travelling, I should almost weep to see a +bustling post-road cut beside the lonely Schlägen[32], or a steam-boat +floundering and smoking through the Strudel and the Wirpel[33]. + +At the mouth of a small opening on the left bank, through which the +Kleine-Michl ripples into the Danube, stands Ober-Michl, the only +village of any consequence in this wilderness. In 1809, the Bohemian +landwehr, under Colonel Hartman, took many of the French boats laden +with provisions, near the spot. The Bavarian flotilla, under cover +of the night and by dropping silently down the stream, escaped their +notice. After passing two or three small groups of huts, another whirl +of the river to the north-east brought us in front of the remarkable +chateau of Neuhaus. Ranged along the brow of a perpendicular rock that +seems to bar your further progress, stand three distinct buildings, +(at least so they appear from the river,) giving you more the idea of +a town than a castle. Far beneath them, but still at a considerable +height from the water, upon a ledge of the rock, is perched a +quadrangular ruin, the Toll-tower, no doubt, where the retainers of +the Counts of Schaumberg, to whom Neuhaus belonged in the fourteenth +century, were stationed to exact the tribute from the trembling +schiffers. + +In one of the many quarrels between the Counts of Schaumberg and the +Duke of Austria, Neuhaus fell into the possession of the latter, but +it was subsequently recovered, and many of the first nobles of Upper +Austria were Castellans of Neuhaus for the House of Schaumberg. In 1510 +it was annexed to the empire by Maximilian I., and pledged, in 1536, +by Ferdinand I., for eight thousand silver pfennings, to the Baron of +Springenstein, to whose heir it was afterwards presented as a free +gift by Rudolph II. When the Turks, during the reign of the Emperor +Charles V. burst into Hungary, and threatened Austria with invasion, +Neuhaus was the asylum to which the women and children flew from all +quarters. In the war between Rudolph II. and his brother Matthias, +the troops raised by the former at Passau threw two chains across the +Danube at this spot, one of which was forged at Steyer, and the other +brought from Vienna, weighing not less than nine hundred pounds, and +secured them with eight anchors, and a guard of armed boats. During +the insurrections in 1626 also, the same measures were taken by the +peasants, who ill treated the Countess of Springenstein, and made her +a prisoner in her own castle. Neuhaus is at present, I believe, the +property of the Prince of Thurm and Taxis. + +It is only on arriving at the very foot of the rocky wall, which +forms an impenetrable barrier to the further progress of the Danube +northward, that you perceive the outlet from this valley of precipices. +A beautiful lake opens to the right near the point where the Grosse +Michl disembogues itself from a woody ravine; and the mountain chain +gradually sinking on each side, the river widens and widens till the +passenger would almost fancy it had completed its seaward course, and +that he was entering upon the broad and fathomless ocean. From the time +we had entered the gorge at Hayenbach to the period of our passing +Neuhaus, a passage of at least two hours, we had never caught even a +momentary glimpse of the sun. He now burst upon us in all the glory +of his setting, and we seemed absolutely to breathe more freely as we +emerged from between the stupendous galleries of granite and pine, +which had imprisoned us nearly all the way from Passau. The mists of +evening were fast settling upon bank and stream, as the lights of +Aschach began to twinkle in the distance; and before we could reach the +village on the opposite bank, where it was our steersman’s intention +we should sleep, it was quite dark. On going ashore, we found the +little inn, or rather public-house of the place, completely occupied +by the passengers and crew of the regular boat, that left Ratisbon the +morning before we did, and which our night’s voyage from Straubing +to Vilshofen had enabled us to overtake. On crossing the threshold, +however, of the dirty vault that “served it for parlour and kitchen and +all,” we blessed our stars that there was no room for us; and feeling +our way out again, for the clouds of smoke that rose around rendered it +impossible for us to rely solely on our visual faculties, we intimated +our intention of crossing the river to Aschach, where indeed we ought +to have been originally landed; but our pilot was either afraid +of the sandbank in front of it after nightfall, or there was some +understanding between him and the master of the public-house on the +left bank, postillions and boatmen generally getting their own board +and lodging gratis as a reward for bringing “grist to the mill,” enough +being invariably ground out of the said grist to indemnify the miller +for any liberality he may have been guilty of towards the bearer. A +lad soon made his appearance with a small boat, into which we jumped +with our portmanteaus, and were ferried over to the end of a jetty, +that has been thrown out from the bank, in consequence of the sand +deposited by the river, which has within the last few years receded +considerably from the town. Here we found tolerable accommodation, and +I lost no time in atoning to the drowsy god for the hours of which I +had defrauded him, the previous night, upon the water. + +Aschach was a place of some importance, as early as the times of +Charlemagne. Thassilo, Duke of Bavaria, gave in the year 772, some +vineyards at Aschach to the monks of Krems-Münster. In the eleventh +century the knights of Aschach begin to be celebrated. The Counts of +Schaumberg possessed it during the middle ages, from whom it passed +to the Lords of Jörger. At present, as well as the lordship of Stauf, +it belongs to the Counts of Harrach. The history of this little +market-town, for nearly the two last centuries, is one uninterrupted +series of misfortunes. In 1626 it was not only taken and plundered by +the revolted peasantry, but was for some time their head quarters. +They endeavoured to chain up the Danube at this place, and obliged +the town of Steyer, which they had taken at their first rising, +to furnish them with a chain one hundred fathoms long, every link +weighing twenty pounds. Besides this chain, they threw across three +other, and a couple of stout ropes, trusting thereby to intercept +the provisions and reinforcements for the relief of Herberstorf’s +troops at Linz. But the Bavarian boats broke through this barrier, as +they had already done through a similar one at Engelhards-zell. In +the second insurrection, in 1632, the rebels surprised and plundered +Aschach again, and remained there till Colonel Traun burnt their +camp at Landshaag and dispersed them. In the contest with Bavaria, +in 1809, Aschach suffered considerably both from friend and foe; and +the removal of the custom-house back to Engelhards-zell in 1819, from +whence it had been brought at the commencement of the present century, +was a severe blow to the trade, which had begun to recompense the +inhabitants for their losses during the war. The extensive sandbank +which is yearly increasing before it, is an additional obstacle to its +commerce, and Schultes indulges in melancholy predictions respecting +the ultimate fate of this unfortunate little town. The wine made in its +neighbourhood, is remarkable only for its badness, and is the standing +joke of the inhabitants themselves; we must suppose, therefore, that +it has either sadly degenerated since Thassilo made the vineyards a +present to his friends at Krems-Münster, or that the fraternity were in +want of an immediate supply of vinegar. Aschach is the most northerly +point, on the Austrian Danube, where grapes are cultivated for that +purpose. But there is another piece of information respecting this +place, which is of more consequence than any I have yet mentioned, to +the modern traveller. The paper money (papier-geld) of Austria here +first comes into play, and the unapprised foreigner is astonished at +being apparently charged for his bed, supper, breakfast, or what not, +about four times as much as he has been in the habit of paying since he +entered the country of florins and kreutzers. + +The gold ducat also, which has passed throughout Bavaria for 4 _fl._ 54 +_k._, and even 5 _fl._ in some places, here falls to its regular value +of 4-1/2 florins only; and this sudden change is exceedingly perplexing +to the stranger who has but just become acquainted with the Bavarian +standard, in time to find it of no use to him.[34] + +At day-break, after a hasty cup of coffee, we re-trod the jetty, and +found the boat waiting to take us over to our weitz-zille, which lay +moored besides the smoky wirtshaus before mentioned. We were soon +aboard and afloat again, and gliding by the mouth of the little river +Aschach that joins the Danube close below the town. By its side, on +a small hill, stand the scarcely visible remains of the castle of +Stauf, once the property, as indeed was, at that time, the whole +surrounding country, of the mighty Counts of Schaumberg, who have been +already so often mentioned; and, as the sun rose, his earliest beams +fell upon the splendid ruins of the cradle of that great and ancient +family--the once strong and beautiful castle of Schaumberg--still +beautiful in decay,--on a gentle acclivity, and backed by the finely +wooded mountains, on whose precipitous sides we had the previous day +gazed so long with mingled awe and admiration. Nor were its picturesque +white towers the only objects of attraction in the magnificent scene +which gradually expanded upon our sight, as the morning mist rose like +a curtain from before it. The broad river lay gleaming like a sheet +of burnished gold beneath us; before us a number of richly wooded +islands divided the glittering stream into twenty different channels +to the right and left. Looking westward, the mountains of Bavaria and +Bohemia stretched out their giant arms, as in despair at the escape +of the flood they had so long held in thrall. At the mouth of the +defile from which we had issued, stood the little town of Aschach. +Still more to the south, the ruined castles of Stauf and Schaumberg, +and, far away in the south-east, but clearly defined against the blue +horizon, towered the Alps and Glaciers of the Steyer-Mark, their snowy +and fantastic peaks alternately tinted with pink and purple, and gold, +by the changeful glories of sunrise. It was, indeed, a most exquisite +panorama, and fully justifies the heroics of Professor Schultes, +though, in his enthusiastic admiration of the Danube, he is unjust to +the really beautiful Rhine. “An Englishman,” says he, “who had often +made the voyage of the Danube, and also that of the Rhine, from Mainz +to Utrecht, in search of the picturesque, showed me his journal of the +Rhine voyage. It contained only two words, ‘Toujours perdrix[35].’” +But to return to the Castle of Schaumberg. The picturesque ruins which +formed so fine a feature in the prospect before us, were, as I have +already said, the cradle and principal seat of the once terrible Counts +of that name. In the twelfth century, their signatures appear to many +deeds, spelt indifferently Schoumbergh, Schowenberch, and Schawenberch. +As late as 1548, the Schaumbergs were free counts of the empire, and +their names are entered in the Reichs-Matrikel, (the roll or register +of the empire,) as bound to furnish six horse and twenty-six foot men +at arms,--a slender contingent for a family that could, by lifting a +finger, have brought thousands into the field. Their domains extended +from the Bavarian frontier, beyond Linz, and included the market +towns and castles of Baierbach, Stauf, Aschach, Efferding, Neuhaus, +Flayenbach, Ober and Unter Wesen, Fichtenstein, Weidenholz, Mistelbach, +nearly the whole of the Donau-Thal, from Passau to Schaumberg, and +farther inland, in the old Traun-gau, Kammer upon the Attersee, +Frankenberg, Wildeneck, etc. etc. Wilhelm, son of Wernhard, Count of +Julbach, a descendant of one of the thirty-two children of Babo of +Abensberg, was the first lord of the castle who assumed the name of +Schaumberg, A. D. 1161. His successor, forming alliances with the +families of the Landgraves of Leuchtenberg, the Burggraves of Nürnberg, +and the Dukes of Austria, became gradually more and more powerful, +exacted heavy tolls on the Danube, at Neuhaus and Aschach, plundered +travellers, took their less powerful neighbours prisoners, for the +sake of extorting ransom, or compelling them to join their league, +and, in short, were worthy supporters of the famous “faust-recht” of +Germany.[36] + +Sometimes, a twinge of conscience made them endeavour to propitiate +heaven, by letting its servants share a little in the plunder; and, +with this view, they founded, in 1325, the Kloster of Saint Niklas by +Passau, and, in 1323, the Convent at Baumgartenberg; and by degrees +permitted the boats, etc. appertaining to most of the surrounding +monasteries and convents, to pass Aschach toll free. + +Notwithstanding their alliance by marriage, terrible feuds were +continually springing up betwixt the Counts of Schaumberg and the Dukes +of Austria; and the assistance which Henry of Schaumberg, in 1319, gave +to Frederick the Handsome, against Louis the Bavarian, is almost a +solitary instance of the families siding together in warfare. So much +were their valour and influence dreaded by the principal potentates +of Germany, that Albert II., Duke of Austria, surnamed the Lame, and +Louis the Bavarian, entered into a solemn contract at Passau in 1340, +by which they bound themselves never to make offensive or defensive +league with the Counts of Schaumberg. + +In 1366, Albert III.[37], having made war upon Henry Count of +Schaumberg, the latter appealed to the Emperor Charles IV., who +appointed the Burggraves of Nürnberg and Magdeburg umpires between the +parties. The Burggraves decided in favour of Albert, and the Count +of Schaumberg and his descendants were declared subjects of Austria, +and the castles of Kammer, Neuhaus, and Fichtenstein forfeited to the +duchy, besides the immense sum, for that period, of twelve thousand +florins. Henry, enraged at this heavy sentence, took the first +opportunity of renewing the war with Albert, who in 1379 in person +besieged the castle of Schaumberg; and the contest was carried on with +great fury and bitterness, till Stephen, Duke of Bavaria, reconciled +the parties and induced Count Henry to hold the castles of Neuhaus and +Stauf, and the market town of Efferding, as fiefs of Austria. This +peace, however, was, as might have been expected, of no long duration. +The Counts again declared themselves independent, and the struggle +continued with alternate success, till the church stept in out of pure +charity, scandalized to see such a waste of treasure, and like the +lawyer in the old story, settled the matter by swallowing the oyster +and leaving the shells to the disputants. One by one the contested +estates became the property of this and that kloster, till at length, +in 1548, the family of Schaumberg became so straitened for means, +that it could no longer defend the little that was left of its once +immense dominions, and acknowledging the feudal sovereignty of Austria, +became extinct in 1559 by the death of Count Wolfgang.--The castle +of Schaumberg at present belongs to the Prince of Starrhemberg, an +ancestor of whose family married one of the last female descendants of +the line of Schaumberg. There is a tradition that the Danube originally +ran beneath its walls, but there appears no foundation for such a +belief. The chapel and two watch-towers are still tolerably perfect: +on the walls of the former there are said to exist some paintings of +the fourteenth century; I regret exceedingly that my ignorance of the +fact, when I was in the vicinity, prevented my inspecting them. If they +really be of the date assigned to them, and in tolerable preservation, +they would be worth a pilgrimage. + +A stone pillar near a brook, in the valley before the castle, is said +to record the fate of a Count of Schaumberg, who, though invincible in +battle or tournament, could not resist the charms of a fair maiden, +“armed at both eyes,” the daughter of a miller, in the valley of +Aschach. One night as he was riding to a rendezvous, his horse started +(as well he might) at the sudden appearance of a fiery dragon that +rushed out of a thicket before him, became unmanageable, plunged at +last with his master over a precipice into the swollen torrent below; +and the first object that met the unfortunate maiden’s sight when she +opened her casement in the morning, was the floating corses of her +noble lover and his favourite steed. + +Nearly facing Aschach, on the left bank, is the poor little market-town +of Landshaag, formerly belonging to the convent of Niedernburg at +Passau, but now, of course, to Austria. This little place suffered +terribly during the insurrections of 1626 and 1632, from the rebels, +who in the latter year had their camp in its neighbourhood. + +About half an hour’s walk to the eastward of this little town stands, +on the top of one of the Klausberge, in a forest of fruit-trees, +the ruin of Ober-Walsee. A castle was originally built here by the +Schaumbergs, but it was most probably destroyed by the celebrated +Ulrich of Walsee, governor of Styria, who suppressed the rebellion +which had broken out in these districts during the absence of Frederick +the handsome, Duke of Austria, in 1309, and repelled Otto Duke of +Bavaria, who attempting to profit by the intestine commotion, had +invaded Frederick’s dominions; Ulrich, before Frederick could hasten to +his assistance, had already subdued the refractory, and ravaged their +property with fire and sword. In return for this and other services +rendered to the Dukes of Austria by the family of Walsee, Rodolph IV. +gave permission to Eberhard von Walsee, in 1364, to build a strong +fortress on the Klausberge, a permission which, while it had the +appearance of a favour conferred upon the Lords of Walsee, furthered +the views of the Duke, inasmuch as it placed a strong curb upon the +neighbouring Counts of Schaumberg, the implacable enemies of the House +of Hapsburg. The descendants of Eberhard possessed this castle, which +received the name of Ober-Walsee, till the extinction of the male +branch in 1485, when the last female of the family, Barbara of Walsee, +in obedience to that power + + “Qui tient sous son empire + Le genre humain les ânes et les Dieux,” + +gave her hand to Count Siegmund of Schaumberg, one of the sworn foes +of her own house as well as that of Austria, and added both Ober and +Nieder-Walsee, a castle lower down on the Danube, to the possessions of +the Schaumbergs. In 1559 the family of Schaumberg became also extinct; +and Ober-Walsee, after passing through several hands, descended to the +Princes of Staremberg, who were also Lords of the neighbouring castle +and domain of Eschelberg. + +Respecting one Hans of Eschelberg, Schultes has a rigmarole story, +which (unless he be jesting, and there is nothing to lead one to such +a conclusion) proves him, however well acquainted with the history of +his own country, unaccountably deficient in information regarding that +of others. This said Hans, who commenced his military career under +Louis the Bavarian, at the siege of Lindau, and received the honour +of knighthood from that Emperor, for his valiant exploits therein, +followed John, King of Bohemia, into Poland, and shared in the victory +of that monarch at Cracow; not finding himself sufficiently recompensed +for his services, accepted an invitation from Edward III. of England, +who was then besieging Calais, and assisted him in the reduction of +that place. So far so good; but not contented with claiming these +probable services for his hero, Herr Schultes, upon the strength of a +fragment of an old ballad, quoted by Hoheneck, makes him the bearer of +the English standard at the battle of Cressy, where, “mirabile dictu,” +he took the French king prisoner with his own hand (at Cressy!), while +his knightly companions slew John, King of Bohemia, and Peter, King +of Navarre! At a feast given on the field, in honour of the victory, +Edward III. paid Sir Hans of Eschelberg the distinguished compliment +of seating him between himself and the captive king, presented him +with one hundred marks of silver, etc. etc. He afterwards returned to +Germany, beat the Bohemians, became the champion of dukes, princes, +and bishops; flew back to his old friend Edward, when again investing +Calais, who rewarded him with more money and honours; returned again +to his native land, and, after thirty years of battle and victory +in all parts of Europe, died captain of the lands upon the Ens. The +Professor seems quite heart-broken that this doughty warrior has never +been mentioned by any historian, and perfectly unconscious of the way +in which the author of the old ballad, with the license or ignorance +of most of the romantic writers of the middle ages, has mixed up the +two perfectly distinct battles of Cressy and Poictiers, confounding +incidents, leaders, and periods, with the utmost sang froid and +complacency. + +The banks of the Danube, from Aschach to Linz, witnessed the greater +part of those bloody struggles between the two principal sects of a +religion revealed for the beneficent purpose of promoting “peace on +earth, good will towards men,” which convulsed the provinces of Upper +Austria during the seventeenth century; and as the actors in them have +already been mentioned more than once, and will be frequently named +hereafter, I shall venture to give, in as few words as possible, a +sketch of the insurrections of 1626 and 1632, particularly as they have +been merely alluded to by Schiller, in his history of the thirty years’ +war, and Coxe, in his history of the House of Austria, the two most +elaborate works upon that period familiar to the English reader,--the +deeds of a Gustavus, a Wallenstein, and a Tilly, having naturally +occupied their attention, to the exclusion of all less generally +important circumstances. + +The object which Ferdinand II., Emperor of Germany, had most at heart, +from worldly as well as spiritual motives, was the extirpation of the +reformed religion. The battle of Prague had no sooner decided the fate +of Bohemia, than he tore, with his own hand, the memorable letter +of majesty extorted from Rudolph II. by the states of the kingdom, +in favour of the Protestants, and burnt the seal; and proceeded not +only to the revocation of the privileges granted to them by his +predecessors, which he had _not_ confirmed, but even of those which +had received his own unqualified approbation. He intimated to all the +Protestants in his dominions, that they must either abandon their +religion or their native country,--a bitter and terrible choice, which +excited the most violent commotions amongst his Austrian subjects, +and particularly in the district above the Ens. Upper Austria had +been, for some time, held in pledge by the Elector of Bavaria, for the +indemnification promised him by the Emperor for his assistance against +the Evangelic Union; and Count Adam von Herberstorf, who commanded the +Bavarian troops at Linz, had been guilty of unnecessary severities +towards its unfortunate inhabitants. On the 17th of May, 1626, the +flame, which had been long smothering, burst into a sudden and terrible +blaze, in consequence of some excesses committed by a straggling party +of Herberstorf’s soldiery. The Protestant peasantry flew to arms, and, +in two days, took and plundered the towns of Aschach, Grieskirchen, +and Baierbach, and the strong fortress of Velden. On the 20th of May, +Herberstorf marched against the rebels at Baierbach, with twelve +hundred men and some artillery, but was repulsed with great loss; and, +after having two horses killed under him, retreated in confusion to +Linz. The peasantry were now headed by one Stephen Fadinger, a hatter; +and, in about ten days from their first rising, mustered full seventy +thousand men, and possessed a park of thirty cannon. Within the first +eight days, Fadinger had made himself master of Wels, Kremsmünster, +Vöglabruch, and Gmünden, and in six more, with the exceptions of +Freystadt, Ens, and Linz, the whole of Upper Austria was overrun, and +subdued by the insurgents. Flushed with victory, Fadinger invested +Linz on the 25th of June, and would most probably have succeeded in +reducing it, had he not received a shot in the thigh from one of +Herberstorf’s musqueteers, in violation of a short armistice agreed +upon between the leaders, June 28th, of which wound he died in the +beginning of the following month[38]. His successor, Achaz Willinger +von Katterhof, a nobleman, had neither his talent nor his good fortune. +Steyer and Freystadt, which had fallen just before Fadinger’s death, +were retaken, fifteen hundred soldiers dispersed twelve thousand +peasants, in the neighbourhood of Ens; and, in two assaults upon Linz, +the Protestants were repulsed with terrible slaughter. The Austrian +commissioner had nearly succeeded in his charitable endeavours to +restore peace, when some fresh cruelty of Herberstorf’s, or the +soldiers under his command, kindled anew the torch of discord, and, by +another change of fortune, the peasantry cut to pieces the troops of +the Duke of Holstein-Gotton, at Wesen-Urfar, and successively defeated +the Bavarian general Lindlo, at Geyersberg, Count Preuner, at Haslach, +Herberstorf, near Gmünden, and even the valiant Löbel, at Wels. The +celebrated Pappenheim, however, whose mother Count Herberstorf had +married, retrieved the fortunes of his party, by beating the rebels +in three following battles at Efferding, Gmünden, and Vöglabruch, but +not without considerable difficulty, as he himself acknowledges in +a letter to Herberstorf. “It was,” he writes, “as if my cavalry had +to combat the massive rocks; for these peasants fought not like men, +but like infernal furies!” These reverses decided the fate of the +insurgents; and, though the Imperial commissioner himself declared that +the peasantry had not risen with treasonable intentions against the +Emperor, but were goaded into the act by the severity of Herberstorf, +nearly the whole of the prisoners were hung and quartered, or impaled. +Achaz Willinger, as he was a nobleman, was beheaded, and his body +delivered to the Jesuits, who had not been the least important actors +in this terrible tragedy. + +Six years had not elapsed before the continued persecution they +experienced, stirred up the Protestants again to resistance. In 1632 +a second rising of the peasantry on the Ens was accompanied by the +same slaughter, and the same devastation; and in these two contests +alone, which are but trifling episodes in the sanguinary history of the +thirty years war, upwards of fifty thousand subjects of Austria, upon a +moderate calculation, were sacrificed to the childish superstition and +inveterate bigotry of its ruler. “The victory of the White Mountain,” +says Schiller, “put Ferdinand in possession of all his dominions. He +even received them with greater powers than his predecessors; since +their allegiance had been unconditionally pledged to him, and no +letter of majesty now existed to limit his sovereign authority. The +war was ended, if justice was his object; and if magnanimity was to be +united with justice, so was the punishment. The fate of Germany was +in his hands; the happiness and misery of millions were dependent on +his resolution. Never was a more important trust placed in a single +hand; never was the blindness of one individual productive of more +fatal consequences.” The barbarities committed on both sides, during +these conflicts, were horrible beyond description. The peasantry had +treasured up the recollection of the cruelties they had suffered at +the hands of Herberstorf and his soldiery, and now repaid them with +dreadful interest. Once goaded over the line of legal authority, their +ferocity knew no bounds: nor did they glut their lust of vengeance +upon the soldiery only; those of their own class and sect who did not +immediately gather round the standard of insurrection, were mutilated +or slaughtered without compunction. On the other hand the prisoners +taken by the Catholic party, were tortured and executed with a horrid +ingenuity, that might have edified a Sioux Indian, or a Spanish +inquisitor. Ferdinand would only remember that the inhabitants of +Upper Austria had risen seven times in thirty-seven years, and would +make no allowances for the provocations which had driven a naturally +loyal people to desperation. He had been told by his jesuits, that +Protestantism and rebellion were synonymous terms, and to Ferdinand II. +“the voice of a monk was the voice of God.” “Nothing on earth,” writes +his own confessor, “was more sacred in his eyes than the priesthood. +If it could happen, he used to say, that an angel and a clergyman were +to meet him at the same time and place, the clergyman should receive +his first, and the angel his second obeisance[39].” Gracious God! for +what wise purposes are men permitted to make Thy holy name a signal for +butchery, to turn the manna of Thy word into poison, and sow with the +brier and the thorn Thy “ways of pleasantness and Thy paths of peace.” + + + FOOTNOTES (CHAPTER IV.) + +[31] Vide Baron von Schmidtburg’s ‘Tagebuche einer Donau-Reise.’ + +[32] The remarkable gorge from Hayenbach to Neuhaus is called by the +peasantry of the district, “In den Schlägen,” or Schlagleiten. + +[33] The Strudel and the Wirpel are a fall and whirlpool in the Danube, +between Linz and Ips, of which hereafter. + +[34] As soon as you reach Frankfort, the Prussian dollars and groschen +cease to circulate generally, and your bill is made out in the money of +the empire, that is, in florins or gouldens and kreutzers. The florin, +or goulden, is a mere nominal coin of the value of sixty kreutzers, +and the silver pieces in circulation are those of 3, 6, 10, 20, and 30 +kreutzers each, so marked on the reverse. In Bavaria, the 10, 20, and +30 kreutzer pieces go for 12, 24, and 36 kreutzers; so that the gold +ducat, the real value of which is 4-1/2 florins, will, in Bavaria, pass +for 4 _fl._ 54 _k._, and sometimes five florins. In Austria, however, +the silver coins pass for no more than they are marked, and the ducat +drops to 4 _fl._ 30 _k._ The Venetian ducat, which is frequently met +with in Austria, is worth a few kreutzers more than the German ducat. +The paper florin, or goulden, is two-fifths, or, as the Austrians +calculate, four-tenths of a good or silver florin. + +[35] The remark does not say much for the taste or discrimination of +the Englishman, whoever he might be. There is an endless variety upon +the Rhine, which yields to the Danube only in points of grandeur--in +breadth, extent, and boldness of scenery. In variety, it quite equals +the Danube, and, I should almost say, surpasses it. + +[36] Literally “fist-right,”--the right of the strongest arm,-- + + “The good (?) old plan, + That they may take who have the power, + And they may keep who can.” + +[37] Called, in the chronicles of the times, “Albert with the tress,” +because he wore a lock of hair, which he received either from his wife, +or from some other distinguished lady, entwined with his own, and +formed a society of the Tress, not unlike the commencement of our order +of the Garter: he was likewise called the Astrologer, from his fondness +for judicial astrology.--Coxe’s ‘History of the House of Austria,’ +chap. 10. + +[38] Fadinger was a strong fatalist. Upon his standards were inscribed, +by his order, the words, “Es muss seyn!” “It must be.” + +[39] And yet, as was most just, this poor weak bigot was condemned to +see some of his dearest hopes frustrated by the treachery of one of his +vaunted saints. “A Capuchin friar,” exclaimed the deceived Emperor, +when the duplicity of the celebrated Father Joseph became apparent, +“has disarmed me with his rosary, and covered six electoral caps with +his Cowl.” + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + Efferding.--Ottensheim.--Kloster-Willering.--Linz.--The Platz.--The + Landstrasse.--The Schlossberg.--The Landhaus.--The Theatre.--The + Bridge.--The Pöstlingberg.--View on leaving Linz.--Steyereck.--The + River Traun.--Ebelsberg.--Luftenberg.--Monastery of St. + Florian.--Tillysburg.--Spielberg.--Mauthausen.--Ens.--Origin and + History of the City.--Antiquities discovered in its neighbourhood. + + +From Aschach to Ottensheim is one labyrinth of islands, through +which few boats venture without a pilot, as the current of the river +is continually changing its course, and the deep channel or ditch +(_Graben_) as the boatmen here call it, through which they have safely +steered a few days before, may upon their second visit be transformed +into a sandbank, or blocked up with trunks and branches of trees, +washed into it by the floods that so frequently occur in this part of +the country. While passing through this archipelago, the banks of the +river are seldom visible, but fortunately there is nothing upon them to +make that circumstance a matter of regret. The whole country between +Aschach and Willering is said to have been formerly the basin of one +vast lake, cradled amongst the mountains of Bohemia, Moravia, and Upper +Austria, and the name of Ilmersee, which appears in the thirteenth +century, is quoted in confirmation of the tradition. The White Tower of +Hartkirchen is shortly seen on the right bank. The Catholic minister +of this church, and his cook-maid, were cruelly murdered here, by the +revolted peasantry in 1626. Pupping, celebrated for a dead saint, and +Bergheim for a beautiful brewer_ess_[40], whose strong beer and bright +eyes distracted the heads and the hearts of her customers, and might +have sorely tempted the holy St. Otmar himself, had the good man been +living at the time.--Waschpoint, Wörth, and two or three other small +villages on the same bank all passed, were ached Efferding, one of the +oldest places on the Danube. The beautiful Chrimhilt, the heroine of +the Nibelungen-lied, is said, in that poem, to have rested here upon +her journey into Hungary. One of the Schaumbergs bought the little town +from the Bishop of Passau in 1367, for four thousand florins; and at +the extinction of that family, it came to the Starrhembergs, who built +a castle here, still called the Burg. A rich and valiant family, of +the name of Schifer, founded and liberally endowed an hospital here, +as early as 1325, and expressly commanded that, when there was not a +sufficient number of sick and poor in the town of Efferding to fill the +hospital, the governor should send out “into the highways and hedges, +and compel them to come in.” + +On the 1st of September, 1632, the combined peasantry burned the +suburbs, and, on the 25th, defeated the nephew and namesake of the +great and merciless Tilly, but, shortly afterwards, were themselves +defeated by the Imperial troops with great slaughter. Upwards of three +thousand of the unfortunate men, who fell at various periods in this +neighbourhood, lie buried here, as did also their leader, Fadinger, +till Herberstorf had the body disinterred, and carried to Seebach, +where it was flung into a hole beneath the gibbet. The historian Kurz +has preserved the receipt for the money paid to the ministers of this +paltry vengeance. The Bavarians plundered Efferding in 1704 and 1742, +and it suffered considerably during the last war, from the continual +fighting in its neighbourhood. A dozen small villages are scattered +on each bank, between Efferding and Ottensheim; and the Ihn, the +Bösenbach, and the Rodel, wind amongst them to the Danube. At one of +these little places, named Hartheim, dwelt in 1620 a lady of the family +of Aspan, the fame of whose wealth, according to Hoheneck, determined +a Prince of Saxony to make a personal proposal of marriage. Travelling +incognito with only two attendants, he fell, near Efferding, into the +hands of the rebel peasantry, who, taking the unfortunate suitor for +a spy, put him and his domestics instantly to the sword. At length, +we approached the square white tower, which had been for some time +gleaming above the intervening islands; and as we issued from amongst +them, the little market town of Ottensheim, with its chateau and +church, all grouped as with an eye to effect, upon a gentle eminence +projecting into the Danube, gradually glided into view. On a house in +the market-place, is the figure of a child in a cradle, surmounted by a +canopy, and underneath it are the following lines: + + “Im 1208 Jahr. + Da Ottensheim noch nicht genannt war, + Ist Kaiser Otto Auserkohren + Alhier in diesen Haus geboren.” + +What _Emperor_ Otto, the worthy composer of this distich intended us to +believe was born here in 1208, I cannot pretend to determine, as the +fourth and last emperor of that name was elected as early as 1197; and +that the place was not called Ottensheim before that period, appears to +be another equally unfortunate assertion. + +Leopold II., Duke of Austria, who died in 1194, sold Wechsenberg, +_Ottensheim_, Grein, and Hartenstein, to Otto von Schleung, “mit +leuth und gut,” (with people and property,) for six hundred pounds +of silver. In the fourteenth century, Heinrich von Neuhaus, Peter +von Sternberg, and Ulrich von Landstein, laid waste this part of the +country to the walls of Ottensheim, and began a feud, which desolated +Upper Austria for upwards of one hundred years. In 1626, a body of the +insurgents, under a leader named Christoph Zeller, established their +head-quarters at Ottensheim; and the French plundered the town, both in +their disastrous retreat in 1742, and their victorious march to Vienna +in 1809. Ottensheim, however, has recovered from its many disasters, +and drives a tolerably brisk trade in linen, wood and fruit, pit-coal +and alum. Between Ottensheim and Kloster-Willering, which faces it, +there is another rapid race of the river, that forms quite a little +sea of billows. Kloster-Willering lies at the foot of the fir-crowned +Kirnberg, which, rising on the right bank, extends its forest-covered +masses as far as Linz. The Kloster was originally the castle of the +Knights of Willering, descended from the old Counts of Kirnberg. +Cholo and Ulrich of Willering, Barons of Weremberg, established some +Cistertian monks here in 1146. Ulrich went to Palestine, from whence +he never returned. With him his family became extinct, and the whole +of his great possessions fell to the fortunate monks of Willering. +They soon wheedled themselves into the confidence and favour of all +the noblest and richest families of Upper Austria, many of the heads +of which joined their fraternity. The Archdukes of Austria themselves +highly patronized this Kloster, and freed it from all tolls and taxes; +and it shortly became so powerful, that it assumed a species of +jurisdiction over all the other establishments of its order, upon the +banks of the Danube, as far as Engelhardszell. One of its abbots, in +1544, played it a scurvy trick. He was a Nürnberger by birth, and named +Erasmus Villicus. Scarcely had he been raised to this enviable dignity, +when he took unto himself a wife, and one fine night disappeared with +the lady, and all the jewels of the Kloster! From that period, a chain +of misfortunes seems to have attended it. It was twice or thrice +plundered during the insurrections; nearly burned to the ground in +1733; suffered in an action between the French and Austrians, in 1742; +and by an inundation in 1787, when the Danube overflowed its banks to +the height of full seven fathoms. + +After washing the walls of Kloster Willering, the Danube enters another +beautiful valley, skirted on one side by the dark forests of the +Kirnberg, and on the other by groves of a lighter green, interspersed +with cottages and gardens, over which, in the distance, rise the spires +of Pöstlingberg, announcing to the traveller the vicinity of Linz. On +the brink of each bank runs a carriage-road, the one on the right being +the high post-road to Regensburg and Nürnberg, and that on the left +leading to Ottensheim, Grammetstetten, and Landshag. This beautiful +valley is the favourite promenade of the Linzers, who flock on a fine +summer afternoon through the woods on the right bank, to a hunting +lodge in the Kirnbergerwald, near which stand the ruins of Helfenberg, +the cradle of the old Counts of Kirnberg; and in the winter go in +sledges to Willering, and the neighbouring places, to drink wine, beer, +and coffee, smoke, knit, and hear music. + +Having rounded the point of land overlooked by the lofty +Pöstlingberg,--the city of Linz,--the capital of Upper Austria,--with +its long wooden bridge, gradually makes its appearance. Beneath the +rocks on the right bank, stands a long line of houses and chapels, some +romantically situated in little clefts of the rocks, and surrounded by +firs and pines. This place is called the Calvarienberg (Mount Calvary), +and is the scene of numberless processions and religious ceremonies of +the Catholic inhabitants of Linz. + +Linz is a handsome, clean, and cheerful looking city, and the +inhabitants may be said to partake the good qualities of their +town. The Linzer women are famed for beauty, if we may believe +the guide-books, and who would dare to doubt them upon such a +subject?--honestly, however, I cannot say I remarked any extraordinary +difference between the lasses of Linz, and their Bavarian neighbours. +The young females of the lower and middling classes, throughout the +south of Germany, are in general plump, good-humoured looking girls, +with florid complexions, large laughing blue eyes, snub noses, and +light hair. Amongst the nobility and gentry, indeed, are some of the +loveliest creatures I ever saw, and more resembling our own sweet +countrywomen than the females of any other nation in Europe. But, as +honest Cowley says: + + --“Beauty, thou wild fantastic ape, + Who dost in every country change thy shape: + Here black, there brown, here tawny, and there white, + Thou flatterer, who comply’st with every sight: + --Who hast no certain what nor where; + But vary’st still, and dost thyself declare + Inconstant as thy she-professors are!--” + +Who shall define thee?-- + +Amongst the men a very visible alteration in person had taken place, +even before we arrived at Linz. There appeared to me considerably +more of the Greek and Italian than the German cast of feature in the +Austrian countenance. Long aquiline noses, dark eyes and swarthy +complexions were new objects to me in German faces. Civility, kindness, +and good humour, however, reigned in the hearts and manners of both +sexes; and after the gloomy pictures I have seen so frequently drawn +in England, of the degraded and miserable condition of the people +of Austria, it was curious enough to mark the content and gaiety +that, at least, appeared to pervade every class of his Imperial +Majesty’s subjects. Having tasted nothing since our single cup of +coffee at Aschach, we hastened to the Golden Lion, the best inn we +saw upon the Platz, and made a capital breakfast, in an apartment on +the first floor, fitted up precisely like an English coffee-room, +the windows commanding a good view of the Platz, which (it being a +market morning) presented a lively and interesting appearance. It +is a fine, spacious, oblong square, between eight and nine hundred +feet in length, and upwards of three hundred broad[41], surrounded on +three sides by handsome houses built of freestone, (some of these five +stories high,) and ornamented with a twisted column, surmounted by a +gilt glory, erected by the Emperor Charles VI., in 1713, in memory +of a great plague. South of this column, the square was filled with +market-people and purchasers. The ground was covered with their large +flat baskets, containing all kinds of provisions. By the side of each +stood the vendor, in his or her provincial costume; and amongst the +motley crowd moved the mistresses and maidens of Linz, the former +dressed “à la Française,” with the exception of short sleeves, and +long gloves tied above the elbow, a fashion peculiar to Germany; and +the latter in their little jackets, coloured petticoats, and splendid +caps of gold brocade, entitled “Linzer hauben,” modelled, one would +suppose, from the gorgeous crest of a Chinese or golden pheasant. +Exactly facing our windows was a large house, where, over the _porte +cochère_, the Austrian Eagle (that “rara avis in terris, nigroque +simillima _cygno_” _with two necks_) sprawled upon a yellow board, +all legs and wings, like a bird of prey on a barn door, and under it +paraded a tall mustachoed Austrian grenadier sentinel, in white and +black uniform, black gaiters, and portentous bear-skin cap, while half +a dozen soldiers of other regiments lounged about the gateway of the +Kaiserlich,--Königlich,--something or other, that I could not exactly +make out, and added considerably to the picturesque effect of the whole +scene. + +Breakfast over, we repaired to the _polizey_, to reclaim our passports, +exchanged on landing for a printed paper containing, in German, French, +and Italian, an injunction, under certain pains and penalties, to +present yourself to the police, within twenty-four hours after your +arrival; those secured, we rambled over the town, which has nothing +particularly worth notice in the way of buildings. There is a tolerably +handsome church near the post-office, and polizey-direction; in a +long airy street, (the landstrasse) that runs right out into the +country; for, unlike continental towns in general, Linz has no gloomy +gateways or frowning barriers; a light turnpike a little way out of +the town on the high-road, painted, as they all are in Germany, with +the colours of the empire or kingdom, and resembling, exceedingly, +the now nearly exploded barber’s pole, alone indicates the spot where +the land-traveller must exhibit his passport and pay the little +weg-geld or road-toll, to an officer stationed for that purpose at a +neighbouring cottage. A little arch, under which you pass into the +Platz from the bank of the Danube, is dignified by the name of the +Wasser-thor; and you are directed to the Haupt-thor, the Schmidt-thor, +and the Land-haus-thor, as you might in London be directed to Ludgate, +or to Holborn-bars, but the Thor itself has long vanished. Riesbeck, +who travelled through Germany in 1780, speaking of Linz, says, “the +city is open on all sides, and the town and country seem so united, +that if my spirit of knight errantry would allow it, I would pitch +my tent, and lay my travelling staff up, here;” and gives honourable +testimony to “the industry, happiness, and prosperity of the eleven +thousand inhabitants who dwell in it.” If the late wars have occasioned +any decrease of its prosperity, they have either not had that effect +upon its population, or the inhabitants have been singularly fortunate +in repairing damages, since the peace. Their number is now, by two +different accounts, estimated at sixteen, and twenty thousand. From +the Schlossberg, on the west of the city, you have a fine view over +the Danube and the surrounding country. Upon this rock anciently stood +the citadel of Linz, in which Richard Cœur de Lion, it is said, was +feasted as he returned from his long Austrian captivity. The Archduke +frequently resided here, and Rodolph II. considerably enlarged it. The +Emperor Ferdinand I. still further enlarged and beautified it. It was +afterwards converted into barracks, and, finally, into an hospital, +which was burned down in 1800. Upon its site a commodious workhouse +has been erected; and the poor now eat their crumbs upon the spot +where formerly stood “the rich man’s table.” There are many charitable +establishments[42] and public schools in Linz, as well for Catholics +as Protestants, and some considerable manufactories, one of which (the +Imperial and Royal Woollen Cloth Manufactory) is a little town in +itself. + +The Landhaus, the Guildhall of Linz, (or rather, the Government House +of Upper Austria, where the president and eight counsellors appointed +for the administration of justice in the country above the Ens, +hold their sessions,) stands on the promenade, and was originally a +Franciscan convent, built, in 1287, by Eberhard von Walsee. From a +window of this building, the shot was fired that mortally wounded the +rebel captain, Stephen Fadinger. Near the Landhaus is the new theatre. +The old one was destroyed by the fire in 1800, which reduced to ashes +the greater part of this quarter of the town. The erection of the +present building cost ninety-six thousand florins. Under the same roof, +is the Redouten-Saal, or Assembly Room for masquerades, balls, etc. + +The old chroniclers are not agreed as to the origin and foundation +of Linz. Lazius would trace it to the Roman _Lentium_, or _Lentia_, +destroyed by the Huns. Bruschius, in his rhyming panegyric, says, + + “Hanc quis condidit primus, quo tempore et anno, + Nominis aut hujus quæ sit origo vetus; + Vix poterit dici: siquidem Germania fustos + Non tantâ scripsit religione suos, + Quanta vel Græci fecerunt laude, vel ipsi + Ausonii proceres Romuleique patres.” + +Under Louis the Child, Linz was known as a toll-place on the Danube, +and the seat of the Counts of Kirnberg. The last of this family sold, +according to Lazius, the whole of his dominions to the Markgraves +of Austria. When the Emperor Frederick II., “the pupil, the enemy, +and the victim of the church,” was excommunicated by Pope Gregory +IX. the second time, in 1236, Linz was besieged by the powers of the +King of Bohemia, the Duke of Bavaria, the Patriarch of Aquileia, and +the Bishops of Bamberg, Freysingen, and Passau. Frederick, however, +assisted only by Albert, Count of Pogen, relieved the good city, and +took one of the church militant, the Bishop of Passau, prisoner. During +the reign of Rodolph of Hapsburg, Linz was plundered by Henry, Duke of +Bavaria; and, in 1335, the Emperor Louis the Bavarian here invested +the Dukes of Austria with Carinthia and the Tyrol, and entered into an +offensive and defensive alliance, to secure the succession of those +countries against the pretensions of the King of Bohemia and his +heirs[43]. In 1481, the whole city was destroyed by fire, with the +exception of the castle and one street. The Emperor Frederick III. +caused it to be rebuilt and considerably enlarged, and declared it, in +1490, the capital of Upper Austria. He bought the village of Urfar, +till then only inhabited by fishermen, and, flinging a wooden bridge +over the Danube to it from Linz, it, in a short time, became a kind of +suburb to the city. On the 19th of August, 1493, Linz lost its imperial +benefactor. Frederick died in this city, of which he may almost be +called the founder, at the advanced age of seventy-eight, and after a +reign of fifty-three years, the longest of any emperor since the days +of Augustus. He had been afflicted with a cancerous ulcer in his leg. +As the only means of relief, he submitted to amputation; but, from the +unskilfulness of the surgeon, and the vitiated state of his blood, a +second amputation was necessary. He bore these painful operations with +extreme fortitude, and gave a singular proof of his characteristic +phlegm. Taking the severed limb in his hand, he said to those who were +present, “What difference is there between an emperor and a peasant? or +rather, is not a sound peasant better than a sick emperor? Yet I hope +to enjoy the greatest good which can happen to man: a happy exit from +this transitory life.” He seemed to be in a fair state of recovery, +but his rigid observation of a fast, during which, in opposition to his +medical attendants, he would take nothing but melons and water, brought +on a dysentery, which, in his debilitated condition, became fatal. +I agree with Schultes in thinking that an equestrian statue of this +benefactor of Linz would be a more handsome and appropriate ornament +for its principal square, than the column before mentioned. In 1521-2, +the Archduke Ferdinand, afterwards emperor and founder of the German +branch of the House of Austria, solemnized, at Linz, his nuptials with +Anne, Princess of Hungary and Bohemia. Thrice, during the remainder of +that century, was Linz visited with the awful scourge of pestilence. In +1620, the whole of Upper Austria was pledged to Bavaria; and, during +the insurrections as already related, Linz was invested by the peasants +under Fadinger, and its suburbs were reduced to ashes. Keppler, the +famous astronomer, who at that time resided in them, lost some valuable +MSS. in the flames. Linz was thrice stormed during those disturbances. +In 1741, Linz was taken possession of by the allied French and +Bavarian army, under Marshal Bellisle and the Elector, and in the three +unsuccessful struggles of Austria against Napoleon in 1800, 1805, and +1809, it suffered, in common with other towns upon the Danube, the +various _mis_fortunes of war. + +The wooden bridge across the Danube, I have already said, was first +built in 1490, but there is mention made of a bridge as early as 1106. +It is conjectured, however, that it must have been a bridge of boats +only, as the first regular bridge across to Urfar was certainly that +thrown over by Ferdinand[44]. A stroll across this bridge, which is +upwards of one thousand feet in length, through the little town of +Urfar, (for though it merely looks like the suburb of Linz, it has +risen to the dignity of a _markt_[45],) and up the steep Pöstlingberg, +to the church and observatory on its summit, would, no doubt, repay +any one for the trouble if he could afford the time, as far as an +extensive and beautiful view goes; but, as my object was to travel +through Austria, and not merely look over it, as a certain respectable +personage is said “to look over Lincoln,” nothing but a view being to +be gained by it, I declined the invitation; and having revictualled our +bark, for we always dined on board, about twelve o’clock, we + + “All got under weigh, + And bude a long adieu to”-- + +the capital of Upper Austria. + +The retrospective view, after we had left Linz about a quarter of a +mile behind us, was exceedingly beautiful, as beautiful, perhaps, as +the view on leaving Passau, but of quite a different character. The +city lay on our left, the beach before it crowded with people, and +piled with merchandise,--a regiment of infantry marching out of the +Wasser-thor, drums beating and colours flying; the bridge, alive with +passengers, stretched across the gulf, from whence the Danube rushed +panting out, and then spread itself, right and left, like a calm bright +lake before us. In front, gradually rising from the water’s edge, +and spotted with the white straggling buildings of the little town of +Urfar, towered the majestic Pöstlingberg, cultivated to its summit, +and crowned by its church and observatory. More to the right arose the +Pfenningberg, equally lofty, and similarly chequered with corn and +meadow land. Between them, lay a soft green valley, in the bosom of +which nestled the old village of Magdalena, the spire of its ancient +church just peeping above the trees. A cloudless deep blue sky formed +the back ground of this rich and laughing picture, that gladdened the +heart, and filled it “almost to overflowing” with love and gratitude to +that ineffable spirit, the Great Architect and + + “Author of this Universe, + And all this good to man! For whose well-being, + So amply, and with hands so liberal, + He hath provided all things.” + +Looking forward on our course, a crowd of little villages appeared +on the left bank of the river, which again meandered amongst woody +islands, and received, just below a small hamlet called Furth, the +tiny stream of the Kitzelbach. Farther on, upon the same bank, rose +the half burned chateau of Steyereck, upon a small hill, in front of +the forest-covered mountains which again line that side of the river. +The little market-town of Steyereck is hidden behind the poplars of +an island close to the shore. Steyereck was formerly a place of some +commercial importance[46], but the Danube has receded of late years +considerably from its walls; and the large sand-banks it has left +behind it, prevents the lading or unlading of vessels, which now +seek some more fortunate town. A little trouble and expense would, +it appears, remove the sand, and restore the Danube to its original +channel, thereby not only greatly benefiting Steyereck, but all the +surrounding country, which is now, from the new course of the river, +subjected to continual inundations, disasters that this work would +greatly diminish in number, if not entirely prevent. No measures have +as yet, however, been taken to effect this desirable purpose. The +worthy Austrian would be considerably improved, could a little of the +persevering industry of the Hollander be infused into his composition. +Steyereck belonged originally to the monks of Kremsmünster, but, +as early as 1136, it had fallen into the power of a family named +Khuenringe, who lorded it over the greater part of the Nordwaldes. +Albert, of Khuenringe, sold the Castle of Steyereck, in 1280, to +Ulrich von Kapell, surnamed “The Long,” who, in the famous battle +of Marchfield, between the Emperor Rudolph I. and Ottocar, King of +Bohemia, rescued the valiant founder of the House of Hapsburg from a +gigantic Thuringian knight, named Valens, who had unhorsed and wounded +him, and, by his courage and exertions, decided the fortune of the day. + + “Terra Rudolphus hostium cinctus globo + Multorum, et unus jam pedes vim sustinet. + Ulricus alis advolans Capellides, + Ceu sæva raptis ursa pro catulis nova + Irrumpit acie, ferro iter per inimicos secat, + Alio reservat Cæsarem statuens equo, etc.” + + +Calaminus in Rudolpho Ottocaro.+ + +It remained in the family of the Kapellers till the extinction of the +male branch in 1409, when the last daughter of that house married +Heinrich von Lichtenstein. In 1569, one of the Lichtensteins sold +Steyereck to Christopher Jörger, of Tolleth; and, in 1635, the town and +castle were given as a dower with Elizabeth Jörger, to David Ungnad, +Count of Weissenwolf, who built the present chateau. In 1770, the +lightning fired the building, and a valuable library and collection of +pictures were utterly consumed. + +Nearly facing Steyereck, is the mouth of the green and beautiful river +Traun, which, rising out of the Grundel-See in the romantic Steyermark, +flows through the lakes of Hallstädter and Gmünden, and swelled by +the Ager, the Alben, and the Krems, hurries, foaming under the bridge +of Ebelsberg, into the Danube. Ebelsberg, or Ebersberg, which lies +on the right bank of the Traun, and is visible from the Danube, is +a place of great antiquity[47], and the scene of a desperate battle +between the French and the Austrians, fought on the 3d of May, 1809. +General Claparede’s division stormed Ebelsberg from the bridge across +the Traun, under a tremendous fire of artillery directed against the +bridge, by the Austrian Field-Marshal Hiller. Claparede succeeded in +carrying the place, but with dreadful slaughter. Another column of +French, who had passed the river higher up, upon entering the town, +revenged the death of their comrades most fearfully upon the Viennese +volunteers who had so bravely defended it, three hundred of whom were +burned alive in the castle, the town having taken fire during the +assault, and the rest cut to pieces, From twelve to sixteen thousand +men fell in this terrible conflict; and the banks of the Traun, from +Ebelsberg to the Danube, were literally covered with slain[48]. + +The Emperor Arnulph gave Ebelsberg, then called Eporesburg, to the +monks of Kremsmünster, A.D. 893, together with the confiscated +property of a Count Engelschalk, who carried off the Emperor’s natural +daughter. Arnulph feigned forgiveness, and luring the Count back from +Zwentibold, whither he had fled with the Princess, delivered him over +to the diet at Ratisbon, who condemned him to lose his eyes, and his +nephew Wilhelm, his head. In the year 900, Count Sighard (whose name +is handed down to the modern traveller, by the little post town of +Sighardskirchen, near Vienna) built a castle at Ebelsberg, which was +destroyed on the defeat of the Germans by the Hungarians in 993. A new +castle was built shortly afterwards on the same spot, and destroyed by +Frederick of Austria in 1242, in consequence of the excesses committed +by Rudiger, Bishop of Passau, who, in conjunction with the Lords of +a castle at Obernberg on the Inn, kept the whole intervening country +in a state of terror. It was again rebuilt, and Rodolph of Hapsburg +defeated here one hundred and twenty knights, previous to his battle +with Ottocar. In 1586, this third castle was destroyed by fire. Stephen +Fadinger established his head-quarters here in 1626, and arrested the +Imperial Commissioners. In the August of that year the peasants were +defeated at Ebelsberg, with the loss of two thousand men. + +Below Steyereck, the left bank alone is hilly; the right resumes the +flat, sedgy appearance it presented from Regensburg to Straubing. +Luftenberg, an old place upon the left bank, commanding a fine view +over the opposite country, is principally remarkable as the spot where +the fanatical visionary Laimbauer held forth in 1635-36. He entrenched +himself, with the wretched enthusiasts who followed him, in the church +of Frankenberg, and after wounding and killing many of the officers +sent to apprehend him, from its windows, left his disciples to be burnt +alive. He was, however, taken in his attempt to escape the flames, and +executed at Linz. The monastery of St. Florian now appeared on our +right, and shortly afterwards the chateau called Tilly’s Burg. St. +Florian, to whose honour the monastery was erected, suffered martyrdom +A.D. 303, at Lorch on the Ens, where, by order of a commander named +Aquilinus, he was thrown from the bridge into the river, with a stone +round his neck. His spirit appeared to a matron, and directed her where +to find and where to bury his body; and over his grave, as the story +runs, an altar was first erected, then a church, and lastly a kloster. +Stephen Fadinger had his head-quarters here in 1626. + +Tilly’s Burg is a large square building with four towers, and said to +contain as many windows as there are days in the year, a peculiarity +attributed to at least a dozen places in England, and I believe +generally reported of every mansion with more windows than one would +take the trouble to count. On the spot where this chateau now stands, +once arose the tower of the castle of Volkerstorf, the seat of one of +the most ancient and powerful families in Austria. Some warriors of +that name fought at Constanz as early as 948. In 1146 a Volkerstorf +accompanied Duke Leopold to the tournament at Zurich. Ortolph von +Volkerstorf stabbed Henrich Wittigo, secretary to the Emperor Frederick +II., in the monastery of St. Florian, for which deed he and his brother +were banished, their property confiscated, and their castle destroyed. +In the Diet of Augsburg, A.D. 1275, Bernhard von Volkerstorf spoke +vehemently against Ottocar, King of Bohemia, whom he openly accused +of attempting to poison his own wife, and of tyrannising over Austria. +Under the protection of the House of Hapsburg, the Volkerstorfs +returned to their native country, and rebuilt their castle in 1331. In +1558 it suffered materially by fire, and the last of the family having +embraced the Lutheran faith, the whole of his property was confiscated +in 1620, and the castle given, three years afterwards, by the Emperor +Ferdinand, to the famous Count Tserclas von Tilly[49]. In 1630-32, he +built the present chateau, on the site of the old castle, and in the +appellation of Tilly’s Burg buried all recollection of the ancient +Lords of Volkerstorf, whose once dreaded name is now only known to the +peasant of Austria, as that of a little insignificant village in the +neighbourhood of Ens. The last female of Tilly’s family, the Countess +Montfort, sold the Burg in 1730, to the Bavarian Baron von Weichs. + +Near Tilly’s Burg is the old village of Kronau, known as early as the +times of Thassillo, Duke of Bavaria, by the name of Kranesdorf, and +on the left bank lie Hof-im-Schlag, Himberg, Auwinden, St. Georgen, +and two or three other small places, remarkable only for their great +antiquity. To the north of St. Georgen lies Frankenstein, where the +miserable followers of Laimbauer met their horrible fate. + +We now approached the old square tower of Spielberg, which, together +with the steeples of the city of Ens, we had for some time seen in the +distance, backed by the glittering and rugged line of the Styrian Alps. +The ruin of Spielberg stands upon an Island near the right bank of +the Danube, and just in the angle formed by the stream, which, having +stretched away boldly to the south-east, here turns sharply off to the +north, and washes the walls of the market town of Mauthausen, which is +seen through a vista of islands at the extremity of a distant point +of land. Spielberg is admirably situated for a Raub-schloss, which +was of course its original character. Otto and Eckbert von Spielberg +were slain in Frederick Barbarossa’s Italian expedition, A.D. 1156, +and one Dittmar von Spielberg was present at the siege of Milan in +1158. In 1328, the family of Spielberg became extinct, the last of +that name, Eberhard, having previously sold the city and castle of +Ens to the Emperor Rudolph I., for six hundred marks. Reinprecht von +Walsee possessed Spielberg in 1329, and after passing through several +hands, it finally formed part of the dower brought by the Countess +of Weissenwolf to her husband in 1635. There is a small fall of the +river here, which was at one time considered dangerous by the timid +boatmen on the Danube, and has been confounded by some writers with +the celebrated Strudel, probably from one of the names given to it +by the schiffers, viz. Der Saurüssel[50]. It is also called by some, +the Neubruch: small boats seldom venture through it, though a slight +tossing would, I should imagine, be the only consequence. My companion +and I often laughed, to think how a smart English six-oared cutter +would astonish the natives here, who are certainly the clumsiest and +most fearful navigators in Europe. Mauthausen is said by the boatmen to +be half of Aschach, which, carried away by an inundation of the Danube, +floated with the current down to this spot,--a strange tradition, which +it is supposed has arisen from a fancied resemblance between the two +towns. Howsoever it came, it stands in a very pleasant situation, +directly opposite to the mouth of the Ens, and looking up that river +upon the city of Ens, and the far-distant peaks and glaciers of the +Styrian Alps. There was a bridge of boats here in 1809, but it was +destroyed by the Bavarians. The neighbouring tower of Pragstein was +occupied by the French in 1742. Mauthausen suffered severely in the war +between Rudolph and Matthias, and in the insurrections during the reign +of Ferdinand. There is a woollen-stocking and a leather manufactory +here, a dye-house of some celebrity, and a salt-market, from whence the +greater part of Bohemia is supplied. + +The city of Ens is supposed to have been originally constructed out +of the ruins of the Roman Lorch, (indifferently called Laureacum, +Lavoriacum, Blaboriacum, Loriacte,) the station of the second Italian +legion, upon the site of which is still a little village of the name. +Ammianus Marcellinus is the oldest historian who makes mention of +Laureacum. Bruschius, Hansiz, and Aventine assert, that Lorch was +destroyed by Attila, on his march to Gaul; but the biographer of St. +Severin states, that two years after the passage of Attila, that holy +person arrived at Lorch from the neighbourhood of Vienna, and found it +flourishing, and a Christian priest established therein. The Huns might +have taken the left bank of the Danube, particularly as it was their +nearest road. From an inscription on the walls of Ens, it would appear +that two of the holy Evangelists themselves took the city under their +especial protection, and converted the people to Christianity[51]. + +St. Peter himself is also said to have preached the gospel here in +the year 49. In 454, Lorch is reported to have been preserved by the +prayers of St. Severin, but was afterwards destroyed by the Barbarians, +according to his own prediction in 737, when Bibilo, bishop of Lorch, +fled with his monks to Passau, as I have already mentioned in my +notice of that city. The authentic history of Ens, however, commences +during the reign of Charlemagne, when that Emperor, aware of the +importance of such a situation, pitched his tents at the mouth of +the Ens, which formed at that time the line of demarcation between +Bavaria and the lands of the Avars or Huns of Pannonia, that people +having, during the sixth and seventh centuries, “spread their permanent +dominion from the foot of the Alps to the sea-coast of the Euxine[52].” +Here, on the 5th of September, 791, he encamped, and, after fasting +and praying for three days, proceeded on his expedition. The troops on +the left bank of the Danube were commanded by the Counts Thederich and +Meginfried; those on the right by the Emperor in person; and between +the two hosts upon the river floated a third body, with provisions +and necessaries for the whole army. In fifty-two days he penetrated +to the river Rab, destroying the rings or wooden fortifications of +the Avars, the first of which he found upon the Riederberge, by Tuln; +and would have carried his victorious arms still farther, had not a +contagious disorder killed nearly all his horses. In 805, we still hear +of Lorch, which, under the names of Lorahha and Loracha, is designated +as a villa regia, and mention is made of its market-place and of an +imperial judge, one Warner or Warnhar. After the death of Arnulph +the Bastard, the Hungarians burst into the country, and devastated +it beyond the Ens. The Bavarians rallied, and beat them back; and +Leopold, then Grenz-graf, or Count of the frontier, in the year 900, +slew upwards of 3000 of them on the left bank of the Danube. In the +same year, as a stronger check to their inroads, he erected on the Ens +a strong fortress[53] which he called Ensburg (Anasiburgum.) Buildings +gradually rose around it; and in proportion as the old Roman city of +Laureacum declined, its rival prospered, till their names became +confounded, and that of the new city predominating, a small village, +probably on the actual site of the Roman town, alone retains the +ancient appellation of Lorch. Richar, bishop of Passau, persuaded Louis +the Child, that the fortress of Ensburg stood upon ground belonging +to the monastery of St. Florian, and it was consequently ceded by the +sovereign to that establishment. The Hungarians snatched it from its +holy possessors in 907, when they defeated Louis, and slew the valiant +markgraf Leopold, brother-in-law to Carloman, the bishops of Salzburg, +Freysing, and Seben, three abbots, and nineteen counts. Leopold’s son, +Arnulf, defeated the Barbarians on the Inn, in 912, and Conrad I. +bribed them back over the frontiers in 918. After Arnulf’s death, the +Barbarians again invaded Bavaria, but were ultimately, at the close +of the tenth century, driven out of the country by the Markgraves, +Leopold the Babenberger, and Burkhard, who carried the war into the +enemy’s territories as far as Krems and Mölk. In a deed of the time +of Otho II., Ensburg is still spoken of as distinct from Lorch or +Lorach, and mention is made in the same deed of the church of St. +Laurentius, situated without the walls of Lorch. Now there is a church +of St. Laurence standing to this day, within ten minutes’ walk of the +city of Ens; and though it was built as late as the time of Maximilian +I., it is not improbable that it stands upon the site of the ancient +edifice[54]. In the important deeds by which Ottocar VI. made over the +steyermark to Leopold of Austria, Ens is called by one party a markt, +and by the other a village; and it is asserted by some writers that Ens +was first made a fortified town by Leopold, who built its walls with +the ransom of Richard Cœur de Lion![55] However this may be, and if +true, it is a very interesting circumstance, Ens certainly dates its +existence as a city from somewhere about this period, as, at the close +of the twelfth century, the Enser-fair was almost as much celebrated in +Germany as that of Leipzig is at present. Rudolph of Hapsburg received +the keys of Ens from the hands of a lord of Sumerau, and afterwards +bought the city, for six hundred marks, of Eberhard von Spielberg. + +Duke Albert the Lame concluded here, in 1336, the peace with John, king +of Bohemia, which gave Carinthia to Austria, and the Tyrol to Charles, +the son of that monarch, afterwards Charles IV. The victorious army of +Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary, penetrated as far as Ens during +the war with the Emperor Frederick III., and in 1532, the Turks, who +had burst into Hungary and Austria, headed by the Sultan himself, +pushed forward some troops to the walls of this city, between whom and +the burghers a desperate conflict took place upon the bridge. In the +insurrections of 1624, Stephen Fadinger summoned the town, and another +rebel-chief, named Wurm, cannonaded it, but it stood out against +both till relieved by Colonel Löbel, who defeated the peasants, and +burned their camp. In 1683, while Cara Mustapha lay before Vienna, +several flying parties of the Turks scoured the country around Ens, and +penetrated nearly to Linz. On the 4th of May, 1809, Napoleon had his +headquarters here, and received a deputation from the townspeople of +Mauthausen, which place he had threatened with bombardment. + +In the centre of the Platz stands a tall bell or clock tower built by +Maximilian I. Some years ago a rib-bone was shown in it as that of +a giant. It had most probably formed part of the stock in trade of +an elephant, and was thought sufficiently curious to be removed to +Cuvier’s museum in Paris. Many Roman antiquities have been discovered +in Ens and its vicinity; some gold coins of the Emperor Probus, several +marble busts, and inscribed stones. Some of the latter are still to be +seen in the old Burg of Enseck. + +Two large stone coffins without any inscription were dug out of the +Aichberg, a short distance from the town, in 1808. Some monumental +busts were also found, but they had been cut out of very bad sandstone, +and were much injured by time. + + + FOOTNOTES (CHAPTER V.) + +[40] Our language is sadly off for feminine terminations. The German, +brauerinn, köchinn, gartnerinn, etc. are most badly translated by +female brewer, cook-maid, and woman gardener. + + +[41] The old rhyming chronicler, Bruschius, says, + + “Passibus in longum patet area tota trecentis, + In latum centum passibus atque decem.” + +[42] A tailor of Linz, named Kellerer, established an asylum for thirty +orphans; and in 1734, another tradesman, named Adam Pruner, bequeathed +one hundred and eighty-one thousand florins to the poor of the town, +the interest of which supports twenty-seven children, twenty-seven men, +and twenty-seven women. The Emperor Joseph II. and the Empress Maria +Theresa have also founded charities here. + +[43] The Dukes of Austria were afterwards compelled to cede the Tyrol, +but Carinthia has ever since that period continued in the possession of +their House. Coxe’s Hist. i. 155, Pelzel, Schmidt, Struvius, etc. + +[44] Bruschius tells us of a capuchin, named Waltherus, + + “Qui nondum vinclis conjunctum aut pontibus Istrum + Emensus sicco dicitur esse pede.” + +Perhaps the river was frozen at that time. + +[45] In the campaign of 1809, damage was done in this little town alone +to the amount of 1,326,621 florins. + +[46] Steyereck was once famous for its potteries; but the manufactories +have fallen to decay, notwithstanding the fine clay which is still to +be found in its neighbourhood. + +[47] In 1787, a stone coffin was dug up in the neighbourhood of +Ebelsberg, five feet long, and one foot two inches wide. On the breast +of the skeleton within lay a golden ring, of rather an oval shape, and +rude workmanship; at its feet was a drinking glass, which had contained +some clear liquid, but it was unfortunately broken, and the liquid +spilt, in the opening of the coffin. Vide _Kurz’ Beträge_, 3 Th. S. +xvii. + +[48] General Jominy gives the following account of this sanguinary +affair, in his Political and Military Life of Napoleon. “Hiller had +abandoned the barrier of the Inn without fighting, but he resolved +to defend the passage of the Traun at the formidable position of +Ebersberg. A wooden bridge, thirty fathoms long, presented a more +fearful obstacle than that of Lodi, it being terminated by a walled +town, commanded by a castle, and crowned by heights of very difficult +access. To cross this bridge, in the face of thirty thousand men +and eighty pieces of cannon, was not an easy matter. Massena was +not ignorant of Napoleon’s intention to turn this impregnable post +by Lambach, but the impetuous valour of General Cohorn hurried him +into a sanguinary enterprise. Three Austrian battalions, that had +been imprudently left in front of the bridge, were overthrown, and +driven, at the point of the sword, to the gates of the town, which +were closed against them. Cohorn forced the gates, and penetrated +into the principal street. Massena supported him first by the rest +of Claparede’s division, and then by that of Legrand. A desperate +conflict was kept up from street to street, and from house to house. +Claparede had just possessed himself of the castle, when Hiller threw +four fresh columns into the town, who opened themselves a passage with +the bayonet. A horrible slaughter ensued; several houses took fire that +were filled with wounded and with combatants, whom the crowded state +of the streets prevented from escaping. War never presented a more +cruel scene. At length, tired with carnage, the Austrians abandoned +Ebersberg, and our troops debouched against the heights, where a still +more unequal combat commenced. The arrival of Durosnel’s division of +cavalry by the right bank, and the certainty that his position would +be turned by Lannes, decided Hiller at length to fall back with all +speed upon Enns.... This vigorous blow was still more honourable to +the French troops, as the greater part engaged in this business was +composed of soldiers who had never before seen a battle. It cost Hiller +from six to seven thousand men. We had to regret the loss of from four +to five thousand brave fellows, a great number of whom had fallen a +prey to the flames.”--_Vie Politique et Militaire de Napoléon._ 8vo. +Paris, 1827, tom. iii. pp. 181-3. + +[49] This extraordinary man, the founder of the Bavarian army, and the +terror of the Protestants, used to boast before the battle of Leipsig, +of three things--viz. That he had never known woman, never been drunk, +and never lost a battle. “His strange and terrific aspect,” says +Schiller, “was in unison with his character. Of low stature, thin, +with hollow cheeks, a long nose, a broad and wrinkled forehead, large +whiskers, and a pointed chin, he was generally attired in a Spanish +doublet of green with slashed sleeves, with a small and peaked hat on +his head, surmounted by a red feather, which hung down his back. His +whole aspect recalled to recollection the Duke of Alba, the scourge of +the Flemings, and his actions were by no means calculated to remove the +impression.”--_Thirty Years’ War_, book ii. The author of L’Histoire de +Gustave Adolphe gives a similar account of his dress and person, and +adds, that the Maréchal de Grammont, going to see him out of curiosity, +met him at the head of his army, attired as described, and mounted +on a little grey hackney, with one pistol only at his saddle-bow. +“Lorsque le Maréchal s’approcha pour lui faire la révérence, Tilly, +croyant remarquer qu’il s’étonnoit de le voir dans cet équipage, lui +dit, Monsieur, vous trouvez peut--être mon habillement extraordinaire; +j’avoue qu’il n’est pas tout à fait conforme à la mode de France, mais +il est a mon gré, et cela me suffit. Je pense aussi que ma haquenée, et +ce pistolet tout seul, vous surprennent pour le moins autant que mon +accoûtrement; pour que vous n’ayiez pas mauvaise opinion du Comte de +Tilly, à qui vous faites l’honneur de rendre une visite de curiosité, +je vous dirai que j’ai gagné sept batailles décisives, sans avoir été +obligé de tirer une seule fois le pistolet que vous voyez là; et mon +petit cheval ne m’a jamais abandonné et n’a jamais balancé à faire son +devoir.”--p. 173. + +[50] There being a place so called in the vicinity of the Strudel. + +[51] + “Zu Enns St. Marx und Lucas lehrt + Das volck zu Christi Glaub bekehrt. + Hie ward versenkt St. Florian + In D’Enns der edle Rittersmann, + Maximilian da Bischoff war, + Mild gegen Armen immerdar; + Diess langt zu sondern Ruhm der Stadt + Die Gott also begnadet hat.” + +[52] Gibbon, when speaking of this expedition, calls it “the triple +effort of a French army that was poured into their (the Avars’) +country, by land and water, through the Carpathian mountains, and along +the plain of the Danube.” _Decline and Fall_, vol. ix. p. 184. + +[53] This building is still standing in the north-east quarter of the +city. It is now the property of Baron Rumeskirchen. + +[54] In the Niebelunglied, which was compiled about this period, we +find Ens mentioned, by its present name, as one of the places visited +by Chrimhilt, on her journey into Hungary. + + “Da sie uber die Traun kamen, bey _Ense_ auf das feld.” + +[55] According to an old German writer quoted by Schultes, Ens was a +walled city as early as the year 900, and already of some consequence. +“Bavari citissime in id ipsum tempus (+A.D.+ 900) pro tuitioni illorum +regni validissimam urbem in littore Anesi fluminis muro obposuerunt.” +But, in this case, why is it called a village by Leopold, in the +twelfth century? + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + Nieder-Walsee--Castles of Clam and Kreuzen--Ardagger--Grein--The + Strudel and the Wirbel--Mistakes of various Authors concerning + them--St. Nikola--Sarblingstein--Freystein--Hirschau--The + Isper--Bösenbeug--Story of Bishop Bruno and the Lady + Richlita--Ips--Gottsdorf. + + +After washing the walls of Ens, the river from which it takes its name +hurries through several channels, into the Danube. In the time of +Charlemagne it divided Bavaria from the lands of the Avars or Huns of +Pannonia. + + --“Ad fluvium venit Anasum + Qui medius Bajvarios sejunxit et Hunnos.” + + Saxo Poeta. T. II. p. 155. + +From the point of its confluence with the Danube, the latter is +again studded with islands, sandbanks and sunken rocks as far as +Nieder-Walsee; and the history of the small market towns and villages +upon its flat banks, is as uninteresting as their appearance. On the +left, below the village of Nieder-Sebing, the little river Aust, +formerly the boundary between the Slavi and the Bohemians, flows round +an island, formed in its mouth, into the Danube; and on the right, +above the rippling Erla-bach, stands Erla-Kloster, a convent founded by +Otto of Machland in the tenth century, and suppressed by the Emperor +Joseph II. Our old steersman had been for some time complaining of +illness, and now lay groaning upon some straw, having given up the +paddle, by which the boat was steered, to the care of a lad who had +joined us at Linz in the place of his son, an exchange which we had +protested against at the time, as it was arranged at Ratisbon, that +the same people should row us the whole way to Vienna, and the father +and son were evidently the only persons who knew anything about the +navigation of the river. The old man growing apparently worse every +moment, we looked rather anxiously about for a place where we could +land, and obtain some assistance, but none presented itself before our +arrival, in sight of Nieder-Walsee; and therefore, although a mere +group of huts, above which arose the old wall and curious tower of the +Schloss, promised little in the way of accommodation, we determined to +land there, and see what could be done to set our poor pilot on his +legs again. Nieder-Walsee stands perched upon a rocky point of land, +on the right bank of the Danube, and behind it the mountains again +rear their forest-clothed heads. Upon the summit of one of the nearest +stands Strengberg, a post station, through which the high road runs +to Vienna, and from whence we enjoyed a splendid view of the Danube +on our return by land to Linz. The castle of Nieder-Walsee was built +by the same Eberhard, who erected Ober-Walsee on the Klausberg near +Aschach, and stands on the site of the old castle of Sumerau, After +the death of Reinprecht von Walsee in 1483, the castle was bought and +sold, pledged and redeemed, by various families, till, in the Seven +Years’ war, it became the property of the famous Field-marshal Daun, +from one of whose descendants it was bought in 1810, by Count Wimpfer. +A strong current runs round the point, and few boats, except those +belonging to the inhabitants, approach the shore at this place, as +there is considerable difficulty in getting back into the main stream, +out of which one is aground every two minutes upon the gravelly +shoals that rise in all directions in this part of the Danube, and can +only be avoided by keeping in the middle of what the boatmen call the +_Graben_ (the trench or channel) of the river. Not aware, however, +of this circumstance, and anxious to alleviate the sufferings of the +old steersman, we directed his locum tenens to run into the shore, a +business that was speedily effected, for we had no sooner come within +the influence of the current, than round went the head of the boat, and +in a few seconds we were brushing the bushes that hung over the steep +bank, and hurried along it far beyond the proper landing-place. Two +unfortunate discoveries were made together. The offer of a dram to the +steersman cleared up the mystery of his malady. He had had a few too +many already, and had laid down in the boat for the most excellent of +all reasons, his inability to stand; our second discovery was equally +annoying. We had got out of the stream, and the only person who was +capable of getting us cleverly back into it was hors de combat. The +rest of the crew knew as little about the matter as ourselves. As +soon as we had escaped one current we found ourselves in the power of +another, and with such force was the heavy, flat-bottomed punt we were +in driven upon the shoals, that, with all the strength we could muster +amongst us, we were sometimes ten minutes or a quarter of an hour +before we could get her afloat again; and when we had at last effected +it, round she spun, and there was her stern as fast as a church within +a dozen yards of the spot where her head had been similarly situated +two minutes before. At least an hour and a half was lost in this +amusing exercise, during which we had the gratification of seeing the +regular packet-boat that we had gotten the start of at Aschach, pass +us far to the left, and, steering clear of all obstacles, vanish into +the valley which opened between the wooded mountains in the distance. +At last, when our strength, our patience, and the reproaches we poured +rather unceremoniously on our drunken steersman were just exhausted, +and we had begun to calculate upon the probability of passing the +afternoon and evening at least upon the shoals, we found ourselves +by accident, but to our unspeakable satisfaction, once more impelled +forwards by a gentle and properly behaved current, which promised, in +the course of time, to lead us into the stream we had in evil hour +deserted. + +On the left bank of the Danube below Nieder-Walsee, stand the village +of Saxen, and the Castles of Clam and Kreuzen. Saxen is mentioned as +early as 823, in which year Louis the Debonair gave to Reginhard, +Bishop of Passau, two churches at “Saxina in terra Hunnorum.” The +towers of Clam rise above a forest of pines a little behind Saxen. It +was anciently the seat of the Lords of Machland. The brother of Otto of +Machland, who founded the kloster of Baumgartenberg, was the first of +the family who signed himself “Chlamme,” A.D. 1156. On the extinction +of the family of Machland, this Burg came to the Preuschenks, and in +1487, the troops of Matthias Corvinus besieged and took it. The family +of Perger bought it in 1524, enlarged it in 1636, and took the title +of Barons and afterwards of Counts of Clamm. The great white castle +of Kreuzen, far away upon the summit of a hill to the north-west, +also belonged to the Lords of Machland, and in the twelfth century +was called Croucen and Chrutzen. In 1334, it came to the celebrated +Volkerstorfs, The Counts of Meggar bought it in 1523, and when the +Turks were devastating Upper Austria in 1526, its walls were filled +with fugitives of all ranks and ages. In 1701, it was bought by a +Count Cavariani, who sold it again almost immediately to the Count +of Salburg. The market-town of Ardagger, upon the right bank, was +given by Charlemagne to the bishopric of Passau. The Emperor Conrad +III., when setting out on his unfortunate crusade, landed here on the +29th of May, 1147, to make the necessary preparation for passing with +his fleet the then much-dreaded Strudel and Wirbel. Seventy thousand +knights, completely armed, an equal number of foot-soldiers, a troop of +females “in the armour and attitude of men,” the chief of whom, from +her gilt spurs and buskins, obtained the epithet of “The golden-footed +dame[56]”, passed down the Danube under the banners of Conrad. Two +years afterwards, a few boats, principally filled with priests who +had followed the army, returned to these shores; all that treachery, +battle, and disease had left of the mighty host that had so lately +marched in full confidence to the conquest of Asia! + +A sudden bend of the river near this spot, brought us again amongst +the mountains, and in a moment we seemed shut out from the world by +the craggy barriers that rose on each side of us,--the counterparts of +those I have attempted to describe in the wild gorge of the Schlägen. +After passing a few lonely huts, perched here and there amongst the +masses of rock and forest, the chateau and town of Grein started at +once into view, on turning a sharp and craggy point, cradled amongst +the precipices which, opening behind the town, form a vista, terminated +by the castle of Kreuzen on its distant hill. Grein is one of the +poorest and smallest towns in Upper Austria, and the chateau is a +large, gloomy building, originally built by Heinrich von Chreine, in +the twelfth century. Frederick the Handsome, Duke of Austria, pledged +Grein for five hundred and sixty-two silver pfennige, to Albert von +Volkerstorf, May 14th, 1308. The valiant Bernhard von Scherffenberg +beat the Bohemians here twice, during the fifteenth century; at the +close of which it was bought of the Emperor Maximilian by one of the +family of Prueschenk. Heinrich von Prueschenk rebuilt the chateau, and +from this circumstance it received the name of Heinrichsburg. + +The traveller now approaches the most extraordinary scene on the long +Danube, from its source in the Black Forest, to its mouth in the Black +Sea. As soon as a bend of the river has shut out the view of Grein and +its chateau, a mass of rock and castle, scarcely distinguishable from +each other, appears to rise in the middle of the stream before you. The +flood roars and rushes round each side of it; and ere you can perceive +which way the boat will take, it dashes down a slight fall to the +left, struggles awhile with the waves, and then sweeps round between +two crags, on which are the fragments of old square towers, with +crucifixes planted before them. It has scarcely righted itself from +this first shock, when it is borne rapidly forward towards an immense +block of stone, on which stands a third tower, till now hidden by the +others, and having at its foot a dangerous eddy. The boat flashes like +lightning through the tossing waves, within a few feet of the vortex, +and comes immediately into still water, leaving the passenger who +beholds this scene for the first time, mute with wonder and admiration. +These are the Scylla and Charybdis of the Danube, the celebrated +Strudel and Wirbel. The passage is made in little more than the time +it takes to read the above brief description, and I could scarcely +scratch down the outlines of these curious crags and ruins, before +I was whirled to some distance beyond them. I must beg my reader, +however, to return with me, and repass them more leisurely, than the +impatient stream would permit us. The Danube, checked in its northern +course at Grein, and driven unwillingly towards the east, vents its +fury against the opposing crags on the left bank, and having broken +down part of the barrier, rides over the ruins in triumph, forming what +is called, by the boatmen, the Grein-Schwall. After this ebullition of +anger, the stream appears to sink into sullen indifference, and slowly +and silently pursues its way through a gloomy gorge of precipices, that +rise higher and higher on each side of it, till it arrives within a few +yards of the Wörthinsel, an island, about four hundred fathoms long, +and two hundred broad, surrounded by sand-banks on all sides except +the north, where a perpendicular crag starts up, bearing on its crest +the ruins of the Wöther-Schloss, or Castle of Werfenstein[57]. From + this island to the rocky shores of the Danube, which here open and +form a kind of circle around it, run several chains of crags beneath +the water; some indeed peering above it, over and through which the +stream rushes right and left, with considerable violence and uproar. +The right arm is called the Hössgang, and is only passable when the +water is very high, by the smallest and lightest craft. The main body +hurries round the northern or left side of the island, and boiling +over the first chain of rocks, falls through three separate channels, +a depth of three feet in a distance of four hundred and eighty. This +fall is called the Strudel; but the boatmen have a name for each +channel, and call that one in particular the Strudel which is nearest +to the north shore of the island: the centre channel is called the +Wildriss; and the third, nearest the main bank, the Waldwasser[58]. The +three principal crags which, standing in the entrance of these three +channels, form part of the bank or bar, over which the water falls into +them, have also their particular names; that in the entrance to the +Strudel is called the Bomben-Gehäkel, or Buma-G’hachelt; the next, the +Wildriss-Gehäkel, and the third, the Wald-Gehäkel,--the term Gehäkel +or G’hachelt distinguishing the crags, the points of which generally +appear above the surface, from those which lie beneath it, and which +are called Kogeln or Kugeln. There are nearly a dozen of these Kogeln +in the passage of the Strudel, the principal of which are named the +Marchkugel, the Wolfskugel, and the Maisenkugel; and one, from its +particular formation, the Dreyspitze. These lie in various directions, +in the entrance and middle of the channels. At the outlet of the +Wildriss there is a reef of rock called the Ross, the principal crag in +which is named the Rosskopf; another reef, called the Felsengelander, +lies at the end of the Waldwasser, beside which are two rocks called +the Keller and the Hute. Some of these, at low water, are not more than +two feet beneath the surface, and impassable, of course, by a boat of +any size or burden. + +It may easily be supposed that a stream like the Danube does not flow +very quietly over so rugged a bed, and though considerable masses of +rock have been blown up, and the channels otherwise much widened and +deepened within the last fifty years, there are still obstacles enough +to fret and agitate the river to a degree which gives at least an +appearance of danger to the passage, if even there be not a little in +reality. At the end of the fall, or Strudel, on the left, and of the +Hössgang on the right, the rocky shores again approach each other, and +the river, uniting its currents, sweeps rapidly round to the north +beneath a jutting crag, upon which stands the ruins of the castle of +Struden, and washes the walls of the little town of the same name. The +castle belonged anciently to the lords of Machland, and after them to +the Archdukes of Austria. In 1413, the Archdukes Leopold and Ernest +gave the “Feste haus ze Struden” to one Hans Greisenecker, who already +possessed the Castle of Werfenstein, for “a consideration;” and in +1493, the brothers Heinrich and Sigmund Prueschenk bought both castles +from the House of Austria, to which they had reverted. + +About a thousand yards below Struden, but near the right bank of the +river, rises the large block of stone called the Hausstein, upon +which are the ruins of the tower of the same name; round the southern +side of this block struggles a small arm of the Danube, called the +Lueg, and navigable like the Hössgang, when the water is very high, +by small boats only. On the northern side is the celebrated whirlpool +(Der Wirbel), formed most probably by the violence with which the +two currents of the Danube are hurled against each other on leaving +the Wörthinsel, and again checked and divided by the Hausstein. This +whirlpool measures sometimes nearly fifty feet in diameter; but when +we passed it, it did not, I should think, exceed fifteen. In the +centre the water forms a perfect funnel, and a large branch of fir was +whirling round and round in it, as if some invisible hand were stirring +the natural cauldron, and making it “boil and bubble.” All sorts of +extravagant stories have of course been circulated respecting this +dreaded vortex, which is gravely affirmed by some of the old writers to +have no bottom. Munster, in his Kosmographie, printed at Basle in 1567, +says, “They have often sounded in this place, but the abyss is so deep +that they can touch no ground. It is bottomless. What falls therein, +remains under and never comes up again.”--b. III. sam. 965. This writer +also confounds the Strudel with the Wirbel.[59] + +Father Kircher vows there is a hole underneath the Wirbel, which sucks +in the waters of the Danube, and a subterranean channel connected with +it, by which the said water is conveyed into Hungary, where it rises +again, and forms the Plattensee or Lake of Balaton! Others claim the +same origin for the Lake of Neusiedle[60], and to clinch the fable, +which is still reverently believed by the Hungarians, assert, that a +travelling cooper, who lost some of his tools in the Wirbel, absolutely +found them again floating on the surface of the Neusiedler-see. + +Happelius, as in support of this hypothesis, says, “it is well known +that the Danube loses a considerable quantity of its waters in the +Wirbel, so that its flood is of much less consequence from that spot +down to Vienna,” a falsehood which a glance at the river is capable at +once of refuting. + +There can be no doubt that, in earlier ages, there must have been +considerable danger in passing these falls and eddies; and even now, +when the water is low, an inexperienced or careless steersman might +easily get the bottom of his boat knocked out in the Strudel, or its +side staved in by the crags of the Hausstein, under either of which +circumstances the passengers would stand a very fair chance of being +drowned. I cannot help thinking our own rather a narrow escape, for +my readers will recollect that, on leaving Nieder-Walsee, our worthy +pilot was lying dead drunk in the stern of the boat. To our utter +astonishment, however, upon approaching the Grein-Schwall, he managed +to get upon his legs, and, as if sobered for the moment by a sudden +sense of his own situation, snatched the rudder from the boy (who in +a few minutes would certainly have had us upon the rocks), steered us +manfully and cleverly through the Strudel and Wirbel, and then flung +himself down again on his straw as drunk and insensible as before. Had +we been aware of the vicinity of these places, we should certainly have +taken a pilot on board at Ardagger, but we had no idea we were so near +them, and the poor fellows who rowed us were altogether ignorant of +the river, and merely working their way to Vienna. The passage was, +however, made before we had time to think of our danger, almost indeed +before we knew where we were; and absorbed in contemplation of the +romantic beauty of the scene, nothing short of absolute foundering +could, I believe, have distracted our attention from it. Riesbeck, +after a brief description of this spot, says, “a great variety of +circumstances concur to excite an idea of danger in both these parts of +the Danube. Low mechanics are fond of speaking of them, and magnifying +the danger, that they may increase their own importance in having gone +through it. Others, more simple, who come to the place with strong +conceits of what they are to meet with there, are so struck with the +wildness of the prospect, and the roaring of the water, that they begin +to quake and tremble before they have seen any thing. But the masters +of the vessels are those who most effectually keep up the imposition. +They make the passage a pretence for raising the price of the freight, +and when you are past them the steersman goes round with his hat in +his hand to collect money from the passengers as a reward for having +conducted them safely through such perilous spots. When our master (who +yet very well knew how much it was for his interest to keep up the +credit of his monsters) saw how little attention I paid to them, he +assured me in confidence that _during the twenty years he had sailed +the Danube, he had not heard of a single accident_.” This account was +written in 1780, and yet only three years before, (on the 31st of +October 1777,) two vessels struck, one on the Wolfs-Kugel, and the +other on the Maisenkugel, and went to pieces. In 1749, a Schiffmeister +of Passau, named Freidenberger, perished with his daughter in the +whirlpool, and another Schiffmeister, Martin Beyerl, of Vienna, was +drowned in it, at the commencement of the century. + +The danger has certainly, however, been much diminished by the +exertions of the Austrian government, which, besides having +considerably widened and deepened the channels of the Strudel and +Hössgang, by blowing up the rocks and removing the sand, has instituted +sundry prudent regulations respecting the navigation of this part of +the Danube. All boats ascending the river when the water is only of a +certain height, are obliged to stop at the little town of Struden till +information is sent to Grein and the Saurüssel, at both which places a +flag is immediately hoisted to give notice to any vessels descending +the stream, that one is coming up through the Strudel, and so prevent +the collision that would be likely to take place should they attempt +to pass it in contrary directions at the same time, the descending +vessel being compelled, under a heavy penalty, to lay to, above the +rock called the Rabenstein, till the other has passed. Also when the +water is of a sufficient height to enable the ascending boats to pass +through the southern channels of the Lueg and the Hössgang, the horses +keep the towing-path on the right bank from Ips to Wiessen, a small +place facing Grein. But when the water is low, the horses are ferried +three times across the river in the short distance of 1200 yards; first +below the Wirbel, from the right bank over to the left; then from the +town of Struden to the Wörthinsel; and lastly, from the western end of +that island over the Hössgang, back again to the right bank, under the +Rabenstein. + +As soon as you have passed the Wirbel, a boat puts off from the little +town of St. Nikola on the left bank, and paddling alongside, a man +holds out a box with the figure of the saint in it for the “voluntary +contributions” of the passengers, who are expected to drop a few +kreutzers in acknowledgment of the protection that has been so kindly +afforded them by his saintship. On board the regular passage-boat, +money is also collected by the steersman as Riesbeck describes, and +another ceremony likewise takes place, something similar to that +customary on board a ship when passing the line. The steersman goes +round with the wooden scoop or shovel, with which they wet the ropes +that bind the paddles to their uprights, filled with water; and those +who have never before passed through the Strudel and the Wirbel must +either pay or be well soused with the element, the perils of which they +have just escaped. + +In 1144, Beatrix of Klamm founded an hospital at St. Nikola for +travellers on the Danube, which she so richly endowed, that Albert of +Austria, two hundred years later, found it only necessary to provide +for the spiritual welfare of its visitants, and therefore established a +daily mass with the money collected on the river from Ardagger to Ips, +in the manner above mentioned. + +There were formerly two other towers or fortresses in the +neighbourhood; the ruins of one still exist on the northern bank of the +river, nearly facing the Wirbel, on the rock called the Langen-Stein. +The other was, as early as the twelfth century, spoken of as “the +ruined castle of the noble Lady Helchin,” and not a fragment of it is +now remaining. An old story, which I shall shortly have occasion to +transcribe, speaks of the tower called “Der Teufelsthurm,” (the Devil’s +Tower) but whether either of the four still standing have a claim to +that respectable appellation or no, is a question at present undecided. +It is accorded by some writers to the Castle of Werfenstein. + +The gorge through which the river now flows calmly and silently as +it had never been ruffled, is of the same description as that from +Hayenbach to Neuhaus, but the mountains that line its shores are still +higher, and often + + “Their lofty crests are capped with snow, + While blossoms deck the vale below.” + +So deep is the water, and so steady the stream, that boats of any +burden may drift down it in the darkest night with perfect safety. We +now floated past the old round tower of Sarblingstein, standing on a +pedestal of granite, above a little group of houses, beside which the +rivulet of Sarbling brawls through a woody ravine over the rocky bank +into the Danube. The tower is all that remains of a fortress built by +the Monks of Waldhausen in 1538, with the permission of the Emperor +Ferdinand, upon the express condition that it should be considered an +asylum for the inhabitants of the neighbourhood in case of invasion or +civil war. Hirschau, close under Sarblingstein, is the last hamlet in +Upper Austria, or Austria on the Ens. Opposite it on the right bank are +the scarcely visible remains of the castle of Hirschau, and further +east, upon the mountain top, lie the extensive ruins of Freystein, +formerly one of the largest and strongest castles in Austria. At the +close of the fourteenth century, it belonged to the famous Reinprecht +von Walsee, and after him to the families of Preuschenk and Zinzendorf. +The Prince of Starrhemberg also once possessed it. Near this spot two +valleys open to the south-west, and from thence the granite is brought +with which the streets of Vienna are paved. The labourers employed +to blast the rocks and work the quarries live close by in the little +village of Dörfel; beside which the rivulet Isper, the Hyspere of +the middle ages, rippling through a narrow valley, forms the line of +boundary northward between Upper and Lower Austria. + +The sun went down and the mountains seemed to sink with it, or melt +into the mists that crept around them. The valley of the Danube +widened,--a large building rose on the left bank, upon the end of a +rocky promontory, throwing a deeper gloom over the darkening waters, +its lofty tower piercing through the low vapours and soaring into +the clear, star-spangled sky above them--it was Schloss Bösenbeug, +the summer residence of the Emperor, and one of the oldest buildings +in Lower Austria, though the alterations made during the last century +by its then possessors, the Herren von Hoyos, have taken much from +the antique appearance of its exterior[61]. Nearly facing it on the +right bank stood the small chateau of Donaudorf, and beyond these two +buildings, the river opened to the right and left, in the same manner +that it did below Neuhaus. A multitude of lights glimmering amidst a +black mass of houses and huts, and reflected in long trembling lines +upon the water, pointed out to us the town of Ips, similarly situated +to that of Aschach. The Castle of Bosenbeug or Persenbeug belonged +in the ninth century to that Count Engelschalk who carried off the +daughter of Arnulph the Bastard, and afterwards lost his eyes and his +estates by the sentence of the Diet at Ratisbon, as has been already +described in the notice of Ebelsberg near Linz: Nearly all the +confiscated property of Engelschalk was given by Arnulph to the monks +of Kremsmünster; but, curiously enough, this Castle of Bösenbeug, +by a train of circumstances, eluded for a long time the clutches of +“holy mother Church,” who laboured indefatigably, “by hook or by +_crook_,” to get it into her possession. How it escaped her grasp +in the ninth century is not clear, but it certainly did do so, and +became the property of the valiant Bavarian Sieghart von Sempt, to +whom probably it was given as a stronghold, that would enable him +better to defend the duchy against the inroads of the Hungarians. +Sieghart fell gloriously in the execution of his trust, A.D. 907, in +the terrible battle fought between Theben and Haimburg. To work of +course went the monks, and at length so wrought upon the mind of one of +his weak descendants, Albert III.; that he bequeathed to them at his +death “the strong castle of Bösenbeug,” in despite of the entreaties +of his wife Richlinde, or Richlita, who strove to preserve it to the +next male heir, her nephew Welf von Altorf. The breath was scarcely +out of the body of Albert, when a desperate struggle ensued between +his widow and the monks of Ebersberg. The lady had taken up her +residence in the castle, which she claimed as part of her jointure, +with reversion to her nephew Welf, and refused to acknowledge the title +of the church, which she contended had been fraudulently acquired. +In the midst of this dispute, a circumstance took place which shall +be related as nearly as possible in the words of the old chronicler +Aventine. “The Emperor” (Henry III. surnamed the Black) “departed from +Regensburg and came by water to Passau: there he tarried during the +Passion week; and till the holy feast of the Ascension. The next day +after which he again took water; and journeyed into Lower Bavaria, as +Austria was then called. There is a town in Austria by name Grein; +near this town is a perilous place in the Danube, called the Strudel +by Stockerau[62]. There doth one hear the water rushing far and wide, +so falls it over the rocks with a great foam, which is very dangerous +to pass through, and brings the vessel into a whirlpool, rolling round +about. The Emperor Henry went down through the Strudel; in another +vessel was Bruno, bishop of Wurtzburg, the Emperor’s kinsman; and as +the bishop also was passing through the Strudel, there sat upon a +rock that projected out of the water, a man blacker than a Moor, of a +horrible aspect, terrible to all who beheld it, who cried out and said +to bishop Bruno, ‘Hear! hear! bishop! I am thine evil spirit! thou art +mine own, go where thou wilt, thou shalt be mine, yet now I will do +nought to thee, but soon shalt thou see me again[63].’ All who heard +this were terrified. The bishop crossed and blessed himself, said a few +prayers, and the spirit vanished. This rock is shewn to this day; upon +it is built a small tower all of stone, without any wood: it has no +roof, and is called the Devil’s Tower. Not far from thence, some two +miles journey, the Emperor and his people landed, purposing to pass +the night in a town called Pösenbeiss, belonging to the Lady Richlita, +widow of the Count Adalbero von Ebersberg. She received the Emperor +joyfully; invited him to a banquet, and prayed him, besides, that +he would bestow the town of Pösenbeiss and other surrounding places +(that her husband had possessed and governed) on her brother’s son, +Welforic III. The Emperor entered the banquet-room, and standing near +Bishop Bruno, Count Aleman von Ebersberg and the Lady Richlita, gave +the countess his right hand and granted her prayer. At that moment the +floor of the apartment fell in, and the Emperor fell through into the +bathing-chamber below it, without sustaining any injury, as did also +Count Aleman, and the Lady Richlita, but the bishop fell on the edge +of the bathing-tub, broke his ribs, and died a few days afterwards.” +Other writers say, that the Count and the Lady Richlita both died from +the hurts they received; but be that as it may, the right heir was, +according to the Emperor’s promise, established at Bösenbeug, A.D. +1045, in spite of the intrigues and plots of the monks, whose agents +had frightened and killed the poor bishop, he having, as it appears, +spoken a good word for the lady, who is supposed also to have fallen a +victim to the same scandalous trick, copied most likely from a similar +tragical farce played off by the celebrated St. Dunstan, about seventy +years before, in England. Some time afterwards the monks renewed their +claim in applications to the Markgraves Albert I. and Leopold III., but +without success, the latter, in 1096, giving the castle to his youngest +daughter, Richardis. Thus foiled, they went on a new tack, and managed +to persuade the husband of this Princess, Count Stephaning, to join +the first crusade, in the hope that he would never return, and that +Bösenbeug would at length become their property. Half of the charitable +wish was granted. + + “Audiit, et voti Phœbus succedere partem + Mente dedit: partem volucris dispersit in auras.” + +The bones of the poor crusader whitened the deserts of Syria, but his +castle reverted to the Markgraves of Austria. Ottocar, king of Bohemia, +gave it in 1271 to the patriarch of Aquileia; but in the reign of the +Emperor Albert I. we find it again in the possession of the house of +Austria. The Emperor Frederick IV. took possession of it as guardian +of Ladislaus, but he was ejected by force of arms in 1457, and the +castle given back to Ladislaus. Rudolph II. pledged and afterwards sold +it, with Rohreck, Weinberg, and the whole Isperthal, to the Barons of +Hoyos, from which family it was repurchased by the present emperor in +1801. The tilt-yard is still in good preservation, and the gardens +are beautiful. His Majesty is very partial to the spot, and makes +frequent excursions by land as far as the Strudel and Wirbel, from +whence he returns in the boat of a schiffmeister at Bösenbeug of the +name of Feldmüller, whom he patronizes highly, and who is considered +the richest man of his calling in Lower Austria. He builds yearly about +twenty of the boats called kellheimers, and employs one hundred horses +and three hundred men. Most of the inhabitants of the little markt of +Bösenbeug have, as may be supposed, considerably benefited from its +becoming an Imperial residence. + +The town of Ips or Yps, as it is indifferently spelt, on the opposite +bank, is supposed by some old geographers to be the Usbium of Ptolemy, +by others the Pons Isidis. It is seated at the confluence of a river of +the same name with the Danube; and, in the time of Charlemagne, appears +under the name of Ibesse and Isebruch, as the property of the Counts of +Sempt and Ebersberg. In 1275, Ips threw open its gates to Rudolph of +Hapsburg; and, in 1741, the Bavarian and French armies here formed a +junction: its name has, however, become familiar to foreign lands, not +from the deeds of arms done in its neighbourhood, but from its having +shared with Passau the trade in the crucibles made at Hafner-zell; +and which, as I have before mentioned, are distinguished throughout +the world by the names of the places where they are sold, instead of +that of the spot where they are fabricated. Immediately below Ips, the +river forms a reach, which, from the difficulty of its navigation, +obtained the appellation that has eventually attached itself to the +point of land at which it commences,--Die Böse-Beug, literally, “the +bad corner.” Before we turned this corner, however, night had sunk down +upon land and flood, and our crew began to be clamorous for rest and +refreshment. Our drunken beast of a steersman, whom we had now begun +cordially to detest, insisted upon proceeding as far as Marbach; and +accordingly the men, who knew nothing of the river, pulled away again +for a quarter of an hour rather sulkily; when, having lost sight of +the lights of Ips, and seeing none appear in the distance, they again +expressed symptoms of impatience, and upon receiving from a passing +boat the information that Marbach was yet “eine starke stunde” (a +long hour) distant, they became outrageous, and vowed they would run +the boat ashore, at the first village they could discover. Neither my +companion nor myself much objected to their determination, as there +was every probability, from their utter ignorance of the river, the +inability of the steersman to direct them, and the heavy fog that +was fast rising, that in the course of a few minutes we should go +bump ashore somewhere, whether we would or no; and therefore a hovel, +where bed and supper might be procured, was certainly preferable to a +sandbank without either. Two or three tapers glimmering above the fog +through something like windows, attracting our notice on the left, the +men pulled towards it, and our boat soon grated on the sand, under what +first appeared a lofty wall, but which turned out, on examination, a +steep bank, upon the ridge of which stood half a dozen poor cottages. +Up we clambered on all fours, dragging our cloaks and portmanteaus +with us; and a man making his appearance with a lantern, we followed +him into an old crazy-looking hovel, which, by the outward and visible +sign of a dead bush dangling over its door, too plainly indicated the +miserable state of its inward and spiritual grace, though dignified by +the title of a gasthaus[64]. Several sufficiently ill-looking fellows +in jackets of undressed black sheep-skin, caps of the same material, +and high boots, each with a formidable clasp-knife, worn as an English +carpenter wears his rule; two brawny, bare-armed, masculine wenches in +similar jackets, with dark handkerchiefs bound round their brows in the +Austrian fashion; and an old hag, whose habits and person were equally +indescribable, formed the rather startling group to which our guide +introduced us. Our application for beds appeared to astonish them. They +had no such thing; there was plenty of straw. They had no coffee, no +butter;--the poor fellows who had rowed us sat down on a bench, and +began to gnaw some dry bread, the only refreshment the _hotel_ seemed +capable of furnishing. On a sudden it occurred to us that a basin of +boiled milk might be procurable, and sure enough half a gallon, at +least, of delicious milk was in ten minutes smoking in two glorious +wooden bowls, upon the long oaken table before us. Our host now entered +with one or two helpers laden with straw, which they spread all over +the floor, and our crew, having finished their crusts, stretched +themselves out in a row, their knapsacks under their heads, and soon +commenced a nasal symphony, more powerful than harmonious. The company +and the family having one by one withdrawn, with the exception of the +old beldame, who waited to take away the solitary candle, we betook +ourselves also to our portion of the straw, and never in my life did I +enjoy a sweeter, sounder sleep than that which bound up my senses in +the humble gasthaus of Gottsdorf till six o’clock the next morning. + + + FOOTNOTES (CHAPTER VI.) + +[56] Gibbon.--William of Tyre and Matthew Paris reckon seventy thousand +loricati in each of the armies led by Conrad and the French king, +Louis VII. The light-armed troops, the peasant infantry, the women +and children, and the priests and monks, swelled this swarm to an +inconceivable extent. “It is affirmed by the Greeks and Latins, that in +the passage of a strait or river, the Byzantine agents, after a tale +of nine hundred thousand, desisted from the endless and formidable +computation.”--_Decline and Fall_, vol. xl. p. 107. + +[57] This little square tower, which is generally called, from its +situation, the Wörther-Schloss, is described in several topographical +works indifferently under the name of the Castle of Werfenstein, and +the Castle of Struden. But it being clearly apparent from various +ancient documents that the Castles of Werfenstein and Struden were +two distinct buildings, Herr Schultes has, I think, with good reason, +designated this the ruin of Werfenstein, and that which overhangs the +little markt of Struden, on the left bank of the river, the Castle of +Struden. + +[58] The Waldwasser and the Wildriss, like the Hössgang, are never +passable but when the water is very high, and then only by the lightest +and smallest craft. The Strudel, though most studded with rocks, is the +best, and consequently the general passage for all boats and rafts, +either ascending or descending, and has therefore given its name to the +whole fall. + +[59] A singular ignorance of the true situation of these famous +places is displayed by most of the German writers. Berckenmayer, in +his Curiösen Antiquarius, carries the Wirbel below the town of Krems, +and he is followed in his error by Strahlenberg, in his Beschreibung +des Russichen Reiches, and Hübner, in his Vollständigen Geographie, +who speak of the Wirbel as a _waterfall_ near Krems. From Hübner this +mistake has been copied into several geographical works, and amongst +others into the old Zeitung’s Lexicon; and many of the modern German, +and even some English travellers speak of the Strudel and Wirbel as one +and the same thing, a confusion which nothing but utter carelessness +could have created; the first being distinctly a fall, and the second +an eddy, each remarkable in itself, and at some little distance from +the other. + +[60] “Inter alios (vortices) famosus ille est, qui aspicitur sub +Lincio. Creditur vulgo origo esse lacus Neusidel in Hungaria +Cis-Rahabanti. Aspicitur etiam alter sed hoc minor, prope pagum Almas +infra Commaronium, qui perhibetur esse origo lacus Balaton.”--Marsigli +Danubiani illustr. See also Herbinius de Cataract. Fluv., and Kircher’s +Mundus subterraneus. + +[61] Vide Frontispiece. The view was taken from a hill on the right +bank of the river, on our return by land from Vienna. + +[62] Here is another error respecting the Strudel. Stockerau is nearly +two days journey from it, in the neighbourhood of Vienna. + +[63] + “_Brutus._ Speak to me what thou art? + Ghost. _Thy evil spirit, Brutus._ + _Brutus._ Why com’st thou? + Ghost. _To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi._ + _Brutus._ _Well, Then I shall see thee again?_ + Ghost. _Ay, at Philippi!_” + + Julius Cæsar, Act iv. Scene 3. + +[64] A _gast-haus_ is an hotel; a _wirths-haus_, a tavern, or ale-house. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + Marbach.--Maria-Taferl.--Pechlarn.--Wiedeneck.--Mölk.--Lubereck.--The + Valley of the Wachau.--Schönbühel.--Aggstein.--The + Teufel’s-Mauer.--Spitz, and the Ruin of + Hinterhaus.--Church and Village of St. Michel.--Castle + of Dürrenstein.--Narrow escape of Marshal Mortier during + the Campaign of 1805.--Mautern.--Stein.--Krems.--Kloster + Göttweih.--Trasenmauer.--Arrival at Tuln. + + +We had now been three days upon the water, during which time scarcely +a cloud had speckled the deep blue of the sky. As the first light +of morning, however, struggled through the little dingy casement of +our humble hotel, we were disagreeably surprised at finding that the +fog, which had risen the previous evening after sunset, still rolled +heavily along the river, and threatened to continue the greater part, +if not the whole of the day. We were still nearly two days’ journey +from Vienna, and a change of weather, which might be portended by this +unwelcome visitant, would probably make it four, five, or even six, +before we could reach the capital, to say nothing of the disagreeables +it would bring in its train. At the risk of losing the beauty of the +prospect, therefore, we urged our immediate departure, but here we +were met by a new difficulty. Our drunken steersman, who had lain all +night in the boat, was now ill in _sober_ sadness, and quite incapable +of steering us. A new pilot was to be found, and, after much parley +and delay, our host of the gasthaus signified his consent to take the +helm; but the fog, instead of dispersing, as we had faintly hoped, +with the rising sun, appeared to increase in density; and not one of +our boatmen could be prevailed on to trust himself afloat in it. After +at least another hour’s delay, and considerable altercation, by dint +of a little money, and promise of more, we induced three out of the +four to venture on board, and, about eight o’clock, pushed off into +the fog, by this time quite as thick, though not so yellow, as that +which pervades Lombard Street on a November afternoon. Fortunately this +part of the Danube is not fertile in fine views. The small village +of Barthub and Mössling, on the left, and Hinterhaus, and the two +Agens, on the right, have nothing to recommend them, either in a +picturesque or historical point of view; and the distant prospect of +Maria-Taferl we had afterwards an opportunity of enjoying. The river, +from Bösenbeug and Ips, makes a bold sweep to the south as far as +Säusenstein, that stands on a small promontory on the right bank, round +which its waters boil and foam, and form what, in earlier times, was +called the Charybdis Pogica. The ruin here is of a very late date. It +was a mansion belonging to some ecclesiastic, and burned by the French +in the last war. The Cistercian convent near it, called St. Lorenz +in the Gottesthal, was founded by Eberhard von Walsee, in 1336. In +the fifteenth century, it was attacked and plundered by some of the +knightly robbers who infested the neighbourhood, and who are termed +“_fratres hostiles_” in the old chronicles. The tombs of the family of +Walsee, which became extinct in 1483, are still in existence here. On +that of Reinprecht, the last of his race, is simply his motto, “Thue +Recht,” with the words beneath it, “periisti amor,” in allusion to the +termination of the feud between the Houses of Walsee and Schaumberg. +All this; at least, says Herr Schultes, who had the advantage of +visiting this spot in clearer weather--we saw neither ruin nor convent, +nor tombs; but what we did see near this place was equally picturesque +and striking. The sound of voices chaunting a kind of hymn, stole +faintly on our ears, and, as it became more distinct, a boat appeared, +like a phantom, in the fog, crowded with pilgrims, on their way to +Marbach and Maria-Taferl. They were principally women, and sat huddled +together round a priest, who, bare-headed, supported a crucifix, and +occasionally chimed in, in a deep bass voice, with the quavering +trebles of his companions. For a few minutes, they floated beside us, +and then gradually melted again into the mist, as though they had been +creatures of it, the hymn dying away in the distance. + +Before we reached Marbach, the fog, to our great gratification, had +evidently begun to disperse. It still covered the face of the water, +but the blue sky was visible above it; and the sun, occasionally +breaking through it, gave us a glimpse of this or that bank, according +to the situation of the boat. The Markt of Marbach existed as early, +at least, as the thirteenth century, as, in 1208, we hear of the +Knights of Marbach. Almost every house in the place is an inn, as, +lying under the lofty mountain, on which stands the most celebrated +place of pilgrimage in Lower Austria--the church of Maria-Taferl, it is +of course the place of rendezvous for the countless devotees who swarm +from all parts of the empire to that holy shrine. The inhabitants of +Vienna, in the middle of September, come on horseback, in every kind of +vehicle, and even on foot, hundreds in a day, and return by the Danube. +A great traffic is also carried on with these pious personages in +crosses, amulets, rosaries, and holy images, pictures and books of all +descriptions, by the inhabitants of Marbach; besides which, a number of +beggars reside here, each of whom has his or her regular standing upon +the path winding up the hill to the Maria-Taferl; and spend duly every +evening, in eating and drinking, the large sums they have collected +during the day. It has been calculated that upwards of a million and a +half of florins are annually expended here; and the minister of the +place told Herr Schultes that one year he himself had counted 135,000 +pilgrims. A proverbial rhyme tends also much to the well doing of the +inhabitants of Marbach: + + “Wer nach Maria Taferl ein Wallfahrt maken thut + Diess ihm Maria Taferl macht aller wiedergut:” + +which may be rendered,-- + + Who to Maria Taferl a pilgrimage hath ta’en, + To him Maria Taferl shall make all good again. + +Expense, therefore, is the last thing considered; and the spirit of +extravagance extends itself even to the townspeople, who lavish, in the +pride of their well-filled purses, ridiculous sums upon the decoration +of their houses, so that, according to another German proverb, says +Schultes,-- + + “Was durch das Pfeifchen kommt, geht durch die Trommel davon.” + + What comes through the fife goes away through the drum. + +Our new steersman put into this little markt to buy some beer and +bread; and the fog now rolling off in broken masses, enabled us to +get a peep at the town, which seemed a strange jumble of alehouses +and chapels, signs and crucifixes, all very gaily and fantastically +painted, and forming, in short, a most consistent trysting-place for +“_publicans_ and sinners.” + +Maria-Taferl is to the pious Austrian what Maria-Einsiedel is to the +Roman Catholic Swabian, and Maria-Oetting to the Bavarian of the same +persuasion. The lovers of an extensive and beautiful prospect may, for +an hour’s climbing, enjoy, from the summit of the mountain on which +it stands, a splendid panorama of the Danube and great part of Lower +Austria, the Alps of the Steyermark, and the whole chain of mountains +from the lofty Schneeberg in the Wiener-Wald, to the frontier of +Bavaria. The history of this celebrated place of pilgrimage may be +bought for two kreutzers, a great deal more than it is worth, but that +it is amusing and instructive to see how grossly the Roman Catholic +priesthood are yet permitted to gull an ignorant, and consequently +superstitious people. + +The precious document sets forth with stating the well-known fact of +the existence, from time immemorial, of a venerable oak-tree on the +top of the mountain, in which was placed a figure of the crucified +Redeemer. To this spot the inhabitants of Klein-Pechlarn, a small +village in the neighbourhood, used to repair every Easter Monday to put +up their petitions for a fine harvest, and, after hearing the service +chaunted, sat down at a stone table before the church-door, and ate, +drank, and were merry; from whence arose the name of Maria-_Taferl_, +or Mary of the Table. In 1662, a herdsman, either from ignorance or +wantonness, attempted to hew down the sacred tree, on which age had +already heavily laid its withering and deforming hand. At the first +blow, however, the axe recoiled so violently, that it sprung from his +grasp and wounded one of his feet severely. Unchecked by this warning, +however, he made a second blow, when it again recoiled with still more +violence, and desperately wounded his other foot[65]. The profane +herdman, now lifting up his eyes in agony, observed the crucifix, and +struck with remorse, craved pardon of God for his impiety; upon which +the blood stopped of its own accord, and his wounds healed immediately, +without surgical or any human assistance! Ten years after this +miraculous occurrence, a man named Alexander Schinnagel, who suffered +under a deep and distressing melancholy, which he could not shake off, +came, by heaven directed, to the house of a schoolmaster, who had in +his chamber an image of the Virgin, called a Vesperbild. Schinnagel +bought the image, and carried it home. In the middle of the night, +he heard “a still small voice,” saying, “Wouldst thou be cured, take +the image, and place it in the oak at Maria-Taferl.” Accordingly, at +day-break, up rose Alexander, and proceeded with his purchase to the +mountain-top, where he placed it as directed, taking down at the same +time the crucifix, which age and exposure to the weather had nearly +destroyed.. Immediately his melancholy left him, and he returned home +a merry, and, we hope, a grateful man. Since that period the angels +themselves have frequently visited the sacred spot. On the 17th of +June, 1658, a most credible (credulous?) personage saw a snow white +and luminous apparition, in mid-day, before the holy effigy. In 1659, +three persons, equally worthy of belief, saw a whole troop of angels, +in white garments, and in processional order, on their way to the +Vesperbild. Another time, when forty people were collected together in +its neighbourhood, three of them saw an angelical procession in the +air, and three bright stars of remarkable magnitude immediately above +the figure. Again, a procession of white-clothed personages was seen by +eight or ten people, the leading apparition bearing a red cross; and +shortly afterwards a wax taper was suddenly observed burning before +the Vesperbild. In 1661, many other angelical phantoms were seen by +sometimes thirty, and once by a hundred people at a time, all of +them most respectable and credible witnesses, whose testimonies were +registered, signed, and sworn to before the competent authorities![66] + +As the vapours, which had till now enveloped us, began rapidly to yield +to the power of the sun, and were swept in masses by the fresh breeze +of morning from the bright face of the river and the fair hills beside +it, disclosing the rich and beautiful prospect that opened upon us with +the widening valley, smiling in warmth and light; it was impossible to +suppress the remark, commonplace as it may be considered, that, thus, +at no very distant period, would the mists of error and superstition +fly before the increasing influence of knowledge and truth, and man, +awaking to the contemplation of the sublime paths they enlighten, +“Look,” full of hope, joy, and gratitude, “through Nature, up to +nature’s God!” + +Albert IV., Duke of Austria, whose journey to the Holy Land gave rise +to so many romantic stories, that he obtained the appellation of the +“wonder of the world,” resided for some time at Marbach, in the valley +of All Saints, with the Carthusians: “with them,” says a contemporary, +“he attends matins, reads the lessons, makes inclinations, +genuflexions, observes ceremonies, confessions and prayers. He not +only joins them in the performance of divine service in the choir, but +affords an example of humility by frequenting the Chapter-house. In a +word, he calls himself brother Albert, and considers himself in every +respect as one of the order[67].” + +So few travellers ever think of taking a boat to themselves, that we +were hailed at Marbach, as an _ordinari-schiff_[68], by three poor +women who wanted to go to Vienna. Having plenty of room to spare, we +consented to their coming on board, which they accordingly did with +their baskets and bundles sans cérémonie, imagining that they should +have to pay the usual fare for their passage; and with this accession +of company and cargo we again set forward. Below Schelmenbach and +Krumpen-Nussbaum falls the mountain-stream called the Erlaf, into the +Danube, named in deeds of the time of Charlemagne, and long the +boundary between Bavaria and the Land of the Huns. At the mouth of the +Erlaf, is a Rechen or Grate, where the wood collects that is floated +down this stream from the forests in the neighbourhood of Maria-Zell, +in the Steyermark, near which it takes its rise. It is customary in +Germany to place one of these gratings at the mouth of any tributary +stream, or in the bed of any river where a line of demarcation is drawn +naturally or artificially between two kingdoms, two provinces or even +two parishes. So that the branches and trunks of trees blown down by +high winds, and swept away by inundations into the current, should not +be carried beyond the frontiers or boundaries of the state or property +to which they belong, and which derives from them no inconsiderable +portion of its revenue. + +The timber, also, regularly felled by the wood-cutters, is thrown thus +carelessly on the mountain-streams of Germany, and floats down to +the Rechen or Grate, where it is afterwards collected by its owners, +who are thus saved the trouble and expense of land carriage; and the +drifting property is protected from plunder by the severity of the +laws relating to it. + +Before us now lay the two Pechlarns; Great Pechlarn on the right, +and Little Pechlarn on the left bank. At the first we determined to +breakfast, were it only to feast where the fair Chrimhilt had feasted, +in + + “Die Burg zu Bechelaren.” + +No relics of the “Burg” itself, however, exist; but an old gateway, +some round towers, and here and there a few feet of crumbling wall, +attest the early grandeur of the place, and fancy fills up the chasms +which time has made, with court and keep, buttress and battlement, +crowded with fair damsels and fierce soldiery, “all, all abroad to +gaze” at the advancing pageant. + +There, round that point of land, comes the royal fleet, the banners +of Hungary, Burgundy, Bavaria, Pechlarn, and Passau, flinging their +blazoned glories on the breeze, and proudly announcing to the admiring +burghers the rich freight of rank and beauty which the swelling Danube +is wafting to their port. Five hundred “Kemps of Hungary,” their bright +hauberks glittering in the sun, crowd the decks of the first vessels. +On the prow of the foremost stands the valiant Markgraf, Rudiger of +Pechlarn, than whom + + “A truer soldier never + Was in this world yborn,[69]” + +bending eagerly forward to distinguish, amongst the bevy of beauties +at “the open windows[70]” of the castle, the fair forms of his beloved +wife and daughter. Beneath the rich canopy that shades the deck of +yonder bark, with the gilded oars, now doubling the little promontory, +sits the peerless bride of the mighty Etzel, but she hears not the +shout of welcome that rises on the shore; she marks not the gay +multitudes that crowd to pay her homage. Her brow is clouded, her ruby +lip quivers, tears like liquid diamonds tremble upon the long dark +silken lashes of her downcast eyes; the form of the noble Siegfried is +constantly before her. She hears but the voice of her murdered champion +calling for vengeance; she sees but the ghastly wound which treachery +dealt, bleeding afresh at the approach of the dark and deadly Haghen. +Yet, passing beautiful is she even in sorrow, and still warrants the +glowing description of the old minnesænger, Henry of Ofterdingen.[71] + + “From out her broidered garments + Full many a jewel shone, + The rosy red bloomed sweetly + Her lovely cheek upon. + He who would in fancy + Paint that lady fair, + In this world has never + Seen such beauty rare. + + As the moon outshineth + Every twinkling star, + Shedding careless splendour + From out her cloudy car; + So, before her maidens, + Stood that lady bright, + And higher swelled the spirit + Of every gazing knight.[72]” + +By her side stands a venerable figure, clad in the gorgeous and sacred +vestments of his office. The flowing stole of embroidered silk, the +pallium of cloth of gold, the jewelled mitre, the “gilt shoon,” and +the massive but richly wrought cross and crosier, borne by two of his +attendants, distinguish him as the holy Pilgerin, the wealthy and +powerful Bishop of Passau, uncle to the queen, and related also to the +noble Rudiger. The pale youth near him, his hands reverently crossed +upon his bosom, is his clerk Conrad, who afterwards assisted him to +write, in “the Latin tongue,” the adventures of the Nibelungen. On the +other hand of the lovely Chrimhilt, stands the faithful Duke Eckewart, +who has sworn to escort his liege lady to Hungary; and the remainder +of the flotilla bears the five hundred chosen Knights of Burgundy, who +follow his standard. The vision is over, the airy castle has vanished-- + + “The knights are dust, + Their good swords are rust, + Their souls are with the saints we trust.” + +And a rude and solitary boat is rocking under the windows of a poor +white-washed wirthshaus, which, with half a dozen humble cottages and +some mouldering walls, now marks the site of the once strong and gay +burg of Pechlarn! + +Rudiger of Pechlarn, as well as his kinsman, the Bishop of Passau, is +an historical personage. He was Count of the frontier during the reign +of Arnulph, Duke of Bavaria, and died in 916. His son, Markgraf Rudiger +II., died in 943, and with him the direct male line became extinct. The +little town of Pechlarn is now principally inhabited by potters. + +Beyond Pechlarn, the river keeps still widening, till, on the left +bank, rises the fine old Castle of Weideneck, which receives its name +from a neighbouring rivulet, and is supposed to have been built by +the elder Rudiger of Pechlarn. The Emperor Frederick IV., and the +famous Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, both beleaguered Weideneck. +The former twice won and lost it. But the eye has scarcely caught +sight of Weideneck, before it is attracted by the distant domes of +the magnificent Convent of Mölk, that appear over the willows of an +island, in the centre of the river. Gradually, the entire façade of the +convent, upon its granite rock, and the little market-town beneath it, +glide from behind the island, and complete one of the most imposing and +beautiful pictures upon the river. The present splendid structure was +built in 1720-32, by an architect, named Prandauer; but the rock on +which it stands, once supported, not only a more ancient convent, but +also a Roman fortress. Under the name of Medilke, it appears in the +Nibelungen-lied, + + “At Medilke were the goblets + Of costly gold, filled high, + And the wine went gaily round + Mid that noble company.” + +But the authentic history of Mölk commences apparently in the sixteenth +century, when the Markgraf Leopold I., surnamed the Illustrious, made +it his residence after wresting it from the power of the Hungarians. +This valiant prince founded here a kloster, and was here interred after +his murder at Wurzburg, as were likewise his wife, Richarde, his sons +Henry and Albrecht, and their wives, Mechthilde and Frowiza, Adelheid, +Countess of Leopold the Strong, the Margraf Ernest III., surnamed the +Valiant, and his lady Schwanehild, Leopold III., surnamed the Handsome, +and many other noble Austrian and Bavarian knights and ladies. Saint +Colomanus, or Saint Colman, descended, according to the story, from +the early Kings of Scotland, was also buried at Mölk. This saint, +travelling through Austria to Jerusalem, was seized, at Stockerau, by +some rebellious peasants, A.D. 1012, who, taking him for a spy, hung +him upon a tree, where his body remained a year and a half without +putrefaction, and afterwards worked many miracles! Leopold III., in +the year 1089, established some Benedictines from Lambach in this +Kloster; and his son, Leopold IV., who was born here in 1073, and here +celebrated his marriage with Agnes, daughter of the Emperor Henry IV., +and widow of Frederick of Hohenstaufen, gave up his palace to them, +and retired to the Khalenberg, near Vienna. The Kloster of Mölk soon +became proverbial for its wealth, and its superior was the Primate of +Lower Austria. In 1619, the insurgents of Upper Austria besieged Mölk +for upwards of a month, as did also the Turks in 1684. Napoleon had +his headquarters here in 1805, and again in 1809; and a mark is shown +upon the floor of one of the apartments in the Kloster, which he is +said to have made in a passion. While a few monks inhabit this splendid +palace, their sovereign, one of the most powerful monarchs in Europe, +passes a considerable portion of his time in an humble wooden building, +upon the opposite bank of the Danube. At Lubereck, a little below the +Castle of Weideneck, beside a romantic waterfall, is a small edifice, +built entirely of wood, and formerly the country residence of the Baron +von Führenberg, postmaster of Mölk. Between this place and Bösenbeug, +Francis I. divides nearly all the hours which, during summer, he +snatches from the cares of empire. In his plain, domestic habits, +and in the kindness and affability with which, in such moments of +relaxation, he listens or chats to his humble neighbours, the present +Sovereign of Austria greatly resembles our own late venerable monarch, +King George III., and, like him, has compelled his bitterest political +enemies to acknowledge that, in all the private virtues of life, as a +husband, a father, and a master, he is an example, not only to his own +subjects, but to mankind. + +On the left bank, beyond Lubereck, is the markt of Emmersdorf, at the +point of a narrow neck of land, round which the Danube wheels to the +north-east, and enters the romantic valley of the Wachau. Emmersdorf, +like so many other places on the Danube, was formerly the seat of some +powerful robbers, who levied contributions upon the passing vessels, +and blotted the page of history with such bloody deeds that, to use the +expression of a modern German writer, the hand of a common executioner +alone could steadily transcribe them. At the mouth of the Bielach, +a little river that empties itself into the Danube nearly facing +Emmersdorf, and over which there is a ferry, the celebrated district +called the Wachau commences, and extends itself as far as the castle of +Dürrenstein, some say as far as Mautern and Krems. The view from this +point, either looking up or down the river, is exceedingly beautiful. +The western prospect is enriched with the castle of Weideneck, the +Palace-convent and markt of Mölk, and the noble mountains of Upper +Austria, which here you gaze on for the last time. Turning and looking +into the mouth of the yawning gorge, the eye is first attracted by +the castle and kloster of Schönbühel, picturesquely situated on the +brink of the precipitous right bank, behind which rise some gigantic +mountains. On the left, a crescent of bold craggy hills, towering one +over the other, checks the northerly inclination of the mighty flood, +and bends it again eastward, while upon one of them the fine ruin of +Aggstein glimmers white in the distance. + +Charlemagne, in the year 803, gave the whole valley of the Wachau +(in terra Avarorum) from the Bielach as far as Tuln, Zeizelmauer +and Perschling, (Tulna, Zysenmurus et Bierstlinga,) to the Bishop +of Passau, and it belonged to Bavaria, at least “in spiritualibus,” +till 1805. Schloss Schönbühel stands, as I have before said, at the +entrance to the valley, upon a wall of granite, from which its own +walls are scarcely distinguishable. Schultes calls it a ruin, but to +me it had the appearance of an inhabited château in excellent repair. +It is a singular-looking building, with a tall, square, but narrow +tower, shooting up from the centre of its western front, more like a +chimney than a turret. Its situation, however, is exceedingly fine and +commanding, and it has the reputation of being haunted by no less a +spirit than Lucifer himself, a circumstance which would alone render +it interesting to the romantic tourist. A little beyond it stands an +old chapel or kloster, belonging to the Schloss. In the fourteenth +century this place belonged to the family of Starrhemberg. Having now +fairly entered the valley, we perceived the markt of Aggsbach on the +left bank, and facing it, Klein, or little Aggsbach. In a chasm behind +the latter, Haderich von Meissau, the Kuenringer and marshal of Lower +Austria, founded, in 1386, a convent for thirteen Carthusian Monks, +which was suppressed by Joseph II. in 1782; and on the mountain top, +a little beyond the former, stand the before-mentioned ruins of the +Castle of Aggstein. There is a tradition respecting this castle, of +a peculiarly German cast, and which would work up well in “a tale of +terror.” It is said that it was anciently the hold of a robber knight +named Schrekenwald, who, after seizing and plundering the unfortunate +travellers on the Danube, thrust his wretched captives through an iron +door over the rocks into a deep abyss behind the castle, which he +called his “Little Rose Garden,” and from which (even if by a miracle +they were not dashed to pieces in their fall) the chance of escape +was next to impossible. The tradition is preserved in an Austrian +proverb; when any one is in such a strait as to preclude all hope of +extrication, he is said to be “in Schreckenwald’s Rose-garden.” The +story, however, goes on to say, that, by some extraordinary chance, one +of his intended victims did effect his escape, and with the help of his +friends, who returned with him in arms, surprised, made prisoner, and +hung the monster. + +In the year 1232, Hadmar, the Kuenringer, who was also lord of +Dürrenstein, possessed this castle, and ravaged, in company with +his brother Heinrich von Weitra, the whole country as far as Stein +and Krems. The trembling inhabitants called them “the Hounds,” and +Frederick, the last of the Babenbergers, in vain endeavoured to subdue +and destroy them. A merchant, named Rudiger, at length suggested a +ruse de guerre to the Emperor. “I will freight,” said he, “a vessel at +Regensburg, laden with the most costly merchandise: the tidings will +soon reach the robbers at Aggstein. Thirty stout knights shall lie +concealed in the vessel, and when Hadmar rushes down from his castle, +and boards us with a few of his vassals, thinking to plunder some +peaceable merchants, the knights shall rush out upon and overpower him, +while I push off from the shore.” The plan was adopted, and succeeded. +The vessel was freighted at Regensburg, and stopped at Aggstein. Hadmar +flung himself into the snare set for him, and Rudiger and his people, +rowing off at the same moment, brought the robber prisoner to the feet +of Frederick. + +In 1277, Luitold Kuenring possessed the castles of Aggstein and +Dürrenstein, but lost them both, with many others, in rebellion against +Albert I., and was banished the country in 1291. From that period its +history is a mere record of bargains and sales, which terminates with +its purchase by a Count of Beroldingen, in 1819. + +The castle is finely situated on the crest of a conical hill, and the +path up to it lies through a thick forest which affords a pleasing +shelter to the noontide traveller, whom curiosity leads to inspect the +ruins. The keys are kept in the little wirthshaus on the bank below +it. Great part of the castle is in tolerable preservation, at least as +far as regards the bare walls; and the date over the gateway, if Prof. +Schultes have rightly copied it, (for I did not see it myself,) appears +to me rather apocryphal. The inscription runs thus:-- + + “Das Purkstall hat ange + vangen tze pauen her Jo + rig der Schektvon w + ald der nachten montag + nach unser Frauventag + nativitatis, da von Crist + gpurd waren ergangen + +MCCXXVIII+ Jar.[73]” + +Below Schwallenbach, a small markt on the left bank, a rude mass of +barren crags has received the name of the Teufel’s mauer (Devil’s +wall.) This busy “old gentleman” is said to have taken it into his +head to block up the Danube at this spot, but, through some special +intervention of Providence, a sudden stop was put to the infernal +masonry. An echo slumbers here, which, waked by a pistol-shot, resents +the impertinence in a voice of thunder. Having passed the villages +of Ober or Schloss-Arnsdorf, and Mitter-Arnsdorf, we at length +arrived before the markt and castle of Spitz, the towers of which +had been visible from Schwallenbach. Both town and castle belonged +anciently to Bavaria, and they have been in turn the property of +most of the ecclesiastical and lay robbers we have already heard so +much of--the bishops of Passau and Salzburg, the monks of Nieder +Altaich, the Margraves Burkhard and Leopold, Hansen the Kapeller, +Hadmar the Kuenringer, etc. etc. In 1805, Marshal Mortier, who had +narrowly escaped destruction near Dürrenstein, was glad to cross the +Danube at this place by means of a bridge of boats. The old castle +above the little markt is called the Hinterhaus, and is one of the +most picturesque ruins on the river. The rock it stands upon is of +an extraordinary form, black, rugged, and bare, a gigantic pedestal, +worthy of supporting this fine monument of the middle ages. The church +and village of St. Michel, with their old round towers and crumbling +walls, are the next interesting objects. The precipices upon both banks +now assume the most fantastic forms. The vine has here again made its +appearance. Its light green is beautifully contrasted with the dark +firs and pines, and the white barren peaks that Nature seems to have +fashioned in her most eccentric moods. + +As the valley narrows, the rocks rise higher and higher, and the wild +scenery of the Schlägen is for the last time repeated. This savage +glen has long been considered by the peasantry of the neighbourhood +as the haunt of witches and evil spirits; and about thirty years ago +a poor little old woman, who was feeding her goat upon one of these +precipices, was absolutely shot with a glass bullet, for a wetter-hexe +(weather-witch,) a violent thunder-storm which had unfortunately +arisen being “charged to her account,” by the superstitious marksman. +On emerging from this gorge--the crowning glory of the romantic +scene--the magnificent ruin of Dürrenstein presents itself on its +stupendous rock. Language cannot do justice to the sublimity of this +view, which might task the united pencils of a Claude and a Salvator +Rosa. Independently of its beauty and grandeur, what recollections +crowd upon the mind, as the splendid picture dawns upon the +sight,--Richard Cœur de Lion!--Six hundred years have past, and the +name is still a spell-word to conjure up all the brightest and noblest +visions of the age of chivalry. What glorious phantoms rise at the +sound! Saladin--the great, the valiant, the generous Saladin, again +wheels at the head of his Cavalry--Frederick Barbarossa, the conqueror +of Iconium--the brave but politic Philip of France--the gallant +but unfortunate Marquis of Montferrat! The whole host of red-cross +warriors--the knights of the Temple and St. John--start again into +existence from their graves in the Syrian Deserts, and their tombs +in Christian Europe, where still their recumbent effigies grasp the +sword in stone. The Lion-hearted Plantagenet once more flourishes +with a giant’s strength; the tremendous battle-axe, whereon “were +twenty pounds of steel[74],” around the nodding broom-plant in his +cylindrical helmet, while his implacable foe, Leopold of Austria, leans +frowning on his azure shield; his surcoat of cloth of silver “dabbled +in blood,” that terrible token of his valour at Ptolemais, which is +to this day the blazon of his ancient house[75]. Yonder walls have +echoed to the clank of the fetters with which his unknightly vengeance +loaded Richard of England--to the minstrel-moan of “the Lord of Oc and +No[76],” and (for who can coldly pause to separate such romantic +facts from the romance they have inspired) to the lay of the faithful +Blondel, which, wafted by the pitying winds to his Royal Master’s ear, +soothed his captivity, and brightened his hopes of freedom. Many are +the castles on the banks of the Danube pointed out to the traveller +as the prison of Cœur de Lion. Aggstein, which we have not long +passed, Greifenstein, which we are approaching, both assert a similar +claim to our interest, our veneration; and it has been not improbably +conjectured, that Richard was in turn the resident of each, being +secretly removed from fortress to fortress, by his subtle and malignant +captor, in order to baffle the researches of his friends and followers. +Notwithstanding this dispute, Dürrenstein has by general consent, +and long tradition, been established as the principal place of his +confinement; and no one who, with that impression, has gazed upon its +majestic ruins, would thank the sceptic who should endeavour to disturb +his belief. They stand upon a colossal rock, which rising from a +promontory picturesquely terminated by the little town of Dürrenstein, +is singularly ribbed from top to bottom by a rugged mass of granite +indented like a saw. On each side of this natural barrier, a strip of +low wall, with small towers at equal distances, straggles down the +rock, which, thus divided, is here and there cut towards its base into +cross terraces planted with vines, and in the ruder parts left bare, or +patched with lichens and shrubs of various descriptions. On its naked +and conical crest, as though a piece of the crag itself, rises the keep +of the castle, square, with four square towers at its angles, and not +unlike the fine ruin at Rochester. Had the accomplished Hemans beheld +the scene, her muse could scarcely have better described it. + + “He hath reached a mountain hung with vine, + + * * * * * + + The feudal towers that crest its height + Frown in unconquerable might; + Dark is their aspect of sullen state, + No helmet hangs o’er the massy gate, + To bid the wearied pilgrim rest, + At the chieftain’s board a welcome guest; + Vainly rich evening’s parting smile + Would chase the gloom of the haughty pile, + That midst bright sunshine lowers on high, + Like a thunder-cloud in a summer sky. + + * * * * * + + Lingering he gazed--the rocks around + Sublime in savage grandeur frowned; + Proud guardians of the regal flood, + In giant strength the mountains stood; + By torrents cleft, by tempests riven, + Yet mingling still with the calm blue heaven[77].” + +The celebrated Denon had a sketch made of this castle and rock, and +sent to Paris expressly for a scene in Gretry’s well-known opera, +“Richard Cœur de Lion.” + +The circumstances of Richard’s quarrel with the Duke of Austria, and +his subsequent arrest and captivity, are too well known to require +insertion here; but, in the Chronicon Zwetlense, t. 1, s. 531, it +is expressly stated that Richard was seized at Erpuch, near Vienna, +(this Erpuch being the present Erdberg, one of the largest of its +many suburbs,) and given, by Leopold, into the custody of Hadmar, the +Kuenringer at Tyernstain (Dürrenstein). The old chronicler, Haselbach, +also says that Richard came to Vienna as a pilgrim, in a company of +cooks, and acted as turnspit one evening in the kitchen of the Duke of +Austria. But a cook, recognizing his features, informed Leopold, who +immediately commanded Richard to be brought before him, and addressed +him in these words, “Domine Rex Anglorum, nimis nobilis estis, ut sitis +assator in coquina ducis;” after which he delivered him into “Honesta +Custodia.” According to the Chronicon Conradi Cœnobitæ Schyrensis, +Richard, after suffering shipwreck at Aquileia, was betrayed to Leopold +by the Duke of Carinthia. The story of his having betrayed himself, +in his passage through Austria, by his expenses and liberalities, is, +however, the most probable, as well as the best authenticated. + +Dürrenstein is first mentioned about the year 1170, when, in some +deeds, are found the names of Göttschalk and Regenbert von Tirnstain. +In 1192, the year in which Richard was made prisoner, the castle is +known to have belonged to Hadmar, the Kuenringer, who was likewise +the possessor of Aggstein; and, in 1231, it was taken, and partially +destroyed by Frederick, the last of the Babenbergers. No events of +consequence are recorded to have taken place in it from that time to +the year 1645, when the Swedes are supposed to have reduced it to +its present ruinous condition. The little town at its foot, with its +handsome church[78], is prettily situated; and when, in 1741, a party +of French and Bavarian cavalry forded the Danube, in hopes to surprise +it, the citizens hit upon a plan as novel as ingenious. They barred up +their gates as well as they could, laid logs of firewood on the walls, +in imitation of cannon, chalked the rims of their hats, to give them +the appearance of being bound with white lace, according to the uniform +of their troops at that time, and parading up and down the ramparts +with much drumming and bustle, taking care that their hats only should +be seen above the walls, absolutely induced the enemy to believe that +the place was strongly garrisoned; and they accordingly wheeled to the +right about without firing a shot, to the infinite joy and amusement of +the cunning inhabitants, who certainly well deserved their escape. + +On the 11th of November, 1805, the defiles behind Dürrenstein were the +scene of a murderous conflict between the French, under Mortier and +Dupont, and the Russians, under Doctorof and the Austrian general, +Schmidt. Mortier, who had instructions from Napoleon to march upon +Krems, and was anxious to prevent the Russians passing into Moravia, +hurried forwards with Gazan’s division, and a brigade of dragoons, +being followed, at some distance, by Dupont’s division, and some +Dutch regiments. Below Dürrenstein, he encountered the advance guard +of Miloradowich, which he drove back to the gates of Stein, making a +few prisoners: but this slight success had nearly led to his ruin, +for, at the same instant, another strong corps of Russians, led by +Generals Schmidt and Doctorof, descended the mountains in his rear; +and General Essen, having reinforced Miloradowich, and thrown himself +before Loiben, the French were between two fires. Mortier had no +remedy but to cut his way, if possible, through the column in his rear, +and so effect a junction with Dupont, to whom he had, fortunately for +himself, sent orders to quicken his march. Major Henriod, at the head +of the 100th regiment, charged the Russians, and a horrible carnage +ensued in the narrow defiles, crowded with infuriated soldiery. Two +pieces of artillery, which Mortier had with him, decided the issue +of the combat in his favour, his adversaries being destitute of +cannon. The brave Austrian, Schmidt, fell at the first discharge; and +Doctorof, endeavouring to withdraw his troops from the ravine, was +suddenly attacked, in the rear, by the division of Dupont, and thus +found himself, in his turn, between two fires. With much difficulty he +effected his retreat over the mountain he had just descended; and the +desperate troops of Mortier rushing into the defile, as they imagined, +on the bayonets of their enemies, found themselves, before they were +aware, in the arms of their friends and countrymen. From twelve to +fifteen hundred men were lost on each side, and the allies received a +terrible blow in the death of General Schmidt, the friend and companion +in arms of the Archduke Charles[79]. + +Below Dürrenstein, the river widens, and a new and cheerful prospect +dawns upon the sight. Three small towns, Stein, Mautern, and Krems, the +two first connected by a bridge, about six hundred and thirty paces +long, across the Danube, present themselves at once to the eye; and +over Mautern, on the right bank, upon a finely-wooded mountain, rise +the towers and cupolas of Kloster Göttweih. + +Mautern was known as early as the time of Charlemagne, and in 898 was +called the town of Mutarum, and fortified by Isanrich, the son of +the Markgraf Arbo, when he rose against the Emperor Arnulf. Arnulf, +though in the last stage of illness, laid seige to Mautern, and took +it in the following year, a few months before his death; but Isanrich +succeeded in eluding his conqueror, and sought refuge in Moravia. +Rudolph of Hapsburg gave the same rights and privileges to Mautern as + were enjoyed by Stein and Krems in reward for its early declaration +in his favour. In 1347, the burghers, having joined their neighbours +of Krems in a cruel persecution of the Jews, were severely punished by +Albert II., and their Lord, the Bishop of Passau, whose _Christian_ +zeal had been rather exuberant, was condemned to pay a fine to the +Duke of six hundred pounds. Matthias Corvinus, the gallant King of +Hungary, gained a victory here over the Austrians in 1484. In 1805, the +Russians under Kutusof retreated before Murat, Lannes, and Soult, over +the bridge at Mautern, and immediately burnt it. It was destroyed again +by the Austrian Field-marshal Hiller in 1809, on the second advance of +Napoleon to Vienna. With the exception of the old gate, through which +the road leads to St. Pölten and Göttweih, little remains to vouch for +the antiquity of the town; and the same may be said of Stein, under the +walls of which we landed,--the gate facing the water, and the ruins +of some old building near the bridge, being all the relics that “Goth +and Time and Turk have spared”--I might add, Hungarian and Swede, +as Matthias Corvinus stormed it in 1486, and Torstenson in 1645. So +exasperated was the latter by the opposition he met with, that when he +at length entered the place, he took most sanguinary vengeance upon the +brave citizens. Stein is little more than one long, rambling street, +over the vile flints of which, as we entered it, half a dozen poor +old women, nearly all upon crutches, were hobbling in ludicrous haste +after a dirty little ragamuffin, who, bearing the banner of some Saint, +very like a red pocket handkerchief, appeared to enjoy the fruitless +attempts of the unfortunate cripples to keep pace with him. On the +young rascal went, at a sort of hand gallop, while they, like Johnson’s +“Panting Time,” + + “Toiled after him in vain.” + +Quitting Stein at the eastern extremity of this long street, a walk +of about ten minutes conducts you through a pretty promenade, planted +with trees, and called the little Präter, to the gates of Krems, the +most considerable of these three small towns. It is first mentioned in +the reign of Otto III. In the year 1347, its kennels ran with Hebrew +blood. It was pretended that the Jews had poisoned the wells of the +town; and as any report, however ridiculous, provided it afforded a +pretext to insult and plunder that unfortunate people, was eagerly and +implicitly believed by the brutal populace, an immediate slaughter took +place of all who refused to acknowledge the divinity of Christ. Many +wealthy Israelites being aware of the real motive of their persecutors, +made their despair minister to their vengeance, and barring up +themselves, their family, and their riches together, set fire to the +building, and perished exultingly in the flames that anticipated the +spoiler. The horrid frenzy extended to Stein, Mautern, and many other +places in the vicinity, and was only allayed by the arrival of the +brave Erbschenk von Meissau who, by command of Albert II., hurried +with a considerable force into the disturbed districts. Krems and +Stein were heavily mulcted, and the neighbouring villages, Loiben, +Strassing, Rattendorf and Weinzierl, plundered by the soldiery of the +blood-stained booty they had acquired. In the fifteenth century, Krems +was twice besieged by Matthias Corvinus, the last time successfully. +On the invasion of Austria by the Bohemian Protestants in 1619, a corps +of the insurgents under their Colonel, Carpizan, having cut off the +garrison of Krems, which had made a desperate sally from the town, +immediately advanced to scale the now defenceless walls; but the women +with one consent, seizing the first weapons they could find, rushed to +the ramparts, and fought with such steady bravery, that the enemy were +at length obliged to abandon the attempt. To this memorable achievement +Ferdinand II. was in great measure indebted for the preservation of his +empire; for Krems being thus relieved, General Dampierre detached a +body of five hundred horse to Vienna, at that time closely invested by +Count Thurn. The Emperor, reduced to the last extremity, the walls of +his palace battered by the Bohemian cannon, and echoing the reproachful +shouts of his disaffected subjects, had resigned himself to his fate, +when the sudden blast of a trumpet announced the arrival of succour. +The little squadron of horse having secretly descended the Danube, +and entered the capital by the only gate unguarded by the enemy, was +magnified into a mighty host by the fears of the malcontents, who +dispersed in every direction. The friends of the Emperor took courage, +six hundred students flew to arms; their example was followed by +fifteen hundred citizens; additional succours arrived, and in a few +hours all appearance of danger and discontent had subsided. + +Krems is the seat of what is termed in Austria a kreis-amtes, or +council, having the government of one of the circles of the empire. +Its jurisdiction extends over a fourth of Lower Austria, called +the Viertel, or quarter of Ober-Manhardsberg. The principal public +buildings are the Pfarrekirche, built in 1464, the church of St. +Katharine, remarkable as having been originally a residence of the +knights-templars, a theatre, a gymnasium, and a cassino. The Austrian +epicure is indebted to Krems for excellent mustard, and the sportsman +for superior gunpowder; upwards of forty thousand florins worth of the +former article is yearly made and sold in this town. The mustard is +sent in its natural state from Znaym, Rausenbruck, and various other +parts of Moravia, and boiled at Krems with unfermented wine, which +gives it its peculiar flavour. In a vineyard near Krems was formerly +a well, the water of which was believed a sovereign specific for all +disorders. The neighbouring capuchins of Und, who were the respectable +vouchers for its efficacy, sold the pure element at a so large a price, +that the Emperor Maximilian I. suddenly discovered the necessity for +enacting a law, whereby the revenue arising from this traffic was +transferred from the coffers of the church into those of the state, +which, at the commencement of his reign, were not so likely to overflow +from the addition. + +Wandering beneath the walls of Krems and Stein, we gazed with delight +upon the beautifully situated monastery of Göttweih. A short distance +from the right bank behind Mautern, this immense building stretched +itself along the brow of a lofty, isolated mountain, clothed with +waving woods, in the rich liveries of autumn, its countless windows +splendidly illuminated by the descending sun. It dates no further back +than the commencement of the eighteenth century, when it was built +upon the site of an ancient kloster, originally founded by Altmann, +Bishop of Passau, in 1083. There is a spring shown at the foot of +the mountain, where this turbulent prelate, then only a student in +theology, entered into a compact with Adalbert, afterwards Bishop of +Wurzburg, and Gebhard, afterwards Bishop of Salzburg, by which they +bound themselves to rise against the Emperor Henry IV., so soon as they +should be appointed to their several sees!--an extraordinary agreement +which they religiously fulfilled; and having succeeded in stirring up +his own son to rebellion, compelled the unfortunate monarch, after a +desperate struggle, to resign his crown at Ratisbon. Altmann, however, +was not permitted to witness the triumph of his party; the enraged +Emperor deprived him of his bishopric in 1085, and he died six years +afterwards in exile at Zieselmauer. + +Below Stein the Danube forms another archipelago, and during the +remainder of a lovely evening, we glided between the thickly-wooded +islands, catching at long intervals a momentary glimpse of the +red-tipped steeple of one of the many insignificant villages which here +line the main banks of the river, now as flat and uninteresting as they +were between Aschach and Ottensheim. The current at length leading us +near the right bank, we passed the markt and ruin of Holenburg; the +latter, during the fifteenth century, the stronghold of two redoubted +pirates, named Frohnauer and Vettau,--Wagram, (not the famous Wagram, +there are six Wagrams in Austria,) St. Georgen, where Ulrich, Bishop +of Passau, in 1109-12, built a celebrated kloster called St. Georg auf +der Insel and Trasenmauer, at the mouth of the river Trasen, where, +according to the Nibelungen-lied, Etzel, + + “---- The King of Hunnen-land + Had a Castle wide + Y called Traisenmauer[80].” + +Nearly facing the mouth of the Trasen, the little river Kamp discharges +itself into the Danube, and, on doubling a small point of land, the +village of Zwentendorf appeared on the right bank, and the mountains +of the Wiener-Wald, arising in the distance, announced the vicinity of +the capital. It was impossible, however, to reach it that evening, and +therefore making for the little town of Tuln that lay directly before +us in a sort of bay, we landed under the walls of a spacious building, +the mutilated colossal statues of saints, prelates, and monarchs, in +front of which, bore testimony to its former grandeur, and groping our +way through a narrow passage, emerged into the court-yard behind it, +where stood the wretched auberge, in which our steersman informed us +we must pass the night. To our great relief, however, a red-elbowed, +yellow-haired, blue-stockinged, round-about _mädchen_, seizing a +candle and a huge bunch of keys, recrossed the court with us towards +the great building, and opening a postern door, which Mrs. Radcliffe +would have worshipped, led the way up a winding staircase into a long +gallery, hung with paintings of martyrdoms and miracles, fubsy virgins, +and chubby cherubs, fat abbots, and fair nuns; and ushered us into a +wilderness of a chamber, furnished with one table and sixteen beds! +The astonishment of our guide must be imagined when my companion +requested yet another room. The idea of separate chambers never +entering her head, she naturally enough supposed that sixteen beds +would surely be sufficient for two persons. However, as there was no +accounting for the whims of foreigners, and as no other travellers were +likely to arrive, she found another apartment for my friend, containing +nine beds, and, with a stare of amazement I shall not speedily forget, +after furnishing us with some coffee and another candle, left us to +sleep in any or all of our twenty-five beds, as we might eventually +determine. On mentioning this circumstance afterwards to a Viennese, I +was assured that, had a larger company arrived, the remaining fifteen +beds in my chamber would have been unceremoniously occupied by men or +women, as it might have happened; for, as he remarked to me, with the +greatest coolness, “how would the poor people, who possess but two or +three good rooms, be otherwise enabled to accommodate forty or fifty +persons of both sexes, as they are frequently called upon to do?” +Whether the building itself was the Nonnen-Kloster founded by Rudolph +of Hapsburg, in gratitude for his victory over Ottocar, or the old +Schloss, in which, every Monday, at midnight, the ghosts of a lady +and her maid are in the habit of promenading[81], I am to this moment +ignorant. If the latter, it being Thursday, the ghosts were not on +duty. The Lady-Moon alone peeped through the long narrow casements; the +murmur of the stream that ran rapidly beneath them, was the only sound +that mingled with my dreams. + + + FOOTNOTES (CHAPTER VII.) + +[65] This prodigy will remind the classical reader of the punishment of +the Amazons, who attempted to cut down the sacred grove that shadowed +the temple of Achilles in the island of Leuce. At the first blows they +struck, the axe-heads flew from their handles, and laid the impious +wielders dead upon the spot. + +[66] “Kurzer Bericht von dem Ursprung des wunderthätigen schmerzhaften +Gnadenbildes Maria-Taferl.” There are numberless tracts of this +description sold at Marbach to the pilgrims, who “hold each strange +tale devoutly true.” + +[67] Fragmentum Historicum de quatuor Albertis--apud Pez. vol. ii. p. +385. + +[68] The regular weekly passage-boats from Ulm, Regensburg, and +Stadt-am-hof, to Vienna, are called “ordinari-schiffe.” + + +[69] “Nie ward getreuer’r Degen geboren auf der Erde.” Nibelungen-lied. + +[70] “Die Fenster in den mauern, die sieht man offen stahn.” Ditto. + +[71] The supposed author of the Nibelungen-lied. + +[72] Nibelungen-lied, V. 1116-23. + +[73] “The castle was begun to be built by Jorig der Schekt-von-wald, +the Monday after the nativity of our Lady, from the birth of Christ, +the year 1228.” Herr Schultes remarks, that he may be mistaken in the +date, and mentions that Petz, in his Chronicle of Mölk, (Part I. p. +261) speaks of a Baron Schekh, whose deeds were as black as those laid +at the _iron_ door of Schreckenwald, and who, in 1467, was besieged, +and brought to such a pass, that “he,” says the chronicler, “who +formerly was lord of six castles, perished in poverty.” This Schekh or +Sheckt-von-Wald, as the name appears in the inscription, and the famous +Schreckenwald, were, most probably, one and the same person; and from +the state of the present building I should imagine it is more likely to +have been built in the fifteenth than the thirteenth century. + +[74] Matthias Prideaux. + +[75] The present arms of the Archduchy of Austria, viz. Gules, a Fess +argent, are derived from the circumstance of Leopold’s surcoat, which +was of cloth of silver, being completely stained with blood at the +siege of Ptolemais (Acre), with the exception of that part covered by +the belt round his waist. The original bearings of Leopold were azure, +six larks, or. + +[76] “Yes and No,” one of the many titles given to Richard by the +Provençal poets:-- + + “And tell the Lord of Oc and No + That peace already too long hath been.” + + Bertrand de Born. _Lays of the Minnesingers_, p. 233. + +[77] “The Troubadour and Richard Cœur de Lion.” Mrs. Hemans, though she +mentions “the Danube’s wave” in the same poem, has chosen to lay the +scene of Richard’s captivity on the Rhine. Her vivid fancy, however, +has actually depicted the rock and castle of Dürrenstein. + +[78] In the cliff upon which this church stands, it is reported that a +cavern has been found, which is the mouth of a subterraneous passage, +communicating with the vaults of the castle. + +[79] Vie Politique et Militaire de Napoléon, par le Général Jominy. +8vo. Paris, 1827, vol. ii. pp. 151-3. + +[80] Nibelungen-lied, V. 3533-5. It was the residence of his first +Queen, Helke, a lady of incomparable virtue. + +[81] I believe I should say _were_, for the Antiquary of the Danube +informs us, that the lady’s maid was exorcised by a “barefooted monk,” +and quietly, I presume, laid in the Red Sea. The ghost of quality alone +was untractable. This spirit, it appears, had been dismissed from the +body by an enraged husband, at the moment of an awkward discovery. +The whole history, says the prudent antiquary, is to be found in the +archives of a certain noble house; but as it would redound to the +prejudice of the descendants, should the name be made known, it has +been passed over in silence. Some time ago an attempt was made to pull +down the building, but the indignant phantom raised such a racket, that +the workmen beat a retreat, and the project was abandoned. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + Tuln.--Langenlebern.--Greifenstein.--Story of Etelina.--Korneuburg.-- + The Bisamberg.--Kloster Neuburg.--Leopoldsberg, and the Khalenberg.-- + A glimpse of the capital.--Nusdorf.--Arrival at Vienna.--Bird’s-eye + view and description of the environs from the Temple of Glory in the + Brühl. + + +The chronicler Hagen says, that before Vienna was built, Tuln was +the capital of Austria. There is no doubt it was a place of some +consequence even in the time of the Romans. In the year 1813, a great +number of silver coins of the reigns of Vespasian, Domitian, Nerva, +and Trajan, were found in its neighbourhood. Attila is said to have +experienced a defeat here, and upwards of forty thousand Huns in one +battle to have found “the way to dusty death.” Its authentic history +commences, however, in the reign of Charlemagne, who gave the place +to Passau in 803. Under the successors of Charlemagne, Tuln was the +residence of their Grenz-Grafen, or Counts of the Border; and in 985, +Henry II, Duke of Bavaria, held a Landtag or Assembly of the States +at Tuln, at which the Duke of Carinthia, the Pfalzgraf Berchtold, +the Markgraf of Austria, and the Counts of Bavaria, appeared, and +decided the claim of the Bishop of Passau to a linn-fishery in the +neighbourhood. The Hungarians, in the winter of 1042, surprised and +burnt the town, but were, by the Markgraves Albert and Gottfried, +repulsed and pursued over the Leytna; and the whole tract of country +between Khalenberg and that river, was wrested from them for ever. In +1592, Tuln became the asylum of those who fled before the triumphant +Botskai, on whose head the minister of Achmet had placed the ancient +diadem of the despots of Servia, and who, though he refused the +proffered titles of King of Hungary and Prince of Transylvania, +terrified the feeble Emperor Rodolph by planting the victorious +standards of those revolted provinces within sight of the walls of +Presburg. + +In 1683, the celebrated Sobieski joined, with his twenty-six thousand +Poles, the troops collected here for the relief of Vienna, then +invested by the Turks under Kara Mustapha. The Emperor Leopold, driven +to despair, wrote himself to the King of Poland, imploring him to +hasten to his assistance, without waiting for his army. “My troops,” +said he, “are now assembling. The bridge over the Danube is already +constructed at Tuln, to afford you a passage. Place yourself at their +head, however inferior in number; your name alone, so terrible to the +enemy, will ensure a victory!” Sobieski, flattered by this entreaty, +issued orders to his army to follow him; and, at the head of thirty-one +thousand horse, traversed Silesia and Moravia with the rapidity of a +Tartar horde, but, on his arrival at Tuln, found the bridge unfinished, +and no troops, except a corps under the Duke of Lorraine. “Does the +Emperor consider me as an adventurer?” exclaimed the disappointed +monarch. “I quitted my army to command his. It is not for myself, but +for him, that I fight.” Pacified, however, by the representations of +the Duke of Lorraine, he awaited the arrival of his own army, which +reached the Danube on the 5th of September, and the junction of the +German succours was completed on the 7th. Eight thousand Swabians +and Franconians, twenty thousand Saxons and Bavarians, led by their +Electors, swelled the allied German army to the number of sixty +thousand men. On the night of the 11th, the preconcerted signals +revived the spirits of the garrison and citizens of Vienna; and, +on the morning of the memorable 12th of September, they descried, +with rapture, the Christian standards floating on the summit of the +Khalenberg! + +To the romantic traveller, Tuln is endeared as the spot where the +mighty Etzel met his matchless bride. Four and twenty princes were in +the train of this powerful monarch, and twelve of the noblest received +the priceless guerdon of a kiss from the lips of Chrimhilt. Lances were +shivered, and harps were swept, in honour of the day. A thousand marks +rewarded the royal minstrels, Swemmel and Werbel, and the largess, to +herald and serf, was worthy the hand of the richest and most powerful +sovereign + + “From the Rhone unto the Rhine--from the Elbe unto the sea.” + +With spirits elevated by a morning of unequalled beauty, and hearts +throbbing with expectation, as every dip of the oar brought us nearer +and nearer to the Austrian capital, the spires of which, we fondly +imagined, would rise to our view at each new bend of the river, we +floated down the broad and glittering stream, now clear of islands, and +hurrying to bathe the craggy feet of the advancing Wiener-Wald. + +Passing the long straggling village of Langenlebern, or, as it is +otherwise called, Ober and Unter Aigen, where there was formerly +a considerable establishment of gold-washers, (the waves of the +Danube, like those of Pactolus, rolling sands rich with grains of +the precious metal,) the splendour of sunrise appeared to change the +whole flood into molten ore, and realize the wildest dreams of those +modern Chrysorrohæ[82]. Below Langenlebern, on the right bank, is +the ancient village of Zeiselmauer, (supposed to be the Cetia of the +Romans,) and celebrated as the birth-place of our old acquaintance, +St. Florian. Here, in 1092, the rebel Bishop of Passau, Altmann, died, +as I have before mentioned, in exile. We now rapidly approached the +Riederberge, or mountains of the Wiener-Wald, as the forest-covered +hills, that here overlook the Danube and Vienna, are indifferently +called. Fragments of this rocky chain now lined the right bank of the +river, which, for the first time since our leaving Ratisbon, surpassed +the left in boldness and beauty. On one of these fragments rose the +ruin of Greifenstein, one of the oldest castles in Austria, now the +property of Prince Lichtenstein, who, having a great fancy for ruins, +expends considerable sums in keeping up such as yet stand upon his +estates, and in building new ruins, where there is a deficiency of +old. In the Priel, or Brühl, near Vienna, are several of these modern +antiques, on which the venerable pile of the old family castle of +Lichtenstein looks down, with as much contempt, as a resuscitated +Norman crusader would upon his tinsel-clad theatrical representatives. +Greifenstein was last ruined by the Swedes in 1645, and is one of the +castles named as having been the prison of Richard Cœur de Lion; nay, +they even show an iron cage here, in which he is said to have been +cooped. The ruins are reported to be haunted by an old white woman, and +a legion of + + “Black spirits and white, + Red spirits and grey,” + +who do her awful bidding. This tradition has probably arisen from the +circumstance of its last inhabitant having been an ancient gentlewoman, +the Lady Bountiful of the neighbourhood, who devoted all her time +to the cure of disorders, and was so generally successful in the +treatment of her numerous patients, that she was at length suspected +of possessing supernatural power. At her death, therefore, instead +of canonizing her, as in duty bound, the ungrateful peasantry have +converted the kind-hearted old lady, who was certainly “a spirit of +health,” into “a goblin damned;” and they are less excusable, as the +castle is not in want of such an attraction, the _terrein_ being +already occupied by as romantic a spectre as ever revisited “the +glimpses of the moon, making night hideous!” The legend indeed attached +to those venerable walls, is one of the most interesting on the Danube, +and I cannot account for its omission by the diligent Schultes. Thus it +runs:-- + +As early as the eleventh century the Lords of Greifenstein were famed +and feared throughout Germany. One of the first knights who bore that +name, lost his lady soon after she had presented him with a daughter, +who received the name of Etelina. The dying mother, painfully aware +how little attention would be paid to the education of a female by +a rude and reckless father, half knight, half freebooter, however +fond he might be of his child, had recommended her infant, with her +last breath, to the care of a kind and pious monk, the chaplain of +the castle; and under his affectionate guidance, the pretty playful +girl gradually ripened into the beautiful and accomplished woman. Sir +Reinhard of Greifenstein, though stern, turbulent, and unlettered +himself, was, nevertheless, sensible to the charms and intelligence of +his daughter; and often as he parted her fair hair and kissed her ivory +forehead, before he mounted the steed or entered the bark, that waited +to bear him to the hunt or the battle, a feeling of which he was both +proud and ashamed would moisten his eye and subdue a voice naturally +harsh and grating, into a tone almost of tenderness. On his return, +weary and sullen, from a fruitless chase or a baffled enterprise, the +song of Etelina could banish the frown from his brow, when even the +wine-cup had been thrust untasted away, and the favourite hound beaten +for a mistimed gambol. So fair a flower, even in the solitary castle +of Greifenstein, was not likely to bloom unknown or unsought. The fame +of Etelina’s beauty spread throughout the land. Many a noble knight +shouted her name as his bright sword flashed from the scabbard, and +many a gentle squire fought less for his gilt spurs, than the smile of +Etelina. The minstrel who sang her praises had aye the richest largess, +and the little-foot page who could tell where she might be met with +in the summer’s twilight, clinging to the arm of the silver-haired +chaplain, might reckon on a link of his master’s chain of gold for +every word he uttered. But the powerful and the wealthy sighed at +her feet in vain--she did not scorn them, for so harsh a feeling was +unknown to the gentle Etelina. Nay, she even wept over the blighted +hopes of some, whose fervent passion deserved a better fate; but her +heart was no longer hers to give. She had fixed her affections upon the +poor but noble Rudolph, and the lovers awaited impatiently some turn of +fortune which would enable them to proclaim their attachment without +fear of the anger and opposition of Sir Reinhard, who was considerably +annoyed by Etelina’s rejection of many of the richest Counts and Barons +of Germany. + +Business of importance summoned the old knight to the court of the +Emperor. His absence, prolonged from month to month, afforded frequent +opportunities of meeting to the lovers; and the venerable monk, on whom +the entire charge of the castle and its inhabitants had devolved at +Sir Reinhard’s departure, was one evening struck dumb with terror, by +the confession which circumstances at length extorted from the lips of +Etelina! Recovered from the first shock, however, his affection for his +darling pupil seemed only increased, by the peril into which passion +had plunged her. In the chapel of the castle, he secretly bestowed +the nuptial benediction upon the imprudent pair, and counselled their +immediate flight and concealment, till his prayers and tears should +wring forgiveness and consent from Sir Reinhard, who was now on +his return home, accompanied by a wealthy nobleman, on whom he had +determined to bestow the hand of his daughter. Scarcely had Rudolph and +Etelina reached the cavern in the neighbouring wilderness, selected +for their retreat by the devoted old man, who had furnished them with +provisions, a lamp and some oil, promising to supply them from time +to time with the means of existence, as occasions should present +themselves, when the rocks of the Danube rang with the well-known blast +of Sir Reinhard’s trumpet, and a broad banner lazily unfolding itself +to the morning breeze, displayed to the sight of the wakeful warden the +two red griffins rampant in a field vert, the blazon of the far-feared +Lords of Greifenstein[83]. In a few moments the old knight was galloping +over the drawbridge, followed by his intended son-in-law. + +The clatter of their horses’ hoofs struck upon the heart of the +conscious chaplain, as though the amimals themselves were trampling on +his bosom; but he summoned up his resolution, and relying on his sacred +character, met his master with a firm step and a calm eye, in the +hall of the castle. Evading a direct answer to the first inquiry for +Etelina, he gradually and cautiously informed Sir Reinhard of her love, +her marriage, and her flight. Astonishment for a short space held the +old warrior spell bound, but when his gathered fury at last found vent, +the wrath of the whirlwind was less terrible. He seized the poor old +monk by the throat, and upon his firm refusal to reveal the retreat of +the culprits, dashed him to the earth, had him bound hand and foot, and +flung into a pit beneath an iron grating in the floor of the donjon or +keep of the castle[84]. Tearing, like an infuriated Pasha, “his very +beard for ire,” he called down curses on Etelina and her husband, and +prayed that, if ever he forgave them, a dreadful and sudden death might +overtake him on the spot where he should revoke the malediction he now +uttered! Upwards of a year had elapsed when, one winter-day, the knight +of Greifenstein, pursuing the chase, lost his way in the mazes of a +wilderness on the banks of the Danube. A savage-looking being, half +clothed in skins, conducted him to a cavern, in which a woman similarly +attired was seated on the ground, with an infant on her knees, and +greedily gnawing the bones of a wolf.--Sir Reinhard recognised in the +squalid form before him his once beautiful Etelina.--Shocked to the +soul at the sight of the misery to which his severity had reduced her, +he silently motioned to the huntsmen, who came straggling in upon +his track to remove the wretched pair and their poor little offspring +to the castle. Moved by the smiles of his innocent and unconscious +grandchild, he clasped his repentant daughter to his bosom, as she +re-crossed the threshold, bore her up into the banquet-hall, and +consigning her to the arms of her faithful Rudolph, hastened down +again to release with his own hands the true-hearted monk, who still +languished in captivity. In descending the steep staircase, his +foot slipped, and he was precipitated to the bottom--his fall was +unseen--his cry was unheard--dying, he dragged himself a few paces +along the pavement, and expired upon the very spot where he had just +embraced and forgiven his daughter. Rudolph, now Lord of Greifenstein, +restored the chaplain to liberty, and lived long and happily with his +beloved Etelina; but the spirit of Sir Reinhard to this day wanders +about the ruins of his ancestral castle, and will continue so to do +till the stone whereon he expired shall be worn in twain. “Alas! poor +ghost!” the very slight hollow which is at present perceivable in it, +affords you little hope of its division by fair means previously to +the general “_crack_ of doom.” + +Near the village of Höfelein, the river suddenly wheels to the south, +and the last grand picture of the series opens before you. On the left +is the little town of Korneuburg, backed by the vine-covered Bisamberg, +and embosomed in beautiful groves and orchards. On the right, arise +the gilded domes of Kloster-Neuburg, and far above them, in the blue +distance, tower the colossal Khalenberge, “the watchmen of Vienna,” +crowned with their churches, and terminating a chain of alps and +mountains, that, stretching across Southern Europe, links the Danube +with the Gulph of Genoa. There was something peculiarly exciting in +the scene. I was floating upon waves that were rushing to the Euxine, +and gazing upon a line of hills that extended to the Mediterranean. +I could almost fancy the clash of Turkish cymbals, mingled with the +murmur of the water, while the sound of mandolin and castagnet was +faintly wafted on the breeze from the land. The former flight may, at +least, be forgiven me in such a situation; for these shores have but +too often echoed the wild marches of the Ottoman, and the trembling +waves reflected the glittering crescent. The black horse-tails of many +a proud Pasha have streamed insultingly from yonder heights, the sable +heralds of death and desolation. The “high-capped Tartar” has here +“spurred his steed away,” and the shout of + + “God and the Prophet!--Allah hu!” + +shaken like an earthquake the throne of the Cæsars. + +Korneuburg is the seat of the Kreis-amtes for the quarter of +Unter-Manhardsberg. In 1306, it was the scene of one of those horrid +massacres, which invariably, during the middle ages, cancelled the +debts of Christendom to the House of Israel. The same blasphemous +falsehood, which thirty years afterwards deluged the streets of +Deggendorf with Hebrew blood, was here made the pretence for burning +alive all the unfortunate Jews in the place. The Emperor Frederick +IV. here met his deliverer, George Podiebrad, King of Bohemia, A.D. +1462, whose prompt assistance compelled Albert of Austria, the +Emperor’s brother, to raise the siege of Vienna, (in the citadel of +which Frederick was shut up with only two hundred men,) to restore +the towns, fortresses and countries he had taken possession of during +this unnatural contest, and pay an annual sum of four thousand +ducats to the Emperor for the government of Lower Austria. In 1477, +Korneuburg was besieged by Matthias Corvinus; and the brave Austrian +commandant, Enenkel, received his death-wound from an arrow that +entered an embrasure through which he was reconnoitring the enemy. It +was again besieged by Corvinus in 1484, and stood out till the very +vermin of the town became the food of the famished garrison; and in +the seventeenth century, the Swedes, who had taken and shut themselves +up in the place, after an equally stubborn resistance, capitulated +upon honourable terms. On the Bisamberg, which rises behind it, are +the finest vineyards in the neighbourhood of Vienna. The wine they +yield is considered the best of what are called the Danube wines; the +next in celebrity are Kloster-Neuburger, Grinzinger, (a very pleasant +wine,) Maurer, and Brunner, all grown on the right bank. On the summit +of the Bisamberg, formerly stood the old castle of the knights of +Pucinperche, or Busenberge, and near it rises the little Büsenbach, +that ripples through three channels into the Danube. At its foot is +Lang-Enzersdorf, the first post station from Vienna on the road to +Prague. Part of Kara-Mustapha’s army crossed the Danube here during the +siege of Vienna, and reduced the place to ashes. Nearly opposite to +Lang-Enzersdorf, stands the unfinished but magnificent Kloster-Neuburg, +and the little town to which it has given its name[85]. The Kloster was +originally founded by Leopold the Saint, in consequence of his wife’s +veil, which had been blown away as she was walking on the Khalenberg, +being wafted to this spot, and discovered some time after, hanging +on an elder-tree, by one of the Markgraf’s hounds!--So miraculous +and interesting an occurrence was deemed worthy of commemoration. A +convent was immediately built and endowed by the pious Markgraf; and +the monks enshrined the elder-tree in gold wire-work, and imitated its +blossoms with pearls[86]. Our boat now passed under the precipices of +the Leopoldsberg. The two last mountains of the Wiener-Wald have both +received the appellation of Khalenberg or Kalte-Berg. But the ancient +Khalenberg is now known by the name of the Leopoldsberg, and by the +Khalenberg is generally understood the former: Josephsberg, the second +mountain from the bank of the Danube. + +On the summit of the present Leopoldsberg, originally stood the Castle +of Leopold the Saint; and from that castle, long before Vienna was +built, the Markgraf issued to hunt in the neighbouring forests, and +sometimes pursued his game over the plain whereon the capital of +Austria now spreads its interminable suburbs. In 1291, Albert I., Duke +of Austria, sought refuge in this fortress from the revolted citizens +of Vienna; and summoning reinforcements from Swabia, cut off all +aid and provisions from the rebels, and compelled them at last to an +unconditional surrender. The principal magistrates came bare-headed and +bare-footed, to his camp, and in their presence he tore up the charters +of the city, and abrogated all those privileges which he deemed +injurious to his authority. During the reign of Albert III., the castle +fell into decay, and lay in ruins nearly fifty years, when it was +rebuilt by Albert V. Ruined again by the wars of the fifteenth century, +the Emperor Leopold I. determined to erect upon its site a chapel, +in honour of his ancestor and patron. Before the work was completed, +however, the Turks had burst into Austria, and during the siege of +Vienna, destroyed the unfinished chapel as well as the few remaining +walls of the old castle. The Saxons, who fought in the left wing of +the army of relief, carried the Turkish positions on this mountain by +storm, and drove them with much slaughter out of the ruins in which +they had entrenched themselves. On the flight of the infidels, Leopold +recommenced building his chapel, but it was finished by his son Charles +VI., under the superintendence of the Italian architect Beluzzi, who +also built a palace near it by the Emperor’s order, and twelve years +afterwards erected the present church upon the site of the chapel. +The monks of Kloster-Neuburg, who had installed themselves in these +edifices, were afterwards expelled by Joseph II.[87], and the church +and palace became the property of Prince de Ligne, the historian. His +highness considerably improved the grounds about it, and it has become +a favourite resort of the Viennese, who flock up the mountain on a fine +summer day, to enjoy the magnificent prospect from its summit, or from +the little Belvedere that overhangs the Danube. On the outside of the +building in which the prince resided, are several inscriptions; amongst +others his favourite motto, + + “Quo res cumque cadunt, semper stat linea recta;” + +and the words + + “Château de mon refuge.” + +On the side facing the Danube are the following truly French lines, in +allusion to the various fortunes which have attended the building. + + “Margraves, Polonais, Turcs et Saints, tour à tour, + Rendirent autrefois célèbre ce séjour; + C’est à présent celui de la philosophie, + Du calme de l’esprit, du bonheur de la vie. + Notre ame s’aggrandit par des grands souvenirs, + _Mais la meilleure histoire est celui des plaisirs_. + Sans remords, sans regrets, sans crainte et sans envie + La nature se montre en son bel appareil + Et l’on se croit ici favori du soleil.” + +On the ceiling of the Belvedere is inscribed + + “Optimis Vindobonensibus + Carolus Princeps de Ligne.” + +On the Khalenberg, as the Josephsberg is now called, stands what was +formerly a monastery, founded by Ferdinand II. in 1628. Leopold I. +re-established it after the siege of Vienna; Joseph I. enlarged, and +Joseph II. suppressed it. Like the building on the Leopoldsberg, it was +purchased by the Prince de Ligne, and is a point of _réunion_ for the +holiday makers of the capital. + +Below the Leopoldsberg, the Danube is divided into three large +branches, and on entering the southern branch the great dark spire of +St. Stephen’s suddenly appeared between the trees on the left bank, +and other spires and domes gliding gradually into view, we looked at +length upon Vienna! Impatiently did we pace the bank at Nussdorf, a +little village on the right of the stream, about an hour’s journey +from the walls of the city, where all boats are obliged to stop till +passports are examined, and permission given to proceed to what is +called the Schanzel landing-place, near the Ferdinand’s Brüche (Bridge +of Ferdinand.) Nearly an hour and a half were we detained at this +place, within sight of the goal we were burning to reach. The papers at +length arrived; our crew once more plied their paddles, and through the +crowd of boats moored on each side of the river, we advanced slowly, +catching occasional glimpses of new buildings and towers, as they +appeared between the tall stacks of firewood that line the banks of +this arm of the Danube. Suddenly we found ourselves under the walls +of the city, and about twenty minutes afterwards, having followed a +custom-house officer to the _mauth_ of the Schanzel, where our baggage +underwent strict examination, we entered the gates, the way to our +hotel being marshalled by a good-natured Italian, who had volunteered +his services at the custom-house. Previously, however, to quitting the +boat, the three poor women, whom we had taken on board at Marsbach, +perceiving their journey ended, requested to know what they had to +pay. On being, with some difficulty, made to understand that they were +perfectly welcome to their passage, their joy was extravagant. They +clapped their own hands, and kissed ours repeatedly, (the usual mode +of expressing thanks in Austria,) and with a chorus of “Das ist schön! +Das ist schön[88]!” shouldered their heavy bundles, and shuffled away in +high glee. + +Preceded by our Italian guide, and followed by the two steersmen and +their crew carrying our luggage, we bustled through the crowded +streets of Vienna, and crossing the square, in the centre of which +stands the fine old cathedral of St. Stephen, entered the Weyburg +Gasse, and were soon comfortably installed in the Hotel of the +Kaiserinn von Osterreich (the Empress of Austria.) Gentle reader, I +have now landed you, with myself, safely in Vienna. Do not imagine, +because I have been, perhaps, tediously minute in my descriptions up to +this period, that I am about to enter upon a long-winded geographical, +statistical, historical account of “the habitation of the Cæsars.” +We are now upon beaten ground, and even presuming that you are +unacquainted with it, there are dozens of guides much better calculated +to do the honours and show the lions of Vienna than your humble servant. + +I shall therefore take the liberty, before I make my final bow, and +hand you over to the acute Russel, the pleasant Ramblers in Germany, +either military or musical--the caustic author of ‘Austria as it is,’ +or any other intelligent tourist--to waft you at once to the pinnacle +of a steep hill in that gorge of the Wienerwald called the Brühl or +the Priel, behind the very ancient and picturesque little town of +Möhdling. There you are--on the steps of the “Temple of Glory,” a +handsome Doric building erected by the present Prince Lichtenstein to +the memory of the brave hussars who rescued him, at the expense of +their lives, from the French in the battle of Wagram. On the wall of +a vault, beneath the building, where their bodies are deposited, is +the following affecting inscription:--“Softly repose upon this height, +precious remains of the valiant Austrian warriors, who fell, covered +with glory, at Aspern and Wagram. Your friend is not able to reanimate +the lifeless bodies. To honour them is his duty[89].” + +As he turns from perusing these lines, as honourable to the dictator +of them as to the brave men to whom they allude, the moistened eye of +the stranger wanders over the immense prospect below him, and falls +upon the very scene of their valour and their death. Yonder stretches +the wide plain upon which the fate of Austria has been twice decided. +Rudolph of Hapsburg, the founder of its noble house, there wrested the +duchy and the crown: of the empire from Ottokar, king of Bohemia, on +August 26th, A.D. 1278. + +On the 5th of July, five hundred and thirty-one years afterwards, the +descendant of Rudolph saw that duchy and crown at the mercy of an +adventurer, who had, for the second time, driven him from his capital, +and now threatened the utter extinction of his dynasty. There is the +celebrated island of Lobau, out of which, after its critical escape, +the French army crossed the Danube amid night and storm, by the +dreadful light of the blazing town of Enzersdorf, into the plain of +Morava, the destined arena of that decisive combat. + + “All was prepared--the fire, the sword, the men + To wield them in their terrible array. + The army, like a lion from his den, + Marched forth with nerve and sinews bent to slay,-- + A human Hydra, issuing from its fen + To breathe destruction on its winding way. + + * * * * * + + The night was dark, and the thick mist allowed + Nought to be seen save the artillery’s flame, + Which arched the horizon like a fiery cloud, + And in the Danube’s waters shone the same-- + A mirrored Hell! The volleying roar, and loud + Long booming of each peal on peal, o’ercame + The ear far more than thunder, for Heaven’s flashes + Spare or smite rarely--Man’s make millions ashes!” + + +Don Juan+, Canto 8, st. 2. 6. + +There are the little villages of Essling, Aspern, and Wagram, whose +names, like those of the still more insignificant hamlets of Blenheim +and Waterloo, are ineffaceably inscribed on the tablets of Fame, though +scarcely to be distinguished in the map of Europe. Do you mark that +white building a little on this side of the city, looking, from the +height on which we stand, like the card-house of an infant? The sun now +falls upon something like a triumphal arch, on an elevation immediately +behind it--that is Schönbrunn, with its well-known Gloriette. In that +palace, is a fair-haired boy, the son of the victor in that terrible +fight, and of the daughter of the vanquished. To that fight he owes +his existence. Its issue enabled a low-born Corsican to dictate terms +to one of the most powerful monarchs in the world, and mingle his +blood with that of a line of emperors. Let us turn from these scenes +of strife and “vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself,” to the +forest-covered hills around, and the lovely vallies beneath us. At +the foot of that mountain lie the sulphur-baths of Baden, and beside +them opens the beautiful Helen-thal, at the mouth of which resides the +brave and popular Archduke Charles, the gallant, though unsuccessful, +opponent of Napoleon. His chateau is named Wildburg, in honour of +his Archduchess, a princess of the House of Nassau-Wildburg. There +is scarcely any garden-ground belonging to it, and he, therefore, +good-naturedly makes a garden of the whole valley, and gives the public +the benefit of it. + +Every morning, during the season, the visiters of this fashionable +watering-place flock by dozens to a farm-house, belonging to the +Baron von Dopplehof, where they eat the best bread in Europe, and sip +coffee, diluted with most delicious milk, furnished by fifty Styrian +cows, all of that light dun colour which particularly distinguishes +the race. The day is divided between the bath and the shades of the +Helen-thal; and, as evening advances, the gay groups saunter back +along the banks of the rivulet that brawls through this romantic glen, +and drop leisurely into the pretty little theatre of Baden. Russel +has drawn an animated and faithful picture of this spot. I shall, +therefore, only mention a ridiculous circumstance which occurred here +a few years ago. The old wooden bridge over the rivulet I have just +mentioned, had been replaced by one of cast iron; and the completion +of this work being an important era for the little town, a procession +was formed to open the bridge, and the whole neighbourhood collected on +and round it to witness the ceremony. One of the Archdukes (Anthony, +I believe) headed the cortege, and, after it had passed over, the +burgomaster, standing in the centre of the bridge, harangued the +spectators. His speech was a model for succeeding burgomasters, to +fashion their orations by. The crowd pressed nearer and nearer to +listen, and be edified. The worthy officer warmed with his subject; +he became absolutely figurative. “Our gratitude, our attachment +(exclaimed he, in a transport of loyalty) to the illustrious House of +Hapsburg, shall remain firm and unshaken as this bridge!” but, before +he had well finished his sentence, down went bridge, burgomaster, +and audience, into the water. Whether naturally sinking under the +weight of the crowd, or kicked down by Lucifer himself, who, a rebel +from the first, might have enjoyed the consternation attendant on so +ominous a coincidence, remains to be determined. A clumsy bridge of +stone now spans the little stream of the Schwächat. To the left, almost +immediately beneath us, upon a green knoll, surrounded by gardens, +stands the venerable ruin of Lichtenstein, the castle of the ancient +princes of that name; and, facing it, the modern chateau of their +descendants. The old walls are in good preservation, and the various +apartments clearly distinguishable. The chamber of justice, into +which the criminal was drawn up by a rope from the prison beneath it, +through a hole in the floor; the prison itself, with its iron rings +and staples; and the banquet hall, now hung with full-length portraits +of the family, (none of them, by the way, painted earlier than the +sixteenth century, though some profess to represent persons who lived +in the fourteenth,) are all exceedingly interesting. Beyond it, on the +bank of the river, lies the broad city, the huge cathedral shooting +up its dark spire in the centre. From a grated window in that spire, +the faithful Starrhemberg saw the sun rise every morning upon that vast +plain, whitened with the tents of the Moslem, and watched night after +night for the joyful signals of relief. They rose at length. From those +heights, the gallant Sobieski rushed upon the panic-stricken Vizier, +who, abandoning his camp and his treasures to the victorious Pole, +fled like a tiger baffled in his spring. On the high road to Carinthia +and Italy, that runs parallel with this chain of mountains, you may +observe a slender Gothic cross, that is to say, one of those crocketted +pyramids, surmounted with a small cross, which are so called, and to be +seen in many of our own market towns. It is the Spinnerinn-am-Kreutz, +and, according to the legend, marks the spot on which a maiden vowed +to sit and spin till her lover returned from the holy land. Smile not +so contemptuously; if you are proof against “a ballad in print,” there +is also an historical interest attached to that lonely monument. It +commemorates the retreat of Solyman the Magnificent, and the valour of +an ancestor of the princely House of Schwartzenburg. For thirty days, + + “Amid the vale below, + Tents rose, and streamers play’d, + And javelins sparkled in the sun, + And multitudes encamped, + Swarmed far as eye could follow o’er the plain; + There, in his war-pavilion, sat, + In council with his chiefs, + The Sultan of the Land!” + +Foiled in every assault by the skill of the commandant, Nicholas +Count of Salm, by the courage of the garrison, and the loyalty of the +burghers, the advance of winter, and the dread of approaching succours, +compelled him to raise the siege, and to retreat to Buda, A.D. 1529. + +Still farther eastward lies the little village of Laxendorf, with +the summer palace and gardens of Laxenburg, a favourite retreat of +the Emperor, and something between the well-known Petit-Trianon at +Versailles, and the grander Wilhelmshöe at Hessen-Cassel. Inferior to +them both in situation, it combines many of their separate attractions: +there are the rustic bridges, and Swiss cottages of the former, and +the modern antique castle of the latter. Instead of the splendid +waterworks of Wilhelmshöe, you must be contented, however, with the +calm, clear lakes of Laxendorf, in which myriads of enormous carp +battle for the large crusts flung to them by the guide, their scaly +armour glittering in the sun, like + + “Mingled metal damasked o’er with gold.” + +In the centre of one of these lakes rises an island fortress. At a +given signal a boat pushes off from the watergate, you are ferried +over, and enter the court-yard of the building, which is fitted +up in strict conformity to the taste of the middle ages. Like the +Lowenburg at Wilhelmshoe, all the furniture of this fortress is really +antique--the carved oaken ceilings and wainscots having been brought +from suppressed monasteries and demolished castles. The beds, chairs, +tables, etc., collected in a similar manner, are also extremely curious. +Around the skirting-board of one of the apartments on the ground floor, +is a most interesting painting of a procession to the lists, of the +time of Maximilian I., and resembling in some degree the prints of +his “Triumph” by Hans Burgmair. The heralds and pursuivants, habited +alternately in the colours of the empire and the duchy, are followed +by the Emperor himself, armed at all points for the tournament, and +twenty or thirty knights, riding in couples, their ponderous tilting +helmets crested and garlanded in the elaborate German fashion, and +their horses splendid with engraved chanfrons and emblazoned housings. +The procession is closed by the priest and the surgeon, and the +Todtwagen, or hearse to carry away the slain champions! A long narrow +gallery, on the highest floor of the building, hung with the costumes +of all the European nations during the sixteenth century, leads to a +dimly-lighted, unfurnished turret-chamber, the only ornaments of which +are three small half-length portraits of Phillip II. of Spain, his +queen Isabel, and his unfortunate son Don Carlos. The gloom of the +chamber, its desolate appearance, so opposite to that of the other +apartments, which are profusely decorated and furnished; the three +pale faces of the principal actors in that most dreadful of domestic +tragedies, glaring at one another from the opposite walls, send a cold +shudder through your frame; and you hasten from the spot, as though +murder had been freshly committed there, and the dark shadow of the +retiring assassin was yet gliding along the floor of the adjacent +gallery! The Knight’s Castle, as that building is called, has also its +state apartments; its chamber of justice; its prison with a puppet +prisoner, (the only piece of bad taste about it,[90]) and its armoury. +The latter contains some handsome fluted and embossed suits, but +nothing particularly ancient[91]; throughout Germany, the richest suit +of armour, whatever may be its date, is invariably appropriated to the +Emperor Maximilian, though in the same collection; and standing next to +it, is a suit which probably did belong to him, or, at least, is of the +same period. From the Knight’s Castle, you are led to the Knight’s +Chapel, his tilt-yard, and his farm; the upper apartments of the latter +are filled with ancient cabinets, paintings, and curiosities of every +description. Laxendorf is first mentioned by old Minnesänger Tanhuser, +who, having wandered from land to land, and from court to court, and +seen, as he himself informs us, Crete, Jerusalem, Cyprus, Normandy, +Antioch, Coblenz (!), Rome, and Pisa, came to Vienna during the reign +of the Emperor Frederick II., who highly patronized him, and gave him a +residence in the capital, and other property in its neighbourhood. + + “Zu Wiene hat ich einen Hof + Der lag so rechte schöne; + Lupolzdorf was darzuo min + Das lit (liegt) bi _Luchse_ nahen; + Ze Hinperg hat ich schöne guot,” etc. + +Laxendorf, lying close by Leopoldsdorf and Himperg, is evidently the +Luchse of our fortunate Minnesänger; and, towards the close of the +thirteenth century, we find the name of one Pertold, of Lachsindorf. +In 1330, Albert II., surnamed the Lame, Duke of Austria, possessed a +castle at Lachsindorf, and Duke Albert III., “with the tress,” built +a new castle upon the site of the old one, and had the magnificent +furniture and valuable antiquities which had previously adorned Saint +Leopold’s castle on the Khalenberg, removed to this place, which became +his favourite residence; where, shaking off as much as possible the +cares of sovereignty and secular pomp, he worked in the garden with his +own hands, and, studying Palladius on rural economy, amused himself +with planting and horticulture. Its marshy situation, however, is +supposed to have shortened the life of this amiable prince. Seized, +during an expedition into Bohemia, with a mortal disorder, of which +he had here laid the foundation, he was conveyed back in haste to +Laxendorf, and died on the 29th of August, 1395, aged forty-six, amid +the lamentations of the citizens of Vienna, who crowded round his +corse, exclaiming, “We have lost our friend, our true father!” + +In 1683, the Turks laid Laxendorf in ashes. It was rebuilt by the +Emperor Leopold I.; and his son Charles IV., in his brown surtout and +bag-wig, here delighted to “bait the heron.” Joseph II. turned the +old blaue-haus[92], which was formerly the falconry, into the imperial +residence. The Gothic toy on the lake owes its existence to a whim of +the late Empress of Austria. + +But the sun is fast descending behind us--his last rays are lighting +up the boundless prospect. Let me take advantage of them to point out +to you the only remaining object of interest in the picture: on that +gray conical hill, that, dimly looming on the verge of the horizon, +might almost be mistaken for a cloud, stands the castle of Presburg; +at its foot lies the capital of Hungary, and past it hurries the broad +Danube, widening, deepening, and strengthening, as it flows, wheeling +to the south round the walls of Buda, washing those of Belgrade, and +bearing the tributes of the Save, the Drave, the Teiss, and the Pruth, +through the swamps of Bess-Arabia into the dark Euxine. At the moment I +am speaking, the eyes of all Europe are bent in the same direction. +The cannon has been fired that may shake the peace of the world. The +flames that are kindling on the shores of the Black Sea may spread +to the mouths of the Mississippi. But I have neither the talent nor +the ambition to be a politician or a prophet; and so farewell, gentle +reader: the bugles of the peaceful herdsmen, saluting some returning +visiters of Baden, shall “sing truce” to our warlike speculations, for + + “The night cloud has lower’d, + And sentinel stars set their watch in the sky.” + +It is time to hurry down from the Temple of Glory, and return to the +gay city. Go lounge upon the bustling and brilliant Graben--gaze upon +the pyrotechnics of the Prater, or laugh in the little theatre of +Leopoldstadt--seek the Glacis, the Volksgarten, or the Opera. I leave +you with this conviction, that if I have only been fortunate enough to +induce you to descend the Danube to Vienna, there is little doubt of +obtaining your pardon for any failure in my attempt to amuse you on +your way. + + + FOOTNOTES (CHAPTER VIII.) + +[82] Much gold has really been found in the sands of the Danube, the +Inn, and the Iser, and several _gold-waschereys_, as they are called, +have formerly existed on the banks of these rivers. The peculiar wealth +of the sands at Langenlebern has been accounted for, by the peasantry, +from the circumstance of Draculf, Bishop of Freysing, being drowned off +this bank, A.D. 926, and carrying down with him forty pounds weight +of gold, which he had smuggled out of the Kloster of Mosburg, and had +secured in his girdle! + +[83] On some old weapons in the Rüstkammer or armoury of the castle, +the arms of the house of Greifenstein are yet to be seen so blazoned. + +[84] A square hole in the earth with an iron grating over it is still +shown here as the place of confinement of some clergyman, who shared +his crust with a young snake, that thrived so wonderfully upon prison +allowance, that self-preservation at last compelled him to kill it +while asleep with a stick, that is also shown in the dungeon. + +[85] It was originally called Neuenburg, Neuenburch, and Niwenburg, and +appears to have been strongly fortified. + +[86] Albert IV., Duke of Austria, died here on the 14th of September, +1404, in the twenty-seventh year of his age; and the Empress Wilhelmina +Amelia, widow of Joseph I., also ended her days here in April 1742. + +[87] This Emperor, who, to use his own words, “with the best +intentions, never carried a single project into execution,” in his +laudable attempts to purify religion from the dregs of superstition, +reduced the number of convents in Austria from two thousand and +twenty-four, to seven hundred. Vide Coxe’s _History of the House of +Austria_. The learned Archdeacon has justly and eloquently described +the character of the kind-hearted but inconsistent Joseph; but I am at +a loss to know why a Christian minister should include the following +ordinance amongst “the _childish_ and _ridiculous_ regulations” of +the Emperor. “Thou shalt forbear all occasions of dispute relative to +matters of faith; and thou shalt, according to the true principles of +Christianity, affectionately and kindly treat those who are not of thy +communion.” (Ord. October 24, 1781.) + +[88] “That’s fine!” or, as we should say, “capital.” + +[89] “Ruhet sanft auf diesen höhen edle gebeine tapferer Oesterreichs +Krieger; Ruhm bedeckt bey Aspern und Wagram gefallen vermag euer freund +nicht, die entseelten leichname zu beleben; sie zu ehren ist seine +pflicht.” + +[90] Yes, there is another. On the gates of the castle are daubed two +sentinels armed cap à pied! Forcibly recalling to my memory the figures +painted in the sentry-boxes, which were wont to delight and terrify me +when an urchin, and cause many a clandestine expedition to Bayswater +tea-gardens. + +[91] The oldest piece of armour I have seen in Germany, is in the +collection at the Lowenburg, at Wilhelmshöe. It is a moveable visor of +the close of the fourteenth century; but both possessors and exhibitors +are evidently ignorant of its value and antiquity. + +[92] “Blue-House,”--this, however, is a corruption. The name of +Blaue-Haus is derived, not from the ancient colour of its walls, as +the vulgar suppose, but from the family of Plauenstein, its original +possessors. + + + + + NAMES + + OF THE + + CITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, CASTLES, MONASTERIES, etc. + + ON THE + + BANKS OF THE DANUBE, + + FROM RATISBON TO VIENNA. + + + *RIGHT BANK.* ⇊ *LEFT BANK.* + +Regensburg+ _or_ +Ratisbon+. ⇊ Stadt-am-Hof. + ⇊ Reinhausen. + ⇊ Weichs. + St. Nicola. ⇊ Schwabelweiss. + Einhausen or Bürgelut. ⇊ Tegernheim. + Irlmauth. ⇊ + Kreuzhof. ⇊ Donaustauf. (Ruin.) + Barbing. ⇊ Reifelding. St.Salvator. + ⇊ Sulzbach. + Sarching. ⇊ + ⇊ Demling. + Nassenhart. ⇊ Bach. + Friesheim. ⇊ Frenghofen. + Ilkhofen. ⇊ Kruckenberg. Ettersdorf. + Altach. Auburg. ⇊ Kirfenholz. + Eltheim. ⇊ + Gaissling. ⇊ + ⇊ Gieffen. + Seppenhausen. ⇊ + ⇊ Oberachdorf. Wiesent. + 1st Post Station from} Pfätter. ⇊ + Regensburg} ⇊ + ⇊ Wörth (Chateau.) + ⇊ Hungerdorf. + ⇊ Tiefenthal. + Griefau. Gmund. ⇊ Keesel. Hochdorf. + Herrfurt. ⇊ + Irling. ⇊ Heiligen Blut or Niederach. + ⇊ Bogen or Hagenhof. + Aholfing. ⇊ + ⇊ Sinzendorf. + ⇊ Pondorf. + ⇊ Zeitsdorf or Zeitlarn. + ⇊ Weihern. + ⇊ Beichsee. Kirchenroth. + (Ruin.) Ober and Unter ⇊ Pittrich. Neidau. + Motzing. ⇊ + Landersdorf. ⇊ Kössnach. Pfaffenmünster. + Breitenfield. ⇊ Hartzeitdorn. + Einhausen. Rinkheim. ⇊ Sossau. + Eberau. ⇊ + Moosklagers. ⇊ Sossauer Beschlacht. + ⇊ Hormannsdorf or Hornsdorf + 2nd Post Station from} ⇊ + Regensburg } +Straubing.+ ⇊ Thurmhof. + Atzelburg. ⇊ Ober and Unter Parkstetten. + ⇊ Reibersdorf. + Hochstätter Hof. ⇊ + ⇊ Lenach. + Aiterhofen. Ittling. Ober ⇊ + and Unter Ebling ⇊ + ⇊ Ober-Altaich. (Kloster.) + Hundersdorf. Saut. ⇊ + ⇊ Bogen and the Bogenberg. + ⇊ (Ruin.) + Absarn. ⇊ + Hermansdorf. ⇊ + ⇊ Hüttenhof. Hofweinzier. + ⇊ Holzkirch. + ⇊ Anning. Dörfl. + Einbrach or Kinbrach. ⇊ + ⇊ Pfelling. + Mitterdorf. Hindeldorf. ⇊ + ⇊ Linzing. Esper. Weichenberg. + Endau or Zengau. ⇊ + ⇊ Allkofen. + ⇊ Albertskirchen. + ⇊ Petzendorf. + Strasskirchen. Irlbach. ⇊ Wallendorf. + Loche. ⇊ Rafer or Asperhof. + Wischelberg. ⇊ Aichach. + ⇊ + Stephan-Posching. ⇊ Maria-Posching. + Uttenkofen. ⇊ Hundeldorf. + Steinfurt. ⇊ Sommersdorf. + Steinkirchen. ⇊ Klein-Schwarzach. + Bergheim. ⇊ Ziedeldorf. Offenberg. + ⇊ Neuhausen. + ⇊ Himmelberg. + Metten Ufer. ⇊ Metten. (Kloster.) + (Ruin) Natternberg. ⇊ Helfkam. + Fischerdorf. ⇊ Schäching. + ⇊ Deggendorf. + ⇊ Deggenau. + 3d Post Station from} Plattling on ⇊ + Regensburg} the Inn. ⇊ Halbe-Meile-Kirche. + Isragemünd. ⇊ Seebach. + ⇊ Reit. + ⇊ Helmdorf. + ⇊ Unter Schwarzach. + ⇊ Hengersberg. (Ruin.) + Thundorf. ⇊ Nieder Altaich. (Kloster.) + ⇊ Alten Ufer. + ⇊ Gindlau. + Aicha. ⇊ + Haardorf. Kreuzberg. ⇊ + Säge. Münchsdorf. ⇊ + Osterhofen. Mulheim. ⇊ Winzer. Hochwinzer.(Ruin.) + Rockessing. Pockessing. ⇊ Loh. Kinschbach. + Rossfelden. ⇊ + Guscherdorf. ⇊ Mittau. + Endsau. ⇊ Nesselbach. + Biflez. ⇊ Leiten. + ⇊ Hofkirchen. (Ruin.) + Kinzing. Langenkinzing. ⇊ + Herzogau. ⇊ + Pleinting. ⇊ Ober and Unter Schöllenbach + ⇊ Gelbersdorf. + Euröde. ⇊ + ⇊ Hildegardsberg. (Ruin.) + Reif. ⇊ + ⇊ Albersdorf. + Wisbauer. ⇊ + ⇊ Schmelz. + U. L. Frau. ⇊ + 4th Post Station from} Vilshofen. ⇊ + Regensburg} ⇊ Winkel. + ⇊ Hacheldorf. + Witzling. ⇊ + ⇊ Windorf. + Hannsbach. ⇊ + ⇊ Eglsee. + Ottenham. ⇊ + ⇊ Gerharding. + Sandbach. ⇊ + ⇊ Fisching. + Kötzing. ⇊ + Leestätten. ⇊ Deichselberg. + ⇊ + Einöd. ⇊ Kling. + Biberach. ⇊ Geishofen. + Schalding. ⇊ Iring. + ⇊ Söldern. + Reit. Ord. Hof. ⇊ + ⇊ Alaning. + ⇊ Donauhof. + Dobelstein. Haining. ⇊ Wörth. + ⇊ Maierhof. + Steinbach. ⇊ Stölzel-hof. + ⇊ Freunde. Hain. + 5th Post Station from} +Passau.+ ⇊ + Regensburg} ⇊ + ⇊ Ilz-stadt. Oberhaus. + Truckerheim. ⇊ + Achleiten. ⇊ + Parz. ⇊ Lindau. + Aich. ⇊ Aichet. + Schildbauer. ⇊ Leiten. + ⇊ Wingertsdorf. + Unter-Mitter-Esternberg. ⇊ + ⇊ Schergendorf. + Deitzendorf. Hetzmannsdorf. ⇊ + (Chateau.) Krempenstein. ⇊ + Pirawang. ⇊ + Unter Schacha. ⇊ Mazenberg. + ⇊ {(Bavarian + Ober Hütt. Hochleiten. ⇊ Ober or Hafner-Zell.{ Custom- + ⇊ { House.) + Kasten. ⇊ Ober } Grunau. + ⇊ Unter } + (Chateau.) Fichtenstein. ⇊ + ⇊(River middle: Jochenstein, or + ⇊ Grenzberg.) + ⇊ Gottsdorf. + (Austrian} Engelhardszell. ⇊ Ried. (Ruin.) + Custom-House.)} ⇊ + ⇊ + Ober } ⇊ Rana-Riedl. (Chateau.) + Unter} Leitner. ⇊ + ⇊ Rana-bach and Mühle. + Ober-Rana. ⇊ Ufer. + Kacher. ⇊ Nieder Rana. + ⇊ Marsbach. (Ruin.) + Wesen Urfar. ⇊ Marsbach Zell, or Frey Zell. + Ober } Wollmarkt. ⇊ + Unter} ⇊ + (Ruin.) Waldkirchen. ⇊ + Pulhof. ⇊ + ⇊ Kirschbaum, or Hayenbach. (Ruin.) + The Schlagen, or Schlägleiten. ⇊ + Lidritzhueb. ⇊ Lidritzhueb. + ⇊ Au. + Im-Zell. ⇊ Ob. + Fadenau-Hof. ⇊ + Ober } Schwend. ⇊ Ober-Michel. Kirschberg. + Unter} ⇊ + Hinter-Aigen. ⇊ Dorf. + ⇊ Windberg. + ⇊ Neuhaus. (Ruin and Chateau.) + Schönleiten. ⇊ + Rosengarten. ⇊ + Stauf. Aschach. ⇊ + ⇊ Landshag. + Hartkirchen. Dorsham. ⇊ Ober Walsee. Eschelberg. + ⇊ Mülhachen. Bergheim. + (Ruin.) Schaumberg. ⇊ + Pupping. ⇊ + Gstettenau. ⇊ Hofham. + Au. ⇊ Auerdorf. + Waschpoint. ⇊ + Wörth. ⇊ Mohrhäusel. + 8th Post Station from} Efferding. ⇊ + Regensburg} Schab. ⇊ + Taubenbraun. Gablau. ⇊ + Raffolding. Ihndorf. ⇊ Bösenbach. Bach. + Tratteneck. ⇊ + Strass. Emling. Aham. ⇊ + Stocköd. ⇊ Goldwarth. + Basleiten. ⇊ + Hartheim. ⇊ Waldinger. + Alkofen. ⇊ + Garderiener. Hagenau. ⇊ + Bergham. ⇊ + Gohbesch. ⇊ + Steger. ⇊ + Schwagen. ⇊ Rodel. + Schönering. ⇊ + Im-Fall. ⇊ Höflein. + Urfar. ⇊ + ⇊ Ottensheim. (Chateau.) + (Kloster.) Willering. ⇊ + ⇊ Buchenau. + ⇊ Hager Schloschen. + Calvarienberg. ⇊ + Margarethen. ⇊ Pöstlingberg. + 9th Post Station from} +Linz.+ ⇊ Urfar. + Regensburg.} ⇊ + ⇊ Anhof. + ⇊ Pflaster. + ⇊ Harbarz. + ⇊ Bach. + ⇊ Furth. + Ober } Rosenthal. ⇊ Magdalena. + Unter} ⇊ + ⇊ Dornach. + ⇊ Furtner. + ⇊ Katsbach. + ⇊ Plösching. + Kaufleuten. ⇊ Binneshäuser. + Blankenreit. ⇊ Spital. + Zitzelau. St. Peter. ⇊ Dörfl. + Ebelsberg ⇊ + on the ⇊ Steyereck. (Ruin.) + Traun. ⇊ + ⇊ Pulgarn. + Traundorf. ⇊ Reichenbach. + Bosch. ⇊ Luftenberg. + Unger Bichling. ⇊ Hof-im-Schlag. + Monastery of St. Florian} Fosterau. ⇊ + and Markt.} Fischau. ⇊ Himberg. + Rafferstetten. ⇊ Auwinden. + Asten. ⇊ St. Georgen. + (Chateau.) Tilly’s Burg. ⇊ Gusen. Wirthshaus. Frankenberg. + Kronau. ⇊ + (Ruin.) Spielberg. ⇊ Langenstein. + 10th Post Station from} +Ens.+ ⇊ Urfar. + Regensburg} ⇊ + Ensdorf. St. Lorenz. Lorch. ⇊ Mauthausen. Pragstein. + Enghazen. ⇊ + Tabor. ⇊ + Windpassing. Biburg. ⇊ Reissersdorf. + Albing. ⇊ Albing. + Albern. ⇊ Niedersebing. + Stein. ⇊ Au. Berg. Auhof. Mitterberg. + Wagram. ⇊ Hartschlössel. + St. Pantaleon. ⇊ Naarn. + Erla Kloster. ⇊ Anhäusel. Strass. M. Lab. Arbing. + ⇊ Baumgarten. + Breitfeld. ⇊ Stafling. + Weinberg. ⇊ Holzleiten. + ⇊ Starzing. + Oberau. ⇊ Rupertshofen. Münzbach. + ⇊ Windhag. Allerheiligen. + ⇊ St. Thomas. + ⇊ + Engelberg. ⇊ + Engelthal. ⇊ + Mitterau. ⇊ + Lin. ⇊ + Unterau. ⇊ + Eck. ⇊ + Gersberg. ⇊ Langacker. Wagerhof. + Achleiten. ⇊ + ⇊ Gang. + 11th Post Station } Strengberg. ⇊ Weisching. + from Regensburg. } ⇊ + ⇊ Inzing. + Haag. ⇊ Hördorf. + Stauding. ⇊ Hulting. + Hörling. Sindburg. ⇊ Mitterkirchen. + Niederwalsee. (Chateau.) ⇊ + ⇊ + Ober} Sumerau. ⇊ Menschdorf. + Unter} ⇊ + Leitzing. ⇊ + Im Brüch. ⇊ + ⇊ Eizindorf. Froschau. + ⇊ Saxen. + ⇊ Dornach. + ⇊ Klam. (Chateau) + ⇊ Hofkirchen. + Hagenauer. ⇊ Petzeldorf. + Bocksreiter. ⇊ + ⇊ Rinzenhof. + Ardagger. ⇊ Saurüsselleiten. + Winkling. ⇊ + Mayherhof. ⇊ Tiefenbach. + ⇊ Wies. + Wies. ⇊ Grein. (Chateau.) + ⇊ Giesenbach. + ⇊ River Middle ( + ⇊ Strudel and } Wirbel. + ⇊ Schloss Werfenstein. }) + ⇊ Struden. (Ruin.) + (Ruin.) Haustein. ⇊ St. Nikola. + ⇊ Sarblingstein. + (Ruin.) Hirschau. ⇊ Hirschau. + (Ruin.) Freyenstein. ⇊ + Dörfel. ⇊ + ⇊ Isper. + ⇊ Weins. + ⇊ Marhof. + (Chateau.) Donaudorf. ⇊ Kiernholz. + ⇊ Bösenbeug. (Chateau) + +Ips.+ ⇊ + Hinterhaus. ⇊ Taberg. + Ober} Agen. ⇊ Gottsdorf. + Unter} ⇊ + Säusenstein. ⇊ Barthub. + ⇊ Mötzling. + ⇊ Rohberg. + ⇊ Rosenbühel. + Idersdorf. ⇊ Loja. + ⇊ Thümling. + ⇊ Auratsberg. + ⇊ Kranz. + ⇊ Marbach. Maria-Taferl. + ⇊ Schelmenbach. + Krumnussbaum. ⇊ Krumnussbaum. + ⇊ + Pechlarn. ⇊ Klein Pechlarn. + Wörth. ⇊ Ebersdorf. + ⇊ Lehen. + ⇊ Urfar. + ⇊ Weideneck. (Ruin.) + ⇊ St. Georgen. + ⇊ Hain. + 14th Post Station} (Kloster) ⇊ + from Regensburg} Mölk. ⇊ + ⇊ Emmersdorf. + Hueb. ⇊ Schall-Emersdorf. + ⇊ Gosam. + ⇊ Urfar. Grinzing. + Schönbühel. ⇊ + Schönbühelhof. ⇊ Markt Aggsbach. Aggstein. + ⇊ (Ruin.) + Dorf Aggsbach. ⇊ + ⇊ Willendorf. + ⇊ Groisbach. + St. Johann. ⇊ Schwallenbach. + Ober Arnsdorf. ⇊ + Hof Arnsdorf. ⇊ Erlahöfe. + Unter Arnsdorf. ⇊ Spitz. Hinterhaus (Ruin.) + Bach Arnsdorf. ⇊ St. Michael. + Ober} Kienstock. ⇊ Wesendorf. + Unter} ⇊ + St. Lorenz. ⇊ Joching. + ⇊ Weissenkirchen. + Ruhrsdorf. ⇊ + Rossaz. ⇊ + ⇊ Dürrenstein. (Ruin.) + Hundheim. ⇊ Ober } + ⇊ Unter} Löben. + +Mautern.+ ⇊ +Stein.+ + ⇊ +Krems.+ + Kloster-Göttweih. ⇊ + Palt. ⇊ Weinzierl. + Brunnkirchen. ⇊ Landersdorf. + Thalern. ⇊ Röhrendorf. + Angern. ⇊ + Wolfsberg. ⇊ Weidling. + ⇊ Neu-Weidling. + ⇊ Teiss. + (Ruin.) Holenburg. ⇊ + Wagram. ⇊ Schlickendorf. + St. Georgen. ⇊ Donaudorf. Grunddorf. + Rittersfeld. ⇊ + Trasenmauer. ⇊ + Stollhofen. ⇊ Jedtsdorf. + Frauendorf. ⇊ Grafenwörth. + Preiwitz. ⇊ Wasen. + ⇊ St. Johann. + ⇊ Ober} + ⇊ und} Lebern. + ⇊ Unter} + Bodensee. ⇊ Sachsendorf. + ⇊ Kollersdorf. + Kleindorf. ⇊ Altenwörth. + Berndorf. ⇊ Gugging. + ⇊ Winkel. + Zwentendorf. ⇊ Frauendorf. + Erpersdorf. ⇊ Birnbaum. + Klein Schönbuhel. ⇊ Urzenlaa. + Kronau. ⇊ Möllersdorf. + Aspern. ⇊ Neuaigen. + ⇊ Triebensee. + Tuln. ⇊ + ⇊ Perzendorf. + ⇊ Ober Schmidabach. + ⇊ Zana. + Ober und Unter Aigen, or ⇊ Schmida. + Langenlebern. ⇊ + ⇊ Ober } + Muckendorf. ⇊ und } Zeyersdof. + ⇊ Unter} + Zeiselmauer. ⇊ + Wörten. ⇊ Stockerau. + St. Andre. ⇊ + Altenberg. ⇊ + (Ruin.) Greifenstein. ⇊ + ⇊ Spillern. + Hoflein. ⇊ Alt-Kreutzerstein. + Ober Kritzendorf. ⇊ Korneuburg. + St. Veit. ⇊ + Unter Kritzendorf. ⇊ Bisamberg. + Kloster-Neuburg. ⇊ Tuttenhof. Dorf. + Weidling. ⇊ Lang-Enzersdorf. + Josephsberg, Leopoldsberg,} Dorfel. ⇊ Jetelsee. +both called the Khalenberg.} ⇊ + Nussdorf. ⇊ + Heiligen Stadt. ⇊ Gedlersdorf am Spitz. + Döbling. ⇊ + +Wien+,} ⇊ + or} ⇊ + +Vienna+,} ⇊ + +19th Post Station, and 27 Posts from Regensburg, or 243 English miles. +Distance by water about 300 English miles. + + THE END. + + + Printed by +William Clowes+, Stamford Street. + + + + + _Speedily will be published, in illustration of this Volume_, + + FORTY VIEWS ON THE DANUBE, + + DRAWN ON STONE +BY+ L. HAGHE, + + FROM + + SKETCHES MADE ON THE SPOT BY J. R. PLANCHE. + + No. I. will contain: + + 1. Ratisbon, from Höhen-Schambach. + 2. Donaustauf. + 3. Schloss Wörth. + 4. Straubing. + + + + + TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES + +Spelling, including inconsistent usage and forms reflecting local, +historical, or foreign-language usage, has been retained as printed. +This includes apparent misspellings in German names or words (e.g. +Thurm/Thurn), which have not been changed. + +Minor inconsistencies in spacing and punctuation have been silently +standardized. + +Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected (e.g. +"astonishings pectacle"). + +The following markings were use to indicate how the original text was +formatted: "_" for _italic_, "*" for *bold*, and "+" for +small-caps+. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78472 *** |